1.07.05  Well, to start things off, I'd like to take the opportunity to put down the responses to my last deck review:
 

I played you defensive deck and I must admit it, the idea worked quite

well but the defensive flow was too heavy while the judgments of

anubis's and consequently the thunder dragons were usually useless and

without stall I was wide open 9 times out of ten.

but like I stated previously, the IDEA worked well once I tweaked the

deck to match my personal play style and a few ides I had for it...

3 legendary jujitsu master

3 gear golem

3 inaba white rabbit

3 spirit reaper

3 raging flame sprite

2 swarm of locusts

2 swarm of scarabs

1 sinister serpent

3 level limit area B

3 book of moon

3 wave motion cannon

1 pot of greed

3 magic drain

3 gravity bind

2 robbin goblin

2 robbin zombie

this is the deck I played and I must admit I actually really enjoy it.

The inaba's worked well so the weenie element was kept but I needed a

stronger one, not to mention one that actually stayed on the field,

hence the flame sprites. the locusts and scarabs adds a bit of field

control to the deck, not to mention flavour (you should see their

faces drop when they are flipped). the serpent isn't used for anything

other than a bit of  continuous field presence and the golems and

reapers are purely defensive. I must say however you were right on the

money with the jujitsu masters. they have really helped me most of the

time and bouncing to the deck is a powerful ability.

having played it there is one minor flaw. against stall people side in

mobius and this is a fact. attacking the master willingly will swallow

their next draw, however it will also give them the chance to re-use

mobius. the effect is very underrated but a bit risky against

monarchs.

adding stall was a obvious tactic and the level 4 and lower stuff

screams to be abused. the goblins worked like sweet dreams and I only

added zombies because I like deck-out strategies (but it is a

beautiful thing to see BLS in the graveyard and your opponents face

drop).

overall I LOVE playing this deck as it fits my style perfectly, and

having played it, the jujitsu master is very underrated and very good.

and in a last word thanks for sharing it and I hope you continue to

create good decks the rest of us can rob =)

Well, I can't say I like the Robbin' Zombies myself, but the deck looks really good.

Sunday, Dec. 26, 2004

7:40 am

I have thought about making a deck with Legendary Jujitsu Master ever since I pulled it in a pack. 

Although I like your idea, I would go a different route with him. With another very underrated 

common, Mysterious Guard.

Mysterious Guard

*** Earth / Spellcaster

800 / 1200

FLIP: Return 1 face-up monster to the top of it's owner's deck. At the same time, if there is a 

face-up Warrior-type monster on the field, you can return another face-up monster to it's owner's 

hand.

I was thinking of making a Warrior Hand-Destruction deck centered around those two. Putting 

in Don Zaloog, Mataza the Zapper, Mystic Tomato,

 Reinforcements of the Army, Fusion Sword Murasame Blade, Waboku, Robbin' Goblin. Maybe 

Spirit Reaper, The A. Forces, or Last Will. I'd be hesitant to make this a Gravity Bind(or more 

correctly, with the release of LLAB, a Level-Three-Or-Lower) deck.

Well, that's all I have to say. If you end up reading this, I'd like to know what you think.

This was what 'Souljer' wrote to me. It seems very interesting, could work, if anyone wants to 

make the deck and try it, feel free to e-mail me the results. I also would like to give credit to 

'End of Anubis' for coming up with the same idea.

I have some more mail from Curo, with yet more suggestions on the deck:

Hey Zealotpker,

A few months back I tried a defensive deck similar to yours.  It was 

More focused on the rabbit (Inaba).  I ran some Gear Golems, Roulette 

Barrels, and Spirit Reaper.  I also used Battle Footballer, but only because I 

Was low on Stone Statues.  For spells/traps I ran a few G-Binds and a Level

Limit as well as 2 Continuous Destruction Punches (which I soon took 

out).  

All this and some support for my Rabbits, and a Guardian Sphinx proved 

to be a very annoying and surprisingly succesful deck.  The main downfall was

being quickly overrun by big monsters.  If you want a deck that can 

really get into someone's head and work at the same time, the Defense/Inaba 

deck is a great one.  It may be sub-par, but it was able to contend wih some of 

the tougher decks in todays metagame, as well as being a very fun deck.

Your fan,

Curo

 Well, I didn't know I'd get so many replies to that, keep them coming if you want to. I'm not 

actually going to be doing any deck reviews today, because today I'm going to be discussing 

two things. The first will be deck-building in general. Second is going to be about Regionals. 

So bear with me while I ramble about these two things.

Deck-Building

These are going to be my XX steps to deck-building; I'm assuming you already know what format 

you want to play in:

Step 1: Put in Pot of Greed

Sorry, this should be self-explanatory though. If anyone can find a deck that shouldn't use it, e-mail 

it to me and I'll note you in my next review (and there ARE some out there, but they're so obscure that 

I'm not taking them into consideration; if it truly doesn't work, 

take it out at the end).

Step 2: Pick a theme

Pretty simple, just pick a theme. I have a saying that I like to use. Whenever someone asks the 

question, "What is the best deck out there?" my answer will be "Whatever deck the best 

deck-builder decides to build."

Granted, there are obviously themes that won't hold in competitive play, but among the 

reasonable themes, 

anything can win.

Step 3: Support your theme

This is the hardest problem (well, one of the hardest) that people seem to have. Pick a theme 

and stick to it. Also, you need to stick to your 'Archetype (i.e. Aggro [Beatdown], Control, Stall, 
Combo)'.

I can't really help you on this, common sense and experience dictate this

 step.

Step 4: STAY CONSISTENT!!!(!!!)

This is one of my pet peeves. What do I mean by consistency? Well, I'm going to be bad and steal 
from another writer on this site.

Ok, I lied, I couldn't find the article. Anyways, here's what I mean:

1. Avoid running single copies of unrestricted cards, unless they are cards that have very similar 

purposes. 

(i.e. Enemy Controller as a single is fine if you're also running Change of Heart and Snatch Steal, 

because 

altogether there are three cards all accomplishing very similar things).

2. The exception is cards that can be unreliable when played in copies of more than one. My example 

here is going to be Creature Swap. It's a very powerful card, but if your opponent maxes out on Goats 

and maybe even runs Enemy Controllers, you're going to have it just as likely backfire on you.

3. The  other exception is TeCH. What do I mean by that? Either something along the lines of

 running a single Book of Life and/or Pyramid Turtle just to work with your 3 Reapers and V-lord. 

It works great when drawn, but if you run too many, then you'll end up having too many for your small 

group of cards it supports. The other example of TeCH would be a searchable card that CAN be 

very good (i.e. putting in a Cannon Soldier when you run multiple Tomatos to search it out if need be).

4. Just as inconsistent is running cards that don't work towards the same goal (the extreme example 

would be Jinzo in a stall deck). AVOID THIS MISTAKE!

Step 5: Keep synergy within the deck

What's this supposed to mean? In addition to a common theme, your cards must all mesh 

together well, and also not clash with each other. There's lots of good synergies, experience more 

than anything will allow you to recognize them. You may even  end up finding things you didn't think of 

when you begin playtesting! It's definitely happened with me before.

Step 6: PLAYTEST PLAYTEST PLAYTEST

You'll find weaknesses and holes in the deck by playtesting against a wide variety of decks. It's the 
only way to get your deck up to Regionals-winning level.

NOTES

I have a lot of people e-mailing and asking for templates for a deck. There IS no "template", but in 
general here is the rule to try to stay near to:

-0-4 Tribute Mons

-12-16 Non-Tribute Mons

-3-8 Traps

-Spells for the rest of the deck

-STAY AT FOURTY CARDS

Yeah, kinda brief, but it should help out.

Next order of business:

REGIONALS

First of all, I'd like to

 reiterate/state my Regionals experience. Last season, I attended two Regionals, qualifying at 
neither but earning a lot. This year, I qualified at my first regional (Roanoke, VA 10/10/04) and 
then judged at the next local regional (Rockville, MD 12/12/04). So you could say that I have a 
fair amount of experience from all ends of the play field.

Now, for all of you prospective Regionals players, a few guidelines and stuff:

1. The Judges are your friends.

Seriously, the Judges are never 'out to get you.' If you get a warning, you deserved it. If you get 
a game loss, you probably deserved it too. Okay, I've heard of some pretty lousy judging, so 
nevermind that part. But seriously, Judges are humans too, just because we wear the demo 
team shirt doesn't turn us into UDE-bots. If you have a rulings argument, state it calmly and 
politely and give your reasons. Feel free to appeal to the head  judge or to the netrep files. If you 
do this you will almost ALWAYS get a correct 
ruling.

2. Have a decklist with fusion deck prepared in advance.

3. REGIONALS ARE ALL ADVANCED FORMAT

4. Bring the entry fee ($15-20) plus snack/food/spending money

I'd be safe and bring like $50 in addition to the entry fee, because you never know what might come 
up. At least bring an additional 20 though.

5. REGISTER!

6. Come well in advance of the starting time of the tourney.

Now, on to people who are looking to qualify:

1. Don't leave home without a COMPLETED deck.

Get all of

 the cards that you need. Don't end up losing because of an unfinished sideboard or a "replacement" 

card in the maindeck that you just "couldn't get ahold of."

2. Get enough sleep the night before.

Coming from someone who has played in a variety of competitions, REGIONALS ARE EXHAUSTING. 

This isn't from any couch potato either. I play travel soccer, and work out extensively, and they're 
STILL EXHAUSTING (as are Chess tourneys to anyone who plays Chess =P).

Don't lose because you misplayed due to being too tired.

3. EVERY MOVE COUNTS.

Always take your opponent seriously. Think through each and every move, and above all, 
Remember: A SINGLE MISPLAY COULD COST YOU THE GAME.

4. Ryu Senshi can't be targeted by spell cards.

I put this in  because this seriously has cost many people games due to trying to Book of 
Moon/Enemy Controller it.

5. KNOW YOUR RULINGS

Don't lose because you didn't know a ruling. Judges can't give you rulings on anything other than the 

game state, so only you can prevent yourself from losing in this manner.

Well, those are the main things, and, until next time:

Peace out,

zealotpker

Level 1 UDE Yu-gi-oh! Judge

pojodeckstaff@yahoo.com