Subject: ban list and anti-bashing by timexbomb

     This is my first post so sorry if it's a little randomized. I want to talk 
     about a few things I find discouraging when i read the ccg section/top tens.

     First off the fear of the ban list. For those of you who don't know, the ban 
     list consists of(assuming we follow Asia's list) the following cards:

Change of Heart
Cyber Jar
Delinquent Duo
Fiber Jar
Harpie's Feather Duster
Imperial Order
Injection Angel Lily
Painful Choice
Raigeki
Yata-Garasu

     Yeah, most people would say these are great cards and to a certain extent 
     they are. They all have great effects but everyone uses them (at least 
     everyone who can get them). I personally only use 2 of them in total in 
     the 4 decks i built and still win with all 4 decks more often than not. 
I'll get to that later. Basically everyone uses them so the cards have a lot 
less power. What i mean by that is you know that everyone has it so you can 
look for cards to counter those listed instead of just adding them too stay 
par-to-course. There are ways around everyone of these cards and there are a 
lot less expensive substitutes for those of you who just can't afford them. 
For a couple examples:

     Build a water deck (great decks that you can build for about $15- $25). 
     Add a few Fenrir's. It's a 4 star monster that stops your opponents next 
     draw phase when it destroys a monster (sounds a lot like Yata at 1/20 the 
     price). It's a common card form IOC.

    Another example is to add a few "cursed seal of forbidden spell". This card 
    makes you discard a magic card from your hand to negate the activation of a 
    spell card and destroy it. As a bonus all other cards of the same name in 
    your opponents hand, deck, and graveyard are also destroyed and removed from 
    play for the rest of the match. Basically this means you can get rid of 
    Raigeki, Change of Heart, (fill in another "staple" magic card name
here) the first duel and they can't use them for the next 2 (if it takes all 3).

     I'm not trying to knock people who play these or other "staple" cards. 
All i'm trying to say is you don't NEED them. If you can build a good deck that 
works for you using these cards then you should use them. It's just not a good 
idea in my opinion to add them just because everyone else does. 
You can see where i'm going with this so I'll just leave it at that. Next up is bashing.

     Why? Why would you bash someone or playing any deck type/card? I read a lot of posts 
     about why you shouldn't play a beat-down or how jinzo sucks/rocks. Why do you care 
     what someone else puts in there deck? So what if there deck isn't original? It's 
     obviously the card they what to add and the deck they want to play. There is nothing 
     wrong with seeing a deck/combo you like and adding it your own. The greatest compliment 
     I ever received was when i had someone ask to buy my deck off me after i beat them in 
     a tourney. This kid had a deck full of rares probably worth around $300. My deck was 
     my water deck with Graceful Charity as my only rare and it cost me
$15 to build. I didn't get mad because he wanted my deck and knowing that he was going to 
build one of his own. I looked at it from the perspective that he's going to take what he 
likes out of my deck and add his own preferences to it. Consider it praise when it happens 
to you, not just coping.

     To get back on topic if you are an original thinker you should love not hate 
     these decks/cards. It gives you the chance to play your well thought out combos 
     and counters and crush them. I love cookie cutter decks for just that reason. I 
     know what they have and know what to play next. 
Sure you'll have to experiment more and face quite a few losses while you perfect your 
deck but isn't that the point of the game? Have fun, better yourself as a duelist, and 
constantly look for flaws in your deck. As soon as you stop looking for ways to make your 
deck better your deck becomes obsolete. Once again though, that's just my opinion.

     To my final subject is deck types. Any deck can win at any time. My favorite deck to 
     run is my "Last Turn" deck. This is normally considered a fun deck. Yeah it's fun 
     to play but it can beat anything you can throw at it. Play Last Turn with Dark 
     Necrofear on the field and you can't lose. The best your opponent can hope for is a 
     draw. I don't under stand why a deck is considered a "fun" deck or a "tourney" deck. 
     If you build a deck that suits your style of play and enjoy playing it you should be 
     able to beat any deck you're up against. Most of the time the person, not the deck 
     decides who wins. It's not "luck" that gets you the card you need at the right time. 
     It's knowing what you have in your deck and knowing how to play what you have in 
     your hand at the right time. If you build a deck around combos use them as you need 
     them. If it's a beat-down deck pound away till your hearts content. No one deck is 
     better than another.

     Well that's all i have to say so thanks for reading this. Sorry if i offended anyone. 
     That wasn't the point of all this.

Timexbomb@hotmail.com

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