Dark Maltos

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Dark Maltos's Dueling Dome
Maltos’s Friday deck - Tears
July 16, 2006

The main way I can communicate with anyone, and the best way for me ,is through writing. I’m a talented writer, and I can use this to my advantage to get my point across really well. The thing is, I’m limited as to what I can do when it comes to Yugioh, and changing the game. The only thing that actually matters is when I do an in depth article. My Friday decks, COTD reviews and 7 steps are all just trivial, insignificant information, and mad ideas on a piece of virtual paper. Occasionally they stir an aspect of inspiration, and occasionally shed a new light on an otherwise outdated concept. They never serve to a higher purpose, and never touch people in the profound way I hope this article may. Even my rant mode article, this in fact had the directly opposite effect , turning any philosophical aspects I’d ever preached completely around , twisting it into a vulgar explosion against the dueling society, something I should have foreseen , and something that in essence I only did for the obvious response it would receive. It’s suddenly simple that if you want a lot of applause, as I’d strived to obtain during my time at pojo , then an angry rant at the establishment is enough to get it. People are simple, easy to control if you know what you are doing.

This article will be , almost definitely my finest ever, and I don’t even know what its going to be about yet. It will be my most touching, and sorrowful account of Yugioh to date, and I hope this will stir you as much as it does me writing it. I think I’ll warn you now that this isn’t an article to blast through and read quickly, as with most of my previous articles have been, it’s not going to be bursts of passion, but more a slow, monologue from my own deep conscious mind. Read it slowly, and preferably whilst listening to the sort of mellow, tranquil, but unhappy music that you may have stored on your computer somewhere. This is going to be a long one guys, I can tell, and I want you to completely understand where I’m coming from on this.

Yugioh, of late has slipped from what it once was. Its completely out of balance and it is slowly dieing. No one wants it to go, but unfortunately it just is, for me anyway. I love this game more than anyone else , and I’m more sorrowful than most that its going. But that damage has been nearly irreparable of late , and I’ve seen this coming for a long time now.

The passion died sometime ago, most likely in the aftermath of the regressive format , when our options were limited , and nothing had really been released to compensate. We had been very gluttonous in the Trinity format, with access to a wide variety of powerful and effective cards, but with the demise of 3 major spells as well as the loss of Mirror Force and for the chaos users, Black luster soldier, not forgetting the restriction of other spells like Scapegoat , and on the whole, we were left with the scraps of Yugioh. The game changed from there on in. We were forced into a major decline in both the players grasp on the reality of the game and the cards available to us.

Players now felt that striving to a completely un skilled victory was the best way to win, and they were right. Now I’m not trying to insult, or criticise anybody here, CC or ‘Originality’ , but the fact remains. The Regressive format was an era were you didn’t have to think about anything to play the game. Kill one monster, summon yours, kill s/t. I’m surprised its took me so long to realise this fully to be honest. The format wasn’t based on skill, it was based on kill summon kill, an idiot could have gotten to grips with this game.

It wasn’t they players fault. The game changed, not them, not at first. The only things available to them with any success rate was the 1 for 1’s and the Dekoichi’s and all that no - thought madness. That’s why things became bad, and that’s when the death started .

The brutality and arrogance of the format reflected in the players. They became twisted and cynical, desperate to forget, it would seem, the experiences they had previously built up in the game. This also reflected what was going on in the packs. I’m sorry Otaku, I’ve had time to think and I still disagree.

The lack of thought in the game was an echo of the lack of room to breathe in the ban list, and a result of the loss of thought provoking cards released, with each set catering to the wrong audience, so much to the point where I have now stopped buying them.

I think the point I’m trying to address, and hopefully you are still reading this slowly, is that an over active banning on things is not always the best solution. If you restrict the cards involved in the problem, as well as the problem cards itself, the driving force behind the whole thing, then you prevent the duelists ability to grow. If someone had a disease ridden hand, you don’t amputate the whole arm, that’s the point I’m trying to make. The loss of scapegoat and the like with Metamorphosis gone was a mistake. It forces the duelists to regress, they can’t go any further and they get stuck in bad habits. To move forward is to look back upon one’s past experiences and learn from it , but since duelists were unable to move forward, they therefore were unable to look back. That is why they forgot everything they’d worked so hard to learn in the first place. Unable to move forward, and unable to look back, almost stuck in transition.

This created an infectious sickness between duelists, a mentality I even find myself slowly succumbing to. The lack of mentality and crisp imagination to be out rightly inventive . Everyone is just content the way things are, and are blind to the games decline. Well, I can see it, I can see it clearly.

The magic and soul reserves of the game are empty, and I for one feel they need a re fill. I blame the ban list. Not this list, just the list in general. Contrary to popular belief, this list was a step in the right direction . The inclusion of power from cards like Graceful Charity and mirror force has already had a revitalising effect on the game. Already, over time, we’ve seen the end of DDA’s use, as well as a decline in the use of Smashing ground and other simplistic removal. People are beginning to learn what they once had so keenly remembered , and there is a slight glimmer of hope. But still, this is drastically out weighed by the negative.

The effects on the duelists mind of the Regressive format is a stain we still see all too often today, and one that is slowly overwhelming me. Previously I had fought so hard against the Regressive format, fought so hard against what it was doing, but it seems my cries fell on deaf ears. For every inspirational article I wrote there was a thousand arrogant , regressing duelists that would refuse what I had to say. I’m so very tired now. So tired of fighting.

The problem right now is the lack of cards to counter certain themes, the main one being Return. The inevitable limitation of these cards will not help the game, it will only damage it further, cutting of another limb. It didn’t help when we lost metamorphosis, it didn’t help when we lost Pot of Greed and Mof, so why would it help losing even more?

Instead of trying to limit the things we can’t cope with, we should be trying to find a way to counter the things that bother us, and that should happen with the semi limiting of a few decent cards. Book of Moon for instance. Cards that are effective, but not over the top. Cards that can be used skilfully and inject a bit of power into this game, so we can use it again, instead of relying on bad strategies and then complaining about things that we’re just not good enough to handle.

I know that this is probably another article falling on deaf ears. Most wont listen, others wont care. Some will think they know the point that I’m getting at, when in reality they really don’t, I’ve had that lots of times. The reality is that more likely than not, I alone understand my article, and know what I mean, but regardless this is out there, and that’s it. I’m done. I’ve shed my last tear for this game right now, and I’m retiring from my articles for the foreseeable future. I’ll be there every day for the Cotd’s, but that’s it for now. There’s no point going any further. My Friday decks, 7 steps and even rants amount to nothing . Its been a bumpy ride, and I hope you do think deeply about what’s in this article. Its how I feel, and what I believe. Hopefully you can take way what I have just from writing it. It’s opened my eyes to how things really are, and I’m grateful for all the support that I’ve received, but that is it. Its over, for now.


Toddyhole@aol.com