DM Home

Message Board

DM News Reports

Trading Card Game
Price Guide
Card of the Day
Duel Yammers - Fan Tips
Top 10 Lists
Tourney Reports

Featured Writers
JMatthew on DM
cecillbill's C-Notes
Hydromorph

Deck Garages
Dry’s Arsenal
Drizer's Dungeon
cecillbill's Dojo
Knives101's Lab
NFG's Garage
aka GDOG'S-VERSION

Spoilers
Base Set DM-01
Evo-Crushinators of
Doom DM-02
Rampage of the
Super Warriors DM-03
Starter Deck
Shobu's Fire Deck
Kokujo's Darkness Deck
Shadowclash Collector's Tin
Shadowclash of
Blinding Night Spoiler
Survivors of the
Megapocalypse
Disruptive Forces Decklist
Block Rockers Decklist
Duel Masters Starter Set (2)
Twin Swarm Deck
Hard Silence Deck
Promo Card List
Stomp-a-trons
Thundercharge
Epic Dragons
Fatal Brood
Shockwaves
Blastplosion
Thrash Hybrid

Video Games
Sempai Legends

Other
Staff

Why DM is dying and how to save it

By Grandkaijudomaster - February 8, 2007

If your reading this then it can only be for one reason- you play or have played at some point or another the brilliant game Duel Masters. Now you must all now by now that DM doesn’t have the brightest of futures. As much as I hate to admit it, it’s true. But now the question arises about who is to blame for the death of this wonderful game. And the obvious way to point the finger is towards Yu-gi-oh! And Magic the Gathering. Although I don’t like it, those two games are, and probably always will be bigger than DM in America and Europe. But they’re not entirely to blame. I can certainly remember a time when DM tournaments were bigger than any YGO tournament I have ever seen, but over time DM started to decline and numbers dwindled into nothingness. So who is to blame for that? The finger then turns to the organisation that most people have accepted to be blamed for the death of DM- Wizards of the Coasts. Through lack of advertisement, not showing the cartoon series or even updating the website, Duel Masters fans started to fall in the thousands. It’s only natural that people give up a TCG, however it’s not natural that new players don’t show up to pick up the slack. I mean Magic the Gathering has been going for thirteen years and hasn’t died! So why have WOTC lost interest in DM? We can only guess. The “WOTC is killing DM to save MTG” theory will always be a popular one. Considering that all people have realised by now that DM was always designed to be a way of stealing players away from Yu-gi-oh! And eventually then get them into magic the gathering. However this didn’t go exactly as planned in Japan, DM ended up becoming the no.1 game in Japan, replacing Yu-g-oh! So WOTC saw their opportunity and released it in America and as I stated before for a while it was bigger than YGO, so why didn’t they keep up pace? Why hasn’t the website been updated in more than a year as opposed to the MTG and Star Wars minis websites which get updated pretty much every week? Again, we’ll never know.

            But now you ask what can we do about it? Should we do about it? Should we let DM run it’s natural course and die? Well ask yourselves this: Do you love DM? Then you should know the answer: NO! Stand up and fight for the game you love! And what can you do to fight? Well there are loads of things you can do to stop this wonderful game from disappearing into the big book of failed TCGs. For one thing you can sign Dry’s petition to save DM. Don’t forget WOTC are businessmen, first and foremost, they have a product and they need to sell it to someone. They seem to be under the impression that there is no fanbase for DM anymore. In fact, DM has been completely cancelled in Europe because they simply believe there are no more fans. I know for a fact they are wrong- but we need to prove it to them. Because of WOTCs bad advertisement of DM there are no new players, and people give up due to natural causes. But this creates a snowball effect- because of the lack of players, the competition becomes less satisfying and as a result even more people give up. But those people who have given up because of the lack of competition are still out there- and if DMs popularity was to have a sudden boost, they would no doubt come back into the competition. If this is your situation then I urge you to sign the petition, especially if you live in the UK/Europe, in fact I urge all DM players to sign the petition everywhere, because if you play this game, then you must care about its future. If you don’t, either you’re a fool, your thinking about giving up because of lack of interest (if you sign the petition an WOTC listen which they probably will if we get enough, then interest will increasing, meaning you won’t have to give up), or DM is fine in your area (I know lots of places where DM has hardly been effected by the decrease in popularity, but believe me, the popularity decrease will effect you eventually. So if you want to keep DM the way it is then sign anyway.)

            But unfortunately, at the end of the day, despite all the signatures we get, there is always a chance than WOTC won’t care. No matter how hard we try, it is impossible that we will get the attention of all DM players everywhere. While there are a lot of online DM players, the vast majority of DM players are immature and don’t come online or are willing to do anything (this IRKS me a lot). If we could get them to sign, then we would almost definitely be able to save DM. With out them, there is always a big chance that WOTC will ignore us. So what to do if the petition doesn’t work? Then surely we must let DM die and move on with our lives. Wrong answer!  Just because the big dummy cooperation WOTC Europe/America abandon us, doesn’t mean we have to give up DM. As long as there are fans DM will always live. Here is a good example: It is almost definite that there will be no more Star Wars films. However, there has not been a decline in popularity, because the fans have been keeping it going! It’s the same case with DM players. They just need something to attract them. And what could do that- an unofficial tournament league. For the past 5 weeks now, I have been hosting Duelist-1 unofficial tournaments and they have been a HUGE success. I now have 8 regulars with 1-2 more possible players coming this week, a website and leader board, and a DM-12 prerelease sometime in the following weeks. All these players needed was a strong leader to organise and attract them. Now here’s what you have to ask yourself? Could you be that leader, could you start your o? It’s not a hard job, you can start off with a few dedicated friend players and then grow. What does it take to be an unofficial tournament host?:

1. Determination: If your not serious about DM, then your players will sense this and they won’t be willing to play.
2. Friends to play with: Start off with a few friends. 4-5 and then let it grow through internet advertisement. Post up tournament reports and tournament announcement on the tournament sections of forums and watch the players role in.
3. Good at organisation: Working out a tournament format that works that can be kinda tricky sometimes. But if your gonna make this work your going to have to work it out sometime before the tournament. Not to mention the tournament prizes. Don’t worry too much about funding, that can all be organised from player membership and tournament fees. If your going to order prizes such as boosters, then your going to need a credit card. If it’s going to be something easier like a cash prize then  that can be paid through membership fees.
4. Finding some way of keeping DM going: If WOTC do fully abandon you and stop printing DM in your language, then your going to have to allow Japanese cards. There are lots of places where you can get them the best place is probably www.ideal808.com and as long as you have translations, and a credit card (again buying the cards will be funded through admission fees) then its not an issue.

That’s the basic low down on how to host your tournaments. If you need more info, you can email or msn at grandkaijudomaster@hotmail.co.uk If you want to become a duelist 1 host then you can visit our website at www.duelzone.org/duelist1. If you become a Duelist-1 host then you will have our website at your disposal to put up your results etc. on. And if you do want to set up your own league that’s also ok, but I would like to make a Duelist-1 partnership with any other unofficial leagues. Because I believe that the only way to save DM, is to unite all DM players across the world under a single flag. And work out some arrangement between the two leagues, for example a single leaderboard. I currently have a great leaderboard system that I am prepared to share with anyone who needs it. If the fans work together, then one way or the other, with or without the support of WOTC then DM can be saved.

      If you are very very unfortunate and you are pretty much the only dedicated DM player left then there is always DMC. The online duelling programme. I know it doesn’t give the same satisifcation as the real game, but non the less it is an alternative. As long as you can organise tournaments it will be just fine. In fact Duelist-1 is starting to expand into DMC, I’m currently planning a UK nationals on DMC.

      So  you see, DM really isn’t going anywhere anytime soon .So don’t get all mopey if WOTC don’t care anymore. Because at least you know that there are people who do care, and there is always a way to keep DM alive. No matter what happens. But everyone needs to work together in order to make this work. So I urge you all to do something now! If you don’t, then be prepared to give a speech at DMs funeral. I know I am doing my part. Now its up to you to make up your mind. If you care about this wonderful game, then stand up for it.