Hey, it's rebellee1187 again.  This is my first article, and my second contribution to Pojo's DM site.

Anyhow, todays article discusses on whether or not DM favors variety, or if it requires you to use one particular deck or another to really do well on the tournament scene.  For most of my comparisons, I will be comparing to Yu-Gi-Oh (YGO) and Pokemon.  I don't know much about any other games, so I can't comment on them.

Anyways, what this article is really trying to examine is this: Can rouge decks ACTUALLY do fairly well on the tournament scene?  In some games, like YGO, if you do not run the main types of competitive decks, you WILL get steam-rollered on the big tournament scene.  In Pokemon, certain decks work better than others, but it has a comfortable amount of breathing room for you to try something new and still do reasonably well.  But can the same be said for Duel Masters?

I belive the answer is yes.  All the civ's have their strong points, and though some do combo better than others (Grass and Red play well together, whereas I've yet to see a real good light/grass combo), they can all be put in a variety of decks and still do reasonably well. 

Why is that?  Personally, I believe it's because of the options DM presents you with what to do with your cards.  If it's not anything you need at the moment, you can use it for Mana.  And speaking of mana, you only need ONE of that cards type to summon it, so bringing it out can be fairly simple. 

Thats another thing that allows for creativity in this game, the ability to run tri-color (And more!) decks.  From what I understand about Magic (I don't play magic), playing more than about two colors in a deck is not a good idea.  In Pokemon, two is about all that can work well together (Colorless Pokemon not included, they aren't REALLY a type).  In Yu-Gi-Oh, there are no colors, but monsters are classified by types (though that really seldom impacts the game).  Duel Masters really free's you up to be an individual when designing your deck, as you could have only about 6 of any one color in your deck and can be fairly sure you'll have the mana you need.

Also, no civilization seems to be particularly better than any other, though each have their own strengths and weaknesses.

RED- Fast, but hard on the mana

GREEN- Not much on the attack, but provides lots of Mana

BLACK- Removal spells, but little protection

LIGHT- Few good attackers, but lots of good blockers

BLUE- IMO, the best CIV.  Has non-blockables, though it's blockers can't attack.  Also has bounce.

Like I said earlier, some Civ's do work better together than others, but all COULD potentially work together and do fairly well (anyone in a draft tourney has probably learned that).  And in creative hands, the civilizations can match very well, by perhaps using "off the wall" strategy's.

Well, you've dealt with my article for this long, so I'll wrap this up now.  Does DM favor deck variety?  I think it does.  Do you disagree with me?  Agree with me?  Not care, but wanna chat?  Wanna Rant at what I've said?  Wanna send me prizes (Wink Wink Nudge Nudge Pojo People)?

Send me an e-mail at rebellee1187@msn.com .  I look forward to hearing from you.

*Rebellee1187*

"I AM NOT PINK!"