From: EthMythus@aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2004 8:37 PM
Subject: Burning Your Bridges Part I: Own Worst Enemy - by Mythus
Burning Your Bridges Part I: Own Worst Enemy
Forward
Since the game has been released, I've found myself dueling against a great many Fire-using decks. To date, I have won against these decks far more than I've lost. Trust me, my 'mad skillz' have nothing to with it.
Let me clarify that a bit: notice that I used the word WON, not BEAT. Half the time these decks have been beating themselves. While playing against these decks, and in the proccess of helping my opponents 'tweak' their decks, I've noticed a few things that are causing problems. As such, I wanted to take this opportunity to pass on a little information to those of you having similar problems with your Fire decks, as well as help those just getting into the game to avoid these problem areas. Knowledge raises the LEVEL of competition, and that certainly is not a bad thing.
Quick Note: While discussing the 'problem areas' with Fire, no other Civilizations are considered - though they are when dicussing the 'fixes' (covered in Burning Your Bridges Part II: Allies).
Your Creatures, Your Mana, and You.
Creatures
Let's start with the BIG (shiney) GUYS: Bolshack, Gattling Skyterror, Astrocomet Dragon, and Scarlet Skyterror are cards your opponent DOES NOT want to see you summoning to the field. Any card you play that makes your opponent twitch is a good thing (and these guys definately have a good twitch-factor).
These cards are very powerful, and oftimes very difficult for your opponent to deal with. Decks that have multiple copies of these cards can run into big problems, however (very serious problems if you max-out and run four (4) copies each). Yes, they are big, they are shiney, and can cause your opponent all kinds of fits. IF (big IF) they get on the field. And that's problem one.
So why is too many holo's a problem? Mana cost. Most holo's available in this initial set have a high-end Mana cost to summon (7 Mana on average 6-8 Mana overall, I believe). What that means is that if you fill your deck with holos' (using my extreme '4 copies each' example) you are looking at a deck that possesses sixteen (16) cards that are virtually useless to you (except as mana) until turn 6 (minimum). That is an awfully long to time. As most decks I've seen run (on average) between 20 and 28 Creatures per deck, that leaves you with a scant 4-12 'other' creatures you can draw. Those odds aren't TERRIBLY bad but remember that Fire is not exactly oriented towards defense and even with it's decent range and amount of Monster Removal cards, you still leave yourself open for a dangerously long time.
For those of you who play/played YGO (like me), think of these high-mana cost holos as Tribute Monsters. When putting together a YGO deck, would you put up to 16 Tribute Monsters in your deck? No. DM does allow you to put a few more of these high-cost creatures in your deck, but even so, having them comprise upwards of half your deck is excessive and not exactly good practice.
As I mentioned, these holos are NOT bad cards - IF used in moderation. Again, the only real benefit you gain from running too many of these in your deck is that when you lose, you at least have some pretty cards in your hand to look at. :)
Mana
(Tecnically this is about creatures as well but as these creatures affect your mana I felt they needed to be discussed seperately).
Not having enough mana has actually been THE biggest culprit as far as hurting Fire using decks. Why? Mana Burners. Just as with putting too many holos in your deck can cause problems, so can including too many of these cards (again - all things in moderation).
Mana Burners, cards like Artisan Picora, Onslaughter Tricpes, and Explosive Fighter Ucarn, 'burn' mana when they are summoned (i.e. they remove mana from your mana pool to the graveyard). This can be very bad, especially if you're counting on getting some of those rather deadly holos on the field. These cards can REALLY slow your deck down if care isn't taken.
As an example, say you've drawn your initial hand and you've pulled Astrocomet Dragon (yay!) If you add one (1) card to your Mana Pool on each of your turns, you can summon Astrocomet on your turn seven (7). Not too shabby.
However, for every Mana Burner you play, you increase the number of turns it takes you to get Astrocomet onto the field by one (1). In other words, if you summon, say, two (2) Artisan Picora and one (1) Onslaughter Triceps, you have just delayed getting Astrocomet Dragon onto the field by three (3) turns (meaning a minimum of 10 turns having to pass before you can summon Astrocomet Dragon).
But what about Bolshack, you say, doesn't he get more powerful for every Fire card I have in my graveyard? Wouldn't these Mana Burners help him? Yes, these cards would help Bolshack - but ONLY when he's on the field. He's powerless if he's still in your hand, and if you're Mana Burners are sending Mana to the Graveyad every other turn, your hand is exactly where he is going to stay.
Now, don't get the wrong idea - these Mana Burners are NOT BAD CARDS (I run a few in my Fire-based deck). Just try to keep in mind what it is these cards can do. The Power for Mana cost is wonderful (Onslaughter Triceps is 3 Mana for 5000 power, for example) and that IS a good thing. Again, just be aware of how the Mana Burn effect can impact your deck.
Basically, just ask yourself whether you think the loss of mana will be out weighed by the benefit gained by playing the card. The 2000 power for 1 mana cost of Artisan Picora, for example, does not really offset the mana pool reduction inccured by playing it. Onslaughter Triceps, I think, about breaks even, and Ucarn, well, Urcarn kind of blows the curve - 9000 power and the Double-Breaker ability helps to cover the two (2) mana burned to summon him.
Summary
In conclusion: moderation (sick of that word yet?). Try not to load up your deck with too many of either high-cost holos or mana burners (and especially not both!).
Now, if you don't feel as though you can (or want) to reduce the numbers of holos or burners in your deck - that's okay - I'll cover some 'fixes' and options in Part II.
Okay, enough for now - no sense making your eyes water-up from the strain.
Questions or comments are always welcome (well, except for those oh-so-original 'You Suck!' comments - that's right, buddy, good come back - nice to see you're making good use of that vast vocabulary of yours).
Send Questions or Comments to 'Mythus':
EthMythus@Aol.Com
Please include 'Mythus' in the Subject line - makes it easier to pick out your e-mails from amongst the avalanche of Viagra and 'unmentionable' spam that gets through my filters (I may have to look into the Prozoc thing, though, hmm...ooo! and a free trip to Spain! And look, someone sent me a free picture - I wonder what it ... AHHHH! Did NOT need to see that! Great, now I'm going to need therapy! Thanks a lot, Spky_Herford_kitty_Grl882! I'm sending YOU the bill from my shrink!)