Building On Budget:
All That Glitters Can Even Be 10k Gold
(or perhaps yellow in this case)
March 29, 2005
By JMatthew
Welcome to my second installment of “Building on a
Budget.” For those of you just joining us on this little
journey I’ll toss out the premise once again. Or –
better yet – you can simply make your way over to the
last Budget article at Building On Budget: Big Splashes
in a Little Pond . If you’re to lazy, here it is…
Face it- the majority of Duel Master players don’t have
unlimited cash flow. Maybe you’re a kid who just barely
squeaks by on tournament fees with your allowance. Maybe
you’re an adult and have to deal with bills or a family
to consider so you can only allocated so much cash to
entertainment. Either way, the majority of players
likely fit into one of these categories or something
pretty similar. That brings me to the point of this
article.
One of the undeniably greatest things about Duel Masters
is that you don’t have to break the bank simply to build
a single deck that is truly tournament worthy. Back when
I played competitive Magic: The Gathering, I remember
carrying around Type 2 decks worth an excess of $500 –
and I had to if I wanted to win with any real
consistency. Yugi-Oh isn’t any better, especially with
their lack of limited tournament formats making many
decks worth more than their weight in gold. In Duel
Masters many of the best cards happen to run under a
dollar a piece.
Common Cause
So many collectable cards games in the past (okay – and
in the present) grant us few playable commons – at least
on the competitive level. Duel Masters actually gives us
enough playable commons that you could nearly build a
deck straight from them. Let’s check them out…
Gulan Rias, Speed Gaurdian: At first this card likely
appears rather limited – and I suppose that assessment
would be right. True, it’s powerful versus darkness, but
against any other civilization you will quickly find it
over-costed. Despite this, Gulan is a Gaurdian an thus
can take advantage of two strong light evo’s.
La Ura Giga, Sky Gaurdian: The best cheap creature in
the game. The other creatures that are able to match
it’s cost fall just don’t match. Either they will fall
to this the Sky Gaurdian (such as Deadly Fighter Braid
Claw) just don’t quite measure up (such as Aqua Guard
and Marine Flower).
Logic Cube: I’m a big fan of tutor style cards (check
out my article Strategy and Game Play: The Hidden Power
of Tutoring ) and when they come available to everyone
in the form of a common I love them even more!
Magris, Vizer of Magnetism: When you add up the numbers,
Magris should be just as good as Aqua Hulcus. Frankly,
it’s close, but still not the same. Mostly because it’s
not from a truly solid race and I would rather have the
lower power for a lower casting cost. Still, this a
pretty good card in this form for the most part.
Senatine, Jade Tree: A solid blocker for a cheap cost.
‘nuff said.
Solar Ray: Compared to the likes of Holy Awe, this is an
easily overlooked card. Still, running Solar Ray may
give you that extra kick that you may need in a much
more widely available form.
Sundrop Armor: A solid card that I’m sure we all only
wish had shield trigger.
Uncommon Ground
There are quite a bit fewer impressive Light uncommons
in Duel Masters. Wizards of the Coast does good by us
with the cards they have given us.
Diamond Cutter: This card used to be one of the
strongest cards in the game. Some of it’s power has been
lost through the release of sets, however it’s still
more than worth mentioning.
Fu Reil, Seeker of Storms: A commonly underestimated
card – mostly because it possesses limited use. While I
would not run more than two in a deck, I wouldn’t
dismiss this card to easily.
Larba Geer, the Immaculate: Light seems to have the
ability to hate nearly every civilization – even itself
sometimes.
Mist Rias, Sonic Gaurdian: An unbelievably strong card.
I’ve seem 3 or 4 cards a turn drawn with this creature.
Now THAT’S some card advantage!!
Toel, Vizer of Hope: This creature really depends upon
your local metagame. If there are a lot of people
running Holy Awe, this card is a must. If not – then you
may be able to do with out it.
Rare Beauty
While rares typically run pretty cheap (dollar wise) in
Duel Masters, a few Light rares break this rule, but
only slightly. Syforce, for example, will typically cost
you a couple of dollars. For the most part, though, even
awesome cards such as Holy Awe can be found for pretty
cheap. Once again, I haven’t gone into any real detail
with these cards, I just want to be sure that you have
looked at these. If any of them have passed your eye,
you many want to take a second gander.
Dia Nork, Moonlight Gaurdian
Glory Snow
Holy Awe
Syforce, Aurora Elemental
Szubs Kin, Twilight Gaurdian
Thanks for reading this installment of “Building on a
Budget.” I hope you enjoyed it and will join me again
next week.
Regards,
JMatthew
Markulin33@msn.com
