As any experienced player would know, the game is more than building a deck and battling; you must also take into account the physical and psychological aspects if you wish to rise to the top. Here is a list of my top 10 ways to inprove your game of Yu-Gi-Oh!

Number 10: Get some nice sleeves and a box. Sleeves make your cards slicker and easier to manipulate and shuffle. Keep them in a snazzy box that shows off your deck. Don't just use the clear ones, either! Nothing says that you're ready to give the game your all like a metal case or wooden box. Hunt outside the card store!

Number 9: Check out the magic store. Take out some books on card manipulation and tricks. Learn the Hindu, Overhand, and Dovetail shuffles to manipulate your cards better. Read up on some card tricks, and learn some basic sleight of hand, like the glide. A little pre-game card tricks with your deck really psyches out your opponents. Just don't do it in the match, please.

Number 8: Slow down! If there's one thing I hate, it's cocky duelists who play lightning-fast and abbreviate card names during play. Turn down the tempo a bit. Play slowly, and contemplate your moves. Think ahead. Don't try to outspeed opponents. The game doesn't work like that.

Number 7: Analyze your Deck. Map out your deck and make a 'hot sheet' of percentages of cards. Try sorting them by Magic/Trap/Monster, effect, ATK, Level Stars, etc. Find out the probability of getting certain cards or combos out in a certain number of turns, so you can adjust the deck to speed up play.

Number 6: Think outside the box. Try to think outside Bazoo, and Kycoo, Gemini Elf, and Exodia. Try new cards. The Spirit and Toon monsters are good for this. Experiment, and make your own deck.

Number 5: Calm Down! It's only a game! So what if you win the tourney? It's only a game. Play for fun, or the game's gonna get really boring, really fast.

Number 4: Make Sacrifices. Don't guard your monsters with your life. Attack face-down monsters and do suicide attacks. Use Heavy Storm when you have monsters. Try playing monsters to Torrential Tribute.

Number 3: Hold off on that monster in your hand. Don't play out your hand so you can get in a huge hit. They may have Mirror Force, Kuriboh, etc. Always try to keep at least one <4 Star Monster or a respawning card (monster reborn, etc) so you won't get hosed by a Dark Hole, Raigeki, etc.

Number 2: Don't buy cards just for the sake of buying cards. When that new set comes out, don't rush and buy a booster box. See a spoiler or a friend who has the set. Quite a few people made this mistake with Magic Ruler. If you like the set, try and trade for the cards you need. Would you rather have a great deck or a fat binder?

Number 1: Create Your Own Archetype! Do you play your deck because you saw someone else use it? Make your own deck, in your own archetype! (An archetype is a type of deck, like beatdown, that is copied over and over because it wins.) Make your own deck, top to bottom. And be flexible. You don't need to run an all-spirit or all-toon or all-fusion deck. Try a little of this, a little of that, and make a unique deck that describes you!