Subject: A Piece on Psychology ~ Nerimon

Hi, this is Nerimon here. Before I start - PLEASE READ THIS! I know it's long but in my opinion it's worth it. I have too much time on my hands and I got carried away, but everything here is valuable knowledge - even if you save this on your computer for a later read, please read it! Also, many many thanks to Pojo for posting my previous tip about rich kids on the site - it means SO much to me *cheesy grin*

Now that's outta the way . . . I thought I'd write this because everyone is going on about card rulings, deck strategies, card combos and set lists - yes, the 'card trading' aspect of Yu-Gi-Oh. And rightly so, considering that this is a 'trading card' game (don't worry, I do have a point). However, in the words if one Mai Valentine, "Psychology is half the game." And this is the half that is not discussed as much, but I thought I'd write a little bit about the less-known aspect of Yu-Gi-Oh; mind games, more formally known as psychology.

OK, your opponent has a Goblin Attack Force, Summoned Skull and Gemini Elf on the Field. Your field consists of a flipped Mysterious Guard in DEF mode, which returned the other guy's Shadow Ghoul to the top of their Deck when it was flipped. Your opponent says, "I'll attack Mysterious Guard," and you place your hand over your only face down M/T card, that was Set last turn. You smile at your opponent and say, "What are you gonna attack with?" Seeing your lack of worry about the slaughter to come, and your hand on the face down M/T, your opponent holds back slightly - it is likely you have a Trap prepared when an attack is called. Could be Magic Cylinder, or worse - Mirror Force! Your opponent has been thrown off by this and says,. "um . . ." while you think he is thinking about what monster to attack with, he is contemplating all the options. 'My opponent could be bluffing . . . but if it is a trap like Mirror Force I only have 750 LP; he could move Mysterious Guard to ATK mode and wipe out my Life. Magic Cylinder would wipe out my Life too. And Just Desserts. Negate Attack would be OK, but it would be irritating.' Looking again at your calm face, he says, "no it's OK, I'll leave you a turn to get your defenses up before I shatter them all!" While he is talking tough, you have just stopped your opponent from attacking - simply with your hand and your smile. How does this phenomenon work? Yes, it's psychology. Of course, this may not always work - some people think, "the trap's gonna be activated anyway, so I might as well just spring it and then I don't have to worry about it in the future". But hey, every little helps! Through the course of this article I'll be explaining various techniques you can use to 'psych out' your opponent, and how to stop yourself from being 'psyched out' by another. Just think, if your opponent had attacked with his three fearsome monsters, you'd be dead - your face-down card was only a Black Pendant, after all. However, because you managed to save yourself a turn, you drew Summoned Skull and Tributed Mysterious Guard for it, equipping it with B. Pendant and destroying Gemini Elf for the win! *cheers* The point I'm making is that psychology can save you a duel. Using these techniques will make you a much better duelist, so let's get started!

OK, the first thing I'll mention is the one I just touched on in the example above - bluffing. It's a key ingredient to the game and also can be fun, if you're good at it! Watching your opponent squirm as they wonder whether or not you're bluffing, or double or triple bluffing is always a good thing because you know you're unnerving your opponent - which means they won't be as focused and they're more likely to make errors. Just to clarify for those that don't know, a bluff is when you make the opponent believe that you are doing something you're not - you're lying (or bluffing) but the opponent cannot be sure whether you are telling the truth or not, that's where its magic lies. A double bluff is when you pretend you've got something and you really have it, for example:

(Bluff)
Opponent: I'll attack . . .
You: *place hand on face-down M/T*
Opponent: No, I won't - I'll end my turn
You: *reveals card, which was Destiny Board*

You fooled him and thus saved yourself from attack. However:

(Double Bluff)
Opponent: I'll attack . . .
You: *place hand face-down on M/T* You don't wanna do that, I have a Trap . . .
Opponent: You're bluffing - attack!
You: *reveal Magic Cylinder* I warned you!

That's a double bluff, where you make the opponent think you have a really good card to use. This makes the opponent think you're lying, and they walk straight into the trap that you really did have! It's like bluffing a bluff. But anyway enough of this confusing talk - here are some good ways you can bluff your opponent:

1) Giving your opponent the wrong impression is always effective. For example, if your opponent has you on the ropes and you've just drawn a game-winningly brilliant card that will save you, just sigh or complain ('for goodness sake', 'oh, I keep forgetting to take that out my Deck, it's rubbish', 'I always get that when it's no help to me', etc). Say you drew Mirror Force and he had monsters, and you had an empty field. You'd say 'oh, great this is gonna help me loads!' in a sarcastic voice, set it face-down and say (in a slightly ticked off voice) 'your go'. They attack, you wipe out their monsters with the Trap.

2) Generally acting like you're a weak inexperienced player is a good tactic in victory. I call this the Rebecca Hawkins principle: named after the young girl of the same name. Now, Becks knows her stuff - she's got the little teddy bear, the cute, innocent face - all the makings of someone seemingly too good for her own good. If you got challenged by someone like that, you'd probably take pity on her and say, 'oh OK then' and then if she said 'I'll go easy on ya' you'd think 'Awwwwww!'. But wait - in the duelling arena she is still innocent, talking to her bear etc but she is a brilliant duelist underneath that front. She acts like she is just learning the game as she goes along, eg: 'Witch of the Black Forest has been sent to the Graveyard. Oh nooooo - wait, teddy says that it has an effect!' Stuff like that. Say in that above example, you've drawn Mirror Force and bluffed to make your opponent think that you've drawn something bad. Then when they attack, you say 'oh, I'll chain that . . . (pick up the card and pretend to read it) yeah, I think I can do that - I'll play this. It probably won't help me . . .' (put Mirror Force face-down and watch opponent's face change). Another example is wiping out their Life Points; anyone who's played Mario Party on N64 will know Peach's trademark 'oooh, did I win?!?' when she claims a win. Saying 'oh,you're on 0 LP - that means you've lost doesn't it?' Some of this will probably be beneath many of you, and I have to say I have never tried this 'innocent, weak player' stuff but I think it would work. It'd really irritate the opponent too - right from the off, you're winding him/her up with your constant questions about rulings and things, and that'll make him/her agitated and thus, more likely to make mistakes. They just think 'I have to get this duel over with and let that be it!'. Age can also be a factor - I wanted to trade this guy a couple of cards for his Red Eyes (he had two) and so he challenged me for it - if I win, I get Red Eyes, if he wins he gets Drop Off and King Tiger Wanghu. I won ^__^ I don't think he expected it cos I'm 14. People automatically assume that younger people means less experience and worse players, but this can often work in reverse.

3) Another good bluffing technique is talking. Talk a lot - when your Blue Eyes gets sent to the Graveyard, say 'that's only the second time it's ever been sent to the Graveyard. The first time was with a Fiend Megacyber equipped with a United We Stand.' Proceed into this long story about your Blue Eyes' first moment of destruction in it's blue-eyed life. This rattles the opponent, and again will make him more susceptible to errors. This works with bluffing because you could say to yourself (but out loud) 'I really need Dark Necrofear right now' even if you haven't got one. That tactic works well with me, everyone knows I have Obelisk the Tormentor in my deck (I play him as a 4000 ATK/DEF monster that needs 3 sacrifices to summon, I don't use his other effects because they are not official) and when they play me that always prohibit it - leaving me free to lock them out of their deck with Yata Garasu or kill them with my Last Turn/Jowgen the Spiritualist combo. See, I might not even have Yata, Last Turn or Jowgen - I might be bluffing :-) Sorry, that was bad. Anyway, 'accidentally' revealing the cards you (don't really) have in your deck has a powerful effect. If you really wanna go that bit further, you can let your cards do the talking; put a Spirit Message or a piece of The Forbidden One in your deck, then when they see it they'll start devising strategies to counter the Exodia/Destiny Board deck that you don't own.

That's it for bluffing, now on to some other psychology tips when you're in the duelling arena:

Always stay calm. No matter how many Life Points you're on or how many bad-ass monsters are staring up at you from the other side of the Field, never lose your cool. That way, your opponent will know that they're getting to you, and will thus feel more confident. Of course, you could bluff and pretend to be rattled to raise your opponent's sense of security, then whoop him.

Always go down fighting, never give up. What shall I call my next little philosophy . . . ahh, I know: The 'Kaiba, Don't Do It!' Principle, after the classic moment he threatened to jump off Pegasus' castle roof if he lost. Anyway, The 'Kaiba, Don't Do It!' Principle is that any card can win you the duel in the right situation - every card has its own game-winning ability, every card can win the game for you. It's just that with some cards, it is easier to unleash this gamewinning power.

For example:

Skull Servant can unleash it's game-winning power when your opponent is on 200 LP or less (I think Skull Servant is 200 ATK isn't it?) and has no monsters on the field, or any Magic/Trap cards that can counter it. See, in the right situation, every card can win you a game. More examples: Labyrinth Wall - if you mix it with Shield and Sword it can wipe out your LP, provided there are no cards there to Chain it (same with everything, I
guess)
Obelisk the Tormentor - can wipe out half your Life in one attack if it can get there. See, this is why Obelisk has more obvious game-winning power, because it can take out so much in such a short time, but my point is that anything can win you the duel. So therefore, never give up; my best mate sighs and makes it plainly obvious that he's given up all hope of winning after one of his strategies falls through. He plays towards one combo, and if that combo is spoiled than he loses all interest in the game, taking the 'kill me, kill me now' approach. It's like the last few turns are just a formality to declare what he already thought; that he's lost. Anyway what I'm saying is don't take that approach, always think of things to do with the cards you have, because there might be just the right situation for some game-winning power with the things you've got ^__^

(By the way I'm in NO way telling you to put Skull Servant in your Deck, unless you really . . . want to :-\)

Always remain positive. OK, if you've lost your deck in a Duel, then it was pretty stupid of you to gamble your Deck wasn't it? Seriously though if you've lost a Duel don't start whining that the opponent cheated or something; if you thought that, you should've said sooner. If you gambled a card as a prize and you've lost it, don't get angry or swear to give up dueling - it's only one card that you can get again. There will always be more duels and more opportunities, so just stay positive. When I was knocked out of my first major Yu-Gi-Oh tourney I shook the guy's hand, congratulated him on his good Deck and wished him luck in the next round. There is no cost for manners in this game - it's even in the rules, you should be pleasant at all times!

You can try and predict what the opponent will do next if you wish, but don't get too fired up to protect your monsters, for example; if you keep them on the Field you've just played into your opponent's hand cos they've just fired a Just Desserts on ya. I mentioned earlier about bluffing, trying to throw your opponent off the scent of your real strategy; never underestimate your opponent cos he may have read this very article and could be doing the same. So, keep an open mind and don't anticipate your opponent's tactics too much, cos if you're wrong you'll regret it.

My last tip is the 'Solomon's Greatest Lesson Principle'; believe in your cards. Now, the Seto Kaibas amongst us will immediately scoff and say 'oh yeah, come off it' (sorry to sound so British there *grins and waves a UK flag*). And while it is true that believing in the cards won't magically or mystically change the order in which they are arranged, I think it does help your confidence by believing in the cards. This ties in with what I said earlier about never giving up on a duel; every card can help you, so don't give up as soon as you draw Block Attack and see it won't help you get by your opponent's Labyrinth Wall. Chances are when you can kill your opponent's Summoned Skull with a Mystic Clown by using Block Attack on it, you'll be glad you had it. Don't be discouraged if the card you've just picked up isn't brilliant - you have whole deck of brilliance still waiting to be drawn, and the Duel is still young. Just have faith that eventually the cards will come through for you, and they will.

So you'll all be pleased to know that I've come to the end of what turned out to be an essay on Yu-Gi-Oh psychology :-) I hope you're gonna come away from this having learnt something (hopefully not 'that Nerimon bloke write too much, I'm not reading any more of his work'). Did you like or dislike it? Let me know! If anyone has any comments, reviews, suggestions or flames please send them to my email address at alexd@pro-net.co.uk.

Flames will not be replied to, of course, and the sender will be put straight on my Block list - I just think they're funny. Anything constructive you have to say will of course be read and replied to as soon as I get the chance.

Take care all,
Nerimon, UK
~A duellist's spiritual energy channels through his cards; believe that you can be the best, and the cards will come through for you every time~ - Alex Day, 02 August 2003, 09:47am (Yeah, I know it's kinda dumb but still)