Advantage. The Article. Jason "dietseto" Dishong
WARNING!!! If you don't want to read a long article on Yu-Gi-Oh! Do not read this. This is intended for the hard-core Yu-Gi-Oh gamer. Anyone intending to enter any Premier Event this season, take a look at this.
 

Advantage.

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The game of Yu-Gi-Oh began as a simple power game. The strongest monsters won. The best Magic cards ruled all. Traps were abused. Advantage was in the field. Trap Hole, La Jinn the Mystical Genie of the Lamp, Raigeki, and Blue Eyes White Dragon were the best cards.

Now…

With more than 1000 English cards currently in circulation, the game has shifted into a strategy game. A duel of the brains. Hand advantage affects how the duel progresses. Field advantage can change hand advantage. The two are intertwined. How does one affect the other? Are both needed? What if I do not have one type of advantage? Which type of advantage is better? Well dissect these two types of advantage.

Hand Advantage.

Both duelists start with five cards. Equal advantage. From there, anything can happen. Veteran duelists then focus on the hand. Destroy the hand as fast as possible. With no hand, you have no way of replenishing your field, thus you will lose field advantage. Hand advantage is the safest type of advantage. There are less ways to get rid of the hand then the field. However, cards in your hand are of no use unless played on the field. How do you get the most out of the cards in your hand?

Trade-offs.

A fairly popular subject, duelists talk about trade-offs. For example….

Exiled Force is a 1 for 1 trade-off.

It is the number of cards you give up compared to how many they give up. Many former “staples” like Tribute to the Doomed and Magic Jammer became obsolete because of the trade-off. Both required you two get rid of two cards for one of your opponent’s cards. They did not promote hand advantage.

Some “staples” can vary in trade-offs. Example…

Raigeki.

This card can be, at most, a 1 to 5 trade-off. On average, it is a 1 to 2 trade-off. Although, at times, it can only be a 1 to 1 trade-off. Is that worth it? It has the capability to do much more. Why play it when you gain no hand advantage? Actually, you lose hand advantage with Raigeki. That doesn’t mean Raigeki is useless. It gains field advantage for you. With trade-offs, always try to get the most out of the cards you have. Spend the 1 for 1 trade-offs first, then go for the big guns (Raigeki, Dark Hole, Heavy Storm, Harpie’s Feather Duster).

Field Advantage.

The more cards on your side of the field, the better your field advantage. Whoever has more cards on the field holds field advantage. Field advantage, however, can be easily taken (and given up). The field is the most vulnerable part of the game. How can you keep it? Many ways…

· Monster Removal (Raigeki, Nobleman of Crossout, Exiled Force, Mirror Force
· M/T Removal (Mystical Space Typhoon)
· Battle
· Monster Recursion (Monster Reborn)

· Special Summon (Mystic Tomato)
· Stall (Spirit Reaper)
· Negation (Imperial Order, Jinzo, Royal Decree)
· Beatsticks


If you can keep field advantage, there is a lesser chance that you will lose hand advantage. Cards like Don Zaloog and The Forceful Sentry can be stopped provided you have the right cards. Don Zaloog must deal Battle Damage to you. If you can hold the field with a beatstick or defense monster, Don Zaloog can’t deal damage to your life points. If the Pre-Negators (Delinquent Duo, The Forceful Sentry, Confiscation) cannot be activated, you can keep hand advantage (if you already have it). Sometimes, the cost to maintain field advantage is life points. Field advantage is temporary. Field advantage changes so many times during the course of a duel. Ultimately, if you can control the field long enough, you can control the hand, which will lead to life point advantage.

 

 

But now that Chaos has engulfed the metagame, people are trying to find ways to control the chaos. Huge beatsticks can be summoned just by playing Painful Choice correctly. How can it be stopped?

 

Graveyard Advantage

 

A new type of advantage. With so many Chaos decks around, mirror matches between them happen ALL the time. Out of all the matches I’ve seen in Regionals, Nationals, and Worlds, it really helps to control the graveyard. Particually, your opponent’s,

 

The key to summoning the Envoys is to remove one DARK and one LIGHT attribute monster. Here’s a simple concept.

 

If your opponent does not have at least one DARK and one LIGHT monster in his graveyard, he cannot summon an envoy. Thus, you reduce his chances of winning the duel.

 

Chaos decks focus so much on summoning the envoys. So much that if you deny them the opportunity to summon one, their options decrease dramatically.

 

It is like in Texas Hold ‘Em Poker; say you have a pair of sixes. Your opponent has a King and a Six. In order to get a set of sixes (three-of-a-kind), you need a six to appear on the board. However, since your opponent has one six, and you have two, there is only one more six left in the deck. Your options have decreased because of that. Your opponent could catch one of three Kings left in the deck to out-pair you.

 

Cards such as Kycoo, Soul Release, Big Burn, Nobleman of Crossout, and D.D. Warrior Lady all control your opponent’s graveyard in one way or another. I saw an overview of the finals at the World Championship. The winner, from Japan, had at least one Nobleman of Crossout. Sure, it is a one-for-one trade-off, but instead of a monster going to the graveyard, it is going out-of-play.

 

 

 

What do you think? How does one advantage affect the other (In your opinion)? Which is more important? What cards can offer the best hand and field advantage?

 

 

Any questions/comments? email me at darktitan@comcast.net, AIM me at d1sh0ng, or YIM me at yourworstnightmare_27. If you see me around the Pojo boards, I'm dietseto. This is Jason "dietseto" Dishong signing off.