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Card Advantage/The Big Cheese - fridginators

From: "Azza Fridginators" <shiny_golden_boy@hotmail.com>
Date: Sat, 30 Jul 2005 11:52:53 +1000

I hate cheese.

Note: The article "Winning Warrior Hand Control - Night Elf Wolf" was by me.
I forgot to do a bit of the heading and name so Tranorix was kind enough to do what he could. If he could just fix it, i would be very grateful."

Ok I am going to go on about Card Advantage. What wins and loses duels. I am going to give guides to the new and the old about how to deal with Card Advantage.

I would like to thank Deathjester for talking about Card Advantage, he has been going in the right direction but he is a bit off. I will now explain how Card Advantage works.

Example #1

I play Pot of Greed. I lose 1 card from my hand, then i draw 2. Pot of Greed's advantage is +1.

Example #2

I summon D.D.Assailant and attack Tribe Infecting Virus. I have lost no cards, my opponent lost one. The advantage is +1 to me.

Example #3

I summon Tribe Infecting Virus and discard Heavy Storm to destroy D.D.Survivor. There is no advantage. I lost 1 card, so did my opponent.
There was no change; the advantage is 0.

Example #4

I tribute Spirit Reaper to summon Jinzo. I attack a face down D.D.Warrior Lady and both monsters are removed through its effect. I lose 2 monsters or
1 monster and 1 card from my hand, while my opponent loses a D.D.Warrior Lady. The advantage is -1.

Example #5

I summon Breaker the Magical Warrior and use its effect to destroy a Mirror Force. Then I attack a face down Don Zaloog. My opponent loses Don and Mirror Force. I lose nothing. The advantage is +2.

Ok i think you got the picture through five examples. Basically, when you summon a monster or set a spell or trap, there is no difference in advantage. The lost card in your hand is invested in the field, you lose a card in the hand and gain a card in the field, thus 0 advantage. However, if the card gives you an extra card or lessens your opponents cards without leaving the field, that is where you get advantage.

Example #1

I flip summon Magician of Faith targeting Pot of Greed. I get Pot back, (+1) and play it (0) and then get two cards (+2). So Magician of Faith was a +2, unless it is then destroyed by a monster, thus making it +1.

Example #2

I summon Tribe Infecting Virus and discard a Night Assailant, getting back the other one and declare Machine to destroy a Jinzo. That is a +1 to me since i got to kill 1 monster at the cost of 0 cards.

Ok i think most of you are now starting to get the picture on card advantage. Argh, i was meaning to do this whole huge article on Card Advantage but i just can't put it onto imaginary paper.

Oh and the rule of the thumb. A 3 for 2 is in most cases, better than a 2 for 1, while your winning at least. For instance, Graceful discarding Serpent is better than Pot of Greed. While the advantage is the same, you get to cycle more through your deck. Some people think Graceful is better than Pot even without Serpent!

But now, to the guides. First of all, the Beginners guide:

Card Advantage is really what you should mostly be aware about. Such cards as the Cheerful Coffin, while they may dump tributes, are horrible cards since you lose 4 cards with them.

Also, when playing a non-continuous, non-equip and non-field spell or trap card (in other words a Normal Magic, Quickplay, Normal Trap, Counter Trap or Ritual Spell [Quickplay Magic sounds cooler than Quickplay Spell, vice versa with Rituals]), that card is a -1.

So playing Cheerful Coffin at first is a -1, then with its effect it is a -4. Nobody plays cards that lose them four cards do they? No!

And also, the beatdown deck isn't the way. Just running 1900's is not going to kill anyone. Why? Because they will then use powerful effect monsters such as Cyber Jar, Tribe Infecting Virus, Magician of Faith and Don Zaloog to kick you easily.

People do run Berserk Gorilla. People do run Blade Knight. Everyone realises that they are excellent cards. However, nobody runs 1900's besides Slate Warrior and Skilled Dark Magician. I digress, this is supposed to be about card advantage!

Try running cards that supposedly give you Card Advantage. Try using some of the ideas that pros use. I am not saying netdeck, i am saying try to see what combos are used and why.

Also, DO NOT BURN YOUR HAND! Sure, you got your opponent onto 1000 life points. Great job. However, you now have no hand and your opponent is just cruising by with a timely Tribe Infecting Virus and a Call of the Haunted on Airknight. You lose 3500 life points and are top decking, while your opponent has about 3-4 cards in hand, 2 monsters and a few protective traps.
Not a good situation for you.

Try to keep your hand, and realise that life points aren't that important as you think. If you have Gorilla and your opponent has Mad Dog, both face up attack position, dont bother playing Fissure to destroy the Mad Dog and attacking directly with Gorilla, just attack Mad Dog with Gorilla and save that fissure for a better time.

And for the love of god, DO NOT RUN TRIBUTE TO THE DOOMED! It is NOT a good card. Too often i see noobs running TTTD or something bad like it. You lose two cards for their one. If you want to run discarding cards, run Raigeki Break, Phoenix Feather Wing Blast (more commonly known by me as Phoenix
Blast) and Back to Square One. While none of these even out on the card advantage, they disrupt the opponent well and are much more versatile.

Basically, for you newibes, consider about what cards you use in your deck, why you use them and how efficient they are. Remember to email me at shiny_golden_boy@hotmail.com if you are having trouble.

Now for the experts/pros/more experience guys. "But wait fridge, I'm not stupid, i know Card Advantage is the give all and end all! You don't need to tell me that!"

Now here is where my advice comes in handy.

For guys who completely DEPEND on card advantage, i think you are forgetting life points, and field advantage.

Ignore my previous articles, the field and life points both matter A LOT!
Why did you think Aggro did so well in the last format? It's because we didn't have enough counters to their massive attacks and effects, their Warriors and Beasts would just cain everyone before you could get a good enough setup. (I'm not saying that Aggro was unbeatable im just saying it was really really good last format for those smart alecs).

Consider some life point damage cards in your deck, such as Ceasefire, Stealth Bird and Wave Motion Cannon. They are all excellent cards, especially Ceasefire.

Even if you have 6 cards in hand and your opponent is top decking, but you only have 1100 life points left, you are in extreme danger (especially if your opponent is playing Beasts). You have got to realise that you can't keep on sacraficing your life points, because your opponent WILL eventually top deck BLS/Premature/Call (both of which on Airknight or something
powerful) or Ring/Cylinder/Ceasefire. Or Blade Knight/D.D.Assailant.

So you have to be more careful with life points, otherwise while your opponent will burn their hand, you will be sitting on a ticking time bomb.
Unless you pull off a feat like i did with my Strike Ninja deck (i was at 300 and my opponent has Enraged. I draw graceful, draw into pot, call of the haunted DMoC, and eventually win the game, to then win the tournament) you will fall.

Or like at the regionals, in the finals, i was playing Reza and i got him to 100 (i won first game) and he used Pot like 3 times and used Graceful. How i survived? I kept on attacking! I kept on pushing him down even though i thought i couldn't win this game! Eventually it was called on time, so i won. I still have to make things up with Reza (we are a bit icy with each other ever since a nameless incident [well it really isn't my fault but anyway]).

So thats how Card Advantage works. It decides games, yet life points can still take the game, so be wary on both accounts. For example, if i Heavy Storm, after already using Breaker and MST, to destroy 3 bluffs or useless cards and my opponent still has Premature, Call and Snatch, i will be in a lot of trouble.

shiny_golden_boy@hotmail.com for those emails that i never get :P. My Ban List topic is underway and I WAS GOING TO DO IT BEFORE EVERYONE ELSE DID!
w00t, in a bit less than two months we will get away from this crapshot of a format! Well we will know what format we are playing in anyway.

Hopefully Pojo posts this up soon, anyway Cya!

azza / fridginators

Decline Three is out! I wish they would release another One Ring to Rule Them All!

The Babel Fish has an odd effect, when you put it in your ear you can instantly understand anything said to you in any form of language. Now this is so highly bizzare so many have seen it as the final clinching proof of the non existance of god. The argument goes like this:

"I refuse to proove I exist," Says God. "For proof denies faith and without faith i am nothing."
"But," Says Man. "The Babel Fish is a dead give away. It prooves you exist and therefore you dont. QED."
"Oh," Says God. "I hadn't thought of that," And promptly vanishes in a puff of logic.
"Oh that was easy," Says Man and for an encore goes to prove that black is white and gets killed on the next zebra crossing.

I like the hitch hikers guide to the galaxy