From: GUYOBRAINS@aol.com [mailto:GUYOBRAINS@aol.com]
Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2006 7:29 AM

Subject: The Rant to End All Rants, Part 1: "Staples" - Neo King of Games

Well, as promised in my article about the most underplayed fusion monster ever, I'm gonna rant for awhile about all kinds of stuff involving the game. I will also elaborate a little in some of these as to why I'm doing the theme decks in the first place. First (as you can tell by the title) will be "staples".

For those of you who don't know (and how the heck can you not know this?) "staple" is a term used for a card that can fit into almost any deck without hurting that deck. So-called "staples" in this game include: Breaker, D. D. Warrior Lady, Exiled Force, D. D. Assailant, Cyber Dragon, etc., etc., etc.

I'm here to reveal the truth. There is no such thing as a staple card.

I know. It's shocking. But it's true. There is no such thing as a total staple that can be used in every single deck. Now, that's not to say there just plain aren't staples. There are staples for certain kinds of decks. For example, a LV deck is not complete without multiples of Level Up!.

Let me explain. Let's look at each of the above mentioned "staples" separately.

Breaker the Magical Warrior. A good card, definitely. But a staple in every deck? No. I personally would only use it in a Spellcaster deck or a DARK Beatdown deck. Hm...if they brought back BLS or CED (or I switched to Traditional), maybe a Chaos deck. But most certainly not a Warrior deck! Just because he's a Magical Warrior doesn't mean he's a Warrior-type! Granted, upon hearing about it, I figured it must be a Warrior-type, but it's not.

Now, the D. D. monsters. Warrior Lady is, in my opinion, the better of the two. But that doesn't make her a staple. If people did as I say, these would only be in a truly dedicated Warrior deck or a remove from play deck. Otherwise...you shouldn't be running them!

Exiled Force. Now why is this a staple? Now don't get me wrong, I get that it's a good card if used at the right time. But it's best used when...I'd say when summoned via Marauding Captain's effect. Then at least you could have a monster left and maybe be able to attack. Honestly though...you're giving up your summon for the turn to destroy a monster. Why not just summon something stronger than the monster you'd destroy...or maybe use a spell or something.

My biggest problem is with Cyber Dragon. Everyone's running this if they have it. But they shouldn't. Why? Because it only belongs in a Machine deck! It, like Exiled Force, can be good if used right...but that doesn't mean it should be in every deck ever made!

Some might ask "What's your point? Why aren't these cards staples?"

Well, it's because they're used in decks that they never belonged in. Cyber Dragon shouldn't be used in a Warrior deck because it's not a Warrior-type! But unfortunately everyone's running CD in their Warrior decks "because it's a staple".

The point is that there are no staples that can be used in every single deck. There are staples for certain kinds of decks, like Level Up! for a LV deck (as previously mentioned). However, there are no cards in the game that can be used in any kind of deck without hurting it.

Keep cards in the deck that they were meant to be in. Someone once told me that putting staples in a deck makes it more interesting. Let me ask you, do you think that using the same cards as everyone else is interesting? I sure as heck don't. It makes for some boring duels because you don't have any new, unknown cards between the two of you. You have the exact same thing which means all the plays will end up being mirror images of previous moves.

This is why I'm doing the theme decks. To build decks that are plenty competitive without these so-called "staple" cards in them. Sure, some of the decks will have cards that are considered staples. But that's only because they fit the theme.

So don't think of a card as a staple. Because as I said, there are no staples. Maybe you'll find another card that better fits the theme and is just as good, or maybe even better than the "staple" you have, yet that card doesn't fit in any other deck.

Well, that's it for my rant on staples. Expect another long article like this one soon enough.

As always, questions, comments, deck themes, etc. can be sent to GUYOBRAINS@aol.com.