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 Yugioh Tournament Reports

From: Anteaus44@aol.com [mailto:Anteaus44@aol.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 26, 2006 12:18 AM

Subject: The Message-Anteaus

OK, people, listen up. This is going to be harsh. Real harsh.

The message boards are crap. They should be treated like crap, because there really is no way that you can see what people have said to you. Plus, it's not as edited, so flaming is common. So is spam .G0d, I hate spam. The point of this entire thing is this: wake up and smell the TCG page. That's all I'm saying. Sure, it takes a bit longer, especially over the weekend, and this is where the boards are good. Not just good, but great, but the TCG page is where it really is.

Why, you ask, is the TCG page so much better? Because you don't have people flaming you all the time, which is great. Also, you get to flame the message boards (a little hypocrisy to start the day) :) But really, when it comes down to it, all you see on the boards is this:

Cyber Dragonz rul, cum r/f my dek:

3x Cyber Dragon

3x D.D.A

And the rest we know by heart. Cookie cutters, man, that's all it is. You know what: Cyber Dragon is so freaking overrated it's pathetic. Sure, you get a free summon, but you know what? Cyber Dragon gets pwned. PWNED. You know why? Because it sucks. Because you got 3x Smashing Ground, 3x Sakuretsu Armor, and now, with the new CoS/Bazoo deck, you have RFtDD, which in my opinion is g0dly. Plus, you have Mystic Tomato/Newdoria, Chaos Sorcerer, etc. etc.

The fact of the matter is is that I was right. People are out to win. In fact, I have my original article, written in September 2004 about the upcoming banlist:

"Hey everyone, I've been writing for a while now, but not recently. I've got a few ideas on the Banlist, if anyone out there is still interested, but oh well, if your not, don't read this.

Anyway...

The Banlist, in my opinion, sucks. But, we all have to deal with it and accept it, especially if we are to become the next World Champion, am I right? But the Banlist, despite its despicability (is that a word?), can be a good thing.

For starters, it'll produce new decks. Everone always bitches about how Chaos and Control and Beatdown dominate and are old. Well, you got your wish. Everyone is now on equal footing, as far as the Banlist goes. No more "staples" or "1 turn KO cards." It's all about being creative. Which is really what the game is all about, right?

No. The game is based to win. As soon as the first winning deck is seen, people will copy it. Then, after a year or so goes by, the cards in that deck will become limited or banned, and then, what next? Another deck will come, and people will follow that. Sure, there will be another deck to counter that (i.e. Control vs. Beatdown...Chaos vs. Removal...see where I'm going with this?), but for the most part, people follow what wins. Therefore, originality can officially be ruled out as a side-effect of the Banlist.

Winning is everything to anyone. Don't be fooled by the people who say "it's okay if I lose...I'm just playing for fun." Yeah f***ing right. You play because you want to win. You want to dominate over the person sitting across from you, to show them your skills and taunt them behind their backs and say "that's right, I kicked you ass!" Don't deny it, it's true. I feel that way. I love winning. If I didn't care about winning, I would be using a crappy-ass Gravekeepers deck or something like that. I wouldn't have poured my sweat and blood into my Yu-Gi-Oh! deck.

Oh yeah, that reminds me. Konami just decides to tear apart all that a certain duelist has worked for. The duelist has slaved for weeks, somtimes months, just to make their deck awesome, to show the world that they are a force to be reckoned with. They built their deck by constantly seeing how other people played and improving on their strategies. Now, those strategies are broken. The hard work, the sweat, the time, the money...all for nothing. The packs you bought, hoping for the Yata or Mirror Force, the money...wasted.

Now, those people who are saying "but they'll show themselves and others that it doesn't take good cards to win." Yeah f***ing right. People don't win a duel or a tournament with a Lightning Conger, no matter how well they play it. It takes good cards to mold a good duelist, not the other way around. I got good by learning how to play my cards right. The cards make the duelist. Why do you think no two decks are alike? Because one person could put Yata in their deck and win every time. Another, the same deck and lose every time. It's not how you play the cards; it's how the cards play you, how they mold you into what you are.

That's how people migrate to one deck or another. Deck-building is not something that can be taught; it's based purely on one's own style of playing. One person could play a Burn deck, and another a Control deck. Switch the two, and they'll be lost. They migrate toward a certain deck because of how they play.

Now, that migration is being halted. People who play Control suddenly are without a Control deck. Imagine being a soldier, going into battle without your gun, or your lucky hat. See, that's how it is in Yu-Gi-Oh! Take away part of a person's deck, and you take away their chances of winning. Not to say that people aren't good and can't adapt. All I'm saying is that it takes a lot of practice to switch from one deck-type to another. I've done it, several times. It sucks.

Which brings me back to my point on how the deck makes the player. You can choose any type of deck you like, but if that's not your style, you will not become a good duelist. One must conform to their own style of play rather than play another persons deck. But then the argument comes up: "Isn't that originality?" No. It is merely a fact. You will not win by being original. I don't care who you are. You will not win. There are two winning decks as of right now: Beatdown and Control. Each will change because of the Banlist, but both will retain their qualities and their backfires, so to speak. But at the core, the principal will remain the same: kill, or control. Since when did Exodia make it to the finals? Burn? Gravekeeper? Sure, their fun, but they aren't there to win.

Which in turn leads me back to the old argument, people are there to win. They are, so in turn, originality in tournaments will decrease, and the cycle will start all over again. If you don't believe me, watch. Watch at home, at your local tournament store, or just watch on Pojo, if you like. You will not see many Exodia decks winning. I guarantee it.

If you skipped ahead to this, that's a shame. If you read it, you'll see that I was right all along. Originality bloomed, sure, but it has its limits. Now, everyone uses the same deck to win, over and over, but instead of the cards being BLS-EotB and Chaos Emperor Dragon, they're Cyber Dragon and D.D. Assailant.



It's truly a shame. We see it all the time, in every city. It's the death of...something. Originality is beat to hell, we know that. The death of a good deck, I guess. A deck that wins because it's original.



E-mail me at Anteaus44@aol.com, or otherwise just post on the TCG page.