Dagreenbeast62’s
A Brief History of Dueling pt1.
Hello fellow patrons and newcomers to pojo.com! For
those (and by those I mean probably all of you) of
you who don’t know me, I have been reading Pojo
since my Poke’mon days. I have written a couple of
tournament reports here and there, but nothing
major. The reason for this article is because as a
duelist, I feel it is my job to know my roots, how I
have progressed throughout the years, and to share
any information I have with other duelists. That,
and the fact that finals are coming up and I have to
take my history final cause I didn’t take the AP
test, but that’s another story.
Hopefully, most duelists know how fun the game is
(or else why would they play it?) but some might not
know the full history behind it. This is by no means
the history of Yu-gi-oh, just the YGO TCG here in
America, cause I don’t live anywhere else. If you
want a timeline, check the timeline on the side bar
Note: If there are any mistakes, please contact me
at the address at the end of the article
Now, the YGO TCG success was spawned here in the US
because the T.V. show was a success. Who would have
ever thought of a spiky haired kid playing a card
game, with emphasis on friendship and teamwork
rolled into a crazy half hour TV show? Not I said
the pig. Enter the birth of the TCG:
• 2002•
• February/ March 2002, the first YGO TCG products
was released in America (a.k.a. the Yugi and Kaiba
structure decks, and the first booster set, Legend
of Blue eyes, and the cards that came with the
various video games.
Now, due to the release of these cards, the duelist
of the time, were primitive. We all based our decks
on raw power. Aggro was born. From Blue Eyes, to
Labyrinth of Nightmare, Aggro ruled the metagame,
with some hints of Exodia decks here and there.
September is when the game faces possible change
with the release of Toon monsters, and cards like
MST, however the Toons were short lived. 2002 ends
with Pharaoh’s Servant booster packs. This
revolutionized decks with cards such as Jinzo,
Imperial Order, Call of the Haunted, and Pre-Mature
burial. However, all the sets released still
encouraged Aggro with cards like Goblin Attack Force
and trample monsters like Mad Sword Beast.
• 2003•
The year 2003 was a big step in the YGO TCG. World
championships for both the videogame and the card
game were held, as well as game breaking cards.
In March, Labyrinth of Nightmare introduced more
Aggro- related cards like Gemini Elf, Power of
Teamwork, Mage Power, Bazoo, and Kycoo. It also
released a plethora of traps such as Torrential
Tribute, Magical Cylinders, and Bakura’s famed
Destiny Board, which added to the alternate win
decks.
•May 2003 Legacy of Darkness is introduced.
This deserves its own period due to its game
breaking cards and strategies. Major cards such as
Yata Garasu, Creature Swap, Last Turn, Fiber Jar,
numerous Warrior support like Marauding Capitan,
Exiled Force, and Freed the Matchless General, and
Reinforcements of the Army. Attributes that were
previously not played competitively were given cards
like Twin- Headed Behemoth and Spear Dragon (as well
as even more dragons). This set revolutionized the
way that duelists, well, dueled (with the possible
exception of Spirit Monsters). “Yata-lock” became
the first real known cookie cutter deck.
During July, Pharaonic Guardian was released. With
it came deck staple Ring of Destruction as well as
new deck types such as Gravekeepers, Dark Scorpions
(which, at the time, were overlooked with the
possible exception of Don Zaloog), and Zombies were
given additional support. The first Sasuke Samurai
was introduced also.
• August 10, 2003 the first World Championship
tournament was held, with Ng Yu Leung from China
winning.
Still, in an Aggro dominated metagame, the YGO game
continues with Magician’s force, which brought more
spellcasters into the game, including fan favorite
Dark Magician Girl. Dark crisis was released at the
end of the year in December, with possible new deck
strategies such as Archfiends and Guardian monsters.
Big cards like Vampire Lord and Reflect Bounder were
introduced. This set also expands a little in the
remove from play part of the game (also known as the
“Different Dimension”) with cards like D.D. Warrior
Lady.
This ends part one of this hopefully continuous
article in the History of the YGO TCG. We end with
the set right before the infamous booster set that
revolutionized the game forever, Invasion of Chaos.
In my opinion, the IOC year should be its own
separate story, and maybe some day, it will be.
Dagreenbeast62
If you have any questions, comments, or mystical
shine balls, send them to:
Dagreenbeast62@gmail.com
