Yu-Gi-Oh has always been known as a game that revolves around card advantage. In simple matters, if you have substantial card advantage over your opponent you will probably win. If your opponent has substantial card advantage over you, you will probably lose. Total control of a game is obtained by netting a +1 on your opponent here and there. As the duel progresses these +1’s here and there add up into +3 or +4’s that win the game.

            As a result, duelists like to play cards that consistently go 1 for 1 with an opponent’s cards or cards that can create a potential +1 situation. Commonly seen 1-1 trades include Smashing Ground, Nobleman of Crossout, Exiled Force, and Sakuretsu Armor, to name a few. Cards that may create a +1 for you include Chaos Sorcerer, Mystic Swordsman LV2, Treeborn Frog, Breaker the Magical Warrior, Pot of Avarice, and Mirror Force, once again to name a few. With so many cards that go 1-1 or create +1’s, duelists often look past cards that automatically give you a –1, but may have game breaking effects. These types of cards that directly lose advantage, but have game breaking effects, are what I would like to concentrate on in this article.

As you will soon notice, these direct –1’s that are worth testing are almost all spell and trap cards. Some of these spells and traps can even become 1-1 trades with an opponent in certain situations or if your opponent overextends. Here are the cards I picked out for discussion:

Book of Moon

Brain Control

Ceasefire

Enemy Controller

Kuriboh

Magic Cylinder

Scapegoat

Swords of Revealing Light

United We Stand

Wave-Motion Cannon

Waboku

            I purposely left some –1’s out like Card Destruction, Return from the Different Dimension, and Giant Trunade because in certain deck types these cards can be manipulated to create an even trade off, or even gain advantage.

The Quickplays

            Quickplay spell cards have always been interesting because they provide some means of activating spell cards on your opponent’s turn. From the list above, we see that Book of Moon, Enemy Controller, and Scapegoat fit into the category of “-1 Quickplays.”

            Even before Book of Moon was restricted, duelists played it because of the wide variety of combos the card had. The fact of the matter is all Book of Moon does is flip one monsters facedown. If not played correctly, this is an instant –1. Book of Moon is a funny card because most of the time it is going to go 1-1 with an opponent, with the slight chance of a –1. That “slight chance” is what earns it a spot in this article. To this day I see duelists blocking hits by D.D. Assailant or Cyber Dragon when they have plenty of life points for no apparent reason. Obviously that is the wrong way to use it and that is not why I am calling it a –1. Sometimes you have to Book of Moon that Spirit Reaper, Don Zaloog, or Monarch in hopes of getting rid of it next turn. If you can’t, well…you just gave your opponent a +1. However, Book of Moon goes 1-1 in so many instances that it becomes one of the best cards that does not directly obtain you advantage. Book of Moon is the “counter everything” card. Void Smashing Ground, Sakuretsu Armor, Chaos Sorcerer’s effect, or Snatch Steal. From blocking an opponent’s attack to reusing one of your flip effect monsters, the possibilities are endless. The truth is, I could write a whole article on Book of Moon alone.

            Enemy Controller is a spell that has seen consistent play here and there for the last year or so. Both of its effects are –1’s in most situations. Enemy Controller’s first effect is not a simple attack block. If you use Enemy Controller for blocking attacks, why not just play a better –1, Waboku? The first effect should only be used when you are sure you can come back in the next turn and kill the monster you turned into defense position in battle, if you see a Spirit Reaper, or need to do some game winning damage by changing a Treeborn Frog or Goat Token into attack position. The second effect of Enemy Controller is definitely more interesting and is the reason why many duelists play the card. The ability to sack off one of your monsters to take control of an opponent’s face-up monster in the battle phase means possible unexpected game wins or situations that could generate advantage. Enemy Controller, like Book of Moon, has so many combos that I simply cannot list them all here. Playtest Enemy Controller and see if you like it for yourself.

            Scapegoat is a spell that is one of the best attack blocks in the game. If your opponent uses Heavy Storm or Mystical Space Typhoon you just got yourself a broken 1-1 trade. Goat Tokens are also nifty with Metamorphosis and Creature Swap. If, however, you are forced to activate Scapegoat in response to an attack it runs a big risk of becoming a –1 when all of your Goat Tokens are destroyed in battle. Scapegoat is simply not a nice card to have when your opponent swings on you with a Sangan or Spirit Reaper. Scapegoat just requires a little bit of patience in order to create a 1-1 trade and it becomes one of the most playable cards off the list.

The Normal Spells

            Brain Control has no direct advantage associated with it unless you steal an opponent’s monster and run it into a Sakuretsu Armor or Mirror Force. Brain Control, like Book of Moon, Enemy Controller, and Scapegoat, is a combo card. Having it alone in your hand is not going to do much for you. Brain Control with a tribute monster or stealing an opponent’s Chaos Sorcerer and removing itself is always fun. Brain Control kills Spirit Reaper, a plus. Is it great enough to play in anything but Monarchs? Nope. 800 gets steep at the end of the game and not having a card to combo it with makes it totally useless. Stick to Book of Moon or Scapegoat over this one.

            Swords of Revealing Light is a –1 that has seen its day in the last format. Last format’s fast pace made it the perfect temporary freeze. This “freeze” would allow you to maybe make a comeback. In this format’s slower pace, however, three turns can fly by with little to no change in board positions. I personally love when an opponent plays Swords on me. I get to sit back and build up my resources. All the cost is on my opponent. Any good player is not going to MST / Heavy your Swords without clear purposes to gain advantage. Rather, they will just sit back and net a +1 in the process. The flip up effect is not really worth discussing, as it will only be helpful to you once in a blue moon.

            United We Stand is a classic –1. The second you equip it, you lost a card. If your opponent uses Sakuretsu Armor, Mirror Force, or Smashing Ground on your monster equipped with UWS, you instantly get a –1. If you do not have a monster to equip it to, it is totally useless. The ability to get +1600 attack or so on a monster of yours could be gamebreaking, however. It is a risk some duelists are willing to take, especially in an aggro related deck. It is not an easy card to splash and it requires a well-thought-out monster line-up to be effective. UWS is definitely one of the hardest –1 cards to use correctly.

            Wave-Motion Cannon is a splashable –1 with the basic concept on sacrificing one card to do some direct damage to your opponent. I am sure everyone reading this article has lost to this card. The ability to do a consistent amount of 2000-4000 damage is definitely interesting. If you play your other cards smart, a single –1 through your Wave-Motion Cannon with the result of massive damage is not going to hurt you much. It is a random card that can be devastating in some duels or totally useless in others. You will see WMC go 1-1 with an opponent often because they will have to use their MST, Dust Tornado, or Heavy Storm on it just to survive. WMC is a spell that is definitely worth testing.

The Traps

            Both Ceasefire and Magic Cylinder are burn-related traps that are competing for a tech spot in duelists’ trap boards. Ceasefire has the upside of being chainable and can render your opponent’s flip effects useless. Magic Cylinder is a totally unexpected trap late game that your opponent will definitely not consider while making his decisions and also serves as an attack block. Both cards are going to do in the area of 1000-2000 damage and both cards are great finishers. As a result, both are good and both deserve testing. I personally have used Ceasefire with some success, but have yet to test Magic Cylinder.

            Waboku is the classic –1 that duelists have been playing since the dawn of time. It is a great side deck choice against one-turn-kills like Return from the Different Dimension and Cyber-Stein. Waboku can go 1-1 when chained to a Dust Tornado/MST/Heavy etc, but is otherwise useless main decked. Would you rather destroy a Spirit Reaper with Sakuretsu Armor or just bounce its attack for one turn with Waboku? Book of Moon or Scapegoat have it beat for the main deck slot, but Waboku is one of the most versatile side deck cards there is.

The Lone Monster

            The lone –1 monster, Kuriboh. Kuriboh is hands down one of the best side deck monsters in the entire game. It is superior to the already discussed Waboku against Cyber Stein OTK. If a Stein player activates Giant Trunade or Heavy Storm and you chain Waboku, they are not going to play Cyber-Stein. If however, they see you are open, drop Stein + End/Twin and you activate Kuriboh on End/Twin you are rolling. The Stein player is going to be at 3000 with no defenses and a simple Snatch Steal, Smashing Ground, etc. wraps up the game. Besides what I mentioned above, Kuriboh is somewhat useless. You throw a card away to block same damage. It will never be main deck material, but it is the shining star of many duelists’ side decks.

Conclusion

            -1 cards are tricky and situational to play. A lot of their potential depends on your opponent and his/her style of play. In most cases, the better the opponent, the harder it is to make a direct –1 card work. Are they still worth trying though? You bet. I see a good outlook on the future of Ceasefire, Book of Moon, and Scapegoat. –1 cards need to be playtested thoroughly before you make the final judgment as to if the card makes the cut or not. Before you load your deck up with 1-1 trades, take a little time and consider some –1 cards with nifty effects. You may be surprised when you see how good they actually are…

If you have any comments, questions, concerns, or criticism of my article feel free to email me at al@infosports.com