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Anteaus'
History of Yu-Gi-Oh!
One of the defining characteristics of Yu-Gi-Oh! today is
the concept of advantage. It is a concept that has
its roots in Goat Format, and during Goats was was when
players really began to think of Yu-Gi-Oh! in terms of card
value and economy. Goat Format is a much different animal
than modern Yu-Gi-Oh! as we know it. While the game still
relies on hard plusses and minuses, they were honed and
crafted during Goat Format; before that, players relied on
a number of different concepts that, when understood, led to
smarter plays and a higher skill level, but there was little
emphasis on plusses and minuses before Goat Format. Top
players understood the theory behind card value, which is a
part of the overall concept of advantage. In this article,
we’re going to delve into what advantage is and how to keep
it when playing Goat Format, and also how to maximize the
values of the cards in your hand so that you don’t find
yourself losing control of the duel.
The term “advantage” can be split into two unique
categories: numerical advantage and situational
advantage. While few people actually use these terms in
their day-to-day dueling, many Goat players can immediately
tell you which is which, even if they refer to them in other
ways. You likely know all about numerical advantage - it’s
the concept of going “plus” or “minus” in a duel.
Situational advantage is a bit more complex, as it takes the
concepts of numerical advantage and applies them to every
phase of every turn in a duel. A good rule of thumb is the
player with the numbers has the initiative. If you are
sitting ahead in numerical advantage, either on hand or on
board, you’re usually in a good spot and will usually have
an easier time widening that advantage gap. Many duels in
Goat Format are methodical because neither player wants to
be the first to give up their numerical advantage by
overcommitting to the board. Many modern Goat players, I
think, focus too much on the numbers, and less on
translating that advantage into a win.
Drawing cards is wonderful in Yu-Gi-Oh!, there’s no denying
that. Numerical advantage is of the utmost importance in the
game, both then and now, as the person with the numbers
tends to have the initiative and, by extension, the upper
hand in the duel. This, of course, isn’t always the case -
Exarion and Airknight are potent attackers on board,
especially if you’re staring at them while you only have
Scapegoat tokens on the field. Your opponent will be able to
clear two goats and swing for 3300 damage, while also
netting a +1 since they’ll draw a card off the Airknight
pierce. Even if you have five cards in hand, staring at that
field really sucks if you’re on the receiving end of that
piercing damage.
But then again, those five cards in your hand can
single-handedly change the course of the duel. What if you
have Snatch Steal and Mystical Space Typhoon in hand? Or a
Mirror Force, and your opponent has already used their MST
or Heavy Storm? Holding those power cards for when they will
make the most impact on the outcome of the duel has become
synonymous with Goat Format, and it’s a concept that is
still around in modern Yu-Gi-Oh! today. Going up against a
smaller board backed by a bigger hand is always more
dangerous than going up against a big board backed by a
smaller hand, which is why the early turns of the game are
mostly a grind, with both players looking to gain the upper
hand in terms of numerical advantage before exerting
pressure on the opponent to widen the initiative gap and
seize the momentum of the duel.
Knowing who has the advantage in any given situation can be
tricky because of how fluid the game is and how each
situation is uniquely different. No two games play out the
same way - a big reason why Goat Format is fast becoming one
of the most popular alternatives to modern Yu-Gi-Oh!. While
a standard opening in Goat Format may be to set a monster
and set a backrow, what those two cards are going to be is a
complete mystery. That, by the way, is one of the most
powerful openings and the most commonly-seen opening in Goat
Format, mostly because of the situational advantage that it
gives you.
Opening a set monster and a set backrow makes your opponent
guess. If that’s all you do - no Pot of Greed or other
spells - then you’re still sitting at a total of six gross
advantage (and a net 0 between both of you) once your
opponent draws for their turn. But now your opponent
responds, and they have some options thanks to the six cards
in their hand. This is where the grind game begins. If your
opponent commits a monster to the board, they could end up
running into a flip-effect monster such as Magical Merchant
or Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, both of which will
provide you a card upon their deaths by battle. Should they
choose to use Nobleman of Crossout to get rid of your
monster, they could end up wasting it - what if it’s
something like a D.D. Warrior Lady or a Spirit Reaper?
Surely, getting rid of one of those is a good play, but at
the same time it’s not optimal, as Nobleman is best used
against an opponent’s Magician of Faith or Magical Merchant
or, better yet, against something debilitating like a
Morphing Jar. If your opponent drops the Nobleman on your
first turn, you now know that you have a bit of security in
setting future Flip Effect monsters. At the same time, if
your opponent follows up with a summoned Don Zaloog, was it
really a waste of a play?
This is where the concept of situational advantage, or
initiative, comes into the mix. Really, what initiative
boils down to is who has the better position in the game. As
I stated earlier, it’s better to be facing a big board
backed by a small hand (0-2 cards) than a small board backed
by a big hand (3+). This is because the best players know
how to translate the cards on their hand into plays that
will affect their net advantage over you. Opening a set
monster and backrow (commonly referred to as the “1-1” or
“T” opening) is powerful as it leaves you with two cards on
board and four in hand. Your opponent is now staring at a
small board backed by a big hand, which is a dangerous
situation to simply rush headlong into.
So the majority of the time they’re going to do their own
1-1 opening, or perhaps a 1-2 opening, with a set monster
and two backrow. The 1-2 opening is a common response to the
1-1, as it helps mitigate the damage that a set Dust Tornado
or Mystical Space Typhoon can do against a mirror 1-1
response. Blowing out a lone backrow at End Phase can be
devastating, especially if it’s something like a Scapegoat
or a Book of Moon. But look at what the 1-2 response does -
it commits another card to the board, putting your opponent
at just three in hand to your four. On your draw, you have a
monster you can Flip Summon, a backrow you can activate, and
- after your draw - five potential plays.
How you translate those cards in hand to direct advantage on
the field is going to be highly dependent on what’s going on
in the duel. A popular 1-1 is a set Magician of Faith and a
backrow (often a piece of spell/trap destruction or
protection for the Faith) while hoarding a Delinquent Duo or
a Pot of Greed. Since most opponents don’t want to lose any
advantage on the first turn of the game - which can be
debilitating, especially if you open none of the Trinity -
they will often forego the aggressive play in order to keep
the numbers even. So many times, in the first turn of the
game, a 1-1 set with Magician going first and a Pot/Duo in
hand will often lead to a massive second turn for you once
you can get it off. That type of numerical advantage
generation - with the double Pot of Greed play, a total of
+4 - will immediately put you at +4 over your opponent. A
Duo is even more brutal especially against a 1-1 response,
as they’ll have four cards in hand...and zero once you drop
Duo twice in one turn. So with the Pot you end up going +4
and having a whopping eight cards in hand to your opponent’s
four in hand, and with the Duo you end up with four cards in
hand versus your opponent’s zero.
That’s simply brutal.
Of course, it’s situational and, more to the point, a
relatively useless play if you have nothing to follow up
with. Opening up a Delinquent Duo when you’re going second
and your opponent plays the 1-1 opening is not all that
great unless you can follow it up with a play that swings
the momentum firmly onto your side of the field. But even
then, on turn one, how much advantage are you really going
to be able to generate? The key is to not just go plus on
your opponent; it is to make the advantage that you generate
work for you to end the game more efficiently. This forms
the basis of the concept of card value.
Card value
is how valuable the cards in your hand are when you look at
the overall state of the game on a given turn. Knowing the
value of each card in your deck will allow you to make more
optimal plays to keep the initiative clearly on your side.
It’s always tempting to try to generate advantage from the
get go, but remember that being unable to put extended
pressure after you’ve gone plus one or two on your opponent
can lead to your opponent drawing themselves back into the
game. Goat Control eschews this early advantage generation
in favor of more control in the mid-to-late game. Decks like
Beastdown and Monarchs trade that long-term advantage
generation and momentum control for sustained big pushes
with big monsters that can leave you reeling. Overwhelming
the board with big beaters can keep you from making optimal
plays, which is what those types of decks want to do.
However, being able to withstand the assault can leave you
with more overall command of the game, especially after
you’ve worked through some of the larger monsters in those
types of decks. Therefore, it’s safe to say that putting
early pressure on your opponent can lead to suboptimal plays
which can help you to widen the advantage gap and maintain
it for the win.
But that’s all against the “rogue” decks of the format. The
Goat mirror doesn’t work like that as much because it’s much
easier to close an advantage gap if you play your cards
right. Having something like Airknight Parshath up your
sleeve is nice, but it sucks when it’s the only card in your
hand and your opponent has four more cards than you do. Card
value is fluid, just like initiative and momentum, and cards
in hand have more value when they have more utility and can
do more things for you on a given turn. This is a big reason
why the mirror is so skillful - a single misplay, using the
wrong card at the wrong time, or not anticipating a play
from your opponent and thus sacrificing a valuable card, can
be absolutely devastating. Summoning an Exarion Universe is
nice, but putting him on board turn one - in Attack
Position, no less - is a real waste of its potential value.
D.D. Warrior Lady has a lot of potential, but using it on
something like a D.D. Assailant is simply a waste of that
potential.
But imagine you hold one of those D.D.’s until your opponent
drops a Jinzo or an Airknight Parshath. Now, you have an
opportunity for those cards to actually go out and do their
job - clear the board of a big beater that’s able to gobble
up your monsters. At worst, you set them and bait a Nobleman
out, but at best, you take out a large monster that was
preventing you from getting anything going. While they may
be useless in some scenarios, simply having them in hand to
deal with threats as they arise can be a good way to turn
the tables and swing that initiative back to your side of
the field.
At the end of the day the only way to master the concepts
presented here is to go out and practice. If you’re looking
for more, you can contact me any time at
anteausonyugioh@gmail.com.
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