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Cloudstrife 189 on Yugioh
The secret to dueling: Win without playing a card
September 15, 2009

I really like comparing YGO to tennis, because they are both my favorite hobbies. In YGO, just like tennis, there are two ways to score a “point”. In tennis, you score a point when you either create such an incredible play/hit that your opponent can’t return it or when your opponent defeats himself by hitting into the net or out of bounds. Same could be said about YGO. You win a duel because your combo/strategy was so sound that your opponent couldn’t break through it or because your opponent misplays, thus defeating himself. I hope that this article can help educate some duelist to play smarter and cut back the misplays thus making you win a lot more duels.

Throughout my dueling career, many people complain about how they lost because they got “luck sacked” or because they drew bad all game long. I have watched many of these players duel, and I really feel that there was a lot more things going on then the random excuse they try to warrant. They constantly ask me what they could of done different and I smile and say “where should I begin…” Here are 7 simple steps I have devised to help all duelists, from beginners to experts play better and possibly win the duel before even playing a card…

*These steps are in no particular order because all of them are of the upmost importance.

Duel Zone
Come prepared to your area well equipped. It seems very unlikely to win when you arrive late and quickly try to scrounge out some old sheet of paper and a broken pen. Try to arrive at your table as soon as possible and then pull out your playmat to secure your area. Then extract your deck (main, side, and extra) in addition to your tokens, pen, paper, dice and calculator. Once you have all your components in place, along with a functioning brain, you will have all that you need to win this duel.

Life points, Life points, Life points…
Be prepared to keep track of life points. They are VERY important. They are your number one win condition in YGO. I see lots of duels, whether they be casual or competitive, where players don’t keep track of life points. This is like playing chess without a king, pointless and a waste of time. It doesn’t matter how many cards in your hand, on the field, in the grave, etc because once a player’s life points reach 0, the duel is over, and all that stuff becomes obsolete. No matter what the game state is, when a player takes damage or pays a cost, pause what you’re doing and subtract/add the damage. If they play “Solemn Judgment”, before you chain with your own, just say “hang on one sec,” and divide their life points by half. Maybe after seeing what their life points have become, you may choose to no longer respond or see that you no longer have to because you have a stronger play. Regardless or not if that’s the case, by atleast seeing the proper life points, you will have more “accurate” information to make the best play.

*Tip
When you’re keeping track via paper/pencil, when a player takes battle damage, mark it with a “B”, effect damage, “E”, or a cost “C”. If there is ever a life point dispute, you can quickly remember how they took a certain amount and resolve the issue instantaneously.

Know your deck
You must know each and every card in your deck. In some decks like Lightsworn and Dark variants, knowing the exact contents of your deck at all times is even more important. Knowing the combos you can still expect and the ones you can't are critical. Some people treat each draw phase as if it’s up to fate to decide whether they win or lose. However I’m a mathematician and I believe in odds. If you played half your spell cards and still have a good majority of your deck left, then don't count on drawing another spell card for a while. In addition, you should really know the rulings of every card in your deck and how they interact with yours AND your opponent’s cards. Prior to even putting a card in your deck, make sure you know all the adequate rulings.

Shuffling
Every time you draw a bad hand, or get sacked from your opponent’s “God” hand, just remember, YOU shuffled the deck. I see so many players just grab their decks and graveyards, do a quick shuffle and immediately start game 2 or 3. They then go “WTF” as they see a hand full of three necro gardnas or 3 cyber valleys. I just smile because once again, they just defeated themselves. Spend some time and do some nice shuffling. It’s worth it. It will drastically cut down on those poor hands.
Shuffling also entails shuffling your hand. In chess, it is illegal in a competition to stand up and look at the game from a different perspective. The reason why? You will see plays that you didn’t see before. By shuffling your hand often and constantly, you will see how certain cards look next to each other and how they could possibly combo with each other. You may see your average play but by shuffling it a few times, you may see an even better one. One cool thing I saw Adam Corn do at Gen Con Indy was play “Trap Dustshoot” and then take his opponent’s entire hand and started shuffling it as if it was his own. He did this for like 15 seconds and then found the best monster to return to the deck. By doing that, he was able to see all of his opponent’s potential plays and stop the best one. A very brilliant tactic indeed.

Graveyards/RFG
Just like knowing the remaining contents of your deck, you need to know what is in both players graveyards/rfg at all times. Forgetting a necro gardna or that you just sent their third dark monster to the graveyard is inexcusable. I can’t remember how many times I lost because I thought my opponent had a torrential tribute face down. A quick check of the graveyard could of quickly removed that fear. A lot of these duels can take forever and you might forget which game they played a particular card. Take a few seconds and double check. The game state is always changing and new cards are added to the grave every turn. A clever trick that I tend to do is right before I KO my opponent, I recheck his graveyard so I know how to side deck for game 2 and 3. By doing this, I’m sure what cards will counter a good majority of his deck so I can successfully finish the match.

Bluffing
If I had to choose one step that I’m the best at, I think it would be this. I can’t express how many duels I have won because I bluffed my opponent into thinking I had a lot of options. If you open really bad, or really good, try to keep your facial expressions/actions consistent. I love dueling at my locals when my opponent says something like “Omfg, wtf is this crap…” I just chuckle and start to overextend. . However, sometimes people do double bluff to catch me off guard. Double bluffing is when you anticipate your opponent seeing through your initial bluff. A classic example of this is when I draw and say “yes, Mirror Force” and I set a spell trap. My opponent will think that I’m bluffing him and that it can’t actually be mirror force. However, when they declare an attack, they’ll have a nice surprise waiting for them. When the tides seem against you, see if there is anything you can say or do to bluff your opponent into not attacking or being more defensive for a few turns while you can reestablish your combos.

7 seconds
Every turn, after you draw a card, pause. Take a deep breath and reanalyze all of your plays. I recommend waiting at least 7 seconds before playing a card. Use that time to check the graveyards, and ALL the cards on the field and in both players’ hands. Recheck life points and ask your opponent if he agrees at both players’ current life point count. Make sure that you are really about to make the best play. If you have a game winning play, make sure you make the game winning play. Don’t mess it up because you got carried away. If you’re sure its game, then there’s no harm in waiting the extra second or two to make sure you play everything correctly. Many, many times have I seen players defeat themselves and then beg to redo a move. I tell them “Sorry. Your misplays are part of my win condition…”
They always hate that answer, but eventually understand.


Conclusion
So think about it. Prior to going to the competition, you know each and every card in your main, extra, and side deck and how they will interact with your opponent’s. Upon arriving for the duel, you arrive prompt and pull out all your equipment and arrange it nicely on your playmat. While waiting for your opponent to arrive, you thoroughly shuffle your deck. When he does arrive, you spend an equal amount of time shuffling their deck. Upon drawing your opening hand, you pause to see all potential moves. You shuffle your hand a few times to make sure you’re about to make the best play for this situation. In between turns, you’re constantly keeping track of both players’ graveyards and remove from game piles. At the first change in life points, you will pause the duel to make sure they were calculated properly. When the odds seem against you, you will try to think of a strategic way to say or do something to stall or lure in your opponent.

When you finally get to a level when you’re no longer defeating yourself, there’s only one other way for your opponent to win – for their own strategy to be “impenetrable”. As that being their only win condition, I like to smile and sit down at the table and say “Good Luck...”

Thanks for reading,
Cloudstrife 189