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Dark Maltos on Yu-Gi-Oh!
Deck Allowances- The Deck Psychology
December 16, 2005

Hey, this is Dark Maltos, the new writer at pojo.com. This is my first article, so i hope you enjoy.

In this article I will attempt to shed some light on the plague of net decking, and how to improve the chances of you finding a deck that suits you.

Yu-Gi-Oh is a game that allows for a wide variety of deck types within itself, and those decks can be seen as an extension of the duelist themselves, reflecting their persona. Unfortunately, those deck types do not always suit the player, and are instead just an imitation of another players style and charisma. I think you all know what im getting at.

Yu-Gi-Oh, in my opinion is a game entirely focused on the deck, and how that fits in with the player. What I mean by this is that the success rate of a deck all depends on the styles of the player controlling it. There is no reason, an aggressive style player should use a stalling Exodia deck .It completely contradicts the principals of duelist, so there is little purpose of running the deck.

YGO decks, in my opinion, should be the strategy weapon of a duelist , used against the weapon of another . That is what dueling is all about, defending yourself against defeat . So why do Duelists copy the weapon’s of others? To try and improve their chances of victory of course. But the problem is that just because someone else has their winning streak whilst using certain cards, does not mean that that card is suited to you, and doesn’t mean if you use the card it will increase your deck’s winning potential.

Take the example of ‘Soul Exchange’. Currently, this card is seeing play in a lot of Soul Control decks, which in their own right are doing very well for themselves. Soul Exchange is the basis on which these decks are based, but do you think that it would be nearly as successful in a warrior toolbox per say? Definitely not. Soul Exchange is a card that only works in those specific decks, and cannot work in others.

The problem with Net Decker’s is that they have not found their deck yet, and then rely on others until their ideal is brought to them. They siphon the originality out of the players, for their own gains, until they are ready to find their own genre to expand into. These parasites of dueling society in fact bring about their own demise if you think about it. The concept of a ‘Changing metagame’ forces players to constantly keep up to date with the deck types that appear every so often, which do well because they are designed to contradict the Metagame. So the players who copied the ‘scissors deck’ for example, are forced to switch to a ‘rock deck’ when they are leaping up , as a way to counter the offensive. The sad thing is , they will not be able to jump ahead to a ‘Paper deck’ because most players will still run the ‘Scissors Deck’, so they are stuck in a loop.

Duelists need to think out of the box, and form decks that aren’t in the standard rock ~ paper ~ scissors themes, as a way of escaping the cycle for good. We are all shocked when someone pulls a ‘Bomb’ on us, as apparently, that beats everything.

The problem with the ‘Bomb’ decks, is that they are unstable, as the name suggests. Being so volatile is as much of a blessing as it is a curse though, as the deck can either provide outstanding power, or backfire like your grandad’s old truck. This is where I introduce the concept of ‘Deck Allowances.’

A deck allowance is not about the amount of money you put into a deck, as the name may suggest , but is in fact about how the deck itself will pay out.

Most Duelists, when creating even an original deck will take in many ideas when deciding on the cards to use, mainly the speed, power, and presence of the cards used. Once they have decided that they are satisfied with their new weapon, they will take it for a test run, and this is the exact moment DA comes into context.

As the duelist duels, they may find that their deck works fairly well, winning every now and then , and providing them with that essential fun factor, but eventually, suddenly, the deck will go stale, not winning as much as it previously had , sometimes scarcely getting a victory at all. This is not a sign that the deck has gone to the pits, it cant possibly have, as you are using the same cards and strategy as you previously were.

When a deck begins to go into a loosing streak, it is a sign that you have been given a positive run out of the deck, and now you are receiving the other side of the equation, the negative.

At this point, I have witnessed Duelists completely abandon their deck for a CC, or at least substitute a few ‘weaker’ cards that you had found previously completely acceptable and unique when the deck was winning, in favour of more CC cards. This is a mistake. The added cards will most probably ruin the decks theme, thus making it fall deeper and deeper into the CC.

The correct response to a situation , in my opinion, is to wait it out , and to be patient. Have faith that your deck will pull through. You must let you deck to allow you both good and bad times, or it will loose its spark and become a robot, as will you yourself. Your original deck will have good days and bad days, and that is a sign of its allowances. Sometimes it will allow you good games, and other times it will allow you bad. You just have to accept this, a fight on through it, modifying your deck if necessary until the two of you are intertwined and the perfect team and combination.

If you have any thoughts on this subject, please contact me at toddyhole@aol.com. I will do my best to reply. Until next time, have fun dueling !!!