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Article 22: FORCE Dictates What to Play 1.06.05 I've made it through break, vacation, and illness to resume my post as student and teacher of the game. Hope you all had a happy new year, now let's get started with some Yu-Gi-Oh action lovin 2005. With ten decks under our belt, I feel it's time to address more in-depth the caliber of cards that are being played by my fellow duelists.
Field
Control & Flip Effect Management I introduced the FORCE system because I felt it held the keys to unlocking the principles behind any good deck. And yet something must be clarified; in many ways, the eight elements of FORCE are unevenly distributed. The fact is there are far more sources of field control than flip effect management. There are far more sources of on-field removal than resource replenishment. By analyzing the scarcity of each element, a picture of a deck's true needs can emerge. By looking not only at what is considered a staple, but more importantly why "everyone" plays certain cards, we can all become better duelists. So let's begin. Today brings us the FORCE awards 2004! We'll see the best performers in each FORCE category and why you should be running them.
Resource
Replenishment Solid Providers: Elemental Searchers (Mystic Tomato, Shining Angel), Magician of Faith, Magical Merchant, Mask of Darkness, Pyramid Turtle, Subtype Searchers (Masked Dragon, Giant Germ, Nimble Momonga). Decent Providers: Card Destruction, Cyber Jar, Fiber Jar, Morphing Jar, Night Assailant, Mirage of Nightmare Detractors: Cards with discard costs (Tribe-Infecting Virus, Magic Jammer). Cards with no lasting field/hand advantage (Book of Moon, Enemy Controller, Scapegoat). Yes indeed, the field of excellent resource replenishment is limited to about 3 total cards, meaning it's the most valued component of any deck. The contenders on the list outside of Pot, Painful, and Serpent are all double-edged swords meaning that their effects are based on luck and require decent support. Mirage of Nightmare can be thrown into decks seeking to exploit its draw power. Unfortunately, it requires a subset of inferior cards, including Raigeki Break and Emergency Provisions, to be reliable. The Jars and Card Destruction, as well, don't lead to any bonuses in resources. They all have elements of luck to them that the good player should seek to avoid. Final Analysis: Because there are only about 3 legitimate resource replenishing cards in the game,. Any theme that provides support for resource replenishment in the form of other cards (i.e Zombies and Pyramid Turtle) receive HUGE advantages. You should run at least three Enemy Disruption Excellent Providers: The Forceful Sentry, Ring of Destruction, Torrential Tribute Solid Providers: Confiscation, Trap Dustshoot, Mind Crush, Don Zaloog, Drop Off, Time Seal, Morphing Jar #2, Spirit Reaper Decent Providers:, Tier Two traps including Bottomless Trap Hole, Sakuretsu Armor, Windstorm of Etaqua, Zero Gravity, Magic Drain, Compulsory Evacuation Device, Trap Hole. Detractors: Cards that give your opponent extra resources, including the jars Cyber Jar, Fiber Jar, Morphing Jar Most decks decide to run the three essential elements because they all provide significant advantages, namely the ability to take down any of your opponent's resources at your whim. The more Solid, or hardcore, variants of disruption require more support to be effective; you don't want to stick these bad boys into any random deck. The Decent fill-ins for your disruption starved deck are many; take a look at the numerous alternatives and have fun. Final Analysis: There are many solid options for enemy disruption, so don't feel too rushed to pick out some of the better ones. Fill your deck with at least 3 elements of enemy disruption. Energy Excellent Providers: Ceasefire, Magic Cylinder, Ring of Destruction Solid Providers: Airknight Parshath, Reflect Bounder, Enraged Battle Ox, Spear Dragon, Dark Driceratops, Gaia Soul, and other Solid trample monsters Decent Providers: Burner cards including Stealth Bird, Des Koala.. Traps and spells such as Secret Barrel and Wave-Motion Cannon. Detractors: Confiscation, Injection Fairy Lily, Ring of Destruction, Magical Scientist. Energy is paradoxical because it is both the most important part of the game, meaning you lose when your life points hit zero, and also the least important aspect of FORCE. However, having certain key energy affecting cards such as Ceasefire and Ring of Destruction (both highly versatile cards) will go a long way towards helping your deck. Keep in mind many of the Solid elements, if well thought out, can be placed into main decks. For example, Wave Motion Cannon is a powerful threat with just a little bit of support. Final analysis: Keep in mind you shouldn't be focused solely on life points, numerous cards with life point payments including Magical Scientist and Injection Fairy Lily are some of the best in the game. You'll likely achieve energy indirectly, just make sure you don't have too many life point costs in your deck and go into the negatives. Field Control Excellent Providers: Snatch Steal, Ring of Destruction, Call of the Haunted, Premature Burial. Solid Providers:. Berserk Gorilla, Blade Knight, Jinzo, Dark Ruler Ha Des, D.D Assailant, Injection Fairy Lily. Decent Providers: Any themed beatdown monster works here, including Slate Warrior for Fiends, Skilled Dark Magician for Spellcasters, and so on Detractors: Weak effect monsters such as Magician of Faith, Sinister Serpent. Field control is perhaps the easiest element to achieve in the game. Simply stack loads of high attack monsters on the field, and control is easily achievable. Of course, it often runs more complicated than that; cards like D.D Warrior Lady may help you achieve control indirectly by removing itself from the game. Always keep in mind that while the FORCE system tries to associate different cards with its elements, there are many profound and often hidden effects that can also emerge. D.D Warrior Lady is a perfect example of this; while she does not exert field control all by herself, she helps it indirectly through removal. Final analysis: Field control is relatively easy to come by because it comes primarily through monsters. Your deck should have at least 10 elements of it. Flip Effect Management Excellent Providers: Ceasefire, Nobleman of Crossout, Magical Scientist, Black Luster Soldier- Envoy of the Beginning, Change of Heart. Solid Providers: Blade Knight, Mystic Swordsman LV 2 Decent Providers:, Swords of Revealing Light. Sasuke Samurai, Mystic Swordsman LV 4, 6 Detractors: Book of Moon (You do not want to Book your opponent's monsters). Not many methods of flip effect management now, are there? I'd almost argue that Nobleman of Crossout should be run in 2's in almost every deck out there because of its power. The other monsters are also self-explanatory. The Mystic Swordsmen family are all great options, but need Level Up support. Finally, Blade Knight and Swords of Revealing Light are two of the indirect methods of dealing with flip monsters, although SORL is primarily only a counter against the Jars. Final Analysis: Good duelists take advantage of the lack of flip effects by abusing Magician of Faith/Magical Merchant/Cyber/Fiber/Morphing Jar. Make sure you pack plenty of counters to the game-breaking flip effects. Pack at least 3 counters to Flip Effects. On-Field Removal Excellent Providers: Tribe-Infecting Virus, Ring of Destruction, Torrential Tribute. Solid Providers: Smashing Ground, Hammer Shot, Sakuretsu Armor, Snatch Steal. Decent Providers: Abyss Soldier, Armed Dragon LV 7, Cyber Jar, Compulsory Evacuation Device. Detractors: Cards that allow your opponent's to have monsters on the field, i.e Cyber Jar. Removal is another concept that's easy to obtain, although mass field removal is mostly gone with the loss of Raigeki and Dark Hole. Nevertheless, there are a plethora of options still, including Tribe-Infecting Virus and Torrential Tribute. Final Analysis: On-field removal is pretty standard and easy to obtain. Your deck should have at least 7 elements of on-field removal. On-Field Presence Excellent Providers: Sinister Serpent Solid Providers: Revival Jam, Twin-Headed Behemoth, other elemental searchers, Marauding Captain, Solar Flare Dragon Decent Providers: Spirit Reaper, Scapegoat, Shining Angel, Mystic Tomato. Detractors: Reflect Bounder, Tribute Monsters, Cards that require your own monsters as tributes. Presence is something that's hard to quantify. The theory is that having monsters on the field protects your life points, letting you cement future strategies and such. This theory is supported by the rampant use of Sinister Serpent and Scapegoat. Final Analysis: You have many options here. Your deck should have at least 5 elements of presence. Counter-Defense Excellent Providers: Sinister Serpent, Spirit Reaper, Scapegoat, Waboku Solid Providers: Ring of Destruction, Sakuretsu Armor, Torrential Tribute, Roulette Barrel, Decent Providers: Book of Moon, Enemy Controller. Almost any trap you can think of, including Zero Gravity, Windstorm of Etaqua, and others. Detractors: Jinzo, Royal Decree, Cards that disable your own traps/spells. Defense is another easily attainable item, but make sure that your defensive spells/traps have the power to affect the field in manners outside of pure defense. Packing only defensive cards is a bad strategy because it forces your deck to be passive, so try to maintain a tidy balance between offense and defense. Final Analysis: Defense is plentiful, so pack only a few, choice options. Your deck should have at least 5 elements of defense. Counter-Disruption Excellent Providers: Jinzo, Mystical Space Typhoon, Nobleman of Extermination, Royal Decree Solid Providers: Breaker the Magical Warrior, Dust Tornado, Book of Moon, Magic Drain, Fiber Jar. Decent Providers: Magic Jammer, Solemn Judgement, Compulsory Evacuation Device, Mobius the Frost Monarch, Vampire Lord, Pitch-Black Warwolf. Detractors: Since you're being disrupted anyways, it's very hard to take away from your own counter-disruption. I suppose Berserk Gorilla is an example. If you find yourself being constantly hand disruption or field disruption, these are some of the best elements towards countering your enemy's evil strategies. Final Analysis: If you don't pack enough counter disruption, you can find yourself dominated by disruptors such as Sakuretsu Armor and Torrential Tribute. Your deck should pack as much counter-disruption coherent to its theme as possible. Removal (Spell/Trap) Excellent Providers: Heavy Storm, Mystical Space Typhoon, Breaker the Magical Warrior. Solid Providers: Dust Tornado, Nobleman of Extermination Decent Providers: Mobius the Frost Monarch, Swarm of Locusts, Detractors: There are no examples of cards that give your opponent extra spells/traps. Obviously your options are very, very limited here. This is what makes Breaker the Magical Warrior, in my humble opinion, a staple in any deck that relies on attacking. You're going to want to pack as many of the best spell-trap removers as possible, and if you find your opponent using nonchainables like Sakuretsu Armor, try packing some Nobleman of Extermination as well. Final Analysis: Breaker and Heavy Storm are musts. Mystical Space Typhoon usually belongs in every deck as well. If you need instant removal, Nobleman of Extermination is superior to Dust Tornado. Pack at least 3 elements of spell/trap removal. I hope you use this information for your own decks. Analyze your own, I'm telling you, and find out what the strengths and weaknesses of your own deck are. Then, you can plug in some of my suggested providers of each element. My time here with all you Pojo users is precious because I get the chance to try to teach some of the most sacred tenets of competitive play. Using A BAD System and FORCE in conjunction will help you, guaranteed, become a deck-builder AND duelist. By understanding what makes certain cards great, you'll be able to see the light, I hope. Send all e-mails to JAELOVE@gmail.com. I'm still answering every SINGLE e-mail.
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