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JAELOVE's Smooth Journey
Article 34: The State of the Union
May 4, 2005

Two months ago, prior to any major events on the Yu-Gi-Oh horizon, I went out on a limb and created a list of the best cards in the format. As the ban list begins to slowly sink in to the collective duelists’ consciousness, I felt it prudent to address some of the things I’ve learned since the past two Shonen Jump events, in which I partook.

This article is entitled the State of the Union because it will address what I feel is the current state of the Yu-Gi-Oh! environment. You can expect me to be honest and at your command, as usual. Being at the core of one of the nation’s best teams allows me to understand what the best players are playing, and what the best metagames are composed of. Being at the helm of the best gaming website in existence lets me try to help all readers, experienced and inexperienced, and meet all sorts of great people. And my status as a true fan of the game and honest, competitive spirit enables me to comment on this game in ways that others cannot.

So then how were my predictions a few months ago, after two Shonen Jump Championships under our belts? The list was generally spot on; there’s no need to go into more detail about such a thing. Sights such as Apprentice Magician surfacing, Ceasefire entering many main decks and side decks, and Sacred Phoenix being a solid tribute monster sound almost commonplace now; the metagame evolves and cards develop to counter it. Let’s enter the next phases of competitive play.

The Established Trends of the Metagame:

1. The deciding factor of most duels is the achievement of the holy trinity in resource management.

The format prior to this one had only one card that created an immediate resource bonus. Pot of Greed was the best draw, but was limited in use by a lack of recursion and a lack of combos that it would capitalize on.

Painful Choice was the second best card in the metagame, but not because of its resource advantage. Instead, good players used it to thin the deck out, immediately improving every draw from that moment forward.

This sort of balanced, skill-based format turned on its head with the return of Graceful Charity and Delinquent Duo. It can no longer be stated that skill is the determining factor in a duel. These words are spoken by the words of a duelist who has witnessed the greatest such as T., Wilson Luc, Evan Vargas, and Hugo Adame lose due to impossible game conditions.

There is something to be said for a game in which a certain outcome is preordained by the opening 6 cards in hand. A deck in this format can conceivably lead off with a Graceful Charity, discarding Dark Magician of Chaos and Sinister Serpent, followed by a Pot of Greed and a Delinquent Duo. At this point, you are left with 3 cards in hand (with one left to come), versus 7. Your opponent can then play a Premature Burial on Dark Magician of Chaos, retaking Delinquent Duo. You are now left with two cards to combat his entire army. He can then set a Magician of Faith, and end the game on turn one.

Inconceivable? No, such instances of luck and fortune happen all the time. They are the primary reason that skilled duelists lose to lesser opponents. And they are here to stay, so the option after taking such an early game blow as Pot of Greed or Graceful Charity is to counter it through deck-building. Nevertheless, keep in mind that a luckier opponent than you (who knows how to play his cards without mistakes), will almost always beat you despite your superior deck construction and skill.

And for me, JAELOVE of pojo.com, a champion of originality and fair play to be giving in to this format! For me to throw in the towel to this crapshoot game of luck and fortune! The tragedy! Let’s start rectifying this ridiculous metagame by countering it! Moving onwards to the aspects of the game that can be avoided (namely anything not involving an opening hand Pot of Greed, Delinquent Duo, or Graceful Charity.)

By the way, the rule of thumb is that a great player can escape one of the big 3 pulled off by the opponent. Throw two in the mixture and it becomes very difficult without a decent setup. Throw in all 3, and the game is basically irretrievable, mainly because of Metagame trend number two.

2. The next deciding factor (often working in conjunction with rule 1) is the management of flip effects.

Perhaps you stifled a chuckle when my FORCE system assigned the same importance to flip effects as Field Control and Resource Management. My reasoning was that a Fiber Jar, Cyber Jar, Morphing Jar, Magician of Faith etc. would completely flip any of the other 7 elements on their heads, making their management crucial. So look at today’s metagame.

Every single deck can be said to main-deck at least 2 Magician of Faith. Since the three best cards in the game are spells, being able to control these monstrosities of advantage are crucial, and the metagame has responded by making 2 Nobleman of Crossout a staple, Ceasefire a side-deck and main-deck mainstay, but there are other phases left to undergo.

Konami made a drastic error in judgement, as we all can see by now, by returning Graceful Charity and Delinquent Duo but banning Change of Heart. The results of such a stupendous blunder were obvious to all; Magician of Faith would grow to be one of the most powerful monsters in the game. It’s LIGHT status helps it replace the D.D Warrior Ladies that were banned.

In fact, the dual Magician of Faith status is the only reason contributing to a greater influx of original decks placing in these tournaments. Decks such as the Tsukiyomi lock, Ben Kei Equip deck, and other shining beacons of originality would have nowhere to go without the added draw power of Graceful Charity and multiple equip spells. In fact, the 2 Apprentice/2 Magician build with the 3 best cards in the game (all spells) puts almost all decks on a level playing field!

There are all sorts of counters to this metagame, but let me go over three of the strongest ones.

1. Trample monsters will break through for life point damage. Remember, Magician of Faith for a Pot of Greed is still only a 2 for 1 advantage, since the Magician dies. Deal 1000 damage on top of that, and the price of a Magician effect grows a bit more painful.

2. Resetters such as Morphing Jar and Cyber Jar can prove essential. They effectively provide a reset button when you’re down in resources, which is very important.

3. Scapegoats and Spirit Reapers can slow the tempo of the game to a crawl so that you can then draw your holy trinity, reversing the initial downward spiral of the duel!

3. Lightning Vortex has been established as a staple spell card, making four mass removers in every deck.

Your counter, given to you on the very pages of Pojo.com, is a tech My Body as a Shield. Why do I love My Body as a Shield? Let me count the ways.

1. Run it with Breaker, on their two sets. Now you play Breaker, they respond with either Bottomless or Ring, you chain My Body. Now Breaker still has his counter, you simply destroy the other spell/trap. You just received a 2 for 1 advantage with Breaker still on the field! That’s basically My Body and 1500 life points for two of your opponent’s spell traps and Breaker.

2. Run it against Tribe or Lightning Vortex. Say you have 2 monsters on the field and they play Vortex. Play My Body, and they lose their discard, their monster or Vortex, and you save two monsters! They take all the penalties and none of the benefits. In this case, it’s My Body and 1500 life points for four of you and your opponent’s resources.

3. Run it to protect your Magicians and Morphing Jar. Let’s say you have a Pot in the graveyard; if they Crossout, you lose your defender and will take 1500+ in attack damage anyways. Using My Body saves you 3 resources! It evens out with Crossout, protects your Magician, and gets you a Pot of Greed!

4. Run it with a monster like Airknight Parshath or Enraged Battle Ox+ Robbin Goblin. When their effect damage triggers, you get to either draw or discard a card. Let’s use Airknight as an example. If they Ring it, you lose your tribute and Airknight. If you chain My Body, you gain both, gain a card from the draw, and kill their monster! That’s a 4 card for 1 advantage!

5. It’ll let you overextend with no fear of Mirror Force or Torrential Tribute. For example, you set a D.D Assailant against their set monster. You summon a D.D Warrior Lady next turn to remove their Sangan (you wouldn’t do this otherwise, fearing Torrential or Mirror Force). My Body protects your monsters!

And so on and so forth. Don’t be surprised when My Body as a Shield emerges as a near-staple in this format. Boy do I love it. Boy oh boy do I love the card. Other counters to this influx of mass removal include Royal Decree, Solemn Judgement, Magic Drain, and others.

4. Decks that are built to counter the Metagame can effectively short circuit most competition, instead falling to great draws and luck.

Decks such as Soul Exchange and Spell Canceller seem custom made to counter the environment. It is no surprise, then, that they are found in the top 8 decklists of the Shonen Jump events. The reason for this is simple. Unless you possess immeasurable skill like the members of Team Odyssey and other such players, your best bet is to construct a solid deck that actually thinks through the flaws of the environment.

Try heavy playtesting to learn the skillset you need to win, and fine tune the deck to perfection. This will help immensely.

That concludes this week’s article. I’ll be back later on to discuss a fan’s Blue Eyes White Dragon constructed deck and the makings of a competitive Exodia deck! Send all e-mail to JAELOVE@gmail.com.

I would also just like to say thanks to all of the wonderful Yu-Gi-Oh personalities I met this past week at Houston. Almost every player in the top 8 was a Pojo message board user, and I met plenty who did well that also frequent the message boards. This kind of fixed community doing so well was awesome to me, and I love trying to turn this website into a haven for decent players and skilled experts alike. Thanks to everyone who keep turning out to this website and message board!

Another note before I take off; I’ve done plenty of favors for you all out there, so I would like to make a small request. To those in the Orlando area, take the time to visit Gathering Place Games. It’s a store that sponsors my team, Team Savage, to all of our events and such. The owner is Jose, and the store is easily one of the biggest, best locations in the nation. I’m a collector and a player so I know good buy list prices when I see them, and Jose has some of the best yet, which is why he is our sponsor.

So do me a favor and check out his website at Gatheringplacegames.com. I would really appreciate it :D.