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Mofox's Journey

Mofox’s journey from Newbie to the
UK National Tournament - Part 2
February 24, 2005  

My hunger to play the game grew over the next year however I also began to find some difficulties in enjoying the game, and also got a sense of loneliness in my interest of the game.

Xmas of 2004 provided me with even more cards for my collection as I received the Master Collection 1, an IOC special edition pack with Gemini Elf and also the Total Defense Shogun tin, I also received a few boosters.  The collection was starting to grow and I could also start creating better decks with the cards I had.

It was during this year that I got to realise what others were to think of my hobby.  A common term that was used was that it was a kid’s game and a kid’s cartoon.  It didn’t concern me too much at the time and I used to just laugh it off as my family, in particular, enjoys poking fun out of anything and anyone.  As time passed though I was getting increasingly annoyed at the non-realisation of outsiders to the strategy, intelligence and fun of this card game.  The jokes begun to hurt, ‘this game could be enjoyed by anyone of any age’ I used to think to myself.  Even when I used to highlight the value of some of the cards (SJC winners cards going for thousands of dollars), there was still no appreciation even for the popularity of the game.  I was termed a geek and that was that.  I wanted to have someone to talk about the game with, to discuss deck ideas and combos.  It seemed I would be alone in my appreciation and interest in this game.

Fortunately for me there were people out there who did appreciate this game and enjoyed talking about it and writing about it.  I found these people at Pojo and Metagame.  It felt like I wasn’t alone.  I spent months and months reading articles on decks, strategies and match reports.  The insight into the game was at times inspirational and although I was desperate to go home and talk about this amazing deck I had just read, or this amazing model to help assess card values, I knew that it would fall on deaf ears at home.  I started to lurk on the message board at Pojo.  I didn’t have the courage to speak up myself.

The message board was a scary place at first.  There were tons of members and they all had significant amounts of posts.  Being not only new to YGO but also to forums/message boards it was a daunting place.  I didn’t become a member straight away and just lurked around reading everyone else’s opinions.  When I was considering becoming a member, dark thoughts creeped into my mind.  Would they laugh at my opinions and ideas?  Would anyone take me seriously?  Would I be wanted?  There was such a competitive nature of some posters and I could only conclude this was so because of their passion for this game.  One thing that became apparent to me at the time though was that the game seemed predominately based in Japan and North America.  I was wondering if the UK actually had a tournament scene similar to that of Japan or North America.

It was while reading an article by Ryoga (a UK based Duellist near Nottingham), that I read about City Championships, Regional Championships and a soon to be contested National Championship.  To say I was excited was an understatement.  In my utter delirium I emailed Ryoga to ask him about the tournament scene and also where I could find information on future tournaments in my area.  He told me about a shop in my local area that he was familiar with called Impact Games, which apparently held regular tournaments.  Ryoga was extremely helpful and after speaking to him I managed to pluck up the courage to enlist as a member on Pojo and perhaps start posting myself.

I was starting to become an active fan of this great game and my interest in it seemed to have no limits.  I was ready to start finding out more information about actual tournaments and players in my area and I was also ready to open my mouth and speak about this game myself.  The future was exciting.

To those new fans of the game, who are worried as I was about the message boards and speaking up, I found that many duellists love to help.  You may all be thinking that everyone says that, well trust me it is true.  I have felt like you feel and it is worrying and I asked myself the same questions you are now asking yourselves.

If you want any more help or advice you can email me on the following address:

mofox9@hotmail.com

Until next time fellow duellists!