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Mofox's Journey

Mofox’s journey from Newbie to the
UK National Tournament - Part 6
March 9, 2006

The next day after putting my request up for a duel I started chatting to a guy from the US.  His name was Ilya and he was 22 years old.  We introduced ourselves to each other and talked about who we were and a bit about our backgrounds.  The chat quickly turned onto the subject of Yu-Gi-Oh!

Ilya had a huge enthusiasm for the game.  I thought I was a huge fan but Ilya was certainly as big if not a bigger fan than me.  He was keen to ascertain my ability and understanding of the game and proposed that the next day he would set a few challenges to help determine how much I knew about the game.  When I got home that night I told my wife all about it, she wasn’t particularly interested but she listened and pretended to know what I was talking about (she just humoured me but I appreciated it as it let me get the excitement out).  I’ll admit I got a few jokes during the next few days about how I was sad talking to people I had never met and that my new Yu-Gi-Oh! Sensei could be some sort of psycho stalker from Outer Mongolia, but I rode with the waves as I had done earlier when taking up Yu-Gi-Oh! as a hobby.

The next day arrived and I had brought in my rulebook to aid me in my understanding of the game.  That afternoon (time differences meant that it was morning in the US), Ilya came online and we began our first session.  After brief introductions he began his class.  The first few questions were simple and I answered them with ease and with textbook like replies.  Ilya, obviously allowing me the easy one’s first, made the questions more and more difficult as we continued along.  It wasn’t long before I got stumped by a multiple, chain-type question.  Ilya’s explanations were always concise and easy to follow.  He was easy to talk to and never made me feel stupid in the whole time I was being quizzed.  Before we knew it, it was time for me to leave for the day.  The time had passed so quickly and I think both of us were eager for more, but it would have to wait till the next day.  I went to bed that night reading my rulebook and thinking long and hard about the questions I had been asked that day.

The next day I was constantly checking my messenger to see if Ilya had logged on.  Seeming as keen as I was to carry on Ilya logged on earlier than last time and I was ready and up for the next round of questioning.  Ilya was keen to push me hard this time.  From the last session I had obviously proved I had more than a basic understanding of the game and Ilya wanted to push me into the most advanced techniques and rulings involved in the game.  I had managed that morning to copy and paste the entire Card FAQ from the official Yu-Gi-Oh! website into a single word document and had that in front of me as back up.  Even with the Card FAQ, my rulebook and my limited understanding I was struggling with the questions however, Ilya did a fine job in explaining things and pushing my knowledge even further.

I didn’t want to push Ilya too much into duelling and trusted in Ilya’s decision on when I would be ready to participate in a duel.  It didn’t take long as I’m assuming he was as keen as I was to ‘throw down’ (as Jaden Yuki would say).  After another extremely useful and enlightening session, Ilya said that the next time we met online would be duel day and that I should get my deck ready.

I was utterly delirious with excitement and spent the weekend deciding on what deck to use.  I wanted it to be clever, but not difficult to play.  Something different to throw Ilya off guard but something I understood.  After many hours deciding I came up with a deck that was based upon a known combo that was rarely used.  It was a combo that punished the current CC and I thought it would be great.  I’d added my own spin to the deck and I was proud of my decision and hoped that Ilya would be impressed by my choice of deck.

Everything was set for my very first duel, my deck was chosen, my opponent was selected and ready, and a date and time were set for D-day.  Duel Day was about to commence but even before the duel I had already made my first mistake as a duellist and had assumed that Ilya would be a player that used a CC deck.  My assumptions would prove to be wrong and my first duel would be a very interesting one.

The next time we met, I was extremely nervous.  We shared some pleasant hellos and I waited for Ilya to commence proceedings.  In an astute move Ilya suggested we first talked about how to duel online using messenger programs.  His tips were very much common sense but helped to make sure that the game played at a reasonable speed and wasn’t hindered by lengthy typing sessions (I will list his tips and advice below).  Then it was time to begin my very first duel.  Ilya suggested I keep track of life points and I used my excel software to calculate the life point changes.  Ilya said that normally for a first duel he would want to know my hand and all the cards a I draw, that way he can help me the best.  However after our quiz session, which I’m guessing I must have impressed him with, he was happy to let me go with it myself but he reassured me that I could ask questions whenever I wanted.

The duel began; the deck I was using was a Stone Statue/Ojama Trio OTK.  It used the combo of Stone Statue + Staunch Defender + Ojama Trio + Level Limit Area A.  However I had added my own twist to the deck.  The decklist is below:

Monsters: 16

3 Giant Rat

3 Stone Statue of the Aztecs

3 Gyaku-Gire Panda

2 Des Lacooda

2 Jetroid

1 Injection Fairy Lily

1 Morphing Jar

1 Sangan

Spells: 11

2 Level Limit - Area B

2 Smashing Ground

2 Wave-Motion Cannon

1 Nobleman of Crossout

1 Swords of Revealing Light

1 Heavy Storm

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Book of Moon

Traps: 14

2 Just Desserts

2 Dust Tornado

2 Gravity Bind

2 Level Limit-Area A

3 Staunch Defender

3 Ojama Trio

The deck seemed to be well constructed in theory, but I was keen to see how it played.  I had purposely put in some cards that I wanted to understand the rulings on and see how they play so that I could use them in other decks.  The deck had 2 win conditions, the OTK with Stone Statue and Staunch Defender and also Gyaku-Gire Panda trampling under Level Limit Area B and Gravity Bind.  Injection Fairy Lily also added a high atk level 3 monster.  Giant rat could search every monster except Jetroid and Sangan.  Jetroid was added to help speed up the use of traps and did come off once during the duel.  The Just Desserts when combined with Ojama Trio would do a minimum of 1500 damage but more than likely was to do around 2000-2500.

The assumption I made before even starting the duel was that Ilya would be running some sort of CC.  He was in fact playing with his own version of a warrior deck that used Silent Swordsman LV5 and Elemental Hero Wildheart.  Between the two of these monsters my Gravity Binds and Level Limit Area B’s became useless.  The duel lasted a while but only due to my interruptions for questions.  Ilya was extremely patient (for which I am thankful).  I managed at one point to have Level Limit Area A and Level Limit Area B on the field at the same time and when Ilya attacked my face down Jetroid I managed to get a Staunch Defender on my Stone Statue of Aztecs.  With Marauding Captain and Spirit Reaper on the field, the move hit Ilya’s life points hard.  However I could never maintain any field presence and I was soon to be swarmed by Ilya’s warriors and beaten.  I made one major error in my duel and that was discarding all my Giant Rats after being hit by a Nobleman of Crossout.  Ilya informed me of my mistake and allowed me to bring them back.  I should have really read the card properly and noticed that the effect of discarding other copies only applied to FLIP effect monsters.  Also I continually wasted Dust Tornados.  I kept chaining my dust to the activation of Ilya’s spells and traps, which although destroyed the card didn’t negate its activation proving to be an utter waste of a card.

It was so good to get my first duel done.  Although I had been beaten I had never felt happier.  The duel had lasted a long time and there wasn’t time for another, but after getting my first taste of duelling I was hungry for more.  Ilya gave me some good advice for the deck but I told him that I had another deck I wanted to try next time.  We left it at that, with the next duel poised to happen any time.  After fulfilling my aim of finally having my first duel my next aim was simple…

To win one.

Having my first duel was the first major step on my journey.  Ilya was a huge help and I owe a lot to him.  As well as being my first opponent I consider him my first friend made through this game.  Thank you mate!

Some of the things below are what I learned from my first duel:

• Some people say for your first duel stick with a simple deck that is easy to understand.  I’d agree with this if you were playing against someone who isn’t willing to teach you how to play.  However if you have managed to secure the services of someone like I did then by all means play any deck you want.  In fact the more fun the deck the better.
• When you have your first duel (and any subsequent duels) the most important thing are manners.  You can still have good manners while duelling online.  Always be polite and always thank your opponent after you have duelled.  If there are ruling disputes then solve them amicably and preferably together.  If you are the newbie then make sure you listen to the experienced duellist who is helping you out.
• Read your cards.  I made my mistake because I didn’t read Nobleman of Crossout’s effect properly.  Make sure you read all your cards.
• Decks that look good in theory never tend to work as well as you thought.
• Trap heavy decks are extremely slow to play and vulnerable to spell/trap removal.
• Monsters that aren’t affected by certain cards (either spells or traps) are annoying (which means they are good if you are playing them).
• Ojama Trio is annoying for your opponent (I love this card!!)
• Only quickplay spells and traps can be played in your battle phase and on your opponents turn, no others.  Especially important when you are in your own battle phase and try to activate a normal spell from your hand, I made this mistake.
• Dust Tornado is best played in your opponents end phase.  Track back a phase if you have to.
• Field presence is important to winning a duel.  I lost because I had fewer monsters on the field than my opponent.
• Combo decks that rely on 4 cards rarely get the elements to the combo at the same time.  Stick to a combo that uses 3 or fewer cards.  One with 3 cards will still be difficult unless you can search for the elements of the combo.  A Cat of Ill Omen could have been useful in this deck as it would’ve been able to search for 3 of the components needed for the combo.

Here are some of the tips and advice Ilya gave to me on duelling using a messenger programme:

• Check any card abbreviations with your opponent.  For example Nobleman of Crossout can be written as NOC if you both understand.
• To begin with declare the position of all monster cards.  For example if you set a monster write – “I set 1 monster in face down defense position”.  After your comfortable you can eventually write “I set 1 mon”.
• ALWAYS ask your opponent for a response at the end of every one of your moves.
• If your opponent has a no monsters on the field but a set spell or trap, always declare your monster attacks individually asking for a response after each attack.
• If you feel it necessary to declare phases of gameplay then do so.  Although I didn’t find it necessary and coped comfortably without them.  However always declare the end of your turn.

Here are some useful abbreviations to use while duelling on MSN or a similar instant messenger programme:

FU = Face Up

FD = Face Down

Def = Defense Position

Atk = Attack Position

Mon = Monster

s/t = Spell or Trap

drw = draw a card

gy = graveyard

These basics should help you along and you can agree any others with your opponent at the time.

My email address is mofox9@hotmail.co.uk email me for any help or advice or even your opinions on my articles.  Ilya is a great guy and I’m sure that many of you would like him to help you too.  Instead of him getting swamped by emails requesting help then if you wish to contact him, email me first.  I will then be able to judge the interest and let Ilya know.  I’m sure he would love to help everyone, but if demand is particularly high then it might be wise to come up with a different way of doing things.    I would love to hear your opinions and if you have any suggestions to improve them then let me know.  I will reply to all emails that are sent to me.  Remember newbies no question is a stupid question.

Until next time fellow duellists!