Pook

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Where Have All The Duelists Gone?
Or
I Don’t Need a Hero

By Pook
August 14, 2006

            Greetings everyone.  No, this isn’t a mirage, it really is me, Pook, back from a long, long hiatus.  I won’t go into detail as to why I have not been around to write, but for the most part, it boils down to one fact – a fact that I am not alone in thinking – Yu-Gi-Oh just isn’t what it used to be. 
 

            No, you didn’t read that last sentence wrong.  And yes, I am fully aware that this sounds like an anti-Yu-Gi-Oh article written by a Yu-Gi-Oh player on a Yu-Gi-Oh site.  This is a call for help.  I don’t mean to sound like an old man, spouting stories about “the good old days”, but heck if I don’t miss them.  And there is one culprit in this travesty to a game I hold near and dear to my heart, and that culprit is two little letters; G and X. 
 

            Yu-Gi-Oh GX is not, I repeat, NOT Yu-Gi-Oh…not by a long shot.  Long are the days of duelists excited not only for new cards but to find out the stories of one Yugi Moto and his nearest and dearest friends.  Look, I gave GX its fair shot, believe me, I did.  But I knew going into it that it was geared toward a younger audience.  But what happened was that the younger audience didn’t much care for it either.  And frankly, neither did I.  Now I can deal with not watching the anime, as long as the game continues to be great.  But it didn’t.  We got “Hero” monsters – a term so far off, it’s almost criminal to print on these cards.  Bland, boring, mostly vanilla monsters who each represent an element…ooh baby, now that’s groundbreaking entertainment.  As far as I’m concerned, the only time a “hero” should be based around the elements is when he’s created by five gifted youngsters and their rings created by Gaia, Spirit of the Earth – that’s right folks, I’m talking about Captain Planet (for the younger readers, go ask your older brothers and sisters, I’m sure they’ll be happy to sing the theme song for you). 
 

            But all kidding aside, this was not the addition to the card game hardcore players wanted.  Heck, even casual player I know have shied away from the newer sets.  Want to know a horrifying truth, readers?  The last cards I bought were the Warriors Structure deck and a couple packs of The Lost Millennium.  That was well over a year ago.  I opened my packs, and I was left with an empty feeling.  These cards weren’t inspiring – I didn’t want to go home and construct a whiz-bang E-Hero deck.  All I did was put the cards back in the packaging, remove the holos, but those into my binder, and toss the remaining cards into a drawer.  And that is where they sat, until recently. 
 

            There’s just no denying it that I am a duelist.  In late December, I dueled for the first time in months, and shortly after, didn’t play at all, for a long time.  Last week, I felt the urge.  So I headed over to the sister shop of my former dueling grounds – unfortunately, my old tourney-grounds had closed down.  I went, I updated my deck to comply with the “new” ban list – yeah, I know, April isn’t really so new, but I hadn’t dueled in 8 months.  And I went, and I played, I met up with some people I hadn’t seen in a long time, and I had a blast.  But then something funny happened.  Not too many people were running cards from more recent sets.  In fact, some of the people who had kept up with the game were talking others out of buying newer sets.  When I asked why, I kept getting the same answer – “Because GX is terrible.”  There it was, right in front of me.  Honest to goodness proof of the very thought I had been harboring for nearly a year.  The packs I did see people buy were good old packs, like Labyrinth of Nightmare.  I was shocked, yet incredibly happy.  I inquired as to the update of so-called staple cards, and in the past year, the only cards the even come close to bearing that mantle are Cyber Dragon in its related fusions.  Are you telling me that in twelve months, Upper Deck has released three cards worth having?
 

            Now look, I understand that many of you are thinking “this guy is nuts!” and that’s a fact I’ve come to accept.  Sure, there are some fantastic Dark World decks floating around out there, the Monarchs have added to their ranks, but can you honestly say that unless you are running a GX themed deck that more than a quarter of your deck has that many “new cards”?  Truth be told, I’m not.  But hey, I’m but one duelist.  I’m still using my Fire/Burn deck, the one I initially constructed two years ago.  Maybe I’m just an old man – a fossil collecting dust in the drawer, much like many of my new cards.  Maybe I just got burned out on buying packs and being disappointed in the results.  Maybe I am crazy.  But at least I’m not alone.  It was a relief to hear others agreeing with me, but at the same time, it broke my heart.  Yu-Gi-Oh was once an unstoppable giant – a game I was sure would carry on for generations to come.  Yes, that may still be the case, but I’ll tell you this, unless something else comes along that really knocks my socks off, my current collection will be what gets handed down to the next generation of duelists. 
 

            I wish I could have written a more upbeat sort of article, but this was something I needed to say.  I haven’t written much lately because I haven’t had much to write about.  Now, I’m sure I’ll receive plenty of hate mail over this, but hey, it comes with the territory.  In the mean time, I’m going to continue to play in the classic style, because that’s what works for me – third place with a two-year old deck is pretty good, don’t you think?  I may not care for the new Yu-Gi-Oh cards, but I’m also exploring new options, like VS., an often overlooked Upper Deck game.  Yeah, it’s hard to find players, and yeah, it’s complicated, but I love me some superheroes.  Does this mean I’m giving up playing Yu-Gi-Oh?  Oh course not!  But like Bob Dylan sang, these times they are a-changing.  Happy dueling.