DeathJester's Dojo
Card Advantage: What Does It All Mean???
Bryan Camareno a.k.a. DeathJester
May 3, 2005

Hello everyone! I’m back again to give you an in-depth look into the ever-so-vague concept of “card advantage” that seems to plague the minds of many a duelist in the YuGiOh TCG. Before my article, I would like to let everyone know that Jose Cintra at Gathering Place Games (my home store) is holding a sanctioned YuGiOh tournament every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. If you’re looking to boost your rating or play against some of the best in Florida, this is the place to be! You will find the whole of Team Fire & Ice there competing at every tournament; if you think you can take us I encourage you to come and play against the most popular and organized Premier YuGiOh Team in Florida. For more information visit www.josemagicnews.com and while you’re there, check out my daily Card of the Day articles and find out what I personally think about the format and the meta-game’s most popular cards. Now without further delay, we move on to my latest article.

In the YuGiOh community we always hear talk of card advantage and how certain cards give us that. Unfortunately, most players aren’t very familiar with the inner workings of this vague concept since the players who do have this knowledge, prefer not to spill the beans. I won’t explain to you every minute detail of card advantage, but I’ll give you enough to get you on the right track. If you want to improve your game-play I strongly suggest that you read carefully and pay close attention to what I have to say. After all, it is my job to give all of you the tools you need to be successful at YuGiOh.

We have cards in this game specifically made to give you a distinct advantage over your opponent. For example: Pot of Greed, Magician of Faith, and Delinquent Duo. Each of those gives you a great deal of card advantage over your opponent. Those cards listed are often referred to as 1 for 2 cards. 1 card that gives you 2 cards is amazing in this game, like Pot of Greed. We are all aware of how devastating Pot of Greed and Delinquent Duo can be. There are other cards that can total up to 1 for 5, like of favorite mass removal cards: Heavy Storm, Torrential Tribute, and Mirror Force. These are in turn, equally as devastating as Pot of Greed and Delinquent Duo.

There are others that have costs attached to them and when played, in essence, pay for themselves. A great example of this is the ever-popular Airknight Parshath. While a 1-Tribute 1900 ATK monster may seem like a waste of cards, Airknight has the added bonus of allowing you to draw a card every time you do damage with it. So instead of wasting 2 cards for 1 card (Airknight), you look at it in terms of card advantage. 2 cards (Tribute a Monster, summon Airknight (which is a card from your hand) for 3 cards (Tribute for Airknight (1), attack a monster (2), and draw a card (3)). But if you don’t count Airknight as spending a card in your hand, then in reality you are only paying the cost of Tributing 1 monster to gain a 3 card advantage over your opponent. When you look at Airknight in terms of card advantage, he is an absolute BEAST. The same goes for Mobius the Frost Monarch. You Tribute for Mobius (1), to destroy 2 S/Ts (1 & 2), and attack a Monster (3). Simply amazing…

And of course, there are cards that give you what most call “neutral advantage” and are often used sparingly but some can give you small amounts of card advantage that can go a long way in helping you win the game. The advantage given to you by these cards will always give you as much as you paid for, 1 for 1, 2 for 2, etc…Common examples of neutral advantage cards in YuGiOh are primarily associated with Discard Costs such as: Raigeki Break, Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, Night Assailant’s Discard ability, Graceful Charity, Tribe-Infecting Virus, and Lightning Vortex. Other neutral advantage cards include Dust Tornado, Solemn Judgment, Smashing Ground, Nobleman of Crossout, Ring of Destruction, Sakuretsu Armor, Snatch Steal; these are usually 1 for 1. Some neutral advantage cards can potentially be disadvantageous, like Tribe-Infecting Virus and Lightning Vortex. Sometimes Tribe will be used to take out only 1 monster, making him a 2 for 1 instead of an advantageous 2 for 2 or 2 for 3. Lightning Vortex can also give you a major disadvantage like Tribe, but often these are risks we must take in order to win.

Moving on from the basics, there are some serious Do’s and Don’ts of card advantage that all of you should be aware of. First we have the Don’ts:

• If you use Heavy Storm on one card, you are WASTING Heavy Storm.
• If you Pot of Greed when you don’t have to, you are WASTING Pot of Greed.
• If you are using Graceful Charity and you are not digging into your deck for answers to your field situation, you are WASTING Graceful Charity.
• If you use Lightning Vortex on 1 Monster that is not a major threat to you or use Lightning Vortex Scapegoat tokens and you are not going to immediately win the game simply by destroying them; you are WASTING Lightning Vortex.
• If you use Torrential Tribute on your opponent’s summon and they only have one monster on their field compared to your 2 or 3; even 1 sometimes, and their summoned monster does not directly threaten your board position; you are WASTING Torrential Tribute.
• DO NOT, for the love of anything, use Mirror Force on 1 Monster. If you are forced to, that’s fine, but please things will turn out so much better if you take a hit or two and set your opponent up.

This may seem like common sense to all the pros out there, but these stupid moves occur everywhere, at local tournaments, Regional Events, and even Shonen Jump. There are about a million Do’s that we can all follow:

• Play Pot of Greed when you need to.
• Play Graceful Charity on the first turn only if your hand is bad, or if your board position is failing and you need answers to deal with that.
• Play Heavy Storm on at least 2 cards.
• Play Lightning Vortex on 2 to 3 Monsters.
• Tribe-Infecting Virus must be used to destroy at least 2 Monsters.
• Use Torrential Tribute on 2 of your opponent’s Monsters.
• Use Mirror Force on at least 2 attacking Monsters.

These are basically the inverses of the Don’ts; 80% of players know these things and are successful because of this.

Another concern with card advantage is the amount of cards in your hand and field during the duel. The general rule is that if you are top-decking, you are LOSING…period. The more cards you have in the hand/field over your opponent, the greater the advantage. In this game, card advantage and momentum are very fickle things. With a plethora of over-powered cards, the momentum of the game can easily shift in favor of an opponent who conserves resources properly or a lucky “top-decker.” Conservative players are easily handled, but top-decking is not. Let’s just face it, some major tournaments have been decided on lucky top-decks and this is a happenstance that we all must deal with.

There are anti top-decking cards available to us but are commonly disregarded because their effects or costs are sometimes hardly worth the effort. Drop Off and Time Seal are great cards that deal with top-decking but they don’t directly affect the field in anyway. Solemn Judgment or as I call “The Combo Deck Killer” is an excellent anti-anything card that can deal with both top-decking and any surprises your opponent may have. The LP payment is often too much for most players to handle; on the flip-side it’s a worthwhile investment in a game of shifting momentum. Solemn Judgment can keep the momentum in your favor while at the same time dealing with your opponent’s threats.

These are just the basics and some key things that you should remember in your matches. Having extensive experience and knowledge of card advantage can go a LONG way when the game comes down to critical moves. Just remember, if your opponent happens to draw the dreaded Pot, Graceful, Delinquent Duo draw, don’t sweat it. You can come back from it, even if the advantage is heavily in their favor. You don’t have to scoop your cards like most players I’ve seen and heard of who just can’t stand to lose sometimes. The best way to learn in this game is through experience, so go out there and play your best and observe the results. You can ask our opponents or observers to tell you what they noticed about the game situation and your plays; it pays to ask around for opinions. Until next time everyone, remember to stay focused, practice, and most importantly…have fun!