Welcome back to DeathJester’s Dojo; this installment of the ‘Road to Success’ series deals with the concept of dedication and how to make the most use of it. Yugioh is more than just a hobby…it’s a sport. With any sport you have to dedicate a fair amount of your resources (time, money, hours, etc) to achieve any kind of success with it.

 

Reading Material

 

Reading about Yugioh is just as important as playing it, but you have to know what to read. This is where I come in. ^_^ Being a writer on various Yugioh topics, you develop a keen awareness of what is good reading material and what is garbage. In a recent survey I did on the Pojo.com Message Boards, I’ve read that some spend 20-40 hours a week reading about YGO! On average that’s 3-6 hours a day just reading about the game…that is absurd. However, that may be because some players read the Manga, episode recaps, or reading forums, etc, etc, but still…who has that much time to be spending 3-6 hours reading about YGO. I know I don’t. 1-2 hours of reading a day is more time efficient, but where does your playing time go then? This is something you have to consider if you are one of those 3-6-hours-a-day-reading players.

 

A good reading material management tip is to focus on yugioh material that is written for what you want to accomplish. If you want to get better at Japanese and become a bigger fan of the YGO genre, then read the Manga and watch the show religiously. If you want to be more successful in tournaments and become a better player, then stick to strategy/theory articles. See, the beauty of these strategy/theory articles is that you can apply them to real-life situations in the game and develop your own conclusions based on logical reasoning and careful testing. Again, knowing what to read in this department is important. Here are some authors that I recommend reading their material on YGO Strategy/Theory:

 

• Jae Kim (Pojo.com/Metagame.com) – An excellent writer when dealing with Game-Play and Deck Strategy. His level of knowledge is remarkable. You can tell that he really spends his time testing the theories he thinks of before he publishes them; very intelligent writer and worth reading.
• Jerome McHale (Metagame.com) – I like his articles. I’ve been reading his stuff since he started at Metagame.com and have personally tested the majority of his decks that he posts. I recommend him since he has a good sense about Deck Strategy.
• Mike Rosenberg (Pojo.com/Metagame.com) – An extremely knowledgeable writer. One of the original top competitors in the world in YGO; he’s certainly got experience under his belt. He barely writes on Pojo.com, but he writes weekly on Metagame.com in his article series ‘Bill and Tom’s Binder’.
• Baron and Spikes (DMComet.net) – It’s always nice to get a different perspective on the game. These two guys own the website DMComet.net and play in the OCG. I think they are from Malaysia, though I’m not entirely sure. In any case, they have very good articles about decks and single cards. They have strong opinions about the state of the game and the Ban List, I generally don’t recommend those. I think it’s more productive to read about how to better use your cards and deck.
• Julia Hedberg (Metagame.com) – One of the extremely few female YGO writers out there. She’s a great writer and she gives you a very realistic view on the game from a Judge’s perspective. I definitely recommend that you add her articles to your Internet Bookmarks.
• DeathJester (Pojo.com) – My articles deal with a wide variety of topics ranging from Game-Play, Deck Strategy, Psychology, the “Inner Game”, and even Time Management. Though I only write about once every two weeks, I feel that my material is worth reading. Try it; you won’t be disappointed.   

 

If you focus your reading on the topics you want to be successful in, you’ll find that you will not only achieve the best results, but you’ll find the answers to your problems quicker than before. Again, don’t read about the game for more than 1-2 hours a day. It’s not time-efficient to do it more than that. I’m not a big forum poster; I never found the merit in it to be honest. If you find yourself on a forum for more than 30 minutes, you should seriously consider finding a hobby or perhaps…play more yugioh? If you want to be more successful at this game, spend your time wisely.

 

There are very few forums that are worth spending your time on. When reviewing a forum, make sure you ask yourselves these questions:

 

• Are the opinions on this site intelligent and mostly helpful?
• Is the site chock full of “noobs” or un-intelligent people that ruin the more intelligent discussions?
• Are the articles and card reviews helpful and based on fair opinions rather than biased ones?
• Are the Strategy, Deck, and Single Card discussion sections generally less active?
• How good of a job does the administration staff do to keep the forum in order?

 

Time Management

 

I’m really big on time management these days. To me, time is one of the most valuable things we have. A lot of people make excuses about how they waste their time on things that are not productive or things that don’t relate to their goals in yugioh. Here are some examples:

 

• “I can never find the time to do anything.”
• “I don’t know where all my time goes.”
• “I just couldn’t find the time for that.”
• “Such and such called me and then I had to (insert random wasteful activity here)”
• “I did SO much testing for this regional…but I still scrubbed out.”
• “I just don’t have the time for that.” (A classic)

 

The first step is to establish what your goals are. You have to have clearly defined goals in this game. Doing that will already put you on the right track to success; this applies to all aspects of life. If you find that you are making excuses for everything that you do and how can’t get anything done, then you have bad time management skills. Too many people complain about how they don’t have time. That’s a faulty statement. In reality, the reason you feel you don’t have time is because you don’t make the time to do the things you want to do. This is a skill you have to develop. It doesn’t always come to you naturally.

 

Take me for example; I am a chronic time-waster by birth. I am half-Colombian and half-Puerto Rican. I love my heritage and my people, but the majority of them are just too lazy. We’re raised with the mentality of “everything can wait until we feel like doing something about it”; which we never get to anyway. ^_^ this is faulty reasoning. I really had a hard time learning how to manage my time properly. Time is certainly a valuable thing, but I’m not telling you to be a fanatic about it. Just maximize the way you use your time.

 

Without proper time management, would I be able to juggle everything that goes on in my life? Let me give you a glimpse of the things I have to juggle on a weekly basis:

 

·        Part-Time Job

·        Full-Time student at college studying Computer and Electronics Engineering (VERY complicated)

·        In a serious relationship with my current girlfriend

·        My family

·        Owner of a state-wide team: Team Fallen; which has 20+ members strong and growing

·        Owner of my own forum website

·        Pojo.com columnist

·        Writing Newsletters for my Team to keep them up-to-date

·        Competitive YGO player

·        Holding regular status meetings with each division of my team around the state

·        Hanging out with friends

 

I have a ton of things on my plate. Proper time management is the key here. One technique that I find very useful is to make a “To Do” List. I love lists. They organize everything. With this “To Do” List I also write down what time of the day when I will tend to that particular task. This technique is sort of like making appointments with yourself throughout the day. When you have a clear cut vision of what you want to do, how you are going to do it, and when you are going to it makes the task that much simpler. All that’s left to do is to just…do it.

 

The number one rule in Time Management is the handle your priorities first. Just because you want to become more successful in anything doesn’t mean that it is wise to set your job, relationships, school-work, and family aside. In fact, taking care of your life’s priorities first will make it easier to accomplish your goals outside of those things.

 

Optimize the way you use your time

 

Time Management is also about how you use your time when you have it. First I talked about, how to make time…now I want to teach you how to use your time effectively.

 

Have you ever thought about how long it takes to play YGO? The UDE specified round time-limit in a sanctioned event is 40 minutes. That’s 2,400 seconds! Can you count to 2,400 without feeling sleepy? With that much time some people still can’t finish their matches. Even after end-of-match procedures some players still find a way to keep on playing for 15 more minutes when the system is designed to end matches promptly. This is absolutely ridiculous. Now imagine if you had a 9-round tournament. That tournament is easily 360 minutes long if you just base it on the rounds. A Regional should only last about 6 hours. We all know there are many variables to consider like round change-overs and players that take forever to play. That’s not the point though.

 

The point I’m getting at is that YGO is a time-consuming game. The average match takes in a tournament takes about 20-30 minutes to complete easily. You have to consider this when you are allocating time to practice playing this game; especially if you want to test mimicking tournament conditions (which is the most effective way). This number varies on the format, but I think you get the general idea. So if you wanted to play for 3 hours you would probably only get to play 6 matches. That’s nothing. That’s only 18 games if they all go to Game 3. If not, then it goes down to 12. Pretty dismal huh? I think by now you’ve realized that getting good at YGO requires a bit more than just playing at your local weekend tournament.

 

Here are some helpful tips to maximize your game-time:

 

·        Apply the “Coaching Method” to your game-play - The “Coaching Method” is something my team, Team Fallen, uses to track a player’s misplays during actual game-play by writing each misplay down on paper along with the most suitable alternate play they could have made. This helps you track the deterioration of your board position in any game. It’s an extremely useful technique.

·        Separate ‘Fun-Play’ from ‘Serious-Play’ – If you want to get better at the game, you need to spend more time playing seriously to gain more of the experience you need. You can play for fun at any time.

·        Test under ‘Tournament Conditions’ – When you’re doing test-play, make sure to test under strict tournament conditions. Place yourself under a time-limit. 40 minute rounds and 1-2 minutes to make a move. You’ll learn to love it.

·        Test theories and decks you read about – If you take my advice and look at the reading material I look at then you will want to test out what you read. DO IT! This helps you gain a better perspective on the game. It’s boring to play with the same deck over and over and over and over again…you need variety in this game. Try the different decks you see in articles and Top 8 lists. Try to find out what makes those decks supposedly so good.

·        Spend a good amount of time playing. At least 20 hours a week to familiarize yourself with the flow of the game. This much practice will make many of your complicated game-play decisions into second nature. This is what you want. You cannot afford to be thinking too much during an actual tournament match. You’ll end up making more mistakes.

 

Closing Thoughts

 

            I believe that making the most effective use of your time is directly attributed to your success in this game. The most successful players in this game will tell you that using your time productively is essential. Players like Kris Perovic, Wilson Luc, Anthony Alavarado, Bryan Coronel, Jerry Wang, and Roy St. Clair eat, sleep, and think this game. They don’t know how to waste time. They all have lives too. Fact of the matter is…if you want to succeed you got to work for it. Not everyone is blessed to be in the 1% of the population who are naturally talented at this game. Work for it, and you’ll succeed.

 

Until next time everyone, remember to play hard, think about your moves, and most importantly…have fun!

 

 

*News*

 

• Team Fallen has put up a new website! We have news, pictures, and soon we’ll have video. Keep checking back to see our Bios and Accomplishments at: http://www.freewebs.com/scar_xx/index.htm
• Team Fallen is headed to Naples, FL for the April 22^nd Regionals. Be sure to meet with us about recruitment opportunities and take pictures with us. ^_^
• I am taking names for more interviews in my “A View from the Top” series, be sure to email me with your qualifications.