I know that I promised that I’d have something to say about Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning.  I will get to that soon, I just wanted to take a break of sorts and write about things that seem to come up when I’m posting on the message boards.  I find there are a lot of folks on the Pojo message boards who love to propose recommendations on what changes are needed to improve the game.  So, just for fun, when Konami offers me my dream job and puts me in charge of the entire Yu-Gi-Oh division, these are some of the things I would do.

New Game Mats

I’ve actually made Yu-Gi-Oh boards by getting 1 ft x 2 ft shelves at the hardware store and using several coats of polyurethane to seal on the game mats.  The idea of a new game mat design would mean remaking those, but here goes.  I’d add two more boxes to the game mat; one titled “Removed from Play” and one titled “Side Deck”.  The primary idea is that “Removed from Play” is a recognized position in the game and ought to be on the game mat.  One could make an obstructionist-like argument that “Removed from Play” by definition means that it’s not on the game mat, but I think we now have enough cards that utilize “Removed From Play” that it’s time for it to have an official location.  This eliminates arguments over where you can put your removed from play cards and any confusion over them and other cards you might have lying around.  Now, if you create one more box on the game mat, you would need another one to keep the rectangular shape of the mat.  I propose that this one would be titled “Side Deck”.  This also highlights the importance of a side deck which under utilized by many duelists.

Give The People What They Want

I’d release Blue-Eye’s Ultimate Dragon.  I very much doubt that there are thousands of kids out there who are sticking with this game because they are waiting for this card.  More likely, I think there are kids who grow tired of this game because significant things like this seem to drag on and on.  Despite the release of new cards and master collections and reprint packs, the fact is that we’re looking at the same cards and the same decks all the time.  Even the infamous “cookie-cutter” decks (cookie-cutter decks are the ones you recurringly see winning tournaments, they almost always have the same cards in them with little variation) retain their composition from tournament to tournament.  I know that Blue-Eye’s Ultimate Dragon isn’t going to have any impact at all on the tournament scene, so why not release it?  Same goes for God cards.  I’d print up very shiny ultimate rare tournament legal God cards, give them similar effects from the anime and release them in three consecutive booster sets.  Why not?  I’ll quote the Kinks, “Give the people what they want”.  If it is a corporate necessity to have a giant carrot out there to tease the fans, then create a new one every year or so.  Blue-Eye’s Ultimate Dragon is getting old; let’s give it up while there is still some interest.

Real Yugioh Tokens and Counters

“Where can I get printable Sheep Tokens?”  Have you ever seen this on the message boards?  A lot of folks use the Ojama cards as Ojama tokens, I think there ought to be the same for all the other tokens in the game.  Actually, I’d print the Ojama tokens with the full effect on them to distinguish them from the cards.  In fact, if you don’t like the idea of dedicating one of the “new” game mat zones for the side deck, let’s make one for the new token cards.  I’d also like to see nice shiny metal “coins” that would be used for counters.  Or maybe big plastic disks, which would have the name of the counter on it and a few rules to distinguish it from other counters.  For example, a spell counter would be different than a magic reflector counter.  I’d rather make these than tip cards, but why not both?

More Common Cards

I’d reconfigure the booster sets to have more commons.  If there is one thing that drives folks nuts, it’s getting the same commons over and over again when they open packs.  I happen to like the reprint packs because you can buy a half dozen packs and almost never get the same commons.  Variety is nice.  I realize that it must be a lot of work to think up new cards all the time, but then again, when you look at the “Create-A-Card” threads on the Pojo message boards, there’s a wealth of ideas for hundreds of cards.  Here’s a couple of my own:

Captured Territory
Field Spell
Select 2 vacant monster zones and 2 vacant magic and trap zones on your opponent's side of the field. Your opponent may no longer use these zones. You may use the selected zones as your own while this card is on the field. Increase the ATK and DEF of all EARTH monsters by 200 points.

• When Captured Territory is active, your opponent will only have the use of 3 monster zones and 3 magic and trap zones. You will have the use of 7 monster zones and 7 magic and trap zones and you may use all of them as though they were on your side of the field.
• You cannot activate Captured Territory if your opponent does not have 2 vacant monster zones and 2 vacant magic and trap zones.
• Card effects that act on "your side of the field" and/or "your opponent's side of the field will resolve as though the captured zones are on your side of the field.

• The effect of Captured Territory cannot be used on your opponent’s field card zone.

D.D. Detention
Continuous Trap
Remove one monster card in your opponent's deck from play. Then shuffle the deck. When this card is destroyed, return the monster card to the deck and shuffle the deck.

I think the release of each booster set should be accompanied by a “Design-A-Card” contest with a really cool batch of prizes for the top ten winners.  All ten would see their cards released in upcoming booster sets.  The grand prize winning card would be an ultra rare.

Support for Existing Cards and Themes

A lot of folks want to build a competitive tournament deck that is not a cookie-cutter deck.  I’d say lets help players do that.  There is a tendency to put themes in booster sets and then leave them be.  Why not add some new cards to support XYZ, Amazoness and Dark Scorpions?  I applaud the release of the recent Harpie cards and King of the Skull Servants, but why not more?  I’d speculate that nobody has ever won a regional with an XYZ deck, so why not develop some support for it?  This would help make tournaments more interesting and expand the interest in past booster sets.

More Structure Decks

I’m sure that this is already in the works, but I think there ought to be dozens of structure decks.  Don’t get me wrong, I like the four we have right now and can’t wait to get more.  I suppose that’s my point, I want to see structure decks for Plants, Toons, Insects, Harpies, Valkyrion, Masked Beast …… well you get the idea.  I’d also make a special structure deck supplement that would be loaded with fusions and all the cards that are used to summon fusions.

While I think it’s highly doubtful that I’m going to land a gig at Konami, I think there is room to make the game better while maintaining, if not growing, the sales of cards.  I have no idea how the Yu-Gi-Oh development department works, but I sure hope they’re reading the stuff we have to say on the Pojo message boards.

notasperfectasyou

It’s easy to find me on the message boards, e-mail is ok, but I like open discussion better.  If you’re looking for deck ideas, see my Deck Theme’s post on the Pojo Message Boards.  Oh, and yes, I am the same notasperfectasyou that auctions Yu-Gi-Oh cards on EBAY.

napay’s prior articles and why you’d want to read them:

“Thoughts and Observations about Winning Decks – Part 5” presents a fifth installment of analysis for the purpose of seeing what can be learned from comparing two proven decks focusing on the issue of the changing landscape of Yu-Gi-Oh.

 

“Thoughts and Observations about Winning Decks – Part 4” presents a fourth installment of analysis for the purpose of seeing what can be learned from comparing two proven decks focusing on the issue of replacing cards.

“Thoughts and Observations about Winning Decks – Part C” presents a third installment of analysis for the purpose of seeing what can be learned from comparing two proven decks focusing on cards that strengthen your position.

“Thoughts and Observations about Winning Decks – Part B” presents a second installment of analysis for the purpose of seeing what can be learned from comparing two proven decks focusing on cards that weaken your opponent.

“Thoughts and Observations about Winning Decks – Part A” presents a first installment of deck analysis for the purpose of seeing what can be learned from comparing two proven decks.

“Mom and Dad Won’t Let Me Buy Cards On EBAY” presents some thoughts on the good and the bad of buying cards on EBAY and how you might work EBAY for a better experience.

“The Exodia FTK” presents an example of applying calculated mathematical probabilities to Yu-Gi-Oh in demonstration of why a deck 40 cards is a good idea.

“Fake/counterfeit Yu-Gi-Oh cards” presents a summarized version of my own experience buying fake cards and what I learned from it.

“The Star Circle” presents a very visual way to think about the components of your deck and how to think about card flow as a way to improving your deck.

“How Big is your Monster” is about why you need to stop thinking about how to get big ATK monsters in your deck and why you do need to think about how cards work synergistically.

 

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