You may have noticed in a lot of my articles I say things like "play conservatively" and "manage your hand well." I neglected to give you an in-depth look on how you can do that and how it can help you, so for all of you new players and the advanced ones that are finding themselves Yata-Locked, despite the fact that the bans are coming an it won't happen anymore.
        Playing conservatively means you don't put anything on the board that isn't necessary. For instance, some people lay multiple traps of the same nature as in a Waboku and a Mirror Force. Thats something I don't get. It makes 80% more sense if you lay down Waboku first. Why? You bait one of their S/T removal cards so you can set Mirror Force safely and gain more field advantage when they attack next turn. That's a common example. To keep a good number (3+) of cards in your hand, you have to know when to play cards. Doing this involves something called your "First and Second Eye" a.k.a. your natural born eyes. Very similar to counting cards in Black Jack, you should constantly look at your opponents graveyard for which cards they have and haven't played yet. Doing this also scares them, making them thing you have a Monster Reborn waiting. In fact, one time I did this and my opponent used D.D. Designator to call "Monster Reborn," not only was it not in my hand, but he had to remove the only other card in his hand- Yata-Garasu. When you play for a long enough time, you get a general idea of "the backbone" of an average deck. Here's the spine of most decks, cards that most players play in their tournament decks (by no means staples)...

Basic Spine Monsters: 7-8

1x Breaker the Magical Warrior
1x Tribe-Infecting Virus
1x Sinister Serpent
2-3x D.D. Warrior Lady
1x Sangan
1x Witch of the Black Forest

Basic Spine Spells: 13-14

1x Raigeki
1x Dark Hole
1x Pot of Greed
1x Graceful Charity
1x Change of Heart/Snatch Steal
1x Monster Reborn
1x Premature Burial
1x Harpie's Feather Duster
1x Heavy Storm
2-3x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Painful Choice
1x Delinquent Duo
1x The Forceful Sentry

Basic Spine Traps

Everybody has their own trap set-up. IMO this is the one dimension of the game that varies from player to player. Even though it is the smallest part of most decks, 5-6 cards in most players decks are used for the sole purpose of getting rid of them.
        The cards listed above are the basic cards, but as we all know, decks are always specialized. Based on this, you can tell what other cards will fill up the rest of the opposing deck. I find it extremely useful to get a general idea of what deck they play before you play them. In a wide scale tournament (eg. Regionals) you can either be sneaky and peak at their deck list, be sneaky and peak at their cards in their fun duels, be not sneaky and ask them, or be semi-sneaky and ask someone else. It makes the most sense to do this regarding someone you would consider a threat. Lets say you ask somebody near them and they say something vague like "Chaos." From that, you can make an educated guess that they play some combination of these cards- Chaos Sorcerer, Dark Magician of Chaos (most of the time, this isn't what chaos is supposed to mean >_<), Black Luster Soldier- Envoy of the Beginning, or Chaos Emperor Dragon- Envoy of the End. You can pretty much guess that the monster set up includes several LIGHTs/DARKs. Taking into consideration that you have yet to hand in a deck list, then would be a good time to consider putting some Soul Releases or Kycoo's into your side deck if the player seems threatening. That's all hypothetical.
        Now that you know how to take advantage of your opponents side of the field, lets see how you can use what cards you've already played as a way to eliminate any surprising topdecks. If you continuously play with the same deck, you'll eventually know how many cards are in it (total) and how many copies of each card you run. You have to know what you have to work with before you actually start playing is what I mean. Not being surprised by a bad topdeck helps cut down on odd facial expressions that could give away the fact that you are trying to bluff them by setting the MST you just drew.
        How does this all tie in with playing conservatively? Once you realize that both sides of the field (graveyard includes) must always be a factor in how you go about playing your cards, it will become clear. You must always expect the worst- otherwise against a smart player you will lose fast and hard. You have both a Pot of Greed and a Graceful Charity in your hand. Your opponent has 1 Face Down M/T and 1 Face Down Monster. Usually, you'd want to play Pot Of Greed first, but there's a chance that the face down card is Imperial Order, or some other form of negation (eg. Magic Drain). Why risk losing +1 card advantage? Play Charity first as bait and see what happens. What I am trying to explain is something very similar to the InSaNiTy Theory, an old Pokemon Concept which can be associated with most other card games. I started writing this before I read that, but when I did I was surprised how my idea was already used for a different game. >_<
        Now to tie playing conservatively to the average game. My "Theory" is a straight to the point, three sentence "phrase."

"Never waste a card. Look both ways before playing a card. Gather your thoughts, then place them into you moves."

The first part- never waste a card. Using something like Raigeki against a single, non-threatening monster is foolish. Set something like a Waboku and pass. During their stand-bye phase activate it so even if they have Jinzo, you take no damage. If they summon a Tribute monster or a regular monster, you've made a 2 for 1 trade when you spring Raigeki on them. Think practicly when you play. Scoring an early lead isn't always important. Using this style of play can bring victory in 2 different ways- slowly draining your opponents LP away with little attacks and ploys like Ring or Magic Cylinder or finish them off in one blow. Most decks will win with the first option, but some, like mine and Warrior Decks swarm for the victory.

Part 2- Look both ways before playing a card. Look at both sides of the field, like I've mentioned several times in this article.

The third sentence- "Gather your thoughts, then place them into your moves." Think before you make a game breaking move. I am guilty of not doing this, which is why I didn't have a good shot at Top 8. I've told this story many times, so if you've heard this before turn scroll down for the end of the article. The Long Island Febuary 1st Regional... I had summoned an army of fiends all at once. I did 7400 damage and he took 500 the previous turn. I have no hand left and he Raigeki'ed and summoned Yata. That really sucked. I thought that move would take him out, but because of my lack of focus, I lost. Sometimes you'll get so caught up in the fact that you might or might not win that you make mistakes that'll cost you the game.
        Overall, playing conservatively is a skill that will follow you through all TCGs you'll ever play IMO. It's a skill that once you master it it will become a big part in your matches.

Questions? Comments? E-mail at Suicune@optonline.net. Vote for the next one!!