8.25.04  I deeply apologize for my inability to write a good Insect Deck Study. Instead, "How to Build a Side Deck" which had the second highest vote count will be your article. I could bump up the votes for this article and avoid the embarrassment, but I'd rather be honest.
         A Side-Deck in Yu-Gi-Oh!, for those who don't know is series of 15 cards put outside the playing field (not used in the actual duel) that can be substituted for cards in your deck after the 1st or 2nd Duel in a Match. In an official, UDE sanctioned tournament you fill out a deck list. Before you start a Match, your side deck and main-deck must be the same as listed, or you can and most likely will be disqualified. When using your side deck, when you take out a card you must replace it with one from your main deck (your side deck must always be 15 cards). In casual play, you may or may not follow the "after 1st and 2nd duel" rule since you generally don't have deck lists.
         The point of the side deck is to cover your weaknesses. You, as a player should know what these are. There are general weaknesses that all decks have (FTKO's for example) and specific weaknesses like Chaos, Gravekeeper, Hand Destruction, S/T Removal, etc. In order to make the best choices in your 15 counter cards, you'll have to consider a few things. 1) What in the opposing deck causes me trouble (Specific Monster Card(s), Spell Card(s), Trap Card(s) 2) In how many different ways can the opponent bring out the card (is it searchable, remove from play monster...) 3) What cards can counter it directly/indirectly. Every decks weakness can be broken down like this. How can you determine if you need to side-deck against something while building a side deck? The most obvious is when you lose, or don't accomplish what I can a "clean" win. My definition of a clean win is when you win and never lose control/advantage or when you win when your opponent only gets a few, un-important shots at your life points. An important shot would be a Don Zaloog/Kycoo/Yata on an open field; an un-important shot would be 1900 Beatstick or something along those lines.
         Another way to determine if you should side deck against a deck type is to know how often it is played in your Metagame (Don't know what a metagame is? It certainly won't be my next article. No sir.). Lets say you play a Beatdown (offensive straight attacking deck) that has lost against 5 Control (stresses advantage and tries to leave opponent out of options) and 1 Last Turn deck (uses Last Turn + Jowgen the Spiritualist for an automatic victory) within the past 2 weeks. The numbers don't lie, Control is played more often in your area. Last Turn is what I consider a surprise deck that people most likely won't use in a tournament setting. Therefore, unless your Beatdown is very poor or the Last Turn deck idea catches on and everyone starts using it, it would be a good idea to save the space for something more practical. When you have a set limit, you have to make the best of all of your space. Ignorant players (both new and intermediate) make a side deck with cards that either differ from their deck so little that the make no impact or throw in single, random cards and expect it to defeat your weakness. Truth is, if you have weakness to Chaos and side 1 Soul Release, its not going to do anything. Since most cards that are considered counter cards are Spells/Traps they are unsearchable (with exception of a few weak flip effects) so you have to run them in multiples. In this game you must expect the worst at all times. Pre-Negators, negation, etc. can screw up your plan, so either have multiple copies or a back-up plan.
         In the building process of your side deck, the first thing you should do is take 15 sleeves that are a different color from your main deck. As you choose cards from your final pile, put them into the sleeves (duh). That way, it will be very clear when/if you go over or under the set number. Of course, you won't just be able to stick your hand into a shoebox/binder/magical hat and pick out the right card(s). As I mentioned earlier, Spells are usually the best form of counter cards since they can be played right away and have no limits on them (meaning no "wait a turn to activate" or "once per turn" rules). Because of this, it's best to look for them first. When looking through your cards, pay no mind to the number of cards you put into the pile- just look at the playability and quality. Rooting out cards comes later. Repeat this for monsters and traps and you should have a pretty large pile of cards. Before going on, separate them into three respective piles. From there, get rid of cards you don't think would be that helpful after taking a second look. Repeat to you get to about 10-15 cards. If you have 15, that’s good. However, try to use multiples of cards that you think would be the most effective, then eliminate the situational cards to make room. This process can take a very long time, but will be worth it in the end.
         To give you a general idea of what makes a good side-deck/counter card, here's a short analysis of one of the better ones. Remember that I'm not reviewing the overall card...
Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer LON-062
Super Rare

At 1800 ATK, it can run over Tribe-Infecting Virus, Breaker, Don Zaloog, etc. However, it can still be overcome by 1900+ Attackers. This means that you'll have to time this card for it to be effective. It has the benefit of searchable defense, so you can get it when you sense trouble. Even if they haven't played their main monster card onto the field, you can get a pretty good idea of what it is by looking at their graveyard. By main monster in this example I (obviously) mean remove from play monsters, since that's Kycoo's main function as a counter. Look out for sub-types (Fiends) or Main-Types (LIGHTS/DARKS). When Kycoo hits the field and you pull off some damage, your opponent is either left with a dead Chaos Monster in their hand or they have to destroy Kycoo and summon another monster later.

Kycoo is a favorite side deck card for most, seeing as it's very versatile. A lot of people will main deck it because it has a solid attack power, as well as an above average effect. IMO this is one of the best TeCh cards.

         When to side deck is very important. There are times when it's necessary and times when it's used as a precaution. In official, UDE sanctioned tournaments you may only side deck after the first and second games (as mentioned earlier). In the first duel, pay very close attention to the way your opponents face and field as they play. In this game, people neglect to put up a "poker face." By paying close attention to their facial expressions, you can tell whether or not they pulled off the point of their deck. Sometimes it's pretty obvious when they're trying to make you think they have something bad when they are set for victory. If they do this, the opponent will usually talk out loud saying "I didn't get what I needed..." Ignore their words and watch their face. When they are playing serious they won't bother speaking to you outside of actual gameplay. This is a good way to tell if somebody's bluffing or not and also a way to see if you should side deck. How? If they have the "I didn't draw my good cards so I lost" look on their face, it usually means that they have a threat in their deck they haven't brought out yet. Experienced players can figure out what it is just from a single game and prepare for it later. Newer players might have to get smacked around by it before they know (at which point it's too late).
         The second way to know if you should side deck is of course, when you lose. You have a good amount of time in between duels, so take advantage of it. Matches aren't meant to finish 1-2-3, so pay no attention to an impatient opponent. When figuring out what to side in and out, think along the lines of "What didn't help me at all" and "What beat me?" then work from there. A very similar way to know if you should side deck is if your opponent does. They'll side deck using either of the above methods, consciously or not (if they know what they're doing this is). By observing how many cards they side in, you can determine how much the changed their deck. 1 or 2 probably means they're just taking out what didn't help them. 3-5 means that they know what they are doing, so you should do the same. 6-9 means they have a pre-made plan to counter your deck type. 10+ most likely means they're trying what I call a theme change. Some people change to a Gravekeeper set-up to shut down anything that needs the graveyard to work (Chaos). This can either be really effective or really weak depending which cards they changed. I recently came across a person who made their side deck completely Gravekeeper with only one Necrovalley. When he tried it... to say the very least, he lost.
         The side deck is one of the best tools that this game has to offer. Learn it, build it, use it. Why? No matter how great you think your main deck is, I can guarantee you that there is at least 1 deck that you will come across that will beat it. If it happens in a wide scale tournament, you'll have nothing else to do but sit back and get creamed. It's better to be safe than sorry, which is a redundant (but true) phrase. Even in casual games I encourage the use of the side deck. In casual games, you come across a wider variety of decks which is good practice in choosing cards from your card pool. Using your side deck is a very good habit so you should do it often. Best of luck at the regional tournaments and look out for my next article on Metagames. Speaking of Regionals...

Current Regionals List

That list is not complete, so don't be alarmed if your state doesn't have any regionals.

Questions? Comments? E-mail at Suicune@optonline.net.