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Before I get started with the interview I like to
thank Pojo for putting this up for me.
Pojo Screen Name:
http://www.pojo.biz/board/member.php?u=51
Ally: Before we get started I like to thank you for
doing this interview with me. For my first question
what is your full name?
ExMod: Michael George Lucas
Ally: Cool name especially the last two haha.
Anyways can you tell the readers a little bit about
your YGO accomplishments?
ExMod: Okay...I'm definitely a bit more on the
business end with this. I've made two Regional Top
4s, and made about $50,000 over the past three years
selling Yu-Gi-Oh cards online. In addition to
writing for various Pojo books, Beckett Media also
has me writing for them for their Yu-Gi-Oh magazine.
Ally: Quite an accomplishment there. When you topped
4 the YGO regionals what were you running, what
format, and where at?
ExMod: Both of the Top 4s were during Trinity format
(Pot/Graceful/Duo all legal, along with BLS and
various other brokenness). Both were at regionals
hosted in Butler, PA, by Professional Event
Services. (Very rare you find a TO, staff, and
judges that know what they're doing)
Ally: How did it feel when you topped 4 the first
regional?
ExMod: Great, especially because of the
circumstances surrounding it. That was the height of
my "netdecking > original thought" phase, and both
of those Top 4s were done with card-for-card
netdecks of SJC winners. It riled up a few members
of the online community, which made me laugh for
days on end.
Ally: What you mean height of your netdecking >
original thought? Who did you copy in order to top 4
:p.
ExMod: : Let me look up those threads real quick...I
know one was Eric Wu, and it was a Zombie build. The
other, I need to double-check, if I can find it.
Ally: Ok thats fine. When you do let me know. So why
did people get riled up about it? Net decking was
promoted way before then so why now?
ExMod: I got into many heated arguments with other
people about why I think netdecking is a good
thing...mainly I think it's funny if someone really
good comes up with a great idea, and someone else
copies that idea (whether they improve on it or
not), and then beats the original creator of the
deck. If you'll recall the recent Shonen Jump
Championship Philadelphia coverage, Nick Lagnella
beat Theerasak Poonsombat (Better known as "T") with
his own deck in the Top 8. This is pretty much the
highest-profile occurrence of that happening.
Ally: That was funny too. Do you think net decking
promotes playing ability a lot?
ExMod: It helps the new players become average
players when they see a good deck and play with it,
beginning to understand how it works. It helps
average players who haven't netdecked become better
as well, as they start to understand more intricate
combos / rulings on certain weird combinations of
cards, and they get a better understanding of the
game because of it. I do respect the creative
thought process it takes to make an unusual idea and
make it work (like Tundo's Life Equalizer deck) but
assuming you can understand how each card works with
one another and how other cards work against your
deck, just about anyone can emulate that success
with a netdeck if they're smart enough.
ExMod: One thing I definitely want to throw out
there while it's on my mind -- people think they
should get an indefinite advantage with their deck
being hidden. In my opinion, when you make a new
decktype, you should get the element of surprise as
an advantage ONE TIME ONLY, for that ONE tournament.
Ally: Kind of like Overdose? What you think about
the OD burn deck when they hid it?
ExMod: That seriously offended me. They got a Top 16
finish; honestly, that's good enough that your deck
is, without a doubt, part of the metagame as a Tier
1 deck. It deserves to be recognized at that point.
I'm just glad that other sources posted the lists,
and I did my part to spread them.
Some good DID come from this though -- Top 16
decklists are being posted instead of Top 8 now.
That's a good thing overall.
Ally: You think it was because of OD deck that top
16 got posted or constant nagging to metagame?
ExMod: A combination of both, along with the format
change with Top 16 going to Day 2. All 16 decks have
to be typed up, as it's a rule that all 16 players
get copies of all the other 16's decklists, so they
might as well just post them; they're already typed
up and printed out. There was nagging before that,
and it just increased after the OD shenanigans.
Ally: So true! Whats your views on originality aside
from net decking?
ExMod: That's part of what shows that netdeckers DO
have skill, just in a different way. The mind of a
person who comes up with the idea and the mind of a
person to takes that idea and then ends up making it
even better, or making a spin-off because of that
original idea...both smart, but came about the ideas
in different ways. You've got to respect each,
honestly.
Ally: Do people get mad at you a lot of taking their
decks and running them at a regional doing better
then said person?
ExMod: Not really. Most people who are netdecked
just want credit for having come up with the idea in
the first place. Whenever I netdeck, I give credit.
CITE YOUR SOURCES, people, it's not that hard.
Ally: LOL! Well to go away from the topic a little
bit do you think Demise whould of been banned when
it won a SJ? I mean Cyber-Stein got the suprised ban
why not this card?
ExMod: Demise is much more easily sided against, and
requires more cards to complete the combo (although
it has more cards that search out pieces of said
combo.) I honestly don't see Demise getting
mid-format banned. If it's going to get restricted
or banned, it will be done at the proper time, with
September's list. I'm still bitter about the
mid-format Stein ban, not because of the ban itself
but the mid-format part. UDE really should have done
a buyback program on Steins, as they were worth $25
each prior to December 21st (I think that's the day
the ban hit) and $10 the day after.
Ally: Wouldn't that make UDE go broke though ~_^.
ExMod: Not if they put out the buyback payouts in
product. e.g. wait until Destiny Draw or Malicious
or stuff like that is $25 each, and swap a Stein for
D-Draw. Trooper gets down to $50, send in 2 Steins
for a Trooper, stuff like that. It's far too late
for that now, but it would have been nice to see at
least even 6-7 packs of product being exchanged per
Stein.
Ally: That be nice, so money wouldn't go to waste.
Do you think the banning of Cyber-Stein was a good
idea since you liked your steins :P
ExMod: Oh, it was better for the game overall, I
admit that. If it hadn't gotten banned before
Christmas, there definitely would have been
something wrong if it hadn't gotten banned in March.
Ally: Do you think Demise will get banned/limited by
USE national time?
ExMod: No. If they do, that's unfair. Stein at least
got to have an impact on one National. Demise isn't
as broken as Stein. Between Pulling the Rugs, Cursed
Seals, Wabokus/Threatening Roars, and potential
other tech cards like Winged Kuriboh or Neko Mane
King, you've got a LOT of options to deal with its
searchers, its ritual spell, or the Demise itself.
Ally: People said there was more enough to stop
Cyber-Stein and look what happened. Demise could
turn the same way since their similar in ways.
People sided in Kuriboh for Stein and it still wasnt
enough. Also theres those chances of said person not
drawing it due to bad hands. What you think about
that?
ExMod: Possible, but one player getting a good hand
and the other player getting a bad hand is always
going to result in the good hand winning, regardless
of whether or not the good hand was held by Demise
OTK. 0-monster hands. ALL-monster hands. Three
Monarchs with no way to get tribute fodder. Drawing
all of your 1/1 removal against self-replacing
monsters like Gadgets or Card Trooper. It happens in
all decktypes.
Ally: You think Demise will get banned next list? Do
you think it's stupid to limit ARA?
ExMod: Limiting ARA would be like limiting Future
Fusion -- unfairly punishing decks that can make
valid use of it that aren't one turn kill. If
they're going to limit 1, limit Demise. Honestly,
that's all you need to do. Even players who have
standard decks will have a few answers to Demise --
Book of Moon, Bottomless, etc. This makes the Demise
player actually think before carrying out the combo,
and take more time to prepare, which could end up
costing them the game if the deck isn't built right.
Ally: Even with those chainable cards to Demise it
will still blow up the field leaving the opponent
for a direct attack that could kill them in one turn
like Doom Dozer, Megamoprh, Premature Burial, and
metamorphisis. Still theres that chance that player
may not have the finishing moves.
ExMod: Also true. I think we could just agree that
the deck is very good, but not unbeatable, and
siding against it is usually rewarded.
Ally: This is true hehe. Last banned/restriction
question; You think Trap Dushshoot will see any
restrictions like Mind Crush did?
ExMod: I actually hope so, glad you brought that up.
Dustshoots in multiples have the power to absolutely
cripple a person, almost regardless of deck type. I
understand if it doesn't get any limit, but at the
same time I wouldn't mind seeing that thing going to
1/deck -- and this is from a person who's siding
CrushShoot just because of how danged powerful it
can be.
Ally: You said at the beginning that you work for
Beckett; how you manage that?
ExMod: Actually, that didn't start with Yu-Gi-Oh.
That started back with Pokemon. I was a volunteer on
www.allexperts.com, a site where anyone with expert
knowledge in a certain area can sign up and
volunteer. I'd been doing so for about a year, until
that fateful day where I got a question titled
"POKEMON MAGAZINE ARTICLES". That started me into
Beckett's Pokemon magazine. One of the Yu-Gi-Oh
writers left about a year later; I asked to fill his
spot and it was okayed. I've been writing for both
publications ever since.
Ally: Doesn't it get tiring to write for both and
how many times a month you write for them?
ExMod: I write about 4 articles for each issue of
Yu-Gi-Oh (which is a bi-monthly) and 1-2 articles
per month for Pokemon (which is monthly.) It doesn't
get tiring, as I can usually crank out the 4
Yu-Gi-Oh articles in 2, 3 hours tops. Usually 2.
More time is spent getting the accurate decklists
and putting the set abbreviations/numbers by the
cards than writing the actual articles. The subject
matter is fairly easy for both magazines.
Ally: What do you write about the most?
ExMod: Well, Beckett is very good to me in letting
me choose my own subject matter. The two definite
per issue of Yu-Gi-Oh are a deck about whatever
monster they put on the cover of that issue, and the
Ask the Master column -- that's basically All
Experts-type ruling questions that I get paid for. (Sidenote:
I'm the guru of the AllExperts Yu-Gi-Oh section, and
no longer do Pokemon for them.)
Ally: Oh wow. You also write about Pokemon. What do
you usually write about for the game? Also do you
play the game a lot?
ExMod: ...to be honest, I haven't PLAYED the Pokemon
TCG since Wizards lost control of it, and haven't
played the video games since Ruby/Sapphire. I
research them enough to keep up with them, and am
still able to write good articles, but I only
consistently play Yu-Gi-Oh.
ExMod: One more note on the Yu-Gi-Oh Beckett
articles -- the other two per issue are usually my
choice. I get to preach netdecking a lot thanks to
those, and pretty much everything else I want to say
other than talking about $HoloPullingMethod.
Ally: Do you ever preach about originality in your
articles?
ExMod: Nope. If an original deck does do well, I'll
cover it, but usually so others will start netting
it. Like I said earlier, netdecking and beating the
original creator with his own deck = funniest thing
in Yu-Gi-Oh...
Ally: Especially OD Burn Deck ~coughs~. You
mentioned hollo pulling can you tell the readers a
little about that.
ExMod: Well...I'd rather not get into detail.
There's enough detail on that on the message boards,
and I know that advertisers frown on details of that
information being posted on the main page. What I
CAN say is that there are various ways to make sure
you only buy packs that have foils without opening
the packs. If you've ever gone to a store and bought
a whole bunch of packs and not gotten one foil, it's
probable that someone has used one of these methods
to make sure they got all the foils.
Ally: Ok onto a different topic. How you create the
point system?
ExMod: As my new Pojo name eludes to, I created a
trading method that is commonly used on our trade
boards today, that has become pretty much a
full-time business for me.
Many years ago, before I even used holo-pulling
methods, I bought quite a few packs of cards -- to
the point where I had several thousand commons. Just
to get rid of them, I sold them on eBay. The buyer
asked if I had any more, and offered the same price.
So I thought to myself "Hmm, if I can get these
cards constantly for cheaper than his
ExMod: buy price, I can make a profit!"
And on September 29, 2004, the point system was
born.
The point system assigns a specific value to each
rarity of card. Commons are 1 point, rares are 8.33,
supers are 33.33, ultras are 66.66, and ultimates
are 41.66. Each point is worth one cent in trade
value. The point system offers a very low value per
card in exchange for taking ANY card, as long as
it's in mint condition, and not a strategy card or
tip card, Sphinx card, or starter deck foil.
ExMod: I trade high-end items like Nintendo Wii,
Sony PSP, XBox 360 Premium, and high-end cards like
Card Trooper and Ultimate Raiza the Storm Monarch
for bulk quantities of commons, rares, and foils,
and sell off the bulk cards to grab bag dealers on
eBay.
ExMod: Heck, I even traded a SJC Des Volstgalph for
the equivalent of 160,000 commons! I made about
$3,000 or so on that deal.
ExMod: : Over the past three years, I've made about
$50,000 in profit from dealing in bulk.
Ally: Wow thats a lot to accomplish. Who you get the
Desy from?
ExMod: One of my main bulk buyers happened to get it
for cheap, who sold it to me, knowing I'd trade it
for lots of cards and sell those back to him. It
happened to be the one that Fili Luna won...so
Outphase ended up indirectly making me A LOT of
cash...one ex-Outphase member is probably grinding
his teeth with rage right now at that one.
Ally: Hahah he'll get over it. Speaking of lots of
moeny tell the readers how you came about lots of
money from the lottery!
ExMod: Ahh yes, the Nobleman of Crossout story.
I live in Pennsylvania. We have a lottery game
called Mix-n-Match up here. You pick 5 numbers out
of 19, and you win a prize depending on how many you
have, and how many were drawn in the same order you
picked yours in.
I play the names (or abbreviated names) of various
Yu-Gi-Oh cards. For example, Mirror Force would be
shortened to FORCE, which would be 6 (F is the 6th
letter in the alphabet), then 15, then 18, then 3,
then 5, so 6-15-18-3-5.
ExMod: The day before the big draw, I went to play
my lottery at the local convenience store. Instead
of playing my numbers for the next two drawings, the
clerk had played them for the next draw, twice. I
didn't find this out until I got home...and was
rather glad I didn't.
ExMod: I checked the numbers that
Monday...12-15-14-2-5. In letters, that's L-O-N-B-E.
ExMod: As in NOBLE.
As in Nobleman of Crossout.
As in I played that combination, and thanks to the
lottery screwup I had not one, but two tickets with
all five numbers. Even though they weren't in the
correct order, 5 numbers is still worth $2,000. The
two numbers that WERE in the right places were $4.
x2 tickets, that's $4,008. So Yu-Gi-Oh directly
helped me win the lottery.
Ally: Basically you can really say YGO for the win
here?
ExMod: Yeah, pretty much.
Ally: How did it feel winning over $4,000? Did you
jump up in the air or something?
ExMod: I spent the next hour checking the Lottery
website to make sure the numbers were right. Then I
ended up staying up the whole night, until the local
stores opened the next day and I'd be able to go
redeem my tickets.
Ally: Hehehe well glad you won the lottery. All I
ever won was $5.
ALLY: Well that concludes the interview. Would you
please say a closing paragraph if you like?
ExMod: All right. I've got a few things I want to
mention.
ExMod: First, people play this game, and are
involved with this game, for different reasons. Some
like to have fun, others want to earn a profit. Both
sets of those players will go about things very
differently, and we should learn to respect each
others' differences.
Second, because I know this will rile up a few
people on a certain forum, Snipe Hunter is an
entirely balanced card that has no reason to be
limited or banned. Ever.
ExMod: Also, just because you're better than another
player doesn't give you the right to bash the other
player. Honestly, those who do stupid stuff on
message boards need to be held accountable for those
things in real life. If you brag about scooping for
cards online, you need to be banned from competitive
play. If you admit to taking a scoop online, you
need to be banned. If you bash another player
online, tournament organizers should be be able to
deny you entrance to their events based on your
attitude.
ExMod: Same if you bash any tournament organizers or
judges
ExMod: Finally, long live Pojo.com and long live
Yu-Gi-Oh. I know my life wouldn't be the same
without it.
Ally: well thanks for the interview. It was a
pleasure ^_^.
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