Thanks to Cloudstrife 189. Source of this article came from http://www.pojo.biz/board/showthread.php?t=760721
Let’s start this article off by defining tier:
a series of rows or ranks rising one behind or above another
Now, in YGO, lots of duelists have started classifying decks as Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3. A good example of Tier 1 would be all the most competitive mainstream decks like Blackwings, Lightsworn, and Gladiator Beast. A good example of Tier 2 decks would be something like Plants or X-sabers. A tier 3 deck is something along the lines of Morphtronics or Skull Servants.
I’m one of the few duelists in my community known for creating very successful original decks. Lots of people have asked me for advice on what to do when attempting to make their own “original” decks more competitive or where even to start. I’m going to reveal a few of these “secrets” today in hopes of encouraging a lot more people to break from the norm and try something fun and unique, and of course, competitive, at their next competition.
*These tips are for people who seem to need a little extra help getting started. Obviously, you can and should adjust these suggestions as you feel fit.
Skeleton Structure:
First, figure out what primary deck style you want to be playing. A lot of people come up to me and say that they want to build a “Dragon” deck and I always ask “What kind?” Few people seem to understand that you can have an unlimited amount of different strategies embedded into that one concept. Here’s a rough breakdown of the type of skeletons you should start with based on your personal preference. (These skeletons were also mentioned in my previous article, the secret to dueling: Deck Cycle Theory.)
Control (do you like to control the pace of the game? Play control based monsters and a good amount of spells and traps to protect/support them.):
Monsters: 18
Spells: 12
Traps: 10
Aggro/Beatdown (do you like to attack often and bring out big attackers? Play a few spells/traps to make sure your attacks are successful but don’t focus much on protecting your monsters. Their high ATK power should do just fine):
Monsters: 23
Spells: 12
Traps: 5
Speed/Swarm (do you like to invest everything in one supersonic flash furry of cards and overwhelm your opponent? Play lots of special summon monsters and lots of spells because you can play them instantly. Traps will only slow you down because they take a turn before you can even activate them):
Monsters: 16
Spells: 20
Traps: 4
Stall/Burn (do you like to take things slow and patiently wait for your strategy to slowly piece together? Hide behind stall cards like “Gravity Bind” and “Messenger of Peace” and make sure they have protection so they’re not easily destroyed. Monsters aren’t as important because your spell/trap cards should suffice at stalling):
Monsters: 10
Spells: 15
Traps: 15
As you probably noticed, all decks seem to run approx. 40 cards. I have found this to be critical because consistency in YGO is everything. Any deck can pull off a victory occasionally; however, you should focus on being able to pull it off on a regular basis. By having a 50+ card deck, your combos would change duel after duel, and it might be hard for you to set up and count on a particular one. Once you have chosen a basic skeleton, regardless of your theme/concept, you will be ready to begin the next step, synching.
Sync it up!
Now, I’m not talking about synchros, but the same concept is used. You must make sure that all your monsters, spells, and traps all flow together and work together perfectly. Ex. If you’re playing a “Spell Canceller” control deck, it doesn’t make sense for you to play a lot of spells. It’s very critical that most of your cards have high synergy between a good majority of other cards in your deck. It’s inconsistent to have only two BEWD, one Lord of D, and one Flute of Summoning Dragon in a regular deck. However, maybe if you played a lot more dragons, then the Lord of D would be more justified because it would serve an additional purpose of protecting your creatures as opposed to just that one combo. It’s really crucial to find high synergy cards because they will increase the flow of your deck drastically. In my dark deck for example, I love the synergy that Scapegoat gives me by being able to combo with a lot of cards like my 3 Cyber Valleys, Destiny Hero Plasma, all my Tuners as well as just being a good attack blocker. Every time I draw that card, it is a live card and that’s how I can tell that Scapegoat has very high synergy in my deck. The more synergy cards like these you can find, the more successful your overall deck will be. However, you do need a few things to reward your hard work, and yes, I’m talking about a “Boss.”
Give it a Boss
Now, I find a Boss card to not just be a monster card, even though that is how it’s usually referred to. I find a Boss to be any card that will give you an insane, massive amount of advantage, when your strategy is working to help push for that game winning play. The Boss card may change from deck to deck. In a Lightsworn deck for example, their Boss Cards might be Judgement Dragon and Beckoning light. They are both ridiculous powerful on their own, but only if you have managed to do your central strategy and mill a lot of cards. In my current deck, I play 3 Bosses. I play Return from the Different Dimension, The Dark Creator, and Dark Armed Dragon. For my deck, drawing any of those Boss cards at the beginning of the game usually only creates a temporary dead card in my hand. I much prefer to draw “The Dark Creator” or “Dark Armed Dragon” after I have had a few turns to set up my combos. “Return from the Different Dimension” is only helpful after I have managed to remove from play a good majority of my creatures. However, after I have managed to do so, any of those above cards usually set up a game breaking play for me. It is very important to remember, however, that the more Boss cards you play, the less synergy your deck may have. You still need to make sure that you include a lot of cards to potentially turn the Boss cards “online.”
Now, let’s look at one deck that became semi successful by following a similar concept. I only choose to speak about the following duelist because I have firsthand knowledge of this account. Derek Rouse took a Dark Red Enchanter deck to SJC Columbus in 2008. He first decided that he should play a control oriented deck because of other duelist’s extreme need of hand advantage during the current format. He then decided that he should focus on the Theme of using cards to control his opponent’s hands and opted to play cards like Don Zaloog and Thestalos. To help bring out Don Zaloog and tribute fodder for Thestalos, he used cards like 3 Mystic Tomatos. Because he ran tomatos he could afford to run cards like Creature Swap and Newodria to control his opponent’s field. So his Don Zaloog could score more battle damage, he played 3 copies of Shrink. He also chose to play more high synergy cards like Soul Exchange. Now, if this was his only strategy, he would have done “okay” but not nearly as successful as he did. He chose to play 3 boss monsters that would maximize his deck’s overall synergy. By playing 3 Dark Red Enchanters, he could capitalize on his deck’s overall concept of hand control. If he could manage to bring out an early Dark Red Enchanter or 2, every time he played one of his other cards like creature swap/soul exchange (which was already creating advantage), he would gain even MORE advantage with the discarding ability of Dark Red Enchanter. All his plus 1’s would quickly become plus 2’s and 3’s and would quickly become too much for his opponent to handle. This was a prime example of an original deck almost coming up to tier 1.
Conclusion
So, you’re trying to make a new deck to be as competitive as possible. First, give your deck life by giving it a “brain”. Figure out what you want your deck to include whether it’s the theme of “Dragons” or the strategy of “Hand Destruction.” Give the deck some structure by starting with a “skeleton.” If you’re starting with a new/original deck then possibly start with the above “skeletons” I’ve established based on your appropriate playstyle (Aggro, Control, Beatdown, and Swarm). If you’re trying to play a different variant of a current Tier 1 deck, then maybe check on the forums to see if there is a better skeleton available. After you have the “brain” and “skeleton” of your deck, you need to give it “blood” by creating synergy and making sure all the cards all work together. Finally, you need to give your deck a “heart” in the form of a boss card. Remember that it may sound like a good idea to have multiple “hearts”, but if your “blood” ever starts to get clogged, then your hearts won’t work properly, so make sure you have enough white blood cells to keep everything in proper circulation. The final thing you need to do is give your deck a jump start to make it come alive. Where you plug in the jumper cables? I’ll leave that up to you…
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