9 replies to this topic

[Sho Shinjo]

Hallo thar XC! I never tried writing an actual YGO!-related article, so let’s see if I can do it right.

I’m sure you’ve happened to have this issue. You are building your Deck. You already know what strategy are you using, you defined your main win condition(s), and you have the “skeleton” of your build ready. Okay! So you complete your build. Then play with it, and find out the build doesn’t perform like you intended to.

Well, this happens a lot, so you modify your build, correct the problems you saw, and try again. And then, the build still can’t go off. Then you see other people with a similar Deck having success. You see through their Decklists, and notice they run some cards you already discarded from your build, to include “better” cards.

“Why my Deck doesn’t perform well, if I included x card which is ‘better’ than y card, but the guy running y card does better than me?” This article was created for those people who have this specific trouble. I myself have been on this stage, so I’m not just throwing words into the air. Anyways! Let’s do this.

There are a lot of play styles and strategies, we all know this. But sometimes, we focus too much on a certain thing or worry too much about a certain situation that, without noticing, makes us deviate from our original intent. What I’m trying to say? Let me explain it with cards.

“Book of Moon” is a very popular, powerful and versatile Quick-play Spell Card. Its uses have only increased as time is passing, and is a card that will see a lot of play for a long time. The card, by itself, is great. It’s really awesome. It can stop Synchro Summons, Ignition effects, stop attacks, re-use Flip effects, make monsters easier to destroy in battle, cancel ATK/DEF bonus, “reset” certain things… You can do a lot with this card. But, what can Book of Moon give to my specific build?

Let’s say I am running a Gladiator Beast Deck. As most of you already know, Gladiator Beasts are a Deck that needs battle to survive and win. Through an exclusive mechanic (“tagging”), Gladiator Beasts (GBs) cycle through their monsters in order to gain effects, heavily control the field, and corner your opponent into a situation without escape. As long as the Gladiator survives the battle, it can tag out. And when it does, it comes with a benefit. Besides this game plan, they also have the aid of their 2 bosses: “Gyzarus” and “Heraklinos”. Gyzarus clears the field, and when everything is said and done, Heraklinos drops and locks your opponent’s options, turning the GB Deck into a pseudo-permission build. This is further amplified by “War Chariot”.

So, returning to Book of Moon. What it can do for me, if I’m playing Gladiator Beasts?

First. Book can make monsters easier to destroy through battle, as the high-ATK behemoths usually hold a low DEF score. Turning them to defense position makes them that easier to kill. And with that, I can “tag out”, gain an effect, and improve my board position. Even if my monster cannot beat their DEF score, attacking a defense position monster means my monster will survive the battle. By taking a bit of damage, I ensure I can tag out, and gain my effect.

Second. It prevents key monsters, like “Bestiari” and “Laquari” from being destroyed, or removed from play. Losing access to Gyzarus or Heraklinos spells trouble for GBs, but Book of Moon prevents that. A GB Deck runs a lot of battle tricks to ensure their monsters survive almost all battles, so even if you lose your opportunity to attack, you can bait your opponent to fall into a “Bottomless Trap Hole” or “Dimensional Prison”, clearing your way for a direct attack on the next turn. You can also protect your monster with “Waboku”, avoiding its destruction, canceling all damage, and gaining an effect, in exchange for your Trap.

Third. By turning the monster to defense position, I get rid of 4 inminent threats that hinder the performance of GBs: Attack modifiers (like “Shrink”), monsters with effects that boost their own ATK (“Injection Fairy Lily”), monsters that prevent damage calculation (“Ally of Justice Catastor”, “Exploder Dragonwing”) and “Honest”/”Blackwing – Kalut the Moon Shadow”. Book of Moon “forces” the battle, always in your favor.

Those 3 points, added to the things Book can do in every deck, makes it a very powerful addition to GBs. Almost all players run 2 and many run 3, with good reason.

Now let’s say I’m running Gadgets. No matter what variant are you running, the Gadget build always stick to this basic principle: use the Gadgets as “floaters”; this is, monsters that replace themselves, converting each card your opponent spends to get rid of your monster into advantage as you don’t lose anything, or using the “free” cards to pay costs that usually would hurt.

You can play Gadgets as a Tribute/Synchro engine, but the most common (and effective IMHO) way to use them is alongside “one-for-one trades”: you use 1 card, and your opponent loses 1 card as well. Basically, you use 1 for 1 trades until you and your opponent are very low in cards, or are reduced to “topdecking”. Then, because each Gadget brings another when Summoned, you begin to accumulate cards while your opponent is restricted to their draw each turn. You put pressure swarming with small monsters that you don’t care about losing, so when your opponent takes down one of them, you still can drop another one, take down their monster, and continue with the pressure while your opponent keeps losing cards, eventually losing the game.

So, what about Book of Moon? What it can do for me if I’m running “classic” Gadgets?

The 3 Gadgets have very low ATK and DEF scores. Under 1500 in both areas means they won’t be destroying a lot of monsters in battle. Instead, they are very vulnerable to battle. I can’t always rely on Book of Moon to win the battle: if they have more DEF than I have ATK, I’m still in trouble. I can’t switch my own monster to DEF and expect it to survive either. If I turn the attacker face-down, I still have to get rid of it with a stronger monster or another card, so I spent a card just to avoid losing a card that already “paid for itself”.  Wouldn’t losing the card be better, and then you could come back with another self-replacing monster and a removal card?

Even if Book of Moon is a great card, it’s not really useful in my Gadget Deck. It doesn’t improve my board position, doesn’t contribute to my overall game plan and doesn’t offer unique benefits to my Deck. So, why I’m running Book of Moon again?

“Because the card is good”.

If that was your answer, then you should keep reading. Yes, the card, by itself, is good. But in MY Deck, is not that good. A “simple” and “inferior” card like “Fissure” is a lot better. “Fissure” destroys monsters I cannot defeat in battle, so I can deal more and more damage. I lose 1 card and my opponent either loses his/her monster, or loses a card to protect it, which is what I planned: one-for-one trades. Sure, I’ll take damage when my monster dies by battle, but then I can recover my lost monster by searching another, get rid of the opponent’s, and deal damage, returning to the same position my opponent was last turn. The only difference being, he/she is nearer to reaching zero LP. Also, as a non-targetting Spell, Fissure gets around “Thought Ruler Archfiend” and monster that cannot be targeted by Spell Cards, which is an advantage over Book of Moon.

“But Fissure is prevented with ‘My Body as a Shield’, ‘Prime Material Dragon’ or  ‘Stardust Dragon’!” Yes, this is very true. But your opponent won’t be Summoning Material or Stardust without tributes or Synchro Materials, which Fissure gets rid of. And making them pay 1500 LP just to negate a card that destroys only 1 card is a VERY good trade. Also, Book of Moon won’t be solving Stardust/Material once they touch the field, nor will clear the threat of My Body as a Shield. You need a different type of card to get rid of these threats, no matter if you run Book or not. Then, what was the point on running Book, if you still need another card?

“What about Synchro Summons? Book of Moon can prevent those!” Of course it can. But what’s the point if you can’t capitalize on that? If I were running a “Blackwing” Deck, Book would make a monster vulnerable, something that “Shura the Blue Flame” and “Bora the Spear” like a lot. I can capitalize on that set monster by searching a monster or deal game-ending damage. But Gadgets? What you can possibly do? Okay, you destroy the Tuner via battle.Then? Did you really improve your game position? You could’ve let your opponent perform the Tribute/Synchro Summon, and then take down the big monster through removal. That set Book of Moon could’ve been a Bottomless Trap Hole (which could’ve removed the Synchro/Tribute materials, or the Synchro/Tribute Monster), or a “Dimensional Prison” (which would’ve taken down the monster and spared you some damage). You can use that slot Book takes for other card, like “Thunder King Rai-Oh”, “D.D. Warrior Lady” or “Neo-Spacian Grand Mole”, which can prevent these problematic monsters from touching/staying on the field. So, again, the point on running Book was…?

“Come on! It stops "Dark Armed Dragon" from ruining your field!” It really does? Suppose I have 2 set cards, and a Gadget in field. My opponent drops a Dark Armed Dragon. Unless I’m REALLY lucky and my opponent uses his/her priority to target my Book of Moon, I’m losing at least 2 cards: the targeted one, plus Book of Moon. If the targeted card wasn’t Book or the Gadget, I am actually losing advantage. And, my opponent gets to keep Dark Armed Dragon, so if he/she can protect it, next turn it will be even more problematic. Wouldn’t be better just using removal? Sure, I’ll lose some cards on my field. But is that really a problem? I get “free” cards in a consistent basis, so it’s really that bad losing 2 or 3 of them, if next turn I can clear my opponent’s field and regain my position?

So, think about this folks. We have a very wide card pool these days. We have outstanding cards, and some that are not-so-good. But that a card by itself is good, doesn’t mean that is good in our particular build. Even “tech” cards contribute in some way to the main strategy of the deck, offering a particular synergy to that specific build while countering some common trends.

The next time your build doesn’t perform like you wish, take a look at your card selection once again. Maybe you’re overestimating a card just for being good everywhere else.

[soultaker]

That was a very thought provoking article . thanks

[GothicKratos]

Brilliant article. I see way too many people playing cards because they're "staples" and not really thinking about how synergistic that card is with their deck.

Example A; Torrential Tribute - It's considered pretty widely to be a "staple" but yet most decks normally can't afford to just be throwing it around, because their monster base is dreadfully important to the decks primary Win Condition. In the end you'd normally be better off playing Mirror Force, Dimensional Prison, or Threatening Roar [none of which Target], but because Torrential Tribute is "good" they run that over some other cards that would work better with their build. Now on the other hand, Torrential Tribute can be a Win Condition in and upon itself in swarm based decks like Blackwings, Flamvells, and SynchroCat -- but even those decks should think twice about potentially throwing away their entire field to destroy one or two of your opponent's monsters [especially with Starlight Road around these days].

Example B; Trap Dustshoot - Also widely considered a "staple" but yet it's dreadfully useless in most duels after the first three turns and less and less so after each passing turn. Don't get me wrong, it's a great card to Set on the first turn, it basically tells you exactly what your opponent is going to play for the first two to three turns AND you force them to return a precious monster to their deck. That is indeed a huge advantage, but is it worth running when you have such a small chance opening with it and/or getting it when you could play it?

Anyways, that's my two bits. Very nice read.

[Sho Shinjo]

Thanks for the feedback guys! It's nice having people reading this.

I got the idea of this article while building a Gadget Deck, hence the reference xD I kept having troubles with some cards, and decided to rebuild. Turns out that losing the Book of Moon was a nice decision. I'm now maining 3 Smashings, 2 Fissures and 2 Dust Tornados, and I'm doing pretty well, beating Sabers, Gladiators and some other builds.

In the end, is all about sticking to your core strategy. If you have a plan, follow it! It's nice to have alternative outs to some troubles (that's why "tech" exists after all), but sometimes simple is better.

I'll be writing more articles on the future, I hope you like those too!

[Hoiguyyami]

*looks at deck*

Hmm....



Very nice article, sho.

[Celsius]

While I believe most of this stuff should be common sense for the above-average duelist, this article was still a pretty good read.

9/10 as far as articles go

[firebender richie]

[quote name='Sho Shinjo' date='20 April 2010 - 04:54 AM' timestamp='1271764765' post='663030']
Hallo thar XC! I never tried writing an actual YGO!-related article, so let’s see if I can do it right.

I’m sure you’ve happened to have this issue. You are building your Deck. You already know what strategy are you using, you defined your main win condition(s), and you have the “skeleton” of your build ready. Okay! So you complete your build. Then play with it, and find out the build doesn’t perform like you intended to.

Well, this happens a lot, so you modify your build, correct the problems you saw, and try again. And then, the build still can’t go off. Then  you see other people with a similar Deck having success. You see through their Decklists, and notice they run some cards you already discarded from your build, to include “better” cards.

“Why my Deck doesn’t perform well, if I included x card which is ‘better’ than y card, but the guy running y card does better than me?” This article was created for those people who have this specific trouble. I myself have been on this stage, so I’m not just throwing words into the air. Anyways! Let’s do this.

There are a lot of play styles and strategies, we all know this. But sometimes, we focus too much on a certain thing or worry too much about a certain situation that, without noticing, makes us deviate from our original intent. What I’m trying to say? Let me explain it with cards.

“Book of Moon” is a very popular, powerful and versatile Quick-play Spell Card. Its uses have only increased as time is passing, and is a card that will see a lot of play for a long time. The card, by itself, is great. It’s really awesome. It can stop Synchro Summons, Ignition effects, stop attacks, re-use Flip effects, make monsters easier to destroy in battle, cancel ATK/DEF bonus, “reset” certain things… You can do a lot with this card. But, what can Book of Moon give to my specific build?

Let’s say I am running a [u]Gladiator Beast Deck.[/u] As most of you already know, Gladiator Beasts are a Deck that needs battle to survive and win. Through an exclusive mechanic (“tagging”), Gladiator Beasts (GBs) cycle through their monsters in order to gain effects, heavily control the field, and corner your opponent into a situation without escape. As long as the Gladiator survives the battle, it can tag out. And when it does, it comes with a benefit. Besides this game plan, they also have the aid of their 2 bosses: “Gyzarus” and “Heraklinos”. Gyzarus clears the field, and when everything is said and done, Heraklinos drops and locks your opponent’s options, turning the GB Deck into a pseudo-permission build. This is further amplified by “War Chariot”.

So, returning to Book of Moon. What it can do for me, if I’m playing Gladiator Beasts?

First. Book can make monsters easier to destroy through battle, as the high-ATK behemoths usually hold a low DEF score. Turning them to defense position makes them that easier to kill. And with that, I can “tag out”, gain an effect, and improve my board position. Even if my monster cannot beat their DEF score, attacking a defense position monster means my monster will survive the battle. By taking a bit of damage, I ensure I can tag out, and gain my effect.

Second. It prevents key monsters, like “Bestiari” and “Laquari” from being destroyed, or removed from play. Losing access to Gyzarus or Heraklinos spells trouble for GBs, but Book of Moon prevents that. A GB Deck runs a lot of battle tricks to ensure their monsters survive almost all battles, so even if you lose your opportunity to attack, you can bait your opponent to fall into a “Bottomless Trap Hole” or “Dimensional Prison”, clearing your way for a direct attack on the next turn. You can also protect your monster with “Waboku”, avoiding its destruction, canceling all damage, and gaining an effect, in exchange for your Trap.

Third. By turning the monster to defense position, I get rid of 4 inminent threats that hinder the performance of GBs: Attack modifiers (like “Shrink”), monsters with effects that boost their own ATK (“Injection Fairy Lily”), monsters that prevent damage calculation (“Ally of Justice Catastor”, “Exploder Dragonwing”) and “Honest”/”Blackwing – Kalut the Moon Shadow”. Book of Moon “forces” the battle, always in your favor.

Those 3 points, added to the things Book can do in every deck, makes it a very powerful addition to GBs. Almost all players run 2 and many run 3, with good reason.

Now let’s say I’m running Gadgets. No matter what variant are you running, the Gadget build always stick to this basic principle: use the Gadgets as “floaters”; this is, monsters that replace themselves, converting each card your opponent spends to get rid of your monster into advantage as you don’t lose anything, or using the “free” cards to pay costs that usually would hurt.

You can play Gadgets as a Tribute/Synchro engine, but the most common (and effective IMHO) way to use them is alongside [u]“one-for-one trades”[/u]: you use 1 card, and your opponent loses 1 card as well. Basically, you use 1 for 1 trades until you and your opponent are very low in cards, or are reduced to “topdecking”. Then, because each Gadget brings another when Summoned, you begin to accumulate cards while your opponent is restricted to their draw each turn. You put pressure swarming with small monsters that you don’t care about losing, so when your opponent takes down one of them, you still can drop another one, take down their monster, and continue with the pressure while your opponent keeps losing cards, eventually losing the game.

So, what about Book of Moon? What it can do for me if I’m running “classic” Gadgets?

The 3 Gadgets have very low ATK and DEF scores. Under 1500 in both areas means they won’t be destroying a lot of monsters in battle. Instead, they are very vulnerable to battle. I can’t always rely on Book of Moon to win the battle: if they have more DEF than I have ATK, I’m still in trouble. I can’t switch my own monster to DEF and expect it to survive either. If I turn the attacker face-down, I still have to get rid of it with a stronger monster or another card, so I spent a card just to avoid losing a card that already “paid for itself”.  Wouldn’t losing the card be better, and then you could come back with another self-replacing monster and a removal card?

Even if Book of Moon is a great card, it’s not really useful in my Gadget Deck. It doesn’t improve my board position, doesn’t contribute to my overall game plan and doesn’t offer unique benefits to my Deck. So, why I’m running Book of Moon again?

[u]“Because the card is good”.[/u]

If that was your answer, then you should keep reading. Yes, the card, by itself, is good. But [u]in MY Deck, is not that good.[/u] A “simple” and “inferior” card like “Fissure” is a lot better. “Fissure” destroys monsters I cannot defeat in battle, so I can deal more and more damage. I lose 1 card and my opponent either loses his/her monster, or loses a card to protect it, which is what I planned: one-for-one trades. Sure, I’ll take damage when my monster dies by battle, but then I can recover my lost monster by searching another, get rid of the opponent’s, and deal damage, returning to the same position my opponent was last turn. The only difference being, he/she is nearer to reaching zero LP. Also, as a non-targetting Spell, Fissure gets around “Thought Ruler Archfiend” and monster that cannot be targeted by Spell Cards, which is an advantage over Book of Moon.

“But Fissure is prevented with ‘My Body as a Shield’, ‘Prime Material Dragon’ or  ‘Stardust Dragon’!” Yes, this is very true. But your opponent won’t be Summoning Material or Stardust without tributes or Synchro Materials, which Fissure gets rid of. And making them pay 1500 LP just to negate a card that destroys only 1 card is a VERY good trade. Also, Book of Moon won’t be solving Stardust/Material once they touch the field, nor will clear the threat of My Body as a Shield. You need a different type of card to get rid of these threats, no matter if you run Book or not. Then, what was the point on running Book, if you still need another card?

“What about [u]Synchro Summons[/u]? Book of Moon can prevent those!” Of course it can. But what’s the point if you can’t capitalize on that? If I were running a “Blackwing” Deck, Book would make a monster vulnerable, something that “Shura the Blue Flame” and “Bora the Spear” like a lot. I can capitalize on that set monster by searching a monster or deal game-ending damage. But Gadgets? What you can possibly do? Okay, you destroy the Tuner via battle.Then? Did you really improve your game position? You could’ve let your opponent perform the Tribute/Synchro Summon, and then take down the big monster through removal. That set Book of Moon could’ve been a Bottomless Trap Hole (which could’ve removed the Synchro/Tribute materials, or the Synchro/Tribute Monster), or a “Dimensional Prison” (which would’ve taken down the monster and spared you some damage). You can use that slot Book takes for other card, like “Thunder King Rai-Oh”, “D.D. Warrior Lady” or “Neo-Spacian Grand Mole”, which can prevent these problematic monsters from touching/staying on the field. So, again, the point on running Book was…?

“Come on! It stops "Dark Armed Dragon" from ruining your field!” It really does? Suppose I have 2 set cards, and a Gadget in field. My opponent drops a Dark Armed Dragon. Unless I’m REALLY lucky and my opponent uses his/her priority to target my Book of Moon, I’m losing at least 2 cards: the targeted one, plus Book of Moon. If the targeted card wasn’t Book or the Gadget, I am actually losing advantage. And, my opponent gets to keep Dark Armed Dragon, so if he/she can protect it, next turn it will be even more problematic. Wouldn’t be better just using removal? Sure, I’ll lose some cards on my field. But is that really a problem? I get “free” cards in a consistent basis, so it’s really that bad losing 2 or 3 of them, if next turn I can clear my opponent’s field and regain my position?

So, think about this folks. We have a very wide card pool these days. We have outstanding cards, and some that are not-so-good. But that a card by itself is good, doesn’t mean that is good in our particular build. Even “tech” cards contribute in some way to the main strategy of the deck, offering a particular synergy to that specific build while countering some common trends.

The next time your build doesn’t perform like you wish, take a look at your card selection once again. Maybe you’re overestimating a card just for being good everywhere else.
[/quote
i dont understand how to starta battle someone help

[Hoiguyyami]

Wrong place. Try reading the manual, if that doesnt work, ask here: http://xerocreative....3-yvd-helpdesk/

[potterfanxp123]

I was running two Magic Cylinder just because in my Archfiend deck, and realized that I only had them in there because they're 'staple', and if anything messed the flow of my deck up. I replaced those with Battle-Scarred, and my deck seems to run a bit better. It is useful to keep cards in check  and not use them because of 'staple' or 'semi-staple' because it can burn you if you're not careful.

[Siyanor]

Yeah... I wouldn't run TT or Dark Hole in swarm decks, and I'm normally not happy with my decks unless I have exactly 1 Book of Moon. It is very versatile, and versatility is good. But if I actually have the need to be versatile in the same manner three times in the same game, something is off with my deck. I prefer to consider Book of Moon an "out card" rather than a staple; meaning, I use it if nothing else will save me.

(Off topic slightly) Interestingly, MTG board wipes are normally in swarm colors. This means swarm decks often have a great out card against other swarm decks, and if you've been holding the board wipe for a while and know you'll need it, you can come back from it easily since you'll have prepared for it.