Lack of Genuine Thought

[HorusMaster]

I attended the Yugioh Regional in Arlington, Texas this weekend and was EXTREMELY disappointed. I know that this has been brought up before but the extensiveness of this situation was mind staggering. What situation you ask?

NET-DECKING!! You know the term. Definition: The inability for the average and sometimes above average Yugioh player to come up with a deck concept of their own and to rely entirely on the decklist and themes of the most recent Top 8 Winners of the most recent Regional, National or Shonen Jump Tournament.

I know, I know. I've heard the arguements. "But I just want to win one Regional or at least get Top 8 so I can get an invite. After that, I'll work on my own deck." Down here in Texas, comments like that are usually covered in big, whoppin' piles of bull- well, you know what I mean. The first 4 players I went up against must have copied each others decklist because there was almost NO difference between any of the decks. Cyber Dragon, Raiza, return, hit. Treeborn, Thesalos, discard. Treeborn, Zaborg, destroy, hit and on and on ad nausem. The kicker of it all for me was when I had to play a young boy, couldn't be more than 10 yrs old and guess what his deck was? That's right! Same as everyone else. By the way, Dad's a judge. Can you guess who built that deck? Kid barely knew what the card effects were of his own deck. Gave up after that and dropped. Seemed like the fun was gone from the whole situation.

Point I'm making is- doesn't anyone play this game for enjoyment anymore or is it all about having your name on the "list" for an invite? By the way, before anyone accuses me- no, I didn't "net-deck" but used a Horus/Dark World deck with Reasonings and Secret Barrels. Built it myself with no help from the internet "gods" of Yugioh.

One other thing- I'm curious what would happen if that 10 yr old made Top 8 and got an invite to Nationals. What would have happened to that boy's spirit after facing the demeanors and attitudes of ambitious players at a National? Think he'd want to play anymore after that?

 

[densetsu_x]

2 things.

a) How did you do?

b) The thing with netdecking, you still have to have the skill to run it well. Just because you are running the latest Monarch / Machine deck that won a SJC doesn't mean YOU can do as well with it. These people know the ins and outs of the deck and how to adjust on the fly based on what they draw and what ends up in the GY.

c) If everyone is playing the same thing, it should be easy enough to come up with a counter strategy on how to beat "the same thing).

 

[Digital Jedi]

b) The thing with netdecking, you still have to have the skill to run it well. Just because you are running the latest Monarch / Machine deck that won a SJC doesn't mean YOU can do as well with it. These people know the ins and outs of the deck and how to adjust on the fly based on what they draw and what ends up in the GY.

Two things?

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Is this really a difficult and challenging thing? Ability notwithstanding, it's still Goku vs Goku almost every round. Now Goku vs Superman, that would be interesting.

 

[densetsu_x]

And I'll say it again. Yes, skill matters. You may have all the power in the world and if you're clueless on how to use it, then it won't get you anywhere.

The thing that people get tired of with Monarchs is because they're a relatively inexpensive deck to build to gain solid results. They're relatively consistant and with so many other versions out there, it's easy to copy from. But it's like wielding a long sharp sword. You might look fierce but your more apt to hurt yourself if you don't know what you're doing.

P.S. Machine/Troop-Dupe is apparently the prefered choice for the better players.

 

[John Danker]

After being around the Yugioh tournament scene for a number of years now and having had the same feeling on occassion I've come to the conclusion that I'll gear my "funability" meter for the level of play and expect as much accordingly. So what the heck do I mean by that?.....

I seem to have the most fun just sitting down with a friend and 3 or 4 of our different decks and playing casually. I'm a social guy, no need for anything to be at stake other than bragging rights toward him until the next time we sit down <s> Just fun play and laughs.

Local tournaments come next. We all know the local crowd. If your locals are like mine it's a pretty even mix of semi-serious players and those who wouldn't know how to make a consistant deck if they had to. The nice part is that gives a good cross section between the predictable and the "I didn't see that one coming!" If you get to the top 4 though you can pretty much plan on it playing like a regionals.

Regionals (yawn) This is why I judge them and don't play in them but about once every other year. Same ole same ole. If you want to play in these you know what to expect, you know with rare exception what you're up against so if you want creativity....what are you doing here? Go back and play your buddy, that's when you had the most fun playing anyway and what got you hooked on the game right?

The whole point is this game can and is still fun if you don't forget where YOU have fun. Don't expect everyone else to cater to your thought pattern and your expectations, it's not going to happen. Just find what you consider to be most fun and stick with it. When you think you can stomach a day or two of the typical netdecking then slide into it for a short time and return to what got you interested in the game to begin with.

 

[Peps]

I believe Densetsu_x hit all of the points. Just because you're running a deck that the majority of players are using, doesn't mean much at all unless you know how to efficiently use the deck. You said it yourself sure...

The kicker of it all for me was when I had to play a young boy, couldn't be more than 10 yrs old and guess what his deck was? That's right! Same as everyone else. By the way, Dad's a judge. Can you guess who built that deck? Kid barely knew what the card effects were of his own deck. Gave up after that and dropped. Seemed like the fun was gone from the whole situation.

See that's what just makes me pity those who copy decklists card per card without even studying the deck beforehand. If you have playtested the deck beforehand, understand each choice completely and know how to effectively manage the deck, netdecking is then no problem to me at all. It only annoys me when people just copy it without doing all of that. Those are the ones who simply assume copying one of the latest top 8 decks from a SJC etc. will do them well.

As Densetsu_x said as well, if a particular deck is popular, it makes it easier to counter. That's really the best thing to do when building a deck, ensure it can beat every popular deck. If it can, then you have a huge chance of doing well with something different and unique. If you simply copy a deck, you're putting luck as a huge factor, whoever gets the better opening wins. That's something I wouldn't like to rely on ever, hence why I prefer sticking to Gadgets. During the Irish Nationals, my gadgets only lost versus a Monarch deck and a Demise deck, but that was only as a result of misplaying on my part. Point is, a reason why I had a decent performance was because I practiced against the most popular decks and found what made them work and what to side against them. Interestingly, the only theme I played twice was Demise. But since I was prepared for Demise, I made short work of one but only lost to the other cause for some bizzare reason I setted Snatch Steal which I could have used to steal Cyber Twin Dragon.

Netdecking in my eyes is not a bad thing at all. I actually think it's a good thing for all of the good players. It makes deck building much easier and gives good players an insight into the likely metagame.

 

[Maruno]

Now Goku vs Superman, that would be interesting.

Not really. Goku wins. He's so much faster and stronger