"Necessity per Personality"
Duelist Ascention (Article 1)
Can you remember the last time you were thinking of the next deck you were going to build, or when you were looking at one of your buddy's decks only to find yourself wondering, "What does this thing really need?" For most players, especially myself, this is always the first and last step of deckbuilding. But, where do you draw the line? When do you decide that you have enough or you need more before actually testing the deck? The answer, for me, is simply my personality.
Now before I try to dive in to some psychologically-based discussion, let's face facts. Let's say you've made a deck. You like it. It's powerful, rarely shows any signs of weakness, and you always seem to win with it. Then your best friend has a similar deck, minus some minor variations, that yields similar results for him/her. Yet, when you look through each others decks, you are constantly critiqueing your friend's choices for certain cards while he/she does the same. "Why are you playing with this janky crap when you ought to be using ______." How many times have we all heard this?
I think back to a time when Yu-Gi-Oh! was a brand new game to me. It was a different beast that I had never tackled before, yet, the challenge of getting better and beating those that looked at me as nothing more than the average n00b was too great to pass up. It was my relationship with these very people that introduced me to the concept of "Necessity per Personality", which was in direct conflict with the cookie cutter of the old meta back then. I remember vividly, pulling a Pot of Greed from my third or fourth Tournament Pack, and immediately placing it into my deck thinking that it was going to make my things that much better. Unfortunately, I was wrong. Pot of Greed did nothing more than draw two cards that were simply blown away by any and every opponent I ever faced. Eventually, I deemed Pot of Greed to be unworthy of my time and side-decked it. Out of nowhere, my gameplay shot through the roof. Although I never won a tournament, I made it to second place several times, all the while giving the top players of my area the biggest headache. I had almost gained their respect. That is until they looked at my side deck. All at once, every player in the store was crowded around me, mocking me for having made such a stupid mistake by side-decking Pot of Greed. Needless to say, I never went back to the establishment again.
The point of digging into my past was to prove a point. Necessity per Personality dictates that I, not necessarily anyone else, do not need Pot of Greed to be competitive. My theory is that, because I'm not a Greedy or very wanting person, Pot of Greed does little for me besides getting in my way. Of course, this doesn't mean that everyone that plays with Pot of Greed is a Greedy person. It is, after all, a theory.
Now here comes the psychology part. I've theorized that many players in this game have encountered Necessity per Personality on more than one occasion. It's the reason why some choose not to use Premature Burial in a Zombie deck; the reason why some like more Trap Cards than Spell Cards; the reason why some use straight cookie cutter versus others who prefer to build on their own terms. Many people feel that Swords of Revealing Light should be played in most if not all Tier-1(1.5) deck types. I, however, refuse to play with it. Why, you ask? Because I don't need it. It doesn't fit my personality to hide behind something for a while, no matter how effective it may be.
I wonder just how many players out there are willing to try out this theory. In fact, I challenge you all as players. Make a list of cards you personally don't like or don't prefer. Create a deck that excludes those cards, and see how successful you can be. If it doesn't work, then the theory doesn't apply to you. That's right, the theory doesn't apply to everyone unfortunately. Some players simply have to depend on certain cards to get by. But for those of you that can make it work, embrace it. Take it to heart in this game and everything you do.
-bjswp56
Duelist Ascention (Article 1)
Can you remember the last time you were thinking of the next deck you were going to build, or when you were looking at one of your buddy's decks only to find yourself wondering, "What does this thing really need?" For most players, especially myself, this is always the first and last step of deckbuilding. But, where do you draw the line? When do you decide that you have enough or you need more before actually testing the deck? The answer, for me, is simply my personality.
Now before I try to dive in to some psychologically-based discussion, let's face facts. Let's say you've made a deck. You like it. It's powerful, rarely shows any signs of weakness, and you always seem to win with it. Then your best friend has a similar deck, minus some minor variations, that yields similar results for him/her. Yet, when you look through each others decks, you are constantly critiqueing your friend's choices for certain cards while he/she does the same. "Why are you playing with this janky crap when you ought to be using ______." How many times have we all heard this?
I think back to a time when Yu-Gi-Oh! was a brand new game to me. It was a different beast that I had never tackled before, yet, the challenge of getting better and beating those that looked at me as nothing more than the average n00b was too great to pass up. It was my relationship with these very people that introduced me to the concept of "Necessity per Personality", which was in direct conflict with the cookie cutter of the old meta back then. I remember vividly, pulling a Pot of Greed from my third or fourth Tournament Pack, and immediately placing it into my deck thinking that it was going to make my things that much better. Unfortunately, I was wrong. Pot of Greed did nothing more than draw two cards that were simply blown away by any and every opponent I ever faced. Eventually, I deemed Pot of Greed to be unworthy of my time and side-decked it. Out of nowhere, my gameplay shot through the roof. Although I never won a tournament, I made it to second place several times, all the while giving the top players of my area the biggest headache. I had almost gained their respect. That is until they looked at my side deck. All at once, every player in the store was crowded around me, mocking me for having made such a stupid mistake by side-decking Pot of Greed. Needless to say, I never went back to the establishment again.
The point of digging into my past was to prove a point. Necessity per Personality dictates that I, not necessarily anyone else, do not need Pot of Greed to be competitive. My theory is that, because I'm not a Greedy or very wanting person, Pot of Greed does little for me besides getting in my way. Of course, this doesn't mean that everyone that plays with Pot of Greed is a Greedy person. It is, after all, a theory.
Now here comes the psychology part. I've theorized that many players in this game have encountered Necessity per Personality on more than one occasion. It's the reason why some choose not to use Premature Burial in a Zombie deck; the reason why some like more Trap Cards than Spell Cards; the reason why some use straight cookie cutter versus others who prefer to build on their own terms. Many people feel that Swords of Revealing Light should be played in most if not all Tier-1(1.5) deck types. I, however, refuse to play with it. Why, you ask? Because I don't need it. It doesn't fit my personality to hide behind something for a while, no matter how effective it may be.
I wonder just how many players out there are willing to try out this theory. In fact, I challenge you all as players. Make a list of cards you personally don't like or don't prefer. Create a deck that excludes those cards, and see how successful you can be. If it doesn't work, then the theory doesn't apply to you. That's right, the theory doesn't apply to everyone unfortunately. Some players simply have to depend on certain cards to get by. But for those of you that can make it work, embrace it. Take it to heart in this game and everything you do.
-bjswp56