1. What is a Staple?
A Staple is a card that everyone uses, or that fits in *almost* every deck. There are tons of near staples, as well as staples. Near-staples are like staples, but fit into even less deck archetypes.
2. What qualifies a card to be a staple?
A card becomes a "staple" if it can be shown to provide effective and productive advantage to a deck, regardless of deck type.
Now, for the one true staple:
1) Pot of Greed - hand advantage wins games, pure and simple. If you really need my to say more as to why Pot of Greed should be in every deck (exception to HotU/Exodia decks), you should be slapped, a 2-1 trade nowadays is fantastic.
Now, to the other "staples" that don't compare to Pot of Greed:
2) Graceful Charity - this card gives you more options than Pot of Greed does, but this card is essentially a 1-1 trade, seeing as how you essentially replace Graceful Charity that you played with the card you keep, and you replace 2 cards in your hand that you discard for Graceful Charity.
3) Delinquent Duo - Yes, each card in the trinity is a staple. Delinquent Duo Provides a 2-1 trade in that it pre-negates 2 options for your opponent, unless it Backfires (Electric Snake, Night Assailant, Sinister Serpent). This card provides gamebreaking advantages, but is the most vulnerable to the sidedeck. This card is a staple solely because hand advantage wins games. It may be horrible late game, but the glory of it early to mid game outweighs the bad.
4) Sinister Serpent - This card is DEFINITELY a monster staple. Regardless of what people say, a free discard and a free meatshield for your LP? Where can you go wrong? Granted, impale effects will eat him alive, but that's situational. He's also great Metamorphosis food. Again, the HotU/Exodia deck can disregard each staple I've named so far, as it's spell engine (that barely exists) normally consists of 2 cards, each in multiples of 3.
5) Sangan - Another monster staple. Non-type-specific searchers? Almost always a good thing. Especially with the options that it gives you, it can help turn around most any situation. And most decks will hav ea few <1501 ATK monsters, and if you use Giant Rat, etc. they go to the field, usually in attack mode, which is not always the best place for them. Also, Reinforcement of the Army is type-stamped, so it's not as good, since it's for Warriors, it's almost as good, but just not quite there
6) Mystical Space Typhoon - I don't know many people who will seriously disagree with me when I say that MST is a staple. 1-1 spell/trap removal that can be used during the opponent's trun? Pretty sweet, if you ask me.
7) Premature Burial - Monster recursion, since when is that a bad thing? And with Tsukuyomi runnig rampant nowadays, the destruction effect of Premature Burial will not become a liability nearly as often.
8) Call of the Haunted - more monster recursion, but this can be during the opponent's turn. Alright, if you ask me. Again, Tsukuyomi cures the fears caused by the monster destruction half of CotH.
Now for all those near-staples:
1) Heavy Storm - this card is a necessity for most decks, however, a couple deck archetypes will want to avoid Heavy Storm, and only sidedeck it at best, such as Burn decks, Stall decks, etc. This card is also situational in the type of trade it gives you. Taht depends on how many s/ts each player has down. If you have none and your opponent has 4, then you get a phenomenal 4-1 trade. This can Backfire if you are trying to just kill a Swords of Revealing Light, and you have to destroy 2 of your own s/ts in the process. That would be a painful 1-3 trade, something you can't easily recover from.
2) Ring of Destruction - Monster Removal and damage in one card. This card is sweet, but also may not find a home in decks end up paying a lot of LP anyway, and Ring of Destruction may become a liability. This comes into play for Final Countdown, Skill Drain decks, and other deck archetypes.
3) Torrential Tribute - mass monster removal that can even be a X-1 trade? Count me in. Some decks, however, will not want to remove their field presence, or will not want to remove monsters that they gave their opponent, Lava Golem, anyone?
4) Lightning Vortex - Not all that great if you ask me. Granted, it can turn the course of the game around, but you have to sacrifice 2 cards to do it, and they can just chain Book of Moon and spare their monster.
5) Breaker the Magical Warrior - this card is awesome s/t removal, but will most likely only see play in offense-based decks, as it is not nearly as useful otherwise. You also get into the dilemma of breaking an opponent's face-down, or attacking their 1800 ATK monster first.
6) Mirror Force - I wanted to rate this as a staple, but I just couldn't. Granted, it's a staple for decks that are worried about attacks, but there are several deck types that don't worry about attacks.
7) Snatch Steal - I wanted this to be a staple to, but giving Life Points to the opponent normally means that this card will not see any play in Burn decks or Last Turn decks.
8) Swords of Revealing Light - one turn unconditional stall for 3 turns? Sounds nice to me. Too bad Silent Swordsman LV5, etc. can bow right through them.
9) Tribe-Infecting Virus - another near-staple, but it costs too much hand advantage to use, unless you're packing Night Assailants.
10) Mobius the Frost Monarch - the king of ice is a near-staple, mainly for the great s/t destruction, and being a 2400 beatstick. He also is an aqua type, which means if the opponent tries to use TIV on him, it's be a 1-2 trade for your opponent.
11) Jinzo - this guy shuts down an entire avenue of escape for your opponent. I don't use him too often, but he is a good card, and a very nice beatstick.
12) Nobleman of Crossout - this card is a near-staple with the amount of face-down monsters played in today's meta.
13) Magician of Faith - this card is a near staple in today's meta, as she is currently being abused like no one's business. A solid card, but very vulnerable to Nobleman of Crossout and face-down destroyers
14) Tsukuyomi - this beastly card is the advanced duelist's spirit monster, capable of taking down so many things, and providing for insane MoF abuse, happy Andrew?
15) Bottomless Trap Hole - at the behest of the mannerless Jathro >.<, I add this. This card does certainly PWN, and is basically a near-staple to survive in today's environment
What cards aren't staples?
Cards that only belong in certain decks are considered non-staples. These include Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning, Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys, D. D. Warrior Lady and D. D. Assailant.
That's it for today.
-chaosruler
A Staple is a card that everyone uses, or that fits in *almost* every deck. There are tons of near staples, as well as staples. Near-staples are like staples, but fit into even less deck archetypes.
2. What qualifies a card to be a staple?
A card becomes a "staple" if it can be shown to provide effective and productive advantage to a deck, regardless of deck type.
Now, for the one true staple:
1) Pot of Greed - hand advantage wins games, pure and simple. If you really need my to say more as to why Pot of Greed should be in every deck (exception to HotU/Exodia decks), you should be slapped, a 2-1 trade nowadays is fantastic.
Now, to the other "staples" that don't compare to Pot of Greed:
2) Graceful Charity - this card gives you more options than Pot of Greed does, but this card is essentially a 1-1 trade, seeing as how you essentially replace Graceful Charity that you played with the card you keep, and you replace 2 cards in your hand that you discard for Graceful Charity.
3) Delinquent Duo - Yes, each card in the trinity is a staple. Delinquent Duo Provides a 2-1 trade in that it pre-negates 2 options for your opponent, unless it Backfires (Electric Snake, Night Assailant, Sinister Serpent). This card provides gamebreaking advantages, but is the most vulnerable to the sidedeck. This card is a staple solely because hand advantage wins games. It may be horrible late game, but the glory of it early to mid game outweighs the bad.
4) Sinister Serpent - This card is DEFINITELY a monster staple. Regardless of what people say, a free discard and a free meatshield for your LP? Where can you go wrong? Granted, impale effects will eat him alive, but that's situational. He's also great Metamorphosis food. Again, the HotU/Exodia deck can disregard each staple I've named so far, as it's spell engine (that barely exists) normally consists of 2 cards, each in multiples of 3.
5) Sangan - Another monster staple. Non-type-specific searchers? Almost always a good thing. Especially with the options that it gives you, it can help turn around most any situation. And most decks will hav ea few <1501 ATK monsters, and if you use Giant Rat, etc. they go to the field, usually in attack mode, which is not always the best place for them. Also, Reinforcement of the Army is type-stamped, so it's not as good, since it's for Warriors, it's almost as good, but just not quite there
6) Mystical Space Typhoon - I don't know many people who will seriously disagree with me when I say that MST is a staple. 1-1 spell/trap removal that can be used during the opponent's trun? Pretty sweet, if you ask me.
7) Premature Burial - Monster recursion, since when is that a bad thing? And with Tsukuyomi runnig rampant nowadays, the destruction effect of Premature Burial will not become a liability nearly as often.
8) Call of the Haunted - more monster recursion, but this can be during the opponent's turn. Alright, if you ask me. Again, Tsukuyomi cures the fears caused by the monster destruction half of CotH.
Now for all those near-staples:
1) Heavy Storm - this card is a necessity for most decks, however, a couple deck archetypes will want to avoid Heavy Storm, and only sidedeck it at best, such as Burn decks, Stall decks, etc. This card is also situational in the type of trade it gives you. Taht depends on how many s/ts each player has down. If you have none and your opponent has 4, then you get a phenomenal 4-1 trade. This can Backfire if you are trying to just kill a Swords of Revealing Light, and you have to destroy 2 of your own s/ts in the process. That would be a painful 1-3 trade, something you can't easily recover from.
2) Ring of Destruction - Monster Removal and damage in one card. This card is sweet, but also may not find a home in decks end up paying a lot of LP anyway, and Ring of Destruction may become a liability. This comes into play for Final Countdown, Skill Drain decks, and other deck archetypes.
3) Torrential Tribute - mass monster removal that can even be a X-1 trade? Count me in. Some decks, however, will not want to remove their field presence, or will not want to remove monsters that they gave their opponent, Lava Golem, anyone?
4) Lightning Vortex - Not all that great if you ask me. Granted, it can turn the course of the game around, but you have to sacrifice 2 cards to do it, and they can just chain Book of Moon and spare their monster.
5) Breaker the Magical Warrior - this card is awesome s/t removal, but will most likely only see play in offense-based decks, as it is not nearly as useful otherwise. You also get into the dilemma of breaking an opponent's face-down, or attacking their 1800 ATK monster first.
6) Mirror Force - I wanted to rate this as a staple, but I just couldn't. Granted, it's a staple for decks that are worried about attacks, but there are several deck types that don't worry about attacks.
7) Snatch Steal - I wanted this to be a staple to, but giving Life Points to the opponent normally means that this card will not see any play in Burn decks or Last Turn decks.
8) Swords of Revealing Light - one turn unconditional stall for 3 turns? Sounds nice to me. Too bad Silent Swordsman LV5, etc. can bow right through them.
9) Tribe-Infecting Virus - another near-staple, but it costs too much hand advantage to use, unless you're packing Night Assailants.
10) Mobius the Frost Monarch - the king of ice is a near-staple, mainly for the great s/t destruction, and being a 2400 beatstick. He also is an aqua type, which means if the opponent tries to use TIV on him, it's be a 1-2 trade for your opponent.
11) Jinzo - this guy shuts down an entire avenue of escape for your opponent. I don't use him too often, but he is a good card, and a very nice beatstick.
12) Nobleman of Crossout - this card is a near-staple with the amount of face-down monsters played in today's meta.
13) Magician of Faith - this card is a near staple in today's meta, as she is currently being abused like no one's business. A solid card, but very vulnerable to Nobleman of Crossout and face-down destroyers
14) Tsukuyomi - this beastly card is the advanced duelist's spirit monster, capable of taking down so many things, and providing for insane MoF abuse, happy Andrew?
15) Bottomless Trap Hole - at the behest of the mannerless Jathro >.<, I add this. This card does certainly PWN, and is basically a near-staple to survive in today's environment
What cards aren't staples?
Cards that only belong in certain decks are considered non-staples. These include Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning, Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys, D. D. Warrior Lady and D. D. Assailant.
That's it for today.
-chaosruler
