0LP

皆の衆ごきげんよう

Hey everyone.

There comes an end to all great things, and unfortunately, Yugioh has to be one of them.

Yugioh has brought great things and great times for me, and it should for you too.

I've met many people and made many friends in both the casual and competitive scene, and I'm really glad I've been playing for the past 3.5 years.

I've thought about it for a while now, and I have decided to completely quit Yugioh, and with it, Yugioh blogging.

Personally, I feel that I'm growing a bit too old to be playing Yugioh, and have been toning down my thoughts about the game significantly...

As you might have also realized, my thoughts that go onto the blog have also gone down in quality and quantity.
And I dont like it either.

Looking back, I made some great posts and had great ideas and was pulling upon knowledge from across the world, and this is no more.


As to why exactly I'm quitting, its a mix of reasons.
Time taken up, losing my entire Saturdays, the toll its taking on studies, and a few others.

Obviously it wont be an easy process, and I'll probally relapse some time or another(lol its drugs), but I hope I'll make it out, and put Yugioh in the past, carrying with me the memories it gave me.

You might disagree, but I've decided its something I just gotta do.

I've already dismantled all but one of my decks, and am already planning on giving away most of my cards of value.


Yugioh is a great game.

It has great people, great concepts, great competitions, and a wonderful community.

Blogging has been a great experience over the past 2 and a half years, and I hope the blogging community continues to grow and expand.


By September, I'll have given off or sold off all of my Yugioh related things, keeping only my deck and playmat.(or maybe even giving those away)

So someday in the future, when you see somebody playing Absolute Zero with a custom Stratos Playmat, you'll know I'm back.

So I guess this is goodbye, everybody online. It's been a great run.
Its time to take Only the Duel off your bookmarks list.

Let us meet once again, someday.

/Rauzes

Oh, and for those who were fooled for 1.5 years straight, Rauzes=G-Ray=Soliel.
I figured it would be fun to use a different name to post depending on my mood/concept of the post. I actually used different language and grammer for each one of these online personas.

Monster Slot

Monster Slot

Summon Armageddon Knight, Dump Necroface. Activate Monster Slot. Exceed Summon! Mill 5-10!

Umad?


/Rauzes

Kuriboh Monarch

KRB arch
クリクリ帝

Alternatively: フラッシュ・タイミング！クリボー神速召喚！

23
1 Light and Darkness Dragon
1 Dark Armed Dragon
3 Chaos Sorcerer
1 Tounge Twister
3 Gaius the Shadow Monarch
2 Rauza the Storm Monarch
1 Mosbius the Frost Monarch
1 Sangan
1 Dandylion
1 Krebons
3 Winged Kuriboh
2 Kuriboh
1 Treeborn Frog
1 Mind Master
1 Grow Up Bulb

12
3 Flute of Kuriboh Summoning
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Pot of Avarice
1 Monster Reborn
1 One for One
1 Emergency Teleport
1 Allure of Darkness
1 Dark Hole
1 Berserker Crush

6
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
1 Mirror Force
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Solemn Judgment
1 The Transmigration Prophecy

Thats all for today.

-Soliel

Stardust Shimmer

Its an interesting card... I wonder why people dont use it...

Open Stardust Shimmer

Remove 3 D.D. Scout Plane + Whatever Extra

Revive Black Rose.
Revive Stardust. Synchro Formula Synchron.
Revive Red Demons Dragon. Set Buster Mode.
Revive Scrap Dragon. Nuke self, revive moar.

End Turn, use D.D. Scout Planes to Exceed.

Yugioh Decks Recently

Looking over most of the decks Ive made recently, I've noticed something...

Well actually two things.

First off, theyre strong. They're almost all copies of the top decks around with 1 or 2 changes... Or of each other.

Second...

They're getting boring.

Somehow I've lost the touch to make fun combo based decks for enjoyment of play recently.

Most of the decks I've been making havent been as fun based, and have rather been tournament play based.

Yugioh is a competitive hobby, broken down into two words:

Competetive

and HOBBY

(And for you bitching collectors out there, its a trading card game too... I guess.)

Since clearly everyone else in the world is an expert on the competitive bit, I'll spare you the lecture.


Yes, when going to tournaments, "Beating Six Samurai" "Shutting down Tengu" and "Winning in General" are important points that you have to consider.

OF COURSE.

But when youre just playing around, making decks that are fun?

Guess what: Those things DONT MATTER (much)

When building a fun deck or concept deck, whats important is:

Its consistent

Its fun to play

It wont die to everything and anything

And most importantly, It can put on a show.


Fun decks ought to be fun, and put effort into making it as fun as possible, no?


I've lost all track of where this post was going so yeah.

/Rauzes

Photon Cereberos, Light Serpent

I find a lot of potential in these 2 cards.

Light serpent can be thrown into Dark World to help Rank 3 exceeds(recycle those monsters you RFPd for gate)

Photon Cereberos is a trap stun on legs. that also supports Rank 3 Exceed.(seriously, you goanna leave it to die?)

No. 10 The White Knight Illuminator

Level 4 X3

Remove 1 Exceed Material to discard 1 and draw 1.
Once a turn.


GADGET ABUSE ANYBODY?

Black Ray Lancer
3/Beastwarrior/2100/600
Level 3 X 2

Remove 1 Exceed Material to negate the effect of one face up monster

Ever heard of Alector/10


Photon Form
Normal Trap
Negate the attack of an opponent's monster.
Target LIGHT monster you control gains ATK equal to the ATK of that monster.

Now Light beat has 4 Honests!


/Rauzes

Winning And Losing

1: When Winners make mistakes, they report "I made a mistake"
When losers make mistakes, they tend to say "It wasnt my fault"

2: The reason for winning is "I got lucky"
The reason for losing is "I wasnt lucky", regardless of what luck/draws you actually got

3: Winners work more on their tournament reports, and spend more time on them.(Hence learn more)
Losers just complain and write short reports

4: Winners can get straight to the problem in their play/deck
Losers tend to beat around the bush.

5: Winners are willing to be humble and outright admit they dont win all the time
Losers dont usually dont face their faults and make the same mistakes/wrong plays several times.

6: Winners tend to assess the areas needed to be assesssed, whilst losers tend to assess... completely unrelated areas.

7: Winners will be able to say "They can improve"
Losers... Less so.

8: People who win often will search out people better than them, in order to improve(And conversely allow people less than them to seek them out so they can improve)
People who lose often will search out people lower than them in order to prove they dont lose all the time.

9: Winners are proud of where they stay and put effort into every thing they do
Losers tend to say "they were given this"

10: Winners will always say "There is something better"
Losers will say "Is there really a need to change? Things just didnt go well this time"

/Rauzes

Dark World

Dump Dark World Cards.

Synchro Black Highlander.

Exceed Tyrus.

Laugh in the face of Junk Doppel.

It the circle of life

Ojama EX

Ojama EX

18
2 Ojama Yellow
2 Ojama Green
2 Ojama Black
3 Ojama Blue
3 Ojama Red
2 Debris Dragon
2 King of the Swamp
2 Sin Stardust Dragon

17
3 Ojamagic
3 Ojama Country
2 White Elephant's Gift
2 Polymerization
1 Monster Reborn
1 Giant Trunade
3 Pot of Avarice
1 Dark Hole
1 Instant Fusion

5
3 Trap Stun
1 Mirror Force
1 Torrential Tribute

Extra Deck
15

3 Stardust Dragon
1 Trishula
1 Gugnir
1 Chain Dragon
1 Black Rose Dragon

2 Ojama King
2 Ojama Knight

3 Gachigachi Gantetsu
1 Daigusta Pheonix

I dont think I've ever made an OTK deck I've been so UNeager to try out.

Ojama Blue -> Country + Magic -> Ditch Search Red 5 Ojamas Exceed Fusion Synchro zomgOTK.

Junk Miracle

Miracle Junk

1 Knight of Armageddon
2 Lonefire Blossom
1 Dark Armed Dragon
1 Dandylion
1 Spore
3 Synchro Fusionist
3 Junk Synchron
1 Grow Up Bulb
1 Sangan
1 Quickdraw Synchron
1 Plaguespreader Zombie
2 Mystic Tomato
1 Elemental Hero Stratos
3 Elemental Hero Another Neos

3 Tuning
1 Future Fusion
1 RotA
1 Monster Reborn
1 One for One
2 Miracle Fusion
1 Dark Hole
1 Foolish Burial
1 Giant Trunade
1 Miracle Synchro Fusion

2 Limit Reverse
2 Trap Stun
1 Call of the Haunted

/Rauzes

Evolkaizer Lagia

Rank 4
Fire/Dragon/Exceed
2400/2000
Level 4 Dinosaurs X2
By Removing 2 of this card's exceed materials, negate a spell, trap, or monster's normal or special summon.

WOW!
Time to dig out all those Fossil Excavations!

Another thing to keep in mind that being a rank 4, it has a rather large status, compared to other Exceeds.

Achievement Unlocked! 2

Achievement Unlocked:

This Card Has No Picture!

-Pull a holographic rare card from a booster pack.

Which One is Which?

-Play three different rarities of one card in one duel.

New Sleeves!

No Posts from me this week. I blame Starcraft 2.

But new sleeves!

Its interesting how just changing your sleeves to something newer and nicer looking can make you feel much better about the deck.

Illusion Summoner

Illusion Summoner Flip!

Summon Gaia Drake!

Free 3500/3000/10 Beatstick!
Forever!

Dueling Network post omg

Call me cynical or frank,

but Dueling Network is going to be hit with a Cease and Decease letter...

Soon, or eventually.

Unfortunate, yes.

Horrible, yes.

Konami IS losing profits to Dueling Network, which is the "basis" they will use.

How this works:

1: You think of a deck idea/steal one off of the genius people from Team Alcoholic Beverages

2: Instead of building the deck and testing it, you go to Dueling Network, and build it and test it.

3: It doesnt really work BECAUSE YOURE PLAYING IT WRONG

But focus on #2, shall we.

Konami is missing profits...

" Instead of building the deck and testing it, you go to Dueling Network, and build it and test it."

yeah right around here, yeah.

Yes, most of us know of a wonderful thing called Proxies, but still...

The unfortunate truth is that Dueling Network is going to end... Sooner than you think, because its that good.

Until then, for those who lost to me, I have to say...

Seriously? W.T.F.

Cards that pique my interest

Been thinking about two cards in particular recently

Thunder-End Dragon
Rank 8 Exceed: 2XLevel 8 NORMAL monsters
3000/2000/Light/Dragon
Wow this is nice the effect doesnt really matt- OH WOW.

Dragoon D-End
Not too new but still...

In Response to the Comments

In response to the comments from the previous post. Some of which didnt exactly clear the moderation.

First off, yes, I was brutal. I'm sorry. But its true.

Yes, of course there are several things we care about in tournament... you whining about how you lost is NOT one of those things.

Sheddon brought up some GOOD points that are often seen in good tournament reports: atmosphere of tournament, top decks there, and what you learnt, etc.

And have we seen some good tournament reports?

Of course we have

A good tournament report reports about THE TOURNAMENT, not YOUR GAMES

/rant out.

Tournament Reports

I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but its the truth.

Its a Wizel-Eat-Stardust world out there, and frankly, lots of people dont really care about your tournament.

Lrnin2BGud

So people go to tournaments to win.

Right?

Actually, for some, no... but thats not the point.

The point of todays post(aside from me doing something other than studying), is training.

Training, practice, playtesting sessions.

Whatever you call them, IF you're really intent on winning big tournaments, you do them. A lot.

Tournaments are not won on luck alone.

(Request post because I had a guy ask how our team trains, and when explaining I was like Ooh would make good post! so why not)

No, playing against randoms sure does NOT count.

Thats for fun. Yugioh IS a game, so dont forget to really enjoy playing then.

So what makes for a good training session?

First and foremost, a circle of friends.

A circle of friends is not 1 person. A circle of friends to test with is around 4-5 people(may or may not include yourself)

Friends make many things awesome. Eating, drinking, throwing up, and in this case, Yugioh. Its easier to do something when you're enjoying it partially/fully. Also, if theyre training for this tournament(or not, which well cover late), theyll be equally intent on playing too.

Obviously, this circle of friends will be the people playing with you. Over. And. Over.

What I reccomend is 6-7 together at once.

Second: Decks.

Decks. And several of them.

A key aspect to having a good testing session is having a wide distribution of decks, Especially the top tier decks.

I repeat: ESPECIALLY the top tier decks.

A very important thing to do when youre training for a big tournament is to learn how to play out of as many situations as possible, against top tier decks.

And by top tier, we mean Tier 1, and Tier 1.5

Anything under this is also valid game, so learn to play against these too, to a lesser extent.

How we do it is that to testing sessions, we all bring our Main tournament deck, AND our sub/second deck.(I'm poor and only have 1 main and 1 Team deck. No sub deck XD)

Some of our team members have several sub decks, so that helps. If you have awesome people with every top tier deck, thats win too.

Ideally, you will have(in total of everyones pooled decks), at least Two of each tier 1, and at least one of each tier 1.5.

Since your aims are to learn how to play against each and every top deck, you dont necessarily need to do so from only 1 point of view.

The reason why we pool decks is that the best way to learn a deck's weakness is to be it.

IE: Play the deck. (And lose. And know why.)

Obviously during the session, you need to focus on what deck you will be using during the tournament, but playing the deck lends itself to learning the comboes faster. Much faster.

Its a good tradeoff, but a choice you have to make.

So, once again, play against a variety of tier one decks.

Third, is the point of the training session.

Its to learn to be good.

Dont forget it.

Dont pull off stupid plays, however spectacular they are.

Dont gamble your chances.

You're learning to play against everything a deck can throw against you,

and to make the most of what cards you happen to have at that time.

Ok, so learning to play against the deck you can handle, right?

But what about the opponent? You cant learn to combat all a deck can throw out... if they dont throw it out right?

And if you didn't see a play that could have helped,

Heres another concept our team uses: Players who are NOT there to train for the tournament.

The reason why you're there and the main focus of training can be various:

You cant join the tournament, You DIDNT join the tourney, you dont NEED to train, Or you're not on the team's A-List(or B-List. Or C-List. Yes. We've been to tournaments big enough together that we had to C-List some people!(me T.T I was lyk rly nub 3 months into playing then... Still 4-2'd though!))

This will be the person playing the other deck. They will have to see the myriad plays available to them as well, but they're the ones that are supposed to throw them out... for you to get out of.

Of course, that not available all the time, so its fine to do without. Point in check, you need to learn as many various moves the deck can cook up.

And those plays that you should have seen and didnt?

Unless someone mentions it, you probally never will see it.

Thats why when we trained, we used a few 3rd person views.

Remember how I mentioned 6-7 people training?

Its not 3 games going on at once. Its two.

First off, in Japan, table space, with any space, isnt exactly something places like to give out for free.

But the solution was to have the people not playing be Watching, learning, and most importantly, commenting.

If you see an OTK, Say it.

If you see a good play, SAY IT!

While your team may be different, ours had varying levels of experience.

No, not your "ooh draw cyclone throw it out" and "I know your entire deck from before you drew just by the way you shuffled" varying levels of experience, k. We had standards. haha.

Varying levels of experience meaning some people have played for 10 years, and others(me) had only played for 2 months or less(*cough*SotB*cough*), so obviously the people with more experience know more plays and can see things better.

(Our training techniques were from memories of about 2 years ago. I've been playing over 2 years, not some random nub that just started haha)

Share that knowledge.

Learn.

Fourth, and should be established earlier but I'm on a roll here: Somewhere to play.

Yep.

Important.

Only little kids play on the streets with duel disks.

If you're in for the fish, you play. On tables.

Some people use home, Starbucks, School, a Cafe, a Karaoke Box(coincidentally a good place to hold a small scale friends tournament, but I digress), etc.

(Its come to my attention that MacDonalds and KFC in some countries DONT kick you out after you eat? Maybe you could try there)

The point is: You need somewhere you can bunker down and play.

For. A. Long. Time.

Training sessions are like any other. They should be long.

How long, of course, is up to you.

A good productive one could be 4 to 5 hours. At least. (Some people will be :O at this. Hey I dont see you topping Black Feather CS, or any other championship for that matter... regularly.)

We used to go from 4.30-5PM on Friday to About 8-9AM on Saturday. Obviously for these long sessions we'd have changed out of our school uniforms, and took individual breaks to study, read, smoke, talk with people, eat.

Fifth: Maximizing the amount of situations you will be facing.

This is back at the playing point of view.

When training, be sure to opt to go second, and expose your plays to something you're not used to doing.

In the tournament, you will be going second 50% of the time. Your deck should be designed to work this, but so should your experience and psyche.

Going first is easy. Going second isnt. Thus, learning how to analyze the field on the second turn is a skill thats better picked up obviously when you go second.

Six: Motive to win.

In the tournament, theres a motive to win: Cash prize.

But in testing... less so.

So, your brain will see this activity as "pointless" and either lop it into "fun"(which is still fine)...

OR the brain will shut down, because it doesnt see any benefit in devoting time and effort and neurons to the activity.

Completely. Actually. Wasting. Your. Time.

Solution? Make a incentive to win.

To make the most of your time, you need to compell yourself to win. Having something physical and short and expendable/consumable helps. Its psychology.

Remember the "oh If I can read this entire chapter by tonight I can eat food" thing you used to motivate yourself?

Use it here.

Candy, Cookies, drink tokens for the club, money, cards, money, food, cigarettes...

These are the better examples I can think off the top of my head.

Yeah. I'm telling you to bet your cards when you are training.

It works wonders.

So, Once more:

Circle of friends, hopefully at least 6-7.

Decks that represent the meta, and the decks you will be bringing to the tournament, and a few commonly seen rouges.

Somewhere to play... for several hours on end.

Everyone working together to get better and especially train the less experienced.

Maximize the variety of situations and plays.

Motivate yourself. With material gain.

Lrn2BGud, and one day you'll be winning CSs all around the world.

Or, you know, just ignore this entire post and read every other post on the blog. Theyre mostly about enjoying the game.