The idea of New Year’s resolutions can be traced all the way back to the Romans in 153 B.C. In fact, the month we now call January was named after Janus, the Roman god of new beginnings. Initially, Romans exchanged gifts on the first day of the year in addition to seeking forgiveness from their enemies. Later on, these two became somewhat separate, with the gift-giving confined to Christmas while the “forgiveness from enemies” part remained at the start of the year, eventually evolving into the tradition of New Year’s resolutions we have today. Resolutions are goals that we set for ourselves to complete in the coming year, and among the many goals I’ve set for myself, there are a good number related to the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG. I’m sure that many of you would like to reach at least some of these goals as well, so allow me to present a few things that almost any Yu-Gi-Oh! player would like to accomplish this year, along with some hints at how to go about them.
Concoct a Crazy Combo Caper!
I’ve always wanted to discover my own crazy combo deck that lets me do something completely ridiculous and beyond the normal span of actions taken in a normal duel. While decks built upon crazy combo engines tend to produce some awfully un-interactive, not-fun games, it is impossible to deny that the engines themselves are remarkably clever and definitely the result of a lot of hard work and study. There aren’t many cards in this game that can set off a huge chain of continuous events, but there are even fewer that can set off a huge chain of continuous events that leads to winning the game. As more and more cards are released, however, the possibility of such chains being discovered increases. Take the Life Equalizer combo deck for example. Before the release of Life Equalizer, no one was even looking for a way to dump 30 cards into the graveyard while specifically picking two other cards out of the deck. The Tundo engine has been possible ever since Dark Crisis was released, but no one ever had a need to look for it until someone needed to fulfill a pair of very specific conditions for a very specific reason.
We find combo engines because we want to play a specific winning combo, so the first step in finding your own combo engine is to discover a specific card combination you want to perform to win the game. For example, you could try to develop a way to generate 32 Lekunga tokens to launch at your opponent with Cannon Soldier or try to gain 8000 life points so that one shot from the effect of The Agent of Judgment - Saturn will be enough to win the game for you on the first or second turn. After you’ve decided what crazy thing you want to be able to pull off, you’ll want to seek out cards that help you to achieve this goal. Once you do, you’ll reach the final (and generally most difficult) stage of the process: figuring out how you’re going to muster the resources to do the thing you’ve set out to do. Succeed in all these steps, and you’ve got your very own fully powered combo deck, ready for action. Whether or not it’s easily disrupted or incredibly consistent is of no immediate consequence. The point is that you’ve done it. If it works even once, you’ve succeeded in your goal. The best I’ve ever done was almost concocting a deck that could win on my opponent’s first turn using Exchange of the Spirit. Unfortunately, I ended up abandoning it after that particular win condition was Forbidden. One of these days I definitely need to complete a combo deck of my own without bits of it being Forbidden or Limited.
Attend At Least Two Shonen Jump Championships This Year
I’m certain that every competitive-minded player out there wants to achieve this goal. Shonen Jump Championships are an absolute blast, regardless of whether or not you end up making the Top 8. I’ve read dozens of SJC reports in which the attendee in question doesn’t even mention his final record in the main event, preferring to expound upon the various antics he engaged in with fellow players either during the event or between days. SJCs are not only the greatest challenge available to a duelist on a regular basis, they’re also the best way to meet and interact with players from all over the continent (and in some cases, the world). The first step to getting to an SJC is finding out when and where they are. You can find a schedule of upcoming SJCs on this page. From there, I’ll refer you to Julia’s article on the subject to learn more about the logistics of attending an SJC that may not be near your place of residence.
Of course, finding your way to the event is just the beginning of your preparations. Once you’ve determined that you’ll be there, you need to work on the deck that you can takes to the event. If you don’t have a deck that you’re confident you can win with, there isn’t any point to being there in the first place. Take Matt Stille for example. First he went to an SJC with a Gearfried the Iron Knight deck that he spent a lot of time working on and made the Top 8. Shortly thereafter, he went to another SJC with an unnecessarily large, completely untested deck, and failed miserably. Which would you rather do?
Qualify for Nationals
This is something that every player I know aspires to do and a very small percentage of them actually do. While I most likely will be unable to play in Nationals even if I do qualify, the act of just doing so is important to me. A Nationals qualification generally means that you’ve made it to the Top 8 of an SJC or the Top 4 of a Regional: accomplishments that any player would want to have. Regionals are the first step that many people take beyond the local Hobby League level and the most frequent way that players can interact with the national metagame without traveling all the way to an SJC. If you’re one of the players who is already qualified for Nationals, playing in Regional events is a good way to keep your skills sharp all year ’round.
When it comes to preparing for Regionals, I’d treat the event exactly as I would an SJC. While you’re probably not investing nearly as much time or money in a Regional event as you would for an SJC, you’re still playing to get into Nationals and only to get into Nationals. There’s no real fame or glory to be gained from a Regional event, so while there, you can concentrate more fully on making the Top 4. If you keep yourself focused on that goal while you play, you’ll be in a better mindset to make the plays you need to reach it. I’ve seen people at Regionals who just gave up in the middle of a match or refused to take a potentially game-winning risk because “the prizes for 9th through 16th aren’t that bad.” To steal some football cliches, these people didn’t want it bad enough. Don’t be like these people, especially the ones who bring joke decks to Regionals because they automatically assume that they’re just that much better than the competition. Take your preparation and each game you play seriously, and you’ll see those X-4 finishes start creeping up to X-2. Soon enough, you’ll be making Top 8 more often than not.
Get More Involved In Judging
No matter how many events one has judged, there’s always something new to learn. I’ve been working our local Regional events for a couple of years now, and there’s always a new or difficult situation that occurs at some point during the day that tests everything I’ve learned about both the rules of the game and human nature itself. Judges are absolutely vital in order for anyone to accomplish the above organized play goals. If you’ve been looking to contribute your own skills to the ranks of the judges, the new year is a great time to start. If you’ve never judged before but you’d like to, the best way to go about it is to help out at your local tournament. There’s a good chance that your local tournament judge also helps out at the nearest Regionals, and once you’re ready to start at the Regional level as well, he or she may be able to put in a word for you with whomever organizes your Regionals. This is more or less how I started judging (though in my case I was the only judge at my locals and got my start out of necessity more than anything else).
One of the most important things to do when you start judging is to find a more experienced judge to mentor you and help you to learn how to deal with and respond to those situations when incredibly competitive players start to disagree on reality. I was lucky enough to have Julia to help me out at the first few Regional events I judged at, but you too can draw upon her experience with her Agents of Judgment series.
Create
This one is my most important goal for the year. My absolute favorite part of trading card games is that—as long as new cards are released—the possibilities are endless. As long as I can tinker with cards and make new decks and explore new ideas, I’m happy. Creating new strategies and exploring new ideas is not only fun, but it also helps you develop your play skills by forcing you to think outside the box. Continually creating and testing new decks and ideas has helped players like Theeresak Poonsombat stay at the top of the game for all this time. Even if you aren’t really the type to experiment with new decks, you can still find new ways to use the cards you’re currently playing with. One of the major things that players look for is their opponents making consistently predictable moves. If you know every move your opponent is going to make, it becomes distinctly easier to beat him or her. Instead of simply going through the motions when you play your deck, mix things up a bit. We all know how a Lazaro/Spicer Monarch build works. All its secrets and tricks have been analyzed and exposed a thousand times over. The only thing that really changes when you actually play a deck is how and when you apply these tricks. Zig when your opponent expects a zag and you can catch him or her making a mistake that he or she won’t catch until it’s too late. Of course, your opponent might hop on a forum and call you a bad player for not conforming to the general standards of how to play the deck, but you won didn’t you? Creativity comes in many forms, and I’ll be well on my way on my own creative journey by the time you read this. I’ve got a lot of great stuff to show you this year, so until next time, play hard, play fair, and most importantly, have fun!
Jerome McHale
NEXT WEEK: I’ve finally put the finishing touches on a deck I’ve wanted to build for quite a while now. If you like to play big scary monsters, you’ll definitely want to catch this one.