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Doomkaiser Dragon
Card# CSOC-EN043
Doomkaiser Dragon's effect isn't just for Zombie World duelists: remember that its effect can swipe copies of Plaguespreader Zombie, too!
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It’s Saturday and a Yu-Gi-Oh! Regional event is just beginning. A sprinkling of young duelists are waiting to register. There’s one in particular—he’s about eight years old, wears a Blue-Eyes shirt, and excitedly clutches a battered “Joey” tin. The registration official signs him up, hands him a deck registration sheet, and tells him to fill it out. Little “Joey” finds a table, opens his tin, takes out about 160 cards (he’s got all the foil cards in sticky, gold sleeves), piles the cards up, and laboriously begins filling out the registration sheet.
 Reading and writing aren’t his strong suit and he’s not sure how to spell “Obelisk the Tormentor,” but he figures abbreviations should be fine. After about half an hour, he heads back to registration to get more copies of the card list form. He needs more space because he’s reporting each of his eight copies of Monster Reborn on a separate line. He looks at the sheet again . . . Fusion deck? Nah, he’ll just put Flame Swordsman, Dark Paladin, Gaia the Dragon Champion, and Red-Eyes Black Dragon in his main deck with the rest of his powerful cards. Side deck? Better have one of those! He picks out Raigeki, Blue-Eyes White Dragon, two copies of Change of Heart (printed in Chinese), the copy of Heavy Storm that went through the wash (but it’s OK because he remembers what it is!), and that awesome card he got from the sticker machine at 7-11 that counts as all the pieces of Exodia. He sets these cards to the side so he can pick them up when he needs to use them during a game. His first tournament! He believes in his cards and knows he’ll win it all.*
If you’ve ever judged at a tournament, you’ve probably met a kid like Joey. Of course, not all young duelists are unskilled beginners, and this article doesn’t mean to imply that they are. Instead, I’d like to talk about how to handle a type of duelist we often encounter. These duelists are young and excited about the game, but they’re uninformed about basic rules, counterfeit cards, and legal decks. They love Yu-Gi-Oh! but still have a lot to learn. League play is the best place for beginners to learn how to duel and build legal decks, but younger duelists often fall back on local, improvised “rules” and blissfully ignore the rulebook. Without a reliable source for correct rulings and mechanics, these duelists are at a disadvantage when they enter sanctioned tournaments.
Plunging headfirst into organized play is hard if a player is unprepared, and it presents a complex series of challenges for judges and tournament staff. There are no established tournament guidelines that address how to deal with young and inexperienced duelists. Because of that, it’s best to look at how judges have dealt with this problem and balance that approach with UDE’s existing guidelines and the overall goals of Organized Play. Hopefully, this will help us develop some flexible solutions.
How we handle this sort of duelist depends on the scale of the event. There’s more time to spot new players in a local or league tournament that has a more relaxed atmosphere and fewer competitors. Judges can look through decks and talk to young duelists and their parents about basics. These kinds of checks are important if a duelist hasn’t heard of the Advanced format or the Limited and Restricted lists, can’t recognize counterfeit cards, and thinks that playing with six copies of a great card is much better than three. Tributing, the activation of traps and quick-play spells, the order of game phases, and so forth can be discussed. If a young player wants to learn correct play, these kinds of talks can head off a lot of problems. Parents like the extra attention, while Joey gets a legal deck and is more prepared for the tournament.
 Unfortunately, few premier-level events will have enough extra time for judges to show Joey how to turn that pile of 200 cards in mismatched sleeves into a legal deck. While basic rules can be explained in the announcements—“Remember, we’re playing with the official rules, so you need to tribute for monsters with more than four stars and be sure that you play cards at the right time. Only draw one card at the start of each turn, and please call the judge over if you have any questions,”—the lack of one-on-one discussion with novice duelists can lead to difficulties later in the tournament. With hundreds of competitors on the floor and the TO eager to start on time, it’s not possible to get through all the deck checks before the rounds begin. Spotting an illegal deck by walking up and down the tables is harder when there’s a lot of ground to cover, and if a tournament is short staffed on judges, it’s nearly impossible to manage duelists who haven’t grasped the basics. After a few rounds of correcting inexperienced duelists on basic mechanics, judges can begin to feel like Yugi-nannies. “This monster has six stars, so you can’t summon it from your hand. You have to tribute.” “No, you can’t play Change of Heart from your hand on your opponent’s turn.” “You can’t attack your opponent’s life points directly with (monster), he’s got two monsters on the field.” “No, you can’t activate a set Change of Heart on your opponent’s turn—wait, how many Change of Hearts do you have?”
Opponents lose their tempers, judges find themselves obligated to issue penalties for incorrect play, and the unprepared duelists can end up in tears. Parents who have driven a long time to get to the event and then paid for parking, the entry fee, and six-dollar hot dogs often get angry and frustrated. Floor and head judges can end up being the focal points for most of these bad feelings, and we have enough stress to deal with already!
What’s a judge to do? Prevention is the best cure, but it’s reasonable to expect competitors to show up to an event with legal decks and sufficient knowledge of how the game works. We’re part of UDE’s Organized Play program and are supposed to promote correct gameplay while encouraging participation in the game. Situations like these can pit one goal against the other. We can’t allow a duelist with an illegal deck into an event or permit unsanctioned gameplay, but we don’t want to turn a player away from the game. It tests our player-management skills to come up with a solution that everyone can be happy about, especially when you throw parents into the mix.
Tournament floor rules and penalty guidelines have to be enforced, especially at premier events. The penalties for illegal decks and decklists should be familiar to judges, and when errors aren’t caught before the decks are registered and the event begins, the appropriate penalty needs to be handed out. When a duelist makes a play error of any kind—misplaying a card, mixing up game phases, drawing extra cards a judge has to explain what the error was, how to correct it, and what the penalty is. While this can be hard for a young duelist to handle, it’s important to emphasize proper gameplay.
This is easier said than done, so be prepared. It helps to have some cards on hand that can bring an undersized deck up to 40 cards in cases where a duelist arrives without enough cards. Before the event begins, be sure to announce the format, legal deck requirements, and the importance of playing by the official rules. It won’t hurt to make these announcements several times. Make the first announcement when registration opens or even beforehand, so that unprepared duelists can make deck changes and talk to judges if they have questions. Make another announcement right before the event begins so late arrivals will at least have been warned. Head judges should remind floor judges to look out for unevenly sleeved decks, God cards, and jumbled play areas. If there are enough staff members, send a patient and sharp-eyed floor judge to stay near the inexperienced duelists and watch for play errors.
When a young player has to be disqualified because he or she doesn’t understand the game and is disrupting play for other competitors, it’s the head judge’s job to deal with the child and his or her parents. The disqualified duelist is going to be upset, and parents will be mad if they feel their child is being singled out or harassed. Prevent an angry confrontation by taking the duelist and the parents to a quieter, private location to explain the situation. Make sure everyone knows you’re sympathetic while making clear that sanctioned events must be conducted by the rules. Effort spent listening here will pay off by lessening any feelings that the action is uncalled for.
Remember that these people may have made a long drive to attend the event, paid an admission fee, or spent a lot of money on illegal cards. If their concerns are received in a sympathetic manner, the situation will resolve more peaceably. You should offer some resources to help the duelist be more prepared for the next tournament. Directing a duelist to http://www.upperdeckentertainment.com/yugioh/ is a good place to start. You can also suggest that the duelist join a local league. If possible, arrange for a judge or an experienced player to review the child’s deck or play a quick game to teach proper gameplay. If a child is too young to grasp the game or too insecure to deal with penalties, suggest to the parents that the stress of a tournament won’t help the duelist enjoy the game. In this situation, you should encourage the duelist to play in more casual environments until his or her skills improve.
It’s important not to have an arbitrary, condescending, or repressive attitude, because that will only intensify feelings of resentment and frustration. Sometimes you’ll have to deal with parents who are determined to be angry and offended no matter what you do, but as long as you’re secure in your authority and professional in your conduct, you are in control of the situation.
There will always be young children who want to take decks made of all their most powerful cards to tournaments so they can duel like their anime heroes. You have to love their enthusiasm, but as judges we have to ensure that they follow the rules. It’s great when you can take measures to prepare the unprepared. When you have to resort to giving explanations, cautions, and other penalties, do it in a calm, professional manner. The best way to handle a bad situation is to have your protocols firmly in mind, maintain a professional attitude, and do whatever is reasonable to keep good feelings on both sides.
* While little Joey is a figment of my overtaxed imagination, I have seen duelists just like him do every single thing I mentioned in this paragraph. Fortunately, it was not all at the same time!
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