“Mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine . . .” —Finding Nemo
That is an accurate statement to describe the drafting mentality, especially in Yu-Gi-Oh! You get to crack open a few packs and take what cards are going to be the best for you or the ones that will hamper your opponent. After you find what you like, you get to pass the pack to your left or right, and then that opponent chooses what will best suit their deck and theme. This continues until you have 27 cards in front of you, and then you're just about ready to duel. All that is left is the arduous task of whittling seven cards out of your deck and then finding an opponent to crush.
Draft Strategy for Yu-Gi-Oh!
So what is the best way to draft in Yu-Gi-Oh!--do you take the biggest beaters, or try to draft some slick combos? A lot of that depends on the set or sets that you are drafting from and the inherent combos that are built in to each set. If you are drafting nothing but Dark Crisis, you could do some very cool things by drafting the Guardians and getting the appropriate equip spell cards. Or you could try and pull all the Archfiends and go that route. Maybe you notice that the guy to your left is never passing you any Guardians, so you draft cards like Arsenal Robber. Let’s say you are drafting Pharaonic Guardian--many people are going to pick Gravekeeper, since there are so many support cards for that archetype in that set and they are pretty easy to find. If Necrovalley comes around in that draft, the person drafting Gravekeeper is going to be in good shape. But if your opponent across the way goes crazy tech and drafts Needle Ceiling and Narrow Pass, most players are going to be stalled to death.
Perhaps the best thing about drafting, especially when you are drafting a new set, is getting to see and use the cards for the first time. When a new set comes out in Yu-Gi-Oh! , many people tend to look for the four or five best cards and overlook the remaining cards in the set. Drafting lets you see first-hand the versatility of the latest set, and it gets your brain thinking of combos and deck ideas that most people won’t normally think of.
Those are just a few of the cool cards and strategies that you can try to go for in Pharaonic Guardian and Dark Crisis. There are so many more possibilities that to list them all would be nigh impossible, so let your imagination and creativity run wild with each draft.
Cool Cards and Combos
Drafting is one of the best ways in Yu-Gi-Oh! to think outside the box and develop new gameplay strategies. What works for one player won't necessarily work for another player, so always be sure to try and draft different cards and develop your own combinations.
When most people open packs, they immediately search for the fifth card to see what rare they pulled. When drafting, you really need to read and evaluate each card. Rare-drafting will more often than not leave you with a sub-standard draft deck. As in many card games, being successful at drafting in Yu-Gi-Oh! requires a decent knowledge of the card pool that you are drafting from. Let’s take a look at the last three sets, Pharaonic Guardian, Magician’s Force,and Dark Crisis, and analyze some of the best common and rare draft cards from each set. This is by no means a comprehensive list of all that is good in these sets, just a few thoughts and observations.
Pharaonic Guardian
King Tiger Wanghu
One thing to keep in mind is that in draft, not everyone gets 1900 ATK monsters, but there are plenty of lower attack value monsters that you're going to end up drafting for their cool effects. This guy will make your opponents think twice about bringing those smaller monsters to the field, unless they don’t mind wasting a summon.
Swarm of Scarabs
There isn't a whole lot of removal available in draft, but this guy is certainly a mean piece of it. Swarm of Scarabs and its compatriot, Swarm of Locusts, are two very easy ways to remove a card on your opponent’s side of the field. Come on--what beats drafting a monster and a piece of removal in one convenient and easy-to-use package?
Gravekeeper’s Guard
Having a 1900 DEF monster in draft is huge, and being able to bounce a monster on your opponent’s side of the field just puts him or her at a huge disadvantage. That leaves your opponent open to a shot next turn, and chances are good that he or she isn't going to be able to get around 1900 DEF easily.
Dark Snake Syndrome
Nothing says fun like knowing exactly when the game is going to end. If you get ahead of your opponent on life points, this card can spell the end of the game for your opponent. If someone gets a shot in against you, though, it will backfire on you in a heartbeat.
Magician’s Force
Kaiser Colosseum
This card really slows the tempo of the game down and helps to keep things on an even playing field. If you have no monsters on the field, this doesn’t help you at all, but if you are trying to buy time to pull out your big beater, this card is a dream.
Poison of the Old Man
Being able to decrease your opponent’s life by 20 percent is nothing to scoff at, and neither is increasing your own life points by 30 percent. The fact that it's a quick-play spell card only adds to its ability to save you or win you the game in a tight spot.
Amazoness Paladin
If you can get your hands on two or three other Amazonesses, this becomes one of the most powerful draft cards around. For no tribute, being able to have 2000 ATK or more is simply huge, and it should never be overlooked as a potential first pick.
Des Koala
I know what you're thinking--what good can a cute and fuzzy Koala do you? Remember, this isn't Constructed Yu-Gi-Oh! where peoples' hands disappear at alarming rates. You and your opponent are usually going to be sitting on at least four or five cards, and this adorable little marsupial can take a significant chunk of your opponent's life points away with its effect.
Wave-Motion Cannon
When you play this card, you're telling your opponent, “You have four turns to take my life points to 0, or you lose.” Never pass this card when you see it in draft--this is a first pick every time.
Dark Crisis
Sakuretsu Armor
In draft, having monster removal is of the utmost importance since it is so scarce. This card lets you destroy one of your opponent’s big hitters, and because there is so little spell and trap removal, this is a safe early pick.
Maju Garzett
This guy can turn into one of the biggest hitters in the game, and in draft, he's almost unstoppable. Being able to crank out a possible 3000+ ATK beater for one tribute is disgusting. There's really no other way to say it.
Battle Footballer
A wonderful draft card because it has the highest DEF of any level 4 monster in Yu-Gi-Oh! This card can buy you all the time in the world to set up your combos, like Legendary Flame Lord, for one. This card should be considered very early in most drafts.
Gyaku-Gire Panda
After drafting Yu-Gi-Oh! a few times, you'll learn that monsters stay on the field much longer, making the Panda an extremely viable card to draft. If your opponent has three monsters on the field, the Panda has 2300 ATK and the Fairy Meteor Crush effect. Not bad for no tribute.
Drafting is going to be a new experience for many Yu-Gi-Oh! players, and it will only serve to make you a better player. By learning card interactions that aren’t seen on the Constructed scene, your rules knowledge will increase, as will your ability to see how lesser known cards can fit into your Constructed decks. Maybe you played with a card in draft that will help make your Constructed deck stronger. Chances are, you would not have found that card had you not been drafting. Not only is drafting a phenomenal way to learn the card pool for the set or sets that you are drafting from, but sanctioned drafting will also add points to your UDE ranking. I would highly recommend that everyone try to draft at least once a week, even if only because it's an extremely fun variation on Yu-Gi-Oh!
Challenge
I will try to include a reader challenge after each article, assuming I have enough brainpower left to come up with something. Once a month, I will do a "Reader’s Challenge Results" article and review a few of the most interesting and thought-provoking responses. If your response gets posted, I’ll be sure to send some random items your way. It could be a toothbrush, it could be a Vampire Lord--whatever I have lying around my desk.
This week’s challenge is to come up with the strongest draft deck using Magician’s Force and Dark Crisis cards, with a few limitations. You cannot use any secret rares, since the chances of you pulling a secret rare are very slim in draft. You can only use one ultra or super rare, so if you're drafting Magician’s Force, you could have Breaker the Magical Warrior or Tribe-Infecting Virus, but not both. "Why such strict limitations?" you might be asking yourself. It's because good rares don’t last in draft--they get taken really early.
So, make the strongest 20-card deck with the above limitations and send it in to challenge@metagame.com. Limit one entry per email address, so make your deck a good one.
Until next time . . .
Legendary Flame Lord
Some people scoff at ritual monsters, saying they're too hard to get to the field, but in draft, they're much more playable. Dropping a 2400 ATK monster with a Dark Hole effect seems worth the effort to me, especially when you consider that once you use its effect, you'll be attacking directly for over 60 percent of your opponent's life points.
Narrow Pass
If you love to stall, this is your dream draft card. Once you use up those two summons, you and your opponent get no more until Narrow Pass leaves the field. Combining this with cards like Swarm of Scarabs and Gravekeeper’s Guard is obscene. Your opponent won’t be able to summon anything else once you have gotten rid of his or her two monsters, and his or her life points will disappear faster than Dad’s receding hairline. |