How to play pro: A guide to competitive play

This will be a guide to help beginners and non-beginners alike climb to the next step of competitive Yu-Gi-Oh!. I will add some tips, opinions, and some general rule of thumb advice to really help guys starting the game. I’m sure alot of not-so-new players could also benefit from one or two things here.

First off, let me introduce myself and a bit of background to make this information relative. I actually started playing Yugioh in 2004 for around 2 years. Unfortunately all my cards were stolen. This forced me to stop playing and it was only 6 years later that I started again online. From there I have been playing on YGO Online 3, Dueling Network, YGOPro Dawn of a New Era, and competitively in real life. I have alot of experience in deck building and dueling and from here I will try share some of this knowledge with new and intermediate players to hopefully improve their game. So with that out of the way lets get started...

Why a 40 card deck?
It’s true there are a ton of good cards out there which make it a difficult choice for beginners to keep the deck at the optimal size. There are a number of reasons to stick to the lowest card count, one of which is minimising the luck factor. Luck is definitely a factor in this game and the more we can eliminate this luck factor the better. Running a 40 card deck over a 50-60 card deck means you have a 1/40 chance of drawing your strategy as opposed to a 1/50 or 1/60 chance. We can improve on this number even more when it comes to deck-thinning and tool-boxing which you can read about below.

Deck Thinning
Deck thinning is very valuable though not every deck can do it. This would be having cards that bring cards in your deck to your hand/field or graveyard and make the deck count even lower, influencing the 1/? Luck factor further. Deck thinning cards include Gadgets, Stratos, Upstart Goblin and other draw cards, the list goes on. If you were to run 3 Upstart Goblins it would essentially be like running a 37 card deck and having a 1/37 chance of drawing what you need. Remember the more we can lower this number the better and the less luck has to do with our deck.

Tool-boxing
This is running cards that allow you to search out specific cards. Combos are a great example of tool-boxing, having cards that search and add to your hand or summon to the field such as Pyramid Turtle, Goblin Zombie. A generic card that provides tool-boxing would be the time-old Sangan. Tool-boxing both thins the deck, and gets exact cards to your hand/field thus eliminating the need for luck in drawing them. These cards can also give advantage in another way which will be discussed in the Plus-ing and Minus-ing section.

Don’t focus on Life Points
I’ve seen alot of people running Magical Cylinder and similar cards which do nothing more than deal LP damage. It’s not that these cards are bad, but there’s a reason they are not run in competitive decks and that is they do more harm to you than your opponent. It might be hard to understand why, but the reason chalks down to card advantage. Card advantage > than LP advantage. I’ll go into detail of this in the Card Advantage section. The reason cards such as Solemn Warning and Solemn Judgment are so power and so costly is because they stop plays. I don’t care if I just lost 4000LP, I managed to stop your biggest play which you were relying on and now I can easily make up that lost LP (possibly by just attacking once). Negation is just as, probably more, important than destruction. Throwing a spanner in your opponent’s plays is what turns games. Who cares if I only have 2000LP when you can’t even touch me? Of course you have to be very careful when using them; you have to exercise judgment which is why they are pro cards and are most effective in the hands of one. Cards like Magical Cylinder may deal LP but that can so easily be made up, so all you really did is minus yourself a card. As contradictory as this may sound, LP does not win games.

Plus-ing and Minus-ing
The title means exactly what it says... + -. This is in terms of card advantage and just HOW to get it and just HOW to take it away. It’s important to note that they directly influence each other, so minuses for your opponent are like a pluses for you, and vice versa. First off, you will get cards that give you pluses or your opponent pluses, examples of the former would be Stratos, Gadgets, Gravekeeper’s Spy, Gravekeeper’s Stele etc. Examples of the latter would be Dark Bribe. Then you get cards that minus yourself and minus your opponent. Examples of the former are Tribute cards, Synchros (2 cards to get 1, which is why 1 card synchros such as Blizzard and Debris are so good), Dark World Dealings, Hand Destruction, Card Destruction. Examples of the latter would be Heavy Storm (when used correctly), Dark Hole (when used correctly), Dark Armed Dragon, Celestia Lightsworn Angel etc. This plus-ing minus-ing all leads to advantage... hand advantage, field advantage. You also get cards that break even, some of which you can plus off of. Cards like Sangan, which if attacked, you lose a card, but also gained a card, you gained the advantage of searching for something needed, or something important. Draw cards like Allure of Darkness, You lose 2 cards (Allure + the removed) and you gain 2 cards, but you gained the advantage of thinning your deck and drawing through it. You also get exchanges such as one for ones and two for twos which you can plus off. MST would be a one for one, but you can plus off it. Gemini Spark is a one for one which you can plus off. Icarus Attack would be an example of a two for two that can also generate great pluses when used right.

Hand Advantage, Field Advantage
Ok for me this is what really wins duels and is the hidden fighting force in competitive format. You do not fight to lower LP, you fight for advantage, and as a by-product the LP will follow. Hand advantage is mostly generated with cards that plus and minus. Superior fire-power can also give pluses (destroy your opponents monster by battle and they are immediately -1). I’ve explained how you can get advantage and take it away, the rest comes down to skilful timing, judgment and skill.

Over-extending
Self explanatory but important none-the-less. In a format with heavy Storm, 2-3 Judgment Dragon, 3 Black Rose Dragons, and Dark Hole, over-extending is very bad. You don’t want to set everything you have on the field, only enough. So if you have 2 facedown monsters already, why do you want/need to set a 3rd? The only time you would do this is if you have to, or you can fend off cards, like its ok to set 3 spell/traps and 1-2 monsters if you have Starlight Road for example. Sometimes much of this depends on the duel, the deck you’re playing, the deck you’re against, and the player you’re against. So with experience you will learn better judgment calls.

Draw Power
Super important... provides you with options, the second best thing to tool-boxing, thins the deck, decreases the luck factor. What else can I say about this? There are decks that don’t use or need draw power, just because the tool-boxing is so good and the deck provides its own draw power rather than relying on other cards, such as Doppel Plants. If you your deck can support draw cards, then use them, just remember that it should still have good synergy with the deck. This brings me to my next section...

Synergy
Deckbuilding is a whole new discussion so I won’t be getting into that, but one thing that is an important factor with any deck is synergy. On a basic level this boils down to the playstyle of the deck. Is your strategy aggressive, control orientated, stall etc? What you need to make sure is that the cards you choose to run in your deck support the playstyle of the deck. To give an example, I came across a Blackwing deck that was using stall cards, for the reason that the stall card was good. Blackwings are typically either aggressive or control orientated so as good as the card is, it’s not supporting the deck.

Side Decks
All game in tournaments and just competitive games in general are always played in matches, so whether you’re pro or a beginner you should always have a side deck. These 15 cards you have tucked away can turn your worst match up into a victory for you. As far as I know there are two types of side decks: one that counters what you would come across in duels, the other changes your own deck around to throw your opponent off and/or escape their counters. Firstly you need to know what people in your area are playing. You need to counter what is mostly being played, and especially what you have the hardest time against. If you see that alot of people are running X-Saber but your decks does amazing against them, then you don’t need to go crazy with your side deck to counter that, since your deck almost already counters it. But if your deck does very well most of the time but just can’t seem to win against a certain deck type, especially one you run into regularly, then you need to side heavily against that to ensure winning. There are times when you won’t know what you could face, times like Nationals. You would mostly use judgment to know what the top few decks will be and side against those.

I hope this helps some players get better, or at least get off to a good start if they are new. I could go into ALOT more detail with all of these but I tried to keep it as short as possible. These points will only take you so far, from there it all comes down to experience and judgment. Deck-building is another big factor which itself requires skill and experience. I don’t recommend net-decking (copying someone elses deck card for card, not simply looking up build ideas for certian decks) as you will not understand the reason behind certain cards in the deck, you might not know the playstyle of the deck or have the same playstyle and judgment as the guy who made it. What really ties a player to a deck is when he understands the reason behind every card in the deck and all the combos and potential it has. Copying a deck, even a pro deck, will not give the same results as it did for the one who made it.

If anyone has something to add or something they don’t agree on, let me know. When I list examples I honestly just listed the very first things that came to mind so you’re welcome to give/add better examples, I know there are some.

~Sabbaticus

now it is written by sabb himself ^^ cool topic anyway

Good to see this back up.

this is the best topic to help all members to become better all the basic ideas are here

I wouldn't say these were basic ideas. If the ideas were basic it wouldn't be titled "How to play pro"

i meant if you are new and want to become better this what you have to do

Good topic. I think it might be beneficial to add a couple points though...

For the 40 card topic...

There is an "advantage" to decks having over 40 cards, and that advantage is that you have less of a chance to draw the cards you don't want to draw. I will occasionally go to 41 in decks that run things that need to stay in deck. Agents, for example, where you don't want to draw Shine Balls. The deck searches enough to where running 1 or 2 cards over 40 won't affect consistency of the main engine, but *might* help out with bad draws.


For the Advantage Topics...

For the most part, the game is about establishing advantage, but I think it's worth mentioning that sometimes advantage can and should be sacrificed to maintain a certain setup. Samurais, for example, do not play with Advantage in mind. They play with speed, control, and an established field setup. The main play itself is a straight -1 (Shi en synchro), but it helps establish a field presence that will help push the deck forward. Same thing with decks that run stuff like skill drain, necrovalley, and other continuous "lock" cards. It's less important that they establish advantage and more important that they limit what their opponent can do...hence why decks like that can afford to run cards like Bribe.

Well, it's a guide for beginners, adding more advanced stuff would turn their head xD

But yeah, I sometimes get shocked on how players totally rage against 41~42 card decks, unless you have something EXQUISITE to draw, adding a couple of cards won't hurt, as long as they do have an utility for you deck, not all decks can do this, especially with the amount of small, very small engines and archetypes, which most the time will leave you with FREE room in your deck. Keeping it at 40 is key, but going a bit ahead won't be a tragedy as long as you have a very good reason to.

And advantage is such a complicated topic. I also don't like the way players put it all quantitatively, (1 red nova is better than a couple of gadgets, right?), but the most the time it'll apply unless you're comparing absurd stuff

Shien for example. It may be a -1, but you only need 1 negation to turn it into a +0. And that "+0" is pretty absurd, since you're keeping a 2500 beater that dodges death and negates trap/spells.

And a ninja lock. In an ideal situation it's pretty much a +40 for you. Since all your opponent's cards would be unable to defeat it. It's obviously something we can't measure quantitatively and good luck making a beginner learn all about advantage, something even experienced players lack.

Pretty nice thoughts though, just not fit for discussion on a beginner guide.

^^it doesn't need to be discussed in depth, just mentioned...even in a beginner guide. It's important for beginners to know everything up front.

wow if ppl read this they will probably get better one way or another

Awsome Guide

Hello, folks, nice forum you've got!

Thanks for the great guide. It is really helpful to a new (returned) player like me. I've been away from Yu-Gi-Oh for 6 years and I can barely remember stuff, plus the game has changed so much. I guess playing Magic the Gathering doesn't help either

Very nice guide. Showing this to my team for sure.

some decks u need play +40 decks liike gadjets with 3sets etc and mermails u can also, decks that u dnt want draw all cards but just 1 cause others are searchable for consistency

migueljoker wrote:

some decks u need play +40 decks liike gadjets with 3sets etc and mermails u can also, decks that u dnt want draw all cards but just 1 cause others are searchable for consistency

This = Wrong

Gadgets doesn't need more than 40 cards, and running 3 of each would be considered too much, 2 of each is plenty

And mermails: Yes u can run 40+ but not for consistancy.. Besides, mermails has so much discarding from deck/hand that almost nomather what, u can make the deck do what you want it to do nomather what..


40 cards is most competitive and consistant imo.

Indeed a very useful guide. Well written.

One thing I picked up on. "Don't focus on life points" - Well, This is not always the case. Burn decks come to mind and Cylinder is great for burn decks especially when your opponents gets frustrated with your stall/burn tactics and tries to finish you off before their life points are gone.

Just noticed.

true. the reason most people don't like cylinder, though, is because it is a reactive trap. it's dependant on the opponent battling, and cannot be chained to anything else. That alone isn't reason enough to not use the card, but it's definitely a huge hindrance for me. I try to keep my spell and trap lineup as dynamic as possible, assuming the opponent always has 3 space typhoons and a heavy storm in hand, or just a lot of luck with their space typhoon targets.

Thanks for the guide Sabb, sorry to hear about your cards getting stolen

BlackBeltJones wrote:

One thing I picked up on. "Don't focus on life points" - Well, This is not always the case. Burn decks come to mind and Cylinder is great for burn decks especially when your opponents gets frustrated with your stall/burn tactics and tries to finish you off before their life points are gone.

Just noticed.

And I can't remember the last time a burn deck topped a YCS 1st place.

Just saying.


Great guide though Sabz.

Exiled wrote:

Eheroduelist wrote:

BlackBeltJones wrote:

One thing I picked up on. "Don't focus on life points" - Well, This is not always the case. Burn decks come to mind and Cylinder is great for burn decks especially when your opponents gets frustrated with your stall/burn tactics and tries to finish you off before their life points are gone.

Just noticed.

And I can't remember the last time a burn deck topped a YCS 1st place.

Just saying.


Great guide though Sabz.

YCS 100 Long Beach March 2012 Chain Burn Deck Profile

This was very insightful, I've come to better understanding of what cards should be included and what should not, to be honest I used stall cards in my Black wings as well xD But now that i've switched to a more aggressive play style, I've seen some good results.

Thank you very much

BlackBeltJones wrote:

One thing I picked up on. "Don't focus on life points" - Well, This is not always the case. Burn decks come to mind and Cylinder is great for burn decks especially when your opponents gets frustrated with your stall/burn tactics and tries to finish you off before their life points are gone.

Just noticed.

Guys, please note that this is a guide with 'tips and general rule of thumb'. Of course there are going to be circumstances where it differs. It is a player's job to know when LP does and doesn't matter. This guide was a short look into how duels on the competitive side of Yu-Gi-Oh! are seen and played out for the most part. Where you do sacrifice LP for advantage or take hits to save a resource. Where I to include every instance where the rule doesn't apply, or elaborate into great detail on every point then this guide would be 5000+ words long.