Hidden Stuff in Yu-Gi-Oh! + Stuff Newbies Don't Know *INFO

[Salamander]

*IF ANY ERRORS/TYPOS ARE FOUND, LET ME KNOW.
*FOR THE OFFICIAL RULEBOOK + OTHER INFO, GO TO: http://www.yugioh-card.com/en/gameplay/


Mods, if this is the wrong section, please move it.

~Brief Introduction~

Well first off, welcome to the world of Yu-Gi-Oh! If you are already involved, you should skip the rest of this paragraph. You have just entered one of the world's most popular trading card games. There are A LOT of things besides the basic rules of this game that you need to know. Most of which are not mentioned in the rule book at all!

~The Content~

1) MISSING THE TIMING

This is really important. Sometimes an optional effect can only be activated when a condition happens. In this case, you are only allowed to activate the effect when the activation condition being met was the last thing to happen in the game. If something else happened after the activation condition was met, then you have missed the timing, and cannot activate the optional effect. Here is an example:

Player A tribute summons Raiza the Storm Monarch by tributing Poison Draw Frog. Would Player A be able to draw a card via Poison Draw Frog's optional effect? Nope. Poison Draw Frog being tributed and sent to the graveyard wasn't the last thing that happened, Raiza the Storm Monarch being summoned was. So Poison Draw Frog's effect missed the timing, preventing you from drawing a card.

Now what if Dandylion was tributed instead of Poison Draw Frog?

Dandylion's effect would activate because it isn't optional. YOU WILL get both of the tokens. In that case, the chain will look like this:

Chain Link 1: Raiza the Storm Monarch's effect activates.
Chain Link 2: Dandylion's effect activates.

2) CARD ADVANTAGE

Ever wonder what those seemingly random +1 or -3s are doing around Pojo? And what do they mean? Well, they (as you may have guessed) are talking about card advantage.

Think of card advantage as if it were money. You want to make the most money. Every turn you get a little bit more money, also known as drawing a card from your deck. You can get more money by putting cards on your side of the field or adding cards to your hand. As well as depleting cards on your opponent's side of the field or in their hand. If you run out of this "money", you'll probably end up losing the game.

Pot of Greed is a +1 in card advantage. How can you tell? Well, you used 1 card (Pot of Greed), putting you at -1. But you drew 2 cards, gaining you card advantage. So that -1 became a +1! You spent 1 dollar, but wound up getting 2 dollars back in return! Pretty good deal, right?

How about we talk more about card advantage. Let's look at Doomcaliber Knight.

*Summoning Doomcaliber Knight is a -0 in card advantage. Neither player gains or loses any cards.
*Changing Doomcaliber Knight's battle position does not change card advantage.
*Your opponent activates the effect of their Greenkappa. Doomcaliber Knight tributes himself (-1), but destroys Greenkappa. In the end, it is a -0.

You may have played some video/PC games in which after defeating an enemy, you gain gold/loot/money. The same thing applies in this game. If Doomcaliber Knight destroys a monster in battle, you will get +1. You will get a little more money.

This is however, just a strategy/concept in this game. It isn't part of the game's rules itself.

3) MAKE YOUR DECK(S) HAVE A THEME

DO: Have 1-2 goals, preferably game-winning, that every duel you want your deck to achieve. This could be anything from looping/destroying your opponent's hand with a powerful loop of card effects, to stalling the game and testing how your opponent can handle several effects that inflict damage. It could even be simply getting your biggest monster out!

DO: Include plenty of ways to gain card advantage.

DON'T: Mix random cards from random packs without any goal. Instead, try to keep your deck organized + make sure it runs well.

4) STAPLE CARDS THAT (ALMOST) EVERY DECK SHOULD RUN

The following cards should be run in pretty much every deck because of how good they are. They are listed in no particular order.

*Monster Reborn
*Dark Hole
*Mystical Space Typhoon
*Book of Moon

Here are some other cards that arn't staples, but are worth noting:

*Dimensional Prison
*Bottomless Trap Hole
*Solemn Warning
*Torrential Tribute
*Effect Veiler

This was a pain to type.

[boots88]

The missing the timing part is wrong. It misses the timing because the last thing to happen was that a monster was summoned. It would also help to include the card text examples too:

"When X happens you can do Y..." - misses the timing.
"If X happens you can do Y..." - does not miss the timing.

Additional Comment:

The acronym SEGOC would also help too.

[Salamander]

Got it. I messed up. It seemed right when I typed it...
*Fixed

[BennehFishle]

While I'm not by any means new to Yu-Gi-Oh, the piece on card advantage might be a tad confusing to newbies: "So these +1s...do you cash them in for new monsters or something?"

Maybe you should make it clearer that it's merely a concept in game strategy and not an integral part of playing the game/a game mechanic in itself.

Furthermore, you definitely need to include a piece about staples: Monster Reborn, Dark Hole, Heavy Storm, Solemn Warning, Effect Veiler, Mystical Space Typhoon, etc.; and the semi-staples: Bottomless Trap Hole, Book of Moon, Dimensional Prison and so on.

[Salamander]

Got it. Fixes are on their way.

[necropuddi]

Staples: Heavy Storm, Solemn Judgment
Semi-staples: Solemn Warning, Torrential Tribute, Compulsory Evacuation Device

And if you want to expand your guide, some suggestions include:
-Opening hand rates of 1 copy, 2 copy, 3 copy
-Why it's important to run no more than 41 cards, 40 cards if possible
-Cataloging the win conditions: via LP depletion, Exodia, deck-out, etc; advantages, disadvantages of each, some examples of why mixing them may be a bad idea

And if you really wanna get fancy:
-How to properly use staple quickplays (MST, Book of Moon)
-Advantages and how to use damage-step effects (Honest, Forbidden Chalice/Lance, etc)

[Misery-Maker]

Say about Handtraps too, Mind Control then XYZ can be a good thing to explain, and things like the Treeborn Frog + E con move.

[boots88]

I would suggest only talking about rulings. Don't confuse them, there are already articles on synergy and that type of thing anyway.

[Salamander]

Minor fixes. Should I add Gorz to the Semi-staples? I love it when someone goes:
"What's missing the timing?"
And I go:
"There's a link in my sig."

[OJ Pimpson]

Originally Posted by Salamander

Minor fixes. Should I add Gorz to the Semi-staples? I love it when someone goes:
"What's missing the timing?"
And I go:
"There's a link in my sig."

If you mention Gorz, you might as well mention Tragoedia as well. I can't tell you how many times that people have tried to use Solemn Judgement on Gorz or Trag on me with the assumption that Judgement can negate anything. While you're at it, you might as well throw in Battle Fader.

[Rͼιŋ]

bump........

[Salamander]

I really don't want to make this a staple/nonstaple list. That's a different thread.
I think what I have is fine.

[Camero]

If anyone is not understanding card advantage, just remember this:

At any point in the duel, count all the cards in your hand and on your side of the field. Then do the same for your opponent's hand and side of the field. You will generally do very well in Yu-Gi-Oh if you try to decrease your opponent's total number of cards and increase your own as much as possible.

+1, -1, 1 for 1, and so on, are all referring to changes in this total number of cards. If you have more cards than your opponent, you are USUALLY more likely to win. That's basically it.

Additional Comment:

Originally Posted by Salamander

I really don't want to make this a staple/nonstaple list. That's a different thread.
I think what I have is fine.

Yeah, if anything, maybe just explain that the staples are good because of how they affect card advantage--most of those are 1 for 1, a few can minus your opponent more than you under some circumstances, the ones that ARE -1 help to prevent your opponent from increasing his "score", etc.