The secret to dueling:Denouement

[Cloudstrife 189]

Welcome to my 10th article

I’m finally going to piece everything all together

So get ready,

Get set…

Go!!!

Welcome to my next article, The secret to dueling: Denouement

First, let me refresh you in what I covered in all my past articles. Hang tight, it’s a lot.

1st article, The secret to dueling: A Direct Correlation
I emphasized the importance of the player finding a deck that adequately correlates to his/her playstyle and skill level.

2nd article, The secret to dueling: Win without playing a card
I spoke about 7 steps of duel preparation (Duel Zone, Life points, Deck knowledge, Shuffling, Graveyard/RFG, Bluffing and Waiting 7 seconds)

3rd article, The secret to dueling: Soft Cheating
This article hinted on the importance of not cheating and some common ways at how players are currently cheating/manipulating the rules.

4th article, The secret to dueling: Identity Crisis
In this article, I encouraged all players to quickly identify their opponent’s skill level, deck type, and playstyle and I talked about changing your own playstyle accordingly.

5th article, The secret to dueling: The Forgotten Art
In this, I expressed a key component to YGO is figuring out how to use the side deck effectively and spoke of 4 ways to side deck (Counter, Convert/Transform, Protect and Randomize).

6th article, The secret to dueling: A Fight Against Time
This article indicated that there is indeed a time limit at all major competition and that you need to use it to your advantage while not directly manipulating it. I also spoke about how to avoid being cheated into time.

7th article, The secret to dueling: Coming up to Tier
I understand that one of the hardest things in YGO is to build a deck, so in this article, I spoke about how to build a deck and what key components you need in order to bring it alive (Skeleton Structure, Synch it up, Give it a boss).

8th article, The secret to dueling: Hidden Advantage
I talked about how many cards currently being played give some type of hidden advantage. How much advantage they will generate is completely unpredictable as it could be game breaking or another completely dead card.

9th article, The secret to dueling: It’s not the Deck…My most recent article spoke about the importance of the player’s importance over the outcome of the duel as opposed to the deck. The deck helps, but the player ultimately decides all factors, including what deck to run.

10th article, The secret to dueling: Denouement
This is the article you’re currently reading! In this article, I’m currently trying to express the importance of all of my past articles being used together.

Wow. That was a lot. If you ever want to reread any of my past articles, feel free to click on any of the above links or you can find them all conveniently here.

This article will most likely be my shortest, because there is only one overall point I need to make here. All these articles I write, all the articles you read, and all the other sources you go to cannot win the duel for you. All they are is another tool in your toolbox. Winning in YGO is about consistency. Anybody with any deck can win occasionally. These tools will all only help with your consistency. When you go to a tournament, you don’t have to win every game to win the event. All you need to do is win a high majority of your matches. Many people fail to see this and understand the bigger picture. They seem to get caught up in winning each individual game that they fail to ever increase their consistency.

The same thing can be said about building a deck. Any deck can get their combo off from time to time; however, the most effective decks are those that can do it the most often.

In conclusion, I just want to thank all you guys again for reading my articles. I’ll keep ‘em coming. Keep striving to get better. It will happen. Maybe not as fast as you want, but give it time. The best things in life are worth the wait. If you keep practicing these techniques, you will up your consistency. You will eventually find yourself making less and less mistakes until they are eventually nonexistent. You will start winning more games and eventually matches over those who practice less. Those matches will turn to local victories and those will turn to regional tops. This will in turn lead to regional victories and SJC tops and who knows, the National Championship title isn’t that far off. I have come to learn that if you work hard for something in life, it always eventually pays off.

Learn this. Practice this. Master this. And only then, will you understand the real secret to dueling.

-Cloudstrife189

[Xu, Lightsworn Sage]

Consistency, consistency! Its easy to win against those who don't understand even the basics. This game use to be like checkers, even a newbie could do ok, but the time for more strategy is the way it is now. Now we are playing a game that is more like a mix of chess and high stakes poker. A mix of strategy, intelligence, luck and bluff. Sure you could auto cruise a lightsworn to some easy wins, but you'll walk right into a trap set by those who are most prepared.
True victory is only attainable well all your enemies have fallen.

[Cloudstrife 189]

Originally Posted by Xu, Lightsworn Sage

Consistency, consistency! Its easy to win against those who don't understand even the basics. This game use to be like checkers, even a newbie could do ok, but the time for more strategy is the way it is now. Now we are playing a game that is more like a mix of chess and high stakes poker. A mix of strategy, intelligence, luck and bluff. Sure you could auto cruise a lightsworn to some easy wins, but you'll walk right into a trap set by those who are most prepared.
True victory is only attainable well all your enemies have fallen.

Couldn't have said it better myself Xu

Wow...its been up for over 2hrs and no comments/questions/concerns?

[custard666]

maybe because it was smaller theyre wasnt much to question
but still i understand the consistancy issue that why i dont play lightsworn they seem to inconsistant
but my chaos deck is very consistant untill it comes to a tourney

can a deck be too consistant?

[Cloudstrife 189]

Hmm good question. I guess it can. If its too consistent, you can probably up the power of ur deck by adding in some inconsistent "hidden advantage" cards that will lower your consistency a little but up your overrall victory rate. You need some cards that will finish your opponent in one shot.

[Will]

I believe this is what decks like Necro Control have over this format, the power to be consistant rather than trying to blow up.

[logan_nagol]

Nice short and sweet

[Haku-lives]

You should extend, explain, get more in depth with this and publish this as a book or something. You're really good! ^_^

[The Crowing]

It's always a rule of thumb that the more consistent a deck is, the better its chances of winning are.

[5Tl2AT3GIC]

this article is useless. it essentially says that 1+1=2. how is that useful in any way? to go undefeated you only have to win 2/3 of teh time, or 66%, a 5th grader knows taht.

[Cloudstrife 189]

Originally Posted by 5Tl2AT3GIC

this article is useless. it essentially says that 1+1=2. how is that useful in any way? to go undefeated you only have to win 2/3 of teh time, or 66%, a 5th grader knows taht.

Today's article was just meant to express one thing, the meaning and purpose behind all my articles. I have also been writing articles for 3 months and just wanted to refresh everyone on what I already talked about and how they can/should apply some of these things. You are correct though, this article didn't really state anything new. I just felt it was time to tie everything together.

[D.D. VaMP]

Great read, all these words should be taken into consideration when working on your deck, and while dueling!

[Cloudstrife 189]

Originally Posted by Haku-lives

You should extend, explain, get more in depth with this and publish this as a book or something. You're really good! ^_^

maybe I will...maybe I will...

[xc_hawk]

Originally Posted by custard666

can a deck be too consistant?

I don't believe you're asking the right question. No, a deck cannot be "too consistant", but the power of the deck can be lacking.

Power and consistancy is a tricky see-saw in yugioh. Many tier one decks have achieved a consistancy that doesn't sacrifice the primary combos of the deck, however, tier 2 and below must weigh the two factors out very carefully. On one end of the spectrum, you see some decks that can pull out amazing combos, but suffer from consistancy issues. On the other, you get decks that can perform extremely consistantly, but the goal of the deck is often too weak.

Locals tend to house a larger variety of decks because "power" type decks can beat the odds and combo off into a win. However, SJC and regional competition adds more rounds, so the "power" decks get caught in thier inconsistancy more easily.

[Cloudstrife 189]

Originally Posted by xc_hawk

I don't believe you're asking the right question. No, a deck cannot be "too consistant", but the power of the deck can be lacking.

Power and consistancy is a tricky see-saw in yugioh. Many tier one decks have achieved a consistancy that doesn't sacrifice the primary combos of the deck, however, tier 2 and below must weigh the two factors out very carefully. On one end of the spectrum, you see some decks that can pull out amazing combos, but suffer from consistancy issues. On the other, you get decks that can perform extremely consistantly, but the goal of the deck is often too weak.

Locals tend to house a larger variety of decks because "power" type decks can beat the odds and combo off into a win. However, SJC and regional competition adds more rounds, so the "power" decks get caught in thier inconsistancy more easily.

You're dead on. Thanks for the more detailed explanation.

[Wiz@RDD@N]

Cloudstrife have you ever topped an sjc?

[Cloudstrife 189]

Originally Posted by Wiz@RDD@N

Cloudstrife have you ever topped an sjc?

um...yeah...about that *scratches head*...no

I'm getting really close though. I usually go x-2, but I need to start doing much better. Hopefully at columbus. SJC's are hard for any person to top I assure you.

[mokmok111]

All of your articles are great. We both have the same thoughts on a lot of things. You have just found a way to say them so every one can understand them. Keep up the goo work and I think you could make it to Worlds and win.

[CBass08]

Originally Posted by Haku-lives

You should extend, explain, get more in depth with this and publish this as a book or something. You're really good! ^_^

Yeah..Write a book. Fo sho. Call it "The Secret to Dueling". I wonder where I got that title from >.>

[Cloudstrife 189]

Originally Posted by mokmok111

All of your articles are great. We both have the same thoughts on a lot of things. You have just found a way to say them so every one can understand them. Keep up the goo work and I think you could make it to Worlds and win.

as could you my friend

Additional Comment:

Originally Posted by CBass08

Yeah..Write a book. Fo sho. Call it "The Secret to Dueling". I wonder where I got that title from >.>

hmmm...you're right..nice original title that has a "ding"..I like it

[louiebh]

Originally Posted by Xu, Lightsworn Sage

Consistency, consistency! Its easy to win against those who don't understand even the basics. This game use to be like checkers, even a newbie could do ok, but the time for more strategy is the way it is now. Now we are playing a game that is more like a mix of chess and high stakes poker. A mix of strategy, intelligence, luck and bluff. Sure you could auto cruise a lightsworn to some easy wins, but you'll walk right into a trap set by those who are most prepared.
True victory is only attainable well all your enemies have fallen.

you have said all i have ever wished to say about yugioh thank you within the ideals of chess whilst applying the card advantage value etc.. people shud look at cards like pieces good pieces and bad pieces this would explain a bad hand thoroughly with regards to my idea that a bad hand can instantly become a good hand vice versa

Additional Comment:

Originally Posted by Cloudstrife 189

Today's article was just meant to express one thing, the meaning and purpose behind all my articles. I have also been writing articles for 3 months and just wanted to refresh everyone on what I already talked about and how they can/should apply some of these things. You are correct though, this article didn't really state anything new. I just felt it was time to tie everything together.

as they say a word to the wise is enough even the greatest minds at some point will have to humble themselves and listen sooner better than later

[Trap47]

You've said NOTHING in this article. Nothing. I still don't see why these are so popular. This is just a shameless plug so that your other articles get more views. This is sig material, not article material.