A Trestise on Card Advantage

[Guest Chaos Pudding]

In the game Yu-Gi-Oh, your primary objective is to reduce your opponent's Life Points to 0 before your opponent does the same to you. But how does one go about doing this? By playing monsters and attacking most of the time, right? There are, of course, exceptions, but this is what happens for the most part. Now, a new player might learn this and think, "Wow, I guess Life Points are the most important part of the game!"

 

That above thought is wrong in almost all cases. The true key to this game is something called "card advantage". Let's see what happens in the course of an average duel.

 

Player 1: 6 cards in hand/no cards on field/8000

Player 2: 5 cards in hand/no cards on field/8000

 

As we can see, this is the start of a game. Player 1 goes first, and draws his first card.

 

Player 1 plays Allure of Darkness. Player 1 draws 2 cards. Player 1 removes Armageddon Knight from play from his hand. Player 1 sends Allure of Darkness to the Graveyard.

 

Player 1: 6 cards in hand/no cards on field/8000

Player 2: 5 cards in hand/no cards on field/8000

 

Alright, after playing Allure of Darkness, Player 2 draws 2 cards. But, in the process, Player 1 also looses 2 cards from his hand: Allure itself, and Armageddon Knight which was removed for Allure's effect. Therefor, there was no change in advantage. This is why Allure of Darkness and most other drawing cards are considered +0 cards: you have the same number of cards after activating as you had before activating. Now, let's get on with the game.

 

Player 1 sets 1 card in face-down Defense Position. Player 1 sets 1 S/T. Player 1 ends his turn. Player 2 draws 1 card. Player 2 plays Foolish Burial, sending Treeborn Frog from his deck to the Graveyard.

 

Player 1: 4 cards in hand/2 cards on field/8000

Player 2: 5 cards in hand/0 cards on field/8000

 

Now, when Player 2 activated Foolish Burial, he lost 1 card from his hand, and did not gain any cards on the field, or in his hand. Foolish Burial is considered a -1: a card that costs you 1 card of advantage.

 

However, Foolish Burial is by no means a bad card. By sending Treeborn Frog to the Graveyard, Player 2 has set up an engine of +1: Treeborn will come back every Standby Phase until Player 2 has a S/T that remains on the field. But, for now, Player 2 is at a disadvantage. Let's continue the game.

 

Player 2 plays Shield Crush, destroying Player 1's face-down Sangan. Player 1 searches his deck for 1 Armageddon Knight and places it in his hand. Player 2 plays Mystical Space Typhoon on Player 1's face-down Mirror Force.

 

Player 1: 5 cards in hand/0 cards on field/8000

Player 2: 3 cards in hand/0 cards on field/8000

 

Player 2 hitting Sangan with Shield Crush is an unlucky play. Normally, Shield Crush is a +0, because it costs Shield Crush to destroy 1 card. However, because Sangan is a +1, the net loss of advantage for Player 2 is -1. Mystical Space Typhoon is another example of a +0 card. Luckily, Player 1 did not set a chainable: a card that can be chained to most cards to make destroying worthless. If the face-down card had been a card like Waboku, Player 2 would have been at a net loss of -2, wasting MST to destroy a card that gained its effect anyway. Anyway, let's continue.

 

Player 2 plays Destiny Draw, discarding Destiny Hero - Disk Commander to draw 2 cards. Player 2 plays 1 card in face-down Defense Position. Player 2 ends his turn. Player 1 draw 1 card. Player 1 plays Armageddon Knight, sending 1 Dark Horus from his deck to the Graveyard. Player 1 plays Trade-In, discarding The Dark Creator to draw 2 cards. Player 1 plays 1 Dark Armed Dragon.

 

Player 1: 4 cards in hand/2 cards on field/8000

Player 2: 2 cards in hand/1 card on field/8000

 

Player 1 has just played one of the most consistent advantage-gaining cards in the game: Dark Armed Dragon. With Dark Armed Dragon on the field, Player 2 is at a rather large disadvantage.

 

Player 1 removes Armageddon Knight from play from his Graveyard to destroy Player 2's face-down Destiny Hero - Fear Monger. Player 1 attacks with Armageddon Knight and Dark Armed Dragon. Player 1 ends his turn. Player 2 draws 1 card. Player 2 Special Summons 1 Treeborn Frog during his Standby Phase.

 

Player 1: 4 cards in hand/2 cards on field/8000

Player 2: 3 cards in hand/1 card on field/3800

 

Player 2, having just brought back Treeborn Frog, has just opened up a window to strike back. Let's continue.

 

Player 2 plays Premature Burial to Special Summon his Disk Commander from his Graveyard. Player 2 draws 2 cards.

 

Player 1: 4 cards in hand/2 cards on field/8000

Player 2: 4 cards in hand/3 cards on field/3000

 

Just with 1 card, Player 2 has pulled ahead of Player 1 in terms of advantage. Disk Commander, with its ability to give you 2 cards, is almost always a +2, and even +3 in most cases. Let's get back to the game.

 

Player 2 plays Lightning Vortex, discarding 1 Zaborg to destroy both Dark Armed Dragon and Armageddon Knight. Player 2 Tributes his Treeborn Frog to summon 1 Thestalos. Thestalos discards a Dark Armed Dragon, inflicting 700 points of damage.

 

Player 1: 3 cards in hand/0 cards on field/7300

Player 2: 1 card in hand/3 cards on field/3000

 

Now, as you can see, in order for Lightning Vortex to be at least a +0, you would have to destroy at least 2 cards with its effect. That's one of the reasons that Lightning Vortex isn't one of the most cost effective monster destruction cards. Cards such as Smashing Ground or Shield Crush are almost always +0s, and therefor are mostly more cost effective.

 

Moving on to Thestalos, you see a card that is devastating to the hand instead of the field. By getting rid of one of your opponent's options, you greatly limit your opponent's ability to react to your actions. Anyway, let's get on with the duel.

 

Player 2 sets 1 S/T card. Player 2 attacks with both Disk and Thestalos, reducing Player 1's Life Points to 4600. Player 2 ends his turn. Player 1 draws 1 card. Player 1 plays Cyber Dragon. Player 1 sets 1 S/T card. Player 1 attacks Disc, destroying Premature Burial and reducing Player 2's Life Points to 1200. Player 1 ends his turn.

 

Player 1: 2 cards in hand/2 cards on field/4600

Player 2: 0 cards in hand/2 cards on field/1200

 

Player 2 draws 1 card. During Player 2's Standby Phase, Player 2 activates his face-down Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, discarding his Dandylion to return Player 1's face-down S/T to the top of his deck. Player 2 Special Summons 2 Fluff Tokens and 1 Treeborn Frog.

 

Player 1: 2 cards in hand/1 card on field/4600

Player 2: 0 cards in hand/4 cards on field/1200

 

Now, you might be thinking, "Wait, PWWB is a -1! You said those were bad or something, right?" Well, in this case, this card is an acceptable -1, because it really isn't a -1 if you think about it. Your opponent lost 1 card on his field, and they have to draw that same card, ridding them of any new options. Therefor, PWWB is an acceptable -1 for this deck.

 

Player 2 attacks Cyber Dragon with Thestalos, reducing Player 1's Life Points to 4300. Player 2 ends his turn. Player 1 draws 1 card. Player 1 plays Monster Reborn on Disk, drawing 2 cards. Player 1 Tributes Disk for Caius, the Shadow Monarch. Player 1 removes Thestalos with the effect of Caius. Player 1 plays Lightning Vortex, discarding Malicious to destroy the 2 Fluff Tokens and the Treeborn Frog. Player 1 attacks with Caius to win the game.

 

Player 1 won because he kept his advantage high throughout the game. Player 2 lost because I got tired of typing this thing and wanted to end it.

[Bfmvrocks]

-800 from Premature Burial, =D.

 

This is pretty good.

[CrabHelmet]

Hmm. Nice. I like.

 

Think I should make an Advantage FAQ - Illustrated Edition? That way, we'd have your topic showing how advantage works in practice, and mine showing how it works in theory. I could also include stuff about deck thinning and control or something.

[RedSceptile]

Cover cards that take away from your overall advantage, but are still considered great choices for decks.

 

Phoenix Wing Wind Blast comes to mind.

[Guest Chaos Pudding]

-800 from Premature Burial' date=' =D.

 

This is pretty good.

[/quote']

 

Thanks for catching that.

 

Hmm. Nice. I like.

 

Think I should make an Advantage FAQ - Illustrated Edition? That way' date=' we'd have your topic showing how advantage works in practice, and mine showing how it works in theory. I could also include stuff about deck thinning and control or something.

[/quote']

 

That's a nice idea. I support it.

 

Cover cards that take away from your overall advantage' date=' but are still considered great choices for decks.

 

Phoenix Wing Wind Blast comes to mind.

[/quote']

 

Yeah, I'll make that what is in the hand of Player 2.

[Guest Chaos Pudding]

I just finished it. I'm not too happy with the end result. Maybe I'll redo it later, with a clearer idea of how the game will turn out.