Creative Deckbuilding vs Lazyass Netdecking
There was a time when I love being creative in playing Yugioh. There was a time when I loved to create a deck that I'm sure nobody ever played with. In the time when Tele-DAD, Lightsworn, and Gladiator Beast were the most popular deck to be played, I've already played Synchron deck (without plants). After Jeff Jones popularized Quickdandy Warrior, I put some plants into my Synchron deck build, but I add some twist to it by combining it with Sky Scourge Norleras strategy.
The idea was to summon Drill Warrior, use his effect to escape to banished zone by discarding Norleras, then normal summon Phantom of Chaos to copy Norleras' effect and wipe out all cards on the field and in the hand. Next turn, I will gain so many card advantage from Norleras' draw, Drill's extra card, and normal draw, meanwhile my opponent have nothing. If I had Raiza in my graveyard, then my opponent will not have any guts to put card on the field. It's almost always a winning condition if that happened.
At that time, my Drill-Norleras combo was considered creative by my friends and I get some credentials for that. The problem is, I didn't win much since that combo is too inconsistent and after Dandylion got limited, that combo is almost impossible since there is not much effective way to summon Drill Warrior without normal summoning without Dandylion. I changed my strategy a bit and I try to mimic Jeff Jones' deck more.
However, I found that the problem with Jeff Jones' deck, and the then Quickdandy deck in general, is that it is too passive. It relies too much on flip effect monster like Super Nimble Mega Hamster and Ryko to gain advantage in opening. At that time, Gravekeeper is already a popular deck, followed by many beatdown deck like Hero Antimeta. Playing passively in that era is not possible since GK and Heros can make advantage so fast and can easily destroy your set monster with Descendant or Gemini Spark. There is also a threat from X-Saber deck which is so fast and still pretty popular at that time. Also, this deck cripples easily against opponent that sides Chain Disappearance which is a very popular side at that time.
I need to play more aggresively, I said, but as a non-tier deck at that time, I need to play by top tier deck's rule. Since all of the top tier deck at that time plays beatdown strategy with so many backrows (Heavy Storm just get banned) then I need to make my deck also plays beatdown with many backrows. I change my Lyla into Jain to beat down GK's 2000 ATK, Alius, Rai-Oh, etc, and I recruit Genex Neutron into my crew. You see, Genex Neutron was a really good card as opening. It has 1800 ATK which is already a strong beater, with an ability to add the ever important Quickdraw Synchron, and it is a LIGHT fodder for Chaos Sorcerer. Genex Neutron becomes my most favorite card since then.
The idea for my deck at that time was to use all of the beater monsters, Jain and Neutron, to eliminate as many backrow as possible, and also gaining advantage by destroying opposing monster. Caius, Ryko, Chaos Sorcerer, and my backrows will help those beaters to clear the path. After I have gained enough advantage and already safe, then I will play my tuner, like Junk Synchron, Debris Dragon, and Quickdraw to create a big play and win the game. This strategy made my deck become more aggresive and less susceptible to Chain Disappearance.This strategy is better than Norleras strategy since you don't need to gather combo pieces. Every card in this deck works on its own but they can also help each other out. In other words, consistency is no more an issue. With that, I can win more in tournaments but I can still maintain my creative deckbuilding.
I remember that deck lasts pretty long. It can still fight toe to toe with Synchrocentric, Agents, and can even obliterate Inzektor and Chaos Dragon easily. Dino-Rabbit is still an issue but it can still fight them. However, the inception of LTGY changes everything. Dragon Rulers, Prophecy, and tier 2 deck like Mermails, Fire Fist, and Evilswarms, they were all just too much for my Quickdandy Warrior. Every deck in LTGY's metagame is just far too consistent and far too powerful. Moreover, they can gain card advantage in a way that my deck can't follow. Dragon Ruler can have infinite resources and Super Rejuvenation, Prophecy can use Spellbook of Judgment, and Mermail and Fire Fist can put any card from its deck easily. My deck can only rely on Battle Phase and backrows to gain advantage and it's just way way too slow. It gets even slower then because Sangan has just been banned.
I realized then, that my Quickdandy can't keep up with the metagame anymore. Eventhough it's painful, I must say goodbye to that deck. It must be pretty stupid to say it's painful to leave your deck, but it's a consequence from being a creative deckbuilder. You become too attached to that deck, how could you not? You build that deck from scratches, you test it countless times, changing too many cards, and most importantly, you watch that deck evolves. All of those experience made you entitled with your deck and it's hard to just let it go.
But I need to change, I need to improve, I need to be better than I was yesterday. So I throw all of those entitlement to my deck and I decided to be a netdecker. Yes, I could make another creative deck, but when I think more rationally, it's just not a wise decision. At that time, I have become a college student with more time that needs to be allocated to work on papers and organization's activity. I just can't allocate more time for testing deck, not in real life and not online as well. With no good amount of testing, it's just impossible to make a creative and consistently winning deck. I can made some fun creative deck, like Earth Synchro, Crane Crane Plants, Fabled Heros, but I can't make them into a good competitive deck like what I did with my Quickdandy. The problem is only because I can't have enough time to test my deck.
So I became a netdecker, I netdecked Billy Brake's Dragon Ruler then I netdecked Dean Septian's (one of the best Indonesian duelist) as well. The advantages of netdecking is that you don't need too much time to test your deck. All of those great duelist had tested it themselves and has proven the deck's competitiveness. All of those time that was allocated to test your deck before can now be allocated into reading articles about how to play that deck. Therefore, all of those time that was allocated to improve your deck before can now be allocated into improving your dueling skills. It still feels like I'm being lazy but it's the most rational choice for me to keep up with the metagame. I didn't get any more credential for being creative but I still get credential for becoming a skilled duelist.
Moreover, the advantages of netdecking is that you won't feel to attached to your deck. After all, it was not your deck. I believe that this makes me become a more rational duelist that aims at nothing except improvement of my dueling skills. It makes me not just "A good duelist with his pet deck" but simply "A good duelist." People can now judge me by skills and not by my deck anymore. With that skills, no matter what kind of deck I played, I can still have the same winning ratio. My deck becomes only an instrument for dueling, it's not become a burden anymore that I must improve, it's not become a soulmate anymore that you can't sleep without, it's just a simple stack of cards that will help you to become a good duelist.
In conclusion, I just want to say that being a creative duelist is a tedious hard work. It requires a lot of time, a lot of testing, a lot of imagination, and also a lot of important cards that has been banned by Konami. Sangan was one of those important cards. Without universal searcher like Sangan, there is just no way non-archetype deck that don't have any searcher at all can fight toe to toe with already too consistent archetype like Prophecy, Fire Fist, and Mermails. Being a creative duelist is also not really rewarding. Yes, you can be well known in the community but if you never win then it'll be the only thing you got, a popularity, that's all.
There are still some close-minded people who will mock you for winning by netdecking but you guys need to think more. Think of netdecking as using a proven theory, like Einstein's Relativity Theory. For Einstein to create that theory requires a great length of time and a countless amount of experience. But you see, it's never a crime for you to use his theory for your paper. Does Einstein obliges you to invest the same amount of time to create a better theory? No, he wants you to use his theory to enrich his theory with more experience. The same goes with netdecking. Creative duelist like Jeff Jones and Patrick Hoban has given you all of the proven competitive deck that you can use. You don't need to sacrifice your time for tedious work like what they did, you can just sacrifice your time to have fun with your friends and gaining experience. And isn't it the most important part of dueling? To gain experiences? To meet more friends? To improve yourself? I believe it is.
Being a netdecker is the same as being lazy, but it's more rational, and beneficial for yourself, especially if you were a busy person who only think of dueling as a side hobby. With netdecking, you can put aside all of those tedious work to test your deck and just focus on improvement. Being a creative duelist is good, really good, but if you can't create a proven competitive deck, then you won't feel rewarded as much as the netdecker. I believe it's not right if you have invested so much time without feel rewarded, but if you have understand that consequences then it's okay. In the end, being creative or netdecker is a choice that needs to be decided rationally.
I understand that this post has become a long and boring history about my dueling experiences but if you have read it this far, I thank you so much. I'll be glad if you want to leave a comment or criticism for this post :)
The idea was to summon Drill Warrior, use his effect to escape to banished zone by discarding Norleras, then normal summon Phantom of Chaos to copy Norleras' effect and wipe out all cards on the field and in the hand. Next turn, I will gain so many card advantage from Norleras' draw, Drill's extra card, and normal draw, meanwhile my opponent have nothing. If I had Raiza in my graveyard, then my opponent will not have any guts to put card on the field. It's almost always a winning condition if that happened.At that time, my Drill-Norleras combo was considered creative by my friends and I get some credentials for that. The problem is, I didn't win much since that combo is too inconsistent and after Dandylion got limited, that combo is almost impossible since there is not much effective way to summon Drill Warrior without normal summoning without Dandylion. I changed my strategy a bit and I try to mimic Jeff Jones' deck more.
However, I found that the problem with Jeff Jones' deck, and the then Quickdandy deck in general, is that it is too passive. It relies too much on flip effect monster like Super Nimble Mega Hamster and Ryko to gain advantage in opening. At that time, Gravekeeper is already a popular deck, followed by many beatdown deck like Hero Antimeta. Playing passively in that era is not possible since GK and Heros can make advantage so fast and can easily destroy your set monster with Descendant or Gemini Spark. There is also a threat from X-Saber deck which is so fast and still pretty popular at that time. Also, this deck cripples easily against opponent that sides Chain Disappearance which is a very popular side at that time.
I need to play more aggresively, I said, but as a non-tier deck at that time, I need to play by top tier deck's rule. Since all of the top tier deck at that time plays beatdown strategy with so many backrows (Heavy Storm just get banned) then I need to make my deck also plays beatdown with many backrows. I change my Lyla into Jain to beat down GK's 2000 ATK, Alius, Rai-Oh, etc, and I recruit Genex Neutron into my crew. You see, Genex Neutron was a really good card as opening. It has 1800 ATK which is already a strong beater, with an ability to add the ever important Quickdraw Synchron, and it is a LIGHT fodder for Chaos Sorcerer. Genex Neutron becomes my most favorite card since then.
The idea for my deck at that time was to use all of the beater monsters, Jain and Neutron, to eliminate as many backrow as possible, and also gaining advantage by destroying opposing monster. Caius, Ryko, Chaos Sorcerer, and my backrows will help those beaters to clear the path. After I have gained enough advantage and already safe, then I will play my tuner, like Junk Synchron, Debris Dragon, and Quickdraw to create a big play and win the game. This strategy made my deck become more aggresive and less susceptible to Chain Disappearance.This strategy is better than Norleras strategy since you don't need to gather combo pieces. Every card in this deck works on its own but they can also help each other out. In other words, consistency is no more an issue. With that, I can win more in tournaments but I can still maintain my creative deckbuilding.
I remember that deck lasts pretty long. It can still fight toe to toe with Synchrocentric, Agents, and can even obliterate Inzektor and Chaos Dragon easily. Dino-Rabbit is still an issue but it can still fight them. However, the inception of LTGY changes everything. Dragon Rulers, Prophecy, and tier 2 deck like Mermails, Fire Fist, and Evilswarms, they were all just too much for my Quickdandy Warrior. Every deck in LTGY's metagame is just far too consistent and far too powerful. Moreover, they can gain card advantage in a way that my deck can't follow. Dragon Ruler can have infinite resources and Super Rejuvenation, Prophecy can use Spellbook of Judgment, and Mermail and Fire Fist can put any card from its deck easily. My deck can only rely on Battle Phase and backrows to gain advantage and it's just way way too slow. It gets even slower then because Sangan has just been banned.
I realized then, that my Quickdandy can't keep up with the metagame anymore. Eventhough it's painful, I must say goodbye to that deck. It must be pretty stupid to say it's painful to leave your deck, but it's a consequence from being a creative deckbuilder. You become too attached to that deck, how could you not? You build that deck from scratches, you test it countless times, changing too many cards, and most importantly, you watch that deck evolves. All of those experience made you entitled with your deck and it's hard to just let it go.
But I need to change, I need to improve, I need to be better than I was yesterday. So I throw all of those entitlement to my deck and I decided to be a netdecker. Yes, I could make another creative deck, but when I think more rationally, it's just not a wise decision. At that time, I have become a college student with more time that needs to be allocated to work on papers and organization's activity. I just can't allocate more time for testing deck, not in real life and not online as well. With no good amount of testing, it's just impossible to make a creative and consistently winning deck. I can made some fun creative deck, like Earth Synchro, Crane Crane Plants, Fabled Heros, but I can't make them into a good competitive deck like what I did with my Quickdandy. The problem is only because I can't have enough time to test my deck.
So I became a netdecker, I netdecked Billy Brake's Dragon Ruler then I netdecked Dean Septian's (one of the best Indonesian duelist) as well. The advantages of netdecking is that you don't need too much time to test your deck. All of those great duelist had tested it themselves and has proven the deck's competitiveness. All of those time that was allocated to test your deck before can now be allocated into reading articles about how to play that deck. Therefore, all of those time that was allocated to improve your deck before can now be allocated into improving your dueling skills. It still feels like I'm being lazy but it's the most rational choice for me to keep up with the metagame. I didn't get any more credential for being creative but I still get credential for becoming a skilled duelist.
Moreover, the advantages of netdecking is that you won't feel to attached to your deck. After all, it was not your deck. I believe that this makes me become a more rational duelist that aims at nothing except improvement of my dueling skills. It makes me not just "A good duelist with his pet deck" but simply "A good duelist." People can now judge me by skills and not by my deck anymore. With that skills, no matter what kind of deck I played, I can still have the same winning ratio. My deck becomes only an instrument for dueling, it's not become a burden anymore that I must improve, it's not become a soulmate anymore that you can't sleep without, it's just a simple stack of cards that will help you to become a good duelist.
In conclusion, I just want to say that being a creative duelist is a tedious hard work. It requires a lot of time, a lot of testing, a lot of imagination, and also a lot of important cards that has been banned by Konami. Sangan was one of those important cards. Without universal searcher like Sangan, there is just no way non-archetype deck that don't have any searcher at all can fight toe to toe with already too consistent archetype like Prophecy, Fire Fist, and Mermails. Being a creative duelist is also not really rewarding. Yes, you can be well known in the community but if you never win then it'll be the only thing you got, a popularity, that's all.
There are still some close-minded people who will mock you for winning by netdecking but you guys need to think more. Think of netdecking as using a proven theory, like Einstein's Relativity Theory. For Einstein to create that theory requires a great length of time and a countless amount of experience. But you see, it's never a crime for you to use his theory for your paper. Does Einstein obliges you to invest the same amount of time to create a better theory? No, he wants you to use his theory to enrich his theory with more experience. The same goes with netdecking. Creative duelist like Jeff Jones and Patrick Hoban has given you all of the proven competitive deck that you can use. You don't need to sacrifice your time for tedious work like what they did, you can just sacrifice your time to have fun with your friends and gaining experience. And isn't it the most important part of dueling? To gain experiences? To meet more friends? To improve yourself? I believe it is.
Being a netdecker is the same as being lazy, but it's more rational, and beneficial for yourself, especially if you were a busy person who only think of dueling as a side hobby. With netdecking, you can put aside all of those tedious work to test your deck and just focus on improvement. Being a creative duelist is good, really good, but if you can't create a proven competitive deck, then you won't feel rewarded as much as the netdecker. I believe it's not right if you have invested so much time without feel rewarded, but if you have understand that consequences then it's okay. In the end, being creative or netdecker is a choice that needs to be decided rationally.
I understand that this post has become a long and boring history about my dueling experiences but if you have read it this far, I thank you so much. I'll be glad if you want to leave a comment or criticism for this post :)
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