| Article #2 - The Fallacy of the "Broken" Cards |
In the world of YGO, many deck strategies and deck plans have arisen out of the release of one or two cards. These decks come to be because the thoughts behind them were that the decks themselves are unstoppable with this one "broken" card. Examples of decks started with just one card: -Hand Disruptions - I am not saying that Yata sparked the introduction of them, but how many disruptions do you see out today that don't have Yata in them? The crow certainly created a major rise in the popularity of the Hand Disruption, and many, including myself, would argue that it is indeed the best card in the entire Hand Disruption deck. -Scientist - This one DEFINITELY falls under the category as "broken." In its proper deck, Scientist is king. When released in Magician's Force, it created quite a stir, due to its lack of rarity and its ability to take the duel on the first turn. Before it came out, I had never seen anyone manipulate Catapult Turtle like that. There are not many more, but one can argue that certain cards like the upcoming "Exodia Necros" would spark a new age in Exodia decks. What exactly does "broken" mean? If it means a card that is unstoppable, than no card falls under that category. All cards have their weaknesses and their strengths, Yata and Scientist included. For example, there are many strategies and cards that conquer Yata, but two in my mind stand out much clearer than the rest: Vengeful Bog Spirit and Fengsheng Mirror. Other than battling Yata, these cards have almost no purpose in a deck, so many people resorted to a method of playing rather than a card to play. They become conservative in handling their cards during their turn. For example, instead of setting both of my traps during my turn, I set only one, in case he plays Harpies Feather Duster, then I will still have my other trap in my hand, waiting to be set the following turn. This method of playing is dangerous, very dangerous. It allows you, the duelist, to be more open to an attack than if you had played all of your cards. I am not saying to stop being conservative, but I am saying to choose a happy medium between the two rather than throwing all your cards down or throwing the minimum down. Yata has, more or less, caused a revolution in hand strategies rather than deck strategies. Now, onto Magical Scientist: The reason this card can never be defined as "broken" is that the combo is way too hard to pull off. Reasoning helps a great deal, but Last Will is a joke. Do you seriously think you are going to suicide one of your low-level monsters just so you can bring out Scientist and Turtle in your Main Phase 2? Maybe the 2000 DEF on Turtle could stall for a while, but with Nobleman of Crossout, Exiled Force/TIV and all the monster removal it becomes close to impossible. There are way too many traps to counter the combo it isn't funny. The deadliest one to run into is Barrel Behind the Door, but not that many a duelist play that, so it cant be considered an immediate threat. What can be considered a threat to it are two more popular traps: Torrential Tribute and Ring of Destruction. Torrential, not being Limited, will be much easier to use than Ring. In conclusion, "broken" cards do not exist. How many times have I heard people tell me that this or that combo is "broken," I do not know. there is only one unstoppable combo and that is Exodia, end of story. ~Siphon_X~ |
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