Card count, advantage, and running conflicting cards.

This is probably one of my more serious entries, but important nonetheless. Don't get too bored, okay? Stick with me on this one and I'm pretty sure you'll get a lot out of it. Alright, let's get started.

One of the most important components of becoming better in this game has to do with the concept of card count, advantage and the art of running conflicting cards within the same deck. A lot of players try to beat their opponent in the mile instead of trying to win the race.

Some times taking damage from a direct attack is not always a bad thing. For example, you're opponent has a Stratos out on the field; you have a Thunder-King in hand and a face down Dimensional Prison. I know a lot of players who would remove the Stratos from play with D-Prison instead of making the smart play--take damage and run over the Stratos next turn with Thunder King. Although you'll take 1800 damage, you save a valuable resource for later in the game. Damage means less than advantage in the long run if you're able to keep a good position, right? Right.

A player also has to understand when going plus and minus is important. It's okay to minus if it will cause you to break even or plus in the next turn. For example, Book of Moon is obviously an immediate minus. But if it leads to you destroying an opponent's monster via an attack, then it becomes a plus which breaks even.

Pete Navaro's deck is a great example of plus and minus. He ran 3 Volcanic Shell, which allowed him to plus throughout the game and allowed him to be able to minus when it was necessary. When you're up in advantage, minus cards such as Effect Veiler become 10x better for the simple fact that you have room to minus, which is an important concept to understand.

The next thing I want to talk about is the idea of running conflicting cards in the same deck, which is something that a lot of good players know how to do. Obviously, a Lightsworn deck revolves around special summoning, so why would a Lightsworn player play cards like Royal Oppression? Here's why: A good player knows how to set up their field and when to play certain cards. First of all, in a 44 card Lightsworn deck chances are that you will hardly draw the Oppression or it will get milled throughout the duel. However, if you do end up drawing it a good player will first create a powerful position on the field (via special summoning and etc.) then sit on Royal Oppression and wreck their opponent. As long as you know when to play certain cards you should be fine. A BAD player will set Royal Oppression first turn, activate it next turn, then realize how screwed they are because they can't special summon. Don't do that, okay? Not smart, not smart.

Other common decks that run conflicting cards are decks like Gadget Stun. 3 Thunder-Kings are usually staple in this deck; if you guys didn't already know, Thunder-King doesn't let you search with your Gadgets. So why would you play them both in the same deck? The simple fact that TK usually is a 1st turn opener makes it a good card in Gadgets. More than likely it will be removed from the field the next turn anyway and clear the way for your gadgets; if it doesn't get removed then let it act as a beat stick until it's gone. Seems easy--I'd say.

The last thing I want to talk about are cards that instantly create a plus or force your opponent to waste resources to break even. The first and best card that comes to mind is Breaker the Magical Warrior.

Breaker the Magical Warrior ATK/1600 DEF/1000

When this card is Normal Summoned, place 1 Spell Counter on it (max. 1). This card gains 300 ATK for eachSpell Counter on it. You can remove 1 Spell Counter from this card to destroy 1 Spell or Trap Card on the field.

I'm pretty sure I didn't need to display what it does, but I did it just incase someone might not actually know. Plus, I'm way too lazy to copy and paste a picture of the card. But I do digress. Basically, this card is either an instant +1 or breaks even. Haha--breaks even. Get it? I guarantee you that one of two things will happen when you normal summon this card:

A) You're opponent will waste a Bottomless, Book of Moon, Solemn Warning, etc. on him just so they won't go minus in the long run.

B) You will actually get to use his effect and blow up a spell or trap thereby going plus.

BEST case scenario you will run over an opponent's monster THEN blow up a face down and +2 as a result. That's always fun. Most people don't understand that going plus early in the game can almost always determine the winner. Why do you think winning the dice roll matters?

But yeah, that's all for today. I talked a lot and wasn't visually appealing to anyone due to lack of pictures. But hey, my words can be just as entertaining sometimes. Definitely go check out my Youtube channel. I have over 1,000 subs now. Awesome much? I appreciate everyone who has followed me since my measly 300 subscribers. Thanks for reading guys =]

Oh yeah, I should probably post a link to my channel; it might help: www.Youtube.com/tyl3n0lpm