Skill

When I say this word, what springs up in your mind?
A picture of Bobby Fischer, or Jeff Jones? Something else entirely?

I, for one, am tired of Magic players looking down on Yu-Gi-Oh! players. They believe that every game needs a resource system to work, and that Yu-Gi-Oh! is to fast and luck based. On a forum I am currently a member of, this discussion culminated quite miserably. It did however bring some valid points, and a whole lot of invalid points.
I do not claim every Magic player believe so, or that Magic is a skilless game. This is just to show were some inspiration came from. And no, this is not a Yu-Gi-Oh!-Magic comparison.


Many people see chess as the ultimate skill test, because all the factors are even. All moves are visible, and both players have exactly the same starting pieces.
In Yu-Gi-Oh! terms, this means that we both have the same starting hand, as well as knowledge of the opponents hand. In addition, both decks are identical. And you will draw the exact same cards. Does this sound skill based to you?

Chess has six different pieces. Yu-Gi-Oh! has over 5000 cards. Clearly the diversity is bigger. I'm not trying to make chess look random or luck based, but are the standard prejudices really correct?

If chess was simply 100% skill during play, a "better" player would always beat "worse" player. The only other additional factor is who goes first. And that isn't such an easy issue either.
You can read the complete story here.
For those of you who won't bother reading a really long and somewhat boring article, I will explain it here. The are basically two camps, one claiming that White has the advantage because Black has to keep up with it. The other camp claims that since Black has seen White's first move, Black can play around it easier since the plan is more easily predicted. The official statistics for White are somewhat over 52%, clearly a sign that chess is NOT only skill.
Also, if a "better" player always won when facing a "worse" player, how are "better" and "worse" defined? By your ranking? Recent success? Overall success?

Let's say I win 9 out of 10 games on in every chess tournament I participate in. You only win 7/10. This clearly establishes me as the better player. If I get my desirable start (White or Black) and you still win, what does this mean?

The point is, frankly, quite simple.

Match-ups and playing style.

And with this we jump back to Yu-Gi-Oh!.
Picture yourself with an Agent Angel deck. You are a fairly good player and understand the metagame. If you are paired against the mirror, Synchro Summon, Karakuri, Monarch or other common decks I'd guess you'd battle it out to several wins.

But what if you faced ten decks with main-decked 3 Light-Imprisoning Mirror each? Or if you face a deck you are totally unprepared to face, such as a rogue Dimensional Gladiator deck?

I won my first ever local with a Zombie deck. That deck sucked. It was the day before Mezuki went to semi-limited, and everyone played Cat Synchro, Blackwing, or Gladiator Beast. My deck basically centered around summoning Stardust Dragon or other powerful level 8 synchro monsters, and then controlling my opponent through Stardust, Bottomless Trap Hole, or Solemn Judgment, all played in triplicates. When I made my deck I forgot to add in Mezuki, and I owned no Plaguespreader Zombie. In fact, the only Zombies was 3 Zombie Master and 2 Goblin Zombie.
So how could I, facing experienced players using completed decks, even have a chance?

The surprise factor. No one expected to face some kid with a Zombie deck utilizing Rose, Warrior of Revenge into Stardust Dragon for control. All the other builds had an easy time making Dark Strike Fighter, but I didn't even own any!
When I think about it, I guess I'll throw up the deck lists of the finals.

3 Rose, Warrior of Revenge
2 Summoner Monk
1 Mystic Tomato
2 Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind
3 Zombie Master
2 Goblin Zombie
1 Dark Armed Dragon
1 Card Trooper
1 Sangan
1 Gorz the Emissary of Darkness

1 Allure of Darkness
3 Book of Life
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Heavy Storm
1 Brain Control
2 Mind Control
2 Forbidden Chalice
1 Reinforcement of the Army
1 Monster Reborn
1 Card of Safe Return

3 Bottomless Trap Hole
3 Solemn Judgment
1 Mirror Force
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Trap Dustshoot


3 Stardust Dragon
1 Red Dragon Archfiend
1 Thought Ruler Archfiend
2 Black Rose Dragon
1 Arcanite Magician
1 Goyo Guardian
1 X-Saber Urbellum
1 Colossal Fighter
1 Gaia Knight, the Force of Earth

versus

3 X-Saber Airbellum
2 Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter
1 Sangan
1 Mystic Tomato
1 Plaguespreader Zombie
2 Rescue Cat
2 Summoner Monk
3 Gravekeeper's Spy
1 Neo-Spacian Dark Panther
1 Dark Armed Dragon
1 Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
1 Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind

2 Allure of Darkness
1 Heavy Storm
1 Giant Trunade
1 Brain Control
2 Mind Control
2 Cold Wave
2 Book of Moon
2 Pot of Avarice
1 Monster Reborn
1 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Crush Card Virus
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
1 Mirror Force
1 Torrential Tribute
2 Threatening Road


1 Stardust Dragon
1 Blackwing Armor Master
2 Dark Strike Fighter
1 X-Saber Urbellum
1 Magical Android
1 Colossal Fighter
2 Arcanite Magician
1 Goyo Guardian
1 Black Rose Dragon
1 Gaia Knight, the Force of Earth
1 Red Dragon Archfiend
1 Thought Ruler Archfiend
1 Chimeratech Fortress Dragon


You'd think the winner was given. And yet his ignorance in how to approach my deck caused me to win.


I have had Zombies as my main deck since that day. Since then I've won several tournaments, topping Nationals, and other smaller tournaments. Why?
Because I know how to play my deck, and my opponent does not know how to play against it.
When a deck is meta, it is extremely important that you can maneuver your own deck to perfection, since all good players know how to play against it. When your deck is rogue, that doesn't matter as much because your opponent will not know what to do, so making the exact correct play might not even matter.

This is also stated in Sun Tzu's Art of War (freely translated).

The one who knows himself and his enemy will pass through a hundred battles unscathed, while the one who only knows himself will lose one battle for every battle won, and the one who neither knows himself nor his enemy will forever be damned to lose every battle he fights.

The meaning here applies just so well to Yu-Gi-Oh!. How many times have I seen a player make an obvious mistake because he didn't know that Gateway of the Six can increase the attack of a Six Samurai? Because Black Rose Dragon has 2 separate effects? Because you chain MST on TT to deprive Starlight Road of its summon?

Knowing the rules are vital. But knowing you own cards seems to be a dying art.
Did you know that Ancient Fairy Dragon can destroy face-down Field Spell Cards?
Did you know that if I attack with Gyzarus, I can bring out Equeste and Murmillo, putting them in a chain and destroying your Stardust Dragon with Murmillo without you being able to respond?
Did you know that I can prioritize MST in my Draw Phase to make my Hand Size 3 cards, evading Trap Dustshoot?
Did you know that Number 39: Utopia's effect is Spell Speed 1?
Did you know that you can Tribute Set a non-Zombie Monster under Zombie World?

These are the kind of things that can win you a game, and for me it has. I am a rules maniac, and I know almost all the obscure rules that other people forget. I also have wide card knowledge, meaning I know exactly which cards exist, and which to play around.
However, I tend to think to little about which cards I can and could play, and I almost never calculate damage before I attack. I am also prone to taking damage, and never wall against a Rai-Oh with Sangan unless I certainly lose if I don't.
This is what defines me as a player.

But is skill truly only knowing what to do, and when to do it?

In Yu-Gi-Oh!, there is an element not found in chess. And that is deck building.

You could technically use up to the maximum 60 cards, but that carries the risk of more randomization. And you want to eliminate that as much as possible. This is actually the sole reason cards like Snipe Hunter doesn't see major play.

So in your 40 cards, you basically have to include win condition, disruption, staples, aggression, defense, counters, and techs. Note that many of these categories overlap into one another.
As an example, let's take a deck well known to almost all players: Blackwings.

3 Blackwing - Shura the Blue Flame
3 Blackwing - Bora the Spear
1 Blackwing - Kalut the Moon Shadow
1 Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind
3 Blackwing - Sirocco the Dawn
2 Blackwing - Vayu the Emblem of Honour
2 Blacwking - Blizzard the Far North
1 Dark Armed Dragon
1 Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
1 Effect Veiler

1 Black Whirlwind
3 Pot of Duality
1 Allure of Darkness
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Mind Control
1 Monster Reborn
1 Heavy Storm
1 Book of Moon

2 Bottomless Trap Hole
3 Icarus Attack
1 Mirror Force
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Trap Dustshoot
1 Solemn Judgment
2 Solemn Warning

This is a fairly standard Blackwing list, with only an Effect Veiler as a tech.
Is this list optimized? I dare say no, because I'm not very knowledgeable about them.
The Blackwing archetype contains over 20 different monster cards, but yet we only play 7 different of them? I know that not all of them are superb, but at least 3 more of them are at least playable.
Do the deck need 3 Bora? What about 3 Icarus Attack? Adding in Rai-Oh and Black Luster Soldier? The 3rd Blizzard? A tech Starlight Road for the mirror?

A lot of players won't even think outside the boundaries. 2010, when Blackwing was a very popular deck, one player dared. He chose to play several cards other players would not have dared to think of.
He main decked Delta Crow - Anti Reverse, D.D. Crow, Dark Eruption and Gold Sarcophagus. Main decking D.D. Crow gave him a far better match-up against decks based around Dandylion, and since the meta generally were slower at that time, Gold Sarcophagus was great for searching out Dark Armed Dragon or Brain Control, which won games. Dark Eruption were used to recycle Blizzard, Gale, Kalut of D.D. Crow. This seems simple enough, but this wasn't standard.
He thought, tested, and came to conclusions. And it worked, placing him in fifth place, losing to the eventual winner.

The same thing happened in Japan 2009. The top 16 decks were 11 Synchro Cat, 2 Gladiator Beast, 2 Lightsworn variants and a "Dark Synchro Deck". You can view the overall results here (West Representative).

This deck had been finely tuned to crush Synchro Cat, operating under easy principles of stopping them from doing enough damage to him. Cat Synchro had speed, but rarely got any board control. It could however end games real fast using Dark Strike Fighter, and he found a counter for this. He simply built the deck around a simple flaw in his major opponents strategy, and rode it to victory.

However, knowing all cards as well as having a perfect deck isn't everything. You must be able to play your deck.

Reassess the game state. Look through both players' Graveyards. Shuffle your hand.
For example, newer players tend to look through Graveyards only when they have Monster Reborn or Pot of Avarice.
They draw for their turn, then immediately look through your Graveyard. This is basically screaming "I just drew Monster Reborn!" to you.
Remember that with every card that is played, drawn, or destroyed, you learn more about your opponents deck and playing style.

Imagine this.

You draw into a hand of Reborn Tengu, Effect Veiler, One for One, Pot of Avarice and Heavy Storm.
Your opponent starts of by summoning Elemental Hero Stratos. Know, you have instantly narrowed down the possible decks he can or can not play.
You could use Effect Veiler on the effect, but that would leave you without a power play for next turn.

Now, if he searched Burstinatrix, you'd know he was a beginner. If he searched Neos Alius you'd know he played some sort of HERO Beat. If he searched Destiny Hero - Malicious he might run DARK Synchro or even some kind of Exodia deck utilizing Destiny Draw.
Point is, if he then sets 3 cards and searched a Neos Alius, you might want to hold Heavy Storm since HERO Beat is an Anti-Meta deck to some degree, and he might have Starlight Road. If he searched Malicious it is more probable that he was just gambling. A phantom Starlight Road is even more effective than an actual Starlight Road.

You can see the play pattern forming into some kind of over-sized Tree of Wisdom.

The more you see, the more you know. The more you know, the more you can predict.

The most important part about playing is to know what to do. If you know he has Starlight Road, Heavy Storm is suicide. If you know he doesn't have it, he is either forced to use Solemn Judgment (provided he has it) or lose his backrow.

For the sake of demonstration, pretend he searched a Neos Alius. During your turn, you draw Solemn Warning. Now you could technically set Solemn Warning and during your next turn play Heavy Storm and then Solemn Warning his Starlight Road if he has it. You could try to push by using One for One, or you could simply use Heavy Storm and see how it goes.

Let's say he has Super Polymerization, Bottomless Trap Hole and Starlight Road. His hand only conatins the searched Neos Alius, Gemini Spark, and Parallel World Fusion. Here, the correct play is obviously to set Solemn Warning and take the 3700 damage from both attacks, then use Heavy Storm next turn,  chain Solemn Warning against Starlight Road, and go crazy with One for One + Tengu.

It isn't simply planning ahead one turn. It is a difficult walk on a knife's edge between top decks, responses, reads and play style. My play style of taking a lot of damage early for example, is very poorly suited against decks that play many cards that can increase damage done, such as Blackwing - Kalut the Moon Shadow or Honest. But taking damage early is great against deck such as Gladiator Beast who lacks the offensive pushes and have trouble dealing more than 3000 damage in a single turn without god draw.
Formulating a smaller strategy within games also helps win games which are otherwise almost unwinnable.

I was facing a Final Countdown deck, consisting of 3 Final Countdown, some basic draw and the rest 1 turn stall. He opened with Final Countdown. Normally this is impossible to win against, since my deck has no means of negating his spells/traps. However, as the game went on, I realized something. I got out Brionac, Caius, and Call of the Haunted. By continuously recycling Caius and Call of the Haunted, picking up Sangan, I could remove all DARK monsters in my deck from play. Since his deck contained no player interaction, all I had to do was burn him six times with Caius for the win.


There is almost always something you can do. If you play your deck correctly, you will do the right thing.
And that equals a win.