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What is speed, and how does it pertain to the world of Yu-Gi-Oh!?
Generally speaking, speed is the term given to describe how fast we, or an object can go. In the way of Yu-gi-oh, (aside from the game's technical Spell Speed definition), speed refers to how fast one's deck can reach its goal by getting the cards it needs to pull off the win, or otherwise claim the more favorable position which of course leads to victory. Now, while different people (often running different deck types) will define speed in differing ways, lets break it down into these four elements of deck theory. These are going to be referred to as our "Search Power", "Draw Power", "Alternate Resource Power", & of course "Consistency Power", which we'll take a look at below.
Search Power
The true meaning of “Search Power” is how fast we can search our deck for the key cards we want, when we want them or need them. These range anywhere from cards like Reinforcement of the Army, Black Whirlwind & Sangan that will add cards to our hand, to cards such as Mystic Tomato, Pyramid Turtle, & Deep Sea Diva that special summon a monster to the field. Those monsters are sometimes referred to as a “Tutor Card“, which basically means a type of card that searches out another. The cards may go to different places, but the toolbox aspect of getting those cards we want/need still applies. Also, lets notice how getting monsters to the field is often the more favorable play, as they become live cards right away. Now if your thinking that certain cards outclass, these examples we must remember the balance of the game.
Back in the day, Witch of the Black Forest could search for any monster with a Defense of 1500 or less and add it to the hand from our deck. As the years went by, there came to be more monsters that met this easy requirement. As a result, it was banned from the Advanced Format so that more then likely, our decks will never see it again. Now in the Advanced Format, if you're asking yourself if Gold Sarcophagus breaks this mold by being able to get anything we want from our deck, you must remember we have to wait 2 turns before seeing that card added to our hand. That way, it is not something that creates instant advantage, thus it is a more balanced card for the game.
At any rate, its hard to use the word "toolbox" without mentioning the Gladiator Beast deck, as it is proof of what this mechanic can do well. That's because unlike most searching cards that work only once, many of the Gladiator Beast monsters are allowed to return themselves to the deck at the end of a battle phase if they've successfully battled an opponent or monster, to special summon another monster of the player's choice. With this, the decision of what we summon will depend on the current situation, keeping in mind that our new monster will often be able to special summon something else just as the 1st one did. That's why they're often thought of the best toolbox deck in the game, and why the archetype is always at least somewhat relevant.
Draw Power
Another important part of almost any deck is draw power. Anyone that has been playing our game since the beginning will remember how much of an impact cards like Pot of Greed & Graceful Charity made, simply because they gave the player more chances at having more cards which in Yu-Gi-Oh!... Is kind of a big deal. While those two cards have been banned for a some time now (since they worked in anything), their spots can be filled by more specific versions such as Allure of Darkness, Destiny Draw, Solar Recharge, & Common Charity that speed up our deck in the form of "2 for 2" advantage plays by losing a card that wasn't useful at that time, and or with "1 for 1" cards that aren't specific in their use like Jar of Greed & Legacy of Yata Garasu. While the latter ones don't see as much play, many of our top tier decks will make use of those "2 for 2" cards (such as both Destiny Draw & Allure of Darkness to draw multiple new cards in the same turn) for the sake of getting what they need faster than drawing it normally, and without having or being able to search for something directly.
Along with the spell & trap cards, we also have a collection of monster cards like Morphing Jar, Cyber Valley, Dekoichi, & Card Trooper that combine the defensive monster body with advantage gaining draw power. However, they're often thought of as slower methods of doing so, because we usually won't draw cards the same turn we play them, and or without using up our normal summon in the process. Still though, while some decks have cards like Black Whirlwind, others have to rely on improving their Draw Power in order to set up what we need in order to have the upper hand.
Alternate Resource Power
So while searching & drawing methods are usually the easiest to base our deck around, we shouldn't ignore the idea behind making whatever use we can out of the otherwise "dead" areas known as the Graveyard & Removed From Play areas. Yeah, this has been a resource ever since the 1st starter decks were released, & continued to support "Chaos" decks & Zombies, but it wasn't until Light of Destruction was introduced that a lot of us grew to as a bird once said, "Learn to use our Graveyard like the other half of our deck", since that's really what it is.
Now of course, a good amount of what gets sent to the graveyard with these "Milling effects" (as many people call them) & costs of Lightsworn monsters, Card Trooper, etc, can either be good or bad, depending on the player's luck. However, when we take into account the abundant ways to make use of this seemingly open cookie jar, we're mainly faced with options that we didn't have before (instead of just seeing it as options being taken away), at least if our deck is designed to work like this. If this isn't a problem (which here is shouldn't), an array of Lightsworn cards such as Judgment Dragon, Lumina & Wulf will be having a field day, and so should Zombie cards like Mezuki, Zombie Master, & Plaguespreader.
Keeping to the idea of taking as much advantage as we can from these Alternate Resources as quickly as we can, we won't end off without mentioning how in Yu-Gi-Oh!, the Removed From Game pile has come to be just another Graveyard for the cards that know how to move with it. Without going into too much obscurity, this is often present in "Macro Decks", as they use cards like Macro Cosmos to redirect other cards to the RFG zone that would normally be sent to the graveyard. While this may slow the deck down at first, the ability to use cards like D.D. Survivor & Return From The Different Dimension that directly feed off what's been removed, while also slowing down our opponent can make for a faster win condition in its own right. As in sometimes, you've got to get a running start before getting up to your top speed.
Consistency Power
What is consistency? In terms of Yu-Gi-Oh!, its being able to maintain a healthy combination of uniformed utility, as well as adapting strategies that lead us to victory, without needing to rely on more luck or on things that our opponents do than we should expect from a card game. One of the ways this can be achieved, or at least aimed for is as Val sometimes says, to "run as many cards as possible that'll be the most useful, most of the time". While we clearly can't always have 3 live cards at our disposal, limiting the number of situational card in favor of the more reliable options will help us greatly increase our chances of reaching our goal.
Ending Notes
So in the end, what do we have? Do we have those swiftly playable cards that'll help us get what we want, when we want, & how we want it, or are we left with relying on the bare minimum? Our opponent may not want us to have this or any other edge over them, but that's what we came to the table for, and that's how we aim to leave it.
I hope we have learned what our deck needs to be consistent in our goal of victory. I bid thee farewell for now, time to see what I can dig up for later.
Khaotic Angel
As Approved by Val.
Edited by Khaotic Angel, 22 January 2010 - 10:55 AM.
