Anime Anime Irony

[DeathBug]

"Ill start this little expose off with my favorite quote from "Pirates of the Carribean: Curse of the Black Pearl". (A really good movie, BTW.)

"That's called irony."

What irony? Well, we're going to break the anime's fourth wall for a second and consider how the characters would do with their decks in the real game. Our Heroes are, as always, Yugi, Kaiba and Joey.


................

Here's the funny part: Yugi, Kaiba, and Joey actually have some of the worst recurring decks on the show. They lack a defined theme, and are too bogged down with various strategies to actually be viable.

Most of you gprobably realised this a while ago. But here's the other side of the coin:

Minor duelists like Rex Raptor, Mako Tsunsmi, Mai Valentine and Weevil Underwood actually have better decks.

Let's examine this.

Characters with theme decks are: Rex Raptor (Dragons/dinos), Bandit Kieth (machines), Mako Tsunami (Aquatic), Mai Valentine (Harpies/Amazons), Maximillion Pegasus (Toons/Relinquished), Arkana (Dark Magician), Tea Gardner (Fairies), Panik, (Fiends), and Weevil Underwood (Insects.)

Characters with strategy decks are: Rebecca Hawkins (Power up Shadow Ghoul), Strings (Get out Slifer), the Rare Hunter (Summon Exodia), Para & Dox (Pick off monsters as they go through the maze), Ryuo Bakura (Hand depletion), Umbra & Lumious (Uses mask cards to screw with opposing monsters), and Weevil pulls double duty (Insects are too weak to support themselves head on, so he uses tons of tricks.)

(The only character who doesn't fit in at all was Esper Roba. His cards just looked cool.)

IMO, the main duelist with the best deck is Joey, because it's pretty much a standar beatdown, despite the extra crap thrown in. He also has Jinzo, which is a big plus.

Yugi would be the next most powerful, but he has two completely different themes, (DM & Magnet Warriors) that cost a lot of cards.

Finally, I think Kaiba has the worst deck. He's got four two-tribute monsters, plus a God card, plus the XYZ combo....he's all over the place. Ick.

[Solo Tremaine]

Yeah, but the Decks in the show stand to showcase the creatures on the cards- even though the Decks might not actually work in practice, they do in the show. Some of the cards we've seen only once and then never again, just because they happened to suit the plot (i.e. BLS, Magician of Black Chaos, Valkyrion).

I blame the writers, heh.

[Circ]

It must be noted about valkyrion that it was not actually a card in the show. Same for fusion monsters and (previous to yugi vs bandit keith) rituals.

I've always considered the whole situation in the show to be much, much different than in real life: there's no comparison. I think the number of existing cards in the anime is about tenfolds what we have in real life, but the rarity is always [i]much[/i] higher. This explain why the level 4 1800s are 1400-1600 in the show. Also, the slight rules modification, and complete inexistence of several cards (direct dammage cards, or mass monster removal are banned in Battle City, Snatch Steal, hand disruption...) makes the game compeltely different. "Staples" are almost inexistent in the show, or so much rarer that it's not worth calling them staples!

[Guest Altron Gundam]

Actually I'll tend to disagree here just a bit.

Kaiba does have a set deck theme. Virus Beatdown. Unfortunately, his main hitter being a light main-type creature. --;

Yuugi does have a theme, although all his cards are out there going with hand control elements, like Hand Sealing Sword of Light, to Hand Lock elements in Time Seal. But in the end in his Alcatraz Battle Tower duel his deck stems to be a Black Magician deck first and foremost, with some anti-Kaiba cards -_-; as the Black Paladin shows.

Jounouchi's deck theme is easy. Animal/Animal-Warrior/Warrior. In B-City with the switching of Red Eyes to Yuugi, Jounouchi reveals in his Battle Tower duel w/ Malik a MUCH MUCH more powerful big hitter he had waiting in the wings. Gilford the Lightning, stemming as a warrior. During the virtual reality take over by the Big 5 again during battle ship, Jounouchi showed even he has a few gamebreaking cards of his own, such as Goblin Strike Team.

[spoiler]In Season 5, after Battle Tower, when the Doom Organization saga rolls around, Ryuzaki DOES have a much more powerful deck, still the same playing tactics however, not knowing what face-down m/t's are, and runnin' with his Dinos. He surprising brings out something against Jounouchi's reclaimed Red Eyes Black Dragon, teh Tyrant Dragon.

Weevil's deck is sad. However as weak as insects are he is strategically sound.

All in all..Yuugi's deck while a magician deck at base is like a giant side-deck making it pathetic and sad. Although it is kinda strange how he just happens to have the Valkyrion trio and the god-summoning Tri-Kings(Kings Knight, Jacks Knight, Queen's Knight) when at first he didn't even know what the god cards were. -_-;;[/spoiler]

[SJchan Mayran]

[spoiler]In Season 5, after Battle Tower, when the Doom Organization saga rolls around, Ryuzaki DOES have a much more powerful deck, still the same playing tactics however, not knowing what face-down m/t's are, and runnin' with his Dinos. He surprising brings out something against Jounouchi's reclaimed Red Eyes Black Dragon, teh Tyrant Dragon.[/spoiler] [/B][/QUOTE]

*blank look* Ryuzaki comes back? Yay! *does a happy dance* :p Besides Mako he's my favorite "minor character".

Joey's deck has always sort of amazed me, because you never know what he's going to pull out of it next. >>

;) Here's another little bit of irony. If you watch Duelist Kingdom through from start to finish, and include the Ritual cards that apparently no one needs, Yugi's deck alone has almost 70 cards in it. >< Isn't the maximum 60? Hehehe... I suppose you could argue that he switched his cards around for various duels, but do you see anyplace to do that? I don't think so. No card shops on Duelist Island...

On a side note, does anyone agree with me that Otogi would make a good card duelist? He's so good at stratagy and planning, he could give even Kaiba a run for his money if he used cards. Look at how close he came to beating Yami at Dungeon Dice Monsters! ;) Sure, he was playing off of Yami's cluelessness, but that's a stratagy in itself.

[Circ]

The worst is that in the anime, they play with 40 cards deck... Theorically, that is.

[Guest Altron Gundam]

Consider a sidedeck, but then again, it can only be 15 cards. --;

[Domon]

In all honesty I like Yugi and Kaiba but their decks are lame. Kaiba relies too much on his monsters I mean hell he's got too many tributes: 3 Blue Eyes, Obelisk, Hyzonryu, Dragon Seeker, and a few others that I've forgotten. Yugi seems to have a deck that fits every episode, I mean he magically pulls out The Magician of Black Chaos out on Pegasus, The Black luster Soldier on Mai, all in all just because Yugi and Kaiba are the good guys shouldn't mean squat, Mai, Weevil, Mako, Rex, and Bakura seem to have the better decks but all in all its the writers who determine things.

[Masterdramon]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by SJchan Mayran [/i]
[B];) Here's another little bit of irony. If you watch Duelist Kingdom through from start to finish, and include the Ritual cards that apparently no one needs, Yugi's deck alone has almost 70 cards in it. >< Isn't the maximum 60? Hehehe... I suppose you could argue that he switched his cards around for various duels, but do you see anyplace to do that? I don't think so. No card shops on Duelist Island... [/B][/QUOTE]

There is no maximum. However, you have a good point. Let's take a look at his pull-out-of-his-hat-cards:

Black Luster Soldier (I'll just include it)
Magician of Black Chaos (same here)
Black Luster Ritual
Dark Magic Ritual
Master Dragon Knight
Buster Blader
[spoiler]Dark Paladin[/spoiler]
Valkirion the Magna Warrior
Dark Magician Girl
Light of Intervention
Baffomet
Chimaera, the Flying Mythical Beast
Mystical Moon
De-Fusion
Beast of Gilfar

[QUOTE][B] On a side note, does anyone agree with me that Otogi would make a good card duelist? He's so good at stratagy and planning, he could give even Kaiba a run for his money if he used cards. Look at how close he came to beating Yami at Dungeon Dice Monsters! Sure, he was playing off of Yami's cluelessness, but that's a stratagy in itself. [/B][/QUOTE]

[spoiler]Later, in the Noa saga, Otagi (Duke) duels with cards and is very good. He basically uses the monsters that he used in Dungeon Dice Monsters, his strongest, favorite, and deck-leader being Orgoth the Relentless.[/spoiler]

[QUOTE][B] Kaiba relies too much on his monsters I mean hell he's got too many tributes: 3 Blue Eyes, Obelisk, Hyzonryu, Dragon Seeker, and a few others that I've forgotten. [/B][/QUOTE]

He also has Gear Soldier or something like that.

[SJchan Mayran]

[quote][spoiler]Later, in the Noa saga, Otagi (Duke) duels with cards and is very good. He basically uses the monsters that he used in Dungeon Dice Monsters, his strongest, favorite, and deck-leader being Orgoth the Relentless.[/spoiler][/quote]

!!!!!!!!!! ^^ Yay. I'm happy now! >> That is, if they ever get around to dubbing those epis... *mutters about the insolence of 4Kids* Anyone know where I can find some good episode guides for the seasons after Battle City? *sigh*

[Digital Monster]

Tvtome.com has half-decent ep guides for the Japanese version beyond what has been shown (in the UK and Canada, this is "Yami vs. Yami (Pt. 2)")

[Iron_Chef]

i see your point in the decks being huge, and unthemed (i did base my real deck round mako's and it has proven very effective)
and did you notice (mainly in the duelest kingdom) that yugi changed effects of cards to suit his situation... mainly living arrow

[WolfofDarkstar]

not all cards have 1 effect. it could be that he only said 1 effect because it only mattered at that time. aside from that Otogi did duel against Joey. in which Joey lost.

[SIZE=1][COLOR=purple][b]First post: Attachment deleted. Please do not post images that have no relevance to the thread. OB is not an image hosting site. -Solo[/SIZE][/COLOR][/b]

here is a card with 2 effects.

[SIZE=1][COLOR=purple][b]Don't double-post, please. Use the 'Edit' button underneath your post. -Solo[/SIZE][/COLOR][/b]

[DVL]

They decks always did seem awfully big if you ask me. Are you SURE there's no maximum? I thought it was 60.

Yugi's deck doesn't have to have a theme. It's the main character's deck. The main character must win. Therefore, the creators can do whatever the **** they feel like doing with his deck, as long as he wins. That's how I see it anyway.

And they probably weren't expecting anyone to analyze it like this.

[Guest Altron Gundam]

HIs deck does have a theme. Black Magician focus, although he only has one. Or you could say its a Magician deck. It promotes every single aspect of what revolves around BM. Super Magical Swordsman - Black Paladin, Magician of Black Chaos, Black Robed Sage, Black Magician Girl. He then has BM's partner in crime, Buster Blader, and the match to the BEWD in his eyes, Chaos Soldier.

[Luminaire]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Altron Gundam [/i]
[B]HIs deck does have a theme. Black Magician focus, although he only has one. Or you could say its a Magician deck. It promotes every single aspect of what revolves around BM. Super Magical Swordsman - Black Paladin, Magician of Black Chaos, Black Robed Sage, Black Magician Girl. He then has BM's partner in crime, Buster Blader, and the match to the BEWD in his eyes, Chaos Soldier. [/B][/QUOTE]

[color=crimson]Though the theme is there, it's in two separate decks as far as I know. I have both the Yugi deck and the Yugi Stucture deck. In the Structure deck you get the Magician of Black chaos, Dark Magician Girl, and alot of the other cards that were left out of the first deck. If you take away the extra cards from both decks and put the leftovers together, you get a 65 card deck. O_o All of which are cards Yugi uses in the Duelest Kingdom and Battle City episodes.

~Lumi ^_^[/color]

[duelist22]

Cool Cool. My deck is a solid feind/spellcaster deck, so thats perfect!

[Iron_Chef]

evryone uses a feind/spellcaster deck these days...and with
dark lord ha des roaming around in a few packs of LOD feinds are more popular then ever

[Yami Asura]

I don't see why. My deck consists of Beatdown monsters to wipe away any weak monsters that the opponent has. Effect monsters to worry the opponent into attacking and decent tribs such as Tyrant Dragon to deal heavy damage. Plus a lot of Equips and the such.

Anyway, why bother arguing over how they would fare in the real game? In the anime, they use different rules in comparison to the real game rules. That's why their decks work better in anime as opposed to real life.

[Dead Alice]

Isn't it amazing how Yugi almost always seems to draw Dark Magician? (*chuckles to herself, thinking of how she often draws Deal of Phantom and kicks Kai's butt*)

[Snodin]

Yugi is lucky, because he has "The Heart of The Cards." That's how he keeps getting the cards he needs, while everyone else has to structure their decks to make every card work together as a single theme or strategy. Heh.


On a lighter note, I think that people who make sub-type decks may have the potential to win, because sub-type decks only need drawing and shuffling power, plus one or two magic/trap cards that just about every monster in that deck can benefit from. For example: Gravity Bind works for just about every Level 3-lower monster, so you can have clowns, direct-attackers, and one of my new favorites from Pharonic Guardian, Arsenal Bug.


I keep testing sub-type decks to see which sub-types go best together; it's one of my three Yu-Gi-Oh-Related hobbies: Collect cards, play the game, structure decks.

[WolfofDarkstar]

its not actually the heart of the cards yugi's millenium puzzle has a special power that helps him get the card he needs when he needs it (provided that he didnt already use it). also yugi has almost a completely different deck in battle city than in duelist kingdom.