Yu-Gi-Oh is no Game for Children

I started playing this game competitively back in 2004 or perhaps even earlier, when Eternal Duelist Soul was released. I played since then until 2007 and when I had stopped playing, I had felt I was the shit, having played on all the video games. I knew about what my cards did and that there was nothing stronger than putting in the high attack monsters and powerful spell and traps.

I was living a Yu-Gi-Oh lie. While the video games I solely played were good for a fun time, they legitimately taught me nothing about the game. When I returned to the game in what I believe was 2009, my friend Chris Crljen (guylaroche5 to the Yu-Gi-Oh community) was quick to play me and I realized how completely outclassed I was. When we played, he would play smart and conservatively, knowing exactly when to push for game and how to play around whatever I had in my hand. Playing with him, I realized the flaw in learning from video games: everything is done for you. When I played against him, I realized I had no real Yu-Gi-Oh experience and couldn't deal with Chain Links, heavy backrows, or even figure out how to turn my ideal hands into OTKs.

I've come a long way since then, and now I realize just how hard this game can be and still in. Maximizing your plays and doing things in the correct order is just something you need to know and if you don't know it, then you're not going to be good. At least, that's what it feels like. But even when I maximize my plays, I still make mistakes. I've found warring on Duelistgroundz.com to be the most helpful because I'm almost always playing a better player than myself. And this is truly the best way to learn.

This blog is going to hopefully be a collection of different Yu-Gi-Oh ideas and thoughts as I track my personal progress and try to give something to the community. Am I a pro or even close to that level? No, but I think this is why I should be making a blog like this. Because if my progress can be tracked and shown to be improved, then any aspiring duelist can improve as well.

- Luke "emblem" Miller