Wait, what? I would be willing to guess just about every Yu-Gi-Oh player in the world had this type of reaction when they heard Sixth Sense was going to be released in the TCG… and be limited to one. For what it is worth, there are plenty of players out there who wanted to see this card released. The moment I obtain a copy, I am jamming it right into my cube. But that was just about as much game play as I ever wanted to see from that card. The card design of Sixth Sense defies Yu-Gi-Oh logic and Read more

I hope everyone has been frantically testing because YCS Toronto is finally upon us. I did not think it was a good idea to write an article discussing how I felt the format would progress without actually taking the time to sit down and play a reasonable amount of games first. I briefly discussed some of the ramifications of the new TCG exclusive Ban List, but today I am going to go ahead and talk about some of the conclusions I have made – and in turn make my predictions for YCS Toronto. First off no, I am not attending Read more

Wow. What else is there to say? Honestly, who in their right mind would have seen this coming? We have been playing under the OCG Ban List for a decade. Every single time there OCG list was spoiled overseas TCG players would hold out with that glimmer of hope that something would be different when our list was announced. “They semi-limited [ccProd]Allure of Darkness[/ccProd] that one time! Oh, and we had three [ccProd]Magical Stone Excavation[/ccProd] that one time!” I have heard it all, and sometimes even hoped right there with you. But every single time the Ban List was officially on the Read more

It is just about that time of the year. Historically speaking, we are about a week or so away from the official leak of the September 2013 Limited and Forbidden List. Over the course of the last two list cycles I wrote articles pertaining to my predictions and desires. My desire lists tended to create quite an outcry from the Yu-Gi-Oh community, and I am not sure if I am going to make a revision to my list from last year. I certainly have not made a clear cut decision yet, but we will see going forward if that is Read more

This is the first article that I have had posted since the North American World Championship Qualifier. I wrote another one, which might be posted sometime down the road, but this one is likely the first to appear on the Alter Reality Game page. Anyway, with Nationals in our rear view mirror, it seems like the perfect time to look back on reflect on what we have experienced these last handful of months. If anyone recalls the article I wrote discussing the New Era in Yu-Gi-Oh, you would know I had some fairly adamant opinions about the way in which Read more

As I was playtesting for the North American World Championship Qualifier this upcoming weekend, I realized a general principle in Yu-Gi-Oh that has become particularly important with some of the side deck trends going on. One of the most frustrating aspects of Yu-Gi-Oh over the past decade has been the usage of cards like Mystical Space Typhoon. How often have you seen players draw it and immediately activate the card before it even reached the rest of their hand contents. Cards like Mystical Space Typhoon – while not the most played this format, are Swiss army knives in the correct Read more

Can you believe the North American World Championship Qualifier is just a week away? I know I certainly cannot. The break in competitive play in North America has spanned most of the summer, and the fact that we did not have an event in June has made it seem forever. But one way or another, next week  we will all be boarding planes and cramming into cars with Chicago as our destination. Luckily for North American players, the European World Championship Qualifier this past weekend gave us a tremendous amount of information to delve into as a necessary preparation. Euros Read more

I was planning on writing about a decklist from the Greek Nationals this week, which is why my article was not ready by Monday since the lists were not released yet. But I could not help but notice the series of articles by Patrick Hoban and Sam Pedigo regarding this concept of playstyles. What kind of Yu-Gi-Oh theorizer would I be if I did not toss my hat into the ring as well? Because I know I most assuredly have strong opinions one way or another. The most basic question we have here is if there exists playstyles in the Read more