What do you have to fear?

I must give credit to ssjason for these ideas.  All I’m doing is putting some numbers behind his magic.   Regardless of how one comes to these conclusions, the answer is the same.  Yugioh players – it’s time to Man-Up.  

Do not fear what is unlikely to happen! Play through that back-row.

Let me explain.  I’ve mentioned before that today’s deck lists are nearly identical.  All the popular decks are playing the same series of cards.  So why not use that to our advantage?  Do you want to know how many Mirror Forces are in your opponent’s deck? I can probably tell you after he plays about two cards.  All you need to do is scroll through these readily available deck lists and you’ll find the answer.  

Here are my results after looking at 55 deck lists from large tournaments since January 1st.  The “On Summon” traps include Bottomless, Compulse, Solemn Warning, Torrential, and Fiendish Chain.  The “Battle Traps” include Mirror Force and Dimensional Prison.  There were a handful of other traps such as Divine Wrath and Raigeki Break that were not included.  The percentages in the following graph are the number of these traps divided by the total number of spell and trap cards.  In other words, these are the chances that a set card is one of these traps.  The percentages probably underestimate the actual chance a Mirror Force is set since many of the spells tend to remain in the hand.  That said, these numbers are surprisingly low.  The average chances of seeing an On Summon trap is 21%; the chances of seeing a Battle Trap is  5%

Here are a few observations:

1. Battle traps are not common.  Geargias had the highest percentage of battle traps at about 9%.  Spellbooks and Inzektors had the least at 2.8% and 2.5% respectively.  

2. Dust from the Stars?  Mirror Force was the most common battle trap.  Dimensional Prison has almost disappeared.  This means that making (and attacking) with Stardust Dragon is a good idea.

3. The On Summon traps are almost all 1 for 1’s.  Torrential is the only On Summon trap that causes problems – and it’s at one folks.  Spam away.  

4. Why am I playing three Trap Stuns?  Trap Stun has become quite popular, but it may be taking up space from a more valuable card.  I’m actually going back to Forbidden Lance.  It works quite well against Fire Fists.

This analysis does not reflect changes that will come with LVAL. Nevertheless, many of these decks will be played at a tournament near you.

So its only a few days away from YCS Atlanta - time to Be a man!