Spammity Spam

On the eve of the F&L list, here is my plea to Konami: 

I DO NOT LIKE SPAM

SPAM: To summon a stupid number of monsters at one time in a way that threatens the integrity of the game. See also: Spammier, Spammiest, Spammalicious, Spam-a-rama, and Spamhead.

There are several words that describe the strategy of flooding the field with monsters but spam remains my favorite.  The other terms do not capture the utter disdain I have for filling up the monster slots like an elementary school teacher lining up little kids at a bus stop.  The play style can be thoughtless and unwanted just like those emails that clutter your inbox.  Though email spam can be filtered, often times Yugioh spam is something that you just have to sit back and take.  

How much effort does it take to contribute to spam? The answer is not much.  Pitcairn Island is the leading broadcaster of spam on a per capita basis. There are 50 inhabitants on this little South Pacific island and a lot of infected computers.  There may be talent in the writing of the Malware, but there is little skill in just passing it along. And so it is in Yugioh, we cooperate in the spamiation of the game … or we lose.  

It just so happens that the Elemental Dragons also come from the Pacific.  Coincidence?  I think not.  

By now, you can see the connection between your in box and your deck box.  But what’s the connection to your lunchbox? 

As the Internet was being developed in the 70's and 80's, graduate students began to circulate jokes and other time wasters (sound familiar?).  Among these messages was – you guessed it – Monty Python's sketch about spam. Thanks to the ancient geeks, a skit with Vikings singing about a luncheon meat permeates the computer and the card culture.  

The canned meat came to market in 1937 bearing the acronym SPAM, which stood for Special Processed American Meat or Shoulders of Pork and Ham.  My mom fried it, which was probably the last time I liked Spam.  

 ______________________________

 The information on spam is taken from the book "Spam: A Shadow History of The Internet" by Finn Bruton

Searching for Gems among the Generic Shadow Specter Cards

Konami appears to have the following marketing strategy:  Introduce a cool archetype with an interesting mechanic at an accessible rarity.  Follow this set with one that offers additional support, but make sure these cards are secret rare.  Throw in a few TCG exclusives that will guarantee the success of the archetype.  After 8 to 12 months, ban a few key cards; introduce new archetypes; rinse and repeat.  

This strategy leaves players with two choices: (1) chase after the over-valued and over-powered cards or (2) play the deck without the chase cards.  Players following the first choice are called poor; those following the second are called losers.  In about six months, Konami will sell reprints of the chase cards.  As a result, the poor players will become salty as they watch their investment drop by about 80%. The losers are still losers because their deck will be hopelessly obsolete.  

One (perhaps) unintended consequence of this strategy is the shrinking pool of universally playable or generic cards.  These cards are usually the hidden gems of set.  They can be quite undervalued at first because players are not sure what to do with them.  For example, I picked up Number 11: Big Eye for about $10.  At the time, no one thought you could make rank seven XYZs easily.  On the other hand, 10 bucks seemed cheap for the ability to take an opponent’s monster forever*.  

Unfortunately, I don’t think there are any real hidden gems in the Shadow Specter’s set.  Of the 100 cards, two thirds are dedicated to archetypes.  Of the 32 generic cards, nine are worth a look.  Most of the good generic cards seem to be fairly priced.  Nevertheless, here is my assessment of those cards on a “Buy It”, “Pull It”, or “Leave It” scale**.  

·         Mistake - $22.99, Buy It

o   This is best card in the set.  It causes problems for Bujins, Geargias, Dragons, Spellbooks, and any other search-based deck.  It is undervalued because a lot of decks can’t play it.  Regardless of how the meta changes, this card will be useful. 

·         Pot of Dichotomy - $24.99, Pull it

o   Any card that lets recycle cards and plus by drawing is a good card.  Constellars, Evilswarms, and Madolches will benefit greatly though a lot of other archetype-based decks are also type limited. Shelling out $75 for a play set seems a bit rich.  On the other hand, I would buy it if the price drops into the low teens. 

·         Celestial Wolf Lord - $5.00, Pull it

o   There are 10 generic level six synchro monsters.  Of these, only Gaia Knight has a higher attack.  The only comparable synchro is HTS Psyhemuth.  Personally, I like this one better.  

·         Return of the Monarchs - $3.50, Buy it

o   Monarchs may see some play next format.  They work well with Ghostricks and Frog Monarchs have never gone completely away.  If you’ve played the deck, you know that too many Monarchs can clump badly.  This card may let you decrease the number of Monarchs without decreasing you access to them. 

·         Puralis, the Purple Pyrotile – $0.15, Buy it

o   There are three level two synchros and one is limited.  Given this low number and the low price, I’d pick it up.  Besides, it has the best name since Interplanetarypurplythorny Dragon. 

·         Armored Kappa - $1.29, Buy It

o   Rank two XYZs may become more popular if Ghostricks catch fire. There are eight such monsters, of which five are generic. Armored Kappa is not the best of the bunch but it certainly is playable.  I don’t see people playing more than one so forking over a buck and a quarter seems reasonable

·         Swarm of Crows - $0.15, Leave It

o   This card is one word and one level away from being a gem. I don’t understand why they demanded that it be flip summoned and not just flipped. Even with that restriction, it may have been playable as a level four.  As is, it’s not worth pulling. 

·         Aratama - $0.10 – Buy it

o   One could consider the Spirit monsters in this set to be their own archetype.  The mechanic is intriguing and searching is always a good thing.  Besides, a play set is cheaper than that Coke you're drinking.

·         Genomix Fighter - $0.49 – Leave it

o   An ultra-rare for under a buck?  The price did make me take a long look at this card.  Its ability to summon without a tribute is a plus and it is searchable with certain Gusto and psychic cards.  However, the list of synchro monsters that require specific types is rather weak.  As a result, I do not see much future for this card. 

 

*Before you think I am Yugi clairvoyant, I also have a $15 Vampire Dragon. Take my advice with a liberal dose of salt. 

** Prices are from CoreTCG 

Overcoming Functional Fixedness in Yugioh

Suppose someone hands you a box of kitchen matches, thumb tacks, and a candle with the instructions to mount the candle on a wall.  How would you solve this puzzle?  

The solution is to light the candle, melt some wax into the bottom part of the box, and let the candle set in the hot wax.  Then you can attach the box and candle to the wall with the thumb tacks.

If you didn’t get the answer, don’t feel bad.  A substantial number of people won’t get it because they see only one function for each of these items.  The candle was meant to be lit and the box was meant to hold the matches. In psychological terms, this phenomenon is called “functional fixedness” and it can be an impediment to creative thinking even in Yugioh.

Consider the following situations:

You’re winning your Harpie mirror match 5600 to 2900. You have one card and a set Hysteric Party. You activate party and bring out four Harpies.  As you go for game, your opponent activates his party.  Soon there are chicks and feathers all over the place.  Is it possible to go for the win?  The answer is to make a Chidori and return your opponent’s Hysteric Party.  This clears his field and allows you to attack FTW.

If you didn’t see this solution right away, it’s probably because you think of Chidori’s function as fixed on monster cards. However, Chidori can return any card your opponent control. 

Suppose you have a Stardust Dragon, Colossal Fighter, MST and a Dragon’s Ravine on the field.  You attack with Stardust only to have your opponent drop Swift Scarecrow.  Can you still go for the kill? The answer is to destroy your Ravine with your MST and then negate it with Stardust.  Since your Stardust is no longer attacking, Scarecrow’s effect fizzles. 

If you didn’t see this solution, it’s probably because you think MST’s function applies only to your opponent’s cards.  Negating the destructive effect of one of your cards is ….well… out of the box thinking.

Great players have found ways of overcoming the limitations of functional fixedness. Fortunately there are strategies that can help the rest of us.  The tips below are derived from the psychological literature and applied to Yugioh.  Most of this research comes from Tony McCaffrey at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Slow Down

Functional fixedness results from “Fast Thinking”.   In psychological terms, this reasoning is automatic.  Though it can be an impediment to creativity, it serves a useful purpose.  Fast thinking is efficient and requires little energy.  For a Yamato-less Bujin player, picking Yamato with Pot of Duality is pretty automatic.  Take it and move on.  However, this type of thinking tends to hurt more than help in a Yugioh duel.  Watch the great players; they often take more time than those with less experience.

Read Your Cards

McCaffrey found that people did a much better job with the match box problem when they were asked to describe the parts of each item (e.g. matchbox top, matchbox bottom, matches, wax, wick, tacks).  This forces one to think of these objects outside of their normal setting.  I suggest doing the same with your cards.  Read each one carefully.  Does the card’s effect apply to monsters, spells/traps, or any card?  Is it applied to all cards or only my opponents?  This is a great little exercise that can be done between rounds at a large tournament.

Learn from the Best

I suspect that most people who know the Swift Scarecrow play did not think of it themselves.  I read it on line.  There’s no dishonor in that.  However, it does point out the value of being exposed to good players. If you’re winning nearly all the time, you are either Patrick Hoban or you’re not improving.   We all hate to lose, but we don’t always use those moments to get better. 

Rule of Nine

How many times have you heard this?

Dude, look. If I have ROTA, Spell Striker, Junk Synchron,

 Quickdraw Synchron, and Quillbolt Hedgehog in my hand, I can OTK!

Uh huh … and if I draw into the 5 pieces of Exodia, I win.  

Outrageous combos in Yugioh are really cool. But, they are something akin to drawing a royal straight flush in Poker.  It’s great when it happens, but it’s not the way to top an event.

The best cards in Yugioh are the stand alone cards.  They’re live every time you draw them.  Dark Hole is a good example.  You may not want to play it the moment it’s drawn, but you generally don’t need another card to make it useful.  

So here’s the question of the day campers.  If a card needs another card to be playable, how many of those other cards should I put in the deck?  

By way of example, consider Malefic Cyber End Dragon.  This card is dead in your hand without a field spell.  Fortunately you can meet that requirement by having any of the following cards:

·         A field spell (e.g. Necrovalley)

·         Terraforming

·         Gravekeeper’s Commandant

·         Demise of the Land

·         Skill Drain

If you use three of each card, you will be adding a total of 15 cards to your deck.  That seems a bit much.  At some point, you will be drawing into all field spell cards and that’s equally problematic.  Fortunately, Commandant and Skill Drain add value to the deck beyond summoning Cyber End.  But, you get the idea.  There should be some optimum number between 1 and 15. 

Of course, there is no perfect number.   This decision will always pit the risk of drawing a dead Cyber End with drawing redundant field spells.  However, I think the optimum number is around 9.  Hence, Yugiold’s Rule of Nine.

The graph below shows the percentage of having a playable Cyber End Dragon for each “Field Spell” you add to the deck.  Increasing the number of field spells from 7 to 8, increases the chance of having a live malefic from 70.5% to 75.2% (or 5.5%). This “marginal advantage” drops with additional field spells. Once you get past 11, you are increasing your odds by 3% of less. 

Of course, your tolerance for live and dead will vary.  Furthermore, this example is pretty extreme.  The Malefics are completely dead without a field spell; most combo oriented cards are only weakened when they are played alone.  Nevertheless, the example is a reasonable one and it should give you a way to analyze your deck.