Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Decade Duels Submitted and Written by: ColbyRasmus Contact Information: tdouglas008@gmail.com Version 1.0 January 15, 2011 Copyright 2011 This guide is not intended for use outside of the GameFAQs website. Other usage must have my permission. <<>> ***Table of Contents*** Please use CTRL + F to find what you are looking for quickly. -Intro (INTRO) -Dueling 101 (D101) -Navigating the Menu (MENU) -Meet the Duelists (DLST) a. Yusei Fudo (YSEI) b. Jack Atlas (JACK) c. Akiza Izinski (AKZA) d. Crow Hagan (CROW) e. Luna (LUNA) f. Leo (LEOO) g. Tetsu Trudge (TTSU) h. Hunter Pace (HNTR) i. Sayer (SYER) j. Greigor (GRGR) k. David (DVID) l. Paul (PAUL) m. George (GRGE) n. H.S. (H.S.) o. Kuwabara (KBRA) p. Cynthia (CTHA) q. Catherine (CRNE) r. Yuko (YUKO) s. Ellie (ELLE) t. Mary (MARY) u. Skyun (SKYN) v. Toshi (TSHI) w. Abie (ABIE) x. Ben (BENN) y. Lucky (LCKY) z. Windy (WNDY) aa. Yuma (YUMA) bb. Lilly (LILY) cc. Roly (ROLY) dd. Nelly (NLLY) -Closing Words (ENDD) ***Intro (INTRO)*** Hello, duelists! My name is Tim, and I've created this guide in order to help beginners, and perhaps intermediates and even experts, at Decade Duels. Personally, I have been playing the card game competitively in real life ever since it came to the United States. I've always enjoyed Yugioh, and I find myself to be pretty decent at it, so I figured I would compose my first ever guide on a subject I know a lot about. This guide won't have any specific deck lists for you to copy; you can find those elsewhere. It also will not teach you basic Yugioh mechanics; there is a fairly robust “How to Play” section in the game itself. Instead, it will give general tips about the game of Yugioh, and also specific tips on how to beat each individual duelist in this game, along with their deck lists. With that said, let's get started. ***Dueling 101 (D101)*** This section is here to help beginners learn useful tips about the game of Yugioh. Perhaps you will know all of this; perhaps you can learn a thing or two. Either way, I think it's worth a read. If you don't believe so, you can skip ahead to the meat and potatoes of the guide. -Card Advantage* The concept of card advantage is pretty simple. At the beginning of each Yugioh duel, each player will draw five cards. This means there is no advantage for either player; it is five cards versus five cards. Once the game starts, however, advantage starts shifting. For the first turn player, he or she will draw a card to start their turn. This puts them at six cards versus five cards; the turn player has a +1 card advantage over their opponent. Simple, right? If you can maintain card advantage over your opponent, you have a good shot of winning. Try and utilize cards that either maintain or garner additional card advantage. For example, Smashing Ground destroys a monster on the field. You lose one card (Smashing Ground), and they lose one card (the monster). This is called a one-for-one, and one-for-ones are pretty useful, albeit basic. Let's talk about a more complicated scenario now. Say you and your opponent have a monster on the field, and your opponent also has a spell or trap set face down. You tribute your monster for Caius the Shadow Monarch. You use the Monarch's effect to remove your opponent's monster from play. Your opponent then chains Bottomless Trap Hole to destroy Caius. How do you figure out the advantage? Well, you tributed a monster, which nets you a -1 card advantage. Caius gets summoned and targets your opponent's monster for removal, then Bottomless is chained to the summon. Bottomless is used (-1 to your opponent) and Caius is removed (-1 to you). Finally, the monster is removed (-1 to your opponent). The end result? Your opponent lost two cards, you lost two cards. You both broke even. Now, things can and will get more complicated than that. What if the monster you tributed was Sangan or Goblin Zombie? Well, then you'd search out a new monster and add it to your hand (+1 to you). That makes the total net advantage +1, in your favor. You should build your decks with these type of exchanges in mind. Make sure your deck can maintain advantage and always has useful plays. *Disclaimer: Don't get entirely caught up in card advantage. While it is a very useful tool to use, it isn't the only thing to think about. For example, what if your opponent has a 7000 attack monster on the field, and you have a Lightning Vortex in your hand? Well, you'll probably want to use the Vortex. That would mean using two cards (Vortex and the required discard) to get rid of one card (the monster). That nets a -1 card advantage, but it also clears the field of a major threat. It's your job to figure out when losing card advantage is worth it. -Power Cards Power cards, or “staples,” are cards that have powerful effects and should be included in most decks. These cards include: Monster Reborn, Heavy Storm, Mirror Force, Torrential Tribute, Dark Strike Fighter, and more. If used right, these cards can single-handedly turn the momentum of the duel in your favor. Make sure to use these cards and use them well. Don't use Mirror Force on one monster unless that monster is a big threat, for example. Don't Heavy Storm if your opponent only has one card in the spell or trap zone, unless you are going for a big play that turn. Save these cards for when you can gain the most advantage from them. -Extra Deck Utilize a 15 card Extra Deck in every deck recipe you have, even if you don't necessarily have the means to Synchro Summon. You never know when you can use a Monster Reborn on an opponent's tuner monster and Synchro a Dark Strike Fighter for the win. Maybe your opponent will use Creature Swap and hand you a tuner. Having the Extra Deck there will absolutely do you no harm; it can only do you good. -40ish Card Decks Try and keep your deck as close to 40 cards as possible. It's all in the math; you're more likely to draw into what you need if you have less cards, right? There are a few exceptions, such as mill decks and Lightsworn decks that run through their cards quickly, but even then, you shouldn't put much more than 40 cards into a deck. -Stay Away from Equips Equip cards sound so powerful, don't they? You like to imagine a United We Stand with five monsters on the field, don't you? Every duelist has, I'm sure. However, it directly opposes the card advantage system. Equip cards usually do not gain any advantage initially. Also, all your opponent has to do is destroy the monster that the equip card is on, and you lose multiple cards. There are a few exceptions, such as with dedicated Morphtronic/Power Tool Dragon builds, and perhaps with Mark of the Rose and D.D.R., but as a general rule of thumb, stay away from equip cards. -Many “Support” Cards Aren't Actually Useful Many themes in Yugioh have various support cards. We'll look at Six Samurai support cards in this example. Yariza is a Samurai monster, which makes you want to throw him in your deck. However, his pitiful attack power and lackluster effect hinder his usefulness. Also, think about the equip card Legendary Ebon Steed. An extra 200 attack power is not very useful, and the switching destruction effect might seem useful, but there are better cards out there that stop destruction effects. To summarize my point, don't throw in support cards just because they “fit the theme.” Think logically about what a card will do for you and your deck, and play it accordingly. -Get Creative Although support cards for one theme might be useless, it doesn't mean you can't mix another theme in to make it more viable. Most of my favorite decks combine themes in order to maximize effectiveness. For example, I have a light Alien build that uses a Lightsworn engine to power it and put Alien monsters in the grave as quickly as possible for Alien Ammonite usage. Most Alien support cards, like Alien Hypno, Alien Mother and Mass Hypnosis, are simply not good or not always useful. Don't be afraid to try crazy things. ***Navigating the Menu (MENU)*** -Single Player This is where you will be spending most of your time in-game, seeing as it's the only way you can earn cards (besides downloading card packs). Here's how it works: first, the game will ask you if you wish to continue from your last spot in the tournament, or if you wish to start a new tournament. If you start a new tournament, you will be asked if you want to watch a tutorial. This happens every time you start a new tournament, and you can't stop it from popping up, so get used to saying no. On to the tournament... You start by playing in a four player preliminary tournament, including yourself. You will play each of the other three players once in a single duel format, and the player with the most points* moves on to the bigger tournament. *How do you earn points? Basically, anything you do in a duel will earn you points. You special summoned a monster? You'll get points for that. You played a spell card? Yep, you'll get points for that as well. You'll get the most points by simply winning a duel, although certain decks can actually net you more points in a loss than most decks can in a win. In particular, Chain Burn decks and mill decks can earn a ton of points. Points also specify how many cards you will receive after you finish a duel. For every 20 points you earn in a duel, you will receive one card, to a max of 15 cards (300 points). It doesn't matter if you win or lose; only your points matter. Also, you will always earn at least one card, even if you earned below 20 points in a loss. These cards are random, so you'll probably need to play a ton of games before you can build the types of decks that you want. Anyway, after the preliminary tournament is over, assuming you make it past it, you move on to the big tourney. This is a more traditional tournament, with eight contestants in a single elimination match-duel format. This means you will go through three matches, and the final match will always be Jack or Yusei. When you beat Jack for the first time, you will earn a Red Dragon Archfiend card and an achievement. When you beat Yusei for the first time, you will earn a Stardust Dragon and an achievement. You can earn both of these cards randomly, but when you beat these two duelists for the first time, you are guaranteed the cards. Note: You won't receive cards after every duel in the match. You will only receive cards for your point score in the final duel of the match. For example, if you earn 1000 points in the first duel of a match, but only earn 200 points in the second duel of the match, you will only get five cards. Because of this, it is recommended to play in the preliminary tournament and quit after you move on if you are grinding for cards. That's it. There is no duelist select, and there aren't any card packs in a “shop,” like in most other Yugioh games. Everything is random. -Deck Edit This is where you craft your masterpiece decks. You have a total of 15 deck recipe slots from which to load and save your decks. The current deck that is loaded will be the first deck that shows up before a duel, but you can choose any recipe you have completed to play with. When you are editing a deck, use the right and left bumpers to switch between your Main, Side, and Extra Decks. There are various sorting and searching mechanisms to help you find the cards you are looking for quickly. You can search by card frame, alphabetically, by highest or lowest attack, etc. When you have a deck completed, make sure to go to Deck, then Edit Recipe, and save your recipe to an empty slot. -Multiplay When you are ready, you can take your deck online and pit your skills against friend and foe alike. You have three options: Player Match, Ranked Match, and Play with Xbox Live Party. In Player and Ranked Matches, the game will search out various games that have empty player slots, and you can pick and choose which games you might want to join. You can also create your own game and host. Remember to look at the rules before you join a game, because you can change the number of life points and the time limit each player has. I recommend staying away from games that restrict each player to 60 seconds a turn; it doesn't allow you enough time to use many effects, especially when you need to search your deck for something once or twice a turn. You can also do Tag Duels in this mode, which are actually quite fun (if you have a competent partner, anyway). Tag Duels work in this way: you and your partner share life points, a field, graveyard, and removed from play zone. Play will proceed from your side to the opponent's side, alternating players as the duel goes on. Here's a useful tip: figure out what your opponents are playing, and exploit it. For example, if one opponent is playing Geartown, and the other is playing Gladiator Beasts, try to destroy a face up Geartown on the Gladiator Beast player's turn. If this happens, it's up to the Gladiator Beast player to summon the Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon. Because no Gladiator Beast players play the Dragon in their decks (at least, I hope not...), it just goes to the graveyard with no effect. Cards like Mystic Tomato and Giant Rat work the same way. Note: If you are joining a game, you will automatically use the last deck you used in single player. You do NOT get to choose your deck, and it's not automatically the deck that is loaded. It's the last recipe you used in single player. If you create a game, however, you do get the option of changing your deck. P.S. - I recommend sticking with Player Matches, unless you really want to put yourself in the rankings. In Ranked Matches, many players will quit on you if they are about to lose, since there is no penalty for quitting. -Leaderboards Here, you can see where everyone ranks in the world of Yugioh Decade Duels. There are three tabs: Friends, Overall, and My Score. The Friends tab allows you to see where your friends rank on the overall leaderboards. The Overall tab shows where everyone in the world ranks, starting with the top. The My Score tab shows your ranking and the ranking of those closest to you. -Help & Options If you need any help with the game, then you should click on this option. There are five options: How to Play, Controls, Settings, Credits, and Save Game. How to Play will teach you the ins and outs of Yugioh in text form. Controls shows you what each button does in the middle of a duel. This cannot be changed. Settings allows you to change the sound settings (BGM and SE). Credits will scroll the credits. Save Game is self-explanatory. You shouldn't ever need to use the Save Game option, as the game auto-saves after each duel and when you leave deck edit after making changes. -Achievements There are 12 achievements in this game, totaling 200 points. These achievements are: 1. Ultimate Duelist: 200 wins in any mode (40) 2. Lonely Duelist: 100 wins in Single Mode (30) 3. You have talent!: Save an original Deck Recipe (10) 4. Violent Duelist: Inflict at least one million total damage (20) 5. You became a tag Duelist!: Win a Tag Duel for the first time (10) 6. Create a friend!: Play a Tag Duel (10) 7. Absolute King of the Turbo Duel: Defeat Jack (10) 8. Become a Signer: Defeat Yusei (10) 9. First to become a true Duelist: Win a Preliminary Tournament (10) 10. Becoming a special Duelist: Win and get a Rare Card (10) 11. Become a Duelist: Play a single player game (10) 12. Friendly Duelist: 100 wins in Tag Duel (30) I can't really give any tips on how to get these, because they are all self-explanatory and fairly easy to earn. One million damage seems like a lot, but consider that you have to do at least 8000 damage to win a duel (barring Exodia or Final Countdown wins). That's 125 wins, if you did EXACTLY 8000 damage per win. You'll breeze through all of these achievements while you are trying to earn more cards except one: the Tag Duel achievement. That one will probably take the longest, but if you are playing with some friends, it won't be so bad. -Download Content At the time of this writing, Konami has released 10 Card Packs, with each pack costing 160 Microsoft Points. These packs do NOT add new cards to the game; instead, they give you additional copies of cards already in the game. Theoretically, you could earn all of the cards in the game and not have to buy the packs; I've personally done that. However, if you're just starting the game and want to start building decks right away, these packs are good supplements. Each pack contains only one of each card. Here is what each pack contains (courtesy of Squirrel6944 and zero kakashi from the Decade Duels board): Pack 1 contains: -E-Emergency Call -Elemental Hero Avian -Elemental Hero Bladedge -Elemental Hero Necroshade -Elemental Hero Ocean -Elemental Hero Stratos -Elemental Hero Woodsman -Elemental Hero Darkbright -Elemental Hero Gaia -Elemental Hero Necroid Shaman -Elemental Hero Plasma Vice -Elemental Hero Terra Firma -Elemental Hero Thunder Giant -Elemental Hero Wild Wingman -Elemental Hero Wildedge -Evil Hero Malicious Edge -Hero Signal -Miracle Fusion -Mirror Force -Mystical Space Typhoon -Polymerization -R - Righteous Justice -Reinforcement of the Army -Super Polymerization -Torrential Tribute Pack 2 contains: -Allure of Darkness -Creature Swap -Crush Card Virus -Cyber Dragon -Dark Armed Dragon -Dark Calling -Dark Fusion -Dark Strike Fighter -Evil Hero Dark Gaia -Evil Hero Infernal Gainer -Evil Hero Infernal Prodigy -Gigantes -Gorz the Emissary of Darkness -Granmarg the Rock Monarch -Hyper Synchron -King of the Swamp -Legendary Jujitsu Master -Metal Reflect Slime -Morphing Jar -Mind Control -Neo-Spacian Grand Mole -Powered Tuner -Soul Exchange -Thought Ruler Archfiend Pack 3 contains: -Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon -Armory Arm -Colossal Fighter -Cyber Archfiend -Dark Room of Nightmare -Emergency Teleport -Geartown -Giant Germ -Gladiator Beast Darius -Gladiator Beast Equeste -Green Gadget -Just Desserts -Krebons -Magical Android -Ojama Trio -Poison of the Old Man -Psychic Commander -Red Gadget -Renge, Gatekeeper of Dark World -Secret Barrel -Solemn Judgment -Tragoedia -Tremendous Fire -Yellow Gadget Pack 4 contains: -Cold Wave -Compulsory Evacuation Device -D.D. Warrior Lady -Fissure -Gladiator Beast Bestiari -Gladiator Beast Gyzarus -Gladiator Beast Heraklinos -Gladiator Beast Hoplomus -Gladiator Beast Laquari -Gladiator Beast Murmillo -Gladiator Beast Samnite -Gladiator Beast War Chariot -Golem Sentry -Kelbek -Kunai with Chain -Lightning Vortex -Penguin Soldier -Phoenix Wing Wind Blast -Pot of Avarice -Raiza the Storm Monarch -Shrink -Summoner Monk -Terraforming -Test Tiger -Wall of Illusion Pack 5 contains: -Advanced Ritual Art -Black Salvo -Book of Moon -Card Destruction -Ceasefire -Chaos Sorcerer -Contract with the Abyss -Dark Master - Zorc -Demise, King of Armageddon -Dimensional Fissure -Gold Sarcophagus -Gravity Bind -Gren Maju Da Eiza -Level Limit - Area B -Macro Cosmos -Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands -Marshmallon -Messenger of Peace -Morphing Jar #2 -Needle Worm -Sangan -Senju of the Thousand Hands -Soul Absorption -The Shallow Grave -Waboku Pack 6 contains: -Armageddon Knight -Banisher of the Light -Banisher of the Radiance -Bazoo the Soul-Eater -Book of Life -Burial from a Different Dimension -Card of Safe Return -Dimension Wall -Dimensional Alchemist -Doomkaiser Dragon -Drastic Drop Off -Foolish Burial -Goblin Zombie -Magic Cylinder -Mezuki -Mystic Tomato -Necro Gardna -Necroface -Plaguespreader Zombie -Pyramid Turtle -Revived King Ha Des -Spirit Reaper -Zoma the Spirit -Zombie Master Pack 7 contains: -Blackwing – Blizzard the Far North -Blackwing – Elphin the Raven -Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind -Blackwing – Shura the Blue Flame -Blackwing – Sirocco the Dawn -Blackwing Armed Wing -Blackwing Armor Master -Breaker the Magical Warrior -Caius the Shadow Monarch -Chain Strike -Dark Deal -Divine Wrath -Doomcaliber Knight -Exiled Force -Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo -Goyo Guardian -Mobius the Frost Monarch -Ookazi -Royal Oppression -Spell Striker -Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch -Thunder King Rai-Oh -Treeborn Frog -Wave-Motion Cannon Pack 8 contains: -A Legendary Ocean -Abyssal Kingshark -Big Wave Small Wave -Dandylion -Dimensional Prison -Dupe Frog -Fires of Doomsday -Fish Depth Charge -Fishborg Blaster -Flip Flop Frog -Golden Flying Fish -Instant Fusion -Iron Chain Dragon -Junk Synchron -Junk Warrior -Robbin' Goblin -Royal Swamp Eel -Salvage -Substitoad -Superancient Deepsea King Coelacanth -Unifrog -United We Stand -Warrior of Atlantis -Wetlands Pack 9 contains: -Arcana Force 0 - The Fool -Black Horn of Heaven -Bountiful Artemis -Celestia, Lightsworn Angel -Charge of the Light Brigade -Dark Bribe -Ehren, Lightsworn Monk -Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior -Glorious Illusion -Gragonith, Lightsworn Dragon -Harvest Angel of Wisdom -Herald of Creation -Honest -Jain, Lightsworn Paladin -Judgment Dragon -Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner -Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress -Meltiel, Sage of the Sky -Negate Attack -Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter -Solar Recharge -The Sanctuary in the Sky -Voltanis the Adjudicator -Wulf, Lightsworn Beast -Zeradias, Herald of Heaven Pack 10 contains: -Black Rose Dragon -Blast Sphere -Blaze Accelerator -Blowback Dragon -Don Zaloog -Fairy Box -Flame Ruler -Flying Kamakiri #1 -Lava Golem -Masked Dragon -Molten Destruction -Nightmare Wheel -Nitro Synchron -Nitro Warrior -Ordeal of a Traveler -Sasuke Samurai -Sasuke Samurai #4 -Second Coin Toss -Silpheed -Snipe Hunter -Solar Flare Dragon -Stealth Bird -UFO Turtle -Volcanic Slicer -Wall of Revealing Light -Exit Game This option exits the game. Exciting stuff. ***Meet the Duelists (DLST)*** Yusei Fudo (YSEI) Monsters: 18 -3 Giant Germ -3 The Calculator -3 Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter -3 Quillbolt Hedgehog -3 Nimble Momonga -3 Junk Synchron Spells: 16 -1 Card of Safe Return -1 Giant Trunade -1 Heavy Storm -3 Inferno Reckless Summon -1 Mage Power -1 Magical Stone Excavation -1 Monster Reborn -1 Mystical Space Typhoon -1 Reinforcement of the Army -1 Swords of Revealing Light -3 The Warrior Returning Alive -1 United We Stand Traps: 6 -2 Bottomless Trap Hole -1 Mirror Force -2 Solemn Judgment -1 Torrential Tribute Extra Deck: 6 -3 Junk Warrior -3 Stardust Dragon The Scoop: For being one of the two “final bosses” in the game, Yusei isn't very difficult. The main point of his deck is to try and use his low-level monsters with Junk Synchron to Synchro Summon Junk Warrior. If you can keep the Warrior off the field, then Yusei's offense is pitifully weak. The only other threat comes from his one equip card, United We Stand. Be sure not to let it power up a monster too much. Nobleman of Crossout is very good against this deck; it stops Germ and Momonga from activating, and it removes all copies of Ryko from his deck. Bottomless Trap Hole is useful to stop the Warrior from being summoned, and Book of Moon flips Junk Synchron down before it can be used in a Synchro Summon. Royal Oppression is also a great choice. Jack Atlas (JACK) Monsters: 21 -2 Blue Eyes White Dragon -2 The White Stone of Legend -1 Exploder Dragon -2 The Dark – Hex-Sealed Fusion -2 Magna Drago -3 Masked Dragon -2 Divine Dragon Ragnorak -2 Red-Eyes Wyvern -2 Strong Wind Dragon -3 Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon Spells: 14 -1 Ancient Rules -1 Brain Control -1 D.D.R. - Different Dimension Reincarnation -2 Dragon's Mirror -1 Future Fusion -2 Golden Sarcophagus -1 Heavy Storm -1 Lightning Vortex -1 Monster Reborn -1 Mystical Space Typhoon -2 Stamping Destruction Traps: 5 -3 Solemn Judgment -1 Mirror Force -1 Torrential Tribute Extra Deck: 15 -2 Five-Headed Dragon -3 King Dragun -3 Exploder Dragonwing -3 Iron Chain Dragon -3 Red Dragon Archfiend -1 Trident Dragon The Scoop: Jack is much tougher than Yusei, especially against beginning players. He can quickly summon Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon to the field, and when he does, the summons of high-powered dragons will not stop. Even though he has a formidable offense at his disposal, his defense is very weak. Jack only uses five traps, three of which are Solemn Judgment. Don't be afraid to launch big offenses at this guy. To beat Jack, all you need to do is keep the Metal Dragon off of the field. If you can do that, Jack has trouble mounting any sort of offense. If it does reach the field, you'll need to rely on traps like Dimensional Prison, Sakuretsu Armor, Mirror Force, etc. in order to destroy it and any other monsters he has on the field. If you can survive a bunch of attacks from a large field, Lightning Vortex works wonders. Bottomless stops (and removes, so no Wyvern) Metal Dragon, and Royal Oppression tears this deck apart. Make sure to destroy Future Fusion when it is first activated with Mystical Space Typhoon or Dust Tornado, so not only will Five-Headed Dragon not be summoned, but Jack also cannot send five dragons to the graveyard for future uses. Of course, if it does hit the field, a Magic Cylinder/Dimension Wall will do insane damage and guarantee a win if Jack used one or more Solemns. Akiza Izinski (AKZA) Monsters: 20 -1 Dandylion -3 Lonefire Blossom -3 Debris Dragon -2 Twilight Rose Knight -3 Lord Poison -3 Botanical Lion -2 Gigaplant -3 Tytannial, Princess of Camellias Spells: 10 -1 Brain Control -1 Giant Trunade -1 Heavy Storm -2 Mark of the Rose -2 Miracle Fertilizer -1 Monster Reborn -1 Mystical Space Typhoon -1 Swords of Revealing Light Traps: 10 -3 Bottomless Trap Hole -1 Mirror Force -3 Solemn Judgment -1 Torrential Tribute -2 Wall of Thorns Extra Deck: 6 -3 Black Rose Dragon -3 Queen of Thorns The Scoop: Akiza is possibly the toughest opponent in the game, at least in my opinion. It is very difficult to oppose one or more Tytannials with the beginner's deck, so don't be disappointed if you lose to her more often than not in the beginning. Lonefire Blossom brings out Tytannial very easily, and her plant support cards can be a pain. Wall of Thorns effectively gives Akiza three Mirror Forces, Mark of the Rose is a lesser version of the banned Snatch Steal, Miracle Fertilizer is a variant of Call of the Haunted...it can get pretty rough. Don't commit too many cards to the field, because Akiza can (and will) use Black Rose Dragon frequently. Royal Oppression stops many of Akiza's bigger plays, but remember two things: Oppression can't stop Lord Poison, so pay attention to what is in her graveyard, and Oppression obviously does nothing to Botanical Lion, which can be very hard to deal with at times. Bottomless is a great ally against Akiza, and removal cards such as Macro Cosmos and Dimensional Fissure stop many of her key cards from activating, namely Lonefire Blossom, Dandylion, and Lord Poison, among others. Crow Hagan (CROW) Monsters: 20 -3 Blackwing – Blizzard the Far North -2 Blackwing – Bora the Spear -2 Blackwing – Elphin the Raven -1 Blackwing – Fane the Steel Chain -3 Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind -3 Blackwing – Kalut the Moon Shadow -1 Blackwing – Mistral the Silver Shield -2 Blackwing – Shura the Blue Flame -2 Blackwing – Sirocco the Dawn -1 Blackwing – Vayu the Emblem of Honor Spells: 10 -3 Black Whirlwind -2 Chain Summoning -1 Heavy Storm -1 Monster Reborn -2 Mystic Plasma Zone -1 Mystical Space Typhoon Traps: 10 -2 Bottomless Trap Hole -2 Delta Crow – Anti Reverse -2 Icarus Attack -1 Mirror Force -2 Solemn Judgment -1 Torrential Tribute Extra Deck: 6 -3 Blackwing Armed Wing -3 Blackwing Armor Master The Scoop: Brokenwings, Badwings...whatever you want to call it, Crow runs a very strong, aggressive Blackwing deck. At least he doesn't have Dark Strike Fighter in there, right? Anyway, the point of this deck is to swarm the field with Blackwing monsters and do as much damage as possible. Mystic Plasma Zone powers up all of his monsters and lets Crow search out higher attack monsters with Black Whirlwind. Icarus Attack is an amazing support card that can get rid of an unwanted monster or a monster about to be destroyed at the cost of two of your cards. Don't commit too many face down spell and trap cards to the field, as Delta Crow will destroy them all. However, remember that Delta Crow only destroys face down cards, so if Crow uses this card, you can safely activate continuous traps such as Royal Oppression, and they won't be destroyed. Unlike most aggressive decks you'll face, Royal Oppression doesn't do much here. It can stop multiple Blackwings from being summoned at once, but it cannot stop Vayu's effect, and it doesn't do anything to any pre-existing Blackwings on the field. Bottomless is much more useful. Also, Book of Moon has a myriad of uses; if you use it on a Blackwing that has been summoned while Black Whirlwind is on the field, Crow does not get to search for a card from his deck. Book of Moon also stops any on-the-field synchros by flipping the tuner face down, and it prevents Crow from discarding Kalut in order to boost the attack of his Blackwing monsters. Be careful when flipping down a synchro monster summoned by Vayu, though – they regain their effects after being flipped face down. Luna (LUNA) Monsters: 19 -2 Ancient Crimson Ape -3 Counselor Lily -3 Dancing Fairy -2 Ebon Magician Curran -3 Fire Princess -1 Kuribon -1 Marshmallon -1 Sunlight Unicorn -1 Sunny Pixie -2 White Magician Pikeru Spells: 12 -1 Swords of Revealing Light -2 Ancient Forest -1 Giant Trunade -1 Heavy Storm -2 Heart of Clear Water -1 Level Limit – Area B -2 Mist Body -1 Monster Reborn -1 Mystical Space Typhoon Traps: 9 -1 Wall of Revealing Light -1 Torrential Tribute -2 Solemn Wishes -1 Pixie Ring -2 Mirror Wall -1 Mirror Force -1 Gravity Bind Extra Deck: 6 -3 Ancient Sacred Wyvern -3 Ancient Fairy Dragon The Scoop: Luna's deck can be annoying, but it isn't particularly hard to beat. She likes to heal life points more than she likes to deal any damage. This deck packs a lot of stall cards, but contains no destruction prevention cards like Solemn Judgment, so if your deck can utilize Black Rose Dragon, go for it. The usual suspects, such as Heavy Storm, Giant Trunade, and Mystical Space Typhoon, are useful. Lightning Vortex helps if her stalling allows her to build up a sizable field. If Luna gets out her healing + Fire Princess combo, Prime Material Dragon laughs in her face. Leo (LEOO) Monsters: 18 -2 Morphtronic Boarden -2 Morphtronic Boomboxen -3 Morphtronic Celfon -3 Morphtronic Radion -1 Morphtronic Remoten -3 Morphtronic Scopen -3 Morphtronic Slingen -1 Morphtronic Videon Spells: 17 -3 Double Tool C&D -1 Giant Trunade -1 Heavy Storm -2 Junk Box -1 Limiter Removal -1 Mage Power -1 Monster Reborn -2 Morphtronic Map -2 Morphtronic Repair Unit -1 Mystical Space Typhoon -1 Swords of Revealing Light -1 United We Stand Traps: 5 -3 Solemn Judgment -1 Mirror Force -1 Torrential Tribute Extra Deck: 3 -3 Power Tool Dragon The Scoop: The main point of Leo's deck is to bring out Power Tool Dragon as quickly as possible, then go crazy with equip cards. If you allow him to set up his field adequately, he is tough to beat. Otherwise, he isn't that difficult. Spell destruction, such as Dust Tornado and Mystical Space Typhoon, is useful in getting rid of pesky equip cards. Monarchs are very good against Leo; they are all stronger than Power Tool Dragon pre-equips (2400 attack compared to 2300), and their effects all help get rid of the Dragon. Caius and Raiza remove Power Tool from the field, along with any and all equip cards equipped to it for minimal cost. Magic Cylinder or Dimension Wall can do big damage when used on powered-up monsters. One final note: try to keep the field clean of multiple Morphtronics. Their effects can add up in a hurry. Tetsu Trudge (TTSU) Monsters: 19 -3 Command Knight -2 Gonogo -2 Jutte Fighter -3 Marauding Captain -2 Montage Dragon -2 Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke -2 Search Striker -3 Torapart Spells: 10 -2 Book of Moon -1 Heavy Storm -1 Mystical Space Typhoon -1 Reinforcement of the Army -2 The A. Forces -2 The Warrior Returning Alive -1 Monster Reborn Traps: 11 -1 Torrential Tribute -2 Solemn Judgment -2 Security Orb -3 No Entry!! -1 Mirror Force -2 Dust Tornado Extra Deck: 4 -3 Colossal Fighter -1 Goyo Guardian The Scoop: Tetsu is a fairly easy opponent. His deck is focused on warrior-type monsters with an occasional synchro of Goyo Guardian or Colossal Fighter. Tetsu likes to switch your monsters to defense mode via various effects, then use cards that work against defense position monsters. Besides the synchros, this deck doesn't mount much of an offense. Skill Drain turns all of Tetsu's monsters into nobodies, and even with warrior support such as The A. Forces, his monsters shouldn't be too difficult to get rid of. If you are having trouble getting rid of a pesky Command Knight or Marauding Captain, you could use destruction cards like Soul Taker or Smashing Ground to help clear the field. Bottomless is useful, as Command Knight is considered to be at 1600 attack when it is summoned. As long as you don't let him overpower you with his synchros, you'll be fine. Hunter Pace (HNTR) Monsters: 19 -3 Burning Skull Head -2 Goblin Zombie -1 Mezuki -1 Plaguespreader Zombie -3 Pyramid Turtle -2 Skull Conductor -2 Skull Flame -1 Spirit Reaper -1 Supersonic Skull Flame -3 Zombie Master Spells: 15 -3 Book of Life -2 Burial from a Different Dimension -2 Call of the Mummy -1 Card of Safe Return -2 Creature Swap -1 Giant Trunade -1 Heavy Storm -1 Monster Reborn -1 Mystical Space Typhoon -1 Swords of Revealing Light Traps: 6 -3 Solemn Judgment -1 Mirror Force -1 Torrential Tribute -1 Magic Cylinder Extra Deck: 6 -3 Revived King Ha Des -3 Doomkaiser Dragon The Scoop: Hunter uses a zombie-type deck with access to the Burning Head monsters. However, you shouldn't worry too much about the Burning Heads. In my experience in dueling Hunter, he rarely used their effects. You should be more worried about the other zombies in his deck. The basic Zombie engine (Goblin Zombie, Mezuki, Plaguespreader, Zombie Master) can be tough to disrupt if you let the cycle start happening. However, a simple Bottomless or Royal Oppression can shut this deck down very fast. Also, because Hunter only has two monsters to grab from synchroing (neither of which is all that great), beating him shouldn't be difficult. Sayer (SYER) Monsters: 18 -2 Armored Axon Kicker -2 Destructotron -1 Genetic Woman -2 Krebons -2 Lifeforce Harmonizer -2 Mind Master -2 Mind Protector -2 Psychic Commander -1 Psychic Jumper -1 Psychic Snail -1 Reinforced Human Psychic Borg Spells: 16 -2 Brain Research Lab -1 Emergency Teleport -1 Giant Trunade -1 Fissure -1 Heavy Storm -1 Monster Reborn -1 Mystical Space Typhoon -1 Psychic Path -3 Psychokinesis -1 Smashing Ground -1 Swords of Revealing Light -2 Teleport Traps: 6 -1 Barrel Behind the Door -1 Battle Teleportation -2 Bottomless Trap Hole -1 Mirror Force -1 Torrential Tribute Extra Deck: 12 -3 Hyper Psychic Blaster -3 Magical Android -3 Psychic Lifetrancer -3 Thought Ruler Archfiend The Scoop: I actually had a bit of trouble against Sayer in the early stages of this game. His Psychic support cards are very good (well, some of them are, anyway), and his deck works well. I wouldn't say he is difficult to beat, but he isn't a pushover like many opponents in this game. The cards to look out for in this deck are Sayer's tuners; the Psychics in his Extra Deck are all pretty decent. Also, a defense mode Mind Protector can stall you pretty hard if you have no way to get rid of it. Destruction cards in general are very good against this deck. Royal Oppression helps a lot, and if you haven't noticed by now, should probably be played against most decks in this game anyway. If you allow Hyper Psychic Blaster to hit the field and you can't stop it, you will probably be in for a world of hurt. One strategy to consider is to use burn effects. Most of Sayer's Psychics have a life point cost attached to their effects. Stall for long enough and counter with your own burn cards, and those effects can build up fairly quickly. Greiger (GRGR) Monsters: 19 -3 Black Salvo -3 Blast Sphere -3 Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive -1 Flying Fortress SKY FIRE -1 Morphing Jar -3 Spell Reactor – RE -2 Summon Reactor – SK -3 Trap Reactor – Y FI Spells: 8 -2 Foolish Burial -1 Giant Trunade -1 Heavy Storm -1 Limiter Removal -1 Monster Reborn -1 Mystical Space Typhoon -1 Swords of Revealing Light Traps: 13 -2 Bottomless Trap Hole -2 Fake Explosion -1 Mirror Force -2 Solemn Judgment -1 Torrential Tribute -2 Ultimate Offering -3 Waboku Extra Deck: 3 -3 Dark Strike Fighter The Scoop: Well, Greigor has never brought out the big boy of the deck, SKY FIRE, against me, and unless you give him ample time to make it, he probably won't use it very much on you either. Don't worry too much about the Reactor cards; just focus on destroying them when they pop up. However, you DO need to worry about Dark Strike Fighter. Greigor can access it pretty easily, and you don't want it to stay on the field too long. Bottomless, Oppression, and the like will take care of it. Book of Moon helps if you have no other options. Other than Dark Strike Fighter, Greigor is pretty easy to beat. David (DVID) Monsters: 20 -3 Ehren, Lightsworn Monk -3 Golem Sentry -3 Kelbek -3 Legendary Jujitsu Master -1 Neo-Spacian Grand Mole -3 Penguin Soldier -2 Raiza the Storm Monarch -2 Wall of Illusion Spells: 10 -3 Book of Moon -1 Brain Control -1 Heavy Storm -1 Monster Reborn -1 Mystical Space Typhoon -3 Shrink Traps: 10 -2 Compulsory Evacuation Device -2 Kunai with Chain -2 Phoenix Wing Wind Blast -3 Solemn Judgment -1 Torrential Tribute Extra Deck: 0 The Scoop: This deck is more annoying than hard, but I suppose the annoying part can cause David to seem hard to some. The point of this deck is to either bounce your monsters back to your hand or back to the top of your deck. This can be especially painful when a synchro monster gets returned to the Extra Deck after you used multiple resources to make it. Also, David has plenty of protection cards at his disposal, so be careful when mounting an offense. Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, Raiza the Storm Monarch, and Legendary Jujitsu Master can combo insanely well together and set you back many turns. Skill Drain works pretty well against this deck. There is nothing better than having a 900 attack Grand Mole effectively suicide into one of your stronger monsters when you chain Skill Drain to the attack. Skill Drain will also prevent annoying Penguin Soldiers from hurting you. Be warned, however – if you attack and destroy a face-down Legendary Jujitsu Master while Skill Drain is on the field, its effect WILL activate. Nobleman of Crossout and Shield Crush are also great choices here. The good thing about this deck is that it's mostly defense, so you won't need to worry about dealing with big monsters other than Raiza. I recommend using 1900 and up attack four-star monsters to attack. If they get returned to the hand, it's not a big deal. Just re-summon them and continue your onslaught. Paul (PAUL) Monsters: 20 -1 Ancient Gear Beast -2 Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon -2 Blackwing- Gale the Whirlwind -3 Green Gadget -3 Yellow Gadget -3 Red Gadget -1 Krebons -2 Psychic Commander -3 Tragoedia Spells: 18 -1 Brain Control -1 Emergency Teleport -1 Fissure -3 Geartown -1 Giant Trunade -1 Heavy Storm -1 Limiter Removal -1 Monster Reborn -1 Mystical Space Typhoon -2 Pot of Avarice -2 Shrink -1 Smashing Ground -2 Terraforming Traps: 7 -2 Bottomless Trap Hole -3 Solemn Judgment -1 Torrential Tribute -1 Mirror Force Extra Deck: 15 -1 Armory Arm -3 Black Rose Dragon -1 Blackwing Armed Wing -1 Blackwing Armor Master -1 Colossal Fighter -2 Dark Strike Fighter -1 Goyo Guardian -2 Magical Android -1 Red Dragon Archfiend -1 Stardust Dragon -1 Thought Ruler Archfiend The Scoop: Geartown Gadgets. The Gadgets are there to help gain card advantage and always have a live monster on the field. Their self-replicating ways also help fuel the three Tragoedia's attack power. The Geartown is mostly used to bring out Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon, although Paul does occasionally use the “one less tribute” effect. If you see Paul play a field spell, do NOT destroy it. In most cases, however, he will destroy it himself by playing another Geartown over a pre-existing one. Not being able to activate spells and traps until the end of the Damage Step can be troublesome if you rely on cards such as Mirror Force, Dimensional Prison, or Sakuretsu Armor. Bottomless helps permanently get rid of the Dragons but is not useful against anything else in the deck. Oppression also doesn't do much against this deck. Skill Drain turns all of Paul's monsters, besides the Dragons, into nobodies, and it makes your Battle Phase traps live again, so it is possibly the best card to use. Bringing out a Colossal Fighter successfully would be helpful as well. George (GRGE) Monsters: 19 -3 Caius the Shadow Monarch -1 Elemental Hero Stratos -1 Evil Hero Infernal Gainer -2 Evil Hero Infernal Prodigy -2 Evil Hero Malicious Edge -2 Gigantes -1 Gorz the Emissary of Darkness -2 Granmarg the Rock Monarch -3 Legendary Jujitsu Master -1 Morphing Jar -1 Neo-Spacian Grand Mole Spells: 14 -1 Brain Control -3 Dark Calling -2 Dark Fusion -2 E – Emergency Call -1 Giant Trunade -1 Heavy Storm -1 Monster Reborn -1 Mystical Space Typhoon -2 Soul Exchange Traps: 7 -3 Solemn Judgment -1 Torrential Tribute -1 Mirror Force -2 Metal Reflect Slime Extra Deck: 3 -3 Evil Hero Dark Gaia The Scoop: George uses an Evil Hero build that focuses on bringing out Evil Hero Dark Gaia. Besides the Gaia, Neo-Spacian Grand Mole and Legendary Jujitsu Master can be annoying. Other than that, this deck isn't too potent. You just need to focus on stopping the successful summon of Dark Gaia. It's not the end of the world if you allow it to be summoned, but it will usually have a very large amount of attack points, and that can be troublesome. Bottomless works well, especially since George loves summoning Malicious Edge every chance he gets. Magic Cylinder and Dimension Wall are useful against Malicious Edge, Caius, and Dark Gaia. Royal Oppression stops Dark Gaia and Gigantes but isn't that useful against anything else. H.S. (H.S.) Monsters: 23 -3 Banisher of the Light -3 Banisher of the Radiance -2 Bazoo the Soul Eater -2 Dimensional Alchemist -2 Gren Maju Da Eiza -1 Marshmallon -1 Morphing Jar -3 Morphing Jar #2 -2 Necroface -3 Needle Worm -1 Spirit Reaper Spells: 17 -1 Card Destruction -3 Dimensional Fissure -1 Giant Trunade -2 Gold Sarcophagus -1 Level Limit – Area B -3 Messenger of Peace -1 Mystical Space Typhoon -2 Soul Absorption -1 Swords of Revealing Light -2 The Shallow Grave Traps: 10 -3 Solemn Judgment -3 Bottomless Trap Hole -1 Gravity Bind -3 Macro Cosmos Extra Deck: 0 The Scoop: H.S. has possibly the most annoying deck in the game. His goal is to force you to run out of cards to draw, thereby forcing a loss on you. He has massive stall, and most of his monsters contain nasty effects. It gets dangerous committing too many monsters to the field, because a Morphing Jar #2 can really screw up the game for you. Luckily, the deck isn't as potent as it could be. The A.I. loves to summon Necroface, which returns all removed from play cards back to the deck, which defeats the main purpose of H.S.'s deck. Protection cards aren't very useful against this guy. Occasionally, H.S. will bring out a pretty powerful Necroface or Gren Maju Da Eiza, but you should be able to stop the one or two threats that pop up while dueling him. I recommend Skill Drain to stop his nasty flip effects and make Spirit Reaper and Marshmallon killable. Spell and trap destruction is huge; pack some Mobius the Frost Monarch, along with Dust Tornado and the usual suspects. I wouldn't worry too much about a face-up Macro Cosmos or Dimensional Fissure; focus on destroying any stall cards that might be stopping you. I don't recommend playing a deck that focuses on graveyard use, as it won't be very effective. Kuwabara (KBRA) Monsters: 24 -3 Mechanicalchaser -2 Renge, Gatekeeper of Dark World -3 Black Salvo -1 Chaos Sorcerer -1 Gorz the Emissary of Darkness -3 Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands -1 Sangan -3 Senju of the Thousand Hands -3 Tragoedia -1 Dark Master – Zorc -3 Demise, King of Armageddon Spells: 11 -1 Advanced Ritual Art -2 Allure of Darkness -2 Book of Moon -1 Brain Control -2 Contract with the Abyss -2 Gold Sarcophagus -1 Heavy Storm Traps: 5 -3 Bottomless Trap Hole -1 Crush Card Virus -1 Torrential Tribute Extra Deck: 15 -2 Armory Arm -3 Black Rose Dragon -1 Colossal Fighter -2 Dark Strike Fighter -1 Goyo Guardian -1 Iron Chain Dragon -2 Magical Android -1 Red Dragon Archfiend -1 Stardust Dragon -1 Thought Ruler Archfiend The Scoop: This deck, in the right hands, could pack a punch, but Kuwabara doesn't play it all that well. His main focus is to bring out a Ritual card, no matter what the cost is. He will expend multiple cards to bring out a Demise or Dark Master – Zorc. He will always go with Dark Master over Demise if he has both in his hand. Again, don't commit too much to the field, as Demise and Black Rose will destroy everything. Bottomless is very useful, as nine times out of ten, Kuwabara will activate Demise's effect upon summon, so you'll get a free field nuke, at a cost of 2000 life points to him. You could always use Skill Drain to stop him from grabbing what he needs from his deck, as well as stopping Ritual effects. He doesn't run much protection other than Bottomless, so don't be afraid to be aggressive. Black Salvo gives him decent access to Dark Strike Fighter, so be aware of that. Cynthia (CTHA) Monsters: 18 -1 Elemental Hero Clayman -2 Elemental Hero Sparkman -2 Elemental Hero Bladedge -1 Elemental Hero Necroshade -2 Elemental Hero Ocean -1 Elemental Hero Prisma -1 Elemental Hero Stratos -2 Elemental Hero Wildheart -2 Elemental Hero Woodsman -3 King of the Swamp -1 Morphing Jar Spells: 15 -3 E – Emergency Call -1 Heavy Storm -3 Miracle Fusion -1 Monster Reborn -1 Mystical Space Typhoon -2 Polymerization -2 R – Righteous Justice -1 Reinforcement of the Army -1 Super Polymerization Traps: 7 -3 Solemn Judgment -2 Hero Signal -1 Mirror Force -1 Torrential Tribute Extra Deck: 15 -2 Elemental Hero Absolute Zero -1 Elemental Hero Darkbright -2 Elemental Hero Gaia -1 Elemental Hero Necroid Shaman -2 Elemental Hero Plasma Vice -1 Elemental Hero Shining Flare Wingman -2 Elemental Hero Terra Firma -1 Elemental Hero Thunder Giant -1 Elemental Hero Wild Wingman -2 Elemental Hero Wildedge The Scoop: Cynthia loves summoning cards from her Extra Deck. She loves it so much that she will use every single card she has just to bring out one card. For some reason, she'll even fuse stronger Fusions that are on her field for weaker ones. This girl has no concept of card advantage, or dueling in general, really. None of her monsters matter except her Fusions, and even then, they are mostly just beat sticks. Absolute Zero is the only one that can be troublesome, as it will destroy all of your monsters if it leaves the field, no matter how that happens. As always, Bottomless will tear this deck apart. Royal Oppression stops all of her big plays. Destruction like Smashing Ground and Fissure will take out the Fusions already on the field. Sakuretsu Armor and Dimensional Prison work well. Overall, Cynthia is fairly easy. Catherine (CRNE) Monsters: 20 -3 Abyssal Kingshark -2 Fishborg Blaster -3 Golden Flying Fish -3 Oyster Meister -2 Royal Swamp Eel -3 Superancient Deepsea King Coelacanth -1 Treeborn Frog -3 Warrior of Atlantis Spells: 13 -2 A Legendary Ocean -2 Big Wave Small Wave -1 Brain Control -1 Giant Trunade -1 Heavy Storm -1 Monster Reborn -1 Mystical Space Typhoon -2 Pot of Avarice -1 Swords of Revealing Light -1 United We Stand Traps: 7 -3 Solemn Judgment -1 Torrential Tribute -2 Fish Depth Charge -1 Mirror Force Extra Deck: 15 -2 Armory Arm -2 Black Rose Dragon -1 Colossal Fighter -2 Dark Strike Fighter -1 Goyo Guardian -1 Iron Chain Dragon -3 Magical Android -1 Red Dragon Archfiend -1 Thought Ruler Archfiend -1 Stardust Dragon The Scoop: Cynthia is usually pretty easy to defeat, but sometimes she can luck into a win with some big fish plays. The deck is meant to bring out Superancient Deepsea King Coelacanth as fast as possible, but that only seems to work a bit of the time. Instead of bringing out Royal Swamp Eel for big synchro plays, Cynthia brings out useless Oyster Meisters and the like. As is the case for most decks in this game, Bottomless and Oppression are huge. If you wait to Bottomless until Cynthia brings out all the monsters from Coelacanth's effect, you will destroy all monsters brought out that have over 1500 attack. Don't get United We Stand'd with a field full of Fish. Also, 
don't worry about Fish Depth Charge; for some reason, Cynthia has a tendency 
to activate it for no reason and end up destroying her own cards. 

Yuko (YUKO)

Monsters: 16
-1 Dandylion
-3 Dupe Frog
-2 Flip Flop Frog
-3 Junk Synchron
-1 Neo-Spacian Grand Mole
-1 Sangan
-3 Substitoad
-2 Unifrog

Spells: 16
-2 Fires of Doomsday
-1 Giant Trunade
-1 Heavy Storm
-3 Messenger of Peace
-1 Monster Reborn
-1 Mystical Space Typhoon
-1 Pot of Avarice
-1 Salvage
-1 Scapegoat
-1 Swords of Revealing Light
-3 Wetlands

Traps: 8
-2 Solemn Judgment
-1 Torrential Tribute
-2 Robbin' Goblin
-2 Bottomless Trap Hole
-1 Mirror Force

Extra Deck: 14
-2 Armory Arm
-2 Black Rose Dragon
-1 Colossal Fighter
-2 Dark Strike Fighter
-1 Iron Chain Dragon
-2 Junk Warrior
-2 Magical Android
-1 Stardust Dragon
-1 Thought Ruler Archfiend

The Scoop:

Yuko uses Frog monsters to nickel and dime your life points away. She will 
sit behind Messenger of Peace and rely on her weak monsters to do a bit of 
damage here and there. A Unifrog powered up by Wetlands can be annoying and 
surprisingly efficient. Without Wetlands on the field, her monsters are 
practically useless, save for Flip Flop Frog, which gets rid of your synchros
and stronger monsters, and Junk Synchron, which makes Junk Warrior. There 
isn't too much threat here. Keep Messenger of Peace, and possibly Wetlands, 
off of the field with spell destruction, and you should be able to run over 
her weak monsters. 

Ellie (ELLE)

Monsters: 15
-2 Black Salvo
-3 Blast Sphere
-2 Cyber Archfiend
-3 Des Koala
-3 Giant Germ
-1 Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
-1 Morphing Jar

Spells: 16
-2 Chain Strike
-3 Dark Room of Nightmare
-2 Ookazi
-3 Poison of the Old Man
-3 Tremendous Fire
-3 Wave-Motion Cannon

Traps: 9
-1 Ceasefire
-3 Just Desserts
-1 Magic Cylinder
-1 Ojama Trio
-3 Secret Barrel

Extra Deck: 13
-1 Armory Arm
-2 Black Rose Dragon
-1 Colossal Fighter
-3 Dark Strike Fighter
-1 Goyo Guardian
-2 Magical Android
-1 Red Dragon Archfiend
-1 Stardust Dragon
-1 Thought Ruler Archfiend

The Scoop:

Ellie plays a burn deck that sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. It'd work
a lot better if she used the burn effect of Poison of the Old Man instead of
healing life points, but she only uses the burn effect if it will bring your
life points to zero. She has the capability to synchro for Dark Strike 
Fighter and others, but she prefers to set her effect cards instead. If you 
attack a face down card, make sure to set as much of your hand as possible to
avoid as much damage from Des Koala as you can. Prime Material Dragon gives 
you an automatic win, unless she does decide to synchro for Dark Strike 
Fighter. Duels with Ellie usually don't take too long. Either she has a great
burn set-up or she will be dead drawing. Any sort of strategy should work on
taking her out, as long as you can do a decent amount of damage fairly 
quickly. Whatever you do, don't use Solemn Judgment unless you are about to 
lose. 

Mary (MARY)

Monsters: 19
-2 Blowback Dragon
-1 D.D. Warrior Lady
-3 Don Zaloog
-1 Exiled Force
-3 Flying Kamakiri #1
-1 Sangan
-2 Sasuke Samurai
-3 Sasuki Samurai #4
-2 Silpheed
-1 Snipe Hunter

Spells: 11
-1 Heavy Storm
-1 Monster Reborn
-1 Reinforcement of the Army
-1 Mystical Space Typhoon
-2 Rush Recklessly
-2 Second Coin Toss
-3 Shrink

Traps: 10
-3 Fairy Box
-1 Mirror Force
-2 Ordeal of a Traveler
-3 Solemn Judgment
-1 Torrential Tribute

Extra Deck: 0

The Scoop:

Mary's deck is based entirely on luck, which can either work in your favor or
make you incredibly mad. To me, Sasuke Samurai #4 can be a royal pain. It 
will instantly kill any monster it battles 50% of the time. Second Coin Toss
increases those odds. However, Mary likes to push her luck, so she'll be 
aggressive with her monsters. If she fails her coin toss(es), she ends up 
killing her own cards for you. When declaring a card for Ordeal of a 
Traveler, I suggest choosing monster card. Her deck is comprised of almost 
50% monsters, compared to about 25% spells and about 25% traps. The odds are
more in your favor if you choose “monster.” Mary plays Rush Recklessly and 
Shrink, so if you can destroy her monsters without attacking them, you'll be
safer. Mary shouldn't present much of a challenge. 

Skyun (SKYN)

Monsters: 18
-1 Elemental Hero Prisma
-1 Gladiator Beast Bestiari
-2 Gladiator Beast Darius
-2 Gladiator Beast Equeste
-1 Gladiator Beast Hoplomus
-2 Gladiator Beast Laquari
-1 Gladiator Beast Murmillo
-2 Gladiator Beast Samnite
-1 Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
-2 Rescue Cat
-3 Test Tiger

Spells: 10
-2 Cold Wave
-2 E – Emergency Call
-1 Giant Trunade
-1 Heavy Storm
-1 Lightning Vortex
-1 Monster Reborn
-1 Mystical Space Typhoon
-1 Swords of Revealing Light

Traps: 12
-2 Bottomless Trap Hole
-3 Gladiator Beast War Chariot
-1 Mirror Force
-3 Solemn Judgment
-1 Torrential Tribute
-2 Waboku

Extra Deck: 6
-3 Gladiator Beast Gyzarus
-3 Gladiator Beast Heraklinos

The Scoop:

Skyun has no idea how to play this deck, but he can luck into some wins with 
simple Gyzarus plays. He will almost always tag out his Gladiator Beasts to 
bring out Gladiator Beast Laquari. I've played him a lot, and I've never seen
him bring out Murmillo or Hoplomus. Skyun does know how to make Gyzarus with
Prisma/Test Tiger plays, but most of the time, he will simply summon Prisma 
as a 1700 attack beater. He does like to test his luck by wasting Test Tigers
to bring in Samnite with its effect. I'm sure you're tired of reading this, 
but it's the truth – Bottomless and Oppression are your best bets here. Sak 
Armor and D-Prison are very helpful. Skill Drain will turn all of his 
monsters into modest vanilla monsters. If you anticipate a Gladiator Beast 
War Chariot, try and force it out with a weaker effect monster. 

Toshi (TSHI)

Monsters: 29
-2 Celestia, Lightsworn Angel
-2 Ehren, Lightsworn Monk
-2 Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior
-1 Gragonith, Lightsworn Dragon
-2 Herald of Creation
-3 Honest
-2 Jain, Lightsworn Paladin
-2 Judgment Dragon
-3 Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner
-2 Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress
-2 Necro Gardna
-1 Plaguespreader Zombie
-2 Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter
-3 Wulf, Lightsworn Beast

Spells: 11
-2 Cold Wave
-1 Giant Trunade
-1 Heavy Storm
-1 Monster Reborn
-1 Mystical Space Typhoon
-1 Reinforcement of the Army
-3 Solar Recharge
-1 Swords of Revealing Light

Traps: 10
-3 Bottomless Trap Hole
-2 Glorious Illusion
-1 Mirror Force
-3 Solemn Judgment
-1 Torrential Tribute

Extra Deck: 13
-1 Armory Arm 
-2 Black Rose Dragon
-1 Colossal Fighter
-1 Dark Strike Fighter
-1 Goyo Guardian
-2 Magical Android
-1 Red Dragon Archfiend
-2 Revived King Ha Des
-1 Stardust Dragon
-1 Thought Ruler Archfiend

The Scoop:

For playing such a broken deck, Toshi isn't very hard to beat. Toshi isn't 
very adept at moving through his deck as fast as Lightsworn needs to, and a 
slow Lightsworn deck is a bad Lightsworn deck. Either way, don't test your 
luck. Try and finish the duel as quickly as you can. Try and neutralize 
Honest if you can. Pay attention to Toshi's graveyard; if you see a couple 
of Honests in the grave, then you have a better chance of a safe attack. If 
you can't afford to risk your monster by running into an Honest-powered light
monster, then use Book of Moon or Enemy Controller to take Honest out of the
equation. Destruction like Smashing Ground is helpful in that way as well. 
Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer prevents Necro Gardna from activating and can 
remove Lightsworn names to make summoning Judgment Dragon more difficult. 
Macro Cosmos and Dimensional Fissure destroy this deck. You can use 
Light-Imprisoning Mirror, but I believe there are other, more useful options.
Play smart and don't let yourself get beat by Judgment Dragon or Honest. 

Abie (ABIE)

Monsters: 19
-2 Black Salvo
-3 Blast Sphere
-2 Lava Golem
-1 Marshmallon
-3 Solar Flare Dragon
-1 Spirit Reaper
-2 Stealth Bird
-3 UFO Turtle
-2 Volcanic Slicer

Spells: 13
-1 Giant Trunade
-1 Level Limit – Area B
-3 Messenger of Peace
-1 Monster Reborn
-1 Mystical Space Typhoon
-3 Nightmare's Steelcage
-1 Swords of Revealing Light
-2 Wave-Motion Cannon

Traps: 8
-1 Gravity Bind
-3 Nightmare Wheel
-3 Solemn Judgment
-1 Wall of Revealing Light

Extra Deck: 13
-1 Armory Arm
-2 Black Rose Dragon
-1 Colossal Fighter
-3 Dark Strike Fighter
-1 Goyo Guardian
-2 Magical Android
-1 Red Dragon Archfiend
-1 Stardust Dragon
-1 Thought Ruler Archfiend 

The Scoop:

Abie uses a fire-based burn deck. It doesn't move very fast, but it is much 
better at stalling than the other burn decks in the game. Even though it will
take him a little while to burn you for game, don't get too complacent. Be 
aggressive and take him out as soon as you can. Mobius the Frost Monarch, 
Breaker the Magical Warrior, and the usual spell and trap destruction is 
wildly useful. Be careful not to attack into a Blast Sphere with your 
strongest monsters; if this happens, either tribute that monster off or use 
Book of Moon to get rid of the equip. Book of Moon won't stop Nightmare 
Wheel; in fact, it will only trap your monster in face-down defense position,
and you will still take the 500 damage. If given a Lava Golem, you can either
tribute it off or flip it face-down with Book of Moon so that you don't take 
damage. You probably won't take much battle damage from Abie, so protection 
cards aren't that useful. Two Solar Flare Dragons on the field creates an 
attack lock, so try not to let that happen. There's always the possibility of
Dark Strike Fighter (why does every other deck have this option splashed 
in?), so be careful. 

Ben (BENN)

Monsters: 19
-3 Banisher of the Radiance
-1 Breaker the Magical Warrior
-1 Chaos Sorcerer
-1 Cyber Dragon
-1 D.D. Warrior Lady
-3 Doomcaliber Knight
-3 Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo
-1 Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
-1 Neo-Spacian Grand Mole
-1 Sangan
-3 Thunder King Rai-Oh

Spells: 10
-2 Book of Moon
-1 Brain Control
-1 Fissure
-1 Heavy Storm
-1 Monster Reborn
-1 Mystical Space Typhoon
-2 Shrink
-1 Smashing Ground

Traps: 11
-3 Dimensional Prison
-1 Mirror Force
-3 Royal Oppression
-1 Torrential Tribute
-3 Solemn Judgment

Extra Deck: 0

The Scoop:

Ben runs what is called an anti-meta deck. It is supposed to directly oppose
the most popular decks of the day. It actually does a decent job at that. If
you rely on special summoning, then his Royal Oppressions will shut you down.
You can counter that with Trap Stun, Jinzo, or Royal Decree. You can chain 
Mystical Space Typhoon or Dust Tornado to the activation of Royal Oppression,
and it will not only stop it from working, but Ben will still have to pay the
800 life points for it. Doomcaliber Knight can really hurt you if you aren't 
prepared. Your job is to force it out. Treeborn Frog is an amazing way to 
stop it, as you can still bring Treeborn Frog back after Doomcaliber is 
tributed. Of course, shoddy A.I. will work in your favor sometimes; Ben will
summon Breaker the Magical Warrior while Doomcaliber is on the field, which 
will end up destroying them both. If Ben sets a monster, it is probably 
Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo. If your field is full of special summoned monsters,
don't attack into it unless you have absolutely no other choice. 

Lucky (LCKY)

Monsters: 20
-3 Caius the Shadow Monarch
-1 Cyber Dragon
-1 D.D. Warrior Lady
-1 Exiled Force
-3 Krebons
-3 Mobius the Frost Monarch
-1 Plaguespreader Zombie
-2 Raiza the Storm Monarch
-1 Treeborn Frog
-2 Spell Striker
-2 Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch

Spells: 15
-1 Brain Control
-1 Emergency Teleport
-2 Foolish Burial
-1 Giant Trunade
-1 Heavy Storm
-1 Monster Reborn
-3 Instant Fusion
-1 Mystical Space Typhoon
-1 Reinforcement of the Army
-2 Soul Exchange
-1 Swords of Revealing Light

Traps: 5
-3 Solemn Judgment
-1 Mirror Force
-1 Torrential Tribute

Extra Deck: 15
-2 Darkfire Dragon
-2 Reaper on the Nightmare
-2 Zombie Warrior
-1 Armory Arm
-2 Black Rose Dragon
-1 Colossal Fighter
-1 Dark Strike Fighter
-1 Goyo Guardian
-1 Magical Android
-1 Stardust Dragon
-1 Thought Ruler Archfiend

The Scoop:

Lucky plays a Monarch deck that contains way too many Monarchs. The key to 
your success is to keep monsters off of his field. If he can't tribute 
something, then his hand is most likely dead, and with little protection, he
should be simple to defeat. Attack quickly and leave him no monsters. If he 
has a trap set and Treeborn in the graveyard, don't destroy the trap. If it's
Solemn, then Treeborn will be stuck in the graveyard. You can use Skill Drain
to negate the effects of the Monarchs, and Bottomless gets rid of them. 
Oppression stops Instant Fusion, Spell Striker, and Emergency Teleport, but 
it isn't that useful overall. Lucky isn't hard to beat; just don't let him 
get any sort of rhythm and don't let him start cycling through Monarchs. 

Windy (WNDY)

Monsters: 18
-3 Arcana Force 0 – The Fool
-3 Bountiful Artemis
-2 Harvest Angel of Wisdom
-1 Marshmallon
-3 Meltiel, Sage of the Sky
-3 Voltanis the Adjudicator
-3 Zeradias, Herald of Heaven

Spells: 6
-1 Giant Trunade
-1 Monster Reborn
-1 Mystical Space Typhoon
-1 Swords of Revealing Light
-2 The Sanctuary in the Sky

Traps: 16
-2 Black Horn of Heaven
-3 Dark Bribe
-2 Divine Wrath
-2 Drastic Drop Off
-1 Mirror Force
-2 Negate Attack
-3 Solemn Judgment
-1 Torrential Tribute

Extra Deck: 0

The Scoop:

Windy runs a poor version of Counter Fairies. I'm not sure why the creators 
failed to include the trump card, Honest, in this build, but that just means
an easier win for you. Jinzo or Royal Decree destroy this deck. Spell and 
trap destruction is very effective. If Zeradias, Herald of Heaven and The 
Sanctuary in the Sky are on the field, focus on destroying the field card 
first. You'll take out two cards in one shot. Windy seems to feel safe 
summoning Arcana Force 0 – The Fool while The Sanctuary in the Sky is on the 
field. If you can destroy the field spell, you'll have a free target to 
attack. Voltanis can be a nuisance, but your own spell and trap destruction 
should take it out. Windy only becomes hard if you can't do anything about 
her traps; don't let that happen to you. 

Yuma (YUMA)

Monsters: 20
-2 Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind
-1 Chaos Sorcerer
-1 Cyber Dragon
-1 D.D. Warrior Lady
-1 Dark Armed Dragon
-1 Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
-3 Hyper Synchron
-3 Mystic Tomato
-1 Plaguespreader Zombie
-3 Powered Tuner
-1 Sangan
-2 Summoner Monk

Spells: 13
-2 Allure of Darkness
-1 Brain Control
-2 Creature Swap
-1 Giant Trunade
-1 Monster Reborn
-1 Heavy Storm
-3 Mind Control
-1 Mystical Space Typhoon
-1 Swords of Revealing Light

Traps: 7
-2 Bottomless Trap Hole
-1 Crush Card Virus
-1 Mirror Force
-2 Solemn Judgment
-1 Torrential Tribute

Extra Deck: 15
-1 Armory Arm
-3 Black Rose Dragon
-2 Colossal Fighter
-2 Dark Strike Fighter
-1 Goyo Guardian
-1 Magical Android
-1 Red Dragon Archfiend
-2 Stardust Dragon
-2 Thought Ruler Archfiend

The Scoop:

Yuma basically uses a Colossal Fighter deck, as that's what she will be 
bringing out against you. She'll use Summoner Monk to bring out Hyper 
Synchron and synchro for Colossal Fighter. This means your two best friends, 
Bottomless Trap Hole and Royal Oppression, will be of great assistance. 
Colossal Fighter doesn't have any destruction protection, so feel free to use
whatever sort of destruction you can. Caius works well at getting rid of 
Colossal. I say to focus on Colossal because that's the card she mainly uses.
Other than that and an occasional Dark Armed Dragon to deal with, dueling 
Yuma is pretty easy. 

Lilly (LILY)

Monsters: 20
-2 Armageddon Knight
-1 Dark Armed Dragon
-2 Goblin Zombie
-1 Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
-2 Krebons
-1 Mezuki
-1 Necro Gardna
-1 Plaguespreader Zombie
-1 Psychic Commander
-3 Pyramid Turtle
-1 Sangan
-1 Spirit Reaper
-3 Zombie Master

Spells: 16
-2 Allure of Darkness
-2 Book of Life
-1 Brain Control
-2 Burial from a Different Dimension
-1 Card of Safe Return
-1 Monster Reborn
-1 Heavy Storm
-1 Mystical Space Typhoon
-1 Emergency Teleport
-2 Foolish Burial
-1 Giant Trunade
-1 Swords of Revealing Light

Traps: 4
-2 Solemn Judgment
-1 Torrential Tribute
-1 Crush Card Virus

Extra Deck: 15
-1 Armory Arm
-2 Black Rose Dragon
-1 Colossal Fighter
-1 Dark Strike Fighter
-2 Doomkaiser Dragon
-1 Goyo Guardian
-2 Magical Android
-1 Red Dragon Archfiend
-2 Revived King Ha Des
-1 Stardust Dragon
-1 Thought Ruler Archfiend

The Scoop:

Lilly uses a pretty decent Zombie deck. I'll be up front: yes, Bottomless and
Royal Oppression work well against this deck. You might as well throw three 
Bottomless Trap Hole and three Royal Oppression in every deck, as it will 
counter basically everything. In particular, Lilly can synchro summon fairly 
easily, and she can reach for a variety of monsters, so stay on your toes and
expect anything. Like against Lightsworn, Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer, along 
with removal cards like Macro Cosmos and Dimensional Fissure, work very well
against Lilly. Not very much trap protection here, so don't be afraid to 
attack, attack, and attack some more. Keep synchro-material monsters off of 
the field and keep the possible damage to a minimum. 

Roly (ROLY)

Monsters: 12
-2 Black Salvo
-3 Blast Sphere
-3 Des Koala
-1 Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
-1 Morphing Jar
-2 Tragoedia

Spells: 12
-3 Dark Room of Nightmare
-3 Poison of the Old Man
-3 Tremendous Fire
-3 Wave-Motion Cannon

Traps: 16
-3 Dimension Wall
-3 Just Desserts
-1 Magic Cylinder
-2 Metal Reflect Slime
-1 Ojama Trio
-3 Secret Barrel
-3 Zoma the Spirit

Extra Deck: 13
-2 Armory Arm
-1 Black Rose Dragon
-1 Colossal Fighter
-3 Dark Strike Fighter
-1 Goyo Guardian
-2 Magical Android
-1 Red Dragon Archfiend
-1 Stardust Dragon
-1 Thought Ruler Archfiend

The Scoop:

I'm going to copy and paste Ellie's write-up, because dueling Roly is the 
exact same. Roly plays a burn deck that sometimes works and sometimes 
doesn't. It'd work a lot better if she used the burn effect of Poison of the 
Old Man instead of healing life points, but she only uses the burn effect if 
it will bring your life points to zero. She has the capability to synchro for
Dark Strike Fighter and others, but she prefers to set her effect cards 
instead. If you attack a face down card, make sure to set as much of your 
hand as possible to avoid as much damage from Des Koala as you can. Prime 
Material Dragon gives you an automatic win, unless she does decide to synchro
for Dark Strike Fighter. Duels with Roly usually don't take too long. Either 
she has a great burn set-up or she will be dead drawing. Any sort of strategy
should work on taking her out, as long as you can do a decent amount of 
damage fairly quickly. Whatever you do, don't use Solemn Judgment unless you 
are about to lose. 

One difference between the two girls: Roly has three Dimension Walls. If your
life points are low, don't run into one and take a loss. Try to get rid of it
first. Remember, it counts as battle damage, so Prime Material Dragon does 
nothing against it. 

Nelly (NLLY)

Monsters: 22
-3 Banisher of the Light
-3 Banisher of the Radiance
-2 Bazoo the Soul Eater
-2 Dimensional Alchemist
-2 Gren Maju Da Eiza
-1 Morphing Jar
-3 Morphing Jar #2
-2 Necroface
-3 Needle Worm
-1 Spirit Reaper

Spells: 16
-1 Card Destruction
-3 Dimensional Fissure
-1 Giant Trunade
-2 Gold Sarcophagus
-1 Level Limit – Area B
-3 Messenger of Peace
-2 Soul Absorption
-1 Swords of Revealing Light
-2 The Shallow Grave

Traps: 4
-1 Bottomless Trap Hole
-1 Gravity Bind
-1 Solemn Judgment 
-1 Macro Cosmos

Extra Deck: 0

The Scoop:

Nelly is the almost exactly the same as H.S. There is one big difference: 
Nelly has no Solemns and only one Bottomless Trap Hole to stop you. Same 
strategy goes, except it should be a little easier to attack. Go nuts. 

***Closing Words, FAQs (ENDD)***

Well, that's a wrap. I hope that I've helped in some way or another. If you 
have any questions or comments (I'm sure I've made plenty of grammar 
mistakes/typos), please contact me at the email I posted. I'll leave credit 
for anyone who contributes. 

Q: Wow, Solemn is so cheap! How can I beat it?
A: Having Solemn stop your big play can be irritating, but it's not that
cheap. Use the high cost to your advantage; Dark Strike Fighter severely
punishes Solemn plays. The A.I. will use Solemn on lesser cards, so try to
force the activation by using a weaker or less important card.

Q: The game's prompts are so annoying! How can I stop the game from asking
me if I want to activate a card after every phase of the duel?
A: Hold the B button, and you won't be prompted for anything. However, be 
careful not to hold the B button for too long and miss the timing of a card
you DO want to activate.

Q: This game is glitched! Some of my cards don't work the right way!
A: This is a common misconception. I assure you that every card works the 
way it is supposed to. Yugioh uses some strange, and sometimes confusing,
rules. Although something might not make sense to you, try and figure out 
what might have gone wrong. Also, be careful not to hold the B button too
long when stopping the game from prompting you for activation of a card. 

Q: How come my Dark World monsters aren't summoned when discarded? 
A: You probably aren't discarding them by card effect. There is a difference
between being discarded as a cost and being discarded as a card effect. For
example, Lightning Vortex states that you must discard one card to activate
it. For any card that requires a discard as a cost to activate, Dark World
monsters will not be summoned. A card like Dark World Lightning does not 
require a discard to activate; the discard is a byproduct of the card 
effect. 

Q: How do I earn points? 
A: How do you earn points? Basically, anything you do in a duel will earn 
you points. You special summoned a monster? You'll get points for that. You 
played a spell card? Yep, you'll get points for that as well. You'll get the 
most points by simply winning a duel, although certain decks can actually net
you more points in a loss than most decks can in a win. In particular, Chain 
Burn decks and mill decks can earn a ton of points.

Q: Quickest way to earn points?
A: Use Chain Burn or a mill deck. Only play in the preliminary tournament; 
quit after you move on and start a new prelim tournament. 

Q: Can you post a deck list for ____?
A: Nope, sorry. There are plenty of other websites and forums that will be 
more than happy to help you. This guide isn't intended to be a deck garage; 
it is here to give general tips and specific tips for each duelist. 

Q: Should I buy the downloadable card packs? 
A: I don't recommend it, unless you really want the cards inside of them. You
can earn all of the downloadable cards yourself, but I won't tell you how to 
spend your money. They are a decent supplement, especially if are just 
starting out. It's totally up to you. Now, if Konami releases new card packs 
that add to the current card pool, then I wholeheartedly recommend it. 

Adios, and happy dueling!