Choosinig a Deck and topdecking

The Basics of: Deck Testing and Deck Making
An article by Scott “Myscio” Spearman

The Basics of deck building.


Ok I understand why so many people have a hard time comprehending the idea of deck building. The reason: they do not understand the basics. I will explain what I mean.

To build a deck all you need is about 40 cards and a purpose. (I personally started off with the original Starter Deck Kaiba back around 1999-2000. This is when it all started. I being poor at the time did not get into the game almost until Metal Raiders came out.) Without a purpose your deck means nothing whether it is Dark Worlds, Warriors, Spellcasters, or Chain Strike there is a purpose, So First make sure your deck has a purpose or it will not so well. Most deck consist of themes. These are like the purpose but it is different.


Topdecking

Topdecking performance is also considered carefully by savvy duelists. "Topdecking" refers to a time during a duel when your hand has no cards in it, and you need to rely on whatever you draw to save you.

For anybody interested in how you figure out how well your deck topdecks (other than by experience), I do the following with a newly built deck:

1. Assume you have 2000 life points.

2. Assume your opponent has a 1900 ATK monster and Jinzo on the field.

3. Draw through your deck one card at a time and mark on a piece of paper if that single draw helps or doesn't help stop an immediate loss during your opponent's next turn if the opponent attacks with the 1900 ATK monster first. Count Graceful Charity in the "help" column, but don't draw for it.

4. If more than half of your cards are in the "help" column, your deck topdecks fine. If less than half are, it doesn't. If less than 25 percent of your total deck helps you, your deck probably needs some reworking.

The reason that Jinzo is assumed to be in play during this process is to account for spell and trap removal cards your opponent is assumed to have to remove your triggered traps. Cards such as Waboku are also taken out of the equation, which is good because it stalls the game for one turn but does not help your topdecking performance.

There are many reasons why this isn't a completely accurate measure of how likely your deck is to topdeck well--it's just meant to give you a rough idea.