Anima's Deck Building Guide!!!!

here's a step by step guide to create a basic (good) deck...



A lot of beginning players think that a good Deck Size is whatever size will allow them to include all the cards they want. Some even think that larger decks are better, on the grounds that they permit a wider variety of cards.

Simply put, this is wrong. Smaller decks are superior to larger decks.

The thing about larger decks is that, though there are more cards available, you have a significantly lower chance of drawing any given card. If you are unable to draw the cards you need with some degree of consistency, the deck will be unable to win with some degree of consistency. Furthermore, since you can only have three copies of each card in your deck, and many staples can be run only in one or two copies, your chances of playing your best cards are slim.

This is not just my opinion; this is a commonly accepted standard among better duelist. If you look at large tournaments, such as Shonen Jump Championships, all the best decks have low numbers of cards; most have 40, generally the best number, and none has more than 45.

Here are some percentages to give you an idea:
1. 39% - The Chance Of Opening With At Least 1 Copy Of A Card You Run 3 Of
2. 28% - The Chance Of Opening With At Least 1 Of 2 Exact Cards
3. 5.4% - The Chance of Opening With At Least 2 Copies Of The Same Card You Run 3 Of
4. 14% - The Chance Of Opening With a 2-Card Combo of 2 Different Cards You Run In 3's
5. 49% - The Chance of Opening With At Least 1 of 4 Target Cards (protective traps / key cards)
6. 58% - The Chance Of Opening With At Least 1 Of 5 Target Cards (game breakers / protective traps)
7. 15% - The Chance of Opening With At Least 2 Of 5 Target Cards (If your opponent plays a protective trap, this is the chance he will have another)
8. 65% - The Chance of Opening With At Least 1 of 6 Target Cards (searchers, draw cards, d draw targets)
9. 15% - The Chance Of Opening With 1 Exact Card (chance of opening with heavy storm )
10. 1.9% - The Chance Of Opening With 2 Exact Cards (chance of double Judgment Dragon or Thunder Dragon or Goblin Zombie)

These percentages were provied from http://www.yugiohcardguide.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=187819#p187819


Most good decks should have 40 cards; having more is permissible, but 40 is generally ideal. Of course, there are a few exceptions, depending on the decktype being used. Gadget decks or Lightsworn decks, for example, often run more cards to reduce the player's chances of drawing redundant copies of certain cards. However, even these decks generally do not run more than 45 cards.



Each deck needs a theme of some sort. Some new players will simply throw together cards that they like; however, these decks, commonly described as "HOLY PILE OF RANDOM, BATMAN!", suffer from a severe lack of synergy. Synergy is the way in which the cards in a deck work together and complement one another; random decks generally do not have this support, leaving them at a huge disadvantage.

A deck's theme could be anything from a series of cards that were specifically designed to work together as a set, such as the Crystal Beast cards, to cards that all support a specific win condition, for example Exodia.



Each deck needs a win condition, also called a deck goal, or a manner in which that deck is designed to win the duel. Keeping this win condition in mind when building a deck helps to make that deck more focused. Teching in random cards or cards that have no synergy with the deck focus/goal is not the way to go as it can disrupt the Flow of the deck.

Something like "attack and make the opponent's Life Points zero" is not a specific enough win condition; something like "rapidly gain field advantage to defeat the opponent" for Six Samurai or "use the effect of Crystal Abundance to attack the opponent and win" for Crystal Beasts would be more appropriate. Even though both involve attacking the opponent to obliterate his or her Life Points, the manner of doing so is drastically different.

Of course, some decktypes do not involve reducing the opponent's Life Points. Decks focused on cards like Exodia, for example, win by fulfilling different conditions; in this case, you have to have all 5 peices of exodia in ur hand fulfilling the conditions is the deck's win condition. There is also Final Countdown which focuses on stalling for 20 turns in order to gain an automatic win.



When constructing a deck, it is important to have a good ratio of monsters, spells, and traps. All cards placed in the deck should be focused to the deck's goal, including spells/traps, you can add staples after you have what is needed for the decks goal. In a standard 40-card deck whose win condition involves attacking the opponent and reducing his or her Life Points in a non-OTK method, a good balance usually involves 18-22 monsters (16-24 at the outside), with the remainder divided between spells and traps, usually with about 2 spells for every 1 trap. As for OTK/FTK an OTK deck can depend on what u are using, for example a Fabled deck has a lot of monsters in the deck and very few spells/traps they only run what is absolutely needed, but in something like a Chimeratech OTK u need a few more spells and traps in order to search what u need, or get the requirements for the OTK, then in Exodia, which is mostly an FTK deck will revolve around more spells then anything and only the monsters absolutely needed in order to use those spells.

Of course, there are many other exceptions. For example, decks including Jinzo and/or Royal Decree should run low numbers of traps if any at all. A deck's win condition can also affect the ratio, Diamond Dude Turbo decks, for example, usually run about 11 monsters, a large number of Normal Spells, and almost no (if any) traps in order to gain the most advantage from Diamond dudes effect.



When constructing a deck, individual card choices can be almost as important as the overall deck structure. As an example, Hero Barrier http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Hero_Barrier . Many beginner Elemental Hero decks use this card, but it is, in actuality, a very bad card. The following cards serve a purpose that is exactly like that of Hero Barrier, except better:

* Mirror Force
* Negate Attack
* Threatening Roar
* Waboku
* Sakuretsu Armor
* Dimensional Prison
* Magic Cylinder
* Draining Shield

Generally, there is no reason that Hero Barrier should be used, since any one of these cards can do the exact same thing except with an added bonus and no restriction.

Of course, even within the cards that are superior to Hero Barrier, some are better than others. Mirror Force and Dimensional Prison are both superior to Sakuretsu Armor, and Mirror Force is also superior to Negate Attack, Threatening Roar, and Waboku. Since Magic Cylinder and Draining Shield do not provide any advantage and can only negate one attack, they are often considered inferior to the other cards that serve similar purposes (outside of a Burn or Life Point Increase deck, respectively).

This is just one example of how card choices can weaken or strengthen a deck, depending on whether they are done properly.



Situational cards can only be used under specific circumstances. For example, Amplifier can only be used while Jinzo is on the field. Situational cards are generally considered weak, as unless specific conditions are fulfilled, they are completely useless dead draws.



Nomi monsters contain the text "This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card cannot be Special Summoned except..." with a summoning condition described on the card. As an example http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Judgment_Dragon this card judgment dragon is a nomi monster with slightly different text though, as an example using a card with the exact text http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Armed_Dragon_LV10 .

A Nomi's usefulness depends on the balance between how easy its summoning condition is to fulfill and how powerful its effect is. For example, Dark Armed Dragon is easy to summon and has an extremely powerful effect, so it is considered a good Nomi, worth running in a compatible deck. Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth, on the other hand, is extremely difficult to summon and is nothing more than a beatstick once it hits the field; it has no useful effect at all. This makes it not worth running in most cases.

Alot of players confuse Semi-nomi's with Nomi's, As stated all ready Nomi's can only be summoned by fullfilling the condition. Semi-Nomi's have "This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card can only be Special Summoned" in the text, like http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Black_Luster_Soldier_-_Envoy_of_the_Beginning BLS. The difference being that once the conditions for the summon have been met the card can be summoned by any other card, like Monster Reborn or Call of the Haunted. Unless the card is returned to the deck or hand by some other effect, then the condition has to met once more in order to summon it. ALL cards that go in the Extra deck are considered Semi-nomi monsters UNLESS other wise stated on the card.



Normal Monsters, sometimes called Vanilla due to their yellow background color and bland lack of effect, are sometimes added to decks due to their high ATK or DEF points and possibly their names, however, these can often hurt the deck goal. For example, Gladiator Beast Andal has good ATK and has "Gladiator Beast" in its name, but it lacks a Special Summoning effect common to the other Gladiator Beasts, which means that it doesn't support the deck goal. Millenium Shield is a good example too, as its a 5* normal monster with 3000 defence, though it has no use what so ever after its summoned apart from being a wall and cards like Spirit Reaper can do the job better and dont need a tribute.

Of course, there are some situations in which Vanilla monsters make sense. Elemental Hero Fusion-based decks usually use Elemental Hero Sparkman and Elemental Hero Clayman, since they are needed as Fusion Material. Similarly, some Spellcaster decks have a focus on Dark Magician due to the large amount of support available, ease in summoning, and high ATK. Also Rescue Rabbit aids Vanilla monsters in a large way and is one of the best ways to run a normal monster deck these days.

Vanilla monsters are fine, but only as long as they make the deck stronger.

Also try not to confuse Normal (Vaniila) monsters with Non-effect monsters, a Non-effect monster is something like http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Gaia_Knight%2C_the_Force_of_Earth this card is considered a Non-effect monster and is still effected by cards that cards that dont effect Normal monsters like http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Justi-Break . For this reason if a card requires Normal monsters to be summoned like http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Thunder_End_Dragon you can not use a Non-effect monster like http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Gem-Knight_Zirconia to summon it.



Polymerization is widely considered one of the worst of all cards that can perform a Fusion Summon, as it costs at least three cards to summon one monster, a net loss of at least two cards of advantage, and provides no extra effects.

Some Fusion cards, such as Vehicroid Connection Zone, come with an added benefit, while others, such as Miracle Fusion, can use Fusion Material Monsters that are already in the graveyard, and therefore do not result in a loss of advantage. When possible, these alternate Fusion cards are preferable to Polymerization; however, some Fusion Monsters, such as Dark Paladin, cannot benefit from any of them, and so Polymerization must be used.



If you are using Ritual Monsters, the regular Ritual Spells are not very good; Advanced Ritual Art is the best way to summon them, as this does not cost as much advantage as regular Ritual Spells. Unless the card specifically states that it has to be ritual summoned by a specific kind of ritual card like the Gishiki archetype.

Since Ritual Monsters and Ritual Spells are useless if one does not have the other, it is important that you be able to search them out to make them more usable. Therefore, most decks that run Ritual Monsters will include Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands for its search effect.

Obviously, to use Advanced Ritual Art, Vanilla monsters are also necessary; this is one of the cases where their use is acceptable. Or in some cases u avoid advanced ritual art and use the normal ritual spell combined with Djinn monsters who can be tributed once in the grave, another good card for Ritual decks is Preperation of rites as it allows u to add 1 lvl 7 or lower ritual monster from your deck and add a ritual spell from your grave.



Staples are highly splashable cards that will make most decks stronger when included. Heavy Storm, Mystical Space Typhoon, and Mirror Force are the most splashable of these; however, many others, though not quite as universal, can benefit decks just as much.

Many staples are Limtied and Semi-Limited cards on the banlist; however, not all Limited and Semi-Limited cards are so splashable. For example, Night Assailant was Limited because two copies of it could be used in an infinite loop.



In Traditional Format, all of these rules are even more important. Since decks are incredibly fast and powerful, a good balance with strong cards and many staples in a 40-card deck.


Summary: Decks should be 40 cards, have a win condition, and be focused on some sort of theme or strategy. Good cards and staples should be included, while Normal Monsters should very rarely be used. Situational cards that require specific circumstances or specific other cards to be used should be omitted. In Traditional format, all of these rules become even more important.

You should also check out why Card Advantage is so important... http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Card_Advantage

hope this helpls ^^

Also check this out http://www.yugiohcardguide.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=15549
and to put it simply.... this guide is the same as this one.... http://www.yugiohcardguide.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=3645 basically the only diff is he has pics i dont... but the fact is this is all basic information

here is a link to the current ban list as well http://www.yugiohcardguide.com/limited-and-forbidden-card-list.html

Also here is a link to the current Rule Book http://www.yugioh-card.com/oc/rulebook/3R03803_-_SD21_YGO_RuleBook_EN.pdf