By SavageTarantino.
Whats Good SE Players? Okay I know you all are expecting Part 2 of my "Defining a Shadow Era Players Skill Set" Article, But I realized something while writing it, I mention in my Article Several times about my "Core Theory" without even explaining what that is. In order to really improve your skills you need to be able to observe and discuss the game from a number of different perspectives. Balancing those perspectives is one of the skills the best players have mastered, but before you can start using all those tools at once, you need to learn the ins and outs of each basic theory.
It's interesting to consider how other writers and Players might approach the task of building that toolbox. If each article is going to focus on teaching one theory or perspective (one tool in the set), then the order in which they're presented is really important, which is why I have decided to Post-Pone Part 2 of my Article until I explain the Core Theory, So let's get started, so...Where to start? Hmm I guess there's only 1 place I can start, discussing utility. Until you can grasp this basic theory, I think it's impossible to effectively use the other important theories in Shadow Era. Understanding utility is all about judging individual cards, and until you can tell good cards from bad, you can't play the game proficiently.
With this theory mastered, you should be able to quickly approximate the play worth of individual cards - both on their own, and in the context of particular decks you're designing. You'll be able to tell which cards are the no-brainers, which ones are riskier to use, and over time you'll be able to create a balanced deck that runs a mix of both. So let's get started.
So What Are We Really Talking About?
When we talk about the "utility" of a card, we're referring to how useful that card is. A card with high utility is one that can be played to achieve something worthwhile at many different points in the game. Note that judging a card's utility isn't a binary decision: a card that's great in your opening hand may not be as good later in the game. On the flip side, a card that's unplayable in your opening hand may be amazing a few turns in.
Consider Aldon the Brave. Everyone can agree that it's a great card - there's no doubt about that. But if you draw it in your opening hand it actually has very little utility at that point. You can't summon it, and even if you could you wouldn't want to. Draw it later when you've got Jasmine Rosecult
When I look at a card and evaluate its playability, the first thing I do is consider its utility at four different points in the game:
-Turn 1-3. When I have Enough Recourses to Play my Main cards and me and my opp are just starting our strategies.
-The early-game where Board Control is being established and both me and my opponent haven't lost many cards.
-The mid-game is my third point of consideration, in which a few card exchanges have been made but both Players still have several cards remaining and are now Accessible to most if not all cards in their deck.
-And finally the late game, In which Several cards can be played in a single turn and Damage is at its most crucial stage.
You don't want to think about a single Game, match, or even a tournament when you're evaluating a card's overall utility. You want to think about its performance at different points in your Games over the course of hundreds of matches. You want to judge the card's utility over a long period of time in order to get a real impression of its averaged performance.
Synergy - The Other Side Of The Scale
Of course, utility is not the only way to measure a card's value. If it was, we'd all just play 5cc beat sticks and win Championships. We can't do that because sitting across the table from utility and ease of play, is the issue of synergy and a sum potential that's greater than individual parts.
"Synergy" is the term we use to refer to how well one card works with others. Something like Retreat!
These cards are good because even though they don't have universally high utility, the payoff for their effects is high when you can put together the right plays. On their own they're nothing. But with the right pairing they exceed the impact and potential of singular cards that have higher utility.
And that's one of the big tricks to effective deck building: recognizing which cards have high utility, which have high synergy, and then striking a balance between the two. If you play a combo-heavy deck that focuses too much on synergy, you'll frequently draw bad hands with cards that don't work together. You'll lose to someone whose deck has an overall higher utility. But if you focus too heavily on utility alone, you won't be able to consistently beat a well-balanced deck with combos that exceed your limited total potential.
Breaking The Rules
Most cards we see in tournaments feature a balance between utility and synergy, but a rare few are really good in both categories. Keep an eye out on these things when building your deck.
It's no surprise that this mix of high utility and perfect synergy is often a guiding force in tournament-level play. When a new theme debuts that either introduces a card at this level, or that can take advantage of an older card that fits this description, you should give it immediate thought. Just being able to recognize cards like these and the opportunities they present is an extremely simple way to stay on the cutting edge, but a surprisingly low number of Players can do so. Even fewer put that skill to work in order to stay ahead of their competition.
Process of Elimination
At the same time, a quick comparison of utility and synergy can let us easily identify risky cards that may not be worth playing. I have a friend who's only been Playing Yugioh for a few months, and after playing a couple fun decks and learning the ins and outs of the rules, he decided Blackwings (A popular & powerful deck at the time) were to be his first deck for competitive tournaments.
So he showed me his Blackwing deck, and proudly displayed the tech cards he was running. The card Blackwing - Elphin the Raven
And for good reason. Elphin is a Level 6 monster, which means it can't be normal summoned on its own. If you have a face-up Blackwing monster you can summon Elphin without tribute, but if you don't, it's just a dead card. More than that, being a Level 6 means it had poor Utility.
Both cards had very limited utility, and offered relatively meager rewards when combined for their respective synergies. Understandably, once my friend understood this concept he stopped running those cards.
Of course, the Shadow Era! game is always evolving and changing. A card that's low in utility or that offers insufficient synergy can become more useful as other cards are introduced. It's important not to label anything as a "bad card" on a permanent basis because the game isn't static. Don't get too overly caught up in a single theory or perspective, because if the theory becomes a crutch, it'll cost you games in the long run. Remember, my goal here is to equip you with a complete set of theories so you can use them in tandem.
Understanding utility and synergy as a basic deck building guideline will help you pick the best cards for your strategy. That understanding can be a complicated process some times, and it can't be quantified or put into numeric terms. You will make bad choices some times, and you will be proven wrong. But keep honing this perspective, and keep putting it to good use when you consider new themes and new cards. As far as I'm concerned, doing that is the first real step to becoming a successful Player.
-SavageTarantino
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Originally Posted by autumnleaf
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