Becoming a Pro: Analyzing the Game
Posted 3 Weeks Ago at 09:32 PM by WafflesofChaos

Welcome to another installment of "Becoming a Pro". This time I felt it was necessary to open up a topic about something few players ever commit to doing.

This very seldom practiced art is called analysis. No this isn't some alien type sci-fi technique, but rather a powerful tool to getting the heads up on your next tournaments or matches.

Analysis works in many forms, but I will discuss 3 major ones today. The first is the one that is forgotten by most players and its is the easiest to do.

This would be what I call the "youtube analysis" basically you know those clips of duelists playing against other duelists? Those clips are for you, the player, to study.

So how can you use this to your advantage? Simply put, study, watch and take notes. You will want to focus on 3 types of decks, the first is what ever deck you are running is the deck you will want to watch a lot of. This is because seeing it played multiple ways will tell you how and what to do in certain situations and vise versa.


Next you will want to watch clips of the current most meta decks, see how they play and what they do and how they work, you will gain a lot of knowledge about their weaknesses here. Take lots of notes and watch multiple clips of the same deck being played (as different players play different builds and run them differently). Also make sure to watch your build being played against those decks, this cuts out the middle man and allows you to see how each deck reacts.

The third is rogue decks, these decks allow you to see what other players play and see how your deck plays against them, you may want to take notes, but don't assume you will always play against these decks as rogue decks though seen a lot of rarely are the same as the last.

The next technique is the "watch and see" method, this is the worst method, but does work sometimes in rogue matches (or that's when it should be used). The method, basically put, is watch your opponent as they play, never take your eyes away when they are making a move, they will give away secrets about what they do and how you can counter these moves.

It may sound simple, but it really isn't, it takes a lot of work and concentration to pull off. You must try and study both facial expression and any body language they give off when playing certain cards. Do they look anticipated? Maybe they have a set card that will disrupt your play, some players will set their cards from their hand on the table because they want to activate a mirror force when you attack. This is a problem that you can watch out for and exploit.

Your opponent constantly reveals away their secrets in a duel you can use this to your advantage any time to get the upper hand. (My next blog will cover these secrets and how to use them to your advantage).

The next and final piece to this puzzle is the age old technique of play testing (read "Becoming a Duelist: Preparation is Key" by myself and the newer blog "The Road to Pro 2: Play Testing and Results" by LIGHTNINGBLITZ). Since this was subject was already covered I feel no need to do a recap of it.

So in short, nothing is more important then practice and study, these two things are what separates a "Pro" from the average duelist. So good luck to all of you out there who want to become a "Pro", it will take alot of work, it will never come naturally. Till next time, peace.

cool
good topic thanks

This article does make sense, in real life though since ths topic deals with reading people's Poker faces and moves but the problem is this is KCVDS you cant exactly analyse peoples faces but it makes sense in real life and sure analysing is the most key component of the game, duelist should always think like they would in chess [If i make this move what will happen next] and focus on weighing options which a lot of duelists are lacking, another problem, due to KCVDS are 2 things, im not hating on Seto Kaiba but these things need to be adressed

1. There is no Match Setting it is only single duels, in most games there is always a match setting whether in tournaments or in regular duels settings its usually a best of 3, single duels is mostly to test out different decks but what this isnt showing is how players can adjust to different situations [Side Decking], which is another Key component of Deck building and being prepared to different decks.

2. Cards are not up to date. I know it takes a while to update cards but they should be done at least a week or 2 after the new set has been released, 1. The pictures they get can be taken from the Japanease cards that were released before hand, the only thing they should be waiting on is the english translation of effects. Think of it this way from 1.19 --> 1.22 They put 2 familiar cards in [Vayu, Mistral] for Blackwing decks, there were so many other cards that could have been added in the new updates they should have just waited until they are ready

true in KVCVDS we cant see the opponents face

Yes, but this is for the game in general. Plus I did not write this article. It was a blog that I gave the link to at the top. You'll find a lot of interesting blogs at that site. Here are a few more interesting ones I have found:

New Wave of Control: Ritual Lockdown
Looking into the Future, by Using the Past
Defining the Meta: Gladiator Beasts
Guide to Gladiator Beasts
Hopeless Dragons - The Unseen Tier 1
Reconfiguring Blackwings