Good Bye 2011

2011 is gonna end in a few hours, and heres what I have to say about the year for YGO.

It has been a bad one ...

Well, compare to 2010, anything not better will seem bad, since it was that good of a year for the game, movies, Duelist Revolution among others.

2011 was a bad year for YGO for me at least, and the Malaysian YGO community (KL).

Main reason was Cardfight! Vanguard. The game was much more simple and luck based as compare to YGO, but it penetrated the market at the right time. Comparing this to what Duel Masters did a few years back. DM was a much more strategical game and very very much more complex, so, its target market are competitive players (or so it seems), BUT that was 2005~2006-ish, YGO was super huge back then and it was Goat Control format, it didn't caught on, and faded away. What CV did was it came in when YGO was a mess with loads of overpowered combos - Six Samurai era. People stray away because the game ended too fast for them and Kizan was rm100 a piece, a playset of those, Shi-En, Gates and Grandmasters would easily hover between 900~1000, for a country which pays their fresh grad Engineers (points at me) about 2000 per month, thats quite an amount.

Now, you see half of the YGO players playing CV in KL. Most of us are only playing this as an secondary cardgame, only having 1 deck and still focusing on YGO, BUT, no other (card) game had this effect on the community,  which YGO reign supreme for at least a decade. Although I've seen lesser players from our side playing that actively on that side. Well, CV is now as expensive or maybe more expensive than YGO is, I think thats the main reason people came back, that, or the game is just too simple for us who likes traps and Effect Veilers.

The other important thing that happen in 2011 is, of cause, Monster Exceeds.

Exceeds may not had change the game like Stardust and his lot did 3 years ago, BUT, there's no doubt that they are here to stay (unlike Fusions and Ritual). And they are getting more powerful as more sets are introduced.

Aside from the 1 main point that made 2011, 2011. There really isn't anything thats gonna be remembered for. The March and Spetember formats are perhaps, the most boring of formats in a long long time. Its not that the balance between decks are off, the games (here) are very much skill based, and we see decks that control doing as well as decks that spam. But, its still very dull. 2011 can be described as the year of Gachi Gachi, as Hyperion rode it to top deck status and stayed there for the rest of the year (although Inzektors are giving them a run for their money).

Thats YGO as a whole for 2011 from my point of view. Now, off to myself.

I'm doing better this year as compare to last year. I've top considerably more shop events than I've ever did. And I've made it to top16 in Christmas Tourney a few days ago in Single Elimination format, which I suck at and has never advance pass top64 since 2006.

I've been better at my game now, that is, taking down top tier decks with ex-top tier decks. Basically showing them how good is the deck they had betrayed. Up to now, I have always played decks that were dominating the pass formats, its almost as if, when the deck loses popularity, I would play it, mainly cause the pieces are easier to assemble and mocking people like this feels good.

Thats it for today, its new years eve and I have a life. Not gonna post an E HERO decklist like I did for the past 2 years, since I've already update my current strategies in the Mask Change post.

Bye 2011, and welcome 2012!!