This is something I've been meaning to share with people ever since I discovered how effective this style of play is in any trading card game.

 

Conservative means to "save". If you save your resources, then you will always get to use them later with more backup. The max hand size at the end of the turn in Yu-Gi-Oh! is six. Think of that as your "team" of cards. Cards that help you draw will allow you to get more team members.

 

I've noticed how people tend to think that to win, they need to deal as much damage as possible no matter what. That strategy is only effective when you play it in a Warrior or Rusher deck since those decks are made to generate huge amounts of damage in one opening. Other decks however require you to be conservative. Whats the point of being able to squeeze 7900 points of damage with your team of cards and lose them on your next turn. This ends up locking yourself in a deadly struggle of top decking to regroup your team.

 

There are certain cards that are one for one. Then there are others that are X to one, where X can be the number of monsters on your opponents field minus the number of monsters on your field when you play Tidal Wave. I've seen common practice in which people use a Tempest on only ONE card. Why do that when you can perhaps destroy more later? When you play Tempest where your opponent has 5 cards on the field, you have just nuked a large portion of his team and resources. Since you only used one card to do that, you can have others deal the damage to your opponent.

 

Regarding card choices to exercise the full potential of this playing style is to include strong team members. Strong cards are those that are at least 2 for 1. An example is Magic Warrior Breaker, which destroys a magic or trap card and at the same time is a monster for you to deal damage. Ice Emperor - Mobius is also an excellent choice as it offers 3 for 1 as it destroys 2 magic or traps when in comes into play through a Sacrificial Summon. It is also a 2400 attack monster, so it is very versatile.

 

You also must bait your opponent at times when you can make varying levels of impacts with your cards. If you suspect that they might have a counter for your magic, use the magic that will cause an impact and they might just think that should prevent you from doing that and use up their counter. Next, you end up playing a card that makes a bigger impact. Knowing how to deceive your opponents is how one should play. By doing that, you are basically suggesting them to do what YOU want them to do and therefore lead them onto the path of defeat.

 

As an ending note, the types of decks that employ this strategy the best are any of the various "Control" type decks out there. However, it is definitely worth a shot to try to play this way with any deck. (Except in Warrior or Rusher...just make sure you don't wait to long to get ready, the deck should be made to be ready fast in order launch a pre-emptive and hopefully final strike.) The key is to make your opponent waste their cards by using as little of your own as possible. It's fun to play this way, sometimes your opponent will feel like their mind is being read...XD

 

-BlackBird