User:Okamoto Takeo
Hi there! You can call me Takeo. It's not my actual name, of course, but it's inspired by two of the many books I'm fond of. For the backstory, see my Yugioh Card Maker page. I'm also on Fanfiction.net, which I visit far more frequently.
Latest project: Updating the summaries for the 5D's vs. Ragnarok duels. I know it's just a show and all, but it still annoys me when characters talk about their cards being gods (there will be no capital letter used here) before which there is no defense. Especially when they're idiots like Harald where the writers forced him to throw his victory away. I think Harald replaces Jean as allegedly-skilled duelist who makes some fantastically dumb mistakes.
UPDATE: Most of the blather on this page has been moved to my journal pages. For my decklists (real and otherwise), go here. For my thoughts about the anime (there's an oxymoron), go here.
Oh, and my opinion of this Zexal thing... You know, when I first heard of 5D's, I thought it would be a warped, unnaturally-prolonged revival of the Yugioh franchise. To an extent, I was wrong -- I enjoyed seeing Yusei dealing with the local class system. I definitely enjoyed the Dark Signer arc (minus Godwin's motivations -- that was a load of bunk). And judging by the Youtube comments whenever Yusei does a Clear Mind, other people think using a motorcycle to conjure a shinier dragon is cool. Maybe I'd be wrong to write Zexal off...
...but if I am, I don't want to know about it. I don't care if this is the plot equivalent of the Count of Monte Cristo, the humor equivalent of Guards! Guards!, or the action equivalent of The Bourne Identity. I don't even care if this is the overall entertainment equivalent of Avatar: The Last Airbender. In order of importance, I'm bored with trading-card-related angst, and I refuse to stare at a guy whose hair is somewhere between Yusei Fudo and Slifer the Sky Dragon.
Okay, enough of that. Thanks for reading, and see you around!
-Takeo
My reflections on Deck construction[edit]
My first cards were the video game promo Exodia head/Dark Magician/Blue-Eyes White Dragon that I bought from a friend, and I later added them to a Yugi Starter Deck. After much negotiation, I eventually traded the Exodia head for another Blue-Eyes, Shadow Ghoul, Horn of the Unicorn and Gaia Power. Of course, the metagame's moved far away from beat-down tactics since then, and I moved too. Almost all the cards I just mentioned have been traded or otherwise put away in exchange for new favorites.
However, Gaia Power has never been far from my Deck. I got a second one as a gift from another friend, providing some always-welcome backup. (I wondered afterwards if the gift was prompted by me referring him to someone who wanted to dispose of a Manticore of Darkness, which soon became one of his favorite cards.) I liked EARTH monsters at first because they were powerful and straightforward, and I already had a lot of them. Since then, they've gained searching power, which is a must for me because I never picked up the mentality of "slimmer Deck = better."
It's kinda strange... I've found that whenever I seek out and buy a particular card (or even a tin in order to get its featured card), the result is never as good as I expect it to be. My favorite strategies came from trades or from cards (especially Common cards) that I pulled by chance from packs and decided to make the most of. Examples:
- I bought a boxed triple-pack in hopes of getting Soul Rope, but I got Vortex Trooper instead. I got a Soul Rope later, but it didn't do as much for my Gladiator Beasts as Vortex Trooper did.
- I joined a dueling club where the supervisors gave out common cards for attending. One of them was Needle Ceiling. Hilarity ensued.
- I finally traded for Jinzo, a card I'd coveted for a long time due to my beatdown tactics running into lots of traps. Not until I summoned him did I realize a) I depended on plenty of Traps also, and b) my opponents were better at beatdown Spells than I was. Jinzo got his ass kicked.
- Random pulls from packs: Snatch Steal, Spirit Reaper, Spiritual Earth Art - Kurogane
There's no "heart of the cards", but there's definitely no "heart of the shopping list." It's the surprises that God gives me in life that keep me moving.
