Beginnings

I sat alone in my hotel room, my card collection strewn over the
unused side of my bed. I had just one day to prepare for the first
round of the tournament, and I wanted to make the best of it. That
meant preparing my deck. My confidence level soared as I perused the
cards I had available.
I had recently won several smaller, regional tournaments, and so I
had amassed quite a few powerful cards that I hoped would serve me
well in the World Championships. I was still fairly new to dueling,
and I wished I had more time to form a more optimal deck strategy. I
felt too much like I was just guessing what I should choose, or just
picking the cards with the highest star levels.
Time was slipping away. The first round would be at 7:00 the next
morning, and it was already 9:30. The main deck I had assembled was,
I thought, probably good enough, but I wasn't completely sure. I went
through it one last time, just to be safe.
I had my cards alphabetized and arranged in rows of eight. 7 Colored
Fish – two copies of it – sat in the upper left corner of the layout.
I chose those because they make excellent leadoff cards, and they're
among the best four-starred offensive cards available. Next came two
copies of Aqua Madoor, possibly my favorite defensive card and
certainly the card I sacrificed more than any other as tribute for
stronger monsters.
My next card was Axe of Despair, which I had won just a week ago. I
wasn't quite used to it yet, but I knew I liked it. After that came
Banisher of Light, a defensive card. Barox was next: a fusion monster
created from Frenzied Panda and Ryu-Kishin. I don't know why I kept
the card around, but I was too tired to throw it out. Following that
was my Black Pendant. It wasn't as good as Axe of Despair, but it was
a classic equipment card.
I knew Seto Kaiba loved his Blue-Eyes White Dragon cards, and I
didn't blame him. I had two of them in my deck, gained in a lucky win
against a better opponent in my first tournament. I still cherished
them, and I figured I always would.
More than the Blue-Eyes, however, I cherished Change of Heart, which
I considered to be the best magic card in all of Duel Monsters. I
knew I could win the championship if I drew it enough, and I had many
fond memories of finishing off unsuspecting opponents by playing
Change of Heart. There are few things more satisfying than using your
opponent's defensive monster as tribute for summoning something
fierce.
I had a couple of mediocre monsters next: Crawling Dragon #2 and
Curse of Dragon. I especially disliked Curse of Dragon, as it
required a tribute to play, and it wasn't much stronger than your
average four-star monster. Still, it wasn't the worst card around.
Far better, though, was my Cyber-Tech Alligator. This one was also
new, and it was roughly as good as anything else with its summoning
cost.
I had two Dark Magician cards, as well. While they weren't my
favorites, they could still cause trouble when I could get them out,
and on many occasions, I had both on the field at once. Most of those
matches were wins for me.
Another favorite of mine came next: De-Spell. I loved this card like a son.
Next I had another great four-star monster, Dunames Dark Witch, which
had good attack for its level. After that came Flower Wolf and Gaia
the Dragon Champion. Neither excited me much.
Gaia the Fierce Knight did, though, and he came next. His summoning
cost was a little too high for my comfort, but I put up with it.
Next came a defensive monster, followed by an offensive monster:
Gamma the Magnet Warrior and Gemini Elf. Following them came a very
mediocre card, Giant Flea, which was really only good for sacrifices.
I like Giant Red Seasnake, Giant Soldier of Stone, and Harpie's
Brother, and I loved Harpie's Feather Duster as much as I loved
De-Spell. After those came my favorite monster of all: Jinzo. I
could summon Jinzo with only one tribute, and his special ability was
to negate all trap cards. Though he wasn't as powerful as most of the
two-tribute summons, and he couldn't even go head to head with a
Cyber-Tech Alligator, he was still more useful in common situations
than stronger monsters. After all, Blue-Eyes White Dragon could still
be killed by traps.
Judge Man came next. I held no special affection for him. The same
was true of King of Yamimakai. I rather liked La Jinn the Mystical
Genie of the Lamp, though. Last Will, the next card, was a bit of a
niche card and one of the first I would chose to discard in an
emergency, but it had still been good to me on a couple of occasions.
Next was Machine King, a decent monster with a strength that would
increase if I ever felt like making a themed deck out of machine
cards. After him came Magic Jammer, which I didn't care for but which
made for a good insurance card.
I didn't particularly like Man-Eating Treasure Chest, but it made a
decent tribute card. Mechanicalchaser was a little better.
Megamorph came next; it had saved several matches for me. Millennium
Shield hadn't.
Mirror Force was one of my favorite trap cards, and Monster Reborn
was probably my second favorite magic card. I like anything that
could give me a free special summon.
Mystical Elf was another of my favorite defense cards, and I had two
of them. I also had two of Mystical Space Typhoon.
Neo the Magic Swordsman was next, and he was okay for attacking,
though nothing special. Pot of Greed was okay, though not as good as
the next card, Raigeki. Oh, how many duels had turned on the use of a
single Raigeki card!
Another of my longtime favorites was my Red-Eyes Black Dragon, when I
could get it in play. After that came a weaker card, Rogue Doll.
Seven Tools of the Bandit was one of my favorite trap cards, having
saved me on multiple occasions.
Spirit of the Harp was fine for defense. Summoned Skull had been in
my deck since I first started dueling, though somewhere along the way
I acquired second copy. I considered it one of the most useful
monsters in the game, right up there with Jinzo.
I hated Swords of Revealing Light, but mostly because other duelists
liked to play their own copies of the card at the most inconvenient
times for me. I remembered one duel in which my opponent played
Swords of Revealing Light and then continually played a monster that
allowed her to bring one magic card back from the Card Graveyard.
Twice more she drew her Swords of Revealing Light, though her luck
finally ran out, and I won the duel with some anti-magic card or
other. The details of the match were hazy, but the feeling of
frustration at not being able to attack while Swords was in play
stayed with me.
I had always felt Total Defense Shogun to be slightly overrated,
though I still liked being able to play it. My two Trap Hole cards
were, I felt, excellent, like all trap cards.
Vorse Raider made an excellent attacker, and Wall of Illusion was
great against opponents who played tribute monsters.
My deck finished up with one of my favorite sneaky cards, Witch of
the Black Forest, whose special ability would allow me to draw
something like Summoned Skull from my deck. I loved tricking
opponents with that one.
I know now that my deck was less than optimal, but at the time, it
was the best that I could do. Still, it served me well, and I was
proud of it.
I was, in fact, proud enough to drift off to sleep after scheduling a
wakeup call for early the next morning. I would need a good breakfast
before my first duel. A vision of a full breakfast danced through my
mind for the final seconds before I pulled the cord to turn out the
light, and I drifted off to sleep.