Yu-Gi-Oh! How to Build and Use a Good Side Deck

Side decks are nothing new to the trading card game world. Most successful games have a feature in which you can use a side deck or side board as they are sometimes called to change around your deck. Naruto, Yu-Gi-Oh and even the VS system all have this feature. However we see the most use of side decks in the game of Yu-Gi-Oh because there is such a diverse field of decks.

In the Yu-Gi-Oh trading card game you have the unique option of substituting cards between matches. This is done by taking fifteen cards from your collection that you think may benefit your deck and adding them to your side deck. The side deck will include card that you feel will help against certain deck types that are unusual and unique and would pose a difficult challenge to your current deck. A side decks cards can greatly alter the way in which your deck is played after all your talking about fifteen cards here, that's almost half your deck.

When planning a side deck you need to keep in mind the kinds of things that you will need to prepare to play against. You main deck will be great for taking care of about 80% of the competition, but the other 20% are something to be concerned about. There are three main types of decks that you need to plan for in creating a side deck, the following is a list of the decks and ways to counter them.

Burn deck - These can be nasty with the right combination of cards. The idea of a burn deck is to hit your life points directly without attacking with monsters, and stalling your side of the field. To counter a burn deck think about adding thins that will add to your life points or at the very least protect them. Des Kola and Des Wombat are two great cards that will frustrate burn deck, and normally these monsters are powerful enough to knock out any monsters a foe would have in play. Also pack some extra magic and trap removal like an extra Dust Tornado, or Giant Trunade, just to clear the field. Hand destruction is another great element to counter act these decks, try using Magic Drain and Confiscation to dwindle their hand, and run Jinzo (If he is not already in your main deck) to neutralize their traps.

Stall decks - These deck are like a variation of the burn decks but use slightly different tactics. Stall decks will plug up your side of the field with cards like Ojama Trio and Ground Collapse and prevent you from attacking with cards like Gravity Bind and Level Limit Area B. all the while stalling the game for one massive attack with cards like Mass Driver and Wave Motion Cannon, or burn you little by little, turn by turn with cards like Giant Germ and Stealth Bird. The best way to stop these decks is to pack a good side deck.

Use powerful level 3 or lower monsters to get under Gravity Bind and Level Limit Area B, cards like Sonic Duck and Mad Lobster are good options. Also try adding some more magic destruction to take out Ground Collapse, Gravity Bind, Wave Motion Cannon and so on. Use some other good means of monster destruction that will clear the field, Torrential Tribute is the best card for that, it will take out any pesky tokens clogging your side of the field and kill opponents monsters as well, however this card should be in your main deck. Try to use cards that kill face down creatures as well. Dark World Lightning is a good card to place I a side deck as well as Nobleman of Cross out and Tribute to the Doomed.

Exodia decks - These decks are just going to try and draw like crazy and gain the Exodia pieces as quickly as possible. The best thing to do is to use hand destruction cards. Confiscation is a good choice as it will allow you to pick Exodia cards out of their hand and discard them. Also Forced Requisition is a great trap that makes an opponent play with their hand face up so you can gauge how close they are to a win. Card Destruction is going to be one of your best friends in this case so make sure your packing at least two for just such an occasion. Another good idea is the card Disappear, this is an underused trap but will help so much in this situation. Once at least one piece of Exodia is in the graveyard hit them with Disappear, removing that piece from the game, and now they can't win by means of Exodia.

So there is a run down of the three main deck types you may have to face at some point that your average deck may not be quite ready for. Good side decks are built with cards that are situation at best, so don't be afraid to look outside the box for ideas. Chances are you will never have to use the side deck, but it's there as backup. Make sure to have some extra magic and monster removal just in case, and hand destruction in any form. Do that and you'll be good to go!