Protips

[BigStinkinApe]

This is a thread anyone can post in. A protip is a bit of a joke, but usually is very good info if you didn't already know it. Here is mine to get the ball rolling.

PROTIP #1: Building a Side-Deck.

*INCOMING PROTIPS*

Step one- know your deck in and out: This means know your deck's relative tempo, recovery plays, and power plays. Know your decks good, avarage, and bad matchups. You want to be able to technically play this deck so good that you can write out instructions to a new player and get thme to pilot to a flawless victory, no matter what is thrown at them. IT sounds like overkill, but you really want to be able to just "know" how your match is going to go vs any deck you see, or at least see normally at your tourney that you frequent.This is where people sometimes cut corners. They figure knowing deck thoery and seeing a friend pilot a deck is enough to pilot themselves. It's usually not, testing youself to figure out your individual deck(not a net-decked copy) is ALWAYS best,

Step two- One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just dosen't belong: Look for common factors between the decks your deciding to prepare against(these should be your avarage to very bad match ups). you want to see if anything from swarming capability to types, attributes and attack patters(argo all the way, bide and push, or drag it out in defense types) The more you find in common the easier the following steps will be.If you have to write these down, but you really should also try to memorize these with regards to your deck.

Step three- Killing 2 birds with 1 stone: Now that you know HOW your bad match ups are alike or dislike, find cards that can or could cover more than 1-2 matchups well enough to better your decks chances of winning when sided. IDeally these cards do not harm, hamper or weaken your deck, but if they do impeede the opponent more while doing not much to you, they still may be worth it.  Pool those cards together based on what and how they cover your unfavorable matchups. This is one of the places people get stuck, so don't be surprised if you need to double back to this step if things don't go as planned.

Step 4- What needs to stay VS what needs come in?: This is the tep where we look back at the main deck. you want to decide what exactly in what unfavorable match-up or match-ups are just simply not helping. could be MST's could be veilers could be something as random as trade in. it all depends on your decks individual 40-60 card main and what you choose to run in it. Simply put figure out what 15(maximum) cards you need to put into the side in match X,Y, or Z to replace for cards that make that match easier. This really does rely on step one because you HAVE to know your deck well in order to complete this step. If you cut corners in step one, this step will not go smoothly.

Step 5- seperating the cream of the crop, from the stuff you should drop: This is the testing phase. you want to try your pool of cards (could be 16 cards could be 400 for all it matters. this just tkaes more time depending on the options in your pool). Your looking to see out of X amount of duels or matches vs the unfavorable match-ups how often X card helps you that you chose to side. THIS TAKES TIME, but it's well invested time if you choose to spend the appropirate ammount on every card. Once you see how each card did once sided in, you want to pick thecards that worked most often, or came up the most (AT THE RIGHT TIME) and cut out all other cards. This step can be repeated as much as you like or need. you just need to complete this step by reducing down to 15 cards, could be 15 one offs, could be 5 sets of 3x of a card, or a mix. All depends on what your deck needs.

Step six- what now?: Simple, MORE TESTING! your deck and side deck now constructed, you need to get the feel of your deck in X match-up with the sided cards for matcvh up X in. You have to test for unexpected tech (like if your match up is bettered by more traps and they decide to side into decree/ jinzo) or transformational sides (chaos dragon into ninja chaos, windups into windzektors, ect...) and find the best cards for each of those scenarios.

Step seven- piece of mind: If you got here in 1 shot on each step, good job. You've successfully built one of the best/ the best side decks for your deck. Now it's all up to keeping a cool, collected mind while in your bad match-ups, and no one can help you with that but YOU. Don't psyche yourself out, keep calm and as always, PLAY TOUGH OR GO HOME! >:J

*end of protips for today*

[Fever]

First step for me is finding the right cards for the damn meta lol. This is a very diverse meta actually. And finding 15 cards that counters them all while not messing up your own deck is tough. It's the hardest part of my new build right now.

[BigStinkinApe]

Side decking is an art. It takes time to get really good at it, expecially since the introduction fo sycnhros and later XYZ. As the card pool grows it will only get harder. The game is leaning towards more skill play, less luck play if you take money out as a factor.