Please note, this article is very important.
In my experiences in this game, siding-decking has proved the most difficult concept of the game, even I am still fully getting to grips with it. It is not easy to do properly or effectively. What's worse is that the way I have seen people side-decking in this game is, in my eyes horrible.
I have seen some stupid things done and some stupid reasons have people have decked certain cards. In this article (that will not be very very very very very long) I will attempt to explain the concept of side-decking and how it should be effectively done.
To start, more than 50% of your games you play at a tournament level you will not be playing with your main deck, keep this in mind because when it comes to play-testing you will get mixed results at best with you do not test correctly. This statistic comes from this example: Say you play 6 rounds of swiss and in each of those rounds you play all 3 of the games. You will only be playing 1 of 3 games with your main deck and the other 2 with your side deck. This means that your side deck is of vital importance to your success inn any tournament.
The first step to creating your perfect side-deck to aid you in your tournament level Yu-Gi-Oh! career is a serious meta evaluation (read my previous article on this). Once you know the meta your side deck should begin to slot into place.
If you are travelling to large events the single worst thing you can do is only bring a 15 card side deck. Most seasoned players will bring 20-25 cards with in them (or in some cases a commons binder) and have a wander around the event checking what people are playing before finally concluding on their side-decks. This seems like a fairly poor sportsman thing to do, but if you have spent £X in getting to an event you want to do anything that is not actual cheating in order to well. You should already have the major decks prepared for but you should scout for the rogue decks you didn't expect to play. , for example Frog Monarch or Burn.
Your next step in choosing which card to use to get the job done. The most obvious example I can think of would be D. D. Crow Vs. Crevice from the Different Dimension. Both perform a similar task but which one gets it done more effectively and which is more flexible. Crow can used from your hand and so it is very difficult to stop it from resolving in that case. Crow can be used as soon as you draw it and can add to your dark count for cards such as Dark Armed Dragon, and you can set it as a form of defence if worst comes to worst. Crevice from the different Dimension removes 2 cards from either player's graveyard, whilst Crow only removes 1. However, Crevice has to wait until there are 2 targets in the grave before you can activate it, it can be stopped by cards such as royal decree or trap stun, and with a format including 3 mystical space typhoons it is a danger to set it. In this case you can see that the more obvious choice for your side-deck would be D. D. Crow. Critical evaluation of cards is a very important concept when designing a side-deck.
Next, be sure not to over-do it when you are side-decking. This is when you side in too many tech cards against a particular match-up and you take away from the consistency of your perfectly balanced main deck. Realistically, you shouldn't need to side deck any more than 4 or 5 cards in a game. You may think this seems like a small amount but don't be afraid to leave in a card or two against a match-up you think it may be poor against e.g. monster reborn against a removal deck as you will be siding in the 3rd mst or other S/T destruction and so it balances out.
The thing I find most important and most obvious about a side deck is that when you are siding you should have a routine when you are siding e.g. a set number of the same cards to take out and to bring against 'X' match-up. This is the formula followed by many of the professional players and I think it is a solid basis to work from when actually side-decking. Take this example;
You are playing against Frog Monarch whilst you are playing Dino-Rabbit. You have 3 Dimensional Fissure in your side-deck along with the 3rd fiendish chain. You have 3 Maxx 'C' in y our main deck along with Trap Dustshoot. These cards are a clear swap and you would do this in every standard match-up facing this deck.
The last thing I wish to say on side-decking is this. You MUST take account if you are going first or second going into game two. If you are going second, the favourite cards to take out are Trap Dustshoot and Pot of Duality. This is because drawing these cards in your opening hand going second puts you at a disadvantage in comparsion to you opening them going first, this can be the same for caius the shadow monarch in some cases as well.
The only way you can truly master the art of side-decking is to practice, you can spend months preparing the perfect main deck, but if you do not give the same dedication to your side deck then the best thing I can say to you is Good Luck!
I hope that this article helps you in some way, shape or form. Stay tuned for more articles.
Prior to Order of Chaos the format was fairly diverse and it was pretty difficult to create a side-deck as there were so many decks floating around. Every card had to bring the user benefits against multiple match-ups, not just 1. Nowadays this is not the case, or at least not to the extent it once was.
The side-deck is a seriously undervalued thing, however players who take full advantage of this will do exceptionally better than those who do not, so next time you design a side-deck keep this article in mind.
Until next time
AJ
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