Yu-Gi-Oh/Expert Profile

Expertise

NOTE: There are no Regional tournaments in the area for the next several months; I will come back and start answering questions again once I am active competitively.


I can answer any question based on the English Yu-Gi-Oh Trading Card Game.

Rulings questions are my specialty. Ask me about ANY ruling for ANY card or combination of cards. If there's a valid ruling or a way to deduce a valid ruling, I'll be able to help you.

I'll also be willing to do deck fixes, but ONLY on decks that actually show some promise of possibly becoming good. Decks that are just random cards that aren't very good will be rejected, and I'll link you to a page where you can look at some better decks for ideas. Decks that are not in Advanced Format, or not competitive, will be sent to the Question Pool. IF YOUR DECK INCLUDES DARK MAGICIAN, BLUE-EYES WHITE DRAGON OR RED-EYES BLACK DRAGON, I WILL IMMEDIATELY REJECT IT. These are CASUAL decks, not tournament-competitive ones. Please take decks including those cards to our casual deck experts. Also, I may or may not do fixes on other themes that would be consider non-tournament worthy. (Basically, if your deck is not a Blackwing, Gladiator Beast, Vayu Turbo, Dark Synchro, or Lightsworn deck, AND I don't think it has the promise of being able to compete with any of the above five decks, I'll be hesitant to offer a fix.)

I should also be able to give you general values of cards if you`re looking to buy or sell, or answer whether a certain trade was fair or not. Please limit value questions to 15 cards or less. I'm not going to appraise your entire collection. Additionally, please only list Super/Ultra/Secret/Ultimate rares, and make sure they do not come from structure/starter decks.

Experience in the area

Player/trader/collector for 7.5 years

Publications

Writer for Beckett Yu-Gi-Oh Collector, Beckett Anime Collector, Beckett Pokemon Collector, and various books produced by Pojo.com

Education/Credentials

Player of the American TCG since January 2002, tournament player since March 2002

Awards and Honors

Duelist King Tournament Season 3 Champion -- Jahinie Productions, West Mifflin, PA...which has since, sadly, closed its doors.
148th/482 players at 2005 Yu-Gi-Oh Nationals
Top 4 at April 2005 Butler Regionals (Chaos/Trinity format)
Top 4 at August 2005 Butler Regionals (Chaos/Trinity format)
Top 8 at July 2008 Monroeville Regionals (Oppression Monarch)
Top 4 at October 2008 at Coraopolis Regionals (Tele-DAD)
Top 4 at June 14, 2009 Coraopolis, PA Regionals (Blackwings) Qualified for 2005, 2006, 2009 Yu-Gi-Oh Nationals

Non-gameplay Yu-Gi-Oh Credentials:
Have made over $120,000 in the past 6 years from dealing in bulk quantities of Yu-Gi-Oh collectibles
Created "the point system", a method for fairly trading large quantities of low-valued cards in exchange for high-valued items, commonly accepted throughout the Yu-Gi-Oh community

What do you like about this subject?

It's fun, it makes me a heck of a lot of money, and it allows me to basically live out my life mottos in card game form.

What do you still hope to achieve/learn in this field?

I wish to expand on the business part of this game, continuing to make as large of a profit as possible by buying, selling, and trading Yu-Gi-Oh cards.

Something interesting about this subject that others may not know:

It's entirely possible to determine what rarity of card you will pull before you open a booster pack, using a tool that can be purchased for less than $25 -- a pocket scale. Just search the internet for "pocket scale", and next time you get Yu-Gi-Oh packs, use the scale.

Something controversial or provocative about this subject

As mentioned above, netdecking and scaling are two things that are rather controversial. Many players are on opposite sides of the fence; I fully support both of these actions 100% and encourage others to do both. My philosophy; as long as you're not breaking any laws, do whatever it takes to get an advantage in the game; know your opponents will try and do the same!