Before you read this article completely, try this. Go through your main tournament deck. Make two piles of cards. In the first pile, place all of the cards that make your deck unique from most others that you have seen. Include those cards in your deck that you have always used no matter what whether or not they are unique from other decks. In the second pile, place all of the cards that are in your mind necessary to win. Include those cards and combos that you’ve observed perform for someone else, whether in person or online. After all of this, how many cards are in the first pile half, about 10, less than 5? If there are fewer cards in the first pile than the second, you might just have a “staple heavy” deck.

Read on by following this link right here to see what AJ thinks!

In case you didn’t know, a staple is a card that most duelists believe no deck can do without or can be crucial in any type of deck. Most would agree that some common staples are Jinzo, Call of the Haunted, Premature Burial, Change Of Heart, etc. Some would argue there is nothing wrong per se with running any or all of these cards since they are in fact useful. However, I believe the reason most of us use these cards is because we think that we have to have them in order to have a winning deck. If at this point you’re thinking, “I don’t need those cards to win; my deck is killer with or without staples!” Try this. Take every staple card out of your deck. Replace them with different cards avoiding those which most consider staples. Do you truly believe the deck you just made will win in a tournament; not anything huge like regionals or nationals, just your everyday local tournament. If your answer is no, you should consider whether your talent as a duelist is based on the cards you play or the skill of the person using them.
How many of us remember our very first deck. I remember my first deck. To some this story will sound familiar. I watched my first couple of episodes of the show and said, “Huh, that doesn’t look to hard.” After finding a friend who already played, I learned how to play. I went out and got my first starter and boosters. In my case, I got the Kaiba starter and MRL boosters. I thought no one could beat me once I got out the legendary Blue Eyes White Dragon. I quickly found out one monster was not the be all end all of the game. Later after learning a bit more, I had a halfway decent strategy going. Sometimes I beat my friends sometimes they beat me. I had the time of my life. Then thinking I was the man in Yugioh, I went to my first local tournament. I got through three rounds at my card shop with a 55-card deck. After finding out from other players what works and what doesn’t, I started copying whatever I saw that worked. This is a common newbie move. I didn’t get past the first round for months after that.
In my case, I did what everybody else was doing because I thought it was what I had to do to win. However, what got me through those first three rounds at my first tournament was my original deck. No one saw it coming. Everybody had an answer in his or her deck for the common themes of the time: Exodia, beat down, Hand D, but no one had seen what I was doing that first time. From that point on, I tried to use what worked for me and not what everybody else was using.
This article isn’t condemning those who use “staple heavy” decks. This is merely my opinion about the matter. Are you a poor duelist if you find yourself doing whatever it takes to win? To answer that question, you need to look at your two piles. If that second pile is bigger than the first and you are not a regional champion, maybe it’s time for a change.

Isn't that what UDE is trying to do with the bans though, make tha tfirst pile bigger than the second one? It is really difficult to make a competitive deck that doesn't use the staples, but I agree that a lot of people only use them for the sheer fact that they see other people using them and think that they have to in order to win. I tried making a deck, replacing all of the staples in my deck, and then using cards like ordeal of traveler and stuff I had always wanted to give a shot, and surprisingly I did just as good as it normally does, and on top of that, it was more fun to play. I think people should start branching out and trying new things. They might like what they find.

Ordeal of a travler is a great card, but its moched badly. Hmm, my two piles let see
Wow... i have a staple heavy deck, 24 cards that are ran because everyone runs them, everyone thinks their great, dust tornado, sorl, breaker, cyber, creature swap,.nobleman of crossout, fiber, pog, scapegoats, cylinders, tribe, coh, painful, tt, snatch, mst, sinister, premature,coth, heavy strom, all the staples i have and some i have 2 of. But compaired to my non staples, thats sick i mean x,y,z peices, regenerating mummy, sakaretsu armor, smashign ground, and one magic jammer... thats sick. Maybe your right, un=predictable decks are bettter because people are waitng for you to play those predictable cards, they wont coutner whats un-predictable because their expecting worse. I should realy consider this and try this experament, switch out the stapels and see how my deck runs. There are alot of common cards I would like to try out.

I think if Konami started making more cards deck-specific there won't be as many staples. Duelist won't be able to throw cards such as Psychic Armor Head(what valon plays with in the TV series) into their deck and expect to win. That card requires other armor cards to be effective. seriously ban Black luster soldier, magical scientist, painful choice and change of heart. limit to one dd warrior lady, dd assalant, enemy controller and all of those stall(gravity bind-type)cards. Slow this game down!! I've been wanting to make a Black tyranno deck for so long, but I can't because the support for it is very pathetic. The same thing with Archlord Zerato(why in the world is mudora and those other dark crisis fairys earth-attributed when all the other fairys are light? There's absolutely no synergy and it's not like there all that great to begin with) You can count all the good dinos and fairys on one hand. Alot more support for those other decks types(fairy, thunder, dinosaur, rock, fish, sea serpent, pyro, spirit, union, insect and plant) and the banning/limiting of all the chaos, control and warrior abuse will really help get this game out of it's stale state. Give players a real reason to use other types of decks. Give those type weak effect and impossible summoning requirements won't cut it. Why would they mess with those cards when Konami keeps giving Warrior, spellcasters and fiends all of these powerful effects with such little cost?

Another thing is we just don't have enough cards. What I mean by that is if you look at a zombie deck or a gravekeeper deck you'll see that they'll be very simular. It's because nothing new has been added that can be used specifically for those types in a long while(unless you count vampire genesis LOL).

i see what your saying and split my deck inot the two piles and to my amazment i i had more in the first the the second, this is probably because i like to be different with cards like feral imp (my fave card), mudora etc. And with me deck being unpredictable ive beaten more experience duelist. but still some decks you cant beat even if you are being unpredictable.

Curent decks being used- Dark Fairy, Zombie Plague and Guardian Vengence

i tried what youy said and took them out for a tournament and still got first place :laugh: . Then i tried different so called "staples" and found out which onres worked and which ones didnt. Right now the only staples i run in my exodia deck are sorl and sinister. :eek:

I have always been out there in my deck construction. I choose not to use any of the staples, thats not to say I don't own several copies of each. For my favorite decks I use cards that add more flavor to my deck and ones that usually keep my opponent ask, "is this guy nuts?" At times though, I will have to use staples to make sure that a strategy that I choose will work, but over all I my just only choose to use one or two of the staples.

As far as the ban list goes they seen to take out the cards that everyone uses, but in the end they really don't get rid of anything. We just find new ways of doing the samething that we were doing before, just with different cards.

In your own opinion, Tamahoe, what are the "staples" that most people use in your opinion?

I try to keep off as much of the staples as well so they don't come out like duplicates.
The time will come where I have no more use for a Jinzo...

I have noticed an increasing rise in Giant Trunades, Dust Tornados, Sakuretsu Armors, and Bttomless Trap Holes...

Ok, let me see, my real Deck is loosely based on the Dark Blade.
I separated my Deck accordingly, and the first plie ended up being larger than the second.

I do consider Pot of Greed, MST, Premature Burial(or Monster Reborn for traditional), Change of Heart(or similar cards that allow me to gain control of an opponent's monster), and Call of the Haunted as staples in most Decks.

Kiryu, Pitch-Dark Dragon, and Combination Attack are 3 of the cards that make my Deck unique from most other Decks.

I couldn't agree more with this.

When FET hits, I wonder how widely used Gatling Dragon(I think that's what it's called) will be used.

I main deck CED in my Advance Deck.

I might try out Rageki.

For everyone with a bigger 1st pile, are you sure your not beind modest and just looking at some cards you like alot and saying "thats not a staple, i dont play it because its good, i play it because i like it"

I almost did that going throught mine but i had to stop myself from putting tribe and breakin in the 1st pile, and sinister and a crature swap, but in the end their staples, everyone uses them. I understand why their used alot but they can be changed.
Truthfully Breaker and Tribe and Fiber are my three favirote cards, but i know all three are staples.