It all started back when the anime was out and it aired on TV. To see the show, was like no other. The characters, the battles, the style, everything about it. It was so captivating to watch as the entire series was going on and I was definitely rooting for Yugi.

The Trading Card Game was out and I recall purchasing my first two structure decks at the same time. The Yugi Structure Deck and the Kaiba Structure Deck. It allowed for a 1 on 1 competitive play and mimicking the show's phrases at home and pulling off the big summons made me extremely happy. Over time, various Structure Decks were purchased and booster packs to expand the cards at my disposal as I continued playing Yu-Gi-Oh! with my cousins.

I ended up really enjoying a Wind-style deck, primarily having Harpie Ladies as the core idea of my deck.

It was a blast to play as the cards at the time were very simple. There weren't many Effect Monsters that we see today and the ones that were there were straightforward. It was a simple time back then for sure.

At some point, I had taken a break from playing Yu-Gi-Oh! with my cousins as we had grown tired of it and opted for other hobbies. Then my friends asked me to play Yu-Gi-Oh!, especially Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D came out and introduced a new type of card which was Synchro Summons. It brought me back as I thought Stardust Dragon was so cool.

So I purchased various Structure Decks again to build up my collection, create a deck, and play with my friends as many of us were hooked. At the time I played various decks until I settled on the Zombie deck. The style in which it allowed me to Synchro Summon was so fun but it was slow. At that point, it lead me to play a Lightsworn deck as it was quite powerful. The downfall of a Lightsworn deck was its pure randomness of whether you'll win or lose. It was too random I found when it first came out. I enjoyed the balance of the ZombieSworn as it kind of was called and it had the random of a Lightsworn but the potential of a Synchro summon through the Zombie engine. It was fun regardless of this kind of deck.

Eventually, that lead us into heading to Card Masters and meeting other people and playing other people. This brought a whole new dynamic than just playing with my friends as we saw different decks, different ideas, different strategies, and different mindsets. With my friends, though we played with the cards, we kind of play with our minds in a sense. Kind of like playing poker. You play the player and not the actual cards in front of you. Playing against strangers, made me focus on playing the cards, rather than the player.

The more we played at Card Masters, we learned about Regionals which was a tournament that many people came together to play, with the chance of winning prizes, as well as qualifying to play at the World Championships. Still utilizing the ZombieSworn deck, I didn't feel comfortable enough as I lost to the randomness of the deck. So I had to set out to find a deck that suited my mind, and the playstyle I wanted and I thought of what I do in a fighting game. Looking at Street Fighter 4, I was a huge fan of playing Guile and that's the character I made as my main character, so I sought out a deck that played like Guile.

This lead me to study Yu-Gi-Oh! in a way I hadn't studied a game before, learning all of the combinations of the Meta at the time, and seeing what made sense, what were other players playing, what decks were winning, etc. I saw in the Shonen Jump update that these two cards were on their way which was Elemental Hero - Absolute Zero and Elemental Hero - The Shining. This lead me to read up the Elemental Hero engine and a lightbulb came to my head. This is the deck I want. It's got the style of Guile, but it can explode if needed with Miracle Fusion. So I went out of my way to build the HERO Beat deck and it was a simple mindset. Elemental Hero Stratos, Neos Alius, and Bubbleman. Throw in a couple of Honest for protection as well. Follow up with a Spell lineup to grab the Heroes as fast as possible, Traps to stop the enemy if the cards haven't come faster enough, and various counters based on the opposing deck. Other monsters to round out the deck depending on the other player that I'm facing would be Thunder King Rai-Oh, Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer, Snowman Eater, and others.

Then it happened. In 2012, at a Regionals in Toronto, I won. It was just when Pot of Duality and Solemn Warning came out, that I got my hands on those cards and won and it felt great. The time spent studying the mechanics of the game and other players paid off and I qualified for the World Championship in Pittsburgh, though unsuccessful in the end. Regardless, that's the peak of my Yu-Gi-Oh! playing.

Shortly after a brand new summon was introduced which was XYZ summons. This changed the game as it created a different way to provide stronger monsters to the field. What it also did to the game was make the speed of the game go faster. My HERO Beat deck was still viable. Adding in cards like Photon Thrasher to the main line-up to XYZ summon quicker, but siding them out for a similar mindset like I've been doing before. Then the unthinkable happened. When Konami announced the upcoming September 2013 list, the card that was now moving to the Forbidden List is Elemental Hero Stratos. This sealed the fate of this entire deck. Though it may seem like it's just one card, this was the card that allowed you the search, allowed you to destroy spells/traps in the back row, and allowed you access to Elemental Hero Great Tornado. Without this, the entire engine slowed down, at a time when the game was going faster. It hurt me to have to put this deck away.

I ended up switching back to the Lightsworn deck but had to think of what I could do to stabilize it some more. I used a Chaos version of this deck. Twilight as it was called. Utilizing monsters that would bring out Chaos Sorcerer, but giving the ability for some Synchro Summons and XYZ Summons. I worked on it so it wouldn't be as random but it still had the Lightsworn engine. I thought about other Meta decks at the time but none of them really interested me. 

I was never able to achieve my peak performance like I did in 2012. I won some great games but lost some games primarily because of the Lightsworn engine. Also at that time late 2013 and heading into 2014, most of my friends stopped playing Yu-Gi-Oh!. By 2014, it was just one friend and myself playing, so the amount of casual time, practice time, and the group experience of traveling together to Card Masters and Regionals were fading away. It definitely wasn't as fun and we couldn't bounce ideas back and forth as we used to so the amount of practice I received was less, which in turn affected my performance overall.

2014, they announced a new form of a summons which was the Pendulum Summons. I thought to myself, XYZ Summons should've lasted at least another year or two before something like this was introduced. This changed the style of the game, and it made the Yu-Gi-Oh! a mat that many people had useless because of the new Zones that were introduced. This was when I decided to call it quits. I still have my cards today as a reminder of what I accomplished.

I stopped playing Yu-Gi-Oh! cold turkey because I didn't want to invest in a new type of Summons, and new cards again. As well as study the mechanics. It really took a lot to keep track of it all and to see some of the new cards with this small font, it got ridiculous. So I never looked back after that.

Various Video Games came out but the one I enjoy playing the most was Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's World Championship 2011: Over the Nexus. It brought me to the format and Meta of 2011 that I enjoyed, though not my peak of 2012, close enough.

More recently though, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links came out and I played that for a good chunk of time, creating various decks, and playing through the events, and PVP. I ended up sticking to a Harpie Lady deck and I had a good fair share of wins. It gave new life to Yu-Gi-Oh! and I was happy to dive back into it, albeit in a slightly modified way but it was fun. However, at some point, I had to change my cell phone, and what happened was my entire save file was lost and untransferable. I had opened up a ticket to try to get my account back but I couldn't. I had to access my old phone, which I could not do anymore as it was completely bricked. So all that time...gone, and I couldn't pull myself to try to start a new game again. I did try but after a month, I just uninstalled it and left it at that.

I know Master Duel is out but I can't bring myself to start a new game, crappy cards, and build it up all over again. Especially since the game follows the modern format with the new cards which I do not like.

That's my Yu-Gi-Oh! journey. Certain areas can be expanded but as a summary of my entire Yu-Gi-Oh! run from a kid until now. At the end of the day, I'm still proud of what I accomplished in 2012, getting as far as I got. I even think about my friends and none of them qualified like I did. I have the 2012 card with my name on it and I'm a sentimental person. I'll always remember it. The memories. The ups and downs, the studying of the game, and the rewards that came with it. It was a blast and I loved playing the Trading Card Game up until 2014.