Interview with Rauzes

So for todays blog post, which I'm sure no one really reads, but whatever. I have an interview with Rauzes. Rauzes could be called one of the pioneers of the yu-gi-oh blogging world. His blog is one of the most popular and he has also had success in the game with pioneering the Junk and Debris deck. His current blog project is a group project. So without further adieu here is the interview. (My posts are in regular font, his are in italics)

Hi

HI! Im Rauzes. Nice to meet ya.

So for starters, what do you think you are most known for in the yu-gi-oh world?

Hmm. If anything, I think I would easily be most famous for my Yu-gi-oh blog. Before starting the blog I was also mildly famous for being in Japan and speaking English, but only to a small amount of people. The blog was what really catapulted me(and the blogging bandwagon in general) to fame.

What is your biggest inspiration when creating decks?

Initially, when I was creating a large amount of decks with much less regard to their practical application, they were mostly based on individual and small combos that look spectacular. Hence, by browsing through(mainly common or underused) cards, I think and brainstorm ways that they can be used together, and especially how to counter this threat(usually my brain jumps straight to Skill Drain, Nuke Field, or both.) If the combo proves slightly practical, I find cards that can support this in general, like cards that generate tokens on the opponents field for Alector, etc, and before you know it, a deck is born, proxies are made, and testing begins. Because some of these combos aren’t so practical, the end product is almost always a fun based deck.


As the creator of the Junk and Debris deck, where did you first get the idea for the deck?

The first inspiration was when Debris Dragon first came out. I tried to combine Junk Synchron decks and Debris Dragon decks to VERY BAD results. I kinda abandoned the idea for quite a while(because it was sorta slow and dead), but I saw the wreckage of two cars at night(no joke), and it suddenly hit me that Cross Porter and Neo Spacian Glow Moss have synergy with each other, and with Junk and Debris, respectively. I went home and double checked the sheer amount of synergy within plain sight, and wrote up the decklist for the original Junk and Debris in Space.

What were your thoughts as the J&D deck became more and more popular (almost gathering a sort of cult-like following)?

Pretty much “Whoa. Wut?”. As the deck developed speed, synergy, etc, the stability skyrocketed. Being one of the most avid players of Junk and Debris, I knew first hand how many combos could be pulled off, and especially how easy they were to do. Whilst pulling off combos is what makes a deck fun, and having many combos hidden all over the place makes it much more fun, doing so decrease synergy. However, Junk and Debris has managed to curb the lost synergy without sacrificing the incredible “fun factor”. Heck, even summoning a Junk Synchron into Catastor feels GREAT, regardless of the bottomless trap hole it triggered. Hence, stability + incredibly fun = everyone wants to run it. The fact that it actually works and could stand up to many decks quite well certainly helped. If you considered it a fun deck, it was near the pinnacle of how fun they can be.

I’ve asked a few questions about Junk and Debris, but another thing I want to know is what are you most proud of when it comes to your accomplishments in yu-gi-oh?

Achieving a cult following :P Not many people can boast such an achievement, especially if the only history of SJCs they have are 2-2:ing, not topping/winning a few.

You’re blog was one of the most popular blogs when it came to yu-gi-oh, what were the reasons for deciding to start up blogging again?

For Honor, Righteousness, and Leadership, but mostly boredom. Of course I had some people to ask to start blogging again, so that definitely contributed. Also, about a month or two after quitting, my life sorted itself out(though starting completely new at university definitely helped), and I started to accumulate great combos/ideas in Yugioh on my hard drive, with a lack of ways to share them. Cue G-Ray having a new blog and less and less time to update it, so we decided to join forces to maintain a steady flow of new ideas/combos and less pressure of either of us.

Since the blog you are part of is primarily OCG based (although being relevant to everyone) what do you feel the biggest difference between the OCG and TCG is?

Other than the card pool, I find TCG is more hardcore into theory, whilst OCG has the liberty of (most of the time) cheaper cards, and hence can test more varieties of decks, and thus is more concerned with the practical aspect(we calculate card balance differently, for starters.) Also in my experience with TCG tournaments (though I’ve only attended 1 local and 1 SJC), people are less daring and risk taking, and my “Overextension” wasn’t exactly heralded.

What do you think TCG players can learn from and by observing the OCG?

High risk also means high return, and also do remember that most of the time, WE HAVE THE CARDS FIRST, and Chances are, if a TCG exclusive isn’t involved, WE’VE TRIED IT, and it DOESN’T WORK.


What do you feel are some of the biggest misconceptions about the OCG?

That all those tournaments listed on Shriek are the equivalent of regionals and such. They’re not. Of course others do exist(such as we use Raigeki Break instead of PWWB), but the TCG tends to forget the OCG exists most of the time. Oh, and the thought that all our cards are cheaper. Its not true. Some cards are more expensive, and commons are more cheaper over there.

I’ve often toyed with the idea of going to Japan (for yu-gi-oh, and other things >.>) would you recommend it to players and people interested in finding out what it's like?

Personally, I wouldn’t recommend a trip to a country to play Yugioh unless you know a good number of people that play Yugioh over there, as they can bring you around and help with the language barrier. I know of two bloggers who recently(a month or two ago or so… I think) made a trip to Japan to play(and tour, but that bit is irrelevant). I don’t think such a short time is enough to fully assess the differences, as most of it is just having fun. Also, its expensive. So, unless you’re loaded and have a lot of free time/have someone funding your trips for other reasons, youre better off going to a SJC… it’s a similar experience. That being said, I have found travelling around the world with my Yugioh cards to be a rather eye opening experience.

Well that’s it for now. It’s a little harder for me to do this without speaking directly to you, but I’m thinking those questions will cover a lot of what I wanted this interview to cover, but is there anything else you would like to add?

Nope.

Thank you for your time and this interview. It is very much appreciated.


Awesomes.

So there you you have it. Please remember to also pay attention to the blog he is part of.

http://onlytheduel.blogspot.com/2010_05_01_archive.html


Remember cats, stay classy.

~E.P.B.