KingdomBattles

Note this info taken from deckrevolution.com

How To Play Duel Masters    
 Hello everyone and welcome to the great world of Duel Masters! Duel Masters is the newest Trading Card Game released by Wizards of the Coast, the same people who brought you Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons. The Duel Masters TCG has already knocked Yu-Gi-Oh! Out of the #1 spot in Japan. Perhaps it will do the same here. If I may, I'd like to point out something that someone at XeroCreative stated.

"What the hell do you mean Duel Masters is a kiddy game?! Sweeping Soldier Burning Hellion! Writhing Bone Ghoul! These aren't names for children! In Yu-Gi-Oh! They change the name 'Black Magician' into Super Swirly Chocolate Cream Pie Frosted Magician!!"~ Some Guy Who's Name Escapes Me

Thank you very much for that statement! Now, on to the article!

Main Idea

The main idea of the Duel Masters TCG is to destroy all of your opponent's "shield cards" and then hit them directly once more. Although sometimes this may be easy, it can also be quite challenging. With all the different types of Spell and Creature cards out there, the game can be turned around in an instant, much like other TCGs.

Destroying the shield cards takes a combination of strong creatures as well as "blockers", creatures that allow you to stop an opponent's attack on your shields, in order to protect yourself while attacking. If you choose your cards carefully, you will be winning in no time.

The Basics

The basics. Here we are. This is the section where I cram your brain with all the rules for the game and all the summoning, etc. Sounds like fun! Let's hop to it … ((hops away))

Shields

Shield cards are what make the world go around. You spin you right round baby, right round, like a record baby! Heh, I watched "'I Love The 80's' Strikes Back" the other day, rofl.

So, these are shields. Every duel, after both players shuffle their deck, they take the 5 cards off of the top of their deck and place them in the shield card zone. THEN they draw their hand. Shields are susceptible to attacks, oo big word, so be careful. If you lose all 5 of your shields, and then your opponent attacks you directly once more without being blocked, you lose the game. That's why shields are so important.

Mana

Mana is what allows you to summon creatures and cast spells. It's also what can destroy you if your hand gets too small.

Each turn, a player draws a card. Also, that player must place one card from his hand into his mana zone. This is done each turn, along with resetting all of his cards and drawing. In the first paragraph, I noted that it could also make you lose if your hand is too small. Look at it this way. You have 1 card in your hand. You draw to start your turn, and place one of them in the mana zone. Now you have 1 again. This time you summon/cast it. From now on, any time you draw a card, that card will go to the mana zone. That'll leave you with no options. So, you need to be careful of that. Now, enough of the dangers of mana. Let's get to the uses …

When you want to summon a creature, you must pay mana in order to summon it. The same goes for your spells. In order to tell how much mana is required, there is a box in the top left corner of the card. In that box is a number. That number is the amount of mana it takes to play the card. If you want to play that card, you must first "tap" the correct amount of mana. "Tapping" a card simply means turning it sideways to show that it has been used for the turn. Once you have tapped the correct amount of mana, you can place the card on the field. If the card is a creature that has an effect that is triggered when it is summoned, that effect is activated immediately. Spells are the same way. When they're played, their effects are activated.

Creatures

Creatures - those are those cards your parents don't want to buy because they have demons on them. No, I'm just kidding, lol. Creatures are like YGO's monsters, except they cost mana to summon.

When summoning a creature, you must tap the correct amount of mana in your mana zone. Once you have done that, the creature is placed on the field. A creature cannot attack during the turn it is summoned, due to Summoning Sickness. (A weird term Wizards of the Coast made up to help people understand the ruling more)) So, a creature cannot attack until the turn after it is summoned. When you attack with a creature, there are 3 possible targets:

A tapped creature on your opponent's side of the field. An opponent's shield card. Your opponent.

If you want to attack a creature, it MUST, and I repeat, it MUST be a creature that is tapped. Meaning, it must be a blocker that has already blocked or a creature that has attacked. It's pretty simple really.

If you want, you can also attack an opponent's shield card. If your opponent does not block the attack with a "blocker", then the attack goes through and the shield card is returned to the opponent's hand. But watch out for "Shield Trigger" spell cards!

If all of your opponent's shield cards are gone, then attack them directly! This one blow will end the game, unless, once again, they block the attack.

Blocker

Blockers are a special breed of creatures. Some can't attack. Some just can't attack players. And some can do whatever they want to, I guess. Whatever they can do, they sure are great. These little fellas protect your shield cards from being destroyed. If an opponent's creature attacks, just tap a blocker on your field to stop the attack. But blockers can only block once per turn, as they have to be tapped, and can only block attacks on your shield cards. But I normally run 4-5 in a deck just to be safe. Some types don't have blockers though, such as Fire. Fire has absolutely no creatures with "Blocker". But Light has the strongest "Blocker" creatures. With 9000 power, nothing can stand in your way. Just have to be careful on mana.

Slayer

Slayer is an awesome type of creature found only in the Darkness Civilization. When a creature with the slayer ability is destroyed, the opponent's creature is automatically destroyed. Seems pretty cool huh? Well, the only problem is that all Darkness Civilization creatures have very high mana costs, especially those with slayer. But, they are very effective. I can't tell you how much fun it is to attack with a slayer just to suicide it and blow up an opponent's 9000 power blocker, lol. But beware. It takes a skilled player to play a Darkness deck because of the high costs.

Double Breaker

Double Breaker is most likely the most abused ability in the entire game. When a creature with the double breaker ability destroys an opponent's shield card, you can choose another shield card to destroy. Pretty sweet, eh? I'd say so. It can make the game go very quickly. Bolshack Dragon is probably the most commonly used double breaker. He is of the Fire Civilization, which is very strong except for having no blockers.

Spells

Spells are a lot of fun. You never want to have too many in your deck because it can become hard to draw good creatures, but they are still a lot of fun to use.

Spells are just like creatures. In order to use them, you must tap the correct amount of mana in your mana zone. Then you put them down and activate their effects, then, they go the Graveyard. Some spell cards destroy cards. Some let you search your deck. Some return creatures to your opponent's hand. So, there are a variety of spell cards that can help you win the game.

Shield Triggers

There are a few basic techniques in the game. Perhaps one of the hardest rules to understand is Shield Trigger Spell cards. Normally, spell cards can only be cast on your turn. Well, Wizards must have gotten bored with that and decided to spice the game up a little. In the game, you have 5 shield cards placed at the beginning, before anyone even draws a card. When a shield is destroyed, it is sent to your hand. But there are special spells that you can play immediately. If the destroyed shield is what's called a "Shield Trigger" card, you can play it immediately at no cost of mana. These types of card speed the game up by a lot. It can also completely turn the game around.

Keep Your Cool

One very important thing I can tell you about dueling, is that you NEED to stay calm. This is a somewhat slow-paced game, so it may take a while for the opponent to think. Never rush them! Rushing a duelist, if that's not stealing the term from Yu-Gi-Oh!, might end up making you yourself nervous, and cause you to mess up in an easy situation. Your opponent may think of you as an ill-mannered duelist and just disconnect. This does not exactly fall under the "Duel Masters Basics" category, but it is still important.

Thank you all for reading this article on the basics of the new hit TCG Duel Masters! My next article will be on "Basic Deck Building", so stay tuned!

If you would like to download the Duel Masters Civilizations dueling system, visit www.duelzone.net and go to the download area. Updates are released practically every week, so pay attention. The newest version is DMC Version 7.1. The latest version had many errors in it, so this was just a quick upgrade. Version 7.2 should be out shortly. Happy dueling!