Open Letter to Konami

Dear Konami,

  My name is B. Darnell Alexander and I have a YouTube channel called, "dubkdad1."  On this YouTube channel, I positively promote Yu-gi-oh and as a result I have obtained over 16,000 subscribers many of whom are loyal followers of my videos.  On any given day, some 5,000+ people are viewing videos I have created about this game.  Lately, however, I have become more and more frustrated by a few things that are going on with my favorite hobby of all time.  I'm writing this letter to express the grievences that I and other competitive players have with the way you run Organize Play in Yu-gi-oh. 


  I want to begin by saying that I respect the fact that you have created an incredibly fun game that I have enjoyed since late 2004.  I am forever grateful that you have conducted events in large and small cities across the country, allowing me to meet and befriend people who share the same love of this game as I do.  I look forward to seeing what types of new cards are created with each new set release.  Finally, I enjoy taking new cards and either incorporating them in old strategies or creating brand new ones.

  Unfortunately, that is where the fun stops.  I understand that Konami is a multi national corporation with huge responsibilities to produce results for its shareholders.  With this knowledge, I cannot fault you for upgrading rarities on high utility cards like Dark Armed Dragon (from rare to secret rare), Pot of Duality (super rare to secret rare) or Solemn Warning (from common to Ultra/Ultimate rare).  I can relate to the concept of first releasing cards in the home market, Japan or OCG, and gaining a sense of how to make the most off of certain high utility cards so that when they are released in larger markets, America and elsewhere or TCG, the company is almost certain to profit.  I understand that there is a huge cost involved in obtaining venues to conduct YCS and Regional events for organized play.  I am not so naive to believe I am entitled to make a living off of the prizes won at any of those events. 

  Lastly, I absolutely understand that the competitive players make up a very small percentage of where the revenue generated by the game comes from.  This is not to say that I believe that you as a company do not care about the competitive players, otherwise Organized Play would be non-existent.  I am just stating that in a business sense, catering to the customers who spend the most money on your product, namely kids who watch the show and are more likely to spend more disposible income on your product, than a player like myself who spends his money in the secondary market buying single cards.

  My frustration stems from the seemingly unexplainable inconsistencies in the rules between the OCG and TCG, the release of over powered exclusives, and the format in which Worlds are conducted.

  I would be very interested to know why there seems to be a disconnect between both branches of the game.  Whether it be the way Armory Arm and Colossal Fighter could make a continuous loop in the TCG and not in the OCG or more recently, the way XYZ mechanics in the TCG makes Sangan and Reborn Tengu more over powered than they already were.  The release of TCG only or OCG only exclusives that never see light of day in the opposing branch of the game until AFTER the card has lost some of it's flare.  My best two examples of this are Doom Caliber Knight and Gorz, Emissary of Darkness.  Those cards existed for years in the OCG before they even saw play in the TCG and by the time we recieved Doom Caliber Knight as a prize card, it's effectiveness had diminished.  As you can see there always seems to be something keeping the game from being a unified entity.  And this leads to my last complaint.  This summer at Worlds, TCG players were pitted against OCG players using rules and cards that OCG players had become accustomed to for an entire format.  While the TCG players had a scant few weeks to prepare and adapt. 

 Am I wrong for believing that there should be uniformity in the rules and card pools?  I am not suggesting that cards produced in different regions should be legal for use in others, as that could hurt profits, thus hurting my hobby.  I am simply suggesting that when TCG or OCG exclusives are released that they be made available at the same frequency as sets are released.  It would have been nice to be able to get to use Shooting Quasar Dragon before it had just been rendered useless by the most current Restriction/Limited list.  It would be nice to be able to seek out rulings made in the OCG for cards that don't have definitive rulings in the TCG and be able to reliably know that the cards work the same way.  I just have to ask, how are You going to reconcile the XYZ mechanics ruling with Sangan and Tengu once the OCG gets Tour Guide from the Underworld and Reborn Tengu.  Would it not have been better to just keep things uniform to prevent future unforeseen problems?

  I appreciate You taking time to read this letter and I anxiously await to hear your response. 

B. Darnell Alexander
dba "dubkdad1"