Mind Crush: Why yugi used it, and you should main it.

I. Why is Mind Crush so great?

"Mind crush!" is what Yugi said to Kaiba in the very first Yu-Gi-Oh episode, and shortly after he collapsed in dispair. Unfortunately, we don't have a super special awesome ancient pharaoh living inside of us so we have to turn to the next best thing: the children's card.


I bet you're asking how this card is so good, and what makes it so great that it deserves to go in your main deck. Well let's start by looking at its effect:


This card allows you to get rid of key cards your opponent has in their hand. You could get rid of a Monster Reborn without having to pay 2000 life points, a Royal Oppression without having to pay 1000 life points, or a Giant Trunade without having to pay half your life points.

Not only that, but when you guess correctly or incorrectly you get to look at your opponent's hand to verify that they are not lying which gives you a huge advantage. But I bet you're saying "But wait, we're not mind readers so how are we going to know what's in our opponent's hand?!" Simple, our opponents will tell us what's in their hand for us. How? Well let's take a look at some of the key cards of the format.

I. What can I use Mind Crush against?


.:Shien's Smoke Signal & Gateway of the Six:.
Used by Six Samurai.
Six Samurai is arguably the top deck of the format, and these cards are key in setting up a Legendary Six Samurai Shien. So what do these cards do?

Gateway's Effect:
Each time a "Six Samurai" monster is Normal or Special Summoned, place 2 Bushido Counters on this card. You can remove Bushido Counters from your side of the field to apply the following effects.. ● 4 Counters: Add 1 "Six Samurai" monster from your Deck or Graveyard to your hand.
Gateway's Key Effect:
Add 1 Level 3 or lower "Six Samurai" monster from your Deck to your hand.

Both these cards search out player's decks in order to get key cards such as Legendary Six Samurai - Kageki to tune. The wonderful thing about this is that your opponent must show you which card they added to their hand which is when you strike with mind crush. You will mess up their strategy, and have to make them wait longer to set up their big push which is when you have time to make your own push.

A normal Six Samurai deck runs about three copies of Shien's Smoke Signal and one copy of Gateway of the Six which means the odds of Mind Crush being a dead draw are low.

.:Gravekeeper's Commandant:.
Used by Gravekeepers.
Gravekeepers are another top deck in the format, and the reason they are so good is because of Necrovalley. Necro shuts down the graveyards and gives all GK monsters a 500 ATK and DEF boost making it very hard for them to run over. Commandant is a key card in setting up the Necrovalley lock down.

Commandant's Effect:
You can discard this card to the Graveyard to add 1 "Necrovalley" from your Deck to your hand.

This card is another searching card for Gravekeeper's key card Necrovalley. When discarded your opponent will be allowed to add it to their hand and this is when you activate your mind crush. You will leave their weak Gravekeeper's vulnerable since their ATK without necrovalley is 1500 or less. Your graveyard will also remain available for cards like Monster Reborn. Your opponent will also be unable to activate Royal Tribute making it a dead card in their hand. Most Gravekeeper decks run three copies of Commandant so your mind crush should not be a dead draw at all.


.:XX-Saber Darksoul:.
Used in X-Sabers.
We're no strangers to X-Sabers and the damage they can do. We all know how they set up their big plays and they mainly do it by searching for cards like XX-Saber Faultroll with the effect of Darksoul. Just like all the searcher cards above Mind Crush will render Darksoul useless forcing your opponent to wait longer to make their big push. X-Saber decks usually run three copies of darksoul so your mind crush should be handy if you draw it early or late.

.:Pot of Duality:.
Used in X-Sabers, Gravekeepers, Dragunity, Miracle Heroes, and just about everything.
Pot of Duality is a card that has become a staple in literally almost every deck. It has made such a big impact on the format that the cost of the real thing ranges from $90-$120 USD. Everyone is familiar with its effect, you draw three cards, show them to your opponent and add one to your hand. This card isn't a searching card, but it still allows you to see which card is added to the hand which is the key factor in activating Mind Crush. Almost every deck that runs it has it at three in addition to other searcher cards which makes your mind crush hardly a dead draw.

.:Reinforcement of the Army:.
Used in Six Samurai, Gemini Heroes, X-Sabers, among others.
Reinforcement of the Army or ROTA as we all know it, has been around for a long time now, and it has been a key card in many decks for many formats. This is why it's at number one in the ban list. This is a great search card because it's not limited to an archtype. It searches for level four or lower warriors making it a great card for the decks mentioned above. In addition to their Darksouls, Smoke Signals, and Pots of Duality they also run ROTA which means they run at least four cards that adds a card from their deck to their hand.

III. Still not convinced?

Still not convinced that Mind Crush should go in your main deck? Well let me show you how many targets Mind Crush has in some of the top decks:

Six Samurai Decks will likely include: 5 cards that add cards hand

• 3 Shien's Smoke Signals
  
• 1 Reinforcement of the Army
  
• 1 Gateway of the Six

Gravekeeper Decks will likely include: 8 cards that add cards to hand

• 3 Gravekeeper's Commandant
  
• 3 Pot of Duality
  
• 2 Gravekeeper's Stelle

Dragunity Decks: 8 cards that add cards to hand

• 3 Dragon's Ravine
  
• 3 Pot of Duality
  
• 2 Terramforming

A lot of decks rely on searching out cards in their decks with cards in their hand. Mind Crush can get rid of two cards so it's somewhat of a plus one although you won't gain the advantage on the field. The decks I've mentioned are ran by almost everyone that runs a deck competitively so the question really is why shouldn't you put Mind Crush in your main deck?

IV. What if my opponent doesn't search?

Okay, let's assume I've convinced you and you are going to main your Mind Crush. You're in a duel and you open with it. You're thinking you're set to make your opponent collapse just like Kaiba did in the show. You set it and end your turn, and immediately your opponent activates Mystical Space Typhoon on it! You have the chance to chain it, but if you guess wrong it will be a negative for you so what should you do?

You could try making an educated guess and hope for the best or be prepared for such a situation. You could run a deck like plants where you are likely to have cards like Dandylion or Spore in your hand. Mind Crush's second effect doesn't always have to put you at a disadvantage if it activates. You could keep the cards you want in your grave in your hand while your Mind Crush is set. The key is to play smart with it. There are other cards you could want in your graveyard such as Dragunity Phalanx or a Six Sam in case you have a Double Edged Sword Technique or Monster Reborn. But let's be realistic this scenario is not likely to happen too often so what do you do? Simple. You destroy the card the same way you'd destroy a Mirror Force, Solemn Warning, etc.

Bottom line is that most players use decks that add cards to their hand more than once making Mind Crush a devastating card to any player's strategies. Sure you could side it, but if you are 80% likely to play one of the top decks I've mentioned so far why not main it if you're just going to end up siding it in during game two and three?

Last edited by DanceJonDance on Mon Apr 25, 2011 10:30 pm; edited 1 time in total

good article,mind crush is a great card and can give game many times,but i disagree with dragunities running 3 pods,they run maximum 1.

DJD wrote:

a Royal Oppression without having to pay 1000 life points

-RO costs you 1000 LPs? o.o

DJD wrote:

or a Giant Trunade without having to pay half your life points.

-GT costs you half your LPs? were you drunk while writing this article? xDD J/K

About the article .. It's really great

for oppression he is probably meaning seven tools 1000 lp which will have to negate oppression and for trunade he mean solemn judgment which you will have to activate in order to protect your backrow

Do you no matter who you're needed to be an article team member to post articles ?!
If you're interested in getting Colored in green, PM me !!

And you posted the Commandant's part twice..Aaaaand Dragunities would never run 3 PoDs, they'd run 3 Terraforming and like 1 PoD if any.

GK Recruiter?

Good card is good, i already have it in almost all my side decks plus i mean it in some deck cuz it's awesome when you read what your opponent want to do and mind crush them XD.

And yeah you posted the Commandant part twice, i think you meant recruiter.

told ya .. he was drunk or sth LOL

against Dragunities: Dragon Ravine ^^

@ Light Prince, he did mention ravine, you should read more carefully

1st: u need to be in article team to write articles, i dont think EJ would have a problem letting u in

however article is great, i would've also included light beat but thats just me

Next time I'll just post it in the off topic section then. I didn't realize I needed "permission" to post something that could potentially help players improve their game, but that's just me.

@Light Prince
I wasn't drunk, maybe you just don't know how read very well. Or perhaps should be bunked down a rank or two since apparently you don't know your cards very well.

@EB
Yes, forgot to mention recruiter thanks for pointing it out.

@Blitz
I didn't wanna get repetitive. I mean you guys got the main idea with Rota, and Pot of duality which are some of the main search cards in light beat in addition to stratos.

@EJ
I was going off one of the builds from the first time they topped YCS. One build had three pots I believe, but I could be wrong o.o

Last edited by DanceJonDance on Mon Apr 25, 2011 11:52 pm; edited 1 time in total

Ah just let the guy post he did good job lol. Color him green and if he goes inactive with writing just DECOLORIZE him ^_^

Amy Cool wrote:

Ah just let the guy post he did good job lol. Color him green and if he goes inactive with writing just DECOLORIZE him ^_^

GETEEM

DanceJonDance wrote:

Next time I'll just post it in the off topic section then. I didn't realize I needed "permission" to post something that could potentially help players improve their game, but that's just me.

@Light Prince
I wasn't drunk, maybe you just don't know how read very well. Or perhaps should be bunked down a rank or two since apparently you don't know your cards very well.

@EB
Yes, forgot to mention recruiter thanks for pointing it out.

@Blitz
I didn't wanna get repetitive. I mean you guys got the main idea with Rota, and Pot of duality which are some of the main search cards in light beat in addition to stratos.

@EJ
I was going off one of the builds from the first time they topped YCS. One build had three pots I believe, but I could be wrong o.o

well its not that im complicating things and i know some articles written by members could be very useful but im really keen on NOT letting any non-oatm post cuz any wrong information may misguide some beginner readers if you know what i mean.

and about most builds that topped, they ran only one duality...duality in 3s was acceptable before the release of dragunities structure deck where ravine was introduced...basically that card turn any card in ur hand into a synchro (which duality slows).

Anyway GJ!

hush and give me green colorz

nah... you're just a little slifer :D

It's the best article a slifer has ever written. I just don't agree on six sams being "the" top tier deck. GKs are ^^

only a sliffer because EJ was biased. He thought i was nub for using my sexy deck with marshmallon in it... we all know marshmallon is the card of the format but i guess EJ feels differently .-.

hamouda wrote:

It's the best article a slifer has ever written. I just don't agree on six sams being "the" top tier deck.

That^

DanceJonDance wrote:

Next time I'll just post it in the off topic section then. I didn't realize I needed "permission" to post something that could potentially help players improve their game, but that's just me.

@Light Prince
I wasn't drunk, maybe you just don't know how read very well. Or perhaps should be bunked down a rank or two since apparently you don't know your cards very well.

@EB
Yes, forgot to mention recruiter thanks for pointing it out.

@Blitz
I didn't wanna get repetitive. I mean you guys got the main idea with Rota, and Pot of duality which are some of the main search cards in light beat in addition to stratos.

@EJ
I was going off one of the builds from the first time they topped YCS. One build had three pots I believe, but I could be wrong o.o

dude, i was just kidding about that you were drunk :/
and about ravine, i think i misread it .. gosh x.x

if everything i said in my post was about all this sh*it, then no need for this...

About the article .. It's really great

I was just kidding too babe calm down ;]

You could have mentioned the Mind Crush+Cheat combo. I'm sure everybody will be conviced after you mention it. O_O

Another use for Mind Crush (I use this in my main). Try to call a card in there if worng (in my main deck) I lost a Dark World monster now the effect of that monster comes to play and 9/10 is Special Summoned. Oh hey look. You just got a 2300 att on the first 3 turns, or a Grapha.

You forgot trap dustshoot it also let's you see your opponents hand and can be used with mind crush ^-^

Great Job bro! thanks for the advise. i never use mind crush but now i see a new light for that card. THANKS FOR CONVINCING ME!

^No Necroposting allowed D: it's considerate spam . NEXT TIME I shall give you a warning.

~ Closed to avoid further spam