Hello everybody! Welcome to the Informational-Strategy Article I had promised to write, a few days ago! As you may have already understood by reading the title, we are going to talk about the connection of our beloved card game with psychology. Before beginning the in-depth discussion, I believe it's imperative that we make clear that being able to read your oponent or block him from reading you is another factor (other than luck, skill, etc.) that can win you more than one games! So, let's begin, shall we?
Introduction
FBA Agents are specially trained in order to read people as they talk, act, or even stand still. In this way, they manage to determine more than a few things about the criminal's current state, and thus are able to find his weak points in order to move on with his arrest. In Yu-Gi-Oh! the skill of reading people can be of vital importance as well, although extensive trained is not required. Instead, all you need is some experience and a few guides - like this one. Reading your opponent is the key to overcome difficult situations or chose how to play. For example, if you are about to go for the big play, but you're worried that your opponent might have a face-down Mirror Force, or an in-hand Gorz, reading him will prove to be your key to victory.
Reading The Opponent
As hard as it may sound, as long as your opponent does not hide his weaknesses, it's more than easy for you to read him. Instead of analyzing each possible action and its meaning, something which may take months to record, we will talk about the most commonly seen moves, as well as situations.
• Hand Shuffling: A lot of players tend to shuffle their hands in a very common way. Even if it might seem distracting for their opponents, it can sometimes prove to be more than a habit. Nervous hand movements can indicate a nervous player, which means that the player is currently either too woried about his opponent's move (which means that he has one or more weak points) or he is in a state in which he is truly vulnerable (due to any factor) and can easily make a missplay. Other examples of nervous movements are the one of the leg 'going up and down', as we use to call it, or trembling hands (a not-so-rare occassion, in which you can be sure about your opponent's mental state).
• Tone of Voice: Making jokes can sometimes be used to break the ice between two players who haven't met before. However, the tone of the voice can show many things about the player's mood and thoughts. If your opponent's holding the most perfect hand ever, he might try to hide it by not looking you directly or lowering his head down, but he won't be able to hide it when talking. And this can apply in the opposite way as well, as, if your opponent has a terribly bad hand/backrow, he will do everything to prove you that he doesn't, but the tone of his voice will divulge everything! So be careful enough to stay concentrated and in the same time analyze your opponent properly!
• Checking a card over and over: I've done some personal research on this particular one and I've come up to the realisation that in most cases, when a player keeps checking a face-down card over and over it means that he has an ace up his sleeve. However, when you see him being neutral to your actions, while having 2 Spells or Traps face down, you can easily tell that he has nothing of high importance that can help him now or even later. For example, if he has a set Solemn Warning, he will keep checking it each time you Summon a monster. However, if he has a set Starlight Road, he'll just wait for your Heavy Storm in order to flip it face-up.
The ones stated above are the most commonly seen actions by players that can give away their plans or even their exact resources. So you should be careful enough to spot those weak points and use them for your best.
Bluffing
At first I thought that I should call this part "Prevent your opponent from reading you", but since these two things bring one another, I decided to give it that name. Bluffing is something that you see in almost every duel, by both sides. However, which one is doing it successfully, and which one manages to do the exactly opposite thing - show what's truly going on? With experience in reading your opponents you also gain experience in blocking your opponents from reading you. As a result, bluffing can be done much more easily and efficiently. For instance, not talking at all and letting your opponent reach conclusions as if they were his own (while they are actually yours - manipulation) is an example of successful bluffing. On the other hand, players that are newer to those 'tricks' and are in the need of proving that 'they are holding the Gorz', while all they have is a useless Dark Armed Dragon, will not only prove that they are not holding what their opponent hopes they don't, but that they also have something much less useful. How so? Unintentionally, they will say things that they shouldn't, such as "Come on, attack me directly!" or do the well known move of holding one of your cards in one hand, when your opponent enters their battle phase, or other moves of that style. So, let's now leave all these examples and conclude to the point: in order to bluff successfully during a duel, you must be truly patient, a promising actor and not do the things mentioned in the previous part (Reading the Opponent). Being able to lead as the reader is a great plus and can help you not only read your opponent but also prevent him from reading you, whether you're in the better game position or not!
These are the pretty basic things about Psychology in Yu-Gi-Oh! In the future we might go into even more detail and talk about not only Yu-Gi-Oh! but Psychology in general and which aspects of it can affect our game. But I believe that these should do for now, as a minor introduction to the whole theory.
I hope you all found the article interesting and learned one thing or two. See you soon, in our next article! Until then,
- Adreus.
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