Having been in and out of the competitive scene for a number of years, I can weigh in with a little bit of experience.
First of all, I will further stress a point made earlier on; the number of competitive decks you can run to win tournaments is extremely (1-2, at best) limited. This is because of the nature the card game is based on; because many of its cards don't revolve around a single strategy and its ban lists revolve more around individual cards than entire sets, the metagame's shift is usually menial with each banlist, with players often utilizing the same old crap they've been using since forever (Heavy Storm immediately comes to mind; it's, to my recollection, the longest-running staple that's yet to have been out of competitive decks for longer than a one-list period; the period in which, if I remember correctly, it was banned. Though back then, bans were just being created to stop the insanity that was Yata-Garasu). Therefore, the decks are often 40% based on the actual strategy and 60% based on everything that is logical to run. (Who runs Traps based on strategy? Solemn, Mirror Force, Torrential Tribute, Bottomless, Call...honestly.)
This game has always functioned on this basis since IOC (to my knowledge, at least). Because before the advent of Chaos, players could run more than one decktype with relative success; the majority of developed strategies came later, and Chaos was at its forefront.
My disinterest in the game stems from this very reason; the lack of flexibility and guts that the players show. And rightfully so; the banlist pretty much dictates the things you're supposed to run; if it's restricted or semi'd, it's worth running because it's worth restricting. (Don't even get started on Traditional.)
It started in around 2006, when I went to my first (and last) Regionals; I'd been preparing by building a deck based around the metagame's current top-tier deck: Bazoo Return. My deck, though shaky due to the lack of completion (I'm not made of money, y'know! >_>), was built fairly well, having all of the metagame's most valuable staples (aside from Mirror Force), but I seriously got my ass handed to me there. Anyone playing tier 1 seriously cleaned my clock; the reverse was true for anyone not playing tier 1. I went 2-3, ~87th. Safe to say, for a long while, it was the end of my interest in the game.
I got back into it at the request of friends who admired my extensive knowledge in the game. (Even those who kicked the living crap out of me at Regionals admired my defiance when they thought that fighting a 16 year-old was an easy match because they thought stippancies were simple to bend to their advantage, but oh, were they unpleasantly suprised. Some went so far as to advise I take the level 1 judge test...Which, if I ever get a job at a game store, I full well plan to, despite the fact that I'll probably never play myself unless I get a job at a game store XD) I decided to forego the idea of running traditionally tier-1 methods; it got me nowhere, because my deck was outdated by a year and a half, so I gave up on it, and went for my favorite, most unconventional method ever: Burn.
Of course, everyone has their own way of dealing with burn. The game thinks that it, along with everything not tier 1, is too overpowered (...If you don't follow, fear not. It is this logic that frustrates me with the game to this day, despite the fact that I don't play it.), so the game either restricts the main function(s) of their operation, or, as best seen in the example of burn, releases countermethods.
Despite the omnipresence Prime Material Dragon had against me, I was not worried. Despite the game's ridiculous tendency to screw over everything but what it should, and giving players little room to breathe outside of ridiculously expensive cards that are reprinted and devalued to pennies (only after their time, of course), the game does have its way of countering countermethods. Lava Golem and Volcanic Queen were those answers for me.
I kept fairing very well at locals, consistently placing in the top 8, often times with a fair shot at the top 4. This is because the competition whoars (as my friends call them; they have no right to ruin our fun by being bland and conformist, say my friends...such a high school scene kid answer) always play tier 1 and then pretend like they don't expect to win, or that they're playtesting.
Then, since the competitive players began coming around, and the recession hit the economy, I lost the will to play. I don't have the money to be spending on a game I keep on losing, despite the fact that, if I had the cards, I'd sure as hell be winning.
That is what I hope I've taught anyone reading this. If you're willing to spend the money, play well, get lucky, or play what everyone's playing, or expect to be throwing away your money. Competitively, anyway.
I play Magic now, because there's flexibility within it. But I will never go competitive: I've made that mistake with YuGiOh already, and like I said before, I'm not made of money.
-If you read this, I love you-
