My Grandfather smoked his whole life. I was about 10 years old when my mother said to him, 'If you ever want to see your grandchildren graduate, you have to stop immediately.'. Tears welled up in his eyes when he realized what exactly was at stake. He gave it up immediately. Three years later he died of lung cancer. It was really sad and destroyed me. My mother said to me- 'Don't ever smoke. Please don't put your family through what your Grandfather put us through." I agreed.
At 21, I have never touched a cigarette. I must say, I feel a very slight sense of regret for never having done it, because Yugioh gave me cancer anyway.
Just a joke, my Granddad didn't go down that way. But that isn't the point...
So about a year and a half ago, out of boredom and interest, I decided to embark on this journey of blogging. I have been a fan of Yugioh blogs back when it was trending. DuelingDays was probably the most popular one in Singapore, although many other competitive players had their own blog too.
As social media became more popular, and the attractive interface made people turn to Facebook more, blogs begun to die. Roadoftheking remains. Ygorgansiation too, but serves more as a news outlet than a player's Yugioh journey. In a bid to revive the blogging community, and to give what I received, I decided to launch my own blog.
And here comes the golden question: WHY CANCER?
Yes, Cancer does indeed sound very morbid. But actually, the blog's name didn't actually come first; my pen name did. So I put together my initials one day, which were: K.N. and the pronunciation prompted me to insert the vowel E in between to form the name Ken. And from then on, Ken was pretty much my nickname at many platforms.
(Not gonna reveal my actual birth name.
I mentioned it in some articles previously.
And for those who know me, ya you know my name.)
And then I was watching the Yugioh Abridged Episodes back then when I was thinking of my blog, and Peagasus, be it 4Kids or Abridged, kept adding the word boy like a suffix behind everyone's names. That got my thinking randomly about how I can extend my pen name from simply just plainly.... Ken...
- So there was Ken-san, which I dismissed because that sounded like the supporting Ra-Yellow character from GX that replaced poor Bastion Misawa's role in the anime.
- And then there was Ken-kun, doesn't sound all that terrible, but doesn't have the ring to it.
- Ken-boy makes me feel like everyone is acting like Pegasus and it gives me the creeps. #lol
The game isn't really cancer, per se, except when it is - like when Dragon Rulers were at 3 each. Cancer is also the local slang to describe how badly a game go or how salty a player felt about a misplay. That applies for at least my circle of friends. But what has became a running gag among my friends and what is truly cancerous is my luck in the game. Be it a very untimely poor top draw or simply getting paired down in Swiss rounds.
Cancer Yugioh was also considered for a name. But I just wanted to include Dueling in the name after the blogs I used to frequent - DuelingDays, Dueling Legacy etc. We are Asians, but Dueling Asian sounds so stereotypical and I would hate to have to change the name if a foreign author were to join us. And Dueling Singapore sounds so cliche.
Many did approach me asking whether I considered a name change for the blog. I counted about five, previously. Others who I asked (about their opinion of a name change) said there wasn't any harm. I won't discount the possibility, but I am not keen to do so currently. It isn't that I don't value my friends and reader's opinion, it is just that I truly like the ring and wordplay on my blog name and pen name, and feel that they go hand in hand. Ken Sir. Cancer. And the fact that I stumbled upon it only makes it more symbolic and memorable... Sorry for a lack of better word. But in short, it has sentimental value.
Blogging also allowed me to grow as a player, as I attempt to analyse the game from a different point of view. Having to serve my obligatory National Service for two years also rids me of any studying or working obligations/responsibilities, making it a very appropriate time for me to invest more time on my hobby.
As we celebrate this milestone, I would like to thank all of my faithful and loyal blog readers for making this experience worthwhile. Thank you all for your support. Every view counts, every like is appreciated. I enjoy chatting online with many of you, discussing our various favourite decks and cards. I have also made many overseas friends, and it served as an insight to see how different many countries are for the game. Most importantly, this blogging venture wasn't in vain. And also, the prospect of the blog felt shaky at first, but we really picked up the momentum this year, as I recruited more friends as authors to join my adventure. Honestly? I didn't know how long a lifespan to expect for the blog when I first started out. But I am glad I made it here.
The Future
Moving forward, we hope to provide more content to the blog, in terms of variety. We plan to introduce a new series of articles titled: [Product Discussion], where we talk about every card in a new booster box, or new Structure Deck, something along those lines. It will mostly be about our thoughts on the card, a new archetype, how it can be viable, but the more in-depth discussion and suggestions will still be featured in [Card Discussion].
Also, Live Duels seem to getting more popular nowadays. Somehow, viewers just like to watch the interaction between players.
(Although I assure you will be hearing more cursing and comedic moments between us dueling rather than gameplay).
Videos aren't our specialty. So what we have in mind for now is to submit the video files to Dsummon's channel, who is more than happy to help us. (Thanks to him for that) So you can view our duels on his channel, while the blog continues to provide you with what we have always been doing: Articles.
In words, we can better review our gameplay options and card choices in either deck building or dueling. The previous article (link) was quite popular and successful, judging from the numbers and statistics. And not having to invest time in videos, and instead leaving it to the pros and experts at it, means we have more time in hands to compose our thoughts and draft the articles.
And if I leave it to Geo to do the editing,
it will probably take a decade.
Just look at how long he look for the article....
I have also recently started writing articles for ygoprodeck. There are already a few uploaded so you can head over to have a look. Nothing there is replicated from our content here, and vice versa. Thus you are assured to be reading new content there.
Once again, thank you for the help, and keep the suggestions coming and rolling. And of course, if you have a blog name to suggest, mention it to us. We can sit on it. Extra points for puns on names.
" So hey, what about Dueling Cancel~?"
And finally, another though that supported my idea of naming the blog is my love for comics. I am a huge Marvel fan, and more of a Spidey fan. Dueling Cancer share the same initials as DC, as in DC comics, which I got started last year, beginning with [Injustice: Gods Among Us], which is totally awesome.
But hey, Dueling Marvel sounds good. Now that I think about it. It even shares the same initials with Yugioh's other name - Duel Monsters.
Think I shall sit on this idea for a while.
P.S. I actually went to google some names of stars and came up with some names like Dueling Quasar, Dueling Pulsar etc.
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