After getting into Pokémon cards in late 2021, I've been on full tilt with my interest in trading card games.

I made a massive thread talking about my issues with the shady business practices of Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro in 2022, so it's worth giving their nearest competition a look, which brings me back to YuGiOh, which was my favorite/only card game as a child.

Getting back into the game certainly had a learning curve. I was chill learning about synchros and understood there was a problem with power creep, but the way people have manipulated certain cards to achieve clearing out half of their deck on the first turn to clinch a victory is seriously no fun. Something has to be done about it, either through a new format with a massive banlist, or with a revival of their classic sets which could allow people access to the original cards which could prompt the community to kickstart said format. Master Duel is downright impossible to play as a vintage player, and whenever this is brought up in YuGiOh circles, you get extremely terrible takes, with responses to disdain towards One-Turn-Kills being "just play better cards" when you have zero opportunity to do so, "Oh you just want things to go back to 2004 with all yellow monsters, no effects, and standard summoning" when this wasn't as pronounced or alienating to new players until the introduction of Pendulum cards, which I'll admit do have their place in the game to a minor extent due to Atem in the original series using a similar mechanic during the Millenium World arc, but I feel like that, in itself, should have been an entirely different format.

In 2023 though, they're doing everything Pokémon and Magic the Gathering wouldn't dream of. In April, we're getting a pretty cheap collection with the three Egyptian god cards and the three monsters used by the original protagonists, alongside a pack of the five original sets the game released with. Now if they added some structure decks to this equation, I'm 100% going to have endless fun with the game this year with my friends.

How do you feel about YuGiOh going into 2023? Do you think they'll address any of the issues or provide a way for people to play online without a random player pendulum summoning 5 monsters with 3000+ attack points that all have effects to negate any possible action from the opponent points ending their turn with 10 carda in their hand while placing 5 trap cards face down? It would be as easy as a little tick box for different monster types but hey I'm no meta doctor.

Those problems aside, I'm very stoked to see what the game has to bring to the table going forward.

Well as a Yu-Gi-Oh nerd, kinda… haven’t been too deep in the know since 2007 but I know what is what at this moment… 2004 I think was when Jinzo was the meta and Black Soldier Chaos- Envoy of the Beginning and/or Chaos Emperor Dragon- Envoy of the end was basically in every pro deck. Don’t get me started in Yata-Garasu… I think it got banned after 2006 or 2007 I’m not sure but that was the definition of a broken card. Sangan and Witch of the Black Forest were both great cards to use before the errata.

I started losing interest of the game itself with Synchro summons, they weren’t bad but I just felt like that the shift wasn’t something that could keep me interested in the game itself and I just stopped having any kind of interaction of the game/anime. It wasn’t until actually during covid when I got back into keeping up with the card game. I mean I don’t collect cards or watch the new anime but I tend to see what is new within the game and it’s been interesting to see the arrival of XYZ and Pendulum monsters.

The game isn’t what it was back then, that is true. Back in the day you see meta decks with La Jinn being the best card and Summon Skull or Blue Eyes White Dragon being the boss monster in your deck, man eater bug with wall of illusion being the first effect monsters to counter your opponent’s moves, or using Jinzo to neutralize the opponent’s trap cards and turn the tide of the duel, attacking with Yata Garasu to lose your draw phase (look it up and see why it’s a pain). Cyber Jar was also decent when it came out but I’m rambling.

You mentioned God cards, I mean with friends and casual gaming yeah that’s a pretty sweet deal but no means are they meta in the pro scene. Obelisk might have the most use but it’s usually The Wing Dragon Sphere mode that had a meta run in its day, though not sure if that’s still the case the last few years. Either way it’s interesting to see Konami reprinting cards, though most of the time they usually go for a retrain of a card. I mean it has their perks but being a nostalgic nerd of the game I always would prefer the classics so….

For the video games moving forward, they tried to make Duel Links as close to classic Yu-Gi-Oh as they can but you know, money talks. The change was inevitable to keep the game moving, though I haven’t touched the app since it debuted so not sure if there’s a classic mode or not. Never tried Master Duel so not sure what it has to offer in terms of card collecting and online battles.

The card game itself, I feel like it is in too deep for a reset or a change where a massive ban list or something would help benefit the use of lesser cards or lower the power creep. It’s always going to keep rising up, I mean look at Pokémon for example. The difference of power creep is very noticeable with today’s cards and when they first debut. One turn kills (OTK) are more common these days and how a player is able to summon a whole field of monsters on the first turn is quite impressive, well to me at least but definitely not fun. The game went from a basic “Wizards and Magic” (was called back in the Season 0 anime) to this complex 70 page guide of a game where it can overwhelm many new players and old who haven’t touched the game in years or a decade. Those who stick around and learn the mechanics of the game, they have more patience and tolerance than I do. No more basic text either on the cards. Instead of “when card is flipped, destroy one monster on opponent’s field” we get a whole paragraph or two in the card text.

I don’t know, I’m more negative with the way the card game has been played but it also amazes me how complex it became and people creating new decks and strategies to play competitively among the best. I do think it’ll only grow bigger in the fan base and players. I am interested to see how far it’ll go , though with its direction, probably will never please the nostalgic players of old, and more complex strategies and decks will be created to ruin one’s day.

It's impossible for me to get into Yugioh now. I used to play and collect a lot back in the day but it changes to much all the time.

yesterday I was watching a video by ChilledChaos and he was explaining Yu-Gi-Oh to someone and there was an entire bit about how a certain build was "so 8 months ago" but it's true.

i only buy cards now for collecting and rarity, I don't think I'd be able to play unless I found the right people to play with and learn from.


alexanyways :

I've been involved in Yu-Gi-Oh in one way or another for a lot of time. I never got into card collecting, but I followed the anime, the card releases and also the videogames to at least experience some decent gameplay.

I've stopped watching anime after it turned for the worse once VRAINS ended, but I'm glad the new revolution of Rush Duels hasn't really taken off from the original game (much like how the last movie with the legendary Yugi and Kaiba didn't also encourage a change in the game with a new summoning method). Archetypes right now are a lot more complicated and varied than before, but some are still incredibly enjoyable to play and not all that hard to pull out.

I honestly don't dislike any specific summoning method, but I do find absurdly horrible the meta and how people can build 25+ decks with less than 200 unique cards. This is what has made people to hate synchros and up, because of how splashable some powerful monsters were and how overly abused they were. If you look beyond it, you can find some interesting tactics and new twists to usual gameplay that are very welcome.

As for its future, my only care is that they keep releasing portals in the solo mode of Master Duel. They have the perfect test field for players to experience almost every single archetype out there and pick the one they prefer most, so I hope they do keep expanding it. In the TCG, they will keep releasing new material for existing archetypes as well as trying to introduce new ones, but I don't see any big change in gameplay happening (thank god!).

I also wish they turn back again into a good anime formula. Becoming a kids show totally killed the anime after how famous have been their most mature characters, and I honestly believe they took the correct direction with VRAINS having an anti-hero as protagonist for once, but well, we'll keep hoping for better times.