What are the best CCGs?

[flyingjohn]

itz coming! itz almost here!

Meh. Ignis has all the cards,has multiple formats and has 2 vs 2.
Crafting is a welcome incline from duel links but that is it.

 

[Silentstorm]

Isn't that a game where power creep is a huge issue and every new expansion basically makes old ones look bad unless they randomly decide to support an old archetype?

Granted, i think it's normal for many CCG's, but with the way people talk, it seems to be a particularly big problem for YGO.

 

[Jason Liang]

Isn't that a game where power creep is a huge issue and every new expansion basically makes old ones look bad unless they randomly decide to support an old archetype?

Granted, i think it's normal for many CCG's, but with the way people talk, it seems to be a particularly big problem for YGO.

Not really? There are a ton of random old archetypes still played and a ton of 2nd tier/ 3rd tier archetypes that are pretty good for what they are. Powercreep afaik is not the main issue the Yugi-oh, although granted most of my YGO experience come from the video games and Duel Links.

The issue is more the complexity creep, which is insane, and for paper, the cost of "hot" cards until they get reprinted (after which their prices plummet, so far less collectible than paper mtg). Yugioh also has a serious design flaw in that there are only 3 basic card types, but one of those card types (Traps) have basically been pushed out of competitiveness, because they are just too slow. But it is the best 1v1 competitive ccg being published, and so far ahead of mtg that mtg design for the past 5 years has basically been blatantly stealing Yugioh mechanics outright.

 

[flyingjohn]

Isn't that a game where power creep is a huge issue and every new expansion basically makes old ones look bad unless they randomly decide to support an old archetype?

Granted, i think it's normal for many CCG's, but with the way people talk, it seems to be a particularly big problem for YGO.

Not really? There are a ton of random old archetypes still played and a ton of 2nd tier/ 3rd tier archetypes that are pretty good for what they are. Powercreep afaik is not the main issue the Yugi-oh, although granted most of my YGO experience come from the video games and Duel Links.

The issue is more the complexity creep, which is insane, and for paper, the cost of "hot" cards until they get reprinted (after which their prices plummet, so far less collectible than paper mtg). Yugioh also has a serious design flaw in that there are only 3 basic card types, but one of those card types (Traps) have basically been pushed out of competitiveness, because they are just too slow. But it is the best 1v1 competitive ccg being published, and so far ahead of mtg that mtg design for the past 5 years has basically been blatantly stealing Yugioh mechanics outright.

What are your thoughts on the GOAT format?
It should fix most of your issues.

 

[Jason Liang]

Isn't that a game where power creep is a huge issue and every new expansion basically makes old ones look bad unless they randomly decide to support an old archetype?

Granted, i think it's normal for many CCG's, but with the way people talk, it seems to be a particularly big problem for YGO.

Not really? There are a ton of random old archetypes still played and a ton of 2nd tier/ 3rd tier archetypes that are pretty good for what they are. Powercreep afaik is not the main issue the Yugi-oh, although granted most of my YGO experience come from the video games and Duel Links.

The issue is more the complexity creep, which is insane, and for paper, the cost of "hot" cards until they get reprinted (after which their prices plummet, so far less collectible than paper mtg). Yugioh also has a serious design flaw in that there are only 3 basic card types, but one of those card types (Traps) have basically been pushed out of competitiveness, because they are just too slow. But it is the best 1v1 competitive ccg being published, and so far ahead of mtg that mtg design for the past 5 years has basically been blatantly stealing Yugioh mechanics outright.

What are your thoughts on the GOAT format?
It should fix most of your issues.

Some of my favorite Yugioh cards are played in GOAT format, but I also enjoy the archetypes and mechanics that were introduced later, like synchro summoning, link summoning, etc... Yugioh has (slowly) become a better game each year, for the most part. Its complexity is manageable in digital formats, and learning that complexity and mastering the nuance of a given archetype is the main pleasure of playing a tightly designed, competitive ccg.

I'm a big fan of Duel Links. Starting at 4000 life, 4 cards, 20 card deck cuts down on bloat and makes defense paramount and every turn decisive. The cardpool is a little wonky - it seems silly that Compulsory Evacuation Device or Bottomless Trap Hole would completely break the format, among other cards. But at this point Duel Links is a rich ccg experience that can be enjoyed on many different levels.

 

[Jason Liang]

Not playing another digital card game until Duelyst relaunches. My 1v1 fix has been Final Fantasy in person lately.

Incidentally, I finally made a strong VTES deck that actually feels original. https://vdb.smeea.casa/decks?id=6f9f568f0b454bd985e695b9297aca66

G5/6 OBF/ PRE politics had a strong showing in several national championship tourneys over the past two months! And the Belgian National Championship was won with this list:

https://www.vekn.net/forum/event-re...l-championship-2021-brussels-6-11-2021#103821
Deck Name: Infernal Princes of Anarchy
Played by: Emiliano Imeroni
2 GW 8 VP + 4 VP in final
Description:
All credit to the deck's creator, grandmaster Bram Van Stappen! Thank you!

A new generation of the classic "Royalty" deck based on the new cheap Fifth Edition Princes, with the "Reckless" support of Anarch Barons and of the invaluable Lutz-cancelling star Arishat.
Instructions for use: steal deck from Bram the day before the event, then quickly unleash your political might on everyone while trying to stay (barely) alive.

Crypt (12 cards, min=24 max=28 avg=6.33)
========================================
3x Arishat 6 DAI OBF PRE 1 vote Baali:6
1x Alice Chen 7 dom obf FOR PRE prince Ventrue:6
1x Benjamin Rose 7 ani pot AUS OBF prince Nosferatu:5
1x Graham Gottesman 7 obf pre tha DOM FOR prince Ventrue:5
1x Karen Suadela 7 obf pre CEL POT prince Brujah:5
1x Andi Liu 6 aus obf pre DOM prince Malkavian:6
1x Belinde 6 ani aus pot OBF prince Nosferatu:6
1x Benedito, a Lanterna 6 ani aus obf POT baron Nosferatu:6
1x Donny Kowalczyk 6 obf dom cel AUS prince Malkavian:6
1x Jacques Rouge 6 ani pot pre OBF baron Nosferatu:6

Library (62 cards)
==================
Master (23)
9x Ashur Tablets
1x Coven, The
1x Creepshow Casino
3x Dreams of the Sphinx
1x Giant's Blood
4x Information Highway
3x Parthenon, The
1x Protected Resources

Action (1) 1x Unleash Hell's Fury

Political Action (18) 1x Ancilla Empowerment
3x Kine Resources Contested
1x Neonate Breach
8x Parity Shift
4x Reckless Agitation
1x Rumors of Gehenna

Action Modifier (13) 1x Bewitching Oration
1x Faceless Night
5x Forgotten Labyrinth
2x Lost in Crowds
2x Perfect Paragon
2x Voter Captivation

Reaction (2) 2x Second Tradition: Domain

Combat (5) 4x Majesty
1x Staredown

Don't worry, the Maleficia still makes your deck feel original:D

 

[Silentstorm]

Pfft, just read about a guy who stole several Pokemon TCG cards, the equivalent to 650 dollars in packs, from Walmart by picking packs off shelves, going to the bathroom, opening them up and stuffing the cards into his pockets.

Now in jail for stealing Pokemon cards, also, i described his first time, dude went to the same Walmart 5 days after stealing many packs and this time an employee noticed him bringing 292 dollars worth of packs to the bathroom and knowing how many packs mysteriously dissapeared, caught the guy.

Dude...at least go to a different Walmart, then again, it's not exactly the most subtle way of stealing cards.

Probably should have just bought cards the regular way, and i think packs or boxes also give codes for Pokemon TCG Online but i guess the guy wasn't much a fan of that.

 

[Jason Liang]

Master Duel IS HERE



Downloaded on Steam, seems to play fine so far.

Let's see how easy it is for me to put together Generaiders.

 

[NoSoup4you]

I'm thinking about trying it, but then I'd be a guy who has played Yu-Gi-Oh, and I don't know if I want to take that step.

I played in a local Star Trek 1E cube draft over the weekend, and got dee-stroyed. Tough game to get a handle on as a beginner, because of all the indirect conflict and piles of skills to keep track of. I like that it's something different from just comparing dudes' str/hp stats though, and you can kind of build a deck to do anything that exists in that universe.

 

[flyingjohn]

Master Duel IS HERE



Downloaded on Steam, seems to play fine so far.

Let's see how easy it is for me to put together Generaiders.

Won one game with the starter dragon pack.That probably deserves a achievement in this meta.
Of course the pack is useless but this game will be dead in a month.They need multiple formats/custom banlist or people are just gonna leave.

I personally don't care about the "solitaire" complaints.Beating meta tryhards with a tindangle deck is fun.
Although it won't last long as i go up.

Also,this game is too generous.Managed to get almost all the shit i want in less then a week.Just by playing solo and some games,it is insane.

 

[Jason Liang]

Won one game with the starter dragon pack.That probably deserves a achievement in this meta.
Of course the pack is useless but this game will be dead in a month.They need multiple formats/custom banlist or people are just gonna leave.

I personally don't care about the "solitaire" complaints.Beating meta tryhards with a tindangle deck is fun.
Although it won't last long as i go up.

Also,this game is too generous.Managed to get almost all the shit i want in less then a week.Just by playing solo and some games,it is insane.

I've gone 6-0 with the Synchro starter + normal starter mashed, plus the Monster Reborn/ Raigeki/ RotA from the tutorial rewards. Played some players that had Maxx C and Ash Blossom too - useless against a Synchro starter deck! But you're right, winning with the Dragon starter is a bigger achievement:D Right now I'm sitting on 13,000 gems trying to figure out if I should invest it in Altergeist, Virtual World, Evil Twins, Generaiders, or Kozmo.
The game's issues is that however generous the economy is, it's competing with free programs. Although I'm pretty sure Konami ended up killing off Duel Link's profitability this week. Who is going to spend $200 to dig for a playset of UR Bottomless Trap Holes now?
Not sure they've figured out the monetization for this yet. I think it'll retain players but are they going to be spenders? Most archetypes only need like 2-5 URs to complete.
Another issue is that the game is not too exciting to spectate/ stream, which (was) a big part of Duel Link's popularity.

 

[Jason Liang]

I ended up rolling Time Thieves/ Raid Raptor. Practicing the combo on solo, it takes me 30 minutes to finish my turn, have to get it down before I try it in ranked.

First I spent 3000 gems on the Space-Time Transcendents secret pack- I figured pulling for I Masquerena and Psy-Frame Omega would be worth it.

Spent 3000 on Indomitable Knights, 4000 on Invulnerable Iron Wings, and 3000 on Pearlescent Cyber Dragons. Not sure if it was worth it, committing so many URs to the extra deck.

And those are the URs I pulled. I guess I was pretty lucky getting an Instant Fusion and a Borrelsword Dragon from packs.

So the only secret pack UR I ended up having to craft was Rusty Bardiche. Not sure choosing such an UR intensive archetype was smart, but at least I got some pretty good URs from the packs.

 

[flyingjohn]

Enjoyed master duel for what it is (multiplayer yu gi oh shenanigans),but i am going back to edopro/link evolution.
Edopro has a lot more formats to mess with my friends and link evolution is the "newest" single player game + mods are awesome.

I hope the honeymoon period lasts for the monetization system.It is very generous and i think the first time Konami has actually given you a option to craft a card you want in a mainline game.

 

[Nathir]

I tried out Master Duel after not playing YGO for like 15 years. What even is this game? 1 turn kills everywhere, every card does atleast 3 different things, players take 10 mins doing their turns to end up with a full board of 2-3k ATK creatures, with protection and negates. And still have cards left in hand... There's a card that can kill in 1 turn by itself (Numeron network), top tier decks have recursion and floating effects where they don't care about cards like Raigeki. Some decks can cycle through their whole deck in 1 turn. Some can discard all your creatures on turn 1. Games are frequently decided by the draw and end turn 3-4. And everything is a bo1.

I had fun collecting cards and playing solo mode, but this game is fundamentally broken and needs some kind of reset/rules rework.

Also, why is there only ranked mode to play? The least they could have done is make a room where you could only play with pre-made or starter decks. Speaking of which, when you first start you are in rookie league. And people can already modifiy their deck... You should be locked into starter decks in rookie league. Not go modify your deck and beat up noobs. And why do I get promoted into bronze after 2 games? People should spend atleast 5 games here.

You get a ton of gems at first, but then they dry up and you get very few of them. Buying them is a total scam. There are some discounted offers you have available at first, but even those I think are slightly overpriced. You can't get dust except by spending gems on packs and dusting cards. And you can use dust from lower rarities to craft higher rarities.... This game makes Hearthstone look like a f2p friendly game. And why can't you buy whatever packs you want? They are secret for some reason and you have to spend dust to craft one of their cards first... Just scummy practices all around.

 

[Jason Liang]

I tried out Master Duel after not playing YGO for like 15 years. What even is this game? 1 turn kills everywhere, every card does atleast 3 different things, players take 10 mins doing their turns to end up with a full board of 2-3k ATK creatures, with protection and negates. And still have cards left in hand... There's a card that can kill in 1 turn by itself (Numeron network), top tier decks have recursion and floating effects where they don't care about cards like Raigeki. Some decks can cycle through their whole deck in 1 turn. Some can discard all your creatures on turn 1. Games are frequently decided by the draw and end turn 3-4. And everything is a bo1.

I had fun collecting cards and playing solo mode, but this game is fundamentally broken and needs some kind of reset/rules rework.

Also, why is there only ranked mode to play? The least they could have done is make a room where you could only play with pre-made or starter decks. Speaking of which, when you first start you are in rookie league. And people can already modifiy their deck... You should be locked into starter decks in rookie league. Not go modify your deck and beat up noobs. And why do I get promoted into bronze after 2 games? People should spend atleast 5 games here.

You get a ton of gems at first, but then they dry up and you get very few of them. Buying them is a total scam. There are some discounted offers you have available at first, but even those I think are slightly overpriced. You can't get dust except by spending gems on packs and dusting cards. And you can use dust from lower rarities to craft higher rarities.... This game makes Hearthstone look like a f2p friendly game. And why can't you buy whatever packs you want? They are secret for some reason and you have to spend dust to craft one of their cards first... Just scummy practices all around.

Yet the most broken card right now is still Skill Drain...
When going second, hand traps are necessary if you want to interact with your opponent on their first turn. Alternatively, you can play "board breaker" cards like Forbidden Droplet, Dark Ruler No More or Evenly Matched. That's the state of modern Yugioh.
As for alternatives to Ranked mode, you can add some friends and create your own room to play each other as an alternative.
We've gotten around 25,000 free gems so far and roughly 3000 free gems a month and it seems like a new battle pass every 3 months. As for the cost of collecting, it's roughly
1000 gems/ 10 pull secret pack x
4 10 pull secret packs to get all URs (on average) x
100 secret packs =
400,000 gems total to get all Secret Pack URs

But that's just a goal to work towards, you can get pretty much what you need for 2-4 archetypes with the 25,000 gems to start, including crafting materials for 3x Maxx C, 3x Ash Blossom and 2x Called by the Grave.

 

[pakoito]

Something I haven't seen mentioned in this thread is that now Commander seems to be the most popular format of MTG as of the last few years. I haven't delved much into it, but from what I got out of reddit it's multiplayer, 40HP, 100 cards, no duplicates except for basic lands, and you have to play one commander that forces your whole deck to share their color. Apparently all those restrictions make the game feel like a boardgame again, where you're aiming for big fun plays rather than T3 wins.

I've played every potential boardgame and cardgame that could replace MTG, while refusing to play MTG for 10+ years, and nothing has beat that feeling yet. Most games (Eternal, HS, Shadowverse, Artifact, Faeria...) lack the variety of synergies and deck-graveyard effects, and devolve in simple creature advantage tricks.

My recommendations for closed games are Res Arcana if you like combo decks, Millennium Blades if you want to simulate a draft tournament at home with friends, or Mindbug to play only the combat bits of CCGs. If you like DYI, print the Card Fighters Project port from NGPC to physical cards.

For semi-closed you have Summoner Wars 2nd Ed for MTG-Tactics (I was a betatester!), where you can buy individual faction decks that are as good as the ones you can deckbuild.

In my TODO list is AN, but the Jinteki chats for EU/UK don't seem very active.

 

[Doktor Best]

Commander is the best way to play MTG yeah. I have developed quite an obsession with building up a collection cause its so much fun brewing new decks. You can play online via spelltable (put a handy camera above your table and flick rl cards, an AI will scan your cards and display them for the other players), cockatrice (f2p fanmade client. everyone has a full collection), tabletop simulator and mtgo (expensive). Other than meeting in real life of course.

I still like Runeterra as my go-to mobile phone ccg. I soured on Arena cause of shitty wotc shenanigans. Still playing occassionally for gold but ill wait until they implement an eternal true to tabletop format before i invest more time.

 

[flyingjohn]

I tried out Master Duel after not playing YGO for like 15 years. What even is this game? 1 turn kills everywhere, every card does atleast 3 different things, players take 10 mins doing their turns to end up with a full board of 2-3k ATK creatures, with protection and negates. And still have cards left in hand... There's a card that can kill in 1 turn by itself (Numeron network), top tier decks have recursion and floating effects where they don't care about cards like Raigeki. Some decks can cycle through their whole deck in 1 turn. Some can discard all your creatures on turn 1. Games are frequently decided by the draw and end turn 3-4. And everything is a bo1.

Why would you start in a online focused game for a series that had multiple changes over the years,which you aren't familiar with?It is just asking for trouble and getting ash blossomed.
Look for a guide for "older type decks",test them in edo pro and see do you even want to play this game anymore.
Jumping in blind will sour your experience.

I had fun collecting cards and playing solo mode, but this game is fundamentally broken and needs some kind of reset/rules rework.

Nah,i prefer it to bricking and spells wiping everything.Here you can execute your strategy and your ultimate monster has tools to survive.

Also, why is there only ranked mode to play? The least they could have done is make a room where you could only play with pre-made or starter decks. Speaking of which, when you first start you are in rookie league. And people can already modifiy their deck... You should be locked into starter decks in rookie league. Not go modify your deck and beat up noobs. And why do I get promoted into bronze after 2 games? People should spend atleast 5 games here.

This i agree.The room system is terrible.They should have had options for per era deck choosing and a casual mode with a bigger ban list focusing on the meta.
There will not be a solution for this.They are making xyz/fusion only events which fix nothing since stuff like eldritch can still be played.

You get a ton of gems at first, but then they dry up and you get very few of them. Buying them is a total scam. There are some discounted offers you have available at first, but even those I think are slightly overpriced. You can't get dust except by spending gems on packs and dusting cards. And you can use dust from lower rarities to craft higher rarities.... This game makes Hearthstone look like a f2p friendly game. And why can't you buy whatever packs you want? They are secret for some reason and you have to spend dust to craft one of their cards first... Just scummy practices all around.

This i disagree hard.
Gem generation is generous for Konami when you compare it to duelinks. The idea is you spend 2k gems,get the rares you want and dust the others to craft the stuff you are missing.
Deck wise you only have two decks to buy and one of them has 80% of the cards you need.Secret packs are annoying,but you just buy enough for the rares and move on.
The entire system isn't designed for you to hoard cards/gems,you are expected to constantly be crafting stuff by destroying the stuff you don't need.Hell,some crafting even gives you free secret packs.
Not to mention,there are multiple guides for cheap decks.

You can get edopro and try playing with older rules.The problem is that the player base is really small.
Or you can try master duel rooms and see if anybody is playing only old school cards.

 

[Jason Liang]

Also do some research on the archetypes and find something that looks fun to you. Master Duel doesn't force you into narrow meta decks like Tri-Brigade/ Eldlich/ Dryton/ VW/ Skystriker. Konami picked archetypes that are at least semi-competitive rogue decks if played well for the Secret Packs, mostly. Consider for example:


There are so many fun archetypes, Kozmo is a good example, and if you tinker, tweak and learn its strategies you can do well. That sense of possibility and potential is the fun of modern Yugioh, whether its paper or Master Duel.

As for rooms, they simply need to add the function that lets you use customizable ban lists for rooms.

 

[Nathir]

Guys don't tell me how to play or what I should do. I did my research, I got to platinum (not that it is hard).

I am not complaining I can't win, or that I am not having fun or whatever.

I am saying this game is badly designed. Cards do too much with no costs or restrictions. Each turn has the potential to be a blowout turn. I made a gravekeeper deck. I can go first and use royal tribute on the first turn. My opponent has to discard his entire hand. He can't do anything but concede. If I go second though, he can just end his turn with a board full of negates and I lose. Games are decided by the coinflip. There was an exploit, where people literally dced if they lost the coinflip. Numeron network is a 1 card kill. 1 card! You just play it and win. How is that balanced in any way? Oh, right they die to mirror force or whatever. Just have the perfect cards always ready and the game is fine... There are so many more examples.

Again, I know this is just how the game is. It's not the worst thing ever. But it is super frustrating when literally any turn can just end the game in an instant. Even a 2 card combo can lead to so much in some decks. The only limits this game had in the past was 1 normal summon + tributing. Nowadays both are obsolete and nothing has been created to replace them. I know I know, just put 3x Nibiru in every deck and draw them at the perfect time...

The gems are actually quite generous I'll concede that point though. Especially if they plan on continuing with events like the current xyz one.

 

[Jason Liang]

Guys don't tell me how to play or what I should do. I did my research, I got to platinum (not that it is hard).

I am not complaining I can't win, or that I am not having fun or whatever.

I am saying this game is badly designed. Cards do too much with no costs or restrictions. Each turn has the potential to be a blowout turn. I made a gravekeeper deck. I can go first and use royal tribute on the first turn. My opponent has to discard his entire hand. He can't do anything but concede. If I go second though, he can just end his turn with a board full of negates and I lose. Games are decided by the coinflip. There was an exploit, where people literally dced if they lost the coinflip. Numeron network is a 1 card kill. 1 card! You just play it and win. How is that balanced in any way? Oh, right they die to mirror force or whatever. Just have the perfect cards always ready and the game is fine... There are so many more examples.

Again, I know this is just how the game is. It's not the worst thing ever. But it is super frustrating when literally any turn can just end the game in an instant. Even a 2 card combo can lead to so much in some decks. The only limits this game had in the past was 1 normal summon + tributing. Nowadays both are obsolete and nothing has been created to replace them. I know I know, just put 3x Nibiru in every deck and draw them at the perfect time...

The gems are actually quite generous I'll concede that point though. Especially if they plan on continuing with events like the current xyz one.

You have many good points. This is (one reason) why Duel Links was an interesting alternative way to play Yugioh. A 20 card deck meant your deck could be super consistent, and you could play 5-6 tech cards and consistently see them in your opening hand, especially if you were going 2nd (5 card hand going second, 4 card hand going first) and had some actual card draw.

Your Royal Tribute example is however a bad example. The whole philosophy behind modern Yugioh decks is that you can make your whole board off of one starter. For example, my Time Thief deck, I make my entire board (Cyber Dragon Infinity, Dark Requiem XYZ Dragon, Rusty Bardiche, and Time Thief Redoer), as well as Time Thief Retrograde and Phantom Knight Fog Blade off of ONE single card (Time Thief Regulator). Even if you discard all my creatures with Royal Tribute, I can top deck a starter to play my entire end board, including playing Raid Raptor Satellite Cannon OR Kali Yuga to kill your Necrovalley. If you go first and your only real play is Necrovalley + Royal Tribute, that's quite mediocre for going first.

It's not that Yugioh is not balanced. Yugioh is absolute proof that ccgs don't need a mana-like resource system like Mtg to be balanced. It's that in Yugioh there is an unavoidable tension between optimizing your deck for going first and optimizing your deck for going second. Sometimes that balanced gets tipped (for example in Duel Links for a long time it was completely tipped towards going 2nd until Hey Trunade was banned), but currently the balance between them is acceptable.

You yourself made it to Platinum with Gravekeepers. One of my favorite Duel Links (and now Master Duel) youtube/ twitch streamers, MasterKD, is playing completely rogue decks like Subterror, without Maxx C or Niberu, and finding ways to win against the meta decks with his solid and clever play.

If you are seeing the games as a coin flip, I think you need to dig deeper into your archetypes' cardpool and your extra deck options to fully unlock Yugioh's strategic ceiling.

 

[Nathir]

Guys don't tell me how to play or what I should do. I did my research, I got to platinum (not that it is hard).

I am not complaining I can't win, or that I am not having fun or whatever.

I am saying this game is badly designed. Cards do too much with no costs or restrictions. Each turn has the potential to be a blowout turn. I made a gravekeeper deck. I can go first and use royal tribute on the first turn. My opponent has to discard his entire hand. He can't do anything but concede. If I go second though, he can just end his turn with a board full of negates and I lose. Games are decided by the coinflip. There was an exploit, where people literally dced if they lost the coinflip. Numeron network is a 1 card kill. 1 card! You just play it and win. How is that balanced in any way? Oh, right they die to mirror force or whatever. Just have the perfect cards always ready and the game is fine... There are so many more examples.

Again, I know this is just how the game is. It's not the worst thing ever. But it is super frustrating when literally any turn can just end the game in an instant. Even a 2 card combo can lead to so much in some decks. The only limits this game had in the past was 1 normal summon + tributing. Nowadays both are obsolete and nothing has been created to replace them. I know I know, just put 3x Nibiru in every deck and draw them at the perfect time...

The gems are actually quite generous I'll concede that point though. Especially if they plan on continuing with events like the current xyz one.

You have many good points. This is (one reason) why Duel Links was an interesting alternative way to play Yugioh. A 20 card deck meant your deck could be super consistent, and you could play 5-6 tech cards and consistently see them in your opening hand, especially if you were going 2nd (5 card hand going second, 4 card hand going first) and had some actual card draw.

Your Royal Tribute example is however a bad example. The whole philosophy behind modern Yugioh decks is that you can make your whole board off of one starter. For example, my Time Thief deck, I make my entire board (Cyber Dragon Infinity, Dark Requiem XYZ Dragon, Rusty Bardiche, and Time Thief Redoer), as well as Time Thief Retrograde and Phantom Knight Fog Blade off of ONE single card (Time Thief Regulator). Even if you discard all my creatures with Royal Tribute, I can top deck a starter to play my entire end board, including playing Raid Raptor Satellite Cannon OR Kali Yuga to kill your Necrovalley. If you go first and your only real play is Necrovalley + Royal Tribute, that's quite mediocre for going first.

It's not that Yugioh is not balanced. Yugioh is absolute proof that ccgs don't need a mana-like resource system like Mtg to be balanced. It's that in Yugioh there is an unavoidable tension between optimizing your deck for going first and optimizing your deck for going second. Sometimes that balanced gets tipped (for example in Duel Links for a long time it was completely tipped towards going 2nd until Hey Trunade was banned), but currently the balance between them is acceptable.

You yourself made it to Platinum with Gravekeepers. One of my favorite Duel Links (and now Master Duel) youtube/ twitch streamers, MasterKD, is playing completely rogue decks like Subterror, without Maxx C or Niberu, and finding ways to win against the meta decks with his solid and clever play.

If you are seeing the games as a coin flip, I think you need to dig deeper into your archetypes' cardpool and your extra deck options to fully unlock Yugioh's strategic ceiling.

But it's not my only play. I also set down Crackdown, Torrential tribute and Solemn judgement. Good luck playing trough that with 1 card and a disabled GY. I am not arguing Royal tribute is some retardedly overpowered card. Against some decks it's mediocre or even a dead card. I am just trying to say I've gotten many turn 1 surrenders out of it. Like I've said, single cards are way to strong for no cost. And you saying you can still set up a broken board from 1 card just further proves my point. There are so many different cards, that are so strong and it's a bo1 fromat. You will never prepare for everything, or even if you do you will not always draw it. You say it's balanced, which it might technically be. I just think it's not particularly engaging when every turn can result in a total blowout.

 

[NoSoup4you]

Just came back from Final Fantasy TCG's Bahamut Brawl in Chicago. Seven of us traveled from Minneapolis, tournament had 48 players total. I made top cut but was eliminated in the first round on day 2.

My two decks:

https://ffdecks.com/deck/5712330560110592
https://ffdecks.com/deck/6029185866792960

7 color Gilgamesh is my pet deck, and it pulled its weight... Actually, it's the more meta samurais that let me down in the end. The top decks going in were Sky Pirates and Palom/Porom, but there were a lot of variations thereof and generally more diversity than you'd expect from a large event.

 

[Silentstorm]

About Yu-Gi-Oh, Konami has gone so far they can't stop, but that's why they are making a spin-off called Rush Duel, with cards that while working with the main game, are mostly supposed to work with Rush Duels.

Unlike other attempts, the cards do have their own designs and the rules change enough for a faster paced game but one that so far has less BS, at least last i checked, heck it seems it took more than one year for them to insert Fusion monsters into it, though they did have their own thing which was stacking 3 specific monster cards to make one giant monster boss card that is the only one you can have on your field, to compensate it's stats are always huge and each monster component gives it different effects, honestly, splitting the effects of a boss monster into 3 cards seems like a good way of making it so that powerful cards aren't so overwhelmed with text.

I think it was Maximum Summon or something, never came out for the main game but i guess the idea of one super boss monster wasn't enough and they brought back Fusion to it.

 

[NoSoup4you]

(VTES)

Tried building a !Salubri deck, and dee-stroyed everyone at the table the other day: https://vdb.im/decks?id=5fa08d36a4934c108d8c5abd7a6204f6

Remains to be seen whether it was just my good draws, but this feels like what Potence decks should have been. You can get the full-health torpor on someone without having to draw six cards first. Armor of Caine's Fury + Trap is a meat grinder. I also like that it's equally good at intercept and rush, unlike my Show of Force deck. Very versatile and uses all the moving parts of combat. Sense Death'ing The Dracon was pretty funny.

Also touching up my Neonate Breach deck for a tournament. I noticed I could play some of the new Baron cards with a slight crypt adjustment, though I'm not sure of the balance yet. Arishat herself can become anarch with Anarch Secession, but the clutter+action+infernal cost might not be worth it. She is looking for things to do that don't tap her, though. Reactions are balanced for now, but I'm waiting to see if I want to go all-in with 10 Party Out of Bounds, depending on how often I have one anarch defending against an entire board.

https://vdb.im/decks?id=a46055cf3f924ba292cfcc5da42cdb97