So, I started playing Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel

So, I started playing Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel, mostly due to nostalgia. It’s also free-to-play and I wanted to try something that is less reliant on my internet working. I mean, yes, I do still get disconnects given that my ISP is having issues but it’s not as annoying in this game compared to Path of Exile, where I get disconnected and then I lose all progress in a dungeon. Hooray! So, Yu-Gi-Oh! is something I wanted to talk about today.

I used to be a huge fan of the show. I loved the first few seasons and was incredibly into Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. That show had this “university campus” vibe going for it and decent plot twists that were less reliant on Deus Ex Machine moments. Similarly, Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds was incredibly cool due to its ideas and uh creativity… something about the Nazca lines intrigued me a whole lot back then and then this anime basically used that and combined it with cards and dragons… And after 5D’s, I didn’t really watch the show, probably because of a switch in the TV program at the time that I used to watch after school was over… or maybe even because of the fact that I eventually stopped watching TV altogether at that time.

Anyway, I really wanted to play this mostly because it’s less reliant on my internet connection and I’ve been meaning to get back into some sort of card game. Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel is one of those free-to-play TCGs where you essentially learn the ropes using a tutorial and then you’re free to go whatever. Right as I started, I was greeted by a lot of pop-ups telling me that I got gems just for logging in. Gems are used for cosmetic purchases as well as card packs.

If you do get into this game, I’d recommend going into the “Shop” and then into the “Special” tab where you find the “Duel Pass (Gold)”. This one is a bit of an investment but essentially you get a bunch of rewards through it and it pays for itself if you play enough of this game. Not only does it pay for itself but you also get crafting materials that will come in handy later on. Below that one’s sub-tab, you’ll see “Bundle Deals” which are basically card-packs that you get at a very good price. Instead of paying 1000 gems for those ten-or-so packs, you only purchase these for 750 each and you also get the “Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring”, “Lightning Storm”, and “Solemn Judgement” cards on top of the packs. The reason why I recommend doing this early on is that these cards are pretty good as far as I know, on top of being ultrarare! Also, you get other cards at a decent deal and it’s better to use your free gems on better value, right?

*Opening up ten of these is kinda addicting, ngl.*

But that aside, I then ended up just spending my gems on cosmetics and secret packs. Secret packs are packs that are available for 24 hours after you find certain cards associated with that pack. Yu-Gi-Oh! has hundreds of packs and listing them all in the “normal pack” category would take ages to scroll through on top of being incredibly overwhelming. Hence, your best choice is to grab a few “Master Packs” or “Stalwart Force” packs in the normal pack tab and then use the archetypes that you want in “Secret Packs”, which is something I learned from RossBoomsocks who is a League streamer primarily who I just kinda watch sometimes.

Originally, I wanted to create a super toxic Exodia-deck where I would stall the game for 50+ turns to assemble Exodia in my hand, winning the game in the process… But I then decided against that because it’s probably better if I get a proper deck first. Instead, I’m now building this “Black Rose” deck inspired by the anime, Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s. I’m still missing maybe ten cards for that for which I want to grind some gems and then roll packs or something, idk… but I’m honestly quite excited to play it once I’m done creating it. The Black Rose Dragon is this kind of… “Anything can be a Dragon” thing and all the associated cards are super cute and pretty, so I wanna beat the crap out of people in this game using cutesy rose dragons and rose witches and stuff.

Still gotta figure out if this is optimal, anyhow. After finishing the write-up for this post, I actually drew more of these cards, so now I’m only missing a few more that I’ll get from the Exquisite Jet-Black Rose secret packs! Gotta make it count while the 24-hour window is still open, right?

Obviously, I’ll need to learn and grasp all the strategies first with this but from what I gathered, you practically fill your graveyard with plant monsters and then you destroy your enemy’s frontline over and over again, using the Black Rose Dragon, while also summoning other cool monsters in the process using the different synergies… Sounds pretty fun! Also, it’s not an Exodia situation where you just win… It kind of works of each card’s back and their synergies, and it seems to be quite flexible, so I’m looking forward to trying this out.

This post was first published on Indiecator by Dan Indiecator aka MagiWasTaken. If you like what you see here and want to see more, you can check me out on Twitch and YouTube as well.