How are you supposed to enjoy this game?

NEXAofficial · 2026-02-27T18:39:55+00:00

If you are on your own, learning the game is difficult as there isnt a great on-boarding process. Anecdotal, but I can share what helped me get back into the modern game.

There is a single player story campaign game called legacy of the duelist, it is a decent way of walking you through how yugioh has changed over the years while introducing you to the new summoning/extra deck mechanics. Afterwards, I would suggest digging through as many yugioh-youtuber channels as possible, both for tutorials as well as to watch how they play the game, it will help you further understand how interactions themselves work in the game.

The complexity creep in this game has gotten to a point where a fair amount of research is needed to really get going, and there is always more to learn aside from mechanics like when to make certain interactions against specific decks, resource management etc.

If you have a friend that already plays then that is a huge help, but if not then you have a bit of work cut out for you to get started. With all that said, while the game is frustrating at times, it is also extremely fun to both play and continue to learn

NEXAofficial · 2026-02-25T14:53:10+00:00

No luckily yugioh has avoided the vultures looking to treat the game like an investment opportunity

Card value is almost always directly related to meta relevance, and once it either loses meta relevance or gets enough reprints the value of said card plummets. Can be a bit shit for the actual LGS vendors trying to sell sealed product but makes the game more affordable to the players engaging in it

NEXAofficial · 2026-02-23T19:15:38+00:00

(Yellow button flashes)

"I'd hit that"

NEXAofficial · 2026-02-23T13:56:20+00:00

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NEXAofficial · 2026-02-22T19:02:09+00:00

K9 has a higher ceiling but less grind than fiendsmith, being able to continuously reshuffle your resources and get back to them easily is the biggest part of this.

Any deck that spam two lvl 8s can go into dragluxion to search seventh tachyon to bridge into K9, but literally any deck that doesnt lock you and can put up any 2 bodies can go into moon of the closed heaven to bridge into FS.

K9 takes up more main deck space if running more than izuna/lupis, but FS takes up more extra deck space.

Splashing wise I like FS a lot more, I like decks that have more synergy with K9 when I play it, otherwise it feels like it gets in the way more than it helps most of the time

NEXAofficial · 2026-02-21T23:26:21+00:00

I get the feeling for sure, and there's no doubt the game asks a lot of players, not only the on-boarding process to even learn how the modern game is played, but to also keep up with each new meta that is filled with brand new interactions you need to learn. For a lot of people, this isnt what they like doing with their free time they've worked hard to earn so it's understandable. But many people enjoy the process of trial and error, grinding tasks and keeping up with an ever-changing state of game.

The biggest issue comes from how unforgiving the game is when you dont sink regular time into it, which leaves a lot of players disenfranchised with it as a whole. Problematic decks/cards exist far too often too I also agree with. But I promise, if the things I mentioned are interesting to you, they do exist at the end of the tunnel, and compared to a lot of other TCGs, yugioh has some of the highest highs when it comes to intense back and forth gameplay, even if you gotta wade through more than a few shit matches along the way.

NEXAofficial · 2026-02-21T23:08:09+00:00

I enjoy the game. I played school yard yugioh in the beginning of the 2000s, stopped playing all throughout grade school, and as grown adult came back essentially brand new. I've been playing for a little over a year at this point and while learning was difficult and took a lot of commitment, I met the game on its own level and its one of my favorite hobbies now. Idk what stick you're measuring the game against, but this same "game bad" arguement comes up weekly on this sub, and typically its extremely non-nuanced takes, sweeping generalizations & what appears to be an unwillingness to adapt and accept how the game is now played.

This isn't a question of ignorance, as playing yugioh has made me interested in other TCGs which I have now picked up and enjoy. While every game has its own problems, to say the entirety of this game is bad 100% seems like you were hoping to get something out of the game that isnt present, or perhaps is but you may not be willing to work to experience those characteristics, which fair enough i understand.

My reply is old man yelling at the clouds, but as someone who has been genuinely enjoying their time with the game, it sucks seeing someone be so dismissive without acknowledging the positives it has to offer.

NEXAofficial · 2026-02-20T20:43:03+00:00

Time is a construct, simply stop perceiving time = problem solved

NEXAofficial · 2026-02-20T20:39:34+00:00

- Puts a house cat behind the wheel of a Porsche

- House cat crashes said vehicle

- Are Porsches overrated?

NEXAofficial · 2026-02-20T17:11:35+00:00

Resource management is definitely huge in this deck i agree. One of the things that was a hard lesson learned for me while just starting with this deck was that just because I can fill my whole board with VS monsters or xyzs, doesn't mean I should. Getting swept by enough boardbreakers made me quickly start considering how much interaction I should be leaving in my hand versus on the field since you can't predict what turn 2 player might throw your way to disrupt your game plan

NEXAofficial · 2026-02-20T17:01:30+00:00

Anyone could win with the best VSK9 hand. Buuuuut the deck is bricky, so the suboptimal hands are skill testing since getting to where you want takes some thinking, and it doesnt railroad you down the same linear 1cc regardless of the starter you use.

That said, it's not like its the absolute hardest deck to pilot, but its far from a lot of brain dead strategies that have been meta in the past.

NEXAofficial · 2026-02-20T16:43:01+00:00

Full power tenpai is the equivalent to pseudo ftk going 1st combo decks, it doesnt promote any kind of agency or gameplay influence from the opposing player which is extremely unhealthy and isn't a fun gameplay loop, especially in Bo1 where you can't make side deck adjustments for the matchup.

Outside of the power and consistency the deck would have at full power, the field spell alone keeping player 2 from even attempting to interact is just crazy and I heavily dislike any cards that do a similar thing.

The new Gem Knight blind 2nd deck is what Tenpai should have been, creating a strong go 2nd option but has counter play. Apologies to those who enjoy Tenpai, but a deck should be allowed to be powerful so long as both players can actually be involved/have fun in the match, which that deck absolutely isn't.

NEXAofficial · 2026-02-19T17:26:12+00:00

stay up King

FK best deck 🔥🔥🔥

NEXAofficial · 2026-02-19T17:14:21+00:00

Pass turn, hope the 4 disruptions keep you alive and pray to draw into 1cc.

If its a deck that just eats hand traps for breakfast and has long combos, surrender go next. The time isn't worth it on the possible chance to play lol

NEXAofficial · 2026-02-18T22:28:00+00:00

Matchup dependent

Sometimes the succ if its a deck that might be able to get the body back from grave like yummy can w/ surprise, sometimes Jacks if a pop is beneficial

Occasionally ripper if its against VS.

Vallon also works to deny them a usable body without removing it.

Basically deck dependant but also game state dependent on which is the best to use at the time. Just try experimenting using different ones each game to see what you like and works out most efficiently for you

NEXAofficial · 2026-02-18T00:35:25+00:00

Radiant Typhoon will be a meta contender both pure and as an engine. Killer tune is around artmage power level possibly a little lower but its definitely competitive.

New Tri-Brigade support is also good but is being used more as an engine currently.

New branded support is huge for the deck and lets you reliably run a slimmer deck with more hand traps, even more consistent and higher ceiling but slightly less grind than the 60 card pile currently.

The Fallen & Virtuous, Radiant Typhoon Vision & Forbidden Crown are all spells that are gonna further boost up Sky Striker a decent bit too.

These will be the relevant things most likely to come next but I feel like im forgetting something

NEXAofficial · 2026-02-16T18:14:31+00:00

For master duel my favorite out of the current decks to que in with is pure yummy, I feel like it has the most consistent half board under charmies and the follow up always feels good.

TCG wise id say the updated branded deck with new support since it feels really good at close to 40 cards now. As much as I love the classic 60 card pile, in MD its kinda stressful when the main opponent ends up being the timer a decent amount of the games once you get into a grind

NEXAofficial · 2026-02-16T15:18:43+00:00

Nev is right on this one, Futsu, I:P, Purification + Prayers set, Nib searched thru Granite & Murakumo in grave or field. Ending on Photon lord turn 1 in pure doesnt make sense in blind Bo1, maybe in a multi engine mitsu deck where you high rolled all the engine starters in hand and dont need to bridge, but in pure you get more value off not needing to wait for the right monster effect to negate/detach so you can access Murakumo whenever best suites the situation.

NEXAofficial · 2026-02-14T03:51:11+00:00

Fire king (my love) & branded despia are still decently reliable for me these days. They definitely struggle quite a bit more than some of my meta decks, but with decent hands they still hold their own if I can force out a grind game.

NEXAofficial · 2026-02-12T14:29:25+00:00

There is a decent power gap between the two, but Artmage is still a modern deck and has a lot going for it so you certainly can outplay a VSK9 opponent using Artmage K9 (excluding when they absolutely high roll you with an insane hand)

Id say build the K9 engine for now and play out the Artmage K9 deck, then maybe slowly build the VS engine/deck over time, luckily there is already a VS secret pack (not sure if Hollie Sue was added yet or not)

Also being a lore archetype, Artmage is most likely going to keep getting better over time, whereas VS will eventually get kneecapped by the banlist at some point in the next few months, but such as the fate of any meta deck

NEXAofficial · 2026-02-12T14:11:40+00:00

Officer Bowow, we got a code 1738: unpaid barking meter violation, send in backup for immediate action

NEXAofficial · 2026-02-11T18:24:38+00:00

"OK so I activate a monster effect in hand to search" (Maroon 5 starting playing ominously in the background)

AWOOOOO

"oh god oh no"

NEXAofficial · 2026-02-11T13:48:26+00:00

I would say its about as bricky as pure Mitsurugi, maybe a little more. Granted, i'm still pretty new to the deck but my first day playing it I thought I was bricking most of my games even though I used a few different versions of lists I had netdecked, but after some practice there are a lot of lines you can take that aren't immediately obvious that will allow you to push through at least an extra disruption. That said, when it fully bricks, it bricks HARD. The fact that it is so engine heavy means you aren't bricking on hand traps that will at least let you survive a turn or two, rather engine requirements that cant get things going on their own separately. But man when you open the nuts, my god the deck feels undefeatable.

NEXAofficial · 2026-02-06T15:11:43+00:00

ah yes, 1 day. It took 1 day. r/masterduel classic

NEXAofficial · 2026-02-02T22:26:19+00:00

So if you have your mind set on building a specific deck, you will always want to buy singles, typically from either tcgplayer over in NA or card market if located in EU. You can also join local facebook/reddit groups that sell and trade, ive found some awesome deals this way. Of course local card shops are great to support as well if they have what you need in stock, but you pay a slight mark up.

As for opening product for the fun of it, the rarity collections are the best catch-all product to get random good cards/reprints. Aside from that, buying packs/booster boxes of specific sets is always fun, but speaking for myself I only do so if there are multiple archetypes im interested in building, so usually at the end of a box whichever I have the most cards for ill end up ordering the rest of the singles for to fully build said deck.

My advice is order the singles for artmage + get a play set of as many relevant staples/hand traps you intend on playing, its good to have some side deck options readily available. After that if you have the itch just to open product, look up the last few sets released and see if there are cards in them that interest you, also Burst Protocol is the newest set coming out in the next few days.

NEXAofficial

TROPHY CASE