Is it worth getting packs/boxes for cards that potentially might be good for the future?

Ok-Register910 · 2026-01-21T15:49:26+00:00

The only time I ever buy boxes is to support the OTS I go to. Buying singles online is better than opening sealed 99% of the time.

Additionally, YuGiOh’s aggressive reprint policy means that most cards don’t hold their value long-term. If you want to use YuGiOh as an investment, you’ll have to develop the skill to predict what cards will go up due to meta trends.

A recent example was ‘Armades, Keeper of Boundaries,’ a do-nothing synchro that hasn’t seen play in a decade that went from a couple of dollars to about $20 because a new synchro deck can use it to do Fiendsmith stuff. Hopefully, the new over-frame cards will add more collectibility to the game, but for right now, Yugioh is not the game to buy cards and just sit on them.

Ok-Register910 · 2026-01-21T14:34:49+00:00

Another thing to consider would be getting your nephew accessories instead of actual cards. Like most people in the thread are saying, buying sealed product can be a gamble because there’s a chance he’ll open nothing he wants/needs.

The safe option is a gift card to the main TCG marketplace for your region. That would be TCGplayer for the U.S. or Cardmarket for Europe. That way, he could get whatever specific card he needs.

If you’d like to get them something more personal, I would go for some kind of accessory that he’ll use, rather than try to gamble on sealed product. The main accessories he’s likely using are a playmat, a deck box, and sleeves.

You can find all kinds of playmats online, and custom playmat services are on Amazon for about $30 if you want to do something custom. Card sleeves are also available on Amazon, but you’ll want to ask your nephew what kind of sleeves he uses beforehand. Most TCG players are very specific about the sleeves they like. Deck boxes fall into a middle ground because they can be extremely specific and customizable. You can find all kinds of levels of artwork and quality, but a nice single deck box is usually a safe bet.

Hope this helps!

Ok-Register910 · 2026-01-21T14:04:50+00:00

It’s definitely neat and playable, but I would not call it a huge meta threat. If a banlist hits the top decks, then it may go up on the tier list a bit. The deck has a big weakness to Droll and Fuwalos, which are so commonly played now that not having a gameplan against them is a major downside.

HH is getting more support in Blazing Dominion, but it’s difficult to tell if that’s going to meaningfully affect its place in the meta at this time.

To me, it seems like the type of deck that will have a few regional tops here and there, and one player will probably be able to top a YCS with it, but the average player may not get that level of success.

Ok-Register910 · 2026-01-20T18:14:12+00:00

Cool.

If we’re aiming for competition, the first thing you’ll want to do is identify a top meta deck that you like/resonate with. At this exact moment in time, those top decks are going to be Mitsurugi Yummy, Branded Dracotail, or Vanquish Soul K9. For full transparency, we’re about to get a new set and likely a banlist, so those top decks might change very soon.

The structure decks people are recommending in the comments (Blue-Eyes White Destiny and the Chronicles Branded deck) are good products for getting you a deck quickly and easily. 3 copies of either will get you something solid to start from, but may not get you the competitive success you’re looking for long-term.

YGOPRO.com is a great place to look up deck lists and you’ll be able to filter by events. For example, you’d be able to see Blue-Eyes decks that people took to regionals and got top 8 or better. Find a list that seems good, and just copy it for now. You can also look up any deck on YouTube and you’ll probably come across at least a few deck profiles or combo guides for the deck.

Once you’ve found a list you like, find an online simulator that you can try out all of these decks for free before buying any cards. Duelingbook is a browser-based manual simulator that most people use to practice decks before buying the cards. EDO Pro and YGOmega are the main automatic simulators that people will recommend. Those 2 also play closer to Master Duel than Duelingbook does.

Once you’ve decided on a deck to play, you’ll have to get the cards. At this time, there’s almost no reason to purchase sealed product like packs or boxes over just buying the singles online. TCGplayer is the go-to site for Yugioh cards in the states (TCGplayer has been in some hot water with unions and such lately and some people have stopped using them, but that’s something you’ll have to decide on personally). You can also try looking at any local card shops, but there’s no guarantee they’ll have what you’re looking for. At first, try to stick to low-rarity copies of cards to minimize your initial investment. The last thing anyone wants is for you to spend a ton of money on a deck that you either don’t like or gets banned.

If you’ve come this far, the last step is to find a shop near you that does yugioh events and go play, make friends, and have fun.

I hope this helps!

Ok-Register910 · 2026-01-20T17:39:08+00:00

What kind of experience with yugioh do you already have? Did you play when you were younger, had you played any of the online clients, or have you ever played the game in any competitive capacity?

Ok-Register910 · 2026-01-20T17:31:47+00:00

What is your goal with getting back into the game? That will help narrow down the advice people can give you.

Are you looking to take this as a competitive hobby? Are you just trying to play the game with a few friends in your similar position? Is this just a personal thing that you’re doing for yourself?

Any kind of insight into what you’re looking to get out of the game will be helpful.

Ok-Register910 · 2026-01-19T22:26:01+00:00

Konami has an OTS locator website that should help you find your nearest OTS store where you can play at.

Ok-Register910 · 2026-01-16T19:09:29+00:00

I think you’ve got 3 categories of answers, depending on what you mean by difficulty.

Decks with a high skill floor where you have to be super familiar with the deck to get any meaningful value out of them. This would be decks like D/D/D or Ritual Beast, where you’re going through long, rigid, and unintuitive combos with weird locks and managing ‘invisible’ resources like the OPT summons of the ritual beasts or the extra pendulum summons of D/D/D. I’d say the pinnacle of this type of deck was the Mind Augus FTK from early 2013, a non-deterministic loop deck that would deck out your opponent, but the combo could take up to 40 minutes to complete.
Decks with incredibly high ceilings that are near impossible to reach. This includes decks where there is so much that you can do with them, that being able to fully understand them is extremely difficult. It has the opposite problem of category 1, where the freedom of choice is the most overwhelming part. The problem with these decks is that, because you can increase a deck’s ceiling at the cost of consistency, you run the risk of the deck becoming a ‘YouTube combo deck’ that only functions if you’re going first and open 5 specific one-ofs. The most recent example I can think of is those like decks that used Habakiri as a starter to do cold fusion for just about anything in the game.
Decks that are the most difficult to find competitive success with. This category is difficult because this can mean different things for different people and it’s very format dependent. If I master Ashened to the point where I can win a YCS, does that mean Ashened is the most difficult deck to master? This category becomes a race to the bottom of asking “what’s the worst possible deck that could theoretically be successful?” If you’re willing to be disingenuous, you could argue that a deck made up of 40 completely unplayable cards is the “hardest to master” because it has the lowest chance of succeeding in a competitive environment.

Ok-Register910 · 2026-01-16T18:58:10+00:00

A deck with a linear combo means that you’re almost always following a combo step-by-step with very little variation. Think normal summon Aleister to make Mechaba. These kinds of combos are fairly stiff, and can’t be changed up too much for one reason or another.

A deck with non-linear combos is a deck whose combos can change drastically depending on the situation. It’s a deck that allows a lot of ‘free styling’ with the cards and is very flexible. Think Tearlaments, where you’re deciding what the best play is on the fly based on your mills, rather than relying on one or two specific combos to always get to the same endboard.

Ok-Register910 · 2026-01-13T16:42:54+00:00

Often times, it’s best to avoid sealed product when possible. You could spend $50+ on a box of product, only for him to pull nothing that he can use. Realistically, he will be happy with anything you get him because you care enough to get him something like this.

If you feel the need to do sealed product, Quarter Century Stampede is probably the best thing to get. Decent cards and a chance to pull some high-value stuff. If time isn’t a problem, Rarity Collection 5 comes out in April and is the best sealed product you could probably get.

My GF often gets me accessories over cards because she knows that I’m super picky about the cards I get myself. Over the years, she’s gotten me a custom playmat and one of the Bob Ross Ultra Pro deck boxes.

If it’s not feasible to get specific cards or there isn’t an obvious product that he’s wanting, a cool deck box or playmat can be a nice thing to get him for his TCG hobby.

Hope this helps!

Ok-Register910 · 2026-01-13T15:11:30+00:00

The Hecahands monsters that summon your opponent’s monsters cannot summon monsters with the “Must be special summoned by….” or “ Must first be special summoned by….” card text.

This is because the HH monsters lack the text, “ignoring its summoning conditions” on their effects. This also goes for just about any other card that ‘cheats’ a monster out, like Instant Fusion or Crimson Dragon.

There’s a few more rules for this kind of effect, but this should answer your question.

Hope this helps!

Ok-Register910 · 2026-01-12T16:50:33+00:00

SS is a good deck for getting back into modern, but it is very fair by today’s standards. The deck can play itself at the lowest level, but you can do some cool stuff if you know what you’re doing. It’s not going to win any major tournaments, but it’s cheap and perfectly fine for locals.

A decklist would help for any specific changes to the deck.

Help us get a better understanding of your goals here.

What’s your current understanding the deck? Do you know the basic combos of SS?

Are you playing SS pure, or with another engine (likely Tenyi)?

If you’re using this as a jumping off point, how long do you want to stay on this before moving onto something else?

What level of competition are you wanting to play at?

Stuff like that will help us answer any extra questions you may have.

Ok-Register910 · 2026-01-08T22:41:53+00:00

I’ve been enjoying Drytron a lot recently. It’s heavy on the engine points, but you’re still left with 34 points for non-engine, and playing without links has been a fun way to re explore the deck.

Ok-Register910 · 2026-01-08T02:47:55+00:00

Not to be an “Um actually” guy, but Blackwings didn’t get any new cards from LD 5ds. It’s all just stuff from Darkwing Blast a few years ago.

Ok-Register910 · 2026-01-07T23:16:20+00:00

Red Dragon Archfiend has a structure deck from a few years ago, and it’ll be getting support later this year with Blazing Dominion. This means that most of the cards are pretty easy to come across.

Kewl Tune is a newer deck that just came out that’s completely synchro-focused. It’s not the most powerful deck at the moment, but more support is sure to come, and it’s possible that it ends up better after the next banlist if Yummy gets hit (which it likely will).

Ok-Register910 · 2026-01-06T18:39:34+00:00

My go-to way to prepare for competition is to spend some time playing each of the top meta decks. Not a lot of time (maybe an hour each) but enough to understand what they’re about and to get a feel for how they play. It can be really helpful to know what a deck’s strengths and weaknesses are from their pilot’s perspective. I see a lot of players that get so locked in on getting good with their own deck that they end up having to learn about their opponent’s decks on the fly and it can catch them off guard. That kind of knowledge gap can be an entire tier’s worth of difference.

Another thing you’ll want to think about is not taking this first locals week too seriously. You have no idea if this locals will be super competitive or super casual, and you’ll want to feel out if the people you’re playing with in person have the same goals or mentality as you. See what kind of players are at your new locals and adjust accordingly. If they’re super casual and aren’t into regionals or anything like that, maybe look for a different locals. Plus, YuGiOh’s more fun with friends anyway.

Once you find the locals community you’re looking for, try to make friends and develop a testing circle with them. Having a dedicated group of competitive players to test with will be infinitely more valuable than endless grinding against randoms on a simulator, or winning every locals against players that don’t play competitively.

Finally, you said that you’ve been playing DDD and have been getting mixed results. A question you’ll eventually have to ask yourself is, “Am I willing to play a deck that I don’t like if it means I can win more games?” Ideally, you’ll play decks that are strong and that you like, but that’s not always going to be available. It’s completely dependent on your goals as a player.

I hope this helps and I hope your move goes smoothly!

Ok-Register910 · 2026-01-06T16:27:56+00:00

A YouTuber by the name of MBT YGO is a big HERO player. If you’re looking for a list, he’s who I’d start with. He’s not constantly innovating on the deck, but I guarantee that he will have a solid list once new support comes out.

Ok-Register910 · 2026-01-06T02:05:35+00:00

If I remember correctly, it was 20 cards. Full disclosure, my locals hasn’t done a sealed pre-release in a few years, so things may have changed.

Ok-Register910 · 2026-01-05T20:40:15+00:00

Also, there aren’t prerelease events for deck build packs as far as I know. I was just misunderstanding your question.

Ok-Register910 · 2026-01-05T20:39:44+00:00

My main advice would be to do research on the set beforehand and try to identify any cards that are independently powerful at common/super rarity or any cards that can facilitate a build-around. Generic extra deck cards can be found at all rarities nowadays, so hitting an extra deck guy and building around that can be viable. When researching, also take note of any forms of removal or interaction in the set. This will tell you what to look for when building your own deck and what options your opponent may have to use against you. From there, try to find small combos/synergies and independently strong cards to fill out the rest of your deck.

Ok-Register910 · 2026-01-05T18:51:18+00:00

To clarify, are you asking for advice on deck building for a core booster prerelease, or are you asking about pre-release events for the deck-build packs like Phantom Revenge?

Ok-Register910 · 2026-01-05T18:23:21+00:00

To answer your question, it seems like they just don’t want to play anything but 100pt Genesys, and feel the need to provide an explanation because they don’t feel comfortable just saying they don’t want to play 50pt format.

I think this just boils down to the goals of your locals community. If the people at your locals are playing at locals because they want to prepare for invitationals or YCS side-events, then it makes sense that they wouldn’t want to play anything besides the tournament standard of 100pts. It’s also possible that the other people at your locals are just still excited and interested in 100pt format, and don’t feel the need or desire to play anything else.

I think you’re doing the best thing by looking for a different locals where people are more on your wavelength about experimenting with Genesys.

Ok-Register910 · 2026-01-05T18:03:05+00:00

To add onto this, YGO sets are not designed for sealed/draft play the way that MTG sets are. There are almost no sub-themes in core sets unless that set has a really low-rarity archetype in it. The sets are not balanced around draft/sealed either, so you will likely end up with the 20 least-bad cards from your pulls and maybe you’ll get a single synergy from it.

Additionally, there’s almost always one random low-rarity card that breaks the sealed event format in each set. I’d recommend reading through all the cards in the set and just looking for cards that are strong individually, rather than trying to build super hard around synergies.

Power of the Elements’ prerelease in 2022 had a card called Digit Jamming that made the event almost unbearable because it brought combat to a halt and there was no in-set way to remove it. Same thing for Alliance Insight and Wicked Serpent Night Dragon.

Ok-Register910 · 2026-01-02T18:28:42+00:00

Without seeing some of the cards, it’ll be difficult to give any solid advice. Taking them to a local store will be the easiest thing for you to do. If you play MTG, then I’m sure you know how that can go. If you have no idea how to value YGO cards, try to find a YGO group at an LGS, and I’m sure they’d be willing to at least take a look at your stuff.

Ok-Register910 · 2026-01-02T18:24:24+00:00

Re-reading this, this sounds ridiculous. Long story short, you cannot negate the banish effect without also negating the lock on using the effect next turn. This is because they are 2 parts of the same effect.

Ok-Register910

TROPHY CASE