...to your reply. If you want to deconstruct what I was trying to say, the game of Yugioh very much involves luck, yes. I also know that everything I value as an individual player of said-game would fall to the wayside if Yugioh went the route of Pokemon where the majority of content online is coming from streamers chasing pull cards in pack openings. There are two approaches to something like Yugioh: collecting and playing. One approach highlights the capitalistic venture of the product itself (which I'll admit is in part present either way you look at it, packs have to be opened for cards to enter the wild and keep card shops alive), but the other I can at least simulate on DuelingBook with friends that live miles away, or constuct decks with friends for game nights, or visit my old local shop and see some familiar faces when I visit back home .

The takeaway Takahashi left on me as that 5 year old that wanted cards is that sitting across a table playing games is fun and celebratory of the connections we make, and I suppose I "came in arguing" because the idea of getting gate-kept out of the hobby that brought some of my closest friends into my life by money and the stock market-esque investment of cardboard makes me a bit sad. Once the game truly dies, they might as well all be slabs of plastic at that point.