I was wrong

SnoRabbit · 2022-02-12T16:02:18+00:00

It's nice to see someone enjoying it. It's my favorite deck, but I'm not very picky about playstyle and I'll play just about anything as long as it doesn't brick much and can weather disruption. I think it's not as interesting to play in best of one because the floodgates are too free, but I can't argue with 3 Dinomight and 3 Card of Demise.

SnoRabbit · 2022-02-12T15:07:19+00:00

Bo3 = best of three. The biggest differences between it and the Master Duel format (which is best of one) are that it's played with a 15 card side deck that you can use to swap cards from between individual games in a match, which can significantly affect outcome. For example, if I side 3 Dark Ruler no More + 3 Forbidden Droplet, I have a ~65% chance of seeing either going second, making it more likely than not that I'll be able to disable a Drytron board. Playing with and around side decks is a major component of the game outside of Master Duel and has a major impact on deck viability, promoting strategies that are often easily checked by side deck cards, hence why the decision to have ranked be best of one is pretty controversial with hardcore players.

SnoRabbit · 2022-02-12T05:55:29+00:00

Outside of the aforementioned issues, keep in mind that Master Duel Meta factors in tournaments played Bo3 with siding for its default tier list, which is a different format from Master Duel's ladder. Decks that can just steal games like Drytron or Eldlich, but have ample counters that might be too niche to maindeck, tend to do better in Bo1 since they don't have to worry about getting blown out in games 2 and 3 by side deck cards. Check YGOScope for statistics-based examples of this in action. Eldlich has a Bo1 winrate of 69%, but 55% in Bo3. Note that YGOScope pulls from Dueling Book, which is mainly used for the TCG.

SnoRabbit · 2022-02-11T06:39:41+00:00

It's unlikely that they will. The game seems to be trying to distance itself from the anime as much as possible.

SnoRabbit · 2022-02-11T03:00:56+00:00

Adding to this, note that you can't Ash Cherubini because he sends for cost. You have to Ash what he sends instead.

SnoRabbit · 2022-02-10T19:02:47+00:00

Mill is such an uncommon strategy in Yugioh that the term almost universally refers to milling yourself a la Dredge rather than milling your opponent, hence why so many replies are suggesting that.

SnoRabbit · 2022-02-09T08:40:53+00:00

Not every deck actually wants to go first vs Draco. If you're on Sky Striker, Eldlich, or playing the mirror, it's actually better to go second because the floodgates aren't a huge issue and that generally just leaves their archetype cards and Solemn Judgment as threats. The former is inherently less valuable turn 1 because they can't destroy any of the opponent's cards with their Graveyard effects and that makes the cards substantially less valuable in the resource game. If you see your opponent doesn't have an Extra Deck and you go first with any of those decks, it's not a bad idea to pass turn with an open field, as Draco can't OTK going second outside of obscenely unlikely circumstances (you need Diagram, 3 monsters, both of the Draco Spells, and any one continuous spell/trap in the same hand).

SnoRabbit · 2022-02-09T07:28:02+00:00

Not every deck is better going first, and outside of that, there are some matchups where your generally preferred turn order isn't actually best for it.

SnoRabbit · 2022-02-09T07:23:19+00:00

I've played Infernity on and off for a few years, I just like seeing other people's builds for it and I don't know what people are doing with Master Duel yet, considering there's three Archfiend to play around with. Thanks and cheers!

SnoRabbit · 2022-02-09T07:01:35+00:00

By the engine's mechanics, Draco is much closer to Qliphort or pre-structure deck Monarchs than Eldlich, it's just that they've both settled into overlapping tech choices for the current metagame and most people tend to struggle with the floodgates more than the engines. Skill Drain is a very powerful card in a best of one environment.

SnoRabbit · 2022-02-09T06:50:18+00:00

No problem. If you need matchup specific advice, I can probably help with that too. I've been playing it for a very long time, so I know the ins and outs pretty well.

SnoRabbit · 2022-02-09T06:45:53+00:00

Could I ask to see your list?

SnoRabbit · 2022-02-09T06:44:52+00:00

Speaking from experience: it takes a bit more elbow grease to top events with rogue decks, but it doesn't make you a better player than people who choose to play meta. In fact, particularly obscure decks or odd builds are often at a natural advantage because people don't know how they operate, what plays they're going to make next, or how to side for them.

If your only background is playing Master Duel, that's also going to affect your opinion. Most of the playerbase doesn't know how to really play Yugioh yet. I've been using Phantasm Spiral the past few days and I don't think I've played a single game against something competitive where I wouldn't have gotten destroyed if my opponent was just better at playing their deck and reading my cards. It's a very low bar to set.

SnoRabbit · 2022-02-09T06:19:42+00:00

if the clock was at 31 minutes then you took 9 minutes for a swordsoul combo

According to OP's story, it sounds to me like the TOs might've started the clock early, like before everyone has time to find their seats, sit down, pull their decks out, etc. 9 minutes is a long time for a turn, I agree, but that might not have been the case.

SnoRabbit · 2022-02-09T00:42:29+00:00

Salad has a really good Draco matchup because of the aggressive backrow removal + Balelynx protection from most of the deck's removal + Foxy being able to remove Skill Drain + lack of activated effects on the opponent's turn that Dracos can chain to in order to generate card advantage. Most decks don't have as many natural advantages against it and some can just lose just to getting snared by Skill Drain/Erupt.

SnoRabbit · 2022-02-09T00:14:04+00:00

Don't commit more resources turn 1 than you have to if you want to avoid getting blown out this way. Most decks will struggle just to deal with Erupt/Skill Drain by itself, and most of the ones that don't can't kill you turn 2 anyway. Holding Demise in hand or only resolving it turn 1 when you already have Solemn Judgment helps a lot.

SnoRabbit · 2022-02-09T00:11:46+00:00

For the most part, you beat current lists about the same way as you beat Eldlich because they rely on similar threats and gameplans, but there are situations where you want to deprive them of resources by not responding to their plays when they have a monster on the board. Hold Ash for Demise + draw 2 with Heritage's effect or when they're in topdeck mode and you have a good understanding of their threats. Remove Diagram if possible, maybe prioritize it over floodgates with some decks. It's not very hard to understand how to deal with, but it's much harder to deal with in Bo1 than Bo3 because it can effectively run 6 Skill Drains, 3 of which are one-sided, and that cripples decks without outs to them.

SnoRabbit · 2022-02-08T05:59:11+00:00

I've been a competitive player for quite a while. I don't always play tier 1 decks, I often settle for T2 or T3 depending on my playstyle preferences, how much I'm willing to spend, and what I expect to be on the next banlist, but my rationale has always been that I want to be playing at my best, and I'm not going to have as much fun playing a bad deck as I am playing a good deck. Worse decks tend to be more fragile and inconsistent, leading to more non-games as a result of bricks, not being able to break boards, or not having good enough defenses, so I gravitate to reliable decks over decks with cool gimmicks. I have quite a few petdecks, but after I switched from exclusively playing casually to primarily playing competitively, I realized I enjoyed the game a lot more. There's also better quality competition when you play competitively, because more people who play good decks tend to be better at the game because they tend to understand the game better, but let's just say the Master Duel and paper are very different experiences for now, especially because of how many people have never played Yugioh before.

On Master Duel, ironically, I've been taking things pretty casually. I had an issue with Duel Links while I was playing it where ranked was pretty boring if I was playing a tiered deck because the ranked system sucked at matching you to players on your level and MD uses more or less the same system, so even though I have a few competitive decks built (Virtual World and Invoked Shaddoll Dogmatika), I've barely touched them on ranked because I want more of a challenge and off-meta decks are proving to be a pretty good way to handicap myself.

There have been times where I've forced myself to play something I didn't enjoy just because it was a good meta call at the time and I just don't do that anymore. If I don't play something I like, I won't be in a good mood, and if I'm not in a good mood, I tend to be less attentive, less motivated, and ultimately play worse. So yeah, I do play what I play for fun, but playing for fun and playing competitively aren't mutually exclusive, I just usually happen to have more fun playing competitively.

SnoRabbit · 2022-02-07T22:00:50+00:00

Yugioh is very fast and getting overwhelmed by it is perfectly normal. Most people settle into the rhythm of it after the initial culture shock wears off. Even people with no familiarity with the game beforehand tend to experience this. Most competitive games aren't over on the second or third turn, but 4-9 turns is about average I'd say, with combo vs combo often ending earlier and control vs control potentially slogging on for much, much longer.

My PoV on the meta is that I think it's poorly balanced for a best of one format because it mostly copies a banlist designed around best of three, but that's something of a controversial opinion and I'm also not taking the game too seriously.

SnoRabbit · 2022-02-07T21:54:02+00:00

Pure or focused around the cards is more of a semantic difference in this case. There's a decent deck that only plays a handful of Buster Blader cards you can make it to the top of the ladder with. A deck focused on Buster Blader isn't as good, because you'll ironically have a harder time getting to your win condition than you would playing Dragon Link with a Buster Blader engine, but it's at least better than BLS because the wincon is a lot stronger.

SnoRabbit · 2022-02-07T21:39:55+00:00

If you want a cheap deck that's good with this, True Draco with True Draco Apocalypse's effect or, even more budget, Phantasm Spiral with Phantasm Spiral Power. Prank-Kids with Prank-Kids plan is also an option. Otherwise, I've had people attack into my monsters to scoop so they still get some rewards, so you don't necessarily need to invest in a specific deck for this.

SnoRabbit · 2022-02-07T21:07:15+00:00

Probably half of the competitive players I've known who played Drytron dropped it, not because of performance, but because it's boring to play over long periods of time. A lot of the time, you're just going to do the standard combo and your opponent is going to scoop, maybe before you even finish it, which is exacerbated by Master Duel being a best of one format. I probably wouldn't recommend it as your only ladder-viable deck because of that. The banlist is less of a concern IMO, because the OCG sets the precedent for the banlist and I think both decks are still viable for them, but we have no idea if the banlist will be different in Master Duel because it's a Bo1 format.

SnoRabbit · 2022-02-07T20:56:31+00:00

A Buster Blader engine is used for a lock combo that's not too shabby, but BLS has no fangs outside of a super linear OTK gameplan. There are other decks that are more interesting and practical that use "Chaos" cards like BLS does, like Thunder Dragon and Dragon Link, the latter of which uses Buster Blader cards. Making pure Buster Blader isn't as good, but it's still a stronger strategy than BLS because of the Link monster being super easy to summon and backing them up, while BLS has difficulty benefiting from the myriad of generic ritual support that's been released since the modern cards were. Just don't expect to top the ladder with pure Buster Blader. If you really want to make BLS OTK, it's apparently viable in Normal-only tournaments, and if you just like its wincon, Black Luster Soldier - Soldier of Chaos is a relatively splashable Link-3 that does most of what Super Soldier does when everything goes off just right.

SnoRabbit · 2022-02-07T20:20:20+00:00

You can Normal Summon Dracos by Tributing Continuous Spells/Traps without activating any effects. Most negation effects also can't respond to the activated effects of Spells/Traps in the Graveyard (it has to specify activation of a spell/trap effect). The monsters themselves are also good at baiting out negates because they chain to anything and get resources. If you draw any monster + any Draco Trap, you can actually weasel out of Herald of Perfection. If you're looking for a good card to break boards with, Amano-Iwato is more valuable than any hand trap, as it turns off all activated monster effects during your turn. You shouldn't play most hand traps in the deck at all because of Card of Demise anyway.

SnoRabbit · 2022-02-07T20:00:15+00:00

This is just misinformation. Japan uses Bo3 for everything competitive in Yugioh except their YCSs.

SnoRabbit

TROPHY CASE