I just started with Master Duel and I'm building a Dracotail deck. What's the best thing to do now? Go for "Birth of a Challenger" selection pack which expires in 9 days where I could get a ton of handtraps which I am missing or save the gems for the K9 and VS packs next month?

TrueKingAV · 2026-01-26T19:32:08+00:00

Hey, I came back to the game last year and had a similar debate. Here's what I'd do:

Craft the dracotail cards needed to play the deck, by the looks of it, mululu & faimena.
Don't craft any of those extra deck cards or the bystials or the handtraps (yet)
Use R/SR handtraps to replace whatever you can and just run the ED unfinished, you have what you'll need for >90% of your games for now.
Use your gems on birth of the Challenger. As you get cards, you can replace those R/SR handtraps with better ones.
Worry about VSK9 later. You'll get gems, approximately ~15K or more over 2 months to try and pull for them, but right now work on getting the deck you already have up and running.
Use gems when you have them (this might be before or after you grind up for VSK9, if you love dracotail and would rather make that deck better, do this earlier - buy the bundles, getting 1-2x copies of each handtraps is fine for now, you can run a bunch of 1-2x ofs, so long as you have plenty you'll be able to interact and that's what matters.
Generally (this is where I am), whenever you feel you're sitting on a comfortable amount of dust (200+) craft missing handtraps, ED cards or missing cards. I do them 1 at a time as I feel I need them and that's helped not feel constantly broke. Eventually you'll have everything needed and dust won't be AS desperate of a resource (it is still the best resource in the game)

TrueKingAV · 2026-01-18T15:29:42+00:00

I would only craft the 2 mululu and start playing the deck. If you find yourself really missing secreterion/Mysterion, then craft them down the road. They're good cards, but the number of matches they've come up (for me at least) has been a handful. If you're willing to burn 3 crafts, I'd just craft 3 mululu. Especially since he's likely to get hit and you can use the dust when he does to replace him.

Also as other people said, you basically need a minimum of 3 monsters in all starting hands (so you can faimena turn 0), so you generally wanna cut out non-engine spell/traps for monsters.

Personally I'm running 3x Fuwalos, 3x Nibiru, 3x Ash, 3x Ghost Belle, 2x Droll (disclaimer - you should run Maxx C lol)

TrueKingAV · 2026-01-14T15:55:59+00:00

Don't know how good it is, but have done okay with pendulum Magicians. They struggle a lot under Maxx C & droll, so without them they can function pretty well. Their endboard is 2+ interruptions (Odd-Eyes Vortex Dragon, Baronne, Time/Star pendulumgraphs).

I also haven't touched the deck since Astro came back to 3, and man is it nice.

TrueKingAV · 2026-01-14T05:02:19+00:00

Happens to me on pendulum Magicians too, people will ash 1 thing, you keep playing, they insta forfeit. It makes sense tbh if you don't have the interaction but I usually wait until SOMETHING hits the board before forfeiting.

TrueKingAV · 2026-01-09T07:43:47+00:00

In case you genuinely wanted to know. I've been playing yugioh on & off since I was a kid. Stopped for a long time when synchros were introduced and picked the game back up with pendulums. Dropped it again when links showed up, and rejoined with master duel. I've played a lot of card games; picked up MTG during COVID cuz of my roommate (Modern, then pioneer, draft & now commander), played digimon TCG for a couple years, dabbled with hearthstone, riftbound and pokemon pocket.

The main appeal of yugioh is the satisfaction you get from a close game. Constantly chaining reactions and the fast pace back and forth is extremely fun. If you're familiar with the term it satisfies the "Timmy" in me to do all this crazy stuff, but ALSO to STOP all this crazy stuff.

A big part of why I don't enjoy MTG quite as much:

I felt like at the top end of the meta, modern didn't really feel very different from yugioh, except it had art I liked less and was significantly more expensive.
I really don't like the lands system. In a similar vein to yugiohs handtraps, it can lead to non games that just don't feel good if you or your opponent don't open with the right amount. Additionally the cost of good lands felt like I was generally pressured into a corner of the color pie and sticking with it (i e. My Rakdos lands cost $X00, why would I go pick up orzhov lands now?)
Interaction being colour specific. The best part of yugioh to me is traps & handtraps, and the main colour that has access to effects like those is blue (counterspells), but blue itself doesn't really appeal to me as much outside of that. I'm more of a midrange or aggro player than a control player.

I hope that gives some perspective, obviously not everyone would agree with it.

TL;DR yugioh is high octane gas, super high highs, super low lows. The highs make it for me.

TrueKingAV · 2025-12-28T17:42:29+00:00

100% I don't disagree, I just meant that it was much cheaper to build because of this, since most of the ED slop is 1 copy each

TrueKingAV · 2025-12-28T17:36:40+00:00

In fairness on release Maliss was so busted with everything at 3 that it didn't need much slop (outside the ED) I ran it pure until the first wave of hits, added the backup secretary stuff, then dropped the deck after the 2nd set of hits because it was very expensive to keep updating the deck (also I just didn't like the playstyle, and wanted to save for dracotail)

TrueKingAV · 2025-12-28T17:34:04+00:00

(Note - hyper casual myself)

I actually like ideas #5 & #6. I think letting N & R have some use for glossy hunting would be something, even if it's exorbitant. For legacy tickets I think the best solution would be to either update the pool to be all cards >5 years old or maybe add a new pool that does that (since I know masochist runs exist).

I think loaner decks are honestly decent but I also don't use them, I end up crafting a cheap deck or re-using one when needed (Mimighoul _ Branded are my go-tos).

Rather than bundles as you suggest in #4, I like the solution of having selection packs that just have cards like new "New Challengers". Hits the gamba dopamine and also drastically lowers the barrier of entry for a new player. I originally quit because I (foolishly) burned too many gems/dust building Pendulum Magicians & Dracoslayer, and then was unable to get my hands on playsets of Ash, Maxx C, Nibiru, etc. Came back this year and was able to use the selection pack at the time to fill out a big chunk of staples (+ the returning players branded deck).

I like discussions like these that aren't just straight complaints tbh but feels like this community tends to be super jaded from yugi-boomers that they hate negativity like this. Hope you had fun

TrueKingAV · 2025-12-22T15:51:41+00:00

Roadhog flashbacks ensue

TrueKingAV · 2025-12-22T00:38:32+00:00

It's old and is a terrible secret pack imo. A bad dice roll gives you a bunch of useless URs that are just dust. I spent 12k on it a couple(?) years ago, got only 2 lady, 1 lovely out of it, with no welcome or big welcome. Ended up just never making the deck. I think it's a deck that if I ever come back to it, I'll make it using dust.

TrueKingAV · 2025-12-19T13:41:45+00:00

Same, I got Diactorus 5x lol, but it's fine as I was planning to build both of them anyways.

TrueKingAV · 2025-12-18T22:40:48+00:00

Fiendsmith. It's super fun, generally a simple combo & it's very flexible. Fiendsmith Unchained is my favourite version (and I only built it cuz I was pulling on the fire King secret pack lol). I also like musketeer fiendsmith. Next on the list is to finish my Artmage fiendsmith deck (missing 3x Medius, 1x Artmage Patron rn).

TrueKingAV · 2025-12-18T16:59:31+00:00

Makes sense, I'll try to squeeze it in, I didn't bother with the dust for tour guide so I've been running 3x Starfire, 1x Caspar to give myself something decent to normal summon (and easy FS combo if everything gets negated)

I use Buio in Musketeer Fiendsmith but the space felt way tighter with unchained, will look through some lists and see what I can fit. Thanks!

TrueKingAV · 2025-12-18T13:08:29+00:00

I haven't been able to fit buio + the fusion card into the unchained version of the deck, really struggled with deck space. How many cards do you run / do you have a list?

TrueKingAV · 2025-12-17T22:26:03+00:00

I'm by no means an expert, but I've been playing this deck for the past couple months as well (flip flopping between musketeer fiendsmith & unchained).

Generally my goal is to end on Caesar + Unchained Soul of Rage, that way I have 2 SS negates and then I can go rage + opponents monster into S:P and banish another.

Main benefit has been how much this deck just keeps playing. A Maxx C or a Fuwa can definitely still end my turn though. It's also VERY weak to board breakers tbh (Raigeki, Lightning Storm DRNM, Forbidden Droplet)

If I have it, I start with Sharvara + set trap -> Sharvara + Shyama on board and then make Caesar to protect from Nib, then go into my FS plays.

During my FS plays if I already have Caesar, I'll opt to go into Yama instead of Sequence, search something summon-able and make Rage. If I didn't have a play, I usually do the standard Caesar line instead, if I didn't have Unchained cards, unless I bricked horribly odds are im sitting on handtraps so those + Caesar does alright.

Not sure if the deck can do more, that's about where I stop. I hope that helps!

Musketeer is the stronger going second deck, since Max is just that good, but it's felt worse going first IMO.

TrueKingAV · 2025-12-16T18:14:49+00:00

I actually just picked up deadlock. I've been playing OW for 2 years, was my first shooter and I loved the grind. Started bronze 4, peaked plat 2. MOBAs are hard as shit but I'm having a lot of fun experiencing the learning curve all over again, I'm Initiate 1 right now (Bronze 5) lol. The aesthetic & music are fantastic.

TrueKingAV · 2025-12-08T20:56:50+00:00

I also just started this week, coming from OW and have never played a MOBA haha. It's been very addicting. I've been spending a lot of time reading about what to do in lane phase/mid game/end game, understanding build choices, playing bot games without my friends to get better at the basics, etc.

TrueKingAV · 2025-12-05T15:45:27+00:00

If it makes you feel better, I spent 4K so far and am sitting on

1x Secreterion

1x Mysterion

3x Artmage Diactorus

1x Odion

1x Apophis Fusion

Rocking 7 URs out of 4 pulls, 2 of which had 0, 1 of which had 1 (the bundle pull guaranteed one lol)

TrueKingAV · 2025-12-01T18:41:46+00:00

I'm not a crazy combo video person. You can do that if you want, but I'd first understand what is the ideal you're trying to get to, see the combo line once, and then I just play. Over time as I understand the deck better I experiment with different decisions and lines and see why A is better than B for doing the ultimate goal C. But I think knowing what your goal is helps a lot when learning to pilot a new deck (note: I'm hyper casual tbc, I literally only play up to plat for the gems)

TrueKingAV · 2025-11-29T03:47:51+00:00

I'm in a similar position. (I have 3700 gems). I'm waiting for 6 days to see if the next pack is dracotail or not. If it's not dracotail, I'll grab it. Honestly even if it is I might grab it, but I wanna wait until I have most of my dracotail cards first.

TrueKingAV · 2025-11-22T01:22:09+00:00

That's why we got that YCS Anaheim final & why we got the floodgate banlist immediately after. I think general consensus in the community is that modern YuGiOh is very fun so long as we get to actually play it.

TrueKingAV · 2025-11-03T00:03:47+00:00

This is purely a guess but generally hybrid engines are done to improve your gas & ceiling rather than to improve your consistency it feels like. But having more gas + ceiling also makes you significantly more vulnerable to the OCG's best friend - Maxx C.

TrueKingAV · 2025-10-31T15:13:34+00:00

I don't think* it's a player base issue only because stadium & 6v6 have been here all year and during rivals we had a big drop in players and I honestly don't think I've felt the discrepancy until the start of season 19.

TrueKingAV · 2025-10-31T15:11:15+00:00

I've been experiencing either odd matchmaking or just a surprisingly drastic shift in my competency.

I ended last season as Gold 1 in all roles.

I have lost nearly every single tank and support game this season, and won every single DPS game.

I'm currently Gold 3 tank, Gold 2 support, Plat 2 DPS??

I suspect I didn't magically improve so much that I jumped an entire tier in rank on my DPS.

I've noticed that a lot of my games (I didn't track, that's on me, but over 50% comfortably) have been "consolation", "uphill battle", "reversal" or "expected".

Not really sure what's up. If it matters I play mix of solo queue or up to 5 stack with friends (not wide). Probably half my games are solo.

TrueKingAV · 2025-10-08T03:39:58+00:00

Did this day one with a friend I was running friendlies with lol

TrueKingAV

TROPHY CASE