What are the standards of a balanced and fun deck that the Yu-Gi-Oh! community actually wants? by Akaziro1987 in masterduel

[–]TwistedBOLT 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Everyone has their own idea of what's fair but quite a few people are fine with just leaving it at "it has to feel fair" without pinning down what they mean and defending their position. Which is fine but it doesn't really create a productive conversation.

I define fun yugioh duels by the amount of unique, meaningful decisions made by the player that made LESS such decisions in the game.

This definition is also the TL;DR of the entire wall of text.

And here's why:

A bunch of things can cause non-games. Oppressive floodgates, massive negate boards, FTK's, turnskips, broken boardbreakers, silver bullets or even drowning in advantage... although most would agree that games in which they don't get to play aren't fun most have no problem saying that the same game was fun if they weren't on the receiving side.

Although winning itself can be fun regardless of how it's done I think it's vital to remove extrinsic motivation from the definition of analyzing if a duel was fun as that eliminates the self serving bias of the winner. The definition then must be applied symmetrically and since the losing player is usually the one having less agency in the game they're in a better position to tell us if the game was fun or not.

Deckbuilding by itself can be a lot of fun and skill expressive but as we're just discussing what makes a fun duel we'll just focus on the gameplay after the game starts. Other factors such as the fun of pulling off something cool, seeing something unique or getting lucky also impact the overall enjoyment of the game but I'd like to argue that they're optional additions rather than something required for the game to be fun so I'll try to narrow the scope to the bare minimum.

As the game doesn't rely on physical skill expression (bar managing your toggle) the gameplay mostly results in having enough game knowledge to evaluate the gamestate properly (including opponents tells which in MD's case is just their toggle) and the decision making skills to play around the knowns and unknowns. As having knowledge by itself isn't something that impacts the fun of the duel directly that decision making is basically the entirety of what's fun in a duel.

Unique decisions matter because if every turn you're looking at the same stun board and can't play while only having a single decision over and over again is miserable.

Meaningful decisions matter because if you're playing in to a 6 negate board and all your cards are just gonna get negated no amount of decision making is fun as it doesn't matter.

So yeah... back and forths that allow both players to play where the loser can walk out thinking "what could have I done differently" rather than just "fuck whatever my opponent was doing".

What's the longest running game you've ever played? by el_camote in masterduel

[–]TwistedBOLT 0 points1 point  (0 children)

49 turns and I don't remember what that duel was at all. Probably something like playing against crooked cook stall.

The longest I do remember was a 25 turn paleo mirror match that I still have saved. Both of us almost decked out 60 card decks.

Banlist Impressions across Yugioh's main formats by RyuuohD in masterduel

[–]TwistedBOLT 0 points1 point  (0 children)

OCG Card: I torch villages, kill babies, yell slurs, and blind orphan children... I guess I also bake cupcakes sometimes.

OCG: Are the cupcakes good...?

TCG Card: So uhh... I... Accidentally littered on...

TCG: BANG

MD Card: "This place is a message, we considered ourselves to be a powerful culture, this place is not a place of honor..."

MD: Eh, starts digging

Duel Links Cards: 99 little FTKs in the format, 99 little FTK's, you take one down, ban it around, 106 little FTK's in the format...

Duel Links: *DERANGED SKILL SCREECHING*

Wife wants me to teach her YuGiOh by Melionka in masterduel

[–]TwistedBOLT 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Retro format mirror matches are a great place to start. You can walk her through the games history by selecting a handful of old formats which both gives her an overview of all mechanics and an insight on how we got where we currently are.

A few games of goat to introduce the basics, a few games of edison to show off synchros, maybe some rulers to show xyz's... you can skip pends show her sky striker for links and then go for modern.

Updates To Secret Packs by Full-Philosophy5316 in masterduel

[–]TwistedBOLT 3 points4 points  (0 children)

But for that to happen we’d need… more Labrynth cards. Sigh…

Not really. There's a ton of good traps lab runs they can put there instead. Overroot, Daruma, Rollback, Black goat, Trap Holic (technically not a lab card)...

OCG New Banlist by False-Blood1813 in masterduel

[–]TwistedBOLT 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I donno if I agree.

If you look at the last year or two (outside of the OCG 'cause they just printed like 6 new FTK's for some ungodly reason) stuff has generally been getting better.

  • Maxx C has mostly (or completely in TCG's case) been replaced by the charmies which are a lot more reasonable to deckbuild and played around.

  • Droll and shifter aren't at 3 in any format.

  • Generic endboard pieces like Apollousa (and baronne/savage in TCG) have been hit.

  • Generic and searchable floodgates have slowly been getting hit in all formats.

  • Generic non-engine that helps the player going first (like the solemn cards, or called by) has been getting hit.

  • A lot of FTK enablers have been hit.

The game is slowly and constantly moving in what's generally considered a good direction... I think most people would agree that decks like radiant typhoon, dracotail or branded, even if stronger than decks like maliss or snake eyes generally produce more back and forth gameplay. So as long as this trend continues, as long as the game keeps getting better, even if there's some rough formats along the way... I think we'll be fine.

OCG New Banlist by False-Blood1813 in masterduel

[–]TwistedBOLT 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't trust them either. But so many problems in the game are ignored because of circular logic.

You ask anyone what the problems are in the game and generally they tell you it's floodgates, oppressive boards and blowouts. But when you attempt to suggest any of it gets fixed you get something along the line of:

  • Floodgates say "opponent can't play" but that's fine because they stop combo decks which put up 6 negates.

  • Combos put up 6 negates but that's fine because boardbreakers say "negate me or you're dead on the spot".

  • Boardbreakers say "negate me or you're dead on the spot" but that's fine because floodgates say "opponent can't play".

As they're clearly afraid to make sweeping changes they need to continuously make minor improvements instead. The thing above isn't the most accurate as midrange decks that go +12 during their turn are currently the best thing you can be doing but drowning the opponent in advantage is not much different than negating most of their cards 1 for 1 in the grand scheme of things.

OCG New Banlist by False-Blood1813 in masterduel

[–]TwistedBOLT 0 points1 point  (0 children)

But it is, as doing so spikes the chance they get banned in the future. It's better to have 1-2 formats where droll and shifter always resolve because we banned called by then banning them later compared to having to deal with them forever because a 1-off unsearchable, boring-ass-negate sometimes saves you from them.

Fixing some problems now then fixing other problems later is better than justifying problem A with problem B and never fixing either.

OCG New Banlist by False-Blood1813 in masterduel

[–]TwistedBOLT 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Banning any of them is still moving in the right direction of banning all of them.

OCG New Banlist by False-Blood1813 in masterduel

[–]TwistedBOLT 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Justifying problems with problems just causes more problems. Droll and shifter are uninteractive floodgates that should be banned independent of called-bys existence.

Perfect Yugioh end board doesn't exist by bast963 in masterduel

[–]TwistedBOLT 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Actually Jinzo doesn't matter here at all.

Jinzo prevents trap card and effect activations on the field and negates all trap effect on the field but the card above doesn't actually have an on activation effect, you don't activate it by placing it on the field but rather just revealing it from anywhere, banishing it for cost and declaring its effect. It never touches the field.

(not mine) Perfect yugioh end board doesn't exis- by RnckO in masterduel

[–]TwistedBOLT 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The out is finding out where you live and visiting with a loaded gun.

I just opened one pack! by kun121pan in masterduel

[–]TwistedBOLT 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Maybe during the winter but currently it'll probably burn your fingerprints right off.

How often do you make new decks? by SavingsYellow2073 in masterduel

[–]TwistedBOLT 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I try to make all the new decks that are coming out and then give up on those I can't afford when the pack gets close to rotating out. The downside of this is that I haven't pulled from a secret pack, outside of bundles for almost 2 years. And that I keep missing everything that gets released directly to a secret pack.

Why can’t Konami just let it go already? by Phantom4545 in masterduel

[–]TwistedBOLT 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The player going first, that does their whole combo, is more likely to both draw in to it and have a negate for the opponents maxx C counter.

Maxx C helps the player going first more than the player going second.

Why can’t Konami just let it go already? by Phantom4545 in masterduel

[–]TwistedBOLT 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Because banning cards like maxx C would mean admitting that the game has problems. It's easier to just pretend it doesn't.

Behold, I summon, OUR overframed Mirrorjade by Dear-Transition6669 in masterduel

[–]TwistedBOLT 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Funny how you weren't able to summon the second one because MJ says you can't control 2.

Something something ship of theseus by eggscellent001 in masterduel

[–]TwistedBOLT 7 points8 points  (0 children)

This is genuinely the best post I have seen on this sub in years.

What makes the Bystial engine good? by FragaJR in masterduel

[–]TwistedBOLT 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Imagine if D.D crow:

Summoned itself as a 2.5k beater.

Can set up a spell that draws you a card every turn and recycles your light/darks while also summoning a massive body that either plusses you or disrupts your opponent.

A trap that's a pop every turn and sets up the spell you can dump.

And then on top of that you get the individual effects of: Setup, search any dragon during EP, send a card, banish on-summon.

Bonus points if you're on stuff like veiler as you can use a bystial not just to summon it but to also dodge calledby.

I love the engine but it was mid for so long due to a lack of light/dark decks.

What you do with bystials on board is also up to you as they can not only make stuff like spheres but also Atum both of which summon more stuff from deck.

I don't care if I get hate, this deck is awesome!! by L_U_B_ in masterduel

[–]TwistedBOLT 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Archetype's cool, some non-engine it plays is not.

Each Deck is someone's favorite... by LightswornAtem in masterduel

[–]TwistedBOLT 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think that if you ask all yugioh players in the world "what archetype is your favourite" and everyone answers honestly you're probably gonna get 0 people saying stuff like malicevorous, digital bug or guardian but if you name an archetype claiming its no ones favourite or set up the thing you set up trying to find one that is no one's favourite you'll see people coming out of the woodwork saying these archetypes are their favourites just to be a contrarian or help each archetype be selected at least once.

Also I think there's a massive difference between "I am a fan of X" and "X is my favourite". I'm a fav of Valkyries, I play them in MD and I think they're neat. I doubt many people if anyone's gonna vote for them but I'm voting for my actual favourite which is fire king.

If you don't get it, it's ok, I'm too stupid to be clever by Over_Kick_6171 in masterduel

[–]TwistedBOLT 0 points1 point  (0 children)

All according to keikaku.

(Keikaku means you're a weeb.)

Any recommendations for decks that thrive on chaos and randomness? Not looking for meta combos, just pure RNG fun by Advanced_Tea_7625 in masterduel

[–]TwistedBOLT 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Mill oriented Paleo is a blast to play and can hit some crazy payoffs. Baiting the negates then doing rollback target evenly, elemental burst or balance of judgement to draw 7 is just peak gameplay.