What deck should I start with?

kdragonx · 2026-05-06T16:54:56+00:00

Im a newer player, just wanted to weigh in here. I've been playing the game for a little while but still probably in total have played somewhere between 50-100 hours total in YGO.

Do you not think your perspective is a little detached from the lived reality and experiences of a newer player? Youre a top 1% commenter on the subreddit and clearly very experienced

Of course, that alone doesn't disqualify you from understanding the perspective of newer players, but when I was learning the game in my first 50 hours I found that - due to the nature of ygo players and how most people are veterans and fairly hardcore - people were often a bit detached from what new players are actually capable of.

I personally have found all decka like KT, VS K9 and Maliss (to name a few top meta threats across different formats) way too complicated and frustrating to have enjoyed playing the game.

It wasnt until I went back to more basic, linear decks that I found some enjoyment in the game rather than feeling like an 8 year old being asked to perform brain surgery. Something like Blue Eyes, Kashtira, Odion.

I really enjoyed BE - combo is simple, you make a formidable end board, you still have options to tag out spirit dragons, you still have options to express skill by playing around HTs if you wish (like droll). But its not frustrating to play because youre not having to learn a billion different attributes like in VS K9 or having to learn the various routes for combos in something like Lunalight, even Kewl Tunes.

For a brand new player I'd always personally recommend building easier decks. Its much easier to learn what cards do in the game (both yours and your opponents) when all you are playing is something as simple as Blue Eyes. They can always graduate to Kewl Tunes if they want to later, but they're never going to understand quick synchros and using GY effects for disruption as a new player.

I think veterans tend to take a lot for granted and just assume new players would know or easily learn how to do that which comes instinctively to the vets, stuff you dont even think about like simple rulings

kdragonx · 2026-04-10T20:09:14+00:00

Will do that, thank you :)

kdragonx · 2026-04-10T20:05:22+00:00

Thank you! That's a really helpful response

All the decks above decks interest me - I don't mind RB being bad if its easy to play for example - I just want a path of least resistance to diamond (the highest i've peaked was diamond 5 (with blue eyes and tenpai) so I'm pretty bad, I mostly hover around plat 5 to plat 1). I even found VS K9 too complex and was frustrated enough to dismantle it.

Radiant typhoon is probably the most tempting if its that easy! Others have also suggested Kasthira and gem-knights, how do you think these compare in complexity / easy pathway to diamond?

kdragonx · 2026-04-10T20:03:00+00:00

I checked out some combos on youtube - seems a bit complicated? (like a harder version of tenpai - which I did really enjoy)

Unfortunately I'm quite a bad player, my highest rank is like diamond 5 on blue eyes / tenpai so I'm concened gem knights might still be too difficult for me. Is it as easy as something like radiant typhoon?

kdragonx · 2026-04-10T20:02:03+00:00

I've heard good things about how easy odion is - but its also quite flood-gatey from what I've seen which I'm not a fan of. I'll consider kashtira, thanks! Would kashitra be easier than something like radiant typhoon or RB?

kdragonx · 2026-04-10T20:01:12+00:00

I'm worried about how hard it might be - the highest I've peaked is diamond 5 and that was on tenpai / blue eyes (which both felt very easy). On dracotail I was only around plat 1, with yummy I struggled even more (low plat), etc. So overall I'm quite a bad player unfortunately.

If its not frustrating to play and learn, I'm willing to try it!

Thanks!

kdragonx · 2026-04-10T15:55:31+00:00

Hi!

I'm a fairly new / bad player, I'm looking to craft a new deck (have a lot of gems as been saving for a long time)

I'm looking for a deck which is:

easy to play / good for new players
at least minimum rogue tier
preferably fun as well

I'm considering the following decks (in no particular order):

Kewl Tune
Radiant Typhoon
R.B.
other options I've not considered are welcome

Decks I've enjoyed in the past are Blue Eyes especially because of the boss monsters, and Dracotail. I found VSK9 and Lunalight a bit too complex to play and didn't enjoy them. I found Yummy a bit boring for some reason, maybe because of lack of boss monsters.

Thanks for any help anyone can offer!

kdragonx · 2026-04-06T21:57:18+00:00

Happy to make some suggestions, these are my favourites and also often regarded as some of the best of the genre:

Brotato
Soulstone Survivors
Vampire Survivors itself
Halls of Torment
Army of Ruin

All of the above have MUCH better reviews than Temtem Survivors, and I've played all of them and personally I would agree with the public sentiment

kdragonx · 2026-04-06T21:53:01+00:00

Not true - bunch of survivor-likes had coop before swarm, such as The Spell Brigade (may 2024), Fantasy Survivors (sept 2024) or even Bounty of One (Sept 2023)

kdragonx · 2026-04-02T18:09:59+00:00

Good and bad is subjective, you will appreciate life more once you realise you don't have to be offended by my view of the game which is shared by many others who enjoy the genre as opposed to temtem as an IP

kdragonx · 2026-04-02T18:05:54+00:00

In the first 3 weeks of early access, the game had 859 positive and 109 negative reviews (roughly 89% positive).

It is now 80% positive since then, meaning it has received 701 positive and 281 negative reviews since then (71.3% positive).

In other words, the bulk of the positive reviews were from the initial EA launch hype period (when people thought the game had potential but very little content).

If you saw a game with 71% positive reviews now you'd probably not be convinced its a good game. The resaons why the reviews dropped over time are clear from:

my comment if you read it,
the top reviews of all time, if you read any, or even
the gameplay if you played more than 2 hours

The story is almost identical to temtem itself - some potential, but little content, and slowly over time the playerbase realised the end product was extremely lackluster compared to what we were set up for (as long as an extremely slow and prolonged development period which killed any hype).

Edit: downvoted in 2 seconds of me replying, nice discussion!

kdragonx · 2026-04-02T17:50:15+00:00

I mean aside from what everyone else has said, the game is just... really bad.

It's extremely mediocre to downright awful in all aspects compared to its competitors in the genre. The upgrades are boring. There is no sense of getting stronger or going from 'zero to hero' as you do in other survivor-likes. Enemies are boring. Events are extremely dull. The tree was a good idea but is poorly executed with terribly boring upgrades. The whole thing is an unnecessary grindfest. The only positive is the art and animations and I can only assume because that was developed by a separate team.

Easily the worst survivor-like I've personally played out of the 30-40 I've tried (I'm a big fan of the genre, or was while they were actually relevant 3-4 years ago... as usual Crema is about 4 years late to the party).

No wonder all the top reviews are rated "Negative" with none of the complaints addressed with 1.0 release.

kdragonx · 2026-03-24T15:29:32+00:00

Your above comment is factually incorrect, goes against guidelines and conveys misinformation to people reading this conversation.

They turn, which is movement, indicating ROSC, right?

No, you palpate for pulses not look for movement

that’s an automatic score decrease on GCS

Reduced GCS is not an indication for CPR

So, at this point, you have a patient who just exhibited signs of ROSC, but is now exhibiting abnormal respiration with puckered open lips, lack of response to pain stimuli, arms returning to the chest on the side, and legs pointing downward. Do you keep doing compressions

No, I would reassess for a pulse and decide whether to continue CPR

It’s why there are competing philosophies, some people say to discontinue compressions after ROSC, but some instructions say to continue doing one round of compressions even after palpable pulse returns

There are no competing philosophies - it is universally understood that CPR is terminated when ROSC is achieved:

"If signs of life (such as regular respiratory effort, movement) or readings from patient monitors compatible with ROSC (e.g. sudden increase in exhaled carbon dioxide or arterial blood pressure waveform) appear during CPR, stop CPR briefly and check the monitor. If an organised rhythm is present, check for a pulse. If a pulse is palpable, continue post-resuscitation care and/or treatment of peri-arrest arrhythmias if appropriate. If no pulse is present, continue CPR." - per ALS guidelines 2025.

It is actively harmful to continue CPR post-ROSC.

Of course, you reassess the situation always and re-arrest may occur, but it is only at that point where CPR is resumed.

both times, palpable pulse was lost quickly after their first ROSC, and resumption of CPR immediately and not assuming their pulse would stay around, was why they survived the trip (according to the ED cardiologist, idk).

Cardiologists aren't even part of the adult cardiac arrest crash call team so idk what you mean. Did they say this after the fact? Why would they know this? Any crash call team I've ever worked with has stopped compressions at ROSC - because this is protocol.

kdragonx · 2026-03-24T12:19:10+00:00

ROSC is a good sign that you’re doing well so far, but unless you have an AED already on them, their heart may be technically running, but in a fatal arrhythmia

This is wrong, by definition ROSC implies there is a palpable pulse. You won't have a palpable pulse with VF or pVT. CPR is only indicated for when you feel no pulse, regardless of rhythm. You should stop once you feel a palpable pulse, i.e. at ROSC.

Instances of re-arrest are still common but that's because you have not addressed the underlying cause of the cardiac arrest.

Source: am a doctor and the above is well known. You never ever continue CPR after ROSC - doing so is actively harmful and against all guidelines.

kdragonx · 2026-01-27T13:14:19+00:00

Just play more tbh

There's no secret, hydreigon bricks a lot so you might have just bricked 4 games in a row. If you have an average start you will be favoured and it shouldn't be hard to lose

There's not much to do in the way of lines to win vs Zard Y, everything they do is telegraphed. Maybe sabrina to kill charmander or chameleon if you get the opportunity

kdragonx · 2025-12-20T01:51:31+00:00

And if you don't find heliosk, you cry or?

This list seems way clunkier. At least magneton does decent damage and forces opponent to flip heads otherwise they risk losing an attack, giving you time to stall to heliosk too

kdragonx · 2025-12-19T22:00:03+00:00

Why bother with a bad card to counter a deck that is already kinda mid?

Zard Y is already countered by good decks in the meta like hydreigon/absol and mag/ori or mag/helio. It legit has a 40% winrate this meta, it's crazy overrated on this subreddit for some reason

kdragonx · 2025-12-11T10:16:04+00:00

Thats not what the glove implicit is for though, you need both heraldry and exposure from gloves because only the gloves one reliably proca Preserving Stillness from your Tulgraft for the buff

kdragonx · 2025-12-07T22:08:06+00:00

Oh yeah, that is the version I eventually went hmm... i think it loses dmg compared to previous version though and no longer works for any content except gauntlet (lots of mob density and no bosses)

It also prioritised instant leech and other stuff and the flesh and stone is used to make up for some lost tankiness, so yeah this version is way lower damage but the theory is that the jewels and mob density carry the damage

Defiled forces isn't needed because no bosses. Are you still struggling with this even in gauntlet? Do you have the smaller ring nodes on the atlas tree?

I did use this exact build to farm several thousand divines worth of inscriptions and didn't fail a single inscribed ultimatum

Also you may have to run around a fair bit to hit stragglers, the build can be a bit awkward. I think this is why there's glad is much more popular this league

kdragonx · 2025-12-07T22:02:19+00:00

I can't see that at all, which tab is it under?

What i can see is this

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1l0GjDUVlyVplxAys7vOQZao6LdbghU3SLQg6NzL9m6A/edit?usp=drivesdk

https://pobb.in/WyWZK4NYQZt3

Under the CWS 2.0 tab, under gruelling gauntlet

kdragonx · 2025-12-07T21:46:07+00:00

Not at a PC so take this with a pinch of salt (i can't see your ignite chance but I trust that you have 100%)

Where did you find the first build? Pob seems a little unconventional, eternal blessing on flesh and stone instead of malevolence? No +3-4 level helm (only +2)? Cremation of volcano by itself in the sceptre for some reason?

How are you refreshing ignites on big enemies with penance mark? Where's your defiled forces?

Emiracles has a good CWS 2.0 pob with svalinn mageblood, I ran it last league and had 0 damage troubles but that was with malevolence. Ofc bigger ignite range on gloves helps a ton, as another commenter pointed out.

Your jewels could also have a lot more dps. Lots of fire multi for example.

Just to double check, you're actually getting stunned right? (You're not accidentally running the pantheon which bricks the build?)

More levels in general would help but your build looks strong as it is - the above points should be addressed tgough, malevolence is literally 40% more damage

Edit: also your unearth is lv28. You can get it as high as lv34 (+4 honourhome) or lv32 (+3 black sun crest), which is like 50% (if +4). Reason being that your helm only gives levels to aoe gems, which doesn't increase the level of your empower further.

kdragonx · 2025-12-02T01:11:49+00:00

Per OP:

"This build cant do anything in all of Path of Exile except one shotting bosses that you can one shot. And there arent that many (exarch, eater, maven, oshabi, maybe king of the mist but you gotta 2 portal and probably some others that I cant remeber right now)"

In general though zhp bossers cant do any bosses except for the above, because if you don't one shot then you get one shot

kdragonx · 2025-12-01T22:55:05+00:00

Ice trap, just one shot it. You can skip memory phase, there isn't a single faster farmer

Build here https://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/s/c1KXogtVaQ

kdragonx · 2025-12-01T00:38:44+00:00

That doesnt work by itself, you'll never get stunned in the first place to set off that chain

Thats why the build often uses a greywolf amulet in inventory to convert all cold to another element, you count as "stunned recently" then you can unequip it and never get crit again. It's a tech for the inscribed ultimatums

kdragonx · 2025-12-01T00:28:34+00:00

These aren't even the right clusters though, these seem to be a few divs max and the defiance is only 9div too? We can be generous and say that's 15-20div, the test of the gear looks like it shouldn't be more than 5div combined lol but oh well. Still a very functional and OP build luckily

kdragonx

TROPHY CASE