Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel

Very fun for me because I was piss scared of entering local card shops for the longest time even though they ended up liking me. Regardless, Master Duel is a great client to play the Yu-Gi-Oh! card game online for casual and competitive players alike. It does have a different meta though as releases in the TCG typically enter Master Duel after a couple of months and they also have different ban lists. If you do want an experience that's just like the card game I'd recommend a client like the online Duelingbook.com, DuelingNexus.com, or EdoPRO. Although I prefer using Master Duel at the end of the day because of the ability to play on my phone or my switch.

My only big issue is with my fuckass opponents in higher ranks who surrender immediately if they brick or if i negate their combo.

This is a decent multiplayer yu-gi-oh game that teaches newcomers the basics of the meta, although there's not much to do in the single player campaigns given how all of the focus is on the different events that occur since this games launch. Still if you're looking to duel someone online outside of the speed duel and rush duel format from duel links, this is your best bet with how smooth the gameplay is.

I have never played Yu-gi-oh before, and my knowledge of it basically was summed to thinking blue eyes white dragon looking cool. I have played a lot of Magic the Gathering over the years, as well as other card games, so when this one got a lot of attention i resolved to make 2022 the year to discover this card game.

And this game is pretty great for that. Yu-gi-oh is a game that has a lot of power creep over the years, to the point that playing it in 2002 and 2022 makes it feel like two completly different games. The game does an okayish job at tutorializing this through its solo mood, where you learn some of the basic rules of the game, types of summons, different archetypes and (more important than that) some decent AI opponents to get your bearings in.

The game is also really generous in terms of giving you gems (that you can use to buy card packs) early on. Even if it diminuishes as you play more, the first hours will get you a lot of currency, at least enough to build a decent deck to take online.

The game's presentation is great. These digital card games really need good aesthetics to keep people playing them in the long run, and the battles are great at this, featuring a lot of animated monster summons, some key spells are also animated, and impactful hits when monsters trade blows. Its also very clear visually to what is happening, which is essencial for when you are starting out in a game as complex as this.

The game really made me get interested in the card game, to learn its history, its most cherished and reviled cards, and as a result there was a lot of time i dedicated to youtube channels covering this matter. I do enjoy how cool a lot of the archetypes are, how goofy some of the others are, and how it all seemingly fits into the same universe.

The main issue with the game, and modern yugioh as well, is how the power creep effectively made it into a very frustrating game where 1st turn kills are possible, which is only exacerbated in this digital version (as you can craft the cards you want if you have the currency for that). This means that ranked play above a certain level, lets say platinum, will only be against players whose decks are highly annoying to fight, either because they combo for ages making you feel like you are watching someone play solitaire, or they create boards that are nearly unbreakable unless you have a very specific card in your hand. This means that certain OP cards must be present in everydeck (the ash blossoms, the max c, nibiru,...), effectively reducing deck expression.

The game is a lot of fun in the lower ranks, because the unoptimized decks allow mind games, bluffs and counter plays to be much more frequent. Comebacks can happen, and much more important, the game is a proper duel between two players, whose outcome will be both due to skill and luck, and not only deck composition. Its the place where my blue eyes deck can get me some wins if i play it right, and not only because the opponent got a bricked hand. In higher ranks i need to go eldlich or i will lose everygame.

I had a lot of fun discovering yu-gi-oh, but i dont think i will be investing more time in it when higher rank battles are more frustrating than fun. The modern game feels foundamentally broken since it no longer feels like a duel between two players, and more like a puzzle game in how to get a 100% win deck. Im not sure if there is anything that the developer can do to this game when it feels like its the core of the card game i have issues with.