The Problem with Yu-Gi-Oh
On August 11, 2023, Hearthstone streamer Rarran posted a video on his YouTube channel regarding the absurdity of Yu-Gi-Oh. Yu-Gi-Oh is a Trading Card Game based on its respective anime, fittingly named Yu-Gi-Oh. The anime was first released in Japan in April 1998, and later in the year 2000 for the US, the anime would inspire Konami to release a card game based on the original anime in 2002 for the USA. This card game would influence the lives of many kids of the time, a number of them becoming great figureheads of the Yu-Gi-Oh community at this point in time. But, like many games that exist today, Yu-Gi-Oh has grown to be a complicated, power-crept, unbalanced game that, throughout its years, has chased away both veteran and new coming players.
Yu-Gi-Oh’s main characteristic is its complexity. Yu-Gi-Oh is a turn-based game where players go back and forth, playing cards in their respective turns. Each turn has 6 phases: Draw phase, standby phase, main phase 1, battle phase, main phase 2, and end phase. The Draw and Battle phases are self-explanatory. The main phases are when you’re allowed to normal summon, activate spells, and set traps; meanwhile, the standby and end phases are time frames where optional or mandatory effects may activate or resolve. There are 3 card categories for the cards: monster, spell, and trap. And each type of card has subcategories. By the end of the first Yugioh format, monsters had five subcategories, spells had five, and traps had three. I won’t bore you with what the subcategories are for, but spells and traps have stayed stagnant as the game grew. Meanwhile, monsters, where they started with five, now have ten. To keep the game fresh, Konami has created a new summoning mechanic/gimmick for every new generation from gen 3-6. In order of release, they have added Tuner, Synchro, Xyz, Pendulum, and Link monsters. This is only scratching the surface of this game’s complexity, and I believe I have already turned you off of any interest in trying out the game.
Now, like many games out there, POWER-CREEP! For those who don’t know, power-creep is when new content overshadows/overpowers older content, making it obsolete and forcing players to shift towards the new. This happens often and is used so the company can make more money. This makes for unbalanced gameplay. Yugioh has recently experienced its worst episode of this, with the likes of The Branded, Kashtira, and Tearlament archetypes (strategies/series) completely running the show in this previous format. The meta and new were so oppressive and draining that I had to take a bit of a leave from Yu-Gi-Oh entirely for a few months.
This problem has been on Konami’s radar for a while. The complexity is chasing away new players, not the power-creep. At least, I don’t think so. Konami’s response to this is a meta-response. “Meta” in this context refers to self-awareness. Konami responded by adding a spin-off game(s), series, and format.
Throughout the history of Yu-Gi-Oh, the physical card game was the only “real” Yu-Gi-Oh experience you could get. There have been official digital Yu-Gi-Oh games out there that do a good job of capturing the Yu-Gi-Oh experience, but none of them were the “one” to stick with or advertise to the masses. The first digital Yu-Gi-Oh game that really hit that spot somewhat was Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Links. Duel Links is primarily a “simplified” version of the Yu-Gi-Oh TCG. At least, that’s how it was intended to be and how it started. By now, it has caught up with the TCG with its summoning mechanics, Link summoning being the most recent one added to the game on September 28, 2022, along with Yu-Gi-Oh’s absurd power-creep. Very recently, Konami updated Duel Links, adding Yu-Gi-Oh SEVENS into its roster Yu-Gi-Oh generational representation. And with this came Rush Duels. It's a completely new game by itself, loosely based on Yu-Gi-Oh’s rule-set. Rush Duels is a new and different format from regular Yu-Gi-Oh that is a lot easier to grasp, learn, and get good at; as claimed by the developers, “Rush Duel will offer a simpler, streamlined Yu-Gi-Oh! playstyle that will entertain players new and old,”. This, for now, seems to be true. I’ve tried it out and am still currently grinding to develop my Rush Duel collection. The format is fun and easy to understand. That's the whole point of this format’s existence. It’s the whole plot of the anime series. In-game Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Links dialogue from an event that’s currently on for the Rush Duel format confirms this, “Maybe Dueling has gotten a bit too tough for kids. That’s why Yuga [MC] created these new rules so they can just have fun.”
Yu-Gi-Oh, like everything in life, is a mess. The game’s 21 years old, it's in the middle of college, and having an early midlife crisis, aren’t we all? I enjoy this franchise. I started playing this game before middle school, and it's fun. But, unfortunately, the only way someone can have a shot at joining the game and its community is to go through what feels like school. A game is too complex for its own good if you need a coach to get into the game. Thankfully, Rush Duels exists for everyone now, and you no longer need a coach to get into and enjoy this franchise. Hopefully, Rush Duels doesn’t meet the same fate as its predecessors.