Are "Pile" decks becoming the norm?

[NoHopeForMe]

I'm seeing less and less pure decks and more that run 3 or so archtypes in one because their engine's perform well together or independently. is there a possibility that decks larger than 40 will become the norm because of how well everything can work together?

1 card can pull out 10(Hyperbole?) cards in a chain from your deck so if that becomes that case will it become optimal to just bloat your deck as much as you can since one card thins out half your deck?

[Raven]

There is a legit theory about 60 card decks being more optimal than 40 card decks because you can run several 1-card-combos in it that also tend to have garnets and be less likely to draw your garnets.

I personally love pure decks, so I am not to sure on the actual play of it all, but it does make sense in that 60 card decks could be considered the better choice when you're running enough 1 card starters or searches to offset the odds of drawing a garnet.

To be honest, even if that's the case though, I wouldn't go past 50 cards, but I'm not exactly a world champion player so my opinion on the matter is moot.

[cybercybercybercyber4]

i did some thinking about this a few years ago and came to the conclusion that 47 should be ideal because the opening odds of running 2 copies of a card in a 40 card deck are roughly the same as the odds of running 3 copies of a card in a 48 card deck.
Going above 47 will just result in opening more suboptimal cards as cards do have different power levels attached.
obviously with a cards like grass in the meta this gets obsolete as in that case grass can have the highest power level in the entire deck.

take it with a grain of salt, i think it was logically sound a few years ago, not super sure about right now.

[NamedElemental]

It's not even Hyperbole, my Evol/Ogdo/SE deck can go through 13 cards off of SnAsh (counting itself). I run 60 cards to make room for the Maxx C minigame and to reduce the odds of drawing garnets like Animadorned Archosaur or Keurse and the Odgoadic Royals (needed in case of nib so you still have a board). The Ogdo and Evol parts mesh so well that It's hard to believe that they're separate archetypes (well from the Evol side at least, Ogdo is a little awkward until we get Daybreak).

As for other decks, I know 60 card branded has been popular for a while, not sure about other 60 card decks, though.

[Papa Shekels]

Not exactly the norm, but it's been a legitimate strategy that has existed for like a decade or so, maybe more. There are many modern decks that greatly benefit from going above 40, and that's even if grass was banned. The reptile pile I play has generally sat around 45-50 for example, and that's with minimal non-engine. There are still plenty of modern decks like kashtira or voiceless that play 40 and even run prosperity to thin that. At the power level of current cards, there are many reasons to play multiple archetypes or engines together, and that sometimes requires playing larger deck counts

[HeraldOfOpera]

Originally posted by Papa Shekels:

Not exactly the norm, but it's been a legitimate strategy that has existed for like a decade or so, maybe more. There are many modern decks that greatly benefit from going above 40, and that's even if grass was banned. The reptile pile I play has generally sat around 45-50 for example, and that's with minimal non-engine. There are still plenty of modern decks like kashtira or voiceless that play 40 and even run prosperity to thin that. At the power level of current cards, there are many reasons to play multiple archetypes or engines together, and that sometimes requires playing larger deck counts

If it existed for more than a decade, then that's not far off from having always been a thing. Remember that the early game was exclusively pile decks by definition due to archetypes not really existing or not being good.

[Silyon]

I think 60 card decks have been a thing at least since Lightsworns, because of course if you're running a deck that wants to mill itself you need more cards than usual to not end up decking yourself in longer games. Especially true That Grass Looks Greener released, because milling 15-ish cards with GY effects is just stupid advantage. To say nothing of Tear and Ishizu.

I think the density of starter cards in the game and the necessity of handtraps and board-breakers, especially in Master Duel, has effectively broken the "stick to 40 cards" rule in deck building. These days, so long as you're able to reliably get to whatever your starter is, it doesn't matter how many total cards you're running. See Branded, they're very close to running a 60 card deck of one-ofs, despite not being a self-mill archetype. They get away with this because half their deck searches the other half, and having a greater variety of names to pull from lets them work around hard once-per-turn clauses.

Mind you, most decks arn't Branded and will generally want to stick close to the 40 card minimum because they don't have as many names or searchers. But the "always play minimum" rule has turned into more of a guideline than a strict line to stick to.

[NoHopeForMe]

Yeah I'm starting to think Pile decks will be the new norm now since ALMOST every new engine is so self-sufficient it can be splashed into every other deck. I dueled I guy with a 60 card deck that was just a mishmash of Kings Sarcophagus. Snake-eyes, Kashtira, and Tearlaments with staples and hand traps crammed in like an overstuffed mattress and it worked flawlessly.

I noticed when I went to look for deck ideas for Tistina, it wasn't even a tistina deck. it was Armor Xyz with some Tistina. This makes me sad.

[G3]

Pile decks are fun since you can just pivot engines when disrupted. The first thing I did when we got tear ishizu was pack in some orcust cards. Tears were dark so I could still fuse them under Orcust's dark restrictions. Plus, some strategies can't handle a pivot in play. I've had players use their negates trying to stop Spyral openers to then just normal SE Ash and they just surrender.

Goodstuff.dek always finds a way to come back.

[draconicepic]

I think it's a matter of preference whether to play pure or pile decks. That being said, pure decks tend to be a lot more restrictive if the archetype hasn't been fleshed out. It's probably the reason Pile decks tend to be more popular.

Personally, I tend to find decks with two, sometimes three, archetypes that work together are the most fun. It gives the right amount of flexibility while also leaving room for tech cards. I personally avoid going over 45 cards unless I'm making a deck that benefits from Grass.

[Merilirem]

You need to understand that yugioh is a deckbuilding game, not just a deck piloting game. So from pure to Pile you have every deck imaginable. Pure is the least creative and Pile is the one with the most potential for creativity. So of course people playing pure decks would be less common. If pure was the best we would basically be playing what Konami gave us instead of innovating ourselves.

Mixing 2 archetypes is not a pile yet btw. So keep that in mind. Even 3 isn't a pile.