ok so how do i actually start learning yu gi oh ?

[Epiderme Tostões]

does the game expect me to know what my oponent's cards do from the top of my mind during the small time i have to see what they are doing?
understanding how my deck functions and how should i play it is one thing, and despite it being somewhat confusing at the beginning it's manageable
but needing to know what my oponent's gameplan is and what they are trying to do from the top of my mind just by looking at the cards looks impossible given the walls of text every card has and how many cards and archtypes are in the game

so how do i actually start to learn the game ? im pretty sure just knowing how my deck works wont get me (or anyone else) far in a card game.

[e-dood]

I just bashed my head against a wall until stuff clicked.

Youtube tutorials is probably the go to.

Other than that. some sort of actual experience would be the go to. Like, if Link Evolution is on sale for a decent price, try that out as it has better (tho, not good) tutorials.

[IsthisKosher]

There is an icon on the lower right that lets you go back and review every card and effect that was played. Some things you'll be able to recognize over time, and that feature will help you understand how the opponent's cards flow together. You can also review or save replays to go over it if things happened too fast in a match.

Alternatively besides the tutorials, there's many youtube videos that go over mechanics or decks on the internet. Although most people at this point just look up a flow chart and put cards it tells them into a deck. That's why the term "piloting a deck" is used, they kind of play themselves. Especially modern cards. There's plenty of decks that are very low difficulty that will almost assure wins, up until beyond platinum.

Otherwise if you want to just make fun or rogue decks, you're best off finding friends to play with. Otherwise the online experience will be waiting 10 minutes for the opponent and then having all your cards and effects negated. There are a few cards that you just have to have in your deck called "staples" that you can look up too.

[Papa Shekels]

Knowing how your deck works is the prerequisite. It's not enough by itself, but it makes the rest of the process significantly easier because you can focus more effort on what's happening on the other side of the board. I personally like to play new decks in solo mode until I'm confident with playing them out.

From a new player's perspective, there is unfortunately a very steep learning curve before you get to the point of being on even footing. You will get a decent amount of the way there just by learning the staples that people play - your search gets ash blossomed a couple times, you start learning to play around it when possible or run backup extenders in your deck. Your opponent breaks your board with a baronne de fleur, you start looking out for whenever there is a possibility for a synchro 10 on the field. You get hit with nibiru a few times, you learn to get to some kind of monster negate within the 5th summon or build a smaller board if you can't. Because most decks use some combination of these kinds of staples, knowing just them will already make the rest of the process smoother.

However, you will still just have to learn parts of each deck individually. You might consider it a blessing that usually there aren't more than a couple popular decks in a format at any given time, but there are a few dozen rogue decks that are good enough to play but not to see all the time. And unfortunately, sometimes the only way to do that will be by hitting your head against the wall a few times. You can try reading every card they play, but as you mentioned the timer doesn't always allow for that, and it might all be meaningless anyway if it doesn't give you an accurate picture of their plan until the final card hits the field. It does also lead to a bit of an information overload sometimes. But the more you play against a given deck, the more you will remember what tricks to watch out for and which cards are their big threats or choke points. There is also a "related cards" section when you click on anything in-game that can help you scan for specifics. There will probably be too many cards to read through to learn an entire archetype on the spot, but if for example somebody is using branded fusion, there are only a few possible targets to summon off that and you can skim through them to prepare for what might happen

[Epiderme Tostões]

Originally posted by IsthisKosher:

There is an icon on the lower right that lets you go back and review every card and effect that was played. Some things you'll be able to recognize over time, and that feature will help you understand how the opponent's cards flow together. You can also review or save replays to go over it if things happened too fast in a match.

Alternatively besides the tutorials, there's many youtube videos that go over mechanics or decks on the internet. Although most people at this point just look up a flow chart and put cards it tells them into a deck. That's why the term "piloting a deck" is used, they kind of play themselves. Especially modern cards. There's plenty of decks that are very low difficulty that will almost assure wins, up until beyond platinum.

Otherwise if you want to just make fun or rogue decks, you're best off finding friends to play with. Otherwise the online experience will be waiting 10 minutes for the opponent and then having all your cards and effects negated. There are a few cards that you just have to have in your deck called "staples" that you can look up too.

so apparently it's more about learning archtypes and combos as well as some other specific cards ?

[IsthisKosher]

Originally posted by Epiderme Tostões:

so apparently it's more about learning archtypes and combos as well as some other specific cards ?

Basically. Every archetype and deck has a "gameplan", though some might be more flexible. In order to actually do anything against opponents online, you'll need to:
1. Know what their gameplan is and how to stop it.
2. Have cards in your hand that you can combo to play your gameplan.
3. Have staples in your hand that enable you to better to 1 and 2.

Also spellcasters will generally revolve around spell cards for support, dragon cards will generally focus on summoning multiple strong monsters quickly, etc. But there can often be exceptions, because this game is 20+ years old.

[Merilirem]

Just play your own cards. Focus on that until you are sure of your own plays. You do not need to even pay attention at first and can learn by failing to do something. When a card survives Raigeki that teaches you it can survive Raigeki. Then you can look at it to understand why.

When you are confident in understanding how the game works you can start reading and trying to understand the opponents cards. Mid game before you play your own cards.

Eventually you will be able to quickly sift through the text and find the relevant parts to your gameplan. Like negates and quick effects.

Don't try to overload yourself. You will learn by just playing. Whenever you see a card resist your effects you can read it and understand. One card at a time is how you will learn the game fully. Just never stop reading once you know how to play the game yourself.

Yugioh is not a game you learn quickly. All its difficulty shows up early on, unlike a game like MTG or Hearthstone which shows its complexity later on. Just play for fun and treat the game like a puzzle. Study it and you will enjoy yourself. Don't focus on winning or losing. No game is fun if you only play to win.