Agree or disagree: Yu-Gi-Oh is not that complex (at least as a video game).

[Kayde Bastion]

I know it's a general consensus outside of the Yu-Gi-Oh club that it's a very complex card game 'cause of all the actions and the text heavy cards, but it's actually not that hard: You place your cards to play better cards, you set your traps and spells, you attack your opponent's cards and drain their life points. Simple.

I guess the real complexity comes from all the different summoning methods that are too many to count, and I'll admit there are way too many ways to play your cards that more or less all play out the same--but the game helps you out so much that you're practically playing on auto pilot. Can you get a little carried away at times? Sure, but you could always halt yourself and carry on to the next phase or whatever.

But yeah, I don't think Yu-Gi-Oh is that complex. Maybe the physical card game is since you actually have to read and understand your cards, but as for Duel Masters or Duel Links, not really. I mean, they even highlight certain texts on the cards depending on the context of what's going on.

[Akemua]

It's a TCG card game. Almost none of them are "complex". They're straight forward because the biggest draw is the intent to collect, not to play a competitive game.

All that said, by TCG standards, especially the physical side of the game, Yugioh IS complex.

[76561199378662608]

It is hard for beginner and casual players that won't be competitive. I consider myself as casual but I also currently in competitive environment where I compete in diamond to rating duel every month so yes the game is easy when you already got used to everything.

[cybercybercybercyber4]

If you play a low tier deck you better know the cards and rulings as your deck wont outperform/outnegate your misplays.
The weaker your deck is, the more complex the game gets. Other than that, gameplay is not very complex, its rather tedious.

[itzRiceKrispies]

Yugioh is easy to learn & hard to master.

The main reason for the misunderstanding is because few who play this game for the first time actually want to learn it or continue to play it cause it is just not fun to play anymore.

Also no, trash talkers on the internet who don't actually compete successfully(& deep down really don't know wtf they are talking about) won't be convincing me about how u have mastered all 300+ archetypes 10+ combo lines & all known FTK's; while also learning the difference between cost, effect, mechanic, response, & send. I'm probably missing a few things here but I can't imagine caring less.

Especially since half the new faces who visit these forums can't figure out the difference between targeting & non-targeting.

[box art ryu]

how can us boomers get good?

[Ghost X]

Originally posted by box art ryu:

how can us boomers get good?

Playing braindead decks like Tenpai if you want ez win

[syronくらい]

It's not complex, at least not in the scrub format Master Duel uses. Without the ability to ban decks or have BO3 it's literally #1 do I win the coinflip #2 do I have enough handtraps #3 do I play the 1 deck that is objectively the strongest in the meta

[Merilirem]

It has a steep learning curve and a lot of stuff to understand if you want to play seriously. Building potentially meta defining decks is no small feat and piloting them can be a lot of work especially if you don't have a guide to go off because you made the deck yourself. Though obviously building a deck does help you understand it more from the jump.

Yugioh is at its core a simple game but mastering it takes work. The ceiling is higher than most card games but its also not so high as to be unreasonable. You just need to understand the game properly. Which many who quit never got to do.

New players struggle not because the game is more complicated than magic, but because its starting point is a lot heavier than a game like magic. The moment you play Yugioh you are playing Yugioh at its current level. Unlike Magic and other games which limit new players to the same sort of experience they had 20 years ago. If Yugioh had a 2004 and 20014 format, people would have a much easier time getting into the game. The fundamentals are what help people learn how to play properly. Not explaining how to pilot dragonmaids right off the bat.

T set pass is where you should start playing because in games like MTG you start with playing a land and a 1 cost creature then passing.

[Soji]

Master Duel definitely makes it easier to be able to play the game because its always keeping track of what you can do or have done during a turn. I wouldn't say this game is overly difficult compared to others at the intermediate and above area but for beginners its definitely got a learning curve.

I think you're close to what makes this game really difficult on a core level is just the sheer amount of mechanics the game has compared to other card games. Typically in a game like MTG, the only cards you can play out of your hand during the opponents turn are Instant spells which is something that's pretty easy for a new player to understand. Yugioh has cards like this as well, but well they aren't just one type of card, they can be all of the super types from handtraps, to cards like impermanance to runick quick plays assuming their field spell is active.

Creature cards in MTG all have effects that can be used whenever assuming you can meet their activation requirements. Meaning the mana needed or being able to tap the creature. YGO has things like quick effects and ignition effects on monsters which are depending on which, have different spell speeds, which is another thing this game has that something like MTG doesn't have. Completely changing how some cards might potentially function.

There's a lot of 'knowledge checks' in this game compared to other TCG which is where I personally think the initial complexity of yugioh comes from. It's also imo what makes this game much more enjoyable than most other TCG, because of that complexity. Like an acquired taste almost.

[Papa Shekels]

Master duel is effectively the game on training wheels. They've said in no uncertain terms that they intend to make this game simpler to play rather than being a 1:1 simulator for the tcg. We have things like the imperm column animation, a full log of everything that happened in the duel you can access at any time, a related cards feature you can look through at any time you want, the used effect indicators on cards, and of course as an automatic simulator all the rulings done for you. It's night and day the amount of game knowledge and mental power needed to "succeed" in master duel vs. the physical game.

Still though, yugioh on training wheels is still a pretty complicated game, especially to somebody coming in without prior experience. There is a lot to keep track of to plan out your turn and figure out what to do against your opponent, and as mentioned the knowledge checks are rather aggressive. Even when you master all the rules of the game, you simply have to at least have a vague idea of how a couple dozen different decks work along with dozens of popular staples to truly be prepared just for the things you are *likely* to see

[Terminal Desolation]

If you boil the gameplay down to "play cards to play better cards" then it's the exact same as any other TCG, so NONE of them are difficult and in fact they are all essentially the same. If you're going to oversimplify things so much, then you're going to miss any of the nuances. And if there's one thing that Yugioh cares a LOT about, it's nuances.

It's kinda like when people play Yugioh and think they understand how cards work, but find out they actually don't. Which is a very common occurrence for a game you're trying to posit as not complex.

[IsthisKosher]

Much of the "difficulty" in the game has been reduced by power creep and the strength of hand traps making approaches to deck building unvaried. Because I can't consider choosing a deck with a 1-2 card combo that sets an entire board and having a bunch of negation in your hand or field to be related to "difficulty".
People will insist that the game was always dominated by a meta, but a lot of that was reserved to tournaments (mostly because if you did that stuff in person, it's over for you.
But that's not a problem online). But the shift in focus to competitive power creep is inherent in tcg eventually due to marketing strategies. And as such, decks that don't focus on the meta either get left behind or changed to fit it (and largely redirecting what the theme does).
So it kind of ends in a funnel of "Negate everything and special summon 20 times"

[Thain]

Game only become complex when there are 2 conflicting effect. For example, cards cannot be banish and all are banish instead of GY. Other than that, mostly are just quite straight forward, pay attention to each wording.

[Bad Distraction Carnifex]

Some decks can have non-linear combo lines that rely on recycling key link monsters like Skulldread to keep making more and more room for more comboing.

As annoying as those decks are they're the highest skill in the game and they are relatively complex.

[HeraldOfOpera]

The problem is that what complexity it does have is implemented in the stupidest way possible: hair-splitting technicalities. Oh, it's unaffected by card effects? Well, this is a cost. This is a game action. Screw you.