Honest Review of Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel

[Dark Eclipse]

I've tried everything. I've built decks, grinded through duels, experimented with different strategies—but in the end, Master Duel isn't about Yu-Gi-Oh! anymore. It's a game designed to shove the meta down your throat while making sure that anything outside of it is an uphill battle.
The Meta and TENPAI Nightmare

If you're not playing the current best decks, you’re just waiting for your turn to lose. Every single duel feels like a coin flip—do you open the right combo, or do they break your entire field with one card?
TENPAI decks are the absolute worst experience. Waiting through 10-minute turn 1 combos just to watch your opponent set up an unbreakable board isn’t Yu-Gi-Oh!—it’s watching a solitaire game where you're just a spectator.
The game punishes creativity—any rogue or fun deck feels like playing with a handicap. Want to play something different? Good luck, because everything not-meta crumbles under floodgates and FTKs.

The Grind: A Pay-to-Win Trap

The crafting system is a scam. The economy is designed to make it hard as hell to build a deck unless you pay.
Ultra Rare cards? You need a ton of them for most meta decks, but good luck pulling them. Breaking down a full deck barely gives enough materials for 3 URs.
Free-to-play players get just enough gems to bait them into opening packs, but never enough to actually complete the deck they want.
Want a second deck? Too bad. The game forces you to commit everything into one deck unless you’re willing to throw more money at it.

Yu-Gi-Oh!? No, It’s "F* You" Duel**

Master Duel isn't Yu-Gi-Oh!—it's a casino disguised as a card game. You don’t get to play what you want. You don’t get to have fun. You either play what they want you to play or you suffer. And the worst part? They make it painful on purpose so you either break and quit or give in and pay.

I give up. I've tried everything. This game is a cash grab, and the real duel isn't between players—it's between you and Konami’s greed.

[G3]

I've tried everything. I've built decks, grinded through duels, experimented with different strategies—but in the end, Yu-Gi-Oh TCG isn't about Yu-Gi-Oh! anymore. It's a game designed to shove the next best set down your throat while making sure that anything outside of it is an uphill battle.
The Meta and CHAOS Nightmare

If you're not playing the current best deck, you’re just waiting for your turn to lose. Every single duel feels like a coin flip—do you open the right combo, or do they break your entire field with one card?
CHAOS decks are the absolute worst experience. Waiting turn after turn of them destroying every card you play before OTK'ing you isn’t Yu-Gi-Oh!—it’s watching a solitaire game where you're just a spectator.
The game punishes creativity—any rogue or fun deck feels like playing with a handicap. Want to play something different? Good luck, because everything not-meta crumbles under Power Staples and Hand Rips.

The Grind: A Pay-to-Win Trap

The booster system is a scam. The economy is designed to make it hard as hell to build a deck unless you pay.
Ultra Rare cards? You need a ton of them for most meta decks, but good luck pulling them. All the best cards are Secrets and Ultras. And, some booster boxes don't even have a single Secret Rare in them. Let alone 1 Ultra Rare.
Want a second deck? Too bad. The game forces you to commit everything into one deck since every deck is filled with the same 30 cards and they're scarce. Be prepared to pay out the nose at your local flea market for a Chaos Emperor Dragon.

Yu-Gi-Oh!? No, It’s "F* You" Duel**

Yu-Gi-Oh TCG isn't Yu-Gi-Oh!—it's a casino disguised as a card game. You don’t get to play what you want. The cards are too rare. You don’t get to have fun. Your cards are too weak. You either play what they want you to play or you suffer. And the worst part? They make it painful on purpose so you either break and quit or give in and buy the new Invasion of Chaos set.

I give up. I've tried everything. This game is a cash grab, and the real duel isn't between players—it's between you and Upper Deck's greed.

[Tunnel Sharks Rule!!!]

Funny how you have dedicated channels and players who just play HERO and Neos builds still making it to Master 1 with no problem and spending no money whatsoever

[Astrallight]

Originally posted by Dark Eclipse:

I've tried everything. I've built decks, grinded through duels, experimented with different strategies—but in the end, Master Duel isn't about Yu-Gi-Oh! anymore. It's a game designed to shove the meta down your throat while making sure that anything outside of it is an uphill battle.
The Meta and TENPAI Nightmare

If you're not playing the current best decks, you’re just waiting for your turn to lose. Every single duel feels like a coin flip—do you open the right combo, or do they break your entire field with one card?
TENPAI decks are the absolute worst experience. Waiting through 10-minute turn 1 combos just to watch your opponent set up an unbreakable board isn’t Yu-Gi-Oh!—it’s watching a solitaire game where you're just a spectator.
The game punishes creativity—any rogue or fun deck feels like playing with a handicap. Want to play something different? Good luck, because everything not-meta crumbles under floodgates and FTKs.

The Grind: A Pay-to-Win Trap

The crafting system is a scam. The economy is designed to make it hard as hell to build a deck unless you pay.
Ultra Rare cards? You need a ton of them for most meta decks, but good luck pulling them. Breaking down a full deck barely gives enough materials for 3 URs.
Free-to-play players get just enough gems to bait them into opening packs, but never enough to actually complete the deck they want.
Want a second deck? Too bad. The game forces you to commit everything into one deck unless you’re willing to throw more money at it.

Yu-Gi-Oh!? No, It’s "F* You" Duel**

Master Duel isn't Yu-Gi-Oh!—it's a casino disguised as a card game. You don’t get to play what you want. You don’t get to have fun. You either play what they want you to play or you suffer. And the worst part? They make it painful on purpose so you either break and quit or give in and pay.

I give up. I've tried everything. This game is a cash grab, and the real duel isn't between players—it's between you and Konami’s greed.

You dont even know what P2W really means.

[Hungry Burger Gaming]

Where are all these p2w complaints coming from all of a sudden? Did some troll who doesnt even play the game try to organize a raid about fiendsmith, but didnt realize that its not out yet? There is no way so many people who have no idea what they are talking about just independently decide to start complaining about the same thing on the same day.

[Tunnel Sharks Rule!!!]

Originally posted by Hungry Burger Gaming:

Where are all these p2w complaints coming from all of a sudden? Did some troll who doesnt even play the game try to organize a raid about fiendsmith, but didnt realize that its not out yet? There is no way so many people who have no idea what they are talking about just independently decide to start complaining about the same thing on the same day.

In order to prepare for the 3rd anniversary (and 80 Million Downloads Campaign) we must all state how P2W this game is

[Cinnamoon_dragon]

I thought Yugioh was a coin toss simulator until I tried the new Pokémon TCG pocket game, they have turned coin flipping into an art form.

[Soji]

honest review and its just nothing but hyperbole and calling tenpai a 10 minute combo deck. Yea i guess. Also maybe should have edited your actual review

[Papa Shekels]

Originally posted by Hungry Burger Gaming:

Where are all these p2w complaints coming from all of a sudden? Did some troll who doesnt even play the game try to organize a raid about fiendsmith, but didnt realize that its not out yet? There is no way so many people who have no idea what they are talking about just independently decide to start complaining about the same thing on the same day.

It's only two, not that far out of the ordinary. But it is weird that there are two hyperbolic posts complaining about the same non-issue on the same day posted at nearly the same time, when even the regular trolls usually don't bother with it because it's too easily disproven

[JayDee Phoenix]

But does it blend?

[Zephyr]

Besides the p2w thing, 100%.

Much better take than that new player from last week lol.

[魔装機神 Psybuster]

Originally posted by Cinnamoon_dragon:

I thought Yugioh was a coin toss simulator until I tried the new Pokémon TCG pocket game, they have turned coin flipping into an art form.

Modern Pokemon is still coin flippy? Because it was incredibly egregious back in the day, you used to have to very specifically go out of your way to build a deck without coin flips, and even then you were often at their mercy because your opponent would almost inevitably have some.

[Soji]

Originally posted by 魔装機神 Psybuster:

Originally posted by Cinnamoon_dragon:

I thought Yugioh was a coin toss simulator until I tried the new Pokémon TCG pocket game, they have turned coin flipping into an art form.

Modern Pokemon is still coin flippy? Because it was incredibly egregious back in the day, you used to have to very specifically go out of your way to build a deck without coin flips, and even then you were often at their mercy because your opponent would almost inevitably have some.

I can't say for sure if the TCG is coin flippy now, but the version they are mentioning, PTCG Pocket, is full of coin flip effects. It's no just on cards either, effects like Sleep and Confused are in the game as well.

[Papa Shekels]

Originally posted by 魔装機神 Psybuster:

Modern Pokemon is still coin flippy? Because it was incredibly egregious back in the day, you used to have to very specifically go out of your way to build a deck without coin flips, and even then you were often at their mercy because your opponent would almost inevitably have some.

Pocket is the new game that released last year. I don't know what the new new stuff is since I dropped the game after a week or two, but the first two formats were dominated by the best decks all being coin-flip based. Misty in particular was so egregious that your opponent could kill you before you got a turn with a bit of luck - if they went first, you only drew one basic pokemon, and they opened misty with enough heads to attack, you'd instantly lose. Then the next major update brought celebi, which was the same thing but as a 1-card combo instead of 2

[魔装機神 Psybuster]

Huh, didn't know they made a NEW video game, I thought it was just the two on Game Boy. Fair enough though.

[e-dood]

Originally posted by Tunnel Sharks Rule!!!:

Funny how you have dedicated channels and players who just play HERO and Neos builds still making it to Master 1 with no problem and spending no money whatsoever

it's a skill issue on OP's part really.