Is this game good *outside* of ranked?

[Chimbo]

I just got solitaired hard in my very first ranked match, so I was clearly in the wrong place there lol. BUT - does the "Free Duel" option actually have players or does everyone just play Ranked? I'm mostly coming from Legacy of the Duelist here, and I just wanted more cards to play with. I've heard the Solo mode is fairly lacking, but if Ranked is that brutal even in the most baby of the baby-tiers, I'm probably never going to touch it.

I guess my question is, is this game worth investing time into if I'm not really planning on playing much Ranked? I don't really have any interest in playing the current meta or anything, I just want to build interesting decks and try them out.

[Papa Shekels]

Probably not. The game is super front-loaded with resources, but even then they are relatively limited if you don't ever play any ranked. You will very quickly reach a point where you will have to play ranked to get any gems to build decks to play in free duel or solo

[Akemua]

The main point of MD, whether people want to admit it or not, is to play competitively. It was always designed to be that way, and so far, Konami has focused solely on that.

Solo gates, and Duel rooms are the only place you'll find reprieve from the competitive scene.

[Chimbo]

Shoot. Well, alright, thank you both. I'll probably just play this until I run out of card food, then.

[Zelwy]

I spend most of my time just doing solo mode and testing decks and learning them, I personally have fun that way and I only play ranked when i have all the missions in the list so I would say yes is okay outside ranked.

[HeraldOfOpera]

The game was literally designed and marketed to be primarily about Ranked play. If you don't enjoy that, anything you do enjoy is accidental on Konami's part.

[Chimbo]

Status Update for YGO Wieners:

I was tempted to try more Ranked play and got matches with much more reasonable opponents and they were fun. :]

[Soji]

No this game really isn't worth playing if you don't plan on playing much ranked. Maybe loading up when they run events to play with the loaner decks they give you but outside of events and the barebones solo mode, there's nothing close ot LotD content. No draft mode, No character duels, No 3d animations. It's very much meant to be a 'competitive' client for yugioh. Which it fails at itself not offering a best of 3 option.

[Knud den Store 🧙‍♂]

The events are great, February was a great time to play MD.
March was a miserable time.

The game is fun but we need a side format or ladder. The events could also be run for a little longer.

[Mistic-Gohan]

No.