I imagine the answer to "How many games would I win if I threw in a Mirror Force (or variant) just to throw people off?" is always going to be "More than you'd think but less than you'd hope."

"if you watched this far, clearly you care about improving at Yu-Gi-Oh" Mate, I don't even play Yu-Gi-Oh.

41 card deck with 1 upstart goblin, for consistency of course

Those are all mistakes that Joey did. I see now what Kaiba meant when he said he's a third rate duelist with a fourth rate deck

When you have 3 trap iron scarecrows and you hand consists of negating attacks. I’m 4 parallel universes ahead of you and 5 universes behind you at the same time.

"Know how your deck responds to hand traps" Me: *Flashbacks to every YuGiOh game I've ever played where my Six Samurai deck gets handtrapped and I have to pass turn after normal summoning once*

I always have an answer for nibiru on my HERO deck. It's called "set one and pass"

When I started I didn't know the card limit so I combined Yugi, Joey and Kaiba's decks

One mistake me and my friends used to do and I've seen others do is focusing too much on the archetype of their deck. You don't need to try and fit in every good to decent card of that archetype in the deck.

Next YCS: Topping player runs 3 Mirror Force, 3 Magic Cylinder, and 3 Supply Squad Dzeeff: Commenters don't understand... (Awesome vid!)

"Even if Superheavy Samurais became a meta strategy..." Me, a SHS player: [laughs outwardly, weeps internally]

Honestly this video has really made me relook at my decks. I had taken a break since classes went online for me. I cant wait to finally try and make it to regionals

Woah, thanks for this tips man, I never built a deck myself because I mostly dont understand the actual yu gi oh meta, so I prefer to restrain from building and I mostly search deck recipes and see videos of matchups because I like the game itself, but I think with this tips I could try building some. Thanks again!

Back when I was playing YuGiOh more seriously than I do now, I would occasionally see a deck that topped and be able to confidently say "Eh, their deck doesn't seem that good." Then I'd scroll down, and instantly be like "Oh, their side-deck is fire! That's the reason they did well!"

5 Common Deck Mistakes You Make Number 1 : Not Play 3 Copies of Jerry Beans Man In Your Deck

This was, by far, one of the most informative YuGiTube videos I've ever seen

*Build a digital deck* "Time to crush my way in" Realizing in the match there's no extra deck cards...

Me: still doesn’t know how pendulum and link summoning works

I'm a big believer that its better to have a deck that does 1 or 2 things really good and consistently as opposed to a deck that is okay at bunch of different things.

I'm not going to lie I'm still collecting cards so I can try to attempt a future locals tournament. Unfortunately since the only yu-gi-oh gameplay I've got gameplay experience in is from Duel Links, I really do turn to these videos to try and figure out what I should try to get for a deck at some point in the future. I guess this is a long winded way of me saying tha k you for putting in as much time as you do to help people get better at this game

I always love the finality of a Dzeeff goodbye. I pictured a factory filled with Dzeeff's and then after every video is recorded, it is pushed into a furnace and the consciousness gets re-installed via some central matrix and shifted into the next unit.

"Pot of Avarice is a card that's good only when you're already winning." Duelists with discard-heavy decks rn: "Seriously dude ?"

Engine Requirements, now I know what Garnets are as a group.

Sometimes I just put 3 copies of called by the grave in my deck and call it a day

I think it's super important for new players that you pointed out not only generally that you have made some of these mistakes in the past, but that you even specific examples of that. Well done.

Part of a problem is that the more consistent a deck is, the less fun it is. That's why I always prioritized multiple paths to victory and combo potential over consistency.

My number 1 deck rule: ALWAYS begin with 3 Blue-Eyes

My one issue with the point at 4:00 is that countering several hand traps often detracts from my hand at a given time, and that’s not a flaw with this video just the damn meta itself.

Hi Doug, thank you for this video! I'm trying to get back into the game after taking a break during Master Rule 4 and the biggest challenge for me right now is just trying to deal with the overwhelming number of new cards and strategies that have surfaced since I played last. I'd love to see some type of "How to return to Yu Gi Oh" guide from you at some point with some tips for what to study and resources for relearning things.

Thanks for this. I actually needed this right now. I'm aiming to try and play going second Magical Muskets after a long hiatus of not playing (the quarantine isn't helping sadly) and have been debating on what the best side deck/ tech cards were. I think Dimension Shifter would be a good example based on your video.

I suck at making a decent deck to many good cards I just cant ever combine them well enough to win

Ok thank you bro amazing video. Now I’m going to take out supply squad in my sealed only series MACHINA deck. It’s very situational and a win more card.

"Luck in yugioh" *gets hearthstone flashbacks* Would be cool tho if we get a Mulligan system...

Garnet: Becomes such a ubiquitous concept, "Garnet" became a term used even in other card games Yugioh Players: Nah, let's stop calling Garnets "Garnets", and call them something more vague!

One of my decks was horribly guilty on the first count. It was a pretty paint-by-numbers Quickdraw deck except with two copies of Imperial Iron Wall to allow infinite Quillbolt Hedgehog respawns (well, that and shutting off a couple of decks which needed to banish). What was really dumb though was the one copy of Cannon Soldier so I could instantly close a game. Worst possible card to draw in any circumstance except a board of exactly tuner + hedgehog + wall. Funny when it went off though, as every opponent had the same blank 'huh' reaction after looking at the cards.

Important variation to #2: Thinking that that once you found the 'best' deck list you dont change it between all tournaments you go to. Even if you find a core for a deck that you really like. To have the best chances of winning you need to make a prediction on what decks will be popular and successful at each individual tournament you go to and change your flex spots/side deck to best counter those strategies. Bringing the same deck everywhere will literally never be the best option.

DL is a different format, yet just by playing it i have learned most of these tips. The only big exception is side decking, as DL doesnt really have a built in side deck, and when also considering the smaller deck size, it is harder to find cards to remove from the main deck. The "engines" in the tcg are in themselves almost full DL decks, and the deck building changes as a result. The deck i am currently playing is one that i am only struggling to find decent counter cards for. I have battle traps, but with some of the key meta cards having limited ways to obtain for f2p players (combined with forgetting to sync my account and having to start fresh), and some more niche negates, options are more limited. On the other hand, melodious is the same deck that taught me what the ideals are when it comes to combo potential of a single card, with my deck having at most 4 brick cards, 3 copies of my extra deck gate (polymerization), and the other makes up for its brick potential by acting as a survive card that ONLY bricks if i am winning, in which case i did not need the card in the first place.

When you talked about the die roll and not always going first, and needing some cards for going second... I have a bit of a mirrored experience. Not as in "I always go first", because that's ridiculous, but as an avid player of playing blind second OTKs, _particularly_ Galaxy/Photons. Now, in _most_ situations, I'm able to pull the wool over people's eyes and get the desired position of going second. But because of how heavily geared towards going second my maindeck is, the moment I'm forced to go first, regardless of whether or not my opponent has their own blind go second strats or not, I find I'm not able to make as impactful a board as I would have if I had gone second. Now, that's a bit of an inherent weakness of Galaxy/Photons and a few other decks I play, but especially when I fight other blind go second decks, _particularly Dinos,_ I find myself doing very poorly, even if I'm going second, and have to accept that this is just a weakness I'll have to accept, because unfortunately the build I have is as streamlined as I, personally, without speaking for others, am able to make it.

Thanks for this vid!! It’s definitely super helpful

The problem with engine requirements is that it makes some decks completely useless. For example, cyberdarks need all 6 cyberdark monsters in the deck, and the only one that’s consistently useful is chimera. To add on to this, you pretty much need cyberdark horizon to set up your gy, but if you don’t draw into the right monsters it’s just a dead card.

Yeah, I have absolutely no idea how to side deck properly

I don think beeing bad is bad, but staying bad is. Its all about improving.

I always found side decks to be the trickiest part of deck building... also during a duel trying to figure out what cards to replace.

I think another big mistake is not using a hyper geometric calculator to figure your deck size and ratios. I found that I've improved greatly ever since I started using this as my approach to deck building is way more focused now that I know the probability of opening certain cards and combos.

The not knowing your side deck advice I can vouge is one of the main key factors I have found in competitive play that separates the men from the boys when it comes to this game. Until I understood this concept I never topped a regional and the first time I felt well rounded and knew what to side when, I topped that regional. Definitely a great tip that is not emphasized often enough.

Simple trick, pot of greed and grace full charity at 3 in ur deck

Storming is bad against pendulums...learned that the hard way

I haven't played Yu-Gi-Oh for a long time now and i am mad at the new way the game is being played, why am I enjoying this?

With my deck I use exodia for fun. I even made it to where I use gravity bind, recycle, life absorbing machine, solemn wishes, pot of avarice, and the creator and creator incarnate combo. Helps me keep my graveyard empty, my life points high, keep a defensive outlook, and keep shuffling until I get exodia in my hand. Sometimes I have to update the deck which is hard to do at times in order to keep people guessing

This was a very helpful video for both casuals and competitive players, though more focused towards casuals beginning competitive play. To seek more deck building advice, what constitutes the number of specific cards in your deck other than the ban list or just 3 of a card that's good? I find myself always thinking of this when it comes to building decks on a casual level, such as Agents or Heros.

Most common mistake: YOU CAN'T DECIDE WHAT CARDS YOU PUT IN YOUR DECK. I know...I still has this bad habit even until now.

This has taught me quite a lot about my building habits and some building styles that kinda can't be changed. Playing Dragunity since HA, I've run into a wall when it came to building. You need so many cards in its own engine that it becomes borderline linear and hard to put newer helpful cards in. Bad enough getting hit via handtrap hurts badly and forces you to make weird plays just to get past it. Your main out from problem cards is in the form of generic removal/negation like CBTG. But Nibiru kills it if the opponent can figure out when the Crystal Wing is coming. It's fun playing the deck but I get discouraged because of the amount of hindrances it causes.

MTG: "I'm getting back to competitive after 13 years" "Oh, these are no longer in standard, lets try the modern format" " Well, I'm a bit rusty and my Jace the Mind Scultor is still good, but I found a couple of new toys for it. But my deck still managed to compete" Yu-Gi-Oh: "It's been 13 years since I got top 8 with my Gladiator Beasts, I've heard there's even new Link monsters for them, lets see how I manage" ...(watches opponent go off turn 1) "WTF is this!!!?"

I am definitely super guilty of not considering my opponent enough while building my decks, wich i think is the issue that lies at the core of the Side Deck mistake and the disruption mistake. I always just kinda build my deck to be as consistent as possible without actually thinking about it in a real game context.

My guesses would be: 1) Lacking a clear win condition 2) Having the win condition be a very specific combo 3) Forgetting spell destruction for mystic mine 4) Too many bricks 5) Siding for a meta that doesn’t exist [where you are dueling]

Great video and articles, the side deck one hit me so hard. Easily my biggest weakness.

I am by no means great at the game, but I generally build my decks around fun to play strats or cards I really like the art from, providing they aren't ridiculously weak. I really like Gem-Knight Garnet.

the one thing I diagree with is what you said about dark mirror force. because it banishes them and SHS has really no way to recover them(to my knowledge please correct me if I'm wrong on that) it would be a good side deck option if SHS ever became top tier. it would definitely never be main decked tho I think we can all agree on that.

Not playing 3 ofs is STATISTICALLY wrong

Something I’ve started doing if deliberately going second to see if I can play through a board, and still make a come back play. Not all decks can do that but I think it’s a good thing to always test out

That Supply Squad is a really good pick. Let's say i play Unchained, a deck that has a lot of destruction. Drawing Squad at first it means that i drew 1 less combo piece. But that deck can easily pop a monster to get the card that i would have drawn if i didnt have supply squad. From there on, it a +1 on every turn. While it will increase your chance of bricking, it will also raise the "snowballing" speed of the deck. But still it isnt a really viable card. Now to my question: How much of the ceiling (or advantage-gaining) of the deck is the ideal trade-off in order to boost your consistency? For me, i prefer to get 80% of my full power in 9/10 times, rather get 120% in 5/10 times. But there are decks that lack the "unfair" factor many meta decks have. That is why in DM i run foolish burial/Mana/Mahad to maximize the draws of servant, even though it may cause some bricks. Even cutting all the bricks in dm, the ceiling can be so low (compared to adamantia for example) that Circle/Soul + Dragoon + Solemn may not stop them (that is a really strong opening for DM's ) (The decks where just examples of well-known strategies....)

casually predicting Superheavy Sam would be meta 3 years in advance

To you shaddoll players i have a sad story my firend was playing HAND DESTRUCTION in his shaddoll invoked deck i sorry

Great vid! Really like when your videos helps beginners like me

Im at the half way point and Dzeeff mentions caring about the game and deck building, but I just find it interesting, I dont play but its pretty interesting

With Master Duel now a thing, I've had a couple duels where the opponent opened 5 hand traps, then drew one card (of many) that they could use to go on and OTK. The drawing a starting combo card isn't the annoying thing. It is having to deal with 2/3 Ash Blossom and/or 2/3 Infinite Impermanence on an opening hand. Yes, I've had to deal with that a few times.

Side decking is definitely my weakest point. I have repeatedly sided 3 cards, thought "what else is good?" Put in 3 more cards, and after starting the game realizing that halfway through I changed whether I was going first or second so I sided like both dark ruler and called by going first.

I don't even play Yu-Gi-Oh

I've been observing a lot of combo decks and one thing I've learn out that a 40 cards deck is their play style will always make their game a lot faster. Most of them consist of not less than 20 but no more than 35 cards that can have the combo synergy. Certain archetypes or decks that have the ability to searching and drawing cards from their decks like Shaddols, Invoked, synchrons etc. have much more higher capacity to pull their combo much quicker. The rest of the remaining cards are mostly consist of handtraps and disruptors and Spell/Traps protections are less too like 2 or 3 cards for combo heavy decks. You don't need much spell and trap protection if your able to pull off your full board in your 1st, 2nd or 3rd turn without getting disrupted .However the more your deck to have the ability draw/search cards from the deck, the quicker it is to thin itself but hand traps and protection will also become more prevalent to draw during your draw phase.

i think there should be more examples like the first one, with the soul absorption. i need more samples on types of decks and cards that can be used in them that will work with the archetype or strategy.

I found this helpful The biggest problem I think I have it's a bit daunting for me to find what card might be right to use instead whatever I have in the deck and I don't know where to start looking

While Soul Absorption isn't good anywhere, it was super fun to use it in Duel Links with Metaphys and then throw a Cyber-Stein in there. Metaphys Cyber-Stein was my favorite deck, may it rest in peace.

What would be a good suggestion for hand traps in Master Duel? (Since there is no side decking). I run a pure E-Hero deck using the Omni Heroes as my fusions. I currently run 3 copies of Ash Blossom, 3 copies of Solemn Judgment, and 3 copies of Solemn Strike. Cards like Skull Meister and Effect Veiler appeal to me, but I feel like I have no room, lol.

I just realized the title is like that because there's a similarly titled video but about building wooden decks.

Something that most people don't understand is that playing for fun and playing competitively is two completely different things and require two different approaches. For fun is, well, having fun with friends etc and you can try many things, play "win more" cards because they are satisfying to play etc. When playing competitively though, you do not necessarily need to have fun. You play to win, therefore elements that make the game fun might not be present because they won't aid you towards winning, again in the example of "win more" cards. I have never really played competitively, I only play for fun (even though I like to win, obviously), but most of my decks are just "overkill" decks, where if I don't brick, it can do lots of stuff, but I understand that this won't be good in competitive because if I brick (which isn't that often but still) I lose, if I get negated on my combo, I lose etc, therefore, I'd have to either alter my deck build or change my deck identity / archetype completely. There is a reason why only certain decks are meta. It's because they do lots of things very well, they are well rounded, hard to counter and strong when they get to resolve.

ive made literally all of these mistakes in the past. and i think im making some of these now, my myutant shiranui deck while decent needs something, i dont know if it needs a faster way to get to zombie world so i can counter attacks with alghol malzera, maybe i should pivot more into grass build(its legal in master duel) maybe i should forget about mixing them together and just play pure, either way i find this video helpful.

You have such an incredible way of giving advice and information. And not that I use Mirror forces, but the reasoning is so logical, that I feel so silly for being amazed by that very Simple, logical comparison. I never had thought about it that way.

Nice article, I like how it was much more in-depth than your video and employed different, personal anecdotes. Great job!

This sounds so useful

I build decks based on the "plus and minus" rule first. No matter how good your deck looks as a whole, if you can't maintain hand advantages, you will get exhausted by your opponent in longer matches.

i may not be adept at deck building but one thing i did learn is that u should be aware of win more cards. the grand maju deck didnt have soul absorption probably becuz it was a win more card. gaining lp is fine but not integral to the strat. its a win more card. unless u need lp gaining to use as a resource or to pay lp to negate with solemn cards, then theres no reason to use it.

See in that regard in my table 500 spellbooks, the original mirror force gives me the best chance to win. More or less when Jowgen is on the field, my opponent results to just having 1 or 2 monsters on the field at a time to try and kill the jowgen. Seeing how I want to protect the Jowgen and get rid of the threat all together, the original mirror force seems perfect for that.

TL DR: 1. don't put cards that is only good if chained/combo with other cards, but really weak played alone. better to pick standalone cards that is always good and usable in your deck while also helps your main win condition win even if that help is miniscule (basically beware of garnets). 2. make your deck negate or interruption resistant and mostly has a way out for a lot of situations. Your opponents may always have negates, unbeatable monsters (towers), tributes (kaiju), hand traps, floodgates, counter traps, quick play spells, and more. it's impossible for your deck to be immune to all of those, just being resistant to the majority is enough. 3. (Tournament or multiple matches only), get your side decks cards correctly, use it to solve your biggest weakness/flaw that the opponents abuse, and also accurately counters your opponent current strategy, don't stuff all of it with generic always useful cards or always work against the META cards, you have to consider what you and your opponent has. 4. prioritize cards that helps you get closer to winning the match/game, not the cards that stops your opponents from winning the match/game but does nothing to you or harms you by using it. 5. don't put too many win more cards, what's the point of drawing them when you are not winning anyway, prioritize cards that gives you a chance to win from a losing situation.

Looking back, not knowing what to side out in tournaments was the biggest weakness I had back in the day

I mean, thanks to you, I now want quaking mirror force in my deck more then anything, I like the possibilities it could do but don’t know exactly how well it could do

i like to build decks for people i dont play verry often so this vid is great

When did the idea and term of consistency start? I had never heard it used until late Zexal era. During 5D's and earlier, I never heard people think about deck building like that.

Altergeist Haunted Rock keeps getting more interesting atm tbh (LINKROSS it's weirdly good in this deck due to Hexstia Trigger Effect in the GY), there are some different combos Meluseek+Marionetter= Multifaker in HAND; Protocol+Linkross+2 Tokens on FIELD; Meluseek+Marionetter+Hexstia+Haunted Rock in the GY Silquitous+Marionetter= Multifaker+Haunted Rock in HAND; Linkross+2 Tokens on FIELD; Silquitous+Marionetter+Hexstia in the GY Multifaker+Marionetter= Altergeist Monster+Altergeist Card in HAND; Hexstia on FIELD; Meluseek+Multifaker+Marionetter+Hexstia+Haunted Rock in the GY Marionetter+Marionetter= BAGOOSKA ON FIELD; Haunted Rock in the GY (JK) Multifaker in HAND; Linkross+2 Tokens on FIELD; 2(Marionetter)+Hexstia+Haunted Rock in the GY Kunquery (or the Tuner guy)+Marionetter= Multifaker in HAND; Linkross+2 Tokens on FIELD; Kunquery (or the Tuner guy)+Marionetter+Hexstia+Haunted Rock in the GY So I would dare to say it´s worth playing only AT LOCALS as it turns Marionetter+Any Altergeist Monster into a combo, also mathwise makes Spoofing a little bit more consistent (like 1.61% to be exact), opening with at least 1 Marionetter (of the 3 of) has a 33.75% chance, meanwhile opening with at least one other Altergeist monster (11 remaining) has a 82.93% chance and last but not least opening with the single copy of Haunted Rock only a 12.5% chance (which roughly translates to opening with it once every 8 GAMES) *All the number shown are going first with 5 cards in hand, not taking any draw/search cards into consideration I KNOW this video was made before our June 2020 Banlist, but I really think there might be a little chance to at least talk about the card in a more "Pro-player" oriented fashion Pls like this comment so our AlterGOD can make a proper response on a new video someday soon

Even though i dont play you gi oh i used the knowledge I learned here to improve my bakugan deck

My competitive days are over, now I just play for fun. Archetype specific 60 card decks bring the most joy while playing with my friends. Every duell is different, not like 40 cards competitive decks. Over time it just getting boring to pull up the same combo every duell just to win.

My biggest problem is being archetype-minded. It will always be the reason I'll never be a competitive duelist but it's one I don't think I'll give up. I'll never consider using an extra deck monster outside of the archetype I'm currently playing and am very reluctant to do so. Even with needlefiber, I saw how good it was in action several times but in the back of my head I told myself "I'm not using a Crystron deck, why would I use it?"

A thing to keep in mind is that over 10000 cards are legal in current day Yugioh and therefore, it takes a lot of time discovering effective combos, engines, techs, disruptions etc. - even some random non-effect monsters like Kabazauls and Fusionist saw play in competitive Yugioh for various reasons.

Yoooo the fuckin articles That’s so cool man! The community rlly appreciates you contributing to it in all the ways you do

Your deck being consistent is so important. Your advice goes a long way to show steps on how to achieve that i think.

It would be interesting to hear your take on deck building in Duel Links from a TCG perspective and possibly what mistakes you think people are making.

Wow man. This vid really made me start working on my decks again

My deck is simple. Banished or GY or deck, it doesn't matter. IT will make it to the field. Like a Hydra.

A card that would be good for a deck, but is bad on its own is owner’s seal with kaiju because if you don’t have a kaiju on your opponent’s field then owner’s seal is a brick

I want a fanfic that has the Yu-Gi-Oh characters build better decks and know the events of the anime shows. That would be worth a huge crossover.

The first rule is the most important. Having cards in your deck that is dependent on certain actions will give you what I call a DEAD DRAW. You. This happens when you draw and can't do anything with the card that can in the worse case, leave you wide open for a direct attack because you had to end your turn without doing anything, even if you laid a card face down as a scare tactic which is worth your opponent's risk to do so or simply destroy it.