KONAMI should make the Card Trader an actual crafting system like in Master Duel and not useful only to craft Kiteroid and Harpie Lady 1.

Selection Boxes are the biggest scam of duel links. Second place is unusable copies of cards. Like yeah you can turn your 20 rares of the same card into stuff, but what you actually get from that is a joke.

I think that DL in its current state was okay-ish BEFORE Master Duel's release. After MD's release you start seeing some of the flaws that are there. Level cap increases are spaced out way too far, Character unlocks get scuffed because to make a good deck you need to dip into its coinciding box because Konami never makes LV up rewards/event drops worthwhile anymore. They release characters people like and make them incomplete in the way their cards are meant to be used (Prime example would be Yuto, they gave Phantom Knights of Cursed Javelin but didn't give the 2 traps that become LV 2 PK's, all they needed was to add those but instead we got the doodoo spell card). Boxes (specifically ones released alongside characters) are all over the place too, the Phantom Knight box should've been centered around PK's but they put Infinitracks, Ciphers, and Zefras in there unnecessarily. Quality-of-life wise, we have characters that go up to LV 45 and yet we still get 250-500 XP per duel win when it should be increased ALONGSIDE the level caps too. Duel Links isn't dying, it's *starting* to. The foundation to DL's failure has been set in stone for 5 years and despite all the surveys they put in after every event, Konami has not listened to player feedback AT ALL.

I definitely agree with dkayed with what he said in videos. I love playing DL but Konami need to do something big to improve duel link

Duel Links needs a massive change-up to survive. Adding dedicated modes like real Tag Duels, Turbo Dueling, shit that Master Duel doesn't do, would help a lot.

There's too many restrictions in duel links when it comes to getting gems, leveling up characters, and playing pvp. The grind takes too long and is way too boring, whenever I touch the game it ends up being an auto-battle grind where I'm not even playing. Master duel gives you the option to use whatever deck you want. Takes a day or two playing casually to play any deck you want.

I honestly love duel links still and really want it to live and thrive, but it’s undeniable that the monetization is beyond scummy. I’ve been a free to play player for 4 and a half years and I can’t count the number of times I’ve felt like it was simply an impossible playing ground to equalize unless I went for one or two specific free to play decks that I wasn’t interested in. Instead I’ve opted to slowly build up a collection of a bunch of stuff I like and can hopefully do creative things with, but it took years and just an honestly ridiculous and somewhat wasteful time investment to get anything close to reasonable for a competitive collection. I like how duel links has a cool atmosphere and potential for a lot of events, and the speed duel format is a really nice thing imo, but it is undeniably ridiculous that I could log into master duel and within the first week have the same level of competitive potential as I did after grinding for 4 years in duel links because that was the only way. I really hope the game makes a comeback and Konami makes the right changes, but I definitely understand why duel links is struggling right now.

No duel links is definitely dying, I had to spend like 20$ to get 1 black luster soldier envoy of the beginning in duel links... you know what I spent to get 2 of my favorite decks at full power in master duel? 0 dollars. Edit: I've been saying this for a long time that the KC Cup is a joke, the prize support sucks. They need to revamp card crafting system.

I just wanted them to make an actual crafting system for duel links. The card trader hasn't had any good cards released in years. Their are like 7 cards in the card trader that are even good.

I love getting to play the anime decks with the anime characters in Duel Links. The voice acting and whatnot add a nice little extra something to the duels. The experience is really different from just playing tabletop or playing master duel. But I am done paying outrageous prices for that experience. It's just not worth it.

With the release of Master Duel, it now clear that DL was never F2P friendly. And the Gem Nerf WAS a thing.

I think the main difference between master duel and duel links, besides crafting, is how boxes are distributed. In master duel once you unlock the secret box of your favourite archetype, that's all you'll need, ok maybe you'll need some utility cards from another decks, but the core is in that box; while in duel links, one main card is one box, the other one is in another box, the other utility card is in a selection box that's only available every 2 or 3 months and so on. We need to pull from so many boxes and the chances to obtain one good card are so low that it feels unfair when we compair it to master duel. I for one won't spend any more in duel links unless they change that.

I knew that Konami was giving up on DL in favor of MD as soon as I saw the direction they were heading with skill design roughly a year ago. Making ridiculously powerful but incredibly specific skills which only work on a certain deck (which was always a popular anime deck) while gutting every single generic skill in the game is objectively AWFUL game design. If you weren't using a deck with one of those skills then it truly felt like your opponent had access to an entire game mechanic that you just don't get to make use of. People defended (and still do defend) these skills though because the super popular decks benefited from getting them of course.

I definitely agree with Dkayed here. To say that a multi billion dollar company's game is dying because of a single content creator or evem multiple is just redicilous. Moreover about master duel being for everyone luckily they seem to be smart and are walking a great path by introducing us to events like the one coming where tou can only use certain cards like this upcoming event where you can only use XYZ. This will definitely keep the game fresh HOWEVER they can do something even bigger. I want them to make a permanent sperate FORMAT. A completely unique arsenal of cards and archetypes are available for players to choose from that creates an alternate meta that can be slower and more accessible with a different play style. Even better i want them to introduce the historical formats like Goat format or Edison format. Those will Definitely have a huge success and will bring back Old school players and players who don't like spending 10 minutes watching your opponent pull off his OTK or setting up his unbreakable board or make you unable to play the game. I may be fine with those they do make me rage of course and they frustrate me but i really do enjoy the game and i definitely have my own fun games but a player who isn't fond of Yu-Gi-Oh won't

If they add a crafting system like MD they can keep duel links going strong.

Have to say that I’m having fun with MD more than I ever had in DL in 5 years, even though I’m still fresh with the new rules and summoning methods MD submits. Also It’s a breeze to play without “Skills” involved.

It had gotten to the point where staying competitive in Duel Links meant farming events and autodueling for like 8 hours a day or spending $500 a month, and then putting Book of Moon in a Selection Box was the final straw for me. I spent like $100 and only got one copy. Riot have proven with all their games that you can make big money just by making a really good game that's fully accessible free to play and then charging for cool cosmetics. It's good to see Konami starting to understand this with Master Duel, though I'm slightly concerned their cosmetics are still pretty cheap and lots are given away free, because if it isn't a reliable revenue stream for them they may be more tempted to start charging for access to cards. Steam isn't the best metric for DL given the mobile market is much bigger so it'll probably limp on for a bit longer but yeah dkayed is spot on, Master Duel has shown up how flawed and exploitative the monetisation in DL is.

I’m enjoying reading these comments. What I’m getting from this is 1) Master duel is off to a great start, Konami finally did it right 2) people who like duel links will still play the game 3) duel links should have improvements such as a trade system or crafting system 4) duel links will dip but it won’t die… similar to Dueling Book there will always be a community for it.

No Dkayed, duel links it's killing itself

The sad part is I think DL is more fun than MD. It’s just DL is way too pay to win for anyone to enjoy it.

I think duel links was a really good format its just unfortunate how difficult it was for me to keep up with the meta and build decks, because thats ultimately what made me quit.

when yuto came out i genuinely wanted to grind his event because i wanted to play PK but then i realised im a f2p player so it doesnt matter how hard i grind, it would take too long for me to actually get that PK deck and by then the deck would be dead. duel links isn't f2p friendly and takes so much grinding that as a f2p player i can never get my deck just right because by the time i finally have all the cards the deck has already changed so i either need to grind more gems or i can't play the deck at all

wish i could refund my money spent on it 😂

Man Konami needs to release the good cards and they need to make an actual good events and the most important thing is a crafting system in duel links witch is never gonna happen if Konami won't change their ways

Duel links also has a real problem with bloating. Every time I log in there's at least 3 events which pops up. And you can't skip them. I don't want to go through 3 whole minutes of doing nothing before I can even play duel links. And it's even worse if you're a returning player. You have kc Cup announcements, in game character event + story recap and on top of that smaller event like train your kuriboh and detective thing or fortune fairies.

I can list 3 big problems Duel Links has: 1._ Gem grinding for 3 months (to get 9999 gems) only be able to open just two full big boxes is ridiculous. 2._ About a year and a half ago the problem were meta decks with heavy traps that only were countered with UR's from big boxes made it fuckin stupid to even try to grind. 3._ The constant nerf of skills. Why even have skills if they all end up being killed to a point there isn't even a point of having skills because all of them fucking suck. Skills made DL DL.

I would love to see the numbers of players playing in the KC Cup, its always been such a shit event and now with MD out I wonder how it has affected it.

I've let Dream Tickets expire on accident in Duel Links expire because I have not opened the game since Master Duel came out. Duel Links had a lot of fun things going for it that Master Duel does not have, but the hours of grind for pitiful rewards made the game super unapproachable to all my friends. With Master Duel we all chill in a call and play all night, and everyone has the fun decks that they love from the TCG. I think duel links is a really fun alternate form of Yu-Gi-Oh but it needs a lifeline from Konami now to keep it alive because there is no way for me to recommend it over Master Duel.

konami needs dkayed in their board of directors. Never understood why people so detached from the actual product and consumers always the ones who make decisions.

I don't want to have a handtrap battle over at Master Duel and it takes about a month to build a completely F2P deck over at Duel Links. I'll stick with Duel Links but both games need fixed in different ways.

#PrayforDuelLinks

I stopped playing duel links upon the announcement that Master Duel was gonna be released on Mobile later on. I only played Duel Links in the first place because Master Duel didn't exist and the other YGO OCGs just didn't cut it.

i honestly care about duel links and it'll never die i promise to all of y'all

Agree with Dkayed. I have been playing Master Duel way more lately than duel links. It’s free to play friendly, access to many cards and a lot more fun to play honestly. I’m tired of waiting a month for a new box to come out on duel links and it’s a trash box at that etc. i just like the anime aspect of duel links and that’s it.

If Konami would at least, AT LEAST, allow me to convert my extra copies for another card of the same or higher rarity (not the ones in the card trader) then I would really appreciate it. Even if it's just from the same box, I will be fine with it.. One other thing which is very simple and I don't know why they didn't implement this from the get go.. The coin flip winner should be able to decide who's going first just like in the TCG/OCG and MD!!

If master duel gets characters from the show in it to duel against that would be the only way duel links dies. Duel links is simply the better anime option for casual players.

I like duel links, cause it's a unique format you can't really play irl (speed duels don't count, IMO). Master duel is cool, but I personally plan to stick only with duel links, at least untill the Android version of Master duel comes to my country. And even then, I think I'll stay with duel links, for the format 🙂

For me it's exactly how he said it... i played DL, tried out master duel and after few unsatisfying duels i feel like i'm not into it, but don't go back to DL because it's feels so much less rewarding... they need to do something! Those coins need to be used for crafting or something :/

As a fan of the OG anime, I always dreamed of having epic duels against other people, which I think Duel Links provided; even though the game had many flaws, its simplicity helped me understand the game better and be part of a community.

Another think about duel links is that R rarity cards from structure decks arent accessible for f2p players. At most they only get the one copy of the R rarity and then its just pay walled for absolutely no reason. They can still obtain more copies of the SR and UR cards from structure decks through dream tickets, but the R cards are just gone until whenever they decide to release them in a real box- most SD Rs are still unreleased afaik.

Honestly Duel Links brought me back to yugioh and I’ll always have a soft spot for it I’ve had some amazing duel that I’ll remember but I honestly can’t keep up with the time and monetary demand it requires as an adult it’s just unrealistic in the long term

I love duel links it revived yugioh for me but it needs more. like the meta has been the exact same forever All the new cards suck balls and it’s expensive as fuck. + the recycled events are trash and literally give you 0 gems. And I can’t even imagine how to play that game F2P. you gotta grind for hours for gems to get cards that are gonna be limited anyway. the gold is useless. the card trader blows. & once you KOG that’s it for the month.

Its not dying, but even if it was, it's not really on you, or your responsibility. Something only dies when a community collectively gives up on it.

Been playing Duel Links for 5 years this month with over 50 King of Games. I was never interested in playing Master Duel from the time it was announced to now, there was a reason I quit the tcg in 2016. I may be in the minority but just because this shiny new yugioh game came out doesn't affect me at all and doesn't diminish my enjoyment of continuing playing Duel Links.

The main advantage of duel links the speed of games was fast and the different format gave cards a time to shine that never had a chance in the tcg ,but hell it's a slow grind. the beginning is super slow to even be able to play other worlds would take months unless you grind for hours everyday there is a lot of xp farming and resource grinding at the beginning when the craftable cards would actually be usefull but by the time you get to craft you already have cards that are much better than that.Xp farming just seems to exist to pressure people into buying gems with real cash. At some point gems stop coming in, gold is useless ,most cards have been power crept into oblivion. I have so many cards that I have never played and never will because only less than 1% are good enough for ranked or even just playing against the AI some decks are just to slow..I've spent like 3 years and like 100 dollars (mostly on a structure decks because no choice on that if you want a good deck.)The auto duel AI just sucks just seems to activate everything possible ,and have seen it not attack even though it would win so many times. Constant cycle of releasing a box/minibox with a new character exclusive skill that makes a jank deck work or just something that becomes meta immediately but gets nerfed in like 2 monthswhich would be the amount of time it would take to grind gems if you're a casual player starting from zero gems but by then 2 main and 2 mini boxes have already been released that are probably better than the one from 2 months ago. Obviously again to persuade you to spend real money for immediate gratification. Would not recommend to friends I actually like.

I like master duel, but I don’t think it’s a “main game” type of game. It’s fun to play a game or two here and there but I can’t imagine playing it for multiple hours a day. Anyways I normally just surrender when people have long turns I don’t have the patience for it, also anyone that plays Skystrikers.

At the end of the day Duel Links duel style is the "speed duel" in Vrains while a master duel is the usual five zone expanded way of dueling. So for me it's what version of dueling you want to take part in. I've been only on Master Duel but it doesn't mean I don't respect duel links. Duel Links was addictive and exciting. Still is. I enjoy Master Duel for right now though.

Dkayed I love the content you're doing. Since you started playing Master Duel I was excited that you're doing content for it, I'm following the game with you. The tournaments, streams and website create a lot of value for a player like me. I hope Konami is listening to you.

I agree 100%, I personally enjoy duel links speed dueling, but spending money on it feels like a slap in the face since master duel came out, Dkayed should organize a boycott.

Glad you're still supporting duel links even though the developers don't show you any support

I remember when I first really started playing Duel Links, Witchcrafters were top tier for a while (before grass got banned), contesting Invoked Neos iirc, and guess what that deck played, an Event Card. And guess which event ended shortly before I started playing. Yep, exactly. By the time the event came around again, Witchcrafters had been hit so hard, it wasn't worth playing anymore.

To be honest, my initial reason to play DL is to play the character with it's actual original deck. That's why I always hope that the level up rewards is at least represent that. But that level up reward is what I despise the most. Also, now the actual starter deck doesn't even contain the main ace card anymore. This is really disappointing.

They should add a card trading system

Master Duel makes Duel Links look like a rip off now since you get up to 10 cards for 100 gems and can craft any card your missing 😅. The Duels are longer and sometimes one-sided but it's not all bad

I love Duel Links because how fast a duel can happen, but I have been struggling to play because it takws so long to save up for a new deck

Honestly, the events are my favorite part of Duel links. Even if they are grindy, they are something to do and make me feel like I am working towards something. However, I started playing DL close to when SK Jaden came out, and he just now came to the gate. Reduce that waiting time for the character to like a month or two, make the events slightly less grindy (especially the Yuto event...) and bring out the crafting system, and the player base will double

I agree with everything stated, but even if they implemented everything in this video they'd still be behind. The problem is that they refuse to release more relevant cards, and Harpie's is still on the list almost a year later and months dedicated to garbage like d/d/d and gimmick puppets.

Duel Links monetization is the scummiest thing I've ever seen. When a new box comes out, for some reason like a third of the box is copies of a random dipshit level 7 normal monster with 1700 atk that was originally released in 1999. They might as well literally replace all of those with pictures of Konami staff flipping you the bird. At least that would be more honest and just as playable.

09:26 exactly THIS happened to me just half an hour ago; lost five matches in a row (later I realized two of then could save it but I was dumb) and now I'm thinking I am not made for this and this game has nothing for me.

I took a break for about a year from duel links and in between played speed duels. When I returned I was disappointed with how bland the skills were. They definitely need more skills, integrate some form of crafting system better than the card trader and integrate more unique stuff that master duel can't.

It makes sense that DL lost a lot of players if you consider most of them never spent money on the game. That (spending) was the objective of Konami.

Sad that a skill based game fails to give each and EVERY character an actual competitive skill. New characters keep flopping

I love duel links I don't want it to go away I mostly watch you Dkayed whenever I want to get good deck ideas for DL and I agree they should be putting money into both and making rulings a bit better so that way they can have two cash cows because I play Master duel and DL but mostly DL and I have given up my Christmas money to get cards on the platform of duel links for the new box and I would not appreciate that I could not be cancelled DL because I have spent thousands of days on their game and thousands of dollars maybe even tens of thousands over the years and I am a very loyal customer to DL keep up the good work man I don't always watch your videos but when it comes to an archetype I care about or new Pack I care about I always watch those videos for an idea of how to make a deck that's competitive and I have been a subscriber for years now to you

Completely agree with the FOMO, one of the reasons I stoped playing Duel Links along with to many repetitive events

To be honest, i like DL more than Master Duel. Simply for the fact that the Duels in DL are faster, Turns dont take 5 minutes and the current Meta is less toxic. There are hardly any floodgates or extremly toxic cards. But it was a really questionable move from konami to even create both games and have them active at the same time. Now it seems that they canibalise each other because a big part of the target audience is the same. And there is honestly no good solution. By the way, if i where the ceo of the DL developer team i would hate Master Duel. Big corporations always compare numbers. When they see that interesst in DL shrinks there not gonna understand or accept the logical explaination. They simply gonna shut it down or let it run out at the very best. Im excited to see how DL is gonna continue from here.

You did the best you can, Dkayed. I love both your DL content and your MD content.

You're right man.. i was like digging hard for book of moon, spend all my gems for bottomless trap hole.. but after seeing they're a rare and a normal respectively on master duel, i was like.. why am I doing this to myself.. i'll only play with what I have for now on

I don't think they would make such drastic changes to Duel Links this far into its lifespan. They're more likely to start releasing much better and stronger cards/archetypes through events, making older boxes cost less gems, giving out more gems, etc. Essentially I expect them to take some action, but only through the currently existing mechanisms they have in place. I don't see them retooling the game at this point. I've been at the gem limit for so long because they haven't released any boxes worth digging into.

here is my personal opinion on how to keep DL playable again : - Fix the rebooting -make the trading system , in which you can convert excessive copies of UR /SR for atleast 100 gems or something - stop releasing under cooked archetypes / decks that are behind paywall -release actual good cards / unnerfing specific cards that can't shake the meta rn -Make the RNG system actually random ...cauz pvp is rigged apparently ! ik that with the arrival of MD , DL will be a stale game so we can't expect much from konami.

I’ve played Duel Links on and off over the years and your channel was always a solid foundation that allowed me to get back into the game smoothly. You did a lot for Duel Links.

They are killing their own game with how they handed the Duel Links. That 5th anniversary was such a let down.

I truly enjoyed duel links but the inaccessibility thats ingrained in it has always pushed new players away and returning players to. Master is more accessible for less money and of course like you said there is no fomo. I also think old players have been waiting for a return to the tag format.

Komoney is letting the game die. If Komoney did a crafting system in duel links, it may bring players back. But Komoney wants money.

Duel Links need Craft/dismantle feature just like master duel

It's funny because DL player count (on Steam) hasn't dropped much since this video came out but MD's dropped a ton...

Anyone else having a data transfer issue? Got a new phone recently and my Konami ID is saying to return to the main page? I can't seem to get my old account back..

I only care about Duel Links, I played Master Duel and its not for me as it is right now ... so if the game die then I guess I will stop play Yu-Gi-Oh X) I don't think it will die or is even dying, the only thing is that the twitch and youtube community are currently focusing on MD .. But you have guys like me that watch master duel content while playing on my three duel links accounts.

You’ve put way more than enough effort to Duel Links and now your doing the same for Master Duel , I rock with you not the games

The only thing I really want to craft freely are rarity bumps for any card

Man I'd call this video duel links in a nut shell dkayed really explaind it all

You know what they could do? make the card trader actually TRADE CARDS for example, you got a Fusion gate from that old box but you wanted to get sphere kuriboh you can use that fusion gate and trade it for a copy of sphere kuriboh, but you have to trade cards that came from the same box they could do 2 UR cards you dont want for in exchange of 1 UR you wanted from the same box because, you are not gonna use those cards NEVER and you can't do shit with them could that be good?

I feel like I'm ok waiting 5 min for a mfs turn to be over if he/she is playing a non toxic deck. I find it pretty cool to see what people come up with to get their field set up an where as in a IRL game I can't just instantly look at their cards and effect activations to understand what they did to open up the field and get a crazy set up. On master duel it's pretty easy to follow and maybe use that for my deck. Only reason why I stopped playing Yu-Gi-Oh irl since like 2012💀👌🏽

how do you enter the duel link tournaments?

that "i lose my hair" comment made my day 🤣🤣🤣

I'm mad

I prefer the gameplay of DL but it being paired with a poor treatment of F2P playerbase is a terrible combo which is why Master Duel feels better overall

Another factor is most people don't have time to play both master duel and duel links in one day.

I recently downloaded master duel, I’m still putting off playing it as the amount of cards to sort through when building a deck is a bit overwhelming right now. I might try it again though

I agree with Dkayed. He’s a content creator. He doesn’t have a responsibility to keep a game alive. I’m not entirely sold on cutting FOMO events cause Konami needs to make money but then they released MD. I think DL needs everything to be obtainable with gems. It doesn’t matter how low the rates are as long as it isn’t actually pay wall-ed.

Duel Links lost the momentum for me but Master Duel doesn’t provide me enough to keep playing so now I’m in a weird limbo where I don’t want to play either and I’m drifting away from the entire game

I don't know if mayhaps adding characters to MD would be a good idea. I mean, it'd be cool for Solo Mode because you'd literally have story duels. Or you can do What-If scenarios. Imagine being able to replay Joey/Jonochi VS Marik as Joey and WINNING, then going on to face Kaiba and Yugi with Ra. I would personally flip.

I just started duel links and because of your content I've succeeded much more than I probably would have haven't played Yu-Gi-Oh since they brought pendulum in it so it's been a minute so thanks 👍 😊 👍 any other places I go go play like the old school way

Funniest thing I can recall is that the most Master Duel is related to Duel Links in any shape or form is a freaking title that you can slap on your profile. That's messed up lol. Also, big agree on Dkayed and his points.

His 2nd situation is exactly what happened to me. Lol I tried MasterDuel and I just didn’t feel like the time commitment was worth so I haven’t been on either since Master Duels first week of release.

I logged into Duel Links today. the moment I was on the "world" screen and the last box release video poped up, i closed the app. I just cant bring myself to play this anymore. Its sad because I had a amazing time in 2019/2020 with the game, but the time and money you have to invest, to stay up to date, is just too much.

Konami has to do something for the monetization of Duel Links. If Duel Links dies it will be Konami's fault and it will stay in their history. Konami is writing its own story, and it all depends on them how the community will see them. They just don't communicate about Duel Links, yeah they release new characters and new boxes but then? Do they solve the issues the game has? No. Do they communicate with the community? No. What Konami is doing regarding Duel Links is disgusting.

I started playing duel links last year and wanted to see which decks was the best f2p deck so i saw you playing aromages and i loved them. Fast forward 5 months. I've been trying to make your ninja + earthbound combo deck. For MONTHS now and seeing how everyong is saying master duels is better and more f2p. It makes me want to switch. So until the game is absolutely dead i will continue watching you and playing duel links

8:29 🤣🤣🤣the phrase "Back to Fortnite" is becoming a reality

Great analysis! I was super confused why they were cannibalizing their own game too! Personally, I'm not sure I would go to Master Duel since I'm a casual player (who watched most of the anime, so playing as the characters was a huge draw) who never played the card game irl and don't understand all the summoning mechanics, but yeah I def agree with all the criticisms presented

I am the exact guy you´re describing, I have played DL for YEARS, spent tons of money, I have tried MD but sitting in duels for 10min watching my opponents do their combo just do be omni negated just isnt for me. I really enjoyed the fast pace DL has to offer, while I am in a train or whatever, I can just hop into a duel without worrying to not be done when i leave. Sadly obviously i do agree, DL has such a crappy system of how to obtain cards and even worse what to do with more than 3 copies, sad sad times, watching you play DL and casting tourneys always kept it exciting for me.