I come from the dark future where Fire King is the best deck in the room

Golden Castle Gren Maju was a deck that came out of nowhere. It's such a cobbled together mess of archetypes. Love it.

Dire is never going to run out of cartoon intros

Imagine coming from 8 months in the future, knowing Fire King is now Tier 0

Battlin Boxer was a surprisingly potent rogue deck in HAT format. Many decks struggled to out Lead Yoke and Boxer players could run their opponent out of answers to it by summoning it over and over.

6:25 this clip didn’t age quite so well

Well fire king is tier 0 9 months from now

The edited cartoon titles are getting so good

This was a really fun one with people just feeling nostalgic. And Dire's editing was top notch as usual. The Generaider under the iceberg killed me

Pacifis is such a great deck. One of my first builds on master duel that were not "meta" but with great results. In an auto sim people simply don't understand what Sea Stealth Attack does and they keep doing the exact same thing lol.

remember that time lunalight topped during toss and after people stopped doing uwu jocks they realized that it's like the most broken shit you can do during that time because azathot was legal. thats the perfect example of a deck being not even considered at all just to rise to best deck status in seconds

The thumbnail aged poorly

Between Dragon Rulers and HAT meta is when i started playing. It was the best era of yugioh, so many viable decks and strats.

Fire kings will always hold a special place in my heart, it was the deck that just clicked with me. So much fun to board wipe over and over and over again, and in formats that board wipes work, it can make surprising runs. Effective against most floodgates, as it can be played with them too. Made them work against skill drain eldlich, mystic mine, or even statue floo (need other board wipes like raigeki but still). You can never go far but can steal a win or two which is so staisfying to me lol

Puppets are one of my favorites. Not gimmick puppets, but the defunct chess archetype that synergizes with war rocks. It doesn’t have knight of bishop, but I still love it.

World Chalice. Just before Spyral 1 format it was playable and got tops. Most wins were the result of the opponents dying of old age, since it was the ultimate “just spam monsters that do nothing strat” and arguably the one of first real abusers of Firewall Dragon. The funniest thing about it, was how good it was at abusing Gameciel for all the wrong reasons

2013-2014 Chaos Dragons, post release of the Lightsworn Structure deck. Chaos Sorcs, Darkflare, Lightpulsars, Eclipse Wyvern, Dark Matter Dragon. Was easily my favorite deck pre-HAT format.

Love Fire Kings, I have way too high of hopes for that structure deck

Infernoid Lair is one of those weird decks that had just sheer stupid power in the Spyral format cause it turns out it's really hard to out a board of DD crows when all your monster,spells and traps get sent to the grave and you never have a hand to play with

Post covid i got back into yugioh and to learn those weird blue cards i decided to pick up Crudadia as the older tins were pretty cheap and the deck core was pretty easy to pull... and it was fun, and stole quite a few wins at locals.

Zombie combo was such a cool way when halq was legal, it was an oddly consistent midrange-y deck that had a lot of weird yet very cool plays with the new zombie support that came out in bach/difo (I forgor when they came out)

Zombie players are low key just as dedicated as HERO players. The only difference is that nobody knows they’re in the background brewing combos until the end of time.

Definitely a couple decks I felt were slept on relative to how good they were was sylvans post HAT (leveraging the easy rank 8 access to make a felgrand and play a midrange style strat with fertilizer and a few traps was surprisingly good, especially since the deck had easy outs to dante and winda's large statlines) and Marincess pretty much anytime before POTE (yes this includes before the support, the deck has resource recursion as strong as striker). Oh and for Master Duel, I loved playing Dlink during pranks/VW VFD turbo/tenyi synchro aurorodon pile format (the halq rose dragon boards were so unbreakable and the deck had some decent board braking tools like levy)

My jam used to be Inzektors but i only started playing it after it got hit by the BL and a friend, who loved them even more, convincing me to play it with him. We played it all the way through the last Dragon Ruler format tho ( when i eventually stopped playing YGO at all ). One unique thing the deck had was simply the ability to use S/T hate as combo tools when not needed for opponents S/Ts. We always looked for new cards to improve the strategy, with new combos in general and ofc against the meta and we actually came up with quite some good stuff. We invented the use of Insect Imitation f.e., we came up with many combos such as the basically unbreakable Shock Master combo and we were the first ones to play Nr104 Masquerade before more and more people picked up on it in other strategies to reliably finish games without the fear of Scarecrow, Gorz etc. Our highlight was probably him going to a YCS during DRuler & Spellbook format at full power and being unbeaten for many rounds making quite some people super curious about Inzektors which was nice to see.

a cool twitter thread idea might be "What random card(s) do you want a fully fledged archetype built around?" in the same vein as Hungry Burger or Seiyaryu

Dragon Ruler Sylvans was a deck I still love to this day. You would use the Sylvans, Blaster, Tempest, and Pheonxian Cluster Amaryllis to create a constantly recycling XYZ resource loop that also could burn your opponent along the way. You could then tech in cards like Raging Mad Plants for a surprise OTK that even if the opponents survived would allow all your Amaryllis to revive, be destroyed to burn again, and then resummon themselves in defense. Having incredible cards like Miracle Fertilizer and Dandylion werent slouches either.

One of my favourite decks during certain formats were definitely Ritual beast during nekroz format and Graydle kaiju whenever they were out. lovely stuff.

Crystal Beasts was a surprising sleeper deck. I built it in MD one day thinking it'll be just "for the meme," and then I went on a 12 win streak. Now, Foolish Burial Goods is basically dead.

The decklists flying across is a great include, good work DIre.

Super glad you brought this up. Tier 2 and lower decks in certain formats are an under studies format of yugioh

Saw the Fire King thumbnail, been huffing the copium since it's release of the structure deck. Can't wait for more support coming September.

Big fan of gladiator beasts I wasn’t really involved when they went on their historic run from total irrelevance to tier 0 but I like their designs ideas and play style

DESKBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOTS!!! I was well-feared at my local shop because of them. Or, as they were called, Dickbots. I had an answer for most things they did, due in large part to also running something like 15 traps. Never did too much, purely because everyone was siding CyDra and Machine Down for the Kozmo matchup at the time. But it always gave people trouble, and it was always fun. Probably my favorite deck ever. And one I'm praying someday gets a piece of legacy support to make it great.

This discussion is how I feel about Chaos Synchro in the modern era. It feels like it's RIGHT on the edge of being there, with the dark warrior package or Metaphyss, but most people are just focusing on how good of a generic tool Chaos Angel is.

Suship Supremacy all I have to say. I went to locals with it as a haha fun deck and realized UDF is maybe the craziest card against Superheavy Samurai and Suship does a really good job of fitting a million hand traps

3.5 Axis Fire-Fist’s during and post Djinn lock Nekroz. They surprisingly did really well to out the lock and outplay both Nekroz and BA, but the Shaddoll matchup was tough because of Winda putting a stop to any XYZ or Synchro plays available to the deck.

I started Yu-Gi-Oh in 2018 as well. It's still crazy that despite having the actual worst kind of format 2018 was actually a massive spike in the games popularity.

D/D/D definitely comes to mind as a rogue alternative, with so many combos depending on what you draw with so many lines and it largely uses their own cards and extra deck, but it's just a sad it dies to a negate on gillgamesh.

Back in tear zero format I was cooking Ishizu ABC because milling letters for regulus or milling a rainbow bridge seemed really busted, on top of that you could also just spit out a rank 4 in addition to a regulus, buster, and IP with mud or keldo then recycle busters for the grind game with them. Unfortunately everyone was either playing tear or main decking dimension shitter so I never got too far out side of a locals top or two 😅

I've been perfecting my Dogmatika ritual build for CYAC and now that its finally out I think its performing really well, the ED ripping limits plays so much and the new Quem and Luluwalilith cards allow for some brutal interactions turn 2, which the deck was lacking when it was just sitting on Alba Zoa

Threw mid to late end arc-V dinomist alway crepted in as a potenial rogue option and i love thay deck and the fact it was one of the few pendulum decks that wasnt some massive wombo combo but just this straight forward battle phase deck that had options and tools to make some pretty great ED monsters.

..........and now fire kings gets new support.......my favorite fire deck. Fire kings and volcanics are exactly how a fire should be themed.

Fire King High Avatar Garunix was in a starter deck i got nearly a decade ago so im happy toi learn more about it and how its an amazing card

There are so many cool decks that just go under the radar. For instance right now im labbing a nee eddison list and that is: edison format toons because there are so many cool theories going on with it

The Fire Kings structure deck was what got me into yugioh. Love the theme and the art so much.

I played a lot of Rank 10 Trains, the precursor to Earth Machine, during 2018 TOSS Format and it was really fun. I topped my locals at least a dozen times and even took 2nd a few times, once losing to Striker specifically.

Rescue Cat Otk was great during goat format. Gyaku Gire Panda boosted by Milus Radiant and some equips, plus main decking Des Wombat for the occasional Rogue Birn Deck. That was my first competitive deck way back in the day.

For me during the time where all of the stuff from duel overload was legal, I made the most disgusting and weird brew of machina with Mecha phantom beast. At my local I got 3 tops and was playing against a sweep of ,,meta" decks like vw, dragon link etc.

I remember a very brief bit of time when Windwitch Gusto was getting hyped up because both archetypes got support, and that is far and away my favorite synchro deck I've ever witnessed. It's like earth machine, but it's extra deck toolbox has cooler effects and they always have the last resort of crash-looping themselves in the battle phase with Sphreeze on board and just winning.

Mekk-knights, in particular Morning star were good for link spam and lockdown especially when paired with iblee, Lib and i:p masqurena. Granted the main 3 main deck monsters were Blue sky, Purple nightfall and Indigo eclipse.

My fave deck was a going second ABC deck me and a buddy cooked up right at the start of Salad. It was ABC with triple Pank, triple Mind Control, triple evenly, three ash, and three desires, and maybe twin twisters?? I made top 8 at a 40 man OTS tourney lol.

the answer for me has and always will be Ritual Beasts, solid match ups with the better decks, a satisfying loop and could play D fissure not only as a flood gate but a enhancer. I'll still bring it out to play every now and again to this day

2016 masked law toadally awesome turbo. It wasn’t mid but a pretty solid contender at the time, it just felt so fun utilizing heros with other generic warrior support and having an actual toolbox instead of a bunch of heros that just modulate atk.

Branded Zombie Eldlich was a great discovery for me in pre-POTE format. It came out of nowhere and got me more results than I'd have ever thought

I'd forgotten all about darklords! I loved that deck, the face my friends made when I performed an FTK (when I was the starting player) priceless

Hunder Family is one of my favorite retro decks. Super fun and satisfying resource management

Earth Machine has been my favorite thing since 2010 when we got Machina. I was already playing with Ancient Gear, but Machina forever changed me. During Bujin format, I was still playing it making my rank 4/7 plays with Redox and Fortress. I set it to the side for awhile to play Qli, Kozmo and ABC/cydra, but since the 2nd SD ive been rocking it once again, and its more fun than ever.

I’m just getting back into Yugioh having never played competitively and the last time I even played casually was right when Xyz first came out And boy there are a lot of cards I have never seen before, even after months of getting back into it, constantly I’m seeing new cards and decks

One of my favorites was when I played Crystron during the start of Zoo format as well as right when Sky Strikers were released with much success at locals where many sweaty meta players usually gather. Crystron had so much gas and I still lab the deck to this day.

I will NEVER get tired of remembering old mid tier decks.

No matter when, where, or why, I will always go up to bat for Battlin' Boxers. Deck was so much fun, especially when you can just Dark Hole and detach 1 from Lead Yoke to pump him up and clear the opponent's board. Real good times. I will also be a Harpie Lady apologist until the day I die.

I don't know if it even placed on a board but I messed with both Inzektordolls and Prediction Princess Shaddolls and man it's a ton of fun being able to just yank Jar of the Forbidden out of my deck.

Fire Kings, DInos, Zombie, and currently Machina have been my go-to's over the past several years and they're still my favs to play with even now.

0:06 Dire got creative with the danny phantom reference 4:32 The closest you can get to a "World Legacy Lore Deck"

Dire went fucking hard in the paint with the editing this episode. Absolutely lovin it

I used the shit out of Karakuri's, Evilswarm, Constellars, Madolche, Gishki and Monster Mash. There were archetypes and decks I wanted to play but werent released till sometime after I quit. One of the big ones for me was Fossils. Jim Cook was one of my favorite gx characters and I loved his cards. Being able to fuse using your opponents graveyard I think was the first time that had been done.

Rare Dire W for using the Pokemon Sun and Moon clothing shop theme as the background music for this video

I was too strong in school lunch league with my OG Hazy Flames. Absolutely goated deck, Purrely but shit. I would kill for it to get a fresh wave of support

When I first got into duel links, I loved Bujins. They were fun and had interesting gimmicks.

I'll always have a place in my heart for Raidraptors. I enjoy them so much, and they're very much a playstyle I adore. Beeg fighter jet bird go brrrrrrr

Dragunity for me. Deck was a good midrange deck in multiple formats after Ravine came out, evolved into a combo deck with the release of Atum and Zephyros (I even got a Regional Top with this version), got a spike in consistency and follow up with the Dragon Rulers then died when Ravine got banned...but then then became a playable rogue deck again when Ravine got unbanned plus legacy support and the Struct-Ghosts from the Past set came out. It just recently topped a Regional a month or two ago too.

Block BA was the most fun deck I’ve ever played. Such sick combos and the way it played was just so much fun.

i played evil swarm during dragon ruler format, that was fun. but my all time favorite archetype is fableds.

Pretty powerful decks I have are D/D/D or Patroll. But my pet deck will always be my dear Fur Hire, something funny is tobsee how he can adapt to the meta, earlier with Tri-brigade, now in Spright or Runnic. And idk for you, but mystic mine show one thing : stupidly strong stun need huge maintenance cost, and drawbacks to not be a problem.

Thank you dire for the funny cutaway intro :D

Post Plant Rulers 2014 really was one of my favorite times in Yugioh, there were like 20 different brews you could just pick up and do pretty well with. I wish I could have been playing yugioh competitively at that point because Naturia Traptrix after NECH was such a fun ass deck. Using Sacred Tree to cycle between copies of Myrmeleo and Dionaea was really cool (and you could even play like an Atrax in the board), but you also got to play Naturia Mammon which is still one of my favorite dark horse cards ever printed. Actually insane card in an archetype of pack filler.

Reaper format's spellcaster package was really interesting, either as an aggro beatdown style deck or as a grindy recruiter control list. Sadly very few people were experimenting with it. I'm faily certain a better player than me could've at least topped with it.

My favorite was always rhongomyniad control, burden of the mighty/pumprincess being essentially a worse drident was great

Okay but Chaos Fish!! I got top 8 in a Knoxville regional with it, Tidal acting as a 4th foolish burial for Coelicanth, as well as frogs, phantom of chaos, and return from different dimension!!

Fish OTK and Trains will forever be all time favorite decks of mine.

Heraldic/Time thief will always be a personal favorite of mine.

When halq came out, graydle was my pet deck, risen was so strong beside a toad, ash and graydles at locals caught so many by surprise ❤

Fire fists and Fire Kings are both fun to play sometimes

I like how dire put generaider at the bottom of the iceberg, cause that’s what table it’s gonna be at by round 3.

I look forward to recording every single potential zombie combo line we get in the next 4 decades in a tome for archeologists to find in the 3300s.

Spaceships! As the modern successors of the legendary Alex Mitchel, we 5 gradius players continued his legacy to play a de Jure archetype based on a vanilla monster (lol), and it keeps getting better, both on making people shocked on their screen, and also support wise (Vic Viper T301 is a great science project winner konami) 2023 calling, and now we created a light-machine deck. Boardbreakers, beefy kaijus (all of them light so...Leeching The Light), plus ol reliable honest and limiter removal. Oh yeah, do i forgot to mention they can access rank 4s easily, then zeus?

Ive been playing Skull Servant for years. Its such a fragile strategy due to how many bricks and garnets you have to run but some decks just cant out a 10k normal summon with protection. I also have been sold on crystal beasts. I bought two starter decks at my local walgreens and when i was looking up decklists happened to notice Neshy doing Neshy stuff and I immediately built the deck in Master Duel.

While most of its notoriety came from Hoban, Sylvans in and around HAT format/Primal Origin was such a fun deck to play. While yes soul charge was absurd, thinking your excavations through and stacking your deck accordingly feels really rewarding planning ahead. (Also orea bouncing miracle fertilizer is nutty)

Fusion Lunalights will always be a favorite of mind, especially during TOSS format. I have a particular memory of taking Lunalight to locals around that time and absolutely bodying two Sala players. I got 2nd place, as I lost to someone playing Cydra, and as a prize I got two packs of Savage Strike. One of them contained a 1st ED Phantasmay, which really made me the true winner of that night.

I was one of those labbing out zombie combos for years.

so glad Zombie PUNK was mentioned here. Zombies have been my favorite for like half a decade now and it really is like 2,000 between Facebook and Reddit reading every single zombie card and seeing what worked together in a deck lol. A shame about Chaos Ruler man....boy do zombie needs new cards that are actually good

I won't lie I love Dire with these intros

Icejade 4 sure n I got 2 1 game b4 diamond n lost that's when it was kosmokhlor b4 the synchro n manifestation(evenly!,ultimate slayer,crystal girl, Supreme sea mare)

I feel like a couple years from now when we are looking back on fire king snakes eyes tier0 format, gate guardian horus, is gonna be one of those cool tier 2 decks.

I dominated locals during Nekroz format with my Lightsworn Infernoid deck (Raiden and Lumina for mills/solid normal summons and Ehren as my Djinn out; searchable with Charge of the Light Brigade). Explosive potential, countered BA, Shaddoll, and Nekroz and had an innate out to Towers (Onuncu is level 10 and nukes all monsters). Ran Spell Canceller in the main and End of Anubis and Jinzo in the side since hitting any of those with Gate/Reasoning could win you the game against the meta and rogue stuff at the time (having 1s, 3s, 4s, 5s, and 6s means you're probably going to get your summon off Reasoning). I'll never forget the Nat Beast Turbo guy's face when he realized Charge of the Light Brigade milled for cost. "Charge, mill 3." "Umm, Nat Beast negates it." "The mill's a cost, I just don't get my search off." "Wait, what?!" "Yeah, banish 2 for Attondel, banish 2 for Seitsemas, battle phase. Game" Currently playing Marincess and having a blast with that, too :)

For the past year Swordsoul has been my absolute favorite. The engine is so compact it gives you room to play 12 (or 14 if you're daring) non-engine pieces to deal with effectively everything any deck could ever throw against you. If those solutions don't exist in your main deck then that's what the side exists for.

I have been playing Fire King pretty consistently since it came out. If it wasn’t the main thing I was running it was always my 2nd deck. I hope the structure deck is good

Danny Phantom!! Nice one Dire!

Near the end of Synchro era I played Fabled/The Fabled and it was great

“42 player regional” “Buddy that’s called a LOCALLLLLL” Me, who’s local never had more than 20 players even pre-COVID: