Man I love how Team APS gets RIGHT into the content. No intro, no filler, no fluff, super refreshing

Pure is definitely my preferred way to play, but mixing in different engines with a deck is fun too and sometimes makes decks better that need the support from other achytypes

Another con is that if you want to play a newly introduced archetype, youre only given enough cards to make half a deck. Youre either forced to play engine and handtraps to fill the gap, or you wait until the 2nd wave of support to truly have a completed pure deck

For me it's a thematic thing. If I wanna run Odd-Eyes, I'll play things related to it and the archetype itself. Gold Pride Punk while thematically clashes, feels like it should be played that way funny enough.

I like to play archetypes pure so that I can learn the ins and outs of that deck in particular. But, if its not doing it for me, I'll see what can patch up the weak spots. Pure is to fall in love with a deck. Mixing in other archetypes is for growing as a duelist alongside it.

We cannot avoid deck mixing in YGO. Because most the time, playing only pure arctype isn't enough to fill 40-cards deck. But I hope Konami give more restriction to deck mixing like this, like restriction can only summon a certain type. If the lock is only summon mechanic or atributes, this sometimes useless because the target for generic stuff is still wide.

1:20 This is why I love Rescue Ace! I love imagining that the opposing player is this major threat/emergency and I'm sending out these units to take care of the emergency. It also reminds me of an old game I used to play, Ty 2 Bush Rescue.

I have 64 pure decks built and it's a blast. When I have a friend over, we literally duel using a random number generator and the random pure decks are just so fun. I never do well in any kind of competitive environment on anything so this is the way I get to enjoy the game.

I like starting pure, just to see exactly how far I can push the gameplan that the deck was designed for, like Dogmatika ripping apart and punishing the Extra Deck. Mixing engines, while powerful, can feel like you’re just not doing anything fun in that vein, seeing just how far it can go.

I kinda like pile decks more just because they have all these cards that a single normal person looking at them might go "I mean, they're all [insert trait here] but how do they work together? They all look unrelated outside of those traits." But they work together so well and all achieve basic game plan and win condition. Some of my friends who don't play the game have seen my favorite deck, Dragon Link, and it gets them to ask more questions than if I showed them my Marincess build.

I have to agree with these but i feel it might be healthier to do pure from a newcomer's standpoint to learning A) How to play Yu-Gi-Oh as a whole and B) Understand the mechanism that make up the base of the deck that they are playing and how to build off of it with proper research and help. When it came to me learning how to play Vendreads i had to go through that process and suffer that maddness pure to understand to always reveal your added card off of Vendread Stiges or proper discard targets for Vendread HoundHorde being Scar Of Vendread. Taking time to understand the machinations that make up how the cards interact help you to learn how it interacts with other decks

I like to play pure gravekeeper. It's very fun because they all have that egypt theme but it's great because the archetypal gimmick really catches a lot of decks off guard. It isn't super consistent but I love playing this way. I don't mind losing unless I'm on a streak lol.

I definitely prefer pure and always have. I just really like to keep everything in theme..but I also do see the advantage of combining multiple decks and engines. I just feel weird when I mix different types together, even if it works

Being new to tcgs in general, archetypes are incredibly useful in learning how to build a deck without an encyclopedic knowledge of the format, so that's a big positive for me. Regarding the last point about deck diversity - while arguably true for top competitive decks, that is also the case to a large extent in other games, just building around the best cards rather than modifying the best archetype. And outside the meta decks, the ability to play a deck whose whole gameplan may be completely unique is one of the real strengths of the game in my opinion.

For me, I kinda go both ways. Back when I started, gladiator beasts was my go to but only way I won was with at the time meta staples and sides. The one archetype I love to run pure though is Ice Barrier. Just something about the lore from duel terminal and the artwork just hits all the right spots for me.

I love pure decks. My problem is that older archetypes...just can't do this because they were built in a pre-hand trap era.

I prefer hybrid decks. Some of the first deck I played when going to locals for the first time were Time Thief Lunalight and Earth Machine. I love weird synergies that I'm pretty sure weren't intended but work like a dream anyway

Most of the time I like pure. I usually try not to stray too far away from the original cards but sometimes I will throw in staples for consistency. The only mixed deck that I play would be gold pride punk but I feel like the themeing fits perfectly

I usually like pure, but some engines that have really good synergy like Adventure with Plunder Patroll or Runick with Magick Muskets. As for deck theming, I like to imagine the Plunder Patroll met the Adventure crew on the seas and seeing their potential teamed up; half the games end with you banishing your own illegal knight on the opponent’s field with Moerk, so it’s like the Plunder Patroll backstabs the adventures when they outlive their usefulness

Love this topic, always liked discussing it

My personal favorite deck types are the ones where two completely unrelated themes are combined to work surprisingly well. During Masterduel's NR festival, I was messing with Infinitrack Anchordrill for xyzs, special summoned a "lv4" qliphort thinking they would go to level 8, only for them to go to lv12, then summoning a Number 77 with its effect active. Another I saw on LukeVonKarma's video was Lair of Darkness turning Kaiser Glider Golden Burst and Swordsoul Auspice Chunjun into quick effect Kaijus. While such decks are known to be gimmicky, sometimes they just work by catching your opponent off guard.

One thing I love about engines and shit is the storytelling of it: Blue boy/Spellbook Draw engine slides into most spellcaster decks, because LaMaison is a library that wants Magical knowledge to be freely accessible. Selene, Queen of the Master Magicians slots into heavy spell card/spellcaster deck because yes, Endymion loves her, but the Moon is an elusive and multifaceted mistress that shines her light on any powerful Spell user. [Also the Aleister>Artemis the Moon Maiden>Mechaba has an incredible narrative considering their backstory] Kashtiras look like Gren Majus from the future and they fit together so well. Finding narrative synergy in mechanical ones is so fun, and it feels like reading tarots or solving puzzles

Me out here playing pure Madolche, Pure Lunalight and pure Tearlaments (cant anymore) , have never complained about my decks lacking anything.

I like pure because it makes me feel like an anime character with a theme that is important to me in some way.

“If I’m playing Rikka, I’m… a… plant princess” 💀😂

This is how I play yugioh, whether with friends or playing ranked online

Somewhere in-between is the best. I think focusing on the goal of the archetype and adding cards that enable that goal is more fun that using things just as an engine for generic extra deck monsters. Often it's trying to figure out what other engines can be grafted into a weak outdated archetype. Even stuff like old school Dark Magician decks. People have made Dark Magician/Branded hybrids, Spellbook Dark Magician, Dogmatika Dark Magician, etc. Personally I'm trying to figure out if there can be a more aggressive Counter Fairy deck, which you cannot play pure since Trap decks are already slow, reactive Counter Trap even moreso. So they'd need to add immediate threats to make opponent burn early game resources like Kashtira Fenrir, but also get to their main cards ASAP.

Great video 👍

I'm the same. I always preferred pure decks.

I definitely prefer running pure, I just wish that all decks had that as a playable option. As an example, look at Fur Hire. No matter how well you play, Fur Hire does not have a win condition without playing generic links. They have decent search and draw power, but nowhere to go with it. At best, you can play the equip spell United we stand, and hope it’ll be enough to get an OTK. But I also absolutely enjoy playing hybrids. I’ve made a Tearlament/skull servant 60 card deck with grass, Spright/Fabled, Swordsoul/blackwing, and of course I’ve done some of the more normal hybrids like Brandred/swordsoul deck, where I have my own little win-con that uses buster dragon to contact fusion my opponents entire field, and obviously I’ve played the usual spright/live twin. Combining decks and see how they can support each other is VERY fun. I also like to do something in between where I stick to themes, but not necessarily staying within the archetype. An example for that would be the scareclaw deck I’m currently testing around with. Rather than using kashtira unicorn, I have opted to use the true king EARTH monster, that banishes 3 cards from the opponents extra deck. It is a technically wyrm, but come on, you can’t look at that card and tell me it doesn’t fit the beast theme. And while it may objectively be a worse card, there are times it is better than kashtira unicorn, especially in scareclaw where getting rid of 3 cards that could be a threat to triheart is a pretty massive and impactful play. Yugioh have so many ways to deckbuild that many other card games don’t have/allow, it’s one of the games greatest benefits

Paul, I think your first point speaks well to players who also play tabletop and video game RPGs. Extends to theme-deck building, as well. Adds to immersion!

I was getting burnt out but theh i started playing Heroes and that really revitalized things for me, especially because its so pure

The way I consider a deck as "pure" is that you play an archetype and your main goal is to play the intended boss monster/ key cards. And not rush out an overtuned generic just because its better. Splashes are fine but they're meant to be for utility. Which is why i hate when people claim to play lyrilisc but the end goal is really a cheap rush to zeus. Same thing with zoodiac.

Believe it or not, I'm newish. I just started playing in August and had never seen the shows. I'm still learning cause I don't get to actually play much. But I started out building a Spellcaster deck, and now I am building a gravekeeper's archetype deck. I put it together in Master Duel but haven't seen much success with it. I like your channel and your podcast, I've learned a lot listening to you guys!

And this is why I love the game of Yu-Gi-Oh because of the pure aspect of the decks that are created I play mostly for fun and I enjoy making pure decks. I honestly don’t like making the same board with different decks it’s boring to me. I really hope that you have a series on your channel where it can show off more of a pure deck builder

when you said about taking on the role of been the pilot for the deck is fun IS so true.. and a great way to make a unique casual deck . i have a wyrm deck that would be my deck if i was in the anime , since yang zings every new set that has wyrms in it then 1 or 2 get added and its a 60 card pile of jank that occasionally pops off beyond belief and at the same time it is utter shit so often... but i love it

hands down, blue-eyes is a very versatile decks when you talk about playing pure builds, you can either go fusion, synchro or rituals, or even you can abandon those ang go for bewd beatdown

I wished that decks didn't have to use support from other archetypes, too bad that doesn't matter to big Konami, they will print what they want to print to influence the sale of whatever pack/tin the good cards come in.

Your content has only gotten better over the years. Glad I’ve been a fan for so long. Really great discussions.

I usually start with a pure deck to feel it out, then keep the parts I enjoy most. I love Toons 😅

I can't remember the last time I really played Yu-Gi-Oh as an MTG player, but it was definitely over 15 years ago. That said, I love the way you think, and this idea is exactly the kind of thing that could push me back into it. Great video, man. Thank you for your insight!

A Pure Format would be dope.

I play my decks Pure as well. It’s fun to imagine being a duelist of that given archetype in the anime. I also like the more relaxed vibe of playing my archetyes pure

Recently I used the Diabellstar engine in T.G. (one of my favorite decks) and it simply helps me gets Rocket Salamander. It's not like another 4 negate Appo, Baronne and insert other generic end board here. It's still ending on T.G. bosses with T.G. follow-up. Pure definitely gets more love for Infernoble on my end.

I can't, and haven't been able to stop playing Dark Magician. Been my favorite since the anime came out.

5:40 A good example for this is Branded: this deck, which centres around Superpoly on legs, has next to no native means to deal with backrow. Until the Bystials and Branded Beast were released, your only out to floodgates was Sprind, the Irondash Dragon, which couldn't deal with Skill Drain or any set card or Field Spell. That's one reason to run Guardian Chimera.

I kinda wish Konami would’ve gone old shool Deck Archetype cores without giving you just full blown recipe type strategies. I always loved being able to take a concept of a deck and make it my own.

I mainly play pendulum archetypes. I usually play odd-eyes, with the pendulum extra deck support of course. Currently i am running "pure" vaylantz and it has forced me to better olay it and learn its strengths. I do have kaijus in it, but very rarely do they come up

This is word for word the Thematic Yu-Gi-Oh! format

I do enjoy a more pure version of a deck. But sometimes, you really need other cards to make it work cohesively. Like in my IRL F.A. Deck, I had to put a small speedroid engine in so I could synchro summon easier. Hang on mach with backrow pass is not good enough in this day and age in Yu-Gi-Oh so I needed a for sure way to at least bring out some disruption if i didn't draw an optimal hand

The best way to learn to play YUGIOH TCG is to get a tier 1-2 deck and practice. Pure archetype is just gonna teach that 50% of the time u brick 50% of the time u do a little payoff combo or floodgate combo

Pure is the way. Mixing technically raises the ceiling of decks, but then comes whether it's the archetype doing the work or the outside cards.

I've always played pure decks since a kid. It was alway fun playing with friends on Dueling Network and finding random archetypes to duel each other with and learning how they all interact.

back in the day i played pure raidraptor(might have had dark rebellion in extra deck but cant recall) last year i kind of made it a hybrid with phantom knights and a few generic xyz monsters..and a couple non archetype winged beast extenders. might try pure again in the near future

As a pure Fur-Hire player I love the face people make when I have Fulgo up with 2 more names and I MST a card and they’re like, MST doesn’t negate dude. I know, I want to draw 3 cards while you’re setting up!

I usually like to play a pure spellcaster type of deck typically a dark magician deck with dark magician of chaos and obelisk and the occasional 1 or 2 fiends in the deck that grant me access to certain monsters to be able to protect my life points like sangan while i search for the remaining cards for my combo

The best situation is when two decks that don't do as good as pure can complement eachother nicely, like crusadia with dragon link

I enjoy playing my pure Dark Magician deck, which usually doesn't do that well but at least I have fun in the process

I like combining a bunch of decks. My favorite deck I'm playing right now is SODA (Scrap Orcust Danger Adventure), and the deck is a ton of fun and its pretty powerful.

I agree with just about everything in this video. I think sometimes merging archtypes is fine, especially for underdeveloped ones, but I do hate when people take an already strong archtype that could function on its own and smash in another one that makes it completely OP

I’m a fan of a mostly pure Black Magician/Black Magician Girl. Also, the name with Lunalights. I’ll always run cards with Monster Reborn and Mirror Force with them.

I only run pure decks. They’re fun. Archetypes are fun and it keeps the game so fresh and I never get tired of the game because of it

I mostly try to play pure, like for an example, Trickstars, I try to play the link climb variant, where I just summon the Trickstar links. I might try to maybe put one small engine or something, like Windwitches in trickstars, or Chaos Dragon Levianeer and Nebula Dragon in Blue-Eyes, but nothing that alters the playstyle too heavily.

I like playing based on 2 things mainly decks based on characters and their decks or 2nd to that rouge decks based on archetypes like exodia for drawing or discarding or adding to hand effects

Also I 100% prefer pure decks. I think the best part of this game is what you said Paul, the “weird and interesting” interactions of random cards. It makes much more exciting board states and puzzles to break then the current game standard of “throw up half your deck for a board of negates and make sure your opponent cant do anything”

Eh, we used to just plop a massive random assortment of cards on the floor and draft a deck of unrelated cards in 15 minutes, that was honestly the most fun the game has ever been for me.

I like the idea of pure decks but I do play a lot of archetype lock such a good win feeling!

I don't love the idea of most decks having the same extra deck with the only differences being in-engine cards. That being said, I do like seeing which engines can work together. For example, I'm not the biggest Spright fan, but I think it's cool that they can work well with Fur Hire, Tri-Brigade, Melffy, and whatever else. I also like pure decks too. I feel like I try to start off pure, but when I'm looking for something a little spicier, that's when I throw in something different.

I also like purist decks, but some cards like harpie's feather duster, lightning vortex etc. are necessary.

I play mostly pure. Especially in Duel Links format with just 20 cards. In full format pure + staples (Ash Blossom, Kaiju, Zeus, ...) or mixing max 2 archtypes (Darkworld+Danger!, Drytron+Herald). Some archtypes don't have enough cards to form a deck by themselfes (All Drytron cards at 3 are just 27 cards alltogether). You have to put other cards in. Some archtypes simply don't work on their own. Artifacts or Endless Chain for example. You need other cards to make them playable.

1:15 If you play Rikka/Sunavalon, you're a magical gardener/forest sorcerer.

I tend to run pure decks mostly. I do it because I find that the decks tend to run better and not brick as often if you run them pure and not have all the extra random cards that you'll probably never end up using clogging up spaces and such for other cards that you may need for something. I guess in other words I find that it pretty much always leaves all cards in the deck useful so you can pretty much always be doing something (assuming of course your opponent doesn't lock you out of things and such). I'm not opposed to putting in something like a Pot of Greed or Sakuretsu Armor or something like that if the archetype or theme or whatever doesn't have enough cards in it or if I don't own all the cards for that theme or whatever, but that's because I generally see those cards as "archetypeless", or more specifically "meant to work within every theme/archetype". I don't put a ton of them in as to not compromise the archetype/theme, but I don't mind having them in there. Just as a side thing, to use Smash Bros terminology, I'm not a For Glory player in Yugioh, I'm a For Fun player, I don't really do YCS type stuff or whatever (though if we ever get together and have some time my friends and I do put together little tournaments and such of our own), I just play to have fun and do something with friends and family. I don't exactly care about winning and defeating everyone on turn -1 and having a Tier SSS or 000 rank deck and everything like most Yugioh players seem to, nor do I really care if my deck contains some ban list cards, I don't own most of them anyways and probably won't ever own most of them so even if I did follow ban list it doesn't really effect me. Maybe it's just me growing up during the old school Yugioh eras (like the Legend of the Blue-Eyes packs came out when I was like 8 or 9), but I'm a fan of everyone getting more than like half a turn each and then the duel is over, and each player having half a turn each and then the duel ends seems to be the norm for most Yugioh nowadays.

Of the decks I play, I can think of two that I play very pure and very hybrid. The hybrid is Fortune Lady. The reason why is because it's an older archetype that unfortunately suffers from bad support cards. Half can't be searched by the deck's searching cards, thus causing heavy bricking. Because of this, however, it taught me a hell of a lot about merging other things to address a deck's shortcomings. I've implemented Dark Magician-related stuff, generic spellcaster-based support, and even dabbled with Pendulum/Performapal stuff. I cut my teeth on this when I came back to the game around 2018-2019. On the flip side, the pure deck I play is Icejade. I like it pure because the archetype is actually incredibly complicated within itself, to the point of damn near being clockwork. It does so much stuff, and I can play with several different ways to fight with what the archetype does. I find that incredibly fun, and people don't see it coming when I really get going with it, specifically because of how complicated and clockwork-y it is. Overall, I'd say I prefer playing pure, but hybrid can be equally as fun if you're willing to explore the uncharted territory necessary.

as a Rikka player I can confirm that I imagine myself as a plant princess at all times

I love pure. I feel weird when I mix archetypes together

I normally play pure...but there are a few specific exceptions...for starters combining voiceless voice with heralds.

HERO is one of the only few archetypes in Yugioh where you can play it pure with little to no drop off in power without staples

i remember when i bought a Yosenju deck, my seller send me a Yosenju Deck because he thought it was better, and that Yosenju deck is basically "gneric boss monsters with a Yosenju engine", with no Yosenju boss monsters but about running a "pure" deck or maybe 2 or 3 archetype, i'm the type of person who like to not play in a too "canonical" way, i prefer mixing things that i think they work togheter, but i always end up with a pure deck, because with a game so around archetypes, there are 2 possibilities: an archetype/generic boss monster took the spotlight from the other (and that other is the one i enjoy the most) OR the mixing is worse than the pure version, and that's why i run a pure charmer deck instead of a fortune fairy charmer deck and i agree with you that playing an archetype on how is intended to be used, you understand it way more than using an already prebuild meta version of that archetype

I like pure decks or mix archetypes that somehow fit together be it aesthetically or they have some sort of similar theme. Now I do play Predaplant with Branded alongside some generic fusion support cards like one Merrli, Keeper of Dragon Magic or DM+Dragoon. And I'm also working on Icejade but threw in Kashtira Ogre for 2800ATK body as well as Kairyu Shin and Sea Stealth 2 just because it somehow synergizes,though the look of the cards couldn't be different.

With how strong decks where made in the past 2 years it was not hard to play pure tearlament, kashtira,purrely, Branded, spright, Labrynth and unchained

D/D/D has the whole package for me (except rituals) And the references of the archetype resonate with me wanting to become an astronomer 😄

i prefer playing around a thematic kind of deck based on an archetype, like the new horus archetype, i wanted to do a egyptian-style deck around that archetype

I started out playing pure magikey for fun,it was calling to me But as time went on,i found myself experimenting in the lab,creating new lines and comboes i never knew before. Im playing yugioh better than i ever did Now im playing libromancer magikey and ive mastered my duel ability to put up interruptions and give my opponent a hard time with my signature comboes. A main stay combo. Barone and swordsoul chixao. Im very proud of my grand creation. Its just a pet deck but for me its just a link to my creative expression in terms of being a yugioh player Its not heroes like the linear comboes Its not unchained Its whatever i want it to be. Whatever normal monsters Whatever extra deck

100% depends on the deck im playing, like generaiders i run pretty much pure outside the extra deck where ive got like 9lives cat and infinitrack something or other(the rank 9)

I honestly do like to play decks more pure because then it can allow a lot more space to use fun spell/trap cards that almost no one uses anymore.

I usually play decks pure but it depends on the deck bc a lot of newer decks and/or cards have become splashable and work with like 3 different types of.ex Dino’s(archosaur) or ninjas.myself I run battle traps and boss monsters

I do have a few decks and one I’m getting close to finishing is a somewhat pure earth machine deck with only 3 copies of a link monster to help it. I do have a Lunalight deck that is in the same boat as the machine deck with 3 copies of a link card and so I believe not every deck has to have out of archetype cards to be playable.

Since I only play casually with my friend, I always tend to stay the same archetype, so far I only have my crappy blue eyes deck. But I’m planning on finishing it and getting a DM deck and elemental hero deck too very OG elemental

"I'm a plant princess." - Paul, 2023

So I do a weekly duel tournament with some friends and we only ever use cards within the archetype that we're playing. Its an odd format, kind of a speed duel format but with TCG cards and the only thing we don't use are pendulums and links, but everything else goes. Occasionally someone may pull out a burn deck with mystic mine, but its thematic to their deck so we don't really care. I honestly think if we started using nibiru, baronne, ash or any of the other powerful staples it would become a lot less fun for us all

For me i love playing semi purr and if i use other generic stuff, id try and use stuff that would still head cannon fit in the archetype, mest best example is i love Ninjas well the hand trap that i use the most is DD crow because crows are usally synonmius with ninjas

Yes paul you are a plant princess LMAO But i also like playing a deck as pure as i can,its fun and some of the weird cards of an archetype nobody plays means they won't see it coming lol

There is an aspect of originality and creativity in mixing but it can also stifle it. Like before the banlist finally put it to rest, every single Synchro Deck in the game was doing the exact same Needlefiber Auroradon into Borreload, Baronne combo. The ability to fit in mini engines is also kind of a "the rich get richer" situation because it means already strong decks that can afford space for the package benefit the most from it while a weaker deck that needs to devote more space to its own engine either will end up just having the main strategy of the deck feel like it's fluff because the sub-engines are overtaking it or simply won't be able to fit in the engines. HERO is probably a moderately good example where in spite of it being the hugest archetype in the entire game it's become a rather linear combo deck that just uses a select few cards from each of the HERO subcategories.

after YEARS away from the game my lil friends circle are going back. no collection in my case etc to go back to so gonna rock two structure decks for a time just to...get a vibe? in my case single copy decks (aware should x3 but meh best learn simple again) beware the traptrix and spirit charmers lol its a small crew of us and very casual so I figure a solid way back into teh game. love teh content been watching tons last few days

I tend to enjoy building something myself, but I rarely end up liking to play it all that much, usually after a few games where I've seen that my ideas for the build worked I've lost interest. On the other hand, I surprisingly keep revisiting and playing a lot of decks that I made in 5 minutes by throwing in 3 offs the majority of archetype cards and a few simple extras. It's really weird how it goes like that for me.

“If I’m playing Rikka, I’m a..plant princess” Paul is a plant princess..confirmed 🤔🤣

it depends on the playgroup. if im playing with my friends, its probably better to just keep the decks in a battle box and pass them around bc their decks are usually too optimized

I think it sucks that meta decks have access to generic cards while rogue is typically locked into their archtype.

Paul from now on will be "plant princess" 😂😂

If I'm just playing with my friends or trying out a new deck, I like playing a new, fun, Pure deck. If I'm trying to go to locals, I want to brew something where it might be an existing archetype but it's splashing a support archetype that no one is really expecting, like Branded with Dragonmaids.