Yu-Gi-Oh Master Duel Review – Losing On Turn One

Yu Gi Oh Master Duel is Konami’s step into the newest craze of digital competitive trading card games. Unlike many other trading card games played in online tournaments, Yu Gi Oh master dual is a uniquely and strictly competitive experience. As an old Yu Gi Oh fan who’s dipped his toes into Konami’s tournament game, here’s a review of my experience with Master Duel (and the somewhat jaded opinion it left me with.)

Like many people in my generation, I got into Yu Gi Oh at a young age. The flashy animation of the 4Kids dub every Saturday and Sunday morning was almost as enthralling as the deviously cool designs of Yu Gi Oh’s wicked monster cards. My developing young mind craved stimulation, and Yu Gi Oh hit that craving like a rocket-powered semi-truck.

It’s almost hard to describe the experience of growing up with Yu Gi Oh. Its characters were the coolest people my young mind could imagine, and they would engage in card games that felt like the most epic battles of my life. In these so-called duels, Yu Gi Oh’s characters would summon monsters that were hyped up into being the coolest things I had ever heard of, super rare and immensely powerful. Whoever held these cards in their deck was sure to be a champion, and luckily at my local Target or Walmart I had the chance to get my hands on them myself.

Of course, the cards weren’t actually all that rare or powerful in the real card game, but that didn’t stop be from being awed by my friend’s pristine Black Luster Solider or taking pride in my first Dark Magician. Yu Gi Oh left an impression on me that followed me into adulthood, placing an imaginary value on these cards that never really went anywhere.

When I stepped into Master Duel after not playing Yu Gi Oh for years, I immediately felt the rush of the game return to me. I was reminded quickly of the excitement of dueling my friends in school, and the value I placed on those iconic cards made collecting fun again.

See, Master Duel has a unique feeling that no other card game really captures for me. Being the competitive Yu Gi Oh platform, collecting cards really feels like it matters. You have to pull them from random packs just like the physical game, and your collection determines how you build your decks and play the game.

Collecting cards in Master Duel is half the fun. You unlock secret card packs by interacting with the card crafting system, and your collection is tracked in a way that taunts you into filling all the empty spaces with your wonderful imaginary cards.

Actually playing Master Duel is an experience unlike a lot of other digital trading card games, too. Aside from private matches, there are no casual games. Every single match you play in Master Duel is ranked, tracking your progress based on your wins and only pitting you against players in the same bracket.

Every match I played in Master Duel felt important. You weren’t just playing Yu Gi Oh, you were directly competing. You have the chance to climb the ladder and enter tournaments, just like anyone else, and all you had to do was win games.

It’s a feeling that reminds me of the Yu Gi Oh anime. The Duel Monsters card game in the show’s setting is something that’s taken seriously, and in Master Duel you have that same feeling in a very confined space. Everyone wants to be the king of games, and my Dark Magician deck is sure to secure my place on the throne!

Unfortunately for me, Master Duel emulates the competitive Yu Gi Oh scene a little too well. See, Yu Gi Oh has come a very long way since I last played it seriously. Synchro Summoning, Pendulum Summoning and a glossary of new terms and mechanics have made the game alien to my eyes.

A frustratingly common problem with Yu Gi Oh Master Duel games are long turns. With so many meticulously planned decks, often I’ll find myself waiting upwards of ten minutes for a player to finish their turn. Afterwards, I’ve often lost the game or don’t have the right cards to respond to their board in a meaningful way. Should I have the cards I need, they’ll usually just surrender immediately after I play them, which is an overall unsatisfying way to win.

Long gone are the days of the Dark Magician and the Black Luster Soldier. No longer do Time Wizard and Blue-Eyes White Dragon strike fear into the hearts of duelists. Except not really, because Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon and other Blue-Eyes support cards are kind of dominating in the meta right now.

While I do wish the game had some sort of “generation filter” for matchmaking, so oldies like me could play around with decks from long-ost sets and metas, I understand that doing so kind of defeats the purpose of having a competitive Yu Gi Oh game. Instead, I will simply play my Sky-Striker deck and wait for the day Dark Magician is cool again.. Though Red-Eyes support decks still manage to be a little busted.

Our Yu-Gi-Oh Master Duel review was written based on the PC version of the game. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles in the Game Reviews section of our website!