Yu-Gi-Oh Card Game

I've always been fairly partial to collectable TCGs, and the one I've been into the most lately is Yu-Gi-Oh. A lot of people find these types of games intimidating, especially because of the huge cost involved, but Yu-Gi-Oh solves the cost issue in a major way, as there are several completely free ways to play it.

1. Dueling Network ( http://www.duelingnetwork.com/ ): No download necessary for this one, just create an account and start making a deck ( there are prices underneath the cards, but that's just how much a physical copy of that card will cost). The main downside to DN is that it's more a YGO simulator, so you have to do everything manually and you need to have a decent understanding of the mechanics.

2. Dev Pro ( http://ygopro.de/en/ ): This one does require a download, but it automates a lot of game play so things generally move faster. I'd definitely recommend this one over DN, as it's easier for beginners and is usually more stable and responsive, the only downside being newer cards sometimes being a bit buggy and not triggering their effects correctly.

To end with, here's a paste bin that will help with learning the game and also provide new players with a few simple deck lists to try out http://pastebin.com/5MEYYxSQ . Also, I'll be happy to help out anyone who's interested in learning the game, just post in this thread or shoot me a PM.

Man, I might get back into Yu-gi-oh! looking at these. You're right about the large intimidating costs attached with stuff like this. For a couple of months I tried to get into Magic The Gathering, but I really wasn't that comfortable paying that much money.

As a quick question: to be fairly 'competitive,' do you need to use all the newer dueling functions? When it got to stuff like Synchro summoning, it all got a bit too convoluted to be honest. Do people still use fairly straight-forward decks?

I had a phase a year ago where I got way into yugioh. I got all my old decks out,and built new ones. The only problem was it costs so much,so I had to stop playing basically.

I'll check out the Dueling Network site, that sounds pretty cool.

It's a shame a Yugioh game hasn't appeared on the Vita, yet. I've not looked at my collection of cards in years, but I did enjoy messing around with the Tag Force games on PSP.

@biggiedubs: Most new decks do makes use of XYZ and Synchro, but they really aren't that complicated.

Synchro: These are the white cards that go in the extra deck, the example I'll use here is this guy:

Right underneath where it says [ Dragon / Synchro / Effect], you'll notice that the card says " 1 Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner monsters"

This means you'll need 1 monster like Debris Dragon below and at least one other monster.

Now, Stardust has a level of 8, so in addition to the level 4 Debris dragon on the left, you need 1 or more non-Tuner monsters ( any monster that doesn't say tuner on it will do ) whose levels, when added together with the lvl 4 tuner are equal to 8, and then you can synchro summon Stardust, or any other level 8 synchro monster.

XYZ: These are the black cards, they differ in that they have ranks instead of levels, as indicated by the stars being on the opposite side of the card. For this example, I'll use Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon, a rank for XYZ monster. Like synchro monsters, XYZs live in the extra deck and are considered a special summon, but unlike synchro monsters, they require multiple monsters of the same level, 2 level 4 monsters in the case of our example. When you would summon one of these monsters, you'd look at the requirement listed on the card, which is always going to be x number of monsters whose levels are equal to the target monsters rank, which for Dark Rebellion is 4, and you put the required monsters on top of each-other, then place the XYZ monster on top of them. This is sometimes called overlaying, and the monsters you used to overlay are now considered XYZ materials, and can be removed from the monster and sent to the grave to activate his effects, which can only be used when the monster has materials left to detach.

On a side note, if you want to use a deck that doesn't really mess with the extra deck, Monarchs is fairly competitive and it relies entirely on normal summoning. http://yugioh.tcgplayer.com/db/deck.asp?deck_id=100132 ( this one DOES have an extra deck list, but you really don't need it )

Wow its like I am reading post I wrote, I too hut Synchro Summoning and went "What....my Fusion zone is now a Fusion Synchro zone?....well fine I will use synchro..here two cards make synchro....why can't I synchro thse? I need a tuner? now? uggggh I need to restructure my desk to do this....oh fantastic you get a level 10 monster at 3000 Atk and Def in 2 turns thanks to synchro...this isn't Yu Gi OH anymore!"

Saying that I played alooooooooooooooooooot of Yugioh on the Xbox Arcade and I learned Synchro....now XYZ cards are big which when someone said this to me I went "oh cool! I liked the XYZ dragon but never could get the cards to make up XYZ stuff, I love that machines are in style now!" then got corrected they are black cards and a new zone and a news rules and.....nope. Do not understand it at all that was five years ago I do not know whats going on now.

However Duelist network is a complete blank slate rule wise, so if you have the right person to play against who also wants to play the same rules and era as you. Then Duelist Network allows you do it just like if you had the cards just with out the cost. Also can make up ANY deck you wish, which is why its not advisable to play against randoms cos they all have the same uber power deck made to win and no fun. ONLY play friends.

Funny thing is I use an Ancient Gear Crusher sort of Deck and playing friends who were using modern rules they laughed at me, nope turns out that sort of deck is still pretty good I beat one and I gave the other friends something to worry about before losing and caused them all to go into shock due to how an old old old old deck build cost them so much trouble.

I fell back into Yugioh early last year. Spent a stupid amount of money getting pretty unremarkable cards, and stopped. There are much better things to spend money on than little pieces of paper... like video games!

Dueling Network is cool but it's not really a substitute for having the real thing, at least for me. I've never heard of that other program, I'll have to check it out sometime.

@socuteboss: Thanks for that explanation. I used to play the video games a lot, but I don't think any of them ever explained Synchro / XYZ summoning as well as that.

To be honest, I think the real reason I have a slight distaste for them for something that @akyho also pointed out; people getting Level 10 monsters on the second turn! Maybe I'm just jealous though, what with my antiquated style of sacrifice summoning. I do have some spare time coming up, so I might get back into Yu-Gi-Oh! with that Dev Pro site.

Do people still play 'Removed From Play' decks, by the way?

I had a pretty nigh on unstoppable Dark Magician themed deck for the longest time until they banned or restricted the majority of cards i used...but after looking at the rules only one of the cards i used is still restricted. I have no idea how to use the XYZ fusion stuff, need to pick up whatever the latest 3ds game is to teach myself before buying more cards (it will never let you make illegal moves so good way to learn).

Might I add Monarchs was the start of me not playing Yu-Gi-oh. I had a friend who used Monarchs and he would ruin my plans just as I was about to even start them. This wasn't so bad just annoying.

Come playing a hobby league with strangers what did I see? EVERYONE WHO WANTED TO WIN HAD A MONARCH DECK! They had their hands on my cards more than I, did not help they were very rude about it. No "Due to Frost Monarchs ability when it summons I need to remove this card from play." it was hands out grabbing cards out of my hands or off my side with me replying "Woah careful and it would be nice if you asked first and tell me what you're doing."

The Monarchs did not just pillage my deck...it actively pillaged my personal space too, I thought stupid joke cards could only do that (There are joke cards that has people swap decks or play with their cards upside down) no...this was normal now. After playing 6 people 4 of which had the exact same deck. I was not pleased there was no fun to be had.

This was also when Treeborn Frog was new and that took some time for me to understand as it just kept coming out of graveyard going back in and out and in and out....for more Monarchs. Id have more respect for a deck built for make me run out of cards but the Monarchs is just ridiculous in not only taking away my power to play but also the power over my own physical cards. Hate HAAAAAATE playing against Monarchs so much and I am the dude that played against a friend who always cheated (Oh Ring of Destruction and Barrel behind the door ARE ALWAYS DRAWN TOGETHER hmm I wonder how you're doing that?) 100's of games with a friend who beat me 90% and cheated 80% of the time. I still had fun and saw a challenge, the Monarchs too all challenge out of any deck I wished to play with and shoe horned me into playing only a few select decks if not playing a Monarch deck....this was not the fun and freedom I got into Yu-Gi-Oh for.

Also when I did try and play XYZ rules...that was a disaster as it got confusing to keep track of things with this overlay nonsense as well as a bit messy. I actually just gave up and said "fuck it....If I wanted to do this sort of thing with my cards I would play Magic the Gathering." which I have tried to and my head hurts on calculating lands/mana and headaches are cased....Yugioh is just japanese Magic the Gathering now.

I do not gel with the game anymore.

I play Magic with a friend once in blue moon and have a sack full of cards I rarely use, what I love about Magic is the art and the clever flavor text.

Only played Yu-gi-Oh for a little while before switching to Magic because I found the health and damage numbers in Yu-Gi-Oh to be rather unnecessary big, I prefer the low numbers, more play and less math.

I used to play the two Yugi games on PC that came out quite a while ago but there has not been a good game out ever since, the DS games mostly all the same.

@biggiedubs: If you're talking about decks that abuse dimension fusion, then no because that's been banned. There is, however, a new deck that relies heavily on contact fusion and removing stuff from play called Ritual Beast Tamers:

Deck list: http://forum.duelingnetwork.com/index.php?/topic/149290-ritual-beast-deck-jan-2015-tcg/