Rogue Decks Are Dying. 

I think one factor you missed is why people play rogue is some decks have art or mechanics you really like and it's a dice roll with every archetype whether Konami decides to actually make it good.

The fact that weaker decks have big restrictions and strong decks don’t is totally wack.

This will never change until YGO players can finally start typing "rogue" instead of "rouge" 🤷‍♂️

As a rouge deck player i can confirm I'm dead

What stings even more is we had a format where this gap seemed to go away and shrink rather recently, which was when the tier 1 decks were Rescue-Ace, Purrely, Tearlament, Unchained, and Mannadium, as Tier 2 and Rogue decks could thrive in them as well with the right pilot. However, pro players complained about it cause they got to experience what it's like being a rogue player (As in you do NOT get free wins). But once Snake-Eyes hit the scene, it was over, the gap became too wide and it's like ripping duct tape off of a hairy open wound, so now it feels more like a problem than ever.

Doesn't anyone find it odd rogue decks are far slower nowadays with an engine. Now we're seeing busted engines that don't even lock you into anything

Main reason why Rogue decks are dead besides some new ones is because Meta decks nowdays are 1 card combo decks that end turn with more cards than they started, Rogue decks that require 2+ cards to start a combo just cannot compete and that's facts, yes u can get M5 easily or even M1 with some of them by struggling but you could have done that in 3 times less games, this is main reason why I ditched Swoso in MD for Despia, it just ain't worth the grind to play the deck that ends on like 2-4 distruptions while losing almost an entire hand. But like I said old Rogue decks got replaced by newer ones, like Unchained, Salamangreat, Supreme King etc.

As a former D/D player (former Yu-Gi-Oh player, actually), the main thing with rogue decks that tend to be lacking are 2 things. First is the amount of staples it's allowed to play without crippling the core of the deck. With D/D, for example, consistent plays for them require at minimum 3 D/D's in hand for basic plays, not to mention which D/D you want. With the exception of liking the deck, why hassle yourself with that when you can play decks far more simple and resilient? Second is resilience. Interaction has severely spiked in modern Yu-Gi-Oh whether going first or second. Nibiru, Ash, and the litany of hand traps are insane to deal with for rogue going first and the 2+ distuptions going second is too much for most rogue decks to handle, although going second has always been a problem in Yu-Gi-Oh, so it's not just a modern Yu-Gi-Oh issue. For D/D's case, If D/D's interrupted at the early stages of its combos, hell, most of the time just once, it's basically lights out for the entire game.

Ive accepted that my fluffals might not even be rogue, but damn it if it isnt fun when it gets to pop off

I used to play mathmech before circular was released. I was so happy when they printed circular. Now that it’s banned not only is the deck shafted into rogue again, but worst of all I’ve completely lost the surprise factor because everyone knows how it works now.

I like the idea of just upgrading to the next "reskin" of a strategy you like. You could play allergeist and then upgrade to lab or play monarch and now you play floo. But a lot of rogue decks in particular have unique mechanics and playstyles (i personally think this happens a lot more with tcg exclusive decks) like for example. What would be the equivalent of plunder patrol? I feel some people stick to their rogue decks because of their unique way that they are played and aren't just "special summon, add , special summon"

People don't play decks cause they're rogue. They play them cause they like the art/mechanics/lore of said archetype. You just label them rogue players cause they playing non meta decks. A good amount of meta players, play meta cause of their status in the meta. Rogue players usually don't follow that logic.

My flower cardian deck is the secret guu for this format 👀

As a rogue player (mekk-knight/horus/punk go second), what I can relate to, is the impredictability of the rogue deck and also the huge gap of power between a rogue and a meta deck. Thus, if the pilot knows what the rogue deck is capable of, innovate and push the deck beyond, you can overrun some top deck (I personnaly finished top 68 over 200 players at french WCQ, a fairly good ratio against considering I got against 6 snake eyes players), clearly snake eyed is better, but this kind of matchups will depend on the player. Against some insane players I got 0-2, but against some wandering players, I 2-0 them in 15 min. On this kind of deck, the knowledge to how to play against going second deck is the most important, knowing that you must let mekk knights players go first is really important, tho few of my opponents though about that, even veterants that already witnessed mekk at its peak a few years ago

Dying??? Say that to my VW face 😔🤌

I'd say the start of the death of rogue decks was Dualist Alliance. That set's power level gutted every rogue deck, and some meta ones too. With the power sprint we have seen since, rogues cannot keep up for very long before being left in the dust.

I love my Buster Blader deck. It’s been a deck I’ve worked on since 2015 and has increased over time. I win a lot of games in Master Duel but I took it to locals and I barely won any games. While the Buster lock-floodgate is immaculate, it’s easily destroyed with a Raigeki or a Lava Golemn. I can work through most hand traps because I run Branded/Bystials in the deck so they some times try to negate all that engine first while I try and reduce their resources before normal summoning my starter. That’s a deck I play at 40 cards with 12 hand traps and a small 8 card Branded engine. However, with regionals around the corner, I’ve been playing Branded Despia at locals every week. I love the deck, I love the options and I love the play style. It’s a deck that can compete with most other meta decks but it’s still too tough against Snake Eyes unless I puppet lock every time. And they always side in Bystials to deal with my GY. I will be playing rogue decks again after the regional and every time a regional is near, I’ll switch back to meta to practice.

I believe the biggest reason for the power gap would be consistency, coz the Tier decks all have about 10/12 1 card starters and a further few 2 to 3 card combos to extend and on top of that they all have very good grind game... Whereas the Rogue decks mostly consist of 2 card combo eg BA, Sword Soul etc. And this is a manger factor because 1 or 2 hand traps won't stop SE from setting up a decent board with follow up but 1 imperm/vailer stops majority or Rogua decks

Wow I didn't even know Farfer invented swosou. Crazy!

9:28 "how big was the gyatt?"

0:20 did u see it?!

your last point is super interesting and valid. I was an avid zombie player, even in groups to discuss strategies, techs etc but at a certain point it just felt sad that we were all holding on to this old strategy that clearly is not good and needs new (and RELEVANT!) support. So I switched to a newer deck in Swordsoul a few months ago, and what's wild is that Swordsoul is only 2 years old and has been powercrept to a crazy margin, sometimes even the newer shit you switched to is slightly better but still struggles

If my girl and mo ye are burning...

For vanilla boomers like me, rogue is how I learn the modern decks, yes I know they'll beat me by sheer force, but at least I can learn what ppl play, if I have time to read the cards

Amazoness and Tear came in the same pack in MD. Every amazoness card has weird restrictions (like once per turn on the field/hand fusion spell), archetypal locks (stops access to the generic ed toolbox + attacking with different monsters) and even "cannot attack the turn it used this effect". Some decks are just meant to be bad, from a design perspective.

I had accepted that most of my pet decks have had their time in the sun and are now peacefully resting on a farm upstate, and that learning the new decks is a worthwhile endeavour even if I chose not to play in a certain format. Then Konami decided that Lara should get a new Wyrm friend and WE’RE SO FUCKING BACK BABY RITUAL BEAST 10TH BEST DECK IT’S 2015 ALL OVER AGAIN

You see the definition rogue is changing because past meta decks and decks like Red Dragon Archfiend are power are being considered rogue and power creeping other rouge decks into the tier 3 category famously known as just for fun or crap decks.

Because all the generic cards that enable rouge decks get hit cause the keta decks abuse them

That's just the cycle. Rogue decks drift around since the term was actually coined

For me, rogue decks have two main characteristics: 1. As you said, and mainly, it makes you feel you're playing something original and different from everyone else. The meta play tends to bring maybe two dominant strategies consistently and most players play those, making you feel you're the outlier of the norm = a satisfying approach to play the game. 2. It is very, very challenging. If you're a real competitor, you will find very entertaining to take down Goliath with a sling, five rocks and a staff. Meta decks can't offer that amount of difficulty for being too good against anything you face. That's why nobody recognizes Kevin Durant's championship runs (with the Warriors). I mean, it's easy to win when you've the most talent = the best deck. That's why nobody respects Tearlaments. It's easy to be good when you've the best weapon, and that is not challenging and/or competitive.

I still use my classic elemental heroes. The ones Jaden used in gx. Sparkman, Flame wingman, with new support. I always like finding creative ways to make just those heroes work.

Swordsoul being considered rogue just feels wrong. Power creep has gone way too far

I usually play Rogue because I don’t want to copy verbatim what pro players do and I want to play strategies that I enjoy. Most of my decklists are ones I came up with from scratch, whether they are good or not. It’s why at my locals I am known going X1 with a Skull Servant pile deck or Icejade Sharks, or getting my first regional top with a plant deck that played no Sunavalon cards at the height of Snake Eye Fire king’s popularity. Not saying there’s anything wrong with playing meta or picking up decks because a pro player played them, meta, rogue, or otherwise, but I always found enjoyment out of making a deck myself or with a friend and seeing how far I could take it. And I usually do better with decks that way than I do with a meta strategy.

Oh you're an Ace fan...oh....

One of the only advantages rogue deck have is that the opponent doesn't know what you're doing. I have the problem that (as a LiveTwin player) my deck has been part of a really meta deck so everybody knows what I'm doing. Yeah I'm having real trouble winning

As a rogue player I think the only format in the last 10 years that was really frustrating was Tear format. I think right now there’s a lot of rogue strats that can win out against the meta if practiced enough! I’ve been running EvilEye! I top 4 all my locals and I’ve gotten 3 regional invites this year along with 1 top8 at Los Angeles going 9-1. I think a lot of times when the format is “solved” YGO players get really discouraged to try anything else but really it’s another opportunity!

Screw the meta, Rogue for life. Been playing red-eyes flare metal turbo with dark room of nightmare for 2 years now

“Surprisingly shit” lmao. I play a lot of rogue strategies at locals, usually with little to no success but I play expecting that as a potential outcome. Sometimes it catches someone off guard so badly that they completely throw, like Zoo losing to Gemini/Red-Eyes before Dragoon came out.

I mean this seems like it's mostly about how decks that were rogue in 2021 are no longer rogue now - and yeah as the game changes that's gonna happen. This isn't rogue decks dying this is just a change in which decks are rogue

I play a Meta destroying blind second scareclaw decklist on MD. Turn off their board or utterly break it with swords of concealing light, Santa claws, ultimate slayer, etc. then one card combo to a turn 2 FTK. Can’t have the “most effective tactics available” with an empty/face down board.

Marincess one trick here for four years and counting 💙 WE LOVE CRYSTAL HEART 💙💙💙 WE LOVE RESOLVING WAVE 🌊🌊🌊 WE LOVE NEGATING SPELLS WITH ARGONAUT GENERATING FOLLOW-UP FOR THE NEXT TURN🗣🗣🗣‼️‼️‼️🌊🌊🌊

I’m okay with sh*tting on people who play meta.

If decks weren’t an average of 700+ dollars more average people might play meta because they can actually buy the fucking cards and don’t need a loan to get them. This needs to be the first thing that changes within the game

Do NOT tell him

I feel this in my heart. Just came back to Master Duel and I'm light on resources so I'm trying to play Traptrix in the XYZ festival. Decks like Horus and Kash just dunk me and it feels like there is nothing I can do about it with the resources I have. The gap is so extreme right now

Also, another big issue in the TCG is that no rogue decks are safe anymore. With the way the TCG banlist works so hard to push new product you feel like your pet deck always has a target on its back even if it's not seeing a ton of success at the time. Dragon link, plants, etc all come to mind; not to mention the January 2020 banlist where rogue/tier 2 decks got obliterated along with the top 4 decks.

I've noticed some hits on the banlist can hurt rogue decks even harder than meta decks, Linkuriboh for example

I have a Rogue anti-meta deck consisting of Lair of Darkness + its supports, Labrynth, Waking the Dragon and Fang of Critias.

I mean when your ban list hits generically powerful cards rogue decks lose more power than the tier 1 decks. As much as we don’t like it floodgates can be an equalizer. That doesn’t mean they’re right or good for the game but they do make rogue decks more viable in the meta.

Another point in favor of rouge decks Farfa didn’t mention is the fact the gimmick of some decks can be very strong depending on the format or the general card pool. For example, I played Predaplants during the Triangle event in master duel and nothing was more satisfying than activating Predaplanning right before the enemy was going to synchro or xyz summon and just ruin their play completely that didn’t involve a generic negate. There’s plenty of other examples I could bring up but the main gist of this is some people enjoy the play styles and strengths of rouge decks much more than meta decks and that’s how I’ve managed to have fun as a Rouge Enthusiast ever since joining in master duel over a year ago.

Boi if you don't take "Available" off that M.E.T.A acronym 😭💰

at the end of the video you mention that you should just play the new version of it. Your example being geist to lab. Which does work in that scenario but i cannot find a deck that plays like Reptiles for example. A GY focused deck that reanimates its own big monsters using smaller ones to generate resources. You COULD make an argument that snake-eyes is like that but its really not. At least something like fluffal translated extremely well into dragon link. The closest thing i could think of is memento, cycling through the little guys to end on a big main deck guy, but even then memento is scarcely in rogue contention, so what now? That is one thing I've started to grow disdain for in card games. You like a deck and enjoy its playstyle but then nothing else compares to it and you're left looking at whats left and sometimes nothing strikes your fancy. Hearthstone did this when control decks were essentially erased from the meta and nowadays its only mid-range or aggro, most games not even getting to 10 mana (except ramp druid which still gets to 10 before turn 10)

11:34 "Problems with current girlfriend? Get a new girlfriend! 🤷 What you complaining about?" 😂 Like I explain to my friends who don't like sports, it's only the emotional investment that makes it "your" team. You don't play for it.

As a rogue player, (Morphtronics), I agree with most of the video. That last part if we can play uninterrupted and if we manage to have hand traps and we successfully stop/interrupt the opponent then we can win that match. Consistency, IMO, is what really makes meta decks meta. That's something that rogue decks can struggle with. Also when it comes to efficiency, sometimes it feels like our combo lines are really straightforward and we don't have a lot of room to pivot or to get to another starter without losing some viability against meta decks. On a side note, one of my best feelings was playing at an OTS tournament and my opponent saying "I don't know what to side for you because I've never played against your deck."

With wight lord, i ended up labbing tearlament skull servants because the sheer amount of mills wight lord can get off is just absurd, its basically ishizu at home

Nice fade Nadir

As a Banishers Deck user, I started to use this deck since XYZ. I used this deck since at the time most decks had an effect that specifically mentions Graveyard. If there is no Grave, it would break most meta decks coming out. It has held up pretty well over the years however it is clear that the game now has more effects that activate when banished. Also, Banishers can be a bit slower than the meta.

back then, we were so naïve thinking a cute card with a +1 effect is OP. now we have cards that are 1 card OTK combo of themselves with almost ZERO archetype commitment because you can splash them at ANY deck. Tenpai for example are so small, you can fit their entire engine on your side deck, and if you main deck them, you can put practically all handtraps in the current META on your main deck and still could probably have some spots for tech cards.

What's the term for custom decks that don't heavily rely on any particular archetype? That's what I, as a new player, assumed Rogue Deck meant. Because they refused the traditional deck/meta construction of archetypes.

I'm mostly a weather painter one trick and my biggest issue with meta decks is they are in an arms race with hand traps, yet these same handtraps destroy weaker decks disproportionately harder. If the meta decks were weaker or took up more deck space then weaker decks would have a chance because half of your opponents hand isn't non engine negates in any given opening turn. I guess this is also just an issue of every meta deck being a one card combo nowadays allowing that amount of non engine staples too.

well, there is one other factor at play that shows itself in some formats like duel links more than others and that is simply most rogue decks are just old meta. the "unique" and corresponding "surprise" factor disappears with old meta, and one of the main reasons to play old meta is to keep tighter control of the budget. Sure, top players are always going to need to update towards the new meta, but it is also offset somewhat by prize pool payouts. mid-tier players concerned with budget will probably build towards a meta deck through multiple formats past when the deck remains meta. They remain behind the curve, but overall spend much less trying to make a new deck for every format. Sometimes rogue is less about winning and more about performing consistently. Heck, on the completely casual side of duel links, most npc and even gate decks are so far outclassed that they dont teach the player anything, and only the release of new characters can pose any real challenge as they have access to a wider cardpool to build with, oftentimes including cards that wont be officially released until the event is mid-way or completely over. After a certain point, the npc duels have fulfilled their purpose of teaching simply by bringing a player up to a certain baseline of thinking and less about actively teaching. As long as your deck functions, you can take out npcs to all but bricks, and even functional decks will have very limited brick states that persist long enough to lose. The TLDR is duel links has reached the otk meta stage for even casual players. If a duel goes longer than 5 total turns without being heavily optimized to control, it is a bad deck.

Fun fact: the dbz card game during the saiyan saga had dragonballs as a major way to win and goku has a card that makes your opponent unable to steal your dragonballs. Coupled with the fact goku is a strong character with good cards makes him super viable. So goku balls is an actual deck.

DDD does okay against many things but feels like even with all it can put out, it always feels like snake eyes just has more, being able to play through most endboards. Been able to take some game from stuff like Labyrinth and Tear at least, which always feels good.

Hardleg Joe had a pretty solid video on the power difference between Mets and Rouge. He even added tiers under Rouge that really added some perspective to the power difference (or lack of difference) between them

Only way I'm upgrading from Ancient Gears is if a new beatstick, with 4500+ ATK, multi-hit, and defense pen, comes out and is actually unaffected by other cards, not just spells/traps. I don't think that shit will ever happen.

As a Skull Servant duelist, I think we have a shot this year. Wightlord, the new Lightsworn support, Horus reprints. Totally not copium.

I play Rogue and Meta, swapping as I feel. And I think the biggest issue I have with my Deskbots is that it hard loses to Droll and/or Shifter. I would consider myself a phenomenal Deskbot player but it just cannot be played right now. I also enjoy Ursarctic but it loses to the same things, and Trap Monsters which is in an okay spot right now but will be in a much nicer spot after INFO.

I LOVE INFERNOIDS, if youre running the lair variant try running a copy of "raviel shimmering scraper" as it can take advantage of lair from the gy fueling the variety of discard effects infernoid has edit:its a secondary search off apocalypse, a mill target off reasoning and monster gate, goes right to the gy, and you can add it with ahrima

Okay, unironically, whenever they had Drident legal for that little bit, Fire Fist was genuinely playable, I just never purchased it because even back then, it was around $500 for just the Fire Fist cards... for some reason.

As a monarch and gamble enjoyer, I've learned that the best way to beat the meta is to just throw caution to the wind and get creative with your tech cards. Nobody expects a tribute summoned nibiru to wall them out on monarchs or hiding 3 dna surgery and superpoly in a gamble deck to blow up a board with quintet.

I don’t really know what a rogue deck is considered, I would assume anything not meta ? Right now I’m playing Shaddoll Thunder Dragons with a tearlements twist its pretty nasty just inconsistent as hell 😭 would love to hear what everyone else is playing !!

first of all, I think we need to recognize that there is a huge gap between "Rogue" deck as well ranging from "high tier decks from an older time" to "pet decks that can barely survive on school playground". Second, is that while I think it will be ideal to bring meta deck power level back a bit (in Snake Eye's case, bring it back a lot), my personal experience at locals, regardless of whether I am piloting a meta or rogue deck, is that a lot of the rogue deck players actually don't know how to pilot their decks effectively (i know this for some of them, because I also play some of those decks), in that they only memorize 1-2 lines assuming their opponent has no hand traps, but as soon as they lose they will whine about how unfair meta decks are, how they bricked, etc, without really thinking about how they could have played or build better. In fact, if they were playing SE they couldn't just blame it on their deck being bad, but because they are on a "casual" deck, it's easy to just shift that blame. It's actually extremely obvious when said players "cave" and pick up a meta deck and then instantly start fumbling hard, and it's funny when they fumble to "Rogue decks". realistically, you will not win more than 50% (or even 40%, realistically speaking) of your matches against meta with Rogue unless you have some kind of inherent deck advantage against specific ones, or if there is a huge skill/luck gap, but as someone that likes playing Rogue equally as much as meta, I think Rogue will get better (within reason, that's why they are Rogue, after all) if players take more accountability for their own decks as well I think they'll do better with them at a local level or even higher, even if there is a significant deck gap between them and the meta decks.

One of the greatest "lack of players and player quality" moments I've seen was with the new Infernoble support. When it got those 7 or 8 whole new fuckass cards in DUNE or whatever, I playtested them and thought I was missing something when none of the usual known top players and communityheads were even mentioning it. At most, it got a "well, Smoke Grenade got banned last time, so it doesn't really matter what they get" and like three people with a following larger than two digits saying it's cracked now. Then at some point Pak picked up the deck and suddenly, a metric fuckton of people realized that Infernoble is now so insane it'll have to result in an Isolde ban at minimum. Once a single big name player picked it up and started doing well, it got everyone's attention and Isolde was gone lmao.

Rogue seems to be best when you have a strange strategy. Like you mentioned, a good player on a bad deck can usually lose to a bad player on a good deck- so often the solution feels to be, try to play something in a way that is difficult to read. Personally very tempted to get into a rogue going second strategy after playing tenyi in masterduel for a bit, and it feels like it unironically could be a decent irl deck against certain matchups, specifically being able to both break a snake eyes board relatively consistently, and to otk on the same turn. Regardless, great vid, interesting talking points overall!

It just feels a lot more satisfying to me to go 3-1 at local with a rogue deck then to go 4-0 with a meta deck tbh.

4:37 he explains how to win every Ygo game, thank you i will be seeing yah at the championship 🎉

As a HERO player, beating pure snake eyes through bricking game 2 and playing through 4 hand traps game 3 feels extremely satisfying

Another reason why rogue decks have an uphill battle is ironically the same reason why they can be successful, their surprise factor. Not every rogue deck is going against SE 100% of the time, even in the tier 0 format we're in. They're going against other rogue decks, some of which just happen to hard counter each other, or play on an axis no one can reasonably prepare for.

As a person who plays Reptiles and subterrors yeah, this vid hits a lot on the head

A few years back I remember seeing nothing but Drytron negate spam and Eldlich stun, but it still felt like other decks weren't too far behind and always had a chance of winning. Nowadays, Yugioh has over 13,000 cards and 12,500 of them are useless or close to it. The gap between meta and rogue is huge because, for the last couple of years, Konami has been rapidly one-upping their top meta decks. Players ask for it too -- they beg for more decks to come out to beat Snake-Eye, and that only raises the ceiling for meta decks and leaves rogue even further behind. It's part of Konami's plan. Sure, they could nerf the top few decks and give a wide range of decks a better chance to compete.but they don't make any money when players sit on their pet/rogue decks and don't have a reason to buy the new packs. So this is a problem intentionally created by Konami because they know players will pay up for the new meta and it will cause strong short-term growth, even at the expensive of long-term growth when players inevitably get tired of having useless rogue decks and flavor of the (six) month metas and leave the game.

For me a lot of rouge and table 500 decks tend to have better flavor than meta decks. Most good decks tend to just spam shit because it's good, but rouge decks are bad because they center around specific gimmicks/mechanics that make more sense with the art

My biggest issue with Yugioh is always gonna be price...like lemme gimme an example Based on recent data, competitive decks in the Pokemon TCG can range from under $100 to a few hundred dollars. However, the exact cost can depend on the specific cards and the current format. Yugioh's average competitive deck can run you $500 to $750 USD and can cost double that. I spent exactly $75 dollars on a Pokemon TCG theme deck ($15) and the Elite Trainer Kit ($35) and a booster pack bundle ($25) and had enough cards to build a competitive deck out of it and won a tournament for a $25 CiCi's Pizza Gift card and a copy of Howarts Legacy they had lying around. That was ~$95 in value. I participated in a Yugioh event within the same timeframe, got blasted by a Snake Eye deck and got $5. No playmat...no booster pack just for showing up, just a $5 bill. They handed me a $5 bill and told me "shoulda played the meta, bro". I was so pissed, but I bought a cup of Ben and Jerry's and sat at a chair outside a wendy's and ate my consolation cup of Cherry Garcia Ben and Jerry's. So yeah...I'm done playing Yugioh until either the Snake Eye meta is over or something happens to the game as a whole that I would see as a legitimate reason to start playing again

As a blackwing main i can agree i still struggle agaisnt snake eyes or labyrinths i wonder how my brother win agaisnt them so easily with valkyrie

This sort of thing happend to 40k back in 7th edition. The Eldar Codex was so far and away better than everything else (except maybe Dpace Marines) that a *randomly constructed list* would have a better than 60% chance to win. The power differential between Codexes was ao bad, there were hard tiers and you could basically just compare lists to see who won. Damn near killed the game

I haven’t played the game in forever, came back and tried a Darklord deck as a skilled player of it and I got wrecked constantly. I remember when they used to introduce new gimmicks like synchros and XYZ’s, but players weren’t forced to play by that format. Instead, now it’s heavily based to where you have to change to modern decks to win and because the meta constantly gets cycled out, there’s really no opportunity to play fun decks. I invested into a Kashtira deck and only a month later the deck was hit heavily. It’s a lot less fun to play the game when you’re forced to buy relevant decks only to know they’re going to get nerfed within a couple months and likely will never see play again. The economical state of the game has gotten insane too

Can confirm as a Earth Machine player I crumble to a negate and I open up with box.

As a rogue player I can confirm that we are too stubborn to change our decks because we lovem too much Even if i keep loosing with HEROes, that one win is such an addicting feeling

I think the massive issue is the gap between the haves and the Have nots has gotten far to wide. Current decks coming out are on a completely different level to what came before. Of course its to be expect from a game like Yugioh with no rotating format. But it plays in the old "disruption arms race" that's been going on for so long. Decks become increasingly more and more able to play though disruption, while being able to get their combo off in with a single card and build their own walls. Older decks are left to rot as they don't have the amount of chances, need to give up more for their combo, or are more limited in their interactions. Tack on the amount of card advantage some deck can amasses by even doing their full combo you get to where we are now. These Meta decks that can play on their turn, your turn while still having a sizable hand to do it again the next turn. Which leads to the issue as stated in the video. Even a noob could play Snake eyes for the first time and still beat a rogue deck at its best, because the abundance of additional plays and chances they get completely out ways whatever the rogue has (Unless its doing some Cheese) Then theres the coin flip aspect. You never know if Konami is going to support your deck. And even then, how do you know your going to be a winner or a loser? Who expected Yubel to go from completely meme to meta staple or Fire kings to be where we are. It feels like if your chosen by Konami, expect and influx of support, indirect support and whatever else.

To be honest there are a lot of decks that are to similar sure some people could upgrade to maybe a new strategy but that's hard to do if all the decks basically play the same meta wise . I have yet to see new decks that have similar styles to things like sky striker , Rika fairies and other strategies I enjoy

I’m a certified rogue deck player. Rogue is as high up a tier list as I’m willing to play and that’s been true for any game I’ve touched. I still do well with my zoo deck, and feel like I can do even better once I learn more meta deck lines - note: I’ve only been playing for a few months after taking a years-long hiatus. I definitely don’t know the right times to ash or imperm to slow a combo.

Look, branded despia has been with me for 2+ years and I love it alot. However marincess, melodious, traptrix, and, new to my collection, raidraptor all feel like new experiences when I play the game. Having one meta deck and a couple of rogue decks helps me stay active in this game.

I'm definitely a Rogue Player, what I think I like the most about a lot of them is some of the unique mechanics they do For example, Magical Musketeer allowing you to activate their spells/traps from the hand regardless of turn (Which was 'turned into' Runick I suppose), Superheavy Samurai being able to attack from defense position (That was always the draw for me, even before the crazy meta support), and G Golems forcing the opponent to attack into high attack monsters (Which, kinda turned into Mikanko, which I also like). That, and I like the art of a lot of decks Dinomist is STILL one of my favorites despite the fact it only EVER got one top in 2017. I love the looks of the steam-powered dinos I love the fun designs of the Deskbots, and while Deskbot 001 sees some play due to it being a recursive tuner, I enjoy the deck it was! Also Libromancers, I love their visuals, but also their attempts at making a Ritual Deck actually work- they're fun to play! But, when all of these decks lose to a single ash, or an interaction or two, there's just, no place for them in the meta. I feel like it doesn't matter how much I do to optimize and change these decks. Like combining Magical Musketeers with the Fiendsmith and a minimal Eldlich package, I still lose to a well timed ash, or two points of interaction at almost any point. Even pure superheavy samurai with the new support- as strong as it is, it's infinitely better when using out-of-archetype stuff, ending on a 4800 and 4000 with a hand trap that can double their stats is *good*, but, they have no protection, and just kinda crumple at the slightest interaction. G Golems, even with all the generic Cyberse cards isn't that good because it doesn't put up any negates or interactions, plus there's not many good Earth Cyberse that work for it Dinomist doesn't do anything, Deskbots don't do anything, and while Libromancers are decently strong, they still die to any single negate to any of their searchers, or any interaction with their field spell. I still have fun playing these decks with friends, but, being railroaded into playing meta or never winning a single game is just... Not fun... I didn't LIKE playing Tearlaments or Kashtira, I don't LIKE playing Snake-Eye, I don't WANT to play these crazy combo decks that end on 5+ points of interaction, I want to play what I have fun playing. Honestly, at first, I was really hoping that Master Duel would be that fun. Build whatever deck, and play against random people in your rank. I figured that, hey, even if my deck is basically Bronze Teir, SURELY I'll find similar power decks and have fun playing the game in the way I want to right? SelFTK, Meta, SelFTK, Insta-scoop, Meta, Meta, SelFTK, Meta I never got to PLAY my decks- I had to play decks that at least did SOMETHING, but part of the issue is, is that even when I was using a bad deck, I was still ranking up, I was running into people who played SOMETHING rogue every once in a while, Egyptian Gods, Blue-Eyes, other more fun decks. But eventually, purely from SelFTK bots and Insta/Shame Scoops, I made it up to Platinum. Using a deck that should have been at Bronze. I was losing every game, and, until I made a better/meta deck, I was just stuck being beat down, and never getting a chance to complete my dailies. Yes, I SHOULD make meta decks, or at least BETTER decks that fit with the same strategy But, I like playing what I like playing, and I feel like the ranking system should be a way to let the people who aren't playing modern decks still have fun But with how the ranking actually works, where you can only drop rankings in the top 4/8 different ranks, trying to have fun is like jabbing at a solid concrete wall with a plastic spork trying to get through it So in my own opinion, Rogue IS dying, because as Power Creep gets more and more exponential, the gap between what was good before, or what's fun to play, and the current meta just keep getting spread further and further. I want to enjoy the game, but the only way I can is with friends, and even then, we all play at slightly different power levels. TLDR; Power Creep sucks the life out of the game.

I accept the challenge of the Rogue Duelist forever and always. Rogue OVER Money, Rogue Meta, Rogue over Consensus. Give me Rogue or Cast my Lifepoints into the shadow realm!

Sometimes you like rogue decks because the playstyle is different enough from other decks. Some people just like the way some decks play and interact with other decks. Its like fighting games, you have slower characters with stronger moves and shorter combos, grapplers that need to use grabs to play, light speedy characters, characters with unique attributes (poison, curses, etc.), and many other types of characters. Having a variety of decks gives different axes to play and make a game more fun.

What I find is the saddest thing about playing a rogue deck is the fact that (for example in Masterduel) the deck has to be able to play against meta decks. If I know that I have to be able to win against Snake Eyes or Kashtira or whatever, my motivation to even start playing goes basically to zero. Why is there no format for just rogue decks? I want to see all the goofy combinations out there but if I have to play 5 rounds against Horus, Snake Eyes, Kashtira, Tearlments etc. even on low ranks first, chances are I will stop playing before that even happens 👎

I remember playing solfachord, it was the most expensive deck in the room because of the 80 dollar diviner and magician's souls and all the extra deck staples. It was still bad though.

Yugioh needs a Smogon-like system

I relate to the surprise aspect you mentioned as a Volcanic player. I can't even recall how many times I've won in MD because people don't read Volcanic Counter when I ditch it or they waste their Ash on Shell. In my entire time playing in MD, only 2 of my opponents actually realized what Counter did.

Playing Cyber Dragons VS Ishizu Tear last year felt like invading russia in winter armed with a knife and no legs.

I play rogue bc I play decks that I genuinely love and have fun with regardless if I win/lose and that’s why I stick with exosister. It has amazing art, the lore and playstyle is so unique and it’s just a generally fun deck. Also, I feel like since they got some important reprints recently they should be getting support sometime later this year or beginning of next so I’m excited.