Why Can't Yugioh Get New Players? 

I just want to say your inclusion of Starter/Structure Deck concepts for Goat and Edison format is BRILLIANT. I've been really harping on this point (and others you made here) in my own videos and even when I get the chance to speak with Konami reps. I think there are a lot of really great player onboarding and retention tactics being left on the table here, and while I know not every solution is practical or possible for Konami (and that they likely have at least considered these and other methods), there's never any harm in talking about it anyway. Great video as always! 👍🏾

Being a new Yugioh player is like never working out and choosing the Great Wall of China as your first fitness challenge.

The biggest problem with Yu-Gi-Oh is that Konami, the company that oversee's the product, are notorious for completely ignoring all feedback from non-Japanese players. Konami priorities success in Japan over international success. Yu-Gi-Oh is the 2nd largest card game in Japan after Pokemon, it is doing well in Japan, but its not doing well internationally, and Konami doesn't seem to care.

Wow, Konami hates their consumers? I wonder who could've told you that: -Metal Gear fans -Contra fans -Castlevania fans -Silent Hill fans -Suikoden fans -Zone of the Enders fans -Rocket Knight Adventures fans -All Hudson-Soft fans with the exception of Bomberman. They do this to all of their fandoms, and it's crazy how ignorant Yugioh players are to Konami's business practices. I mean they got into pachinko AFTER Japan's harsh regulations on the game, which is when companies like SNK pulled out of the market. If they can do something predatory, they will. And that's why I will literally only play Edison unless the box structure changes to make decks as affordable as the Pokemon TCG, with the limit being $200 for a minimum rarity deck.

Too high level of entry both in terms of rules, rulings and complexity as well as price

Turns out 25 years of never ending power creep is bad for the game. Who knew.

Old school yugioh: FLIP: Destroy 1 monster on the field (regardless of position) Modern Yugioh: (the entire Bee Movie script)

Buying 3 structure decks is nowhere near enough to compete with other players. I went to a local tournament with a 3 structure deck combined deck and I got beat so badly. The players there kept telling me I need to buy all these expensive cards to be able to keep up with them and make my own deck.

The tactical try decks will never come out in the tcg. Like you said, Konami HATES YOU.

I'm a new player and while the basic rules for the game aren't complicated, the cards have so much text that I literally have no idea what my opponent is doing or what the choke points are to stop their combos. The learning curve feels really high. I'm still having fun with the game though

YGO, Castlevania, Metal Gear, Parodius, Silent Hill, ALL Share the same problem and it's called KONAMI

I play yugioh but last year i wanted to play pokemom learned the game in like 2 days its really easy to introduce people

And the game itself is constantly getting more convoluted and confusing from set to set No, seriously, 2017 Yugioh feels like Duel Monsters in terms of complexity compared to now

I introduced Yugioh to some friends when Master Duel came out. We had fun casually building weird decks with the massive backlog of cards. It was when they tried playing in ranked that they lost interest. They repeatedly told me how annoying it was getting Ash Blossom'd or seeing their opponent build up a huge board with omni-negates on turn 1. It's easy as someone that's played for years to tell them to just 'get good' or learn to bait that stuff out and have back-up plans, but I wonder if the power creep has just become too much for new players. Sure, there are people that probably started last week that love the current game, there's always exceptions after all, but I'm worried that power creep has just made the game too much for the average person. Of course, casuals with friends will always be fun, but you can say that about any game. IDK, I just know I buy more statues and figures based on Yugioh than actual booster packs at this point.

Yugioh is killing itself at this point

Before I quit I kept 2 decks for my friends in case they wanna play casually and fun Game not fun for me and it starts to drain me mentally and physically

Most Japanese companies just do not give a flying fuck about making good products for western markets. It took Sony and Atlus literally YEARS before they realized that PC gamers were willing to buy their games, but NOT a console just to play that one game. Another example: Lexus failed horribly in Europe, and everyone knows why. You can get a 3 series with petrol engines and diesel engines anywhere between 150 and 510hp, whilst the Lexus ES can only be had with a 213hp non plug in hybrid... That aint what the European luxury buyer wants. And Konami just follows that trend, by not deaming us worthy enough of their OCG products...

It power levels new people out “Git good” turns into “get gone” Theres a massive problem with the game itself as we are at the point its a complicated way to play coin flip

A PS5 costs like $500 A meta deck costs the same or more The meta deck is going to get hit especially if it is tier zero providing less enjoyment Meanwhile the PS5 can last several years without obsoletion Maybe that's why people don't get into Yugioh as much

KONAMI FFS PLEASE SUPPORT LEGACY FORMATS PROPERLY I unironically use Edison Blackwings and bulk bin Hasselberry Dinos to teach my friends yugioh and these older formats or even some bulk bin cards are amazing low power tools for teaching modern ygo

Honestly it's just better being an OCG player. Prices for cards are far cheaper and F/L list is perfect and has timely updates. In the TCG, Konami is just a money hungry company and their F/L list is just cards that they have chosen when they get drunk and they only have a F/L change whenever they feel like it. After switching to OCG and a player in Japan, I can say that my experience playing Yugioh here is infinitely better compared to playing in the US.

As someone who loved the Duel Monsters anime and cards, Yu-Gi-Oh has become too complicated and expensive. As much as I'd love to get into it for real, it's become extremely overwhelming for someone like me who has been out of the loop for over 8+ years. Why spend hundreds of dollars to get into the physical TCG when I can jump online with Yugi and Kaiba structure decks in Master Duel for free?

Komoney needs to listen to it's player base, the number of people giving them free advice on how to fix the game is alarming at this point.

I’ll be honest. Me and my fiends only play with proxies. So we can have as much as we want. This sort of hobby is far too expensive in today’s economy otherwise.

I don't think Yugioh is complicated. It is just unfair and unbalanced. . I think TCG keeps 1-2 dominant decks on purpose. They kill a lot of decks in diverse formats. But they dance avoiding the real problem when the META is monotone (and very expensive). This may be their selling strategy. A dominant deck can create peer pressure for players who don't play the META. Non-META cannot play peacefully because the META is too oppressive. Also, because the majority of players only play with 1-2 of the same decks. This is easier to push them to buy new products, with the ban list. Just make the old META unplayable and offer them the new one. . I don't really like Time Wizard. We have modern "bad" decks and they need a spotlight too. Time Wizard is just old META, the decks in those formats usually already have a lot of spotlight in their era. Also, because it is just an old format, there will be new cards to make the format fresh. Meanwhile, if we focus on the alternative format with modern low-tier decks. They're up to date, but they are still less oppressive, this will make the learning process easier. Because we can also use new cards, this format will always be fresh.

Yu-Gi-Oh has completely been dropped by 4 out of the 5 shops near me. It's a dying game in my region sure a shop has people who play but the stock on the shelves if there is any is a year out of date. It's just too fast and one sided for people to play and pay hundreds to play for half a turn and they you die or brick. They did this to themselves.

Here's the biggest problems with yugioh: - Rulings: This game can get really confusing, like, there are interactions in this that even I get confused on and I've been playing for years. This is largely due to card text and how konami words certain cards. So, if someone who has years of experience playing yugioh can still get confused about certain rulings, it's pretty evident that new players will struggle. - Power creep: Konami really likes introducing cards that break the game and they tend to cost an arm and a leg, be it a new archetype or powerful staple cards. Now, yugioh isn't the only card game with this issue, but it still deters a lot of new players - Prices: These really powerful cards tend to be over most people's budget and causes many players to miss out on certain cards that could help their deck out tremendously. Unfortunately, with the market being as volatile as it is, it's a struggle to get pricey cards even months after release and forces players to wait until the price drops or Konami introduces a new product with reprints of those powerful cards. There are more reasons, but those are the big 3 that are causing people to steer clear from playing yugioh competitively or even casually

"Either konami is stupid, or they actively hate you." It's the latter. The west has ALWAYS, AAAAAALLLLLWAYS been treated like the red headed step child by daddy konami outside of the TCG Premier/TCG Exclusives. And among the other issues and them refusing to ban cards that just came out that are creating T0 formats and second-hand cards for triple digits, it's just us in an abusive relationship with Konami these days and us coming back to them like a battered GF/BF/Spouce. To say nothing about them "testing the waters" with Rush Duel in Duel Links and dangling a POSSIBILITY of them printing rush in english, it's just one of those things...where we're in a lose-lose relationship with Konami.

Bro you killed it with the retro structure deck designs you should be proud

My preferred way of getting new players probably isn't the best one, but I would love to see a new Yugioh rpg Kinda like the World Championship Series. You put players in a rpg like world where they slowly upgrade their deck to beat stronger opponents, encased in a story that motivates them to continue and improve at the game, but without the competitive pressure of pvp. With extremely strong and Meta Deck using optional or postgame bosses. I think there might be a lot of new players being able to enjoy such a single player game and it would also tackle a new market for Konami in terms of Yugioh, which are single player videogames.

I'd do anything to get that cyber Dragon try deck. Cheap thrusts so close to our fingertips

Most fun i had in Yu-Gi-Oh was playing forbidden memories, duelist of roses, or the Gameboy games when the duels were simplified

Meanwhile, in Pokemon: you can build a Tier 1 Tournament Ready meta deck for more or less 50/60$ and participate in dozens of major tournaments with cash prizes. The very few times i happen to see a Yugioh player irl i can't not think "Why? Why in hell would you do this to yourself?"

So I was a long time mtg player who turned to YGO to try something new a few months ago. After a few months of playing YGO, from a new player’s perspective there’s a few things that make it incredibly offputting for new players. 1. The wordiness and font on every card. It’s incredibly intimidating to do this for your own cards, but once you understand how your deck works it all makes sense. The issue comes in trying to figure out your opponent. Eventually you just kind of give up and nod your head and say “yup” as they play card after card that you have no idea what it means. 2. The price point. Obvious point. I came in around AGOV right before RA01 came out. I was thinking it was a great time to get into it due to being able to get so many staples for cheap. Then it turned into the season of fire. 3. No mulligans feels bad. I completely understand why you can’t mulligan in YGO. But when you’re used to it from most other TCGs, you go to YGO and you’re just kinda stuck with what you drew. Feels terrible. Going second and drawing no hand traps and watching your opponent FC just feels terrible when you have nothing you can do about it. This might be the biggest thing to me. It feels like there’s certain games where there is 0 you can do; you lost the die roll, you lost the game. 4. The power of the cards feels absurd. I’ve described playing YGO to some of my mtg playing friends as “it’s like playing mtg but the only format anyone plays is legacy. And every deck is a different version of storm.” There’s a lot to like about YGO. YGO is an incredibly fluid card game and when you can get going and see different lines you can take and the different steps you can take to get there it’s incredibly satisfying. I love the way the Extra Deck works in YGO. Having a toolbox available at all times is an attractive reason to play this game. Also, the YGO community has been some of the nicest group of nerds I’ve ever met. Definitely willing to show you the ropes and teach you the game. I’d love to see YGO continue to succeed, the more card games/players we have out at our LGS’ the better it is for us all. But after a few months of actively playing YGO I’ve come to the conclusion that I just don’t like it and that’s ok.

A few problems with current yugioh The tcg has less value in packs than the ocg and it’s just more expensive in the tcg. You’re definitely dropping a few hundred to make a competitive deck. It’s just way too expensive to get into as a hobby. Unlike all other card games yugioh does not have a casual scene. The duel is usually over in the first 4 turns Everyone has the same extra deck and boss monsters. There is no variety in the game. The game is just way too complicated for older players from slower formats.

I had long-time yugioh friends quit to go play Lorcana. I can't even really talk to them about this game anymore. They are completely uninterested. Konami seems to want young blood coming into the fold, but that seems to be almost a complete improbability now. They simply f'd around for too long and found out too late to try to fix it.

Back then special summons used to be special.

Even with Magic and WotC/Hasbro's current problems, I think it's delusional to think that Yugioh is in a place where it has any hope of outselling Magic outside of Japan, even WITH massive extremely optimistic changes. We could go into all the strengths and weaknesses of both games and both markets, but to boil it down: Magic is pandering hard to the ever-growing casual EDH audience, while Yugioh by design is focused on a dwindling increasingly-hardcore audience. Konami has stripped their game down into a something for extremely competitive whales, while WotC has crippled it's competitive paper scene to make every product a commander product that sells to a massive audience hungry for more new cards and strategies. I think many of your ideas are wonderful (and I've enjoyed many of your videos), but Konami has a long road ahead to rebuild a casual audience, which I think every TCG needs to thrive, and I just don't see them taking the steps necessary. I've long since quit Yugioh and have no interest in coming back, Master Duel just re-affirmed why I left, and anecdotally everyone I've talked to shares my feelings about the game, we liked it 10+ years ago and it's broken now, there's no going back.

Yugioh needs something similar to Pokémon Smogon having more formats that allow more decks to shine in different ban list for both speed duels and normal. It will help a lot for encyclopedia series type rule book for those who want to enter more competitive games. The book can explain rulings why some combos don't work.

My issue with Yugioh is all the archetypes I think have a cool aesthetic or are fun to play aren't viable competitively, the meta is just TOO oppressive where winning against a modern combo deck is basically impossible. You can shout "git gud" all you like but fact of the matter is modern Yugioh is just far too complex and fast paced for casual players. The most fun I had recently was dueling with the Yugi/Kaiba reloaded decks.

I can’t imagine, even as a consistent yugioh player, why you’d EVER buy a booster pack when you can just buy individual cards on eBay.

I think beyond legacy formats if Konami is going to support an alternate format they should have one that uses the modern card pool but that is catered to lower power decks. There are so many new decks that come out and a response is more or less, "Wow, this looks fun and interesting, pity it can't hold a candle to the tiered strategies." Like most TCG exclusive archetypes. Legacy formats are good for the environment, but they have a hard cap on the amount of product they sell and in Konami's perspective they might not even see a cent out of it - if someone ONLY plays Edison they can probably pick up the only deck they'll ever play for cheap from a third party. Going straight from a legacy format to the current game - unless the legacy format is TOSS - is not a conversion you're likely to make. The allure of, "Hey, you play Lightsworn in Edison? Well there's these new Lightsworn cards..." may not make a conversion when the person says, "Yeah but the new Lightsworn deck still gets blown out by Snake-Eyes and Tenpai and stuff." If you could give that player an environment where he can play his favorite deck against other comparable strength decks, with the new cards, then he is more likely to look into getting the new cards - and by doing THAT he might actually get the confidence to convert to Advanced format. I also think that if Tactical Try decks are brought to the TCG they should be available in-stores but also offered as print on demand. Evergreen products that let someone immediately leap into the game are just beneficial. If you miss out on buying a Structure Deck near the time of its release and it happens to be the strategy that most interests you, well, you're kinda out of luck. If something like a Structure Deck or a Tactical Try were something you could easily get whenever, perhaps with a SLIGHT markup, it's a win for you since you can get into the game cheaper, faster, and more convenient and it's a win for Konami since they get the money that otherwise would be going to an outside vendor - you can't even really say it's at the detriment of the game stores, either, since it's the choice between someone going to the store more regularly and willing to buy product and that person just not going.

Personally,people should just not support Konami at all,even if they do good like you said at the end. They have done terrible and rancid shit over the years and need a damn reality check for it. They don’t actively care nor are they interested in giving the tcg community respect and why would they? They mostly seem to be for the way Konami is treating them,not complaining about it as much as they should. The only thing they need to actually get to more people is to make their shit cheap,that’s it. They wouldn’t need to focus on making competitive focused decks. Honestly, I only say that because I hate the competitive side of the game and the community. But like I said,they won’t care nor they ever will, aslong as most of the community are being like braindead sheep and do nothing with how the game is right now.

I honestly think the future of yugioh is more games. I feel master duel could easily help bring more players new and old, especially if THEY create a year-long GOAT format mode.

Definitely a lot to say about why modern day YGO is problematic (at least for some people, myself included). I feel it all stems from uncontrolled power creep, which then has a domino effect…high costs, extreme depth, long turns/short games (short as in small number of turns), focus on negations makes gameplay unfun, constant changing of the meta due to releases and banlists, vast majority of decks/archetypes are unplayable competitively, etc. I loved YGO and play Edison/tengu plant locals and have been having a blast, but I dont think I’ll ever get back into the modern game since dropping out 2 years ago (I tried getting back into it early 2020 after never playing competitively). Solid vid btw!!

At least on the West side... It's less on the game becoming meta and more on Konami being deepshit with their customers, their lack of dedication and attention to both the game and playerbase, the bad quality of the cardboards, a lack of interest to communicate with the people, allowing shit like cheating to the point of deleting comment ON A LIVE STREAM, etc. Konami of America is a joke, and the fact that Kevin and Julia (among other like Jerome) are still getting away because most of the playerbase are big consumers, it irks me. Though lately I learned that things may not be going well for once to them, I mean, apparently they are starting to rely on Yugitubers more among others. So yeah. I hope KoA gets ruined in one way or another and they realize that they need to change the people that are sitting in the high chairs. As for OCG, I don't play there, so I can't comment too much, I can only say that they cards are not censored and the rarities are more fairly distributed. The game, they still have Maxx C which is the kind of card that would make people either love it or hate it, among other.

Ocg sealed product makes Tcg feel like a scam

Imagine a BILLION dollar company needing a RU-vidr with 20k subscribers to tell them how to do their job properly.. Konami is lost man, they should hire you and make you CEO

Because its too complicated. There are just too many formats, too many cards and not enough ways to play a more simplified format for new players to enter. As much as I love this game, compared to other tcgs its not easy, even with starter and structure decks, because the main format basically allows everything and there's just too much. A lot of other tcgs have the main format be the basic game, and you have to go out of your way to play the others. Pendulum and Links are just always here and they are not new player friendly. And those are just the main roadblocks, their is tons of just complicated stuff that every player has to at least know about or your never gonna understand, let alone win, the game. Theirs also the problem of how many other card games like to promote official "friendly" tournaments and get togethers in some way, shape, or form to encourage new players. Yugioh hasn't done that officially in a while.

The idea of retro format decks is awesome, but you know what would be even better? Boxes such as the speed duel ones, that contain many half decks of different archtypes ready to play with friends.

Vanguard is the most fun tcg

Konami should really just release Archetype Structure Decks of archetypes which are around for a decade at minimum, and when I say archetypes I mean EVERY SINGLE ONE

I think adding code cards for master duel in packs could be a good way to help players transition from duel to paper and vice versa. I want to switch to paper but I like having an online space to test things and it takes forever to get a deck online. If I could have 3 traptrix or dark world structure decks online it would make the transition way easier.

Instead of ramping up new archetypes they should just add more support on existing archetypes to matchup to the format to slow down power creep flatten the curve so players can keep their decks for awhile

The way you said they could use goat and edison products to introduce and progress people into the game is exactly how I started playing. I've been playing for about a year now, got started with making a draft box deck with stuff from my buddy's bulk box, learned the base mechanics, moved up to playing an ice barrier structure deck, then moved up to fire kings, and now I'm playing the game at a much more competitive level than when I started, I'm doing ranked duels online pretty much every day now. But it would still be so cool for me to revisit those earlier eras of the game to try out more strategic goat and edison strategies, especially now that I've started playing the older DS games and finding out how fun those formats can be. There's so much potential and it's mind boggling how ignorant they are being about the market they are creating. How is this current structure better? No one is spending any money on Konami's products right now, but we're ALL in agreement that we are willing to if they shift the TCG structure to look more like the OCG structure!! I think you're right, Konami HATES us.

Very simple: 1. Too complicated decks for casuals these days 2. Alienate current fans (their biggest advertisement) with meta changes that people don't enjoy 3. Too expensive to enjoy even if you're enjoying the game. Konami will try to fix this but honestly the game might be better off with a reset button.

You brought up the massive Deck Build Pack issue, let me just point out that one of my favorite pet decks came from the infamously terrible Ancient Guardians set, Ogdoadic. I wanted to pick up the deck and run 1 (just 1) ultra rare, a copy of Ogdoabyss. When the set came out, I obviously bought singles online instead of try to build the deck the natural way, which is awful for so many reasons. There's 3 ultra rares in a box, and I wasn't even guaranteed to pull all the supers I wanted to run, and it's cheaper to buy online. Why would I bother buying the box? I don't care about collectors rares, let me have the cards I need. It's awful for Konami because the box of Ancient Guardians I'd love to pick up is still sitting on store shelves. It's HORRIBLE for the LGS because, obviously, the box is still sitting there instead of having me pick it up. It's horrible for the vendor selling on TCGPlayer, because he's selling me an Ogdoabyss - one of the 3 ultras in that box - for $5, and shipping costs more than the rest of the deck even on release. It's even not good for me as a player, because it feels like half the experience of a card game is missing when we're playing the TCGPlayer minigame instead of opening packs which is what got us into Yugioh to begin with. It's not good for you reading this, because chances are you're usually doing the same thing because sealed product isn't worth it. It would be so fascinating to see what it's like if Konami's business practices didn't actively make us not want to buy their products. It's honestly insane.

There greed has caught up to them and yet they feigh ignorance.

I tried master duel but my opponent took like 5 minutes for a turn so i just surrendered and uninstalled

I'm glad you mentioned the pricing problem. I feel that that is one of the major roadblocks for many people. Also the lack of an anime proper to pull new players in. Remember when Yugi was on all of the boosters? I got into Yugioh thanks to the anime, like so many others. Accessibility with mitigating power creep can also help. I also feel like maybe introducing retrains as a sort of "series" of rereleases of older 2002-2003 sets could also be cool. Like, most cards in Legend of Blue Eyes had no effects. What if you made a Legend of Blue Eyes Remix booster series, and all the old vanillas now had effects? Use nostalgia to older players, by making their favourite cards from 20 years ago viable again. I think that'd be pretty cool. I'd also love to see more games released with cool twists to the concept. Remember Duelist of the Roses? I loved that game! In short: - Maintain an anime for new blood - Regulate prices and rarities and maybe alot more retrains for older cards - Accessibility to older players, make it fun again for them - More video games

"people agree that vanguard is bad and determined by luck" this is unreal to me. i think this is some yugioh brainworm where they convince themselves that "drawing the out" is skillful in some way. just because vanguard has triggers (output randomness) other game players think that it's completely pointless, when yugioh has the *harshest* input randomness I've ever seen. when games end by turn 3 and your opponent can just have every answer on their first turn or open the one card combo? there's no mulligans in yugioh, because there can't be, but every single game is determined by the *opening hand*!! it's incredibly punishing, whereas vanguard is more lax and friendly. i think that type of design space is crucial to fostering a community. yugioh's game design creates its playerbase. the reason they're so toxic is directly correlated to how that game functions. you won't see people freaking out about vanguard because it wears randomness on its sleeve and people know what they signed up for. but for some reason yugioh players (and mtg) never got that memo that yeah, the game is basically always random. sure the top players will win over multiple games, but that requires people to keep playing multiple games. if new players hop into the only place they can play online or in a local environment and get blasted by handtraps/disruption/unbreakable boards, you really think they're gonna keep playing? goat and edison are definitely still determined by opening hands but the people that really stuck with yugioh afterwards have the most sunk-cost fallacy mindsets ive ever seen. there's so many games where the correct play is apparent and determinative. joshua schmidt's latest video on the state of the game goes into this well with the two players at the snake eye mirror just telegraphing the best play because one of them drew the one card combo and the other didn't. who's gonna wanna keep playing that that isn't already invested? im sure there's anecdotal evidence of people going "well i got my friend into the game and they love it" and like cool! im happy for yall! but i think just about any game is more fun with friends. yugioh is up against the wall when it comes to what its design allows and encourages. designs will continue to get more compressed, cards will keep doing more. they only have a competitive market to sell to, so they have to keep upping the stakes. rush duel kiiiinda fixes most of these problems because the opening hand isn't so game-determinative, but that's also got its own problems in a way. i think they're afraid to release it worldwide becausd it will eat into the tcg's market share, whereas in japan the culture of card games is so different. it's a small ass country where commuting is the standard. every town has a card shop within like 15 minutes. you're not gonna get that internationally, so they turn to online, and those environments are best of 1 and incredibly punishing. i dont really know how yugioh can get itself out of this but it's the only game where i see so many people complain about its obvious problems but still give their money to a company that doesn't care about them at all. konami is one of the worst companies in the industry and they will never change this approach. if they do then hey, im happy for everyone and we all win but man. it's so discouraging and unbelievable to hesr yugioh players talk about the game like the company is the only thing holding it back. the design itself is beyond repair. going back to old formats is only gonna work for so long. i guess they could do a goat / edison "expanded" release and print new cards with old designs but how long will that last until that ends up back where we started? i love your videos dude and this isn't aimed at you in any way. i think as a disenfranchised former player who's now making their own game because no card game is making me happy playing it, there's answers to these problems but none of them are "pray the shitty company fixes it." i wish yugioh was more friendly but it's like the game itself prevents that. it's like the marvel or hokuto no ken of card games. you made 1 mistake and now i get to play the game and you dont. or maybe you didnt even make a mistake, maybe just the round starting and youre missing your jab button. thanks for playing. it's no wonder the game can't pick up new players. all these people that fell off absolutely have valid concerns and only the most hopped up players fail to see it. i get it if your friend group is all playing yugioh. but maybe yall could play something else?? or a custom format? anything at all. any game is better with friends. and man if theyre not gonna hang out with you if youre not playing the game then maybe they arent your friends in the first place. sorry for ranting this is stuff that's always on my mind. appreciate all your videos and i hope everyone can have a fun time with whatever they enjoy regardless. im just salty c:

It's not so much that Konami hates us, but rather TCG Konami hates us. OCG Konami clearly cares about their player base by retaining solid pack structures and presenting solid precons to keep the cost of the game fairly low for OCG. Meanwhile TCG core sets are abysmal, over printing commons, players don't seem to understand that just because TCG boxes contain more cards, doesn't mean the packs are worth opening. The only issue OP has at this point (from what I've seen) is the lack of reprints for pivotal cards. Older set cards that have gained traction in usage in the meta have skyrocketed in price due to demand, locking out some decks. Fortunately, there are still some decks that can be built for a reasonable price like The Three Brothers leaders, predominantly using more recent staples and cards over older staples.

Great informative video! Thank you for sharing!

This video makes way too sense for Konami to execute correctly

You truly spoke the truths there. The issue here is complacency. Konami is so used to Yu-Gi-Oh! doing fine abroad that they see no reason to improve. Especially considering MtG's baffling choices, Yu-Gi-Oh!'s mindset is to just do what they did, but obviously better. Rarity Collection vs. Double Masters 2022, for example. Meanwhile, Pokemon TCG fans are eating better with a company who loves fun. I can safely say that, if MtG decides to reprint cards for (reasonably) cheap (like Doubling Season or Food Chain), abolish the reserved list, and start to do what the fans want (like not making cards exclusively for Universes Beyond and do better products than Secret Lairs or especially the 30th anniversary edition), then Yu-Gi-Oh! would be in serious trouble now in its big three spot.

Got into Yu-Gi-Oh when my friend bought me the spirit charmer deck. It was fun at first in our group but when we got more into it and used more meta staples, the fun just died. Went to digimon and mtg after a few years.

In Malaysia, we play OCG formats but due to card language, it doesn't really attract majority of the ethnicities. But with the reintroduction of Asian English cards in OCG and AE format itself, it does attract a lot of audience. Heck even new players started learning Snake-Eyes combos like crazy. In addition, with the release of theTactical Try Decks, even more people are actually interested in the OCG since you will basically get all the staples you need for a very low price.

This is a pretty good video. I like how you explain how product bridging is extremely important for onboarding people.

pokemon and mtg doesnt require mandatory coaching from others to start the game.

so as someone who would be suckered in *by* nostalgia products since I haven't kept up with YGO TCG since around mid or late 5D's era, you've nailed most the issues on the head. It feels like a game that has no room for even casual play, since the price gating is insane and the community has such a negative reputation for being hostile to newcomers that somehow seems to have gotten worse since I was a kid. like 20:31 is one of the reasons I picked up Bushiroad's Weiss Schwarz so much. You're generally going to pull at least half the cost of a new box at worst, and the game is pretty fun- its very upfront about the randomness/luck factor inherent to most TCGs, has a fairly stable meta/power creep because of how its main format is designed, is generally affordable, and built around a very fun back and forth trying to emulate an anime fight scene. It really is insane how Konami has just completely fucked making YGO seem appealing to newcomers and nostalgic players, though its not surprising since by all accounts they kinda just got lucky in weathering out the first big Japanese TCG boom's bust by a mix of momentum, tie in to a popular Jump manga, and not doing set rotations (ironically the thing that killed MonColle, which is probably Duel Monsters' second big inspiration behind MTG in the manga).

Excellent video! I was surprised you didn't mention Speed Duel, which could probably fall under the beginner category. I've been having a lot of fun with that format and it's a solid way to get new players interested in YGO. I've introduced some of my friends to the format and some were interested in learning more. Obviously, it's not a bridge to advanced format, but it's perfect as a way to introduce basics and a simpler but still competitive format. Unfortunately, the format isn't supported or advertised enough, and the competitive scene is small, so it's hard for new players to find a locals or even others to play with. On the plus side, the cards are the most inexpensive of any YGO format given that all the cards in new boxes are guaranteed making it low risk to compete in the format. For people interested in reliving the old anime duels, the boxes are designed with pre-built decks from the anime to capture that nostalgia.

4:42 I feel like Pokemon has done really well in regards to this with the league battle decks. They come with tons of viable cards, an (almost) competitive deck that can actually do pretty well at a locals, and a little pamphlet on suggestions for what cards to add to it to upgrade it. With the gardevoir ex one, you can basically get one of the best decks in format by adding a few cards to it. And it’s only about 30 dollars give or take. Very affordable. I think more games should do stuff like this.

Cuz it sucks to play lol. Not trying to be antagonistic, but it’s just such a terrible experience for new players. The gameplay is too convoluted to be comprehensive and there is no good entry point like a standard format or draft.

As someone who loved Duel Monsters and tried to jump back in several times over the past 20 years, Yugioh is by far the worst for beginners. You tell experienced players you're on a budget and that knocks you down to a handful of decks. Locking you in Many of these decks are heavily flawed. Then they point out its tier zero format, and the best deck is $400 +. It's not a good selling point to a new player skeptical of diving in that their choices are extremely limited and you need to pay to win . Games like Pokémon have reprinted cards into the ground and make it easy for one to pick up 2-3 competitive decks for the cost of one Yugioh Budget deck. It's a shame, but I stick to Master Duel when I want my Yugioh fix

I have to say this is one of you best videos. You do a good job pointing out the specific toxic sale tactics and how to fix it. Especially with plans to fix the problem and keep the game in a salable state. Good work as always man!

A good follow up to the retro card support, would be to provide new support for those same old archtypes such as frogs and monarch. Maybe you can give them as prize on retro format tournaments to incentivize new players into the modern format.

WoTC: hates local game stores. Insane overprinting with three different product lines for every set, WoTC selling direct to consumer via Amazon, not to mention the constant barrage of limited edition box sets that local game stores don't even have access to at all. Bandai: hates the playerbase. Product is immediately bought up by investors within minutes after pre-sales start, while everyone else has to pay at least triple MSRP. By the way, product is so underprinted and overscalped that there's a $40 STARTER DECK COMMON. Konami: hates everyone. Most sets are filled with nothing but unplayable garbage at everything aside from the highest possible rarity, which leads to stores having to sell product at 50-60% MSRP and the few playable cards costing upwards of 40 dollars (sometimes WAY upwards).

The fact that people are giving out free million dollar ideas to make yugioh better to Konomi is the best love letter; but its also wild that Konomi will take these concepts and do their very best to never put the fan's ideas into fruition.

THANK YOU for providing reasonable solutions AND reasons to go for that strategy. Having a yugioh analysis that isn’t completely doom and gloom is really what we need. Also Konami supporting older formats would FARM engagement for locals.

Power creep and Bible-long cards with 3 keywords, hope that helps

Playing solitaire for 15 minutes and seeing if your opponent drew the out isnt fun. Yugioh used to be fun. Time wizard events will be the future

Hey, I switched from Yugi to Magic many years ago (outside of Master Duel) because as an Altergeist player, I got tired of having to call a judge every time I bounced Manifestation with Silquitous. A friend of mine came back by because he wanted us to play again. So I picked up 3 Fire King structures, got some budget stuff to make it playable, and went to locals for the first time. My first match was against Ghoti Runick, where he had 3 Ghoti monsters trigger during my Standby Phase and I had 3 Fire Kings trigger at the same time, so we had 6 effects go off at once, and he was explaining I can activate one as Chain Link 1 and he gets all his effects, then mine may trigger in another chain, and he asked how I was such a noob that I couldn't understand how chain links work. Why did his effects all stack on the same chain and mine didn't? Don't answer, I don't care, because Outlaws of Thunder Junction drafts are a blast to play and Standard's gonna be so much fun after rotation. I just got my stuff up and left and never went back. It's a game that cannot be played in paper, period.

It's a shame that Rush Duels are locked behind Duel Links but hey, it's the only way I still play this game/franchise. I totally recommend people give it a shot

i always recommend new players to pick up 3x of the current best structure deck and make a deck from it. i started doing this way back when the marik structure deck came out with gravekeepers and recruiter in the booster box. Then it was chaos dragons then dark world now days ide just recommend a pure fire king deck. its a good deck performs well and it only costs like 30$. As for learning you always need a friend to teach you properly and most likely on a simulator. Its technically our job to teach new players otherwise they spend months on youtube learning the terms and conditions and costs and timings ect.

I stop playing Yu-GI-OH in 2013 after I joined the military due to most the people around me playing Magic over Yugioh while we were at sea. I slowly fell out of love with it but always held a place in my heart. in 2018 I thought about getting back into the game but so much changed and new mechanics added, as well as people hating the new rulings/mechanics scared me away. Most of them said building many fun unique decks were dead now. Even to this day I would love to get back into the game after seeing them add support to Charmers to make them usable (even if they are bossless), but after looking at MANY MANY videos it doesnt seem like I would have fun trying to play against someone who is seriously trying to win.

Love your goat/edison structure deck idea. I either want that or rush duel cards.

Great merchant pressure synopsis. Love your video.

Konami seems to be amazing at coming up with problems, but terrible at selling solutions.

and people will sadly keep buying the cards so Konami TCG will never Learn.

Here's an idea I'd like to see you talk about. Your ideas for companies that could be given the Yugioh license. And the potential pros & cons of each idea.

I used to play yugioh on and off for around 18 years but on the more casual sides (going to locals but not to a lot of bigger tournaments) and last year I made the switch to Pokemon , mainly because of the price difference and how easy it is to get into competitive play. For the cost of one even mildly meta relevant ygo deck I could buy 5 or more meta relevant pokemon decks. I still enjoy playing speed duels and structure decks with friends but I will probably not return to normal ygo anytime soon outside of the online game , which is sad because I have loved this game for so long.

This is anecdotal, but I was looking to get into a TCG this summer. I looked around and saw the solitaire like gameplay and lack of set rotation really intimidating for Yugioh to the point where i picked MTG instead, which while not much better, is constantly trying to get new players in with stuff like Universes Beyond. While I like fantasy as much as the next guy, my first love was anime and giant monsters so this game would’ve been up my alley. I feel like I missed the boat a long time ago lol

If price would be the only issue MD wouldnt have lost 90 percent of its player base, the truth is YGO is not fun with this handtrap combo meta in general

Literally all of my friends who want to start cardgames list alternatives that are cheaper. Yugioh is simply too expensive to play period. It's the singular most problematic factor in growth.

Expensive product, complex rules, and they currently aren't investing in what was their best form of advertisement. An anime for Master Rules. The anime is probably the main thing that attracted the most new costumers to the game.

Went to Toronto regionals, and not having Starslayer, Angel alongside SP definitely made so many situations extremely harder in comparison to others. Won my first two games, and was at table seven; but not having these extra deck cards-I just could not shut down Snake-Eyes on my third match with Voiceless Voice.

Easy answer. They ban easy to get cards like Mathmech Circular. So decks like Mathmech, which are good enough to compete with top tier decks and cheap to push everyone, specially new players to buy the most expensive cards. Free Circular. NOW.

I recently got 3-4 friends back into the game on master duel, albeit I doubt they will ever buy a paper deck. And I will say more is wrong pricing wise with the game in getting returning or new players to come back or to the game. 1) Combo has been too present since the mid-life span of pendelums. Though not the worst on initial release, PePe Basically broke the idea of what is acceptable in the game and ever since seemingly long winded turns became the norm rather than the exception. While this should be a possibility, in older formats overextension like we have in modern days wasn't as easy to pillow behind a series of interruptions and negates. Things like sword-soul are a nice aim for the average decks powerlevel to aim for, 2-3 interactions that are insanely consistent to achieve. The odd deck should definitely be able to combo, but not with the seeming fluidity of Snake Eyes. 2) Many archtypes they loved are useless without generic cards that are doomed to likely be banned/limited/etc. There are many popular archtypes that are lackluster from old formats that would really only need a card or two to become more viable. Give Bujin a card that specials yamato form deck and has the effect of kaiser colloseum while you control a beast-warrior bujin. Give E. Heroes more of a reason to build toward 1 type of hero deck rather than the hodge-podge they have right now. Give decks that work around banish more of an identity than Gren Maju and a prayer. I could list a ton, for every archtype yugioh has let fall into disrepair that is free marketing left to squander, because yugioh players tend to FAR more identify with their deck/archtype than most other card game players, even MTG players and their color preferences. 3) Lack of decks forced to go slow but given greater protection for it. One thing I have argued for a lot is decks that are more phobic of using other types/archtypes and forcing a lot more locks onto the player using them, but straight up giving them the level of protection miscellaneousaurus provides. The locks are to prevent them from splashing too much and becoming a new combo problem, and the insane level of protection is to actually let them learn to play baby level yugioh. Maybe getting to a single boss monster be it xyz, synchro, fusion, ritual or even tributed out. As long as the end result isnt too powerful a deck that is based on having a slow playstyle like this would be a miracle for newer players. Unfortunately the playerbase as it is wants nothing that would help people coming into the game. They are content with long winded combos choking new players out because they put the time into learning them, they don't care about old archtypes because they are spikes playing what is meta and/or never even played with the older decks to begin with. And lastly they would complain about the new decks I suggested being low skill, which NO DUH, again it would be something aimed at beginners/returners. So at this point I am a bit of a doomer hoping that if the VR game comes out we just get a full reboot and they go to support that instead.

Time Wizard reprints with appropriate errata would also be an easy way to re-sell the same cards people already own.

Wow, what a surprise.. I am shocked.. Could not see this coming..