Middle school teacher here. I host a Yu-Gi-Oh! Club at the school I teach at that’s been going on for about 6 years strong. My students range from 11-14 years old, usually joining their 6th grade year and staying all the way to the end of their 8th grade year (First year: Slifer Red, Second year: Ra Yellow, and Third year: Obelisk Blue). I love providing a safe space for my students to come in twice a week to play, trade, and talk Yu-Gi-Oh! My favorite part though, has to be watching them progress as Duelists. Seeing them know nothing about the game to building/playing proficient decks is a feeling that is second to none. I even had one Obelisk Blue student top a regional and get his invite! I hope my club continues to bring in new players so the community can continue to grow 😊
I don't know why the other comments are degrading you but I honestly commend you for creating a safe environment for kids to enjoy their hobby. When I was in middle school, 15 years ago, my school banned all card games and there wasn't any safe environments. It was like 1920s prohibition era and there was a risk of getting detention whenever we played the game so we always needed 1 or 2 people as look outs to make sure we didn't get caught. Eventually, bullies realized they could go up to staff and let them know what we were doing and some of my friends did get detention and their cards confiscated. I wish I had a cool teacher like you when I was a kid.
The best way I heard it said was yugioh was a kids card game back when we were kids but The target group essentially stayed centered around the same group of people, the game aged with us.
My own place in the demographics: I'm a 36 year old woman who didn't watch the anime. I tried watching it fairly recently but I couldn't get into it. Played magic, pokemon and heartstone before and got initially interested in the game due to you guy's collabs with the professor. I got a paper deck but I only play master duel because I don't have anyone to play paper with xD I don't spend much, part is that I have a low income job (childcare) and part because I have another even more expensive hobby in warhammer. So I just have a traptrix deck built from 3x structure and a trio of dragon decks from one of those 3 decks in one boxes. I've spent like 10 USD on master duel to finish up my traptrix deck there as well.
31 year-old duelist here. I think we actually have two big problems: a new player problem and a player retention problem. I love this game. I still play this game. But I find myself gravitating toward alternate formats (GOAT and Edison), Speed Duel, and Master Duel more than the actual TCG. I have many friends (about a dozen) both in America and Japan who used to play YGO - many at the competitive level - and no longer play at all. From what they tell me it really just comes down to the game feeling unfun to play. These are duelists who were better players than me - and they find it unfun. I think the game just has become not so much too complicated, but too tedious. I don’t mind losing and I actually prefer the depth of the modern game to older formats. But what I don’t like is feeling like so many duels rely on “drawing the out” or devolve into locking your opponent out with negates and floodgates. It’s never fun to lose, but one thing my competitive friends have told me is that they don’t actually enjoy winning either because it doesn’t feel like you outplayed your opponent in many games - you just were able to hand trap them to death or hand multiple negates or floodgates. And I’m somewhat inclined to agree. I think Konami could easily just create a viable alternate format that is still modern and follows a separate banlist. I don’t think the speed duel model is viable because it’s too far behind and not as exciting - plus you have to buy separate product that isn’t viable in the main format. If we can’t keep players that already enjoy the franchise, then what hope do we have of appealing to new players? Millennials/Gen Z are always going to be the main demographic of Yugioh because we have an emotional connection to it. You don’t put up with the abuse from Konami if you don’t have some sort of emotional tie to Yugioh. But because of the complexity and lack of a good master duel anime series…it makes it difficult to capture the imagination of kids like Yugioh did for us. Maybe that’s just not something that can be replicated and it was a moment in time and the game is just going to sort of survive off our gen. I don’t know. But I think if Konami brought back the original anime cast and updated their decks and perhaps launched a format that was similar, but less high octane to master duel format, we might be able to appeal to more people.
@giwrgospetrou1159 😂 Dude don’t project your own issues and emotions onto others. For context, I haven’t played IRL Yugioh since before the pandemic outside of a few remote duels. I don’t buy product much if at all beyond the odd pack here or there. I’m actually very much in the middle ground Paul references in his video. I know how to play the game at a competitive level - I’m not a YugiBoomer who hates pendulums and links - I just choose not to participate because the time and money required is not a worthwhile investment to me anymore. This is kind of the point I think Paul was making. You have to choose between kitchen table casual or hyper competitive YCS and regionals in Yugioh. Most of the fans of this game and franchise exist somewhere in the middle. And Konami is leaving a lot of money on the table failing to appeal to us through products, formats, and events. If I had to choose an event to compete at at a YCS I’d either choose GOAT or Master Duel. The former because it’s a more enjoyable, less tiring version of the TCG. The latter because it is automated and has a lower barrier to entry in terms of price. I’m long past hoping the game will change. Maybe it will but I’m not holding my breath. But I still enjoy collecting and conversing with others in the community.
@@Harry_11 yh me and some friend decided to just collect all the battle-city related speed duel stuff and call it a day, it gives us that kick of nostalgia without the convoluded mess that yugioh has become. and of course a fun and fair evening of duels
I was introduced to Yugioh back in 1st grade in 2001. It was the 100th day of school, and our teacher told us to bring in 100 of something we collect or enjoy. But it needs to be small enough to bring in, so some people brought photos of their stuff or a small portion. But this kid Ian brought in 100 yugioh cards, and he laid them out on the teachers table and i was in aw. I never played or touched a TCG game. But i was intrigued. Cards like Dark Magician and Red Moon Baby caught my eye. He explained what this game was to me, where to find cards, and what to look out for. And i was hooked since. I was into the game deep, made hardcore strong decks, and followed the metas through Beckett all throughout the 2000's. I even remember convincing my dad to somehow agree to buying a full set of Exodia pieces from a listing in a said Beckett magazine, which he ultimately never did.(That butthole, but they were around $200 lol) - Now im married and with someone who grew up with the same things i did, Yugioh included. And we play it every night. I never stopped playing and following it, and reintroducing the game to my wife several years and explaining all the new mechanics and card gimmicks was intimidating to her at first. But she grew to love the modern version of Yugioh. The real damn shame is how exclusive Konami makes this game. It's expensive as all hell and considering this game is mostly played by people my age, they know how the booster pack/box game works with your pull chances. And it's rare for me to see Yugioh cards in casual stores. But thankfully digital outlets and digital games exist for kids to try online.
That is why I will never buy boosters again, I won't support gambling. Until the day, they make everything Common and Booster, just for people who want higher rarities than common
Hey Paul, I've been subscribed since 2016, but this is my first time commenting on one of your videos. I'm 27 years old and started playing Yu-Gi-Oh in 2nd grade (I'm definitely your key demographic). I very casually play GOAT and Edison format, so I hardly spend any money on the game. I also don't play at locals for a few reasons: my deck wouldn't last a turn, I value community and player interaction more than winning, and let's be honest, the card shop can be stinky when tournaments are going on. I had a great time going to locals when I was in high school though. Even then, the main demographic was older than me, with most players being around 18-30. There were a few kids and teenagers, but we were the anomaly. Also, kids/teenagers aren't really respected in these communities because either we don't have good decks, valuable trades, money to spend on the game, or understand the game less (Hot take: even Edison format can be complicated). I saw this in my local Pokémon TCG community too, so it's not just Yu-Gi-Oh. But back to the question; how much am I willing to spend on Yu-Gi-Oh? I've never liked spending money on expensive cards or valuable rarities. I've always played budget decks and never had a problem with it. I would be willing to spend money on a playmat or two, but I find Yu-Gi-Oh playmat designs to be boring and lacking a bit of uniqueness. Luckily, Master Duel is free and a way for casual players like me to scratch the Yu-Gi-Oh itch without having to spend a lot of money or time. I'd say what stops me the most from spending more is just the lack of wanting to play newer Yu-Gi-Oh. I'm not trying to say caveman Yu-Gi-Oh good, new bad. I just don't enjoy it, but I respect that most players really like that kind of play. I mostly play with my girlfriend, and she only enjoys old school Yu-Gi-Oh. Even GOAT format is challenging for her, so there's no way she would enjoy newer Yu-Gi-Oh. I'm not sure if it's worth mentioning, but she did enjoy Pokémon more than Yu-Gi-Oh. Pokémon's rules are much more straight forward and little room for play error. She also dislikes having to analyze every novel of card text in each Yu-Gi-Oh. Great content as always. Keep it up. Thanks.
I’m not sure how it is in the TCG, but in the OCG(Japan), you can answer a survey for Konami which asks questions that figure out demographics and a get a free pack. Let’s them figure out this stuff easy
I think card shops are a hard sample to judge. I regularly go to Pokémon tournaments at card stores, and even then, it’s very rare to see someone who isn’t an adult. Regionals and larger tournaments are different, but I do think local card stores (at least in my experience) are heavily weighed towards older players. However, Yu-Gi-Oh! no longer has the playground audience like Pokémon still does. I think Yu-Gi-Oh! has lost its grip on the multimedia aspect that drew us in when we were kids. For example, how many of us watched the anime first? Here in the UK, The BBC and Pokémon Company are doing massive pushes for the new anime being on BBC iPlayer. I’m 32 and got into Yu-Gi-Oh! back at school. I’ve always been casual - I got back into the game during COVID and I don’t think I’ve bought a single core set booster pack. I’ll buy a tin once a year, or a structure deck and some singles. I mainly collect now because I have no-one to play with lol. My youngest brother plays Pokémon competitively, but always looks at Yu-Gi-Oh! with scorn (he thinks the card names are embarrassing lol).
I just turned 22 and I was always a little bit into yugioh but never really learned how to play it till late 2022. I grew up watching GX and I loved the game, but I was really young, so I didn't understand much of what was happening. I used to play with my friends with fake cards, but they were all in English and I am from Portugal, so we made effects up. I sporadically played some old yugioh games like Duel Academy for GBA... but then years went by until I got duel links in 2017. I played it for a few months, but I fell out of love for yugioh. Until 2022, when I decided to reinstall Duel Links and I finally understood most concepts about the game, understood the meta, what makes a deck good or not... Now I buy physical cards for collection or to make decks that I enjoy but are not necessarily competitive, like Dracoslayers or Satellarknights. In order for me to enjoy playing this game, I have to like the deck itself, enjoy the playstyle, the art... and I don't get the appeal of playing meta honestly. Although I would love to olay competitively, at locals, but with my rogue decks. For more context: I started working very recently, so I can't spend much but when I do it's mostly for collection. I have been trying to get some friends who are the same age as me into the game, without much success, besides 1 friend.
. Unfortunately there will always be a meta no matter what you play but you can def take the decks you like to play to locals and shit. Just be prepared to go against the meta.
26 going on 27, Yu-Gi-Oh! fanatic since it came stateside in '02 and have mostly stuck with it since. Grew up addicted to the anime & manga, playing the video games, and - being an only child - getting way more cards than I honestly should have lol. Fell off for a little bit during the late 5D's era, got way into the meta during early ZEXAL, but quit cold turkey and haven't played competitively since 2012. Nowadays I'm pretty much exclusively into collecting cards for fun, playing the old video games & watching/reading the animanga, and occasionally building a fun petdeck for collection's sake here and there. YGO, like any other expensive hobby, really isn't fun when you're blowing all of your disposable income on it, let alone money as a whole. I've gone through periods of varying intensity in which the cards have consumed the vast majority of my fun budget and it just wasn't very fun. Most recently, I found myself enjoying YGO a *LOT* more when I spent $20 on a very badly-wanted copy of Mystic Piper to complete my playset, and put the remaining $180 from a $200 fun budget toward a very badly-*needed* new laptop. Everything in moderation.
Almost 36. Been playing since SDY and SDK. I’ve hoped in and out of the game over the years, competed at some high level events, SJC Houston in 2008 and YCS Ft Worth in 2019. I buy the cards I want, much to the frustration of my wife, but it’s a big part of my life. I even found a way to make TCGs my career.
I’ve turned 40 last month (jeez), and I bought a Speed Duel box set yesterday. That’s my first Yu-Gi-Oh purchase ever, and I’ve never played MTG or Pokémon. What attracts me to Yu-Gi-Oh is what may deter some people: I kinda like that it’s not the easiest to get into, that you gotta put in some effort to get to grips with it. While some of the more unelegant game design elements, like the big walls of small font text, are really incomprehensible to me, part of it is also really charming. To me it’s a sign that despite it being imperfect, there must be something of real value underneath, given that so many people still love the game and support it with such devotion.
Problem I see Being someone that got into it back in 02-03, the anime drove the card buying and it played like chess. I can't keep up with how it's played today and that pushes younger kids out, cause I was like 10-11, I couldn't imagine trying to play today at that age.
I'm 35 Houston TX area I was and have also been a Yu-Gi-Oh appreciator more than a player but now with Duel Links I'm in it more than I ever been enjoying and learning all the archetypes and characters. Which made me watch all 3 days of the UDS stream this past weekend... Just like any sport or game Yu-Gi-Oh is an equalizer...if you are good enough with your strategy you are good enough bottom line.
This is all true. Yugioh started out somewhat simple when i was 9 years old, but now I'm 30, and the game is very complex. The game is very tough for newcomers because there is a ton to learn, and to be competitive, you need to purchase the most expensive cards, which are priced ridiculously high for cardboard pictures. I played yugioh as a kid but as I aged into high school and college level, I became very involved in athletics and sorta put yugioh on the shelf. Things eventually slowed down in life for me, and I suffered a sports injury that affects my lifestyle, so I picked up my deck of yugioh cards and went to a locals and got obliterated. The game is wild, and I had to do a ton of studying and purchasing to be somewhat competitive at the locals. Konami came out with this new 2 player starter deck that you guys reviewed in a video, and that seemed like a fail. The game is fun but only for us in the age group that you mentioned because of the ties we have towards it from our childhood. I don't think there will be too many new players and once we age, the game will age to nonexistence, which is sad.
I was about 5 or 6 when LOB dropped at my local shopping mart in my small town. I was so excited to get cards from the show; I got the Kaiba and Yugi starters soon after. I had tons of cards, but no one to play with...and the game wasn't very "intuitive" for a kid like me. Now I'm 31 and after getting into Master Duel, I have bought a fair bit of singles and I love playing
I'm in my early 20's and considered myself a budget player, I don't tend to buy cards over $7 dollars unless it's like the last card I need to complete an Archetype collection. I also keep a lot of bulk and open packs over buying singles because my goal is to get at least 3 copies of every card a normal person can get, and so I don't buy the new biggest cards or the best decks because I know they will be reprinted some day. It has been annoying for me knowing that if I just gave up on the collecting part I might be able to save up for the top decks, but sometimes those decks don't seem fun to play once their run is done, like Tearlameant, their time is up (hopefully) and as a for fun deck they don't seem that fun since it's just a fusion deck meant to go into general good stuff and not much in archetype for them that hasn't been banned. And my current deck is actually Vanquish Soul because I pulled 2 QCR's from AGOV and traded them for all the Vanquish Soul cards I was missing, and I do kinda wish I could play Snake-Eyes but I don't have Bonfires or wanted posters
I'm 25 with a full time job. I live within walking distance of 2 Locals that are like 25 blocks apart from each other with 1 being an OTS and the other not being an OTS. I mostly will spend money or trade for cards that I absolutely need for a deck, though I mostly just play budget variants of decks. I play Branded, Purrely Spright, Pend Magicians, and Fire King Tri-Brigade. I'm thinking about building Chimera now since I have all the Branded cards, and also with the Chimera cards having gone down in price.
Totally agree on the disposable income part. My card buying ramped way up after I got an advanced degree. I don’t want to pay anything over $40 for any card still, but I will if I have to in order to either make my deck or complete a collection. It’s definitely not ideal. I think you’re on to something. Yugioh is skating by on the newly-increased earning potential of the same kids who liked it when they were young.
The yugioh tv show was simply never as popular as the original show was in the early 2000s. A lot of us grew up with good memories of it as kids and still play it. Other generations don’t have that connection
I was in my early 20's when Yugioh came out in the states . Was my break from MtG that lasted 8 yr. I keep to a budget usually buy packs and tins. Not out for the newest decks right away. Can wait for the reprints especially since I also play online so get practice with and against the new decks. A lot of the younger players I know of are playing because they have a older family member that already play or did. No new cartoon or any mass media I think hurts recruitment of younger players. Another problem from my point of view is you need more places to play. I live in a fairly populated area have 7 card shops in a 20 mile radius but only 2 sell Yugioh products and only 1 holds events.
I’m 31 and turn 32 next month. Been playing Floo for months for in person events because it was like $70 and barely cost anything to upgrade it and buy new tools for it. I’m saving money in case I end up having a kid or other major expense comes up and there’s other better things to invest in (music gear, real estate) Runick Earthbound looks like the next budget deck I pick up once I’ve become the bird master
As a new player trying to get back into Yu-Gi-Oh, it's extremely hard to justify spending just even $10 for a single card when I go to locals and still get smacked by people's that are easily hundreds of dollars
I'm 16, and this April i'll be 17. I usually play duel nexus, although I like duel links and máster duel. I play a dark magician deck. I started playing because i loved the first anime, and I've been playing since I'm 13. To be honest, i dont care about other decks like soulburner, tearlaments, kashtira, dragon maid or other one: if yugi didn't played that card, it doesnt catch my attention. I live in latinamerica, so i dont know no one who has my age and also plays yugioh. I'm also quitting playing, because: I cant share my hobby with anyone, and homework its getting bigger and harder. Speaking of paper yugioh, its too expensive... I used to dream to have the whole yugi deck when was younger, I even tried printing my own cards!!! now days, i dont think i need nor want a single card.
I am 31, and just recently regained interest in YGO after a 15 years hiatus. I'm mainly interested in legacy formats such as goat or edison, and enjoy watching progression series as well. Which seems natural to me, as the entry barrier into modern YGO feels very, very strong, especially if you combine nostalgia with middle-aged stubbornness.All in all I'm glad that there are enough adults around the world who make legacy and classic formats playable. I feel quite discouraged to buy any new cards however, because there is no way i will pull any cards that are compatible with the formats i like to play. On top of that, some of my friends feel the same way, and it's hard for us all to acquire old cards in any market for an affordable price. So Dueling Book it is. I would totally jump on a set of reprints for legacy YGO, immediately. I think a lot of people in my age bracket would as well.
Not a competitive player, so I typically don't spend much on any individual card - but totaling up what I've spent is probably still kind of high. I'm probably on the older end, but I'm still in school and on a budget. I probably wouldn't spend more than $10 (USD) for any given card at this point. I'd prefer the cards not be expensive, and it definitely feels bad to be priced out of certain cards - but I don't mind it that much. It's also the way the hobby is designed, and demanding it work differently to suit what I want feels entitled; I'd compare it to demanding an artist lower their commission fees because I don't want to pay their rates. Does this work for competitive play? It's probably not ideal... but chess is a fantastic game for people looking for a hobby with competitive legitimacy that can accommodate all sorts of players. For people just looking for casual fun, there are plenty of fulfilling, affordable hobbies - drawing, cooking, jogging, reading, writing, and chess (again!) all come to mind. YGO consequently becomes something you'd only do if you really wanted to do it. I think wristwatches are very cool, but the solution to Rolexes being expensive is just... not buying them. I do like it when cards are affordable, though - I was thrilled that the 2022 tins, Magnificent Mavens, and especially Rarity Collection were such great products for making things more accessible.
Haha big 30 is two months away for me Paul, so I feel ya. I was very sceptical of the new-blood entering this game when I hopped back in 2 years ago. Everyone felt like a returning player or a veteran, but that was probably the Master Duel effect of 2022. However, lately I've seen a fair few teenagers buying decks, seeming to be getting into the game which is encouraging to see. Whether they'll stick with it is another question entirely...
27, used to watch the old 4Kids dub as it was airing in the early 00s and had some cards and merch but never learned to play. Fast forward to now -- for about a year I've been having fun playing a lot the video games (Master Duel, Rush Duel, Link Evo, etc) to get a basic understanding of the rules. I wanna venture into playing paper YGO proper soon. I find it so cool that the franchise has thrived for so long and want it to keep going for as long as possible!
Im 29 I have played Magic for 11 years. Yu-Gi-Oh at its most expensive is still comparatively cheap as hell. Nux did LOB-5Ds drafts that made me nostalgic. Prof did his vids with you. And that got me back in So bought myself a HERO deck for like $100 and have been playing on masterduel and have been having fun. (except barrone he can suck my super poly) Only a single store in my whole state has events...
I’m an ex-player in my 30’s who has been clean from the game for over a decade now and there’s a lot of things that make the game really unappealing to me. But imagine you’re playing at the recommended product age. First off, the games feel very uninviting to the younger generations. The joke is that the players can’t read, but while self-deprecating, there’s a bit of truth to the potentially paragraph that is often a wall of text for an effect. No sane person would recommend this to a person that meets the minimum age requirement for the game. Second off, there’s no real separation of leagues and tournament formats. While players tend to have a “Master Rule” format, the game really doesn’t feel like what it could be. The truth is that Pokémon has encouraged players to join in events with age cap restrictions, format rotations, and the game still feels like a trainer battle. Magic has an eternal format, a modern format, EDH (Commander), and even Standard. Yugioh on the other hand doesn’t have an age cap format. It doesn’t have card rotation to keep the game fresh. You might be facing a fully grown player who has the ability to play with older cards such as Cold Wave and you might not have heard about the floodgate. Third off, the game is not simple or straightforward. If you’re a child, then you need to play a strategy that is neither convoluted nor complex. Eschew obfuscation. Otherwise you’ll see said person possibly playing video games instead. And finally, the product pricing and print quantity are some of the most prohibitively important factors to consider when finding a new audience. If the child can’t afford to play the game, then they might not want to buy the product. The child will likely want to choose a competitor such as MTG or Pokemon. Maybe Digimon? Maybe Cardfight Vanguard? One Piece? Dragon Ball Super? Lorcana? It’s really bad for Yugioh but honestly, I don’t play Yugioh anymore.
I think this is where a “meta” focused anime would come in handy. If we took real decks played them out, wrote it down and then made it into anime form. There would be a visual learning device for younger and even older generations to jump off in. I’m not 100% sure on this next part: but it doesn’t need to be about the end of the world either. Make it like sports anime is made, just focusing on the players, the game and the cards. With that being said, this is just my opinion.
I came back to Yu-Gi-Oh a few months ago for the first time since duel monsters was on tv. I only play master duel but I don't know how much longer I can stand it. There are way too many ways to summon and infinite negates. But the biggest crime I've seen is the extra deck. Nobody plays an archetype anymore. It's only the current meta mixed with chaos angle, Barron, etc. If you want Yu-Gi-Oh to grow it need to go back to it's roots.
I'm 25. Startwd Playing the game at 6. Stopped playing at 14. Restarted last year. I wont even pay more than 20 dollars for one card i need. I cant justify 130 on 1 bondfire, non the less three. That's my wholw grocery bill for the month
If we're talking about weird demographics, it's interesting that, out of all the major TCGs, YGO has by far the largest black playerbase. At least from my own personal experience, every other card game I've played - MtG, Pokemon, Vanguard, and Digimon - has an overwhelmingly white playerbase in the West, while I could always expect to see a good number of black players at YGO tournaments. I'm not really sure why YGO attracts so many black players compared to other TCGs, but it's certainly an interesting phenomenon. Maybe that could be an idea for a future video?
Turned 30 last August. Life feels better knowing i'm not necessarily considered young anymore. Been playing "Eternal duelist soul" on GBA more than ever too ha
Definitely in the 30s but didn't get back into ygo until duel links and then fully when master duel came about. I'll buy a pack here and there for collection sake but only duel digitally. I absolutely could not justify shelling out stacks to make a half-way decent deck to play in locals.
I think the best option to get more younger kids interested in YGO is make a good non-card related game. I dont think Konami is competent enough to pull it off, but that's probably the best way to get younger folks into the general YGO sphere. There's the anime, but an anime simply isnt going to cut it these days.
@valutaatoaofunknownelement197 I think YGO would probably reach out to a whole new group of people if they shifted their anime away from "We're playing a card game" to something along the lines of the stories they tell in Master Duel. I dont watch anime, but I certainly would watch 1 or 2 seasons of a World Legacy or Albaz anime (assuming it wasnt some half assed garbage)
@@Squibbly_Squelch Fair point. It would be kind of difficult to introduce new players this way. MTG didn't have this issue as far as I know because their lore books are separate from the game itself, and are more of a supplement to dedicate fans of the franchise.
One of my big problems of course is the money so let's say you get these very expensive cards you go to your locals having high hopes just to loose to decks that are a lot cheaper than your's and then you feel like why did I pay all that just to loose to decks like Dinomorphia Labrynth and cards like the Masjesties😂?
I'm 29 been playing since a kid. I play master duel because i'm not willing to spend money on the game. I just can't see myself going to a yugioh gathering with some new cards just to get swamped. My old collection isnt with me atm. But its still old enough to not have cards that are effective.
$20 is the very most i’ll spend on a single card, and I’ve only done it twice. I actually bought an SP LK and Bystial Dis Pater for about $8 each online thinking i just got a great deal only to be called out at locals for playing with proxies 😂 but they let it slide. Lost anyway 💯
I’ve played the game since I was 5 went to tournaments went to regionals. Had a team and also amazing experiences but now I just play master duel and the most I’m willing to spend is 10 bucks at most a month if even that. I have no problem we’re modern yugioh is as a game but I definitely have a different take on the game because of my age. Yugioh cards in my opinion are the most volatile market prices for cards. Cards spike and cards fall of and when they do they fall of hard. It’s very and I mean very hard to justify buying yugioh cards if I’m not going to tournaments all the time. Love the game and hope it keeps going.
As a 2000 year old Pharaoh, I see no issue with the prices. I simply Mind Crush anyone who has the cards I want and take them to -make my deck better- save the world.
I have the money but won't spend 100 on tcg upshifted cards (SP Little Knight) cause it's a ripoff. Also yugioh is very newcomer unfriendly due to lack of true more casual formats to get new players in
Technically, Yu-Gi-Oh! is a children's card game. However, if you find a kid that's good at it, you should consider sending them to law school lol. I'm 31 and this is my first year coming back to Yu-Gi-Oh!. I definitely spent over a $1000 this year on it. I built my Master Duel deck irl with fancy rarities, got a lot of interesting starter/structure decks, designed and got printed my own 2 player playmat. It's fun to grab some older, simpler decks and play with friends. Some who've never even heard of the game lol
I am 33 going to 34. Started with the first Kaiba deck. I got back to collecting Yugioh in 2018. Master Duel took me to speed in the last two years I put in more than 1000+ hours.
I'm 29 and my brothers at 24, 22 and 19 and we all dropped Yu-Gi-Oh I'm the only one who keeps some sort of presence strictly online as it's too expensive and the formats are always the same it's a very typical state. 2 of my brother's like control or slower type decks and we are just tired of combos but that's just me and them and the one brother who quit before us all did was a combo heavy ftk for the win boom or bust kind of player but he quit first because of the prices he just felt it was way to expense to stay at the rasors edge of competitive play. He looks at it a few weeks ago and said he has no interest in coming back and he's only been out for 2 years and I'm not looking into buying anything else and I've only been out for a year. We have all played since I was 19 so its not like we all were new we've been through it all and it doesn't really appeal to most of my brother's except me and another but price is keeping us away. Strangely I moved on to 40k and that's a way better hobby as I get to have something that can't be banned or gets power crept, that and it's actually a two player game lol.
There are kids that buy Yu-Gi-Oh cards I see it all the time when I go to Walmart and Target. Most kids are not going to go to a card shop until they're about I would say like 16 to probably 18. Most kids are going to be playing with their friends not at a card shop. And again most card shops are usually not close by suburbs. Or even in walking distance for most kids.
Im in my 30s. I'll get a pack or two if theres a card I like in a set. If don't get it I just wait until the price goes down for singles. Then again I tend to want cards for astetics so rather than competitive reasons
Yo, trust man, I agree. As has someone that's gonna be 30 in a month. I realize now, concerts movie tickets clothes video games, As a kid, you have a bit more time after school on the weekends. Depending on your life but you didn't have Was money, unless your parents just gave you a lot of money, You didn't have it, now your an adult You have money n less time now you can enjoy your hobbies. More, but those hobbies have gotten more expensive and then depending on the companys "Demographic" not the real buyer, They will say it's for children when we all know. Children cannot afford this stuff the way it's being bought, ppl just cope, it's sad but it's true.
35 been playing off n on since LoB I havent played comp since 2015 and with a job that makes low 20s ph working 45 to 50 hrs per week i barely can afford living costs at a sort of comfortable lvl so to those that make far more than i do good for you but 1200 on a deck every other month plus another 1200(min) in travel expenses is just beyond my understanding if you can afford meta and bimonthly vacations great most of us cant tho Keep Dueling Peace
If the game can't get fresh blood into the game, it's just gonna get more expensive as older players drop out, cuz that's the only way the game is gonna stay alive. It's not exactly economy of scale, but it's similar.
Yu-gi-oh products are the worst to buy right now though. You purchase a box and don't even get enough cards to make a deck that works by goat standards. I've opened 1 box of the last 4 sets because it's fun and I've been unable to even make a "Fun" deck.
I think one way of attracting more people/newer audience is to completely change the anime because that is a gateway into becoming interested in yugioh. I don't think having a show displaying people playing a card game is entertaining because who cares about the world ending and the only way to save it is a card game and the power of friendship. I think they should take some of the lore content from master duel solo mode and create an epic fantasy anime using the yugioh archetypes. Give personalities to the characters we see on the cards. The ice barriers might not be great in the card game but they have extremely interesting lore. Anime is the most popular now then ever before in western culture so why not use that popularity to your advantage.
I return to play yugioh recently and i found entertaining trying to catch up with the game only to realize that the current game it's boring and ended up again with the same though i had when i leave the game, it's just paper overpriced; so i only find a cheap archetype, build a new deck and leave it there for the moment. Catching up i play Duel Links and Master Duel and the fact that the games help you establishing the rules and effects helps a lot to learn the game, but still, nowadays it's just too complex
Ngl i feel this I am young and I can't afford shit which sucks but that is why I like master duel it makes it easier and plus even if I could afford the cards yugioh isn't much of a big thing where I am from we don't even have a locals man homie
theres also no good anime to hook younger audiences. end of the day a vast majority of that demo probably were kids/teens during the anime dm/gx/5ds and thats honestly where you pick up the bear bones mechanics that attracts new players. the way the game is now.... its clearly not attracting new, never before played players. dont know how they can put the 1-2 turn games into a entertaining show lmaooo. People familiar with the basics of the mechanics might wonder back into the forest but newcomers are def evading
I don't thinks it was considered a children card game in japan, but they chose with the US to market Yu-Gi-Oh as a children card game to sell the card like toy to compete with Pokemon
When we were kids, the internet or buying singles was not as readily available. Yes, you use to be able to buy singles from the magazines and what not, but it was not as common unless you were lucky enough to actually have a card shop near you, so gambling and buying packs was a legitimate way of getting cards. As for the demographic, Konami has put zero effort in obtaining new customers. Outside of the Master Duel hype, which I believe was more promoted by streamers hopping on a fad, Konami has practically done nothing to recruit new players. Sure, we had the failure of a starter box, but putting product on the shelf that people are already not looking at cannot be considered recruitment. They need a new show or something of the sorts to attract people.
Don't forget that outside of the competitive sphere you would only ever buy a structure deck 1 time and collect cards from boosters to improve it. Buying 3x product x to have all cards 3x was something I only noticed when watching YT videos where budget friendly decks were presented in 2019😅😅😅 and I was collecting cards already for a long time.
There's also the problem that people outright refuse to accept that Yugioh can be anything other than Duel Monsters as far as the mainstream goes. You show Zexal or VRAINS to a normie and the first words past their lips will be "okay but where's Yugi, who's this nobody?" The yugiboomer mindset is so deep-rooted in popular culture that even if you found someone to introduce the modern game to, they lose interest as soon as they find out that yes, things have changed a lot since 2004. It's frankly a miracle that we've gotten hardcore-targeted things like the Charmer figurines and Zeus model kit in the first place.
I'm not sure if I buy the Yugi-Boomer thing anymore. Kids today have no reason to know who Yugi and his friends are these days. Maybe if an older sibling shows them the show on Netflix or Amazon. But due to how old it is, I doubt any of them care that they can't play Feral Imp in attack position. The few young people I encountered at the shop these days would rather role-play as Yusei because that is what they grew up on. Konami needs to focus on getting new kids into the fan base, not old folks like us who will always come back to see if their old deck got new support.
The way Pokémon TCG handles younger players is fantastic, - They do different leagues based on age, - They encourage people to come to events, teaching other people, bring friends along through awards - Pokémon isn't too combo heavy or relies on triggers so kids can play at their own pace, - The game is pretty simple even with the new mechanics where while Yu-gi-oh can easily overwhelmed people - Most kids normally prefer Pokémon due to it having more of a animalistic designs aka being cute or cool where newer yugioh focused more on humanoid designs which are normally for anime fan which are older.
@@ToMaSsS10True, there are countless about of anime for kids in japan like there tons of cartoons for kids here in the west. Most anime fans in the west are normally around the 13+ age I was talking more about the TCG over the OCG. I don't know the state of OCG when it comes to the age range.
I work in public schools and I've seen upper elementary and middle school play Duel Links and Master Duel on phones. It seems like it's "easier" or appealin' for them to play on digital with their friends than play paper
You could make a Master Duel account right now and have a tier 0 deck worth $500+ completely free after a few hours of playing, extremely costly to play competitive Yu-Gi-Oh physically these days.
@@ChiefinPack It is much cheaper these days to buy singles, premade decks and bundles online rather than buying packs. It is still expensive either way though, don't get me wrong. Alot of it also depends on what kind of deck you want to make. The great thing about Duel Links and Master Duel is that you are able to try out many different kinds of decks. In Master Duel you have the tutorials for new players and the gates give you a good feel for many of the different archetypes available.
I had my cards in school when I was a child, I would not let my children take them to school. I made too many experiences with thiefs and thiefs who thought "rare Hunters" were cool and ended as thiefs. Cards don't have names on them, you do not risk it with a smartphone, because it is too hard to steal, while it is being used
Semi-unrelated and long comment ahead. I'm in my early 20's, and I wanted to get back into Yugioh because I finally have a job that allows me to save some disposable income. I get to the only card shop near me that I know for a fact sells products and holds events for Yugioh. I pick up a couple singles and booster packs, and then I ask them if I could order a few playsets from them, and they tell me that they will stop having anything Yugioh by the end of the month because of sales. My best guess is what you mentioned about how sets are made in a way that makes players prefer singles over sealed. Guess I'll stick to Master Duel for the time being. Maybe I'll pick up some of their remaining stuff for collecting and drafting purposes, or even consider playing another tcg in paper play over there. Personally, I never intended to spend too much on building meta decks; I only wanted to mess around with budget or rogue options to try at locals and maybe meet new people that are into the game. Sorry for the long comment. I only wanted to share my experience.
I had a similar experience, though my local store has some big whales that buy 2/3 cases almost each expansion. I picked three Dark World structures and decided I wanted to try to play and meet new people. Now I've met one of the best guys I've ever seen, so don't give up my man. Even if you avoid meta, there may be some friends waiting down the corner.
@@KiryuSpardaThanks. I will certainly keep trying, maybe there's other shops near me that I could find or some people interested in yugioh at that previous store. Funnily enough, I also picked up the Dark World structure to begin playing. I just thought the art was cool, but looking more into it, it has some interesting plays.
To me, best thing that happened to Yugioh was masterduel. Made it easy to jump back to the game and rage at the comfort of my own sofa. Its quite affordable to play and visually appealing
On the topic of "getting what you get" out of packs, it's just not working. The cards just don't work if you don't get their in-archetype supports. They simply do not work by themselves, and people at locals are often playing competent decks. You simply need to buy singles or the alternative is hundreds of packs.
It also doesn't help when the cards you need are short-printed (Konami might deny it, but they totally short-print specific cards in booster boxes) and go for ridiculous prices on the third-party market, so you're either spending $100 on a booster box risking not pulling that card or you're spending $100 on one card when you need a playset. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
The age rating is probably more in regards to the level of "mature" content in the game, rather than it's complexity. Tho an argument could definitely be made for Yu-Gi-Oh not being 6+ in that regard either at times...
Yugioh especially has a problem with overpriced staples. Like Magic definitely has the same issues but I don't see new cards hitting 120 for magic. And magic's staples are already way too high
yugioh cards are cool but the problem is they short print cards and want everyone to pay top dollar for something they like, Konami would have a bigger audience like Pokemon if they just printed more
Im 22. Grew up 100% on Yugioh. Ny locals had a 13 year old coming regularly last year. Majority of my locals and the ones in my area is majority post-18 but pre-26. Im honestly pretty happy
Most of the people i see playing Yugioh are between 18 and 35, most commonly in their 20's. Being able to actually afford the cards is a big reason why mainly adults seem to be playing. I spend about 50-100$ a month on this game and you just can't do that as a kid unless you have a rich family. But at the same time Yugioh isn't really marketed towards kids anymore. The days of Yugioh on Saturday morning cartoons are over and it seems that Konami is leaning heavily into appealing to their already established player base instead of retaking their spot with Pokemon as an entry level "children's card game". So it's partly Konami's fault for not marketing towards kids anymore, but also just a product of this game's age and the kids who used to be the demographic have all grown up and are still playing.
I'm 32 and i honestly moved on from Yugioh to Pokémon because of card pricing and tournament prizing. I've been into Yugioh since 2002 and came back in 2017. Honestly, what drove me away from the game isn't the game itself, but is the economy and traveling.
I'd much rather spend $100 on a meta deck + trainer staples that will be reasonably good for ~2 years vs $1000 on a meta deck that is probably going to get nerfed hard by a banlist or the next archetype that hard counters it in 3-6 months. Pokemon events are also on a different level compared to YGO events for what is essentially the same travel cost.
@@itsyaboiherman Yeah, the TPC has significantly more money despite Konami dipping into casinos and stuff. More of a reason to pick the other side of the fence if anything. YuGiOh and Konami just don't have much going for it, it's hard to defend from any standpoint other than "I simply prefer how the game plays".
Was just chatting with a buddy about the demographics of games aimed at "kids". Pokemon, Minecraft, Yu-gi-oh, even Fortnite, all played by adults more than children and we reasoned that it has much to do with playing games our entire lives and never growing out of them. Including the ones I mentioned and many more. The larger point about Yu-gi-oh as a starter game is spot on. It's not the easiest, imho in part because of games with "resource"-based systems being quicker to grasp. Play whatever you can whenever you can! takes some getting used to. Also, current metas being intimidating. Just some thoughts. Edit: Buy packs for fun, not need. Also spot on.
I’m 33, going on 34 this year. I’m pretty casual. I will go to regionals usually always and my locals when I can. For me I’m not one to care to play super competitive. I’m pretty paycheck to paycheck, so my ability to shell out for current top decks isn’t particularly feasible. But that’s not to say I dont take my main deck in and get some w’s lol. I’m a HERO main and will always play it. So THANKFULLY cause of that, it curbs the need of a lot of current stuff minus utility cards. Last regionals I placed 127 or something out of 490. I had two ties which would’ve bumped me up wayy more if I didn’t tie. So I’m very content with where I am with YGO as a whole. Another cool thing of not needing to spend an arm and a leg for current meta related cards is I can enjoy sealed products a little more too. It’s always fun just collecting.
I'm 26, almost 27. I'm financially able to cover buying the full snake-eye deck easily without any worries, even though I probably shouldn't. I don't like these prices but I understand that if I want to compete I have to pay for what I need. Personally, I would rather play the play and not the wallet, but that's not always how it works out.😊
Reality is that youth cares mostly about digital entertainment nowadays. Especially youth that has hobbies centered around anime and games. They're not going to play the actual TCG with their friends. In terms of digital YGO your options are Master Duel and Duel Links, which both have significant limitations. These games simply do not capture young new players, and so the demographic gets no new blood. This is why we are left with the demographic that has been playing YGO since the late 90s / early 2000s. If we want new YGO players and stop the demographic from rapidly aging, we need to actually provide a better digital experience in a way that can also transition to a real world experience. Also card prices need to drop massively. I looked at buying a decent Swordsoul Tenyi deck recently, which hasn't been remotely meta for a while now, and it's still like $100-150. That is an absurd price for what I would consider a very solid entry level deck into locals, and is well out of the price range for the average kid. Comparing this to my $40 Crusadia deck from a few years ago, which was actually a very solid deck, the prices are just ridiculous.
In regards of kids, there is one very important thing to understand is that even with the internet, the information they have access to is very limited. While YGO surely has a "no kids problem", even games like Pokemon are VERY localized in the sense that kids usually pick up stuff from a store like Walmart, or anything similar (even a Toys' Shop) but they have no idea about clubs and such to exist to begin with. All these hobby stores selling cards but not providing a space to actually play is another discussion that could very much be interesting, but even more so how ordering stuff due to the internet is easy and they do not even think about the possibility to check out anything like an LGS. One thing that certainly is NOT true since post-covid is that TCGs are dying. Far from it, due to quarantine people are craving for IRL activities, and tabletops and board games are on the rise alongside of card games. It's just that people has to understand that more than 90% of the people do not crave for what an LGS even has to offer due to not wanting to be competitive or not fully understanding the advantages of such a place. If someone's in an LGS, they already have some competition or tournament-entry in their mind, people rarely go to such places anymore to just trade or randomly play, practice etc., especially in games where there are multiple formats. TCGs became a tool for friends to hang out, which is awesome for both the games and these groups, but it surely is bothersome for the competitive scene and/or LGS to stay alive. P.S. Also there is another discussion that I didn't comment upon, and this is specifically only true in YGO and that's how women like me are frowned upon, labeled as "impatient" and sometimes even stupid, being extremely discouraging at best to almost borderline having some creepy behavior at worst, making so that many of us will NOT want to join such community and especially an LGS. I used to attend an LGS for another game and I remember so well that the YGO community there has been like the most problematic easily, full of "no deodorant" people and even people who were threatening the LGS workers to the point some of us had to be banned.
Very good video, this happened to old online video games like MMOs etc. as well. The demographic aged and the devs turn to milking the adults with disposable income.
Nice vídeo! I will be 33 this year and I don’t have anyone to play with where I live. I never played competitively (never will) and I enjoy playing casual/goat format. Rewatching the Yugioh series on Netflix lol. My brother used to play with me (he will be 29 this year) but we don’t have that much time anymore. I have bought only a few cards because of nostalgia lately but not trying to build more decks. If anything trying to sell some and keep the ones really like (just so I don’t have to purchase them again if nostalgia hits again lol). In terms of budget… I really can’t see myself expending more than $100 per year in the hobby. I have many responsibilities and with no one to play, it is difficult to see reasons to buy more cards.
I'm 38 and got into Yu-Gi-Oh during the pandemic. I've only ever played in person (with cards) with my gf and most of the time I just play master duel online with random people. I love the game, love how fast it is compared to MTG and pkmn. My only gripe is I have all the options for building decks but have no idea where to start so I just stick with the same structure deck I got in physical and online.
I had a similar problem when choosing to build a deck, I just went with what grabbed my attention the most and started there. For me, I loved the original Yu-Gi-Oh anime, so I built a Dark Magician deck. It bricks and isn’t good, but I have a lot of fun with it and grab some occasional wins.
I used to go to local tournaments back when I was in highschool in the early days of Yu-Gi-Oh all the time. My work schedule usually gets in the way of that nowadays. The last in person tournament I went to was in 2019, and while I got my butt handed to me with my power crept deck I still had fun. I mostly play on Master Duel these days, I even posted some of my recorded duels on my channel. Deck building has always been tricky, but is arguably even harder now than in the early days. The deck I got my butt kicked with in 2019 I was able to sweep a local tournament with around 10 years or so earlier (Endymion deck with some control elements) with a friend of mine that was running a Six Samurai deck. I think you need to try out some different archetypes, which the gates allow you to do and see what suits your playstyle.
take more time to plan out what you want to buy and try your best to constantly optimize your cart on tcg player and take advantage of the cards already in your cart
"Yu-gi-oh is a children's card game", people always tell me this even within the ygo community. it's just not, not anymore. No 12 year old is picking up this game right now, it's too complicated. The way the game currently works will not attract new blood, there's nothing intuitive about it and dare I say, the game isn't fun anymore. Banking on nostalgia and long time players only.
Sorry for the rant; started this as a short comment but ended up writing a whole essay: When I tried to return to the game, I’ve checked out master duel, locals and regionals and even followed a lot of ycs matches online. And tbh, modern combo decks and cards just ruined it for me and now I just stuck to collecting the cards for the sake of nostalgia (and maybe to get some value out of it one day but who knows). To me nowadays, apart from one or two balanced archetypes, all the rest of the cards are just all broken cards with no soul anymore. People add monsters to their decks just for the sake of their effects. And even the normal monsters they add, they do so that they can link or synchro or xyz or wtvr-summon another monster.. again, you guessed it, for its effect. Now yugioh can just remove all monsters from the game and replace them with spells and traps and you’d still have the exact same dynamic you have today with modern yugioh. Which wasn’t the case before where every card type has its reason and diversifying your deck had its justifications which automatically added the fun in the game. Now every card is a search card, every card is a negate card, every deck is an otk deck and it’s not about play strategy anymore. It now only (or let’s say mainly - because you still have that 0.001% draw-luck involved) evolves around deck building. And of course, once you have a deck-building based game, it automatically starts to become a pay to win game and that’s it. And this is exactly why we started having these even more ridiculous new decks; because the only way to keep a pay-to-win game playable, is to produce even more powerful cards for people to buy and play with. And that’s literally the only dynamic you see nowadays. The only thing that kept yugioh enjoyable lately was speed duel. But even that is going into oblivion nowadays 🤷🏻♂️
The cards used to be simple. They aren't anymore. Some people like that, others don't. I know personally once every card had a brick of text I lost interest. It went from any card can be squeezed in to your deck bc you just like them, to you have to play this set of cards or you might as well not bother playing any of them. Buying packs died bc you need archetypes, not cards, so singles or case cracking became the norm for people. Good marketing decision, bad player retention practice.
My sons (all under 10 yrs old) and I play a lot of card games (Pokemon, Yugioh, Flesh and Blood, Lorcana, Digimon, etc.). Yugioh by far is the most complicated and least casual friendly game out of all the major games. My sons love the Yugioh anime and are big fans of Yugioh Sevens. But Rush Duel doesn't seem to have a chance to come to the US unfortunately. My sons would love to play Rush Duels and it would be their number 1 game (they play it on the Switch all the time). But Konami really has nothing targeted to my sons so they have been looking elsewhere. It's really unfortunate. Rush Duels with its simplified rules and fast paced gameplay would be amazing for helping get kids and teenagers into the game. Sadly, Konami seems to be so beholden to the older super competitive players. If Konami doesn't change pace, the game will be dead in another 10 to 20 years.
