Beginners, in particular, might be wondering how to build the ideal balanced deck for Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel. Here's how.

Fans of card games would look at Yu-Gi-Oh! as one of the most popular competitive card games out there, and Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel serves as the most recent and perhaps largest adaptation of the hit card game into a video game format. Adapting the game’s most modern version, Master Duel allows players to compete in intense card games with opponents all over the world with most modern consoles, providing perhaps the biggest Yu-Gi-Oh! experience for both newcomers and savants alike.

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However, newcomers to the franchise might feel a bit overwhelmed when it comes to building just the right deck for their needs. After all, there are not just Spells, Traps, and Monster Cards out there. There are Summoning Methods, various win-cons, and even archetypes to consider. For fans who want to create basic yet balanced decks, how should they proceed?

Before players even begin to construct their ideal Master Duel decks, it’s important to understand how they can acquire their cards to begin with. Similar to other online card games such as Magic Arena, Master Duel also has specific methods of acquiring cards. Here are some things to take note of:

While there’s a 60-card limit to any Master Duel deck, there’s a required minimum of 40 cards for any deck to become competitive. Interestingly enough, even instruction books included in starter decks recommend a 40-card deck over more cards. There’s a reasoning behind this:

As with other card games, Master Duel builds upon standard Yu-Gi-Oh! mechanics where the meta changes every now and then due to the Ban List. In card game speak, the Ban List pertains to a list of cards that are either banned or can only be included in a limited manner to all decks. However, the ban list in Master Duel does differ from the standard card game, which means players need to pay extra attention as to what cards they’re going to use in their particular build.

To recall, here are the kinds of banned cards that can be included in the Ban List:

It’s important to get a good sense of the Ban List early on so players can adjust their intended builds or even scrap them outright, especially when a card they want is included in the Ban List.

Players who want to build balanced decks are more than welcome to experiment with different cards and deck styles, but this approach can be admittedly overwhelming for newcomers. To avoid these unpleasant situations, a player can also look at various existing decks in order to find a deck they want or modify it according to their needs. Here are potential sources of deck inspirations:

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Like in other card games like Hearthstone and Magic: The Gathering, there’s also such a thing as a Win Condition or win-con in Master Duel. At its core, a Win Condition is what determines a deck’s winning strategy, be it through pummeling through an opponent’s Life Points, ruining their play with Spell and Trap cards, relying on specific Summoning Methods, or even relying on a key monster to secure the victory.

Here are popular Win Conditions that are often used in the CCG meta that players may want to try inserting into Master Duel:

Aside from a Win Condition, a great way of creating a balanced deck in Master Duel is by doing what’s called a Theme Deck. This is more or less a deck built around a particular theme or subject - be it a Monster Type, a Summoning Method, a Character Deck, or even a Monster. Building a thematic deck is what players usually do when they want to copy a popular character’s deck or try to secure victory using a particular Monster.

Here are popular Theme Decks that are often used in the CCG meta that players carry over to Master Duel:

Considering that there are a lot of ways players can approach building a deck, a lot of players might have different philosophies with what makes a deck work. Some might prefer extremely situational decks, while some enjoy building around a theme. However, players who want to create balanced decks might want to eliminate variables that generate risks and make specific strategies fail. Here are certain risk elements to consider removing from a deck:

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When choosing cards for a deck, players need to consider how often a card is playable in any situation. Thematic decks often face this problem, as sometimes they’re either built to work against a specific type of card. When building towards a theme and choosing between cards, players should choose the one that they can use in more situations. Here are some choices that demonstrate this logic:

In resource-based games like Magic Arena or MtG, players often talk about the Mana Curve when building decks. This talks about how much Mana or resources it normally costs players before being able to play a card. In a general sense, a deck with too high-Mana cards isn’t ideal as it takes too long to play them to become practical. Interestingly, Master Duel has a similar concept in the form of Card Advantage.

Unlike the Mana Curve, Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Advantage refers to this imaginary ratio where a card’s value is often determined based on how many cards players end up with before and after playing it. Here are important factors about Card Advantage:

Sometimes, the most basic plays secure the most wins - that’s because they don’t rely too much on complex Win Conditions and instead fulfill a general, tried, and tested approach. Some players might consider these plays predictable or a bit too ordinary, but they often get the job done.

When it comes to these standard plays, it often boils down to what cards that deck uses. Thankfully, there are a lot of standard cards or basic cards that fit almost any kind of deck. Here are some decent examples:

Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel was released in 2022 and is available for Android, iOS, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, Nintendo Switch, and Microsoft Windows.

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Rhenn is a Manila-based content writer with a love for all things geek and pop culture, and science and technology. He has a BA Journalism degree, and has since then pursued making content about geek culture. Rhenn used to write for a couple of geek and gaming publications, and also served as editor-in-chief for Philippines-based What's A Geek!. He constantly plays video games but also takes the time to try out older titles. If he's not playing video games, he's probably playing TTRPGs.