Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel: 5 helpful tips for beginning duelists

Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel can feel daunting to new and returning players, but luckily, the game is very friendly when it comes to getting started. The game is fairly generous with rewards, and that will help players build the deck they’re after.

Recently released on mobile, Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel has thousands of players flocking to the game, but there’s a lot to know about it. It’s easy to access, and there are over 10,000 cards to choose from when building a deck.

It might seem overwhelming, but it’s not hard at all to get going. Here are five tips for new players getting into the card game.

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The Solo Mode is an important teaching tool for Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel beginners

For a player that has no idea what they are doing, Solo Mode is an incredible tool. It’s a series of battles to teach facets of the game. They start off pretty easy and grow progressively more difficult.

The mode will offer a variety of decks and styles of play to the players to teach them how to deal with a variety of decks through experience. This is also great for players who have not touched the game in years.

Solo Mode is an excellent way to learn the ins and outs of Yu-Gi-Oh (Image via Konami)

The game has changed a great deal since its inception, with a wide variety of summoning mechanics and ways to win the game. For players who need to see the game again or try it for the first time, Solo Mode is a must.

It also allows the player to test a deck against the AI, and the computer won’t go easy either. AI battles will have cards that players will likely see in real matches. If for no other reason, players should go through Solo Mode for the gem rewards, which will help them buy packs.

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Take advantage of Spectate Mode in Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel

Don't be shy about watching other people duel to learn and grow (Image via Konami)

Reading an online deck guide or copying a deck in the game is fine, but nothing is better than seeing a deck in action. It’s not always clear what a player should be doing at any given moment, and that’s where Spectate Mode comes in handy.

Found in the “Duel” screen, in the “Free Duel” menu, players can watch the duels that went on in the game. These duels aren’t live, so the players pause, rewind, look at the cards and duel logs at their leisure.

Typically these are also high-ranked duels, which can teach a great deal. It can also show players the decks they may want to try themselves. So, seeing a deck in action can put those deck guides into practice in real-time.

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Don’t waste Craft Points on random cards, save them for staples

There are cards that are key to many decks - these are staples (Image via Konami)

It’s tempting to spend Craft Points wildly to build a deck, but that’s not necessarily the best idea in Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel. Players can find many powerful cards for their decks through Secret Packs, and they can also see exactly where to find each and every card in the game.

Instead, players should save Craft Points for “staple” cards. Staples are cards that can go on any deck in the game with ease. These are often spells and traps, and handtraps (often monsters that have trap/spell effects while in hand).

When it comes to dismantling cards, three cards of rarity need to be dismantled to craft one similar card. Players will often find themselves with more of a card than they can use. These extras can easily be dismantled in the deck building sub menu.

Infinite Impermanence is another card that goes in quite a few decks (Image via Konami)

Staples tend to be cards that can be slotted into any deck, and can be used to counter the most powerful meta decks. A few examples of these best cards are:

Examples of Staples in Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel

• Maxx “C”
• Nibiru, the Primal Being
• Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring

Learning how to craft powerful cards is important, because they are versatile and can be used anywhere.

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Losing happens in Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel

Victory is sweet, but players learn just as much in defeat (Image via Konami)

No matter what, losing is going to happen, no matter how skilled a player is. It’s the nature of card games. There is no real casual queue for the game, it’s all about ranked. Ranking is a stressor for many players, who don’t want to feel like climbing is the only thing that matters.

While the game primarily has ranked modes to play, Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel is not high-stakes. The seasons don’t last particularly long, and the people down in the Rookie/Bronze tier will typically be people starting out in general.

There will always be players who have completed, powerful, meta decks in the lower-tiers as well, and that’s fine. A loss can teach a player a lot, even if it’s that they loathe seeing Zoo-Brigade decks.

It’s not fun to lose, but it can be a teaching tool that players can save their duels and come back and look at it to see what mistakes they made. They don’t lose anything in defeat, except time. Players at any skill level or rank are going to be completely blasted in one turn, and that’s okay.

Players don’t receive rewards for surrendering, so they may as well wait it out and do the best they can, and gain at least some rewards.

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Finding a playstyle can help deckbuilding easier in Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel

There are so many potential decks to play in Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel, and it can be incredibly daunting. These are, of course, the most powerful meta decks: Eldlich, Zoodiac Beast, Drytron, and others.

Knowing what type of deck a player prefers can save a lot of time. That way, players can deconstruct cards they will never use, and focus their CP on important cards instead. This starts with the constructed decks the game offers to all players.

It's easy to search for decks based on an individual card in Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel (Image via Konami)

Each of the starter decks does something different, and all of them are decent decks to begin with. The game features three styles of deck when it comes to archetypes.

Archetypes in Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel

• Control - slow the game down, remove cards from opponent’s field
• Midrange - often combo decks that get going towards the middle of the game, but are terrifying when they start
• Aggro - these start fast and hit hard, but if a player stops their rushdown, it’s hard to come back from

It’s important to know what style of player someone is, and that will inform what kind of meta decks they will lean towards. Right now, Control is the strongest style of deck, but not everyone enjoys playing them. Solo Mode will help players try these deck types out and form an opinion.

There’s so much to know and do in Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel and it doesn’t get picked up overnight. It takes time and patience, but players should not feel scared about getting into the game. There are thousands of cards, but there is always information out there to help teach and inform of what cards and decks can do.

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