Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel was released back in January 2022. Since its initial release, it has been well received, and is celebrating its 1st anniversary this year. With all the great Yu-Gi-Oh content creators out there and Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel pulling me back into the game, I wanted to talk about 3 potential improvements I would love to see implemented.
Master Duel Quick Thoughts
While Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel is an overall great game, most people hate Maxx “C”. It has amazing animations and graphic quality. It is very new player friendly with multiple ways to earn the gems you need for cards. The economy in Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel is good, with a way to turn cards you don’t need into cards you do. There are always constant updates to the game from different events getting added periodically. There is also an ever-increasing card pool as cards from paper formats are migrated into Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel.
There are also cool story modes that teach you the story of different archetypes. Not only that but it also helps try to teach you how each archetype works. Plus there are also pretty constant updates to the forbidden and limited list.
Multiple Card Arts
The biggest thing I would love to see in Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel would be having the ability for multiple card arts. One thing Yu-Gi-Oh! has always had going for them is their amazing art for the cards. I’ve played several other card games throughout the years and to me Yu-Gi-Oh! has always had amazing art. So what I would like to see in Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel would be the ability to craft the different card arts. Some cards have many different choices of art that I feel it is criminal not to be able to show them off. The Dark Magician in the image above in my opinion is one of if not the worst art for the card.
So we could fix that issue. Other card games such as MTG Arena have the ability for different card arts to be displayed. This would also allow people the ability to “pimp” out their decks and show their own personal flair and style. We have holos and royal rares which are great, but just imagine if we could have the ability to show them off with different card art.
Multiple Format Ladders
Next up on the list for Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel is potentially getting additional formats and format ladders. Now don’t get me wrong I know you can duel your friends and use different cards that might be forbidden and stuff. I believe it would be way cooler to have a ranked ladder for the ever-popular Goat and Edison formats. Goat and Edison are formats that are based on past Yu-Gi-Oh! experiences (formats) and are very widely enjoyed amongst players. This could be a way to draw people that used to play back into the game which could in turn get them into the new updated format.
I would love to play these older formats on a ranked ladder or just in general in Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel. While other formats exist, Goat and Edison remain the most popular. Another addition I would like to see as well would be including Tag Duels. Teaming up with friends to take on other friends would be a blast. This also plays heavily on some nostalgia from the anime as we haven’t seen Tag Duels much outside it.
Banlist Mirroring The TCG
When it comes to Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel’s ban list, I can say its an interesting one. The ban list is closer to resembling the OCG ban list rather than the TCGs. Many people would like to try and use Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel as training or practice for major tournaments. Unfortunately, with the way the ban list is in the game, you can’t do that accurately. Don’t get me wrong, I know the game is already used for Master Duel-focused tournaments. But it would be cool if the ban list mirrored the TCG list more closely.
There are several powerful cards that are legal in Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel, but not in the TCG. Predaplant Verte Anaconda is an example of a card banned in paper Yu-Gi-Oh! but legal in Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel. With a close-to-mirrored ban list, people can prepare themselves and get a more accurate representation of the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG format. Also, I’m sure I speak for many people when I say for the love of god please ban Maxx “C”.
Final Thoughts
Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel overall like I said is a great game. From being new person friendly, to great animations, a great economy, and much more it’s well put together. Konami seems to continually want to update and improve upon what we have. These are just minor things I think could improve the overall play experience and add to an already great Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel.
