First Impressions: YU-GI-OH! MASTER DUEL is a Great (and Free) Way to Play the Card Game

Last week, Konami stealth-launched Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel. I’ve been enjoying the game along with thousands of other duelists and I thought I’d share some first impressions while it’s undergoing a 6-hour maintenance. I will note that this will article will go live after the maintenance and so some thoughts may change depending on what is implemented. You can play Master Duel for yourself now on Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S for free with mobile releases on their way for both Android and iOS.

Master Duel is a lot of fun. It’s not perfect, but I think Konami has a solid release. I will say that I’ve spent most of my time playing on PC but did download it on my Switch. I would recommend skipping the Switch version if you have a better option. The Switch version works and is the same game, but it’s not as smooth and does have lower visuals. Just something to consider. Thankfully, the game supports cross-progression and cross-play, so you can jump from platform to platform as needed and play with others regardless of their preferred platform. This is always a huge win in my book.

Once you load up the game, you’ll be taken through some basic tutorials that give you Gems, the in-game currency, and a starter deck. This deck is not very good and you’ll probably quickly ditch it. From the main menu, you can go create and edit decks, go to the shop, go to duel other players, or go to the solo mode. Let’s tackle these aspects in order.

Creating and editing decks is actually very nice. You can easily do a search for cards your looking for and it tells you how many you have of them. One complaint I do have is that the game features different finish levels and each one is considered a different stack which creates a bit of a cluttered look to me. When you click on a card, you can dismantle it to gain materials for crafting, craft another copy, bookmark it for easy access in the future, find related cards, or even find out what packs the card comes in. All of these are very nice to have at a glance. I do wish that there was a way to upgrade the finish on a card. Maybe I just missed it, but I haven’t seen anything about doing that. Overall, the deck editing is very smooth and clean.

The shop is fairly simple. You have the Master Duel Pack which has over 6,000 cards (basically all of the cards in the game), a couple of other packs that have about 80 cards each including some staples, and then two other sections. Bonus Packs are ones you get tickets for and contain 3 cards each. Secret Packs are what you’re going to be going for most of the time though. Whenever you craft or open a card that is a Super Rare or higher, you will unlock its associated Secret Pack. Secret Packs are geared towards specific archetypes like Shaddolls, Heroes, etc and contain all the cards from Master Duel Pack, but have a better pull rate for cards related to the pack’s theme. This is really where it’s at. Each pack costs 100 Gems or you can buy sets of 10 for 1,000 and get a guaranteed Super Rare (if you somehow don’t get the Super Rare, the next time you’re guaranteed an Ultra Rare). Secret Packs are only available for 24 hours though, so stock up on Gems first. The shop also has Mates, Structure Decks, special bundles, aesthetics, and more. Everything seems reasonably priced in my experience and especially at the beginning, it’s easy to get the resources to get a couple of decks going.

Playing against other players is the core of Yu-Gi-Oh!. Many players are put-off by the current Forbidden & Limited List in Master Duel because it’s not the same as the TCG (I believe it’s a weird combination of the TCG and OCG) which has created some interesting deck ideas and interactions, but overall, everyone seems to be having fun. Right now, Ranked is where you’ll probably spend most of your time, just climbing the ladder, but there is also a more casual space called Duel Room where supposedly we’ll be able to modify the format, but when I went to do anything, it only let me do the standard stuff. There’s also a space for Events, but I imagine that will only open up during big events like YCS tournaments. The Duel Room has a lot of potential, especially with the announcement earlier this year of sanctioned alternative formats.

Then, there’s Solo Mode. Here, you can play through a couple more tutorials and then go through mini campaigns that explore some of the lore related to popular archetypes like the Elemental Lords and Monarchs. Throughout the campaign, you’ll learn the lore and use loaner decks to become familiar with the strategies associated with the archetypes. I really like this approach. There are some cool archetypes that aren’t competitively viable, but this is an area where you can test them out and see some of the cool ideas the game has had.

Master Duel looks and feels good for the most part. Trying to play a game with a friend felt like it took a lot more effort than it should for some reason, but I’m sure that’ll get cleared up soon. I do wish that there was an explanation as to what all of the different animations meant when you went to open a pack. Sometimes you get one lightning bolt, other times 3, sometimes you get a purple background, sometimes it’s a gold background, and sometimes Utopia (I think it’s Utopia) appears for some reason. I have not idea what any of this means other than rainbow is better than gold is better than nothing and more lightning equals better. I also don’t know how I feel about the Secret Packs being on a time limit and having the giant 6,000+ card pools. One more snag is that some of the newer sets were not included.

Master Duel is fun. I enjoy my time playing it. It’s friendly to casuals and from what I’ve seen, more competitive players are also having fun. If you’ve thought about trying Yu-Gi-Oh! for the first time or getting back into it, this is not a bad way to get in. I’ve heard of some weird decks climbing the Ranked ladders all the way because people are just having fun with it for now. I think that this can really go the distance.