The Set That Changed Yu-Gi-Oh! Forever - Duelist Alliance

[@BladeYGO]

What are your thoughts on Duelist Alliance? I'd love to know!

[@ArcJamneel]

My fav pack in since Phantom Darkness I think

[@vishnuy4531]

I mean I guess this is what people think started "Modern YGO" vs Old school Yugioh. I personally think that Modern YGO started during Spellbook Rulers format, but that's just me lol. Also, Blade, can you make a follow up vid about New Challengers and Secret Forces, etc, like this Era of YGO is very interesting to look at and I feel like you could give a good insight into the actual progression of the game and the playerbase. Thanks in advance.

[@chocofrisbees]

Rough start with like 10 decks dying and soul charge/super poly at 3, but Duelist Alliance to the infamous November 2015 banlist is probably my favorite era of yugioh ever. All decks except Qlis were really skill/resource intensive and all the meta decks bar BA were duel terminal archetypes centered around resurrected mechanics like fusion which was left for dead.

[@AlainaAMenace]

honestly this set was pretty good and still holds up. Also your new avatar looks nice and I actually prefer it over your old one. Although you should stick to the one you like more

[@Sheikah_Architect]

I liked that you didn't show your cartoon as often in this video. It makes the video really boring to just see that for so long.

[@amirgoines4387]

You should really do more of these. I love when certain meta's are explained and how different sets changed the game. Please do more of these.

[@TheoJay615]

Duelist Alliance is the GOAT Yu-Gi-Oh set.

[@masterofrites2749]

shaddolls, burning abyss, tellarknight, etc... all historic archetypes that shaped the meta of yugioh forever. huge fan of shaddolls, though i never actually played during this format, but i sure wish i did. love these history videos and hope to see more in the future? maybe one on goat format? keep up the solid work. 👏💯

[@greenhillmario]

Minus the monetary cost that I’ve learned of, duea format playing shaddolls or tellarknights was very fun

[@biggreenyu-gi-ogre1550]

Duelist alliance the best format in semi-recent memory

[@konata8657]

You should do a retrospective on phantom darkness. That set also vastly changed the game and gave rise to the first tier 0 decks with return dad and eventually teledad

[@shawngilbride99]

I remember when this set was released and I'd wreck my locals with Shaddolls for several months straight

[@deejayf69]

The set that will always be number 1 in my heart will be Secret Forces. The first....and probably only time we got to see a Ritual deck shine

[@arfanchowdhury3639]

Secret forces was one of the greatest sets ever released imo

[@deejayf69]

@@arfanchowdhury3639 Nekroz all the way baby

[@arfanchowdhury3639]

@@deejayf69 unban djinn Konami (jk pls don't attack me)

[@pretsel5132]

There was also demise otk way back in the day and gishkis (Although obviously neither of then were as good or format defining as nekroz)

[@Stinkoman87]

@@pretsel5132 Gishki were a prototype for future decks that actually try to ritual summon. They weren't good themselves, but there were good practice for the designers before they perfected the idea with Nekroz.

[@Crunchy_Troll]

yugioh ARC V era of yugioh was peak yugioh And even the HAT/Sylvan/Infernity/Geargia/Bujin formats was amazing too Miss those day

[@gracefulcharity8412]

This set was the set that seperated the boys from the men. People talk about how casual play now isn't as powerful as the meta. They don't know how this set was the one that bassically made anything non meta absolutely unthinkable when it comes to viability. Just my opinion.

[@invertedcrayon]

I mean there are definitely sets in the past that made casual decks obsolete. IOC to even think of 1

[@gracefulcharity8412]

@@invertedcrayon ya for sure I agree. Sets that brought the six sams or even chaos cards. But still this is the somewhere we actually had archetypes and playstyles utterly unviable compared to previous formats.

[@huyvuminh1048]

@@gracefulcharity8412 pre-duelist alliance is still my favorite format, so many viable deck, the meta while very high skill cap never have the feeling of unwinable match up or unfair stop you from playing the game cards

[@Will-qv1vt]

This is by far my favourite set ever released and will always be my favourite. Shaddols are by far my absolute favourite deck. Their artworks are very eerie and there combo-based playstyle is so much fun to play. Also their fusion spells are so good el shaddol fusion is a spell speed 2 poly, shaddol fusion is the best fusion spell. Also it can use super poly and trust me you will run it at 3. Your extra deck fusions all use a shaddol and any monster of a certain attribute. Crysta for fire, wendigo for wind, construct for light, I can't pronounce the water one, the earth one is based on towers (most of the cards are based on a monster from a different archetype) she stops your opponent using special summon effects and gets shaddols to the gy. Winda is a floodgate and uses dark monsters and appacalone uses any two shaddols with different attributes it has a on summon permanent impermanence and can't be destroyed by battle. Their link monster can once per turn conduct a fusion summon without a spell and she can resurrect herself. Most shaddols fusions recur you spells back to the hand and the deck has amazing synergy with cross sheep to help you spit out constructs to help you fusion summon multiple times per turn. If you haven't tried them out I recommend you purchase the structure deck because they are a joy to play! They aren't the strongest imo. I tend to lean toward salamangreat for playing competetivly but whenever I play with friends I use shaddols.

[@bighonkies]

I have very fond memories of this format. I played casually back in that time and have lots of memories from back then with my bujin/shaddoll deck

[@ThunderGiant]

Not only that, but there were a ton of rogue decks that could be played during this time. I myself played Fire Fists, and started playing competitively right when this set came out.

[@chocofrisbees]

Everyone complained about the DUEA era when all those decks died but back then we didn't know what we had

[@mihajloculic9023]

Shaddoll is pretty good now

[@sushipbestdeck8995]

BA still tops hella events my guy and shaddolls got a structure lmao I think the last one needs a structure deck tbh

[@TheAz0680]

Funny how everything related to shaddolls is the best at something. Best set of all time: introduced shaddoll Best structure deck: shaddoll Best fusion spell: shaddoll fusion Best archetype in terms of gameplay design: shaddoll (b.a. is argueable) Best lore in the game: shaddoll is a big part of it

[@kotkafer2292]

By far not the best structure Deck HAVE YOU SEEN SOULBURNER, DIBOSMASHERS FURY AND EMPERROR OF DARKNESS

[@TheAz0680]

@@kotkafer2292 soulburner got ash and the good salad support but could not play by itself (needed 3 sunlight wolf) Dinosmasher is good but has few generic reprints (mostly good tho) but try to play lost world dinos and u see what is the problem Emperor of darkness for me was the greatest until SDSH, it was amazing being able to play a full deck (minus vanity/majesty and kuraz) with only the 3 structures BUT it had almost no good generic reprints, since the main focus was the new monarch support anyways but still great Shaddoll had at least 10 amazing reprints just counting the generic cards and plus the entire archetype being reprinted alongside the support. If u measure the quantity and quality of the supports + how good of a deck can be built with only the 3 structures, shaddoll easily win this one, my friend

[@liosan431]

Best lore is world legacy

[@palatasikuntheyoutubecomme2046]

World legacy lore be like

[@Sheikah_Architect]

This was my favorite set because all of the archetypes - especially Yang Zing - had great art. Performapals killed it for me in terms of art, and the price of Nekroz was so insulting I quit the game after that.

[@gungnir382]

Since 2014 i am playing Shaddolls until today. Never regret it.

[@palatasikuntheyoutubecomme2046]

BA players.....

[@napsterking]

I dont think there is an era of Yugioh as beloved as the arc-v era. Burning Abyss, Shaddoll, Tellars, Yang Zing, Qliphort, Infernoid, Nekroz, Ritual Beast, True Draco, Pendulum Magicians. Then we got the weaker but still loved of Fluffals, Super Heavy Samurai, RaidRaptor, Phantom Knight, U.A., Yosenju. Im missing more, but how diverse these decks were shows you something that I think Vrains fail to recreate.

[@bearxbear]

I really wish I played back in the day because these formats look so fun LOL, man I really need to run it back and play some alt formats

[@lucasflaming5330]

Modern Yu-Gi-Oh is so much better than old Yu-Gi-Oh. But they just need some archetype engines to be used to slow down the game. Interaction is fun but they keep accidentally making archetypes that just can't be stopped. Orcust is the most recent example. One or two bans can take out Eldlich, Adamancipator, and dragon link, but Orcust caused 4 and still isnt awful

[@IamGrimalkin]

Dragon Link has already caused 4, arguably at least. Danger Thunder is basically a Dragon Link varient (it's big boards rely on the Guardragon package), and it got REDMD, White Dragon Wyverbuster, and Black Dragon Collapserpent, hit. Agarpain also got hit on the back of Rokket Dragon Link.

[@lucasflaming5330]

@@IamGrimalkin Thunder dragons were not banned because of dragon link. Besides those are limits, way less impactful than a ban. Besides dragon link isn't an archetype dragons have always been run as a whole deck because Konami doesn't know how to make them synergize fairly

[@IamGrimalkin]

@@lucasflaming5330 I would actually say Danger Thunder Guardragon is a Dragon Link deck in the same way that Lunalight Orcust is an Orcust Deck. Sure, most of the maindeck cards are not dragons in the same way that most maindeck cards in Lunalight Orcust are not Orcust cards, but that doesn't change the fact that those cards are how it builds its boards. Notice I didn't mention Colossus or Gold Sarcophagus, because those cards also work in pure. The 4 cards mentioned were all hit in the back of the Guardragon engine, and all four would see play in a dragon link strategy if put back to 3.

[@lucasflaming5330]

@@IamGrimalkin debate aside I genuinely think that Colossus was banned because of dragon link. 60 card dragon decks are consistent and can run bricks. And if you run the trish fusion you can banish dragonroar from you deck and lead a small combo into going into Colossus while taking a card from your opponents extra deck which is already hindered from silverokket and preventing your opponent from searching. I think that the Colossus ban was to hit dragon link. But if that were the case they would have hit dragonroar. I just think that the recent bans I'm the past 4 years have too many mistakes. (Harp wasn't the problem, engage wasnt the problem, and collosus wasn't the problem)

[@L0calLEGEND]

I'm still sad to see more vids covering Duelist Alliance and what it brought to the game. Yet most vids on this topic fail to touch on how the game was like before the release. The importantly diverse HAT Format.

[@OmegaKhaosYGO]

Personally I think this set essentially started the road to the game we have right now...Shaddolls being able Fusion Summon with monsters from the deck and even getting plusses from it...Burning Abyss being able to float from being sent to the graveyard in any way and so on... Tellarknights and Yang Zing were not as broken...but Tellarknights had ability to just keep Xyz Summoning every turn with Deneb-Altair loop...and Yang Zing were also really amazing,but not gamebreaking enough for the time... I personally did not like what it did for the game at the time...pretty much hated all the decks from it...right now I am not sure if it was positive or not...I think the game pre-Duelist Alliance and post-Duelist Alliance are very different from each other

[@frankwest5388]

I would love a pre DA format in Ignis, similarly to how they have a dedicated GOAT set up It would be interesting to reliably play that format

[@noscopem8165]

Man I love these history videos where you can just sit back and enjoy.

[@lovrboy670]

Teller is still my favorite deck of all time

[@SinfulPack]

Yeah I know right this format was probably the most recognized format in the 19 years of Yu-Gi-Oh!

[@zerosky28]

i don't even play anymore and this channel is still good

[@ThanatosZero]

That era of floating cards was the best for player interaction. I enjoyed it a lot back then.

[@Zenmaity_]

Good times. I ran Wind-Ups and came in 70th place out of 520 at my regionals. Only because I main decked Dimensional Fissure and had shadow imprisoning mirror.

[@plzcme434]

Duelist Alliance is basicly the floating archtype.

[@eduardosantillan3048]

History video that mentions Sylvans and Infernoid? You earned a new subscriber my guy

[@ng2004]

This was my favorite meta. IMO the last good yugioh meta.

[@GKING69]

i like the more cartoony version of your guy

[@Sheikah_Architect]

Qliphort was an amazing archetype. Accidentally realized God exists from researching that deck lol

[@abuhassan8849]

Very informative video. I really hope you continue with this series mate! :)

[@colaocha1115]

You also have to recognise that endlessly floating and being explosive are traits of Pendulum as a mechanic, which explains the fast design shift, that being said design was heading in that direction in the first place, the hands destroy a card and float into another one, so It's reasonable to think a year more of card design would have brought Yu-Gi-Oh! to the level of Duelist Alliance.

[@rockthahouse1]

Funnily enough, people actually saw the hands as being too reactive and were actually cutting them. Hence Kuribandit and Fire Fists becoming engines in Artifact Traptrix decks.

[@palatasikuntheyoutubecomme2046]

@@rockthahouse1 wdym "Too Reactive"

[@AkamexAris1023]

Love these types of videos. Always happy when Madolches get mentioned even if barely 😁

[@rockthahouse1]

Dolche were somewhat relevant. Top 5 or 10 deck of the format (and even won the first YCS of the format).

[@AkamexAris1023]

@@rockthahouse1 I didn't start playing the deck until a year and a half ago so I was unaware. Happy to know they were killin it! Ik they were meta around 2012ish

[@rockthahouse1]

@@AkamexAris1023 It was this format they were meta contenders. They had gotten tops prior, but Anjelly is when the deck really started to tick (this format in 2014). I started to play at this time.

[@AkamexAris1023]

@@rockthahouse1 I see so 2014 is when they were "good" before being considered good again now. I adore the archetype and wish I was playing the game during that meta just so I could experience how they played back then

[@rockthahouse1]

@@AkamexAris1023 Yeah. I fell in love with the deck immedately. Was soooo fun.

[@kanashi6736]

Can't believe this was so long a go now.

[@vparsa87]

Yang Zings were decent too you know...they could use 3 skill drain as well, but have their synchro monsters immune to it with bixi. Armades was gg against dolls and BA, and beelze was gg against towers and construct.

[@astrograph7875]

When u gotta the history of Pepe? I wanna see some more history of the once mighty tier 0 decks that have long since passed.

[@BladeYGO]

No cap, that is the most highly requested video on my channel, I'm thinking I'll save it for a milestone.

[@astrograph7875]

BladeYGO Okay, Them how about some of the other Tier 0 giants like Spyral or Dad?

[@Nephalem2002]

I wish we got more sets like Duelist Alliance once or twice a year

[@pretsel5132]

I'd really rather not have that level of power creep even once a year

[@joaogarcia6170]

@@pretsel5132 maybe he's talking about having 3 or more viable decks in a single set ? Like duelist alliance did

[@Dyleniz]

This was the meta that I loved since the meta was so healthy apart from nekroz being so good but the counter play was there

[@rockthahouse1]

This was pre Nekroz.

[@Kirin_the_Bouncing_Unicorn]

DUEA started a trend of power creep that made the game much worse overall. 2014 H.A.T. format had the last truly diverse meta. Sure, compared to the stuff that's possible now the metas DUEA (and the few sets following it) had were for the most part fun and interactive if you played one of the big 5 (Nekroz, Shaddolls, BA, Tellars and Qlis) but we're talking about a trend. As soon as they started killing all the decks from that era at the end of 2015 and took powercreep to the next level with Monarchs and Performapals, the game got more and more about who could nut out the most absurd board turn 1 without the opponent being able to do anything. Every deck became polarizing. Every deck became Infernity. And things haven't changed for the better ever since with the exception of more hand traps and extremely powercrept versions of Raigeki being introduced which made going 2nd less bad but still didn't really fix the issue of games being polarizing af.

[@ChazBlanks]

If we had to do a tier list of Yugioh sets Duelist Alliance is tier 0 or S Tier.

[@BladeYGO]

FACTS.

[@janithernest3929]

Duelist alliance was probably the most funnest era of yugioh I’ve ever played in and I think people can agree on that

[@ninjoson8367]

Flames of destruction was pretty craz too

[@joekimlee9057]

Is it actually called Arc “V”, I always called it Arc “5”

[@abuhassan8849]

Yes, it's officially called Arc V.

[@xx1097]

Pronounced Arc "Five", written Arc "V". The dub and Japanese both say it this way.

[@BladeYGO]

🤔 I have no clue haha

[@mohamedAshraf-ln9hu]

At the time i didnot like the jump in power level, thought it is bad for the game and turned to be right according to what we have now, however the format then was very very good (excluding Djin).

[@sekaihunter9378]

Tellarknight may not be the best deck in Duelist Alliance, but it will always be my favourite deck. Also, YWC 2015 winner is Tellarknight xD

[@sakaly82]

I love these type of videos Are you going to make one for good'ol invoked? i like how it has been in and out from the meta since 2017

[@claudetheceo8251]

Can you please make a video talking about The deck that Got Banned. (Dragon Rulers). The Most Loved Deck (Blackwings). Also why some cards like shared Ride isn't ban.

[@radicalsprites]

Best set ever, my favorite format ever, I miss it so damn much

[@rickysingh7896]

In all seriousness this set has created modern yugioh. Roles of cards being changed from monster, spells, traps into starters, extenders, etc. An increase in speed letting decks do whatever first turn nearly every turn.

[@harryc657]

I love how fast the game became... I just wish Konami will release a Master Rule that would allow both players to set up their boards without interruptions. Like, both players and their cards are unaffected by their opponent's effects until the third turn, and no battle phase until the third turn.

[@YDYUGI]

They Stop Selling in my country after Duelist Alliance too. I can't get booster packs after Duelist alliance

[@MegaMK13]

Well Duelist Alliance searches Pendulum Call so you know PENDULUM BEST DECK BABY LET'S GO!!!

[@haruhisuzumiya6650]

first came Burning abyss then qliphorts then gishiki (ritual) then Necross (Necroz) yugioh became a meme at this point.

[@LATownsRS]

My friends and i were playing for months before this came out and omg. When i played online i would get bodied by these decks because they were so consistent

[@LATownsRS]

Not to mention BB is still meta to this day 👀

[@blackmark2899]

El Shadol Fusion was the card that gave archetypes their specific fusion cards. In a way I'm grateful for that because Poly really sucks and in another, I hated Shaddoll. Tellerknights and Abyss I could deal with fine but Shaddolls actively punished a player for doing what your supposed to do in a game, destroy monsters.

[@shadowdraqon2479]

this is the format that made destruction trap cards(torrential and bottomless)/gorz/thunder king rai-oh/dark hole/raigeki/book of moon, irrelevant.

[@kotkafer2292]

These Decks float better than Zaheer in Korra Season 3

[@kenetik13]

This was the same format dark law came out in. Historic

[@danwest8127]

Meh depends how you define format. There was a banlist and two more core sets which introduced and supported Qlis between duelist alliance and the dark law structure. I do remember people rocking Mask Change II in BA to access dark law though, but for me dark law only dropped two weeks before nekroz so I put it in nekroz format

[@kenetik13]

@@danwest8127 err well yes, i mean this general time period (14 - late 15's)

[@danwest8127]

Duea is proof of what pendulums did to yugioh in terms of accelerating the game and changing it forever. I have always believed that despite not making pendulums meta, the reason pre-duea decks were completely obsolete upon this set drop was because duea’s decks had to be designed to keep up with the pendulum mechanic

[@stylesheetra9411]

At the beginning pendulum werent that good I think

[@danwest8127]

Stylesheet RA that’s the point of what I’m trying to say. It doesn’t matter that pendulum themselves weren’t that good. The mechanic was so busted that non-pendulum decks had to have their power levels completely busted through the ceiling to prepare for it. That’s why I believe there’s such a massive chasm between pre duelist alliance decks and post duelist alliance decks

[@hrvojebaric4772]

What a discrimination of Yang Zing - the 4th archtype from Duelist Alliance

[@darkpaw1522]

It's the era when disruption yugioh became a thing.

[@LunaDachi]

Since we’re talking about the set and format that introduced pendulums... Pepe/Dracopal history? 👀

[@jimtsap04]

I found the song you used in at the start but i could not find an instrumental version of it. Does anyone have a link to it?

[@BladeYGO]

Oh my bad fam, I use epidemic sound for all of my audio effects and music!

[@greenhillmario]

Would’ve been cool to mention the anti meta card that was released in this set as an answer to the meta created, Castel. Hell that might be a nice video in itself

[@bobsauce9052]

Great video but can you do a video on infernity

[@jjjmvp1864]

Late 2014 oct Dec was prime my opinion

[@vladimircala4566]

I really loved infernity.

[@jameszetterman4487]

I agree that DUEA was a game changer, but I'd argue PTDN matches or beats it, especially considering it didn't introduce any brand new mechanics and still completely warped the metagame.

[@kenzofromtheyu-gi-squad2601]

Niiiice

[@RLuke103]

I wasn't playing at the time but I can't imagine how wtf Sylvan, H.A.T etc players must have been when Winda was released 😂

[@ChrisMakeBeatz]

No yang zing?

[@syaefullrizcky]

Please make a history of how Sky Striker win so many YCS

[@simas4609]

Pendulums destroyed the game. If only they didn't exist it would be good. We wouldn't have links which gave us a Ftks and power creep. All about duelist alliance is good except the fact it introduced pendulums

[@mikawa1314]

If only Yang Zing didn’t miss timing......

[@mikaelamonsterland]

Graff and Cir to 3

[@louaidz1929]

I agree with you

[@palatasikuntheyoutubecomme2046]

@@louaidz1929 Guess What

[@RisingJericho]

The new avatar is really screwing with me I expect low-detail Blade, but I have high-detail instead

[@thatguynoonelikes4865]

So it bacically jump-started powercreep

[@Patadude100]

You finally changed the avatar

[@AllPureSkill]

Yeah def a way to power creep

[@epictom3423]

Epic

[@isaacadams3593]

Is it just me or is El Shaddoll Construct kinda ticc

[@DEVILTRIGGRR]

You growing up I can hear it

[@yasinabsolu4739]

Phantom Darkness or Invasion of Chaos are the most game changing sets. Make your research correctly. DUEA was a strong set but not the best

[@tylerwylde4100]

Third!

[@donaldfitzgerald8231]

Please stop jump-cutting your words together when they're in the middle of a sentence. It's so unbelievably jarring and honestly ruined this video for me, even though it doesn't seem like that big of a problem. Just simply do another take for that sentence and leave the cuts for in between sentences where they feels much more natural. PLEASE.

[@rockthahouse1]

You mention Sylvan and Infernity/Mermail but not LS Ruler (yes, you mentiomed Mythic Ruler, but LS was the superior version and the one that lined up more with Sylvans and Mermails being promient). Geargia were also the most represented deck at the time (owing to a good HAT match up). Another thing that impacted the game was the loss of the first turn draw (granted, that was before this set). These decks were fine working with 5 cards going first. Decks like Sylvans often relied on the 6th card to kickstart combos