The Yu-Gi-Oh Extra deck is getting homo.

[@apsamplifier]

_No homo. Or all the homo?_

[@Maximusls2400]

Careful, youtube will demonetize over sht like that

[@spicymemes7458]

Fr tho can we get this as a shirt or a mat

[@anthonyboss3686]

Homogenous?: Small Peen ; Little Knight

[@yoshilicks2496]

@@Maximusls2400 nah it's pride month and extra decks are coming out

[@robf.6273]

I thought you meant fomo when I first read it lol

[@VictorTAnderson]

That’s a WILD title lmao 👀

[@TheShotgunShovel]

Only if you live in Twitter...

[@Achoko12345]

no it's not, unless you don't know words

[@saviorofs0ng]

@@Achoko12345 get off your high horse and stop acting like people dont use words colloquially

[@Cr4z3d]

They knew exactly what they were doing.

[@Achoko12345]

@@Cr4z3d no doy

[@AnRuixuan]

Link Monsters are basically just glorified Tribute Summons that don't eat your Normal Summon

[@hey_its_branden]

pretty much😅 that contact fusing which i wish was an actual summoning mechanic

[@quickezee]

Add to it that you never have to worry about drawing it and have instant access to it.

[@reversal3628]

Few years ago, one guy said it's a contract fusion but in dark blue

[@greysunomain]

I also watched that video.

[@xen3588]

rush duel is just pendulum summoning with less steps

[@thehippieboy6927]

This is the consequence of power creep. Unique summoning mechanics are great until you need to design a faster, stronger, more efficient deck. They COULD spend time making cards for forgotten archetypes, types, strategies, etc. This game has so much cool stuff that's completely unexplored

[@apsamplifier]

Yeah, pretty much this. Links are the "finished product" and everything else feels like the prototypes trying to update their firmware.

[@emissaryofcharybdis105]

Tell me about it. Half of the decks I like are either not updated like the rest of the game is or just outright forgotten.

[@blastmole299]

​@@emissaryofcharybdis105Or a control deck just changed into floodgate stun decks. Why you have to ruin Subterrors and Runicks

[@leoultimaupgraded9914]

@@apsamplifierDo you think there’s a way to buff/overhaul the other summoning mechanics to be better and more interesting? I’d think it could be possible, but it’d be new territory, and therefore really risky

[@DestroAzureDx]

Not just power creep extremely fast power creep. Per generation I dont think konami released enough xyz synchro and fusion monsters when it was said card types time and moved on too fast to the next mechanic

[@DaShikuXI]

I do wish the unique gimmicks of the summoning methods were used more. - Link decks should actually revolve around co-linking and extra-linking. - Synchro decks should make way more use of level modulation and accel synchro summoning. - Fusion decks need to go back to flexible combinations over just a few busted monsters. - Pendulum decks need more extra deck plays. By ignoring these unique parts every summoning methods just becomes the same thing with a different color.

[@ExeErdna]

Yeah it all seems interesting until it's just another method of swarming via special summons

[@RavenCloak13]

Aren't those actually the MAIN problems with all of those? Especially since you Synchro point also works with XYZ's while I don't even know if Co-Linking matters anymore since they specifically made Links to deal with Pendulums and then made Links even more busted. Fusion is already massively generic to the point you don't even need Poly or even a variant. Just banishing or sending to the grave the required materials.

[@stilllkissi4027]

Do you guys think link monsters would be balanced out if once you summoned a link monster, you couldn't special summon any monster, whether from the extra deck or anywhere else unless it was to a link arrow? Just wondering if that'd be too much or a good way to slow things down.

[@yurisei6732]

Links were at their best during MR4, when they pretty much always were either an enabler for another deck, similar to pendulums (which they felt great with), or were part of a linked-status-dependent archetype. It was when links started to become generic boss monsters that they stopped feeling like links.

[@briansolorzano8693]

let me introduce you to my friend the synchron deck

[@Halomasterchief16]

Tbh, I'm just surprised this was an APS vid instead of an MBT video about an Exosister deck or something

[@HYDEinallcaps]

Exosisters don't need SA correction.

[@17-MASY]

What's that?​@@HYDEinallcaps

[@boejeck1345]

@@HYDEinallcaps HUH?!

[@ExtraVictory]

​@@HYDEinallcapslmao masterful bait

[@ExtraVictory]

Also, when choosing an archetype to project homosexuality on, try to find one that doesnt have "twins" or "sisters" in the name

[@Practitioner_of_Diogenes]

Yes, yes, the title is funny. Thing is, the word itself, "homo" is actually correctly used here. It's Greek for "same".

[@valutaatoaofunknownelement197]

Thanks follower of Diogenes. Now, what's your opinion on what makes a person human?

[@StarkMaximum]

Yeah, like "homogenized".

[@dknow-qd3pd]

I don't good at English, what the general use of the word and what it actually mean?

[@Practitioner_of_Diogenes]

@@valutaatoaofunknownelement197 Depends, but I sure won't be finding an honest one, regardless.

[@StarkMaximum]

@@dknow-qd3pd "Homo" meaning "same" is usually used in the context of "homosexual", as in "attracted to the same sex/gender". Gay.

[@OurDarkGoldenHero]

It's weird. i've been noticing this issue for a while. Konami's attempt at getting creative doesn't always bode well and can be underwhelming at times. Like with the gemini monsters - who in their right mind would waste a normal summon and then another summon for a mid monster? But then when they would make something to facilitate that archetype's flaws, like having a field spell that's basically a double summon, the community would just abuse the hell out of it to link spam. Konami created its own conundrum and it's weird. All this tells me is that link monsters should have never been thought of.

[@leoultimaupgraded9914]

Some of the Link Monsters are cool… but thats mainly due to the monsters themselves, not the Link Mechanic at all and this is coming from someone who likes all of the summoning mechanics, from Fusion to Pendulum.

[@cybzer0560]

Gemini monsters are weird. They all could have been effect monsters. It makes zero sense. I think Konami realized their error at some point and quietly admitted geminis are terrible.

[@christopherb501]

They need to try Gemini Pendulum at least.

[@nickd6303]

In theory a level four or lower Gemini should be as good as a level five or higher monster. But in current Yu-Gi-Oh level four and lower effect monsters are arguably better than most level five or higher monsters that aren't in the extra deck.

[@Pocket-Calculator]

"During your Main Phase, you can perform 1 extra Normal Summon. Monsters Summoned by this effect cannot be used as material for a Fusion, Ritual, Synchro, Xyz or Link Summon." Fixed. Konami won't do that either because the game revolves around the Extra Deck.

[@vmthelegend5140]

I noticed it as well that every card type is losing its own idendity because the summoning conditions are becoming the same. Good for combos, bad for older cards that wont maybe keep up with that.

[@DestroAzureDx]

I blame the over use of engines in yugioh

[@RavenCloak13]

That's the thing, depending on the older cards it actually makes them better. Especially the ones that want stuff in the grave. It's actually the cards that were restrictive for no reason or because of a powerful effect that were the issue... Then you have stuff like Drytron that could pump out Herald Of Ultimatetness like nothing along with Cyberangels and realize we really DON'T want things to power up old cards with soft once per turns or no one per turns.

[@wavezDDS]

I was prepared for a MUCH different video from the title.

[@TheExposedLemon]

I really dislike the generic extra deck monsters because one of the things that made me really like Yu-Gi-Oh was all the different specific archetypes and every deck felt more special to see with things that only that deck could do

[@ExeErdna]

It's because extra deck is how normal decks used to be. You could put anything in a deck and it could work, yet the extra deck was pretty much non existent at that point. Now the main deck is pretty much useless as the extra deck has all the power. So the hard pivot into archetypes is now pointless since the end goal is all the same.

[@RavenCloak13]

Then you actually look back at the older formats and see that's a lie because everyone wanted to win so they ended up using similar decks and because the pros were using similar stuff, no one was trying to cook up unique gimmicks or had their own thoughts and the main thing is just you don't remember every card. There was a time people played decks based around a gimmick, not an archetype.

[@DHYohko]

The problem comes with the inevitable power creep and how Konami went the easy route rather than the difficult one. If they want to seel the new archetype it needs to defend itself against the current meta thus it needs to skip conditions and requirements in order to do it. If every ED monster required at least 1 monster of it's type or archetype to be summoned it would help but things that let you skip all of that like crimson dragon should never exist.

[@apsamplifier]

Yes, I really do wish Konami would seriously start adding proper stipulations to these monsters' summoning conditions and actual summon-locks for the rest of the turn.

[@autobotstarscream765]

Perhaps Crimson Dragon and Cosmic Quasar Dragon that came out in the same set should've had their costs/effects swapped? 🤔

[@RedMage8BT]

The next summoning mechanic could just be zero monsters. You just summon them from your extra deck under certain conditions and they will be properly summoned.

[@jamesblaze21]

I wonder what the summoning conditions could be...... "I can summon Borrelwhenever Dragon from my extra deck, because I feel like it, and I had pancakes this morning."

[@Squibbly_Squelch]

Zues and Typhon are already in that direction

[@Achoko12345]

Imagine Extra Deck spell cards.... aiiiii

[@-DeScruff]

"Chrono Summoning" - If its the Turn counter matches a card's Chrono, you can summon it. There will be cards that let you summon 1 turn ahead, (letting a second going player play their odd number cards) or cards that will let you summon one if the turn has passed. But then the cards that break the mechanic will come out, the ones that summon themselves on your opponents turn. Or a the stuff that combos by letting you summon a Chrono from any turn, and it all ends up with massive combos of cards used to summon other cards who's sole purpose is to summon out the biggest card.

[@npc1822]

i occationally have a yugi boomer moment when I play against a deck and it just starts special summoning from the deck. "if this card is in your deck, special summon it, and if you do, just keep doing it" lmao

[@NovaBushido]

More decks need better boss monsters so they don't just have to rely on overtuned generics. It's strange that a lot of archetype boss monsters are harder to summon and not as good as some generic ones.

[@zerochill4096]

A lot of that is both a combination of powercreep and Konami putting more focus on one archetype over others. At least Konami has been aware of this and has actively been revisiting older, unsupported archetypes and giving them better bosses and wincons that fit into the flavor of the Deck more or less. Terminal World/Terminal Revenge is probably the best example of this

[@frankwhite51]

Overtuned generic monsters become chase cards that fill Konami's bank account. Would anyone care about Baronne if it was the Aromage boss monster that could only be made with plants and an Aromage tuner.

[@DestroAzureDx]

I almost agree but giving that to players they'd just summon the generic monster AND that new boss monster. Yugioh is unfixable they just need new formats. A bigger banlist is just a bandaid until they release new broken stuff and let that run around for 7 months. I actually think one of the best formats was just before Nekroz dropped when Burning Abyss and Shaddoll we're meta. To be clear I never played those decks but you could at least deal with them way easier

[@zerochill4096]

@@DestroAzureDx I mean, that's why the TCG banned Baronne and Savage on the last list. They're definitely not going to be the last of the generic apocalypse either

[@ExeErdna]

@@zerochill4096 The "main character" decks being way more spicier than the 2nd rung and especially the 3rd and 4th rung decks of that set. Yet if you get something lower being strong it often times gets the axe while they're still attempting to build the deck up. Where something born strong people will be like "it isn't broken that's how the game is supposed to be like"

[@nathanbrownlee9276]

Link summoning has absolutely made it impossible to add a new summoning mechanic into the game. They’re so generic that if a new mechanic was added and had actual material requirements, nobody would play them because those materials could be used for any Link monster. Effectively power creeping all current and even future summoning mechanics. The main problem stems from the fact that Links were designed for Master Rule 4, where EVERY deck needed a Link monster to function because of the rulings with the Extra Monster Zone flood gating all decks that use the Extra Deck. But MR4 broke the game so badly that by the time they Revised it, there were too many Link Monsters design for MR4 in the game. Now they can’t stop making Link monsters by that same standard because if they actually add real summoning requirements to new Link Monsters, nobody would play them. And the funniest part about all of this is that Link Summoning was supposed to slow down the game’s power creep but instead made it way worse.

[@RedMage8BT]

I feel like XYZ summoning will always have its identity in the sense that it's always fundamentally about overlaying cards

[@valutaatoaofunknownelement197]

Add to it that in a nutshell, the general gist of XYZ monsters is you usually get a limited amount of effect activations.

[@7thHourFilms]

It's really only a few bad offenders with Xyz. The worst example is Zoodiac. That's just Link Summoning and I hate it. But laddering and Rank Up is kinda rare with exceptions being like Raidraptor which needs spells.

[@spicymemes7458]

This is where Paul comes out as a Liberomancer main 😉

[@Saixjacket]

Paul is his own sexuality at this point 😂

[@apsamplifier]

You're unironically close to the truth.

[@mark1A100]

I mean Paul is a vanquish soul lover

[@ArcDragoon]

Modern Yu-Gi-Oh! has devolved into one resource extra deck summoning mechanics with a hand filled with hand traps. A lot of modern decks reliably have one card openers that lead into an extra deck mechanic, while you protect it with hand traps. The game almost feels like a game of WAR, y'know the old card game where the winner is determined by high card. You play a card, your opponent plays a hand trap, you play a hand trap, etc... If you don't have the hand trap, you just lose. The game doesn't offer players a real chance to draw an out. The game doesn't actually adhere to the game mechanics of the game anymore. Fusion used to require a fusion spell. Synchro used to require a Tuner and non-Tuner. XYZ used to require at least two monsters of the same level. And then there are Link Summons, one links? What Yu-Gi-Oh! needs isn't to slow down, it needs game mechanics to properly work without being cheated. Slowing down is just a side effect of the game properly working. This isn't to say that Yu-Gi-Oh! doesn't "work" right now, but it is definitely not as intended, it is working as power creep defined it, which is to find ways to ignore mechanics. It is like everyone is supposed to be paying their fair share of taxes, but people have been exploiting loopholes to not pay taxes, now the government doesn't have money to do their job, and everyone blames the government for doing a poor job, when it was both the tax payers and government's fault. Yu-Gi-Oh! players and Konami are in a codependent relationship, and it is neither healthy for the consumer or the game.

[@shien-ryu4395]

Even Tribute Summon Decksnowadays cheating they way by tribute summoning multiple times per turn, even during your opponent's turn

[@animeking1357]

@@shien-ryu4395 Even then who wants to tribute summon when those resources could go into a broken Extra Deck monster?

[@DragoSmash]

while your objective is noble, why would anyone play a subpar mechanic of "no cheating things into play" over "cheating everything into play"? Konami has already set a floor, and anything below that floor, sadly, will be forgotten into mediocrity right now, Konami needs to release something that puts something similar or better than Link monsters on the table, or else why bother with it

[@Shadowx157]

​@@DragoSmash Or Or, maybe it could dial it back. When link summon was released they put the brakes on all the other mechanics just to break the limiter on links in the end (aka goki or spyral)

[@Shadowx157]

I totally agree with you, cheating out mechanics is what's ruining this game. They need to focus on making good cards without breaking mechanics.

[@Loli-Knight]

The problem is that, mechanically, the entire game has become a runaway freight train. If Konami had gotten the game under control many a year ago then they probably would have worked out extra deck stuff to be more distinct than they are now. The game has essentially spun itself off the road and there's really no course correcting at this point other than some sort of dreaded nuclear option. I love this game to death, but I definitely lament its overall lack of mechanical integrity, and Konami's seeming lack of vision for what they want it to be.

[@WolfPackAlpha-sn2sw]

Which is exactly why we need to do what Magic did and introduce set rotation

[@RavenCloak13]

​@@WolfPackAlpha-sn2sw We already have a problem with pricing. This will kill the game and there sole money making IP. No, this isn't an exaggeration. Actually think like Konami should have before you speak. The game already is overpriced for no reason, we aren't going to get cheaper or easier to get cards and your going to kill off one of the most unique things about Yugioh. THINK.

[@metalmariomega]

The original Fusion mechanic was SO BAD, cards like Magical Scientist and Metamorphosis came out just to give people ways to make use of the Extra Deck. Then they just used that to Summon Spam into FTK and OTK shenanigans, leading to tons of those types of cards getting limited or banned. Not too different from how most of the Links designed to support other summoning mechanics got banned for the powerful boards they allow people to make. Contact Fusion was basically the prototype for Link summoning, using 1 or more monsters to just outright make a new one. The main difference Links have now is arrows that limit your ability to expand your Link boards specifically(and the inability to get flipped over) Synchros required two monsters so they wound up leading to a heavier emphasis on protecting monsters in order to make them, which is why they eventually became a leading cause of negate spam. There are exactly TWO Link monsters commonly used for negates(Apollousa and Tri-Gate Wizard), and both of these are significantly more fragile than Synchros because of position requirements and low Atk values, so they often get supplemented with Synchros when possible. XYZs are when they started focusing on getting multiple monsters out onto the field, most notably with Level 4s like Goblinburgh and Kagetokage. Overlay units gave XYZs limited "ammunition", so their effects(and in some cases protections) had to be more impactful to make up for that. THEN they started throwing around Rank-Up Magics to try to copy the "Quick Synchro" ability some later Synchros had in order to allow for more interesting reactive plays, though that eventually got abused for floodgate shenanigans IN THE LINK ERA OF ALL THINGS. Zoodiacs were also kind of a predecessor to Link shenanigans that came out late into the Pendulum era, and thanks to being able to overlay on top of each other and special summon XYZs from the GY had more versatility during MR4 than the other prior mechanics. Pendulums did too much when they worked, and too little when they didn't. The ability to turbo out monsters turn after turn was too much for many decks not on Pendulum mechanics to handle, but ONLY when you could get scales consistently, which required running tons of scales and wound up limiting what non-pendulum cards you could run at all, though it also led to decks that WEREN'T on Pendulum scales to heavily accelerate their ability to create and stop a threat, which is why decks prior to BA and Shaddolls felt MUCH slower in comparison to ones that came after(short of the Dragon Rulers, which got banned to allow people to pay attention to these new offerings more quickly). MR4 not only curbed to power of Pendulums by limiting how they could be summoned from the Extra Deck, it also cut back on everything else by forcing Link arrows in order to bring out multiple monsters from the Extra Deck for ANY strategy. This(along with Mystic Mine) actually nearly killed the OCG, especially once Link monsters got to the point where uninterrupted combos could Extra Link and lock opponents out of the Extra Deck ENTIRELY(and hand rip while doing so when Topologic Gambler was legal). This combined with Vrains Pack 2(forgot what the TCG called it but it's the one that provided all that support to the other Summoning types that got abused for summon spam shenanigans) have left the Link mechanic with a bad taste in peoples' mouths to this day. Yet a majority of the nastiest strategies after MR4 got weakened had less to do with Links than they did with the OTHER summoning mechanics. Virtual World COULD NOT use Links, but consistently had ways to Turbo out every dumb Level and Rank 6/9 in the game, including current bans like True King of all Calamities. Infernobles used Isolde for setup, but it was ultimately Charles that allowed Smoke Grenade of the Thief to be popped repeatedly and hand rip away the opponents' best efforts at setting up. Even a decent Link strategy like Tri-Brigade needed spammy XYZs from Zoodiacs and Lyriluscs to make up for their fragile end boards. Dragon Link always ran Synchros to get some negates on the field. And the Herald spam from Drytron's RITUALS are what allowed the Apollousas they often set up to not just lose instantly to Imperm and board breakers. Adamancipators abused Union support alongside their predominantly Synchro focused strategy to Floodgate AND Negate at the same time.

[@ChargedJolteon2]

"Why did you stop using the extra deck?" "KZbinr said it was gay"

[@chikasnotmadjustdisappoint6266]

Basically, extra deck summoning is becoming too simple and generic for all types of extra deck monsters. With how easy link summoning is, it's no surprise that Konami made the other extra deck monster types easier to summon as well, like having more fusion monsters not requiring polymerization and more XYZ monsters not even requiring a rank-up spell. Otherwise, almost every Yugioh player is just gonna play link monsters. This could have easily been avoided had Konami made the materials for many link monsters less generic. Honestly, would the Borrel link monsters see as much play as they have if their summoning requirements was "3+ Rokket monsters" instead of "3+ effect monsters" or for Apollousa if it was just "2+ Fairy monsters with different names, except tokens" rather than "2+ monsters with different names, except tokens"?

[@Telados]

They could have given us archetype specific linkmonsters back when they were still required to use the extra deck and left it at that

[@willajer]

I really feel instead of a new summoning mechanic, we really just need a new card TYPE. Speed duels were excellent, and even though there were a few OP examples, the Duelish Skill cards were a great example of innovation that genuinely felt very inpactful and thematic for those decks. Id love to see something like that in the main game.

[@AkidaCoreGaming]

I agree, whether or not it's a fusion monster, XYZ monster, or Link monster the distinction is getting more and more irrelevant from the perspective of summoning mechanics. As you said the design space my be tapped out since Link summoning is really no different than what came before it. Instead of an actual new method of summoning they opted to instead focus on new functions (no DEF and Link arrows). I think this is what we will see more of going forward if new monster types are introduced, it won't really be about how they are summoned, just what new gameplay elements they bring with them.

[@Maximusls2400]

Im glad u said link summoning is nothing, because it is, nothing special nothing unique no hard work required, also your forced to play links even if you dont want to because of the meta konami enabled

[@XezeMaster]

I feel this also makes it more confusing for new players. You first teach them how fusion, synchro, and xyz summoning works. But then you're like "hey, so remember what I taught you about these summoning mechanics? Yeah forget all that, they all behave like pseudo-links now."

[@KaullorFist]

Oh I thought we were talking about how some of the monsters were gay for one another like the shipping wars. But homogenization instead got it.

[@TheDuelingBeard]

Paul woke up and chose violence

[@TheNotableNobody]

Correct! When there's a lot of pressure on the game to be faster and more efficient, only so many types of effects are viable. Summoning conditions are just another thing that needs to be easier to perform. The sheer existence of Link forces everything to keep up with its ease of access.

[@apsamplifier]

Right. I think Link Monsters are sort of like Konami's "perfected" Extra Deck mechanic (in the context of ease of use for all nearly all players and applications). So now they have to scramble to catch every other mechanic up to them.

[@Release_the_Bees]

I think this was always inevitable. The funnest part of Yu-Gi-Oh! has always been turning one or more dudes into an even more badass dude. Even in the early days, sacking your Gemini Elf to create a Summoned Skull was the height of euphoria. The game has almost solely focused on new ways to creat that feeling and now its a mess where none of it feels all that special anymore. Maybe its time to go all in on another aspect of the game with like extra deck spell cards or something.

[@kuribohner7680]

I would suggest Red Bordered main deck monsters called Cross monsters.The way these monsters would be summoned is from the hand by sending the listed extra deck materials to the graveyard face down who's levels/ranks/link ratings equal the level of the Cross monsters.

[@akichan4168]

It also contributes to confusing new players. When I first started and my opponent "summon" Colossus, I was rather confused, like how did they tribute summon a fusion monster.

[@cossetta]

i think in concept its cool so many decks can use the extra deck like this, but i also find it sad because i really enjoy seeing archetypes and what the bring and how they play differently from each other, and now the extra deck now just feels the same for every deck.. every extra deck just boils down to the best 15 cards in the game

[@Pamijay]

uhhh...Happy Pride Month I guess???

[@Raymond-v5t]

No

[@kyletrevino5168]

In that last "I don't know" you can really hear the exhaustion

[@pieoverlord]

Link summoning really was something of a death knell for Yugioh's creativity. I really wish they had double downed on the Link arrows as the main mechanic that they need to work around but, as you can tell from the rule changes at the time, they just wanted to shift product.

[@frogsnidget_7345]

Another example of ritual monster creep is the Nouvelles, I absolutely adore this archetype but after using Vendreads where I genuinely feel like I’m spamming rituals to raise and reanimate my zombies from the deck and graveyard, Nouvelles just chain specials from the deck into Baegrill and it’s the least interesting part of the archetype by a huge margin

[@gambitgambles]

I though the extra deck went full Diddy but it was not the case.

[@GhostintheMachine25]

Who says it didn’t? No diddy though

[@geedo9172]

@@GhostintheMachine25 Mannadium be hosting the freak offs fr 😂

[@jajordan2106]

I'm hoping the drakes get additional support at some point maybe they get their own version of destiny board.

[@Neptune8]

The game is just so fast now that it has turned all these ED monsters into a link monster

[@PeachieDeen]

Also the title sent me 🤣

[@DarkDodgers]

It's because we're not getting rewarded for the harder mechanics. There's no reason generic link 4 monster is just an extra deck answer for EVERYTHING. I don't mind one or two, but it's ridiculous. The new illusion stuff is fun but it's still specific. I very much dig it.

[@axessoul]

W pfp

[@Sadonyx]

bro cooked with this title in 2024 yerrr

[@twilightblaze2052]

I think the problem with extra deck mechanics working like link monsters is when they are not archetype specific or mechanic specific. If you could contact fuse, use non-tuners as tuners, and overlay with one material but only when a prerequisite that is specific to an action a certain strategy does, then I’d have no issue with these “link-like” summoning mechanics. For example, make a Fire King Xyz monster that can be summoned by using only one monster that was summoned back from the GY. Make a Swordsoul synchro monster that can use for a material any non-effect monster (with a level). Make a ninja fusion monster that can be contact fusion summoned with two set “Ninja” monsters. When you play into the gimmicks of certain strategies and reward players with more accessible summoning mechanics for doing what those strategies want, you encourage players to use strategies as they were intended to be used.

[@TemporalDelusion]

Wish it wasn't like this. I really hate when things like DPE got turned into a generic splashable extra thing you just did as part of your combo. It could be argued that it's always been like this... startdust/black rose/gojo then the rank 4 toolbox and the like. Now it just feels worse somehow. I was never against archetypes, quite the opposite, I loved them when they got introduced as even before I always tried to make thematic decks like warriors/dragons/spellcasters. I dislike that so many different archetypes get reduced to an engine like melodius now is a recent example. Fiendsmith is looking to be exactly that as well. It feels like slop. Slop decks. Soulless. Snake-eyes to me is something that embodies most of what I hate about the game as well, the entire archetype is INSANELY COOL... all it does is pump out bodies in the most efficient manner in order to summon broken generic crap... Come on... they could have done so much more with the concept.

[@thewardoctor3237]

Paul, a design rabbit hole you may find fascinating, and maybe to ask the Professor about, is the 'all these Magic mechanics are really just kicker' argument. Have fun!

[@tanzolo4487]

The yugioh card game needs a reboot. And I’m not just saying it’s bad for the sake of saying it’s bad. It’s the nature of it’s powercreep. Every tcg has power creep. They want to keep selling product so it’s unavoidable. In most cases the game just evolves along side it’s power creep. The problem with Yugioh is that it can’t. When you look at pokemon, Magic, etc you can see that MOST of their powercreep takes the form of increasing or decreasing numeric values such as Attack power or the cost to play a card. The problem with Yugioh is that it couldn’t simply increase power levels because of the show. Blue eyes white dragon was supposedly “the strongest monster in duel monsters”. It and Dark magician’s power had to somewhat stay “Relevant”. So they increased new card’s power by giving them more abilties instead. And it backfired. Cards have way too much text. They do everything. And it’s not even an exaggeration. Most “good” cards can “search the deck” for a card that combo’s with it. Most likely a card that will let you “cheat” cards into play. And the cards you “cheat” into play, enable more cards to be played on the field for free. Creating a chain of summoning monsters or spells that usually also have the ability to either destroy the opponent’s monsters or destroys both traps and spells. Reaulting in a situation were you end up with an entire board and they’re left with nothing. The only thing that can stop those “chains” from going of are hand traps. So it just becomes a question of : do you have a handtrap? No? Ok, I win. Yes ? ok, you live. Now, do you have a handtrap? That’s it. Sure some decks might be Harpie themed or some might br Dragon themed. In the end they all do the same thing. Other games do this : Harpies - weak alone, strong in numbers, each buffing each other to create a swarm. Dragons - Hard and slow to summon, but once you get 1 on the board you can easily overpower anything. Magicians - not the strongest power but have good synergies with spells. This is what Yugioh does : Harpies, Dragons, Magicians - Fast, multiple ways of cheating them early into play. Good at destroying traps and magic. Good at destroying monsters. Good synergy with spells and traps, strong in numbers. They all do everything.

[@eebbaa5560]

absolute jaw-dropper of a title. truly masterful work

[@shivan4lyf]

I understand there are monsters being summoned too freely, instead of the unique way of summoning them for example using Polymerzation so its like what we need for yugioh is something more unique something extra because its seems like its the same thing happening in this mixture same kind of way (Mostly to do with the Extra deck monters) which is too often

[@superandroid23]

It almost feels like konami is trying to bring back a "personal flair" aspect back into the game by making everything similar without dedicating to a deck. Unfortunately that's not really how competitive play has ever worked.

[@posmen0e]

The extra deck is literally just "The Deck" now.

[@CoASoFi]

I played Yugioh as a kid during the 1850 atk era. Just got back into it via Master Duel and I had the same thought. It was confusing at first with all the summoning mechanics but then I realized they’re all basically the same thing.

[@Zetact_]

Honestly it's really just Fusions. When the go-to example of cheating out Synchros is "so you need two monsters who have specific levels and the right attribute but this one can circumvent a tuner requirement." It's still Synchro Summoning for all intents and purposes. Crimson Dragon is a bit silly but that's a band-aid solution to allow for the summoning of key iconic boss monsters that are way too difficult to summon by conventional methods. If anything, Crimson Dragon shows that Synchro has been neglected when the only way to easily summon a monster like Cosmic Blazar Dragon or Red Supernova Dragon is to cheat it out, by summoning two level 12 generic Synchros. Xyz cheating can sometimes be silly but oftentimes the drawback of Xyz monsters getting cheated out is that they have effects where they would like more materials on them, so they still play into the main gimmick that Xyz has. Plus Zeus and Typhon both have noticeable drawbacks. Neither of those are anywhere close to what was given to Fusion, which has been given SO much that it can be done by moving cards from any location to any other location, using a Spell except sometimes not, and sometimes not even needing Fusion materials. I think that there is room for another summoning mechanic and it is by doing the cheating stuff that Fusions are doing and making that its own mechanic. Instead of stuff like Vicious Astraloud, Gate Guardian Combined, Enlightenment Dragon or the Runick monsters being Fusions, they could have been some new mechanic that's tied to "conditions being met." It'd also let some recycling of main deck ideas that haven't really been done yet - Nomi cards like Dark Sage or Berserk Dragon that aren't good due to being bricky but could in theory have been okay if they were Extra Deck cards.

[@apsamplifier]

You know what? You do have a great point here. I think an Extra Deck mechanic that's actually got the retro flavor of Gate Guardian, Dark Sage, etc could be a really cool way to modernize old-school cards and mechanically freshen things up. It would also help give Fusions their identity back, since right now they are REALLY overloaded.

[@Gatitasecsii]

I dislike this comment because you make it sound like Synchros and Xyz are so balanced. No, with how much special summoning there is in yugioh nowaadays you can always meet the requirements for synchros and Xyz. Now, of course Lynkz are much more OP since they require no specificity, but fusions were at a huge disadvantage in comparison, so they needed the most "help" to catch up. They should just move ritual monsters to the extra deck at this point.

[@Joe-xx2ri]

I'm a lil late to the party but I wanna give my opinion. First of all about the tphon thing i get it but tphon's effect you can only use once BECAUSE it's an xyz so it being an xyz plays a factor it's not just a link 1. Monsters like cartesia i do agree are sort of like link monsters but so far i haven't seen that many monsters that can do something like that. Thirdly, i feel like link monsters are being treated by knoami as just monsters, like their arrows don't exist. Only few decks that care about link arrows are very very few decks which are usually bad decks (Like S-force) or Pendulum archetypes. The extra monster zone now being reserved ONLY for links i think gives them more uniqueness but konami keeps making monsters that just revive themselves when sent to the GY (like dotscaper) or links that revive other cards (like splashmage/transcode/promethean) to the point where it has made link arrows obsolete because usually you're only gonna be using that one singular space for a singular link monster (like apollousa) but this doesn't mean how the extra monster zone worked before was better. I feel like the main problem is konami and their card design and the worst part is the yugioh community just does not revolt enough. Look at the snake-eyes format it has been a huge nuisance this format, stunting the deck variety in general and although everyone is unhappy, everyone still pays top dollar for snake-eyes and nobody speaks up against konami enough and for long enough for them to actually do something. i feel like the yugioh community is just too conforming. I remind you that konami releases banlists without saying anything to the community, ever

[@sielklavar]

Well 'tis the season afterall

[@yourturn5059]

I have to disagree. I don't think the extra deck monsters are all becoming the same these days. They've just become more useful in a fast phased game like modern yugioh. Otherwise, an old mechanic like fusion summoning would never be played today because it used to be way too clunky and difficult to pull off. (Also, the available fusion monsters were never worth the effort and resources) I think that the new (and easier)ways of extra deck summoning (or even ritual summoning) keep the game interesting, and (for example)the synchro monsters are still very different from Xyz is their abilities so they keep their uniqueness.

[@apsamplifier]

Well said. I do appreciate the modernization of Fusion in particular.

[@VforVictory00]

Link monsters are Konami's response to making the extra deck accessible to any deck. Eventually if they plan to make extra deck faster/power crept higher, it's gonna get to the point where we have an extra deck monster that can summon itself with the simplest condition like "If a monster was destroyed this turn, you can summon this from the extra deck." The acceleration of monsters being like link monsters was either gonna go 1 of two ways:1. They make the card type (ritual, fusion, synchro, XYZ) easier to summon or 2. The summoning difficulty stays the same but the power of the cards get higher to compete with the rest of the game.

[@Gebirges]

If we want Fusions to be up to speed we should have Fusions that require 2 or more NAMED monsters specifically not need Poly anymore. They can just contact fusion while the others should have to use Poly or similar effects to fuse (Hex Fusion, Tearlaments)

[@pinealeye1077]

I feel like the interesting things Konami should play around with is something like the raidraptor rank up that basically uses synchro summoning to xyz summon a monster. Or even something like the the earthbound fusion/synchro card. Of course it’d be nice to have these be archetype specific, otherwise they’d be somewhat busted

[@HITSONERR]

Gotta say no diddy when talking about your extra deck

[@daltongrimes7850]

As someone who is a fan of the shows and who played in 2002, trying to get back into YuGiOh now is hard. And you might think that having these mechanics feel similar would be a good thing, but I think it makes it way harder, because it’s so hard to differentiate the aspects that truly separate mechanics.

[@blastchaos4286]

The title and thumbnail are genius.

[@jimmyjohnson1175]

Link summoning is when the game went off the rails

[@snin3202]

Finally someone said it. 😩 That's why yugioh is on its downfall. All the extra deck summoning methods are just the same thing with diff color basically. All of those are just about summoning another characters from its archetype outside the main deck. Fusion is not fusion anymore. You barely see the materials used for fusion on that said fusion monster.

[@RealPowerRanger541]

I can agree the extra deck feels over crowded. Might be why I decided to try making a deck that doesn't use the extra deck at all.

[@Gatitasecsii]

What i dislike is how there's so much generic stuff in extra decks. I feel like an extra deck should make sense with the deck you're running... Nowadays people are playing a mermaid deck and out of nowhere a space ultra mech pops out to negate effects and wipe fields somehow...

[@RealPowerRanger541]

@Gatitasecsii Couldn't agree more actually did this challenge to not use the extra deck to make a Valon inspired deck with machines and the orichalcos.

[@BrendonStMarie]

The ninja fusions are an interesting version of contact fusion. They could be effectively be link summoning (and they even have one) but BECAUSE they are fusion monsters it allows you use your face down ninjas to contact fuse, which you wouldn’t be able to do if they were all links

[@MochiiMochaPop]

I thought I was delusional when I saw the title, but nope 💀

[@vgsounds23]

I think an interesting fix to faze out contact fusion would be continous / field fusion spells being more common, a lot like future fusion or fusion gate. The idea being you place it down, and any time you want to fusion summon, you pay a cost, such as 1000LP or discarding cards or milling your deck or destroying a card on your field. Making an infinite use fusion spell would make contact fusion and spell fusion more on parr with each other, because a decreased percentage of the deck would be used for fusion spells, allowing for more handtraps and core deck cards.

[@BestgirlJordanfish]

This game could turn down the homogeneity and TURN UP the homosexuality. Just experiment with that space.

[@_Puke]

Am i only the only one who thought he was getting that pride month bump

[@rockkyboyo]

With that title, and it being june, the algorithm has to forcefeed everyone this video

[@joelroman-mk5le]

I was so excited for the jojos x yu gi oh collab when I read the title

[@Na25500]

The thing that made link summoning become more powerful than the other ones is the existence of Link-1 monsters. All previous summoning methods required a minimum of 2 cards. Having the ability to freely send a monster to the grave through link summoning made it broken.

[@TheChron-kl8gf]

Since we got here, happy pride everyone.

[@Eklund986]

Joseph is going to have a field day with this title

[@CR-yn2rd]

Now THIS is how you start Pride Month!

[@apsamplifier]

🏳‍🌈

[@Raymond-v5t]

No

[@SZaier6]

One thing I like about Pendulum Summon is that it isn't a "trbute summon with extra steps/conditions" unlike fusions, rituals, synchros, XYZs and, specially links

[@itsthatguyarc7186]

One thing that I feel has shifted over time is how Konami treats non-generic summoning requirements. They seem to have fallen into the pattern where they expect players to not want Blade Armor Ninjas or Naturia Beasts anymore but rather an Evolzar that comes with its own Rescue Rabbit already prescribed to solve the summoning restriction for the player. Or, it's just something redundant like Chixiao where one wonders who is even worried about having Wyrm non-tuners for a card that doesn't even function without Swordsoul names. It's odd how summon-locking effects of an engine seem to just have become generally more relevant than the actual line of text used to say how a monster is summoned by design choice. High genericness seems to be the primary problem of Links and Xyz while prescriptiveness is the primary problem of Fusions and Pendulums and Synchros are somewhere in the middle.

[@PiantaBroker]

one of the reasons i hate chaos angel's design. Why even need a tuner

[@GunnarWahl]

I thought of a new mechanic that requires specifically face down monsters, and the extra deck monsters would be 2 sided, and have a different effect in defense then in attack. Finally the monsters would always be public knowledge and count as face up monsters in the extra deck

[@joeymayson8279]

New summon idea: shuffle the materials into opponent’s deck 💀

[@autobotstarscream765]

Parasite Paracides

[@YouTubeEnthusiast]

Titled for pride month

[@damon3095]

Yo im crying at the title 😂😂.

[@Roddan96]

The title killed me. Love it.

[@devariojohns]

I genuinely believe that at least part of the reason why design space seems so narrow is because konami keeps designing cards with (metaphorically, of course) 35 different effects. A single card has to have a search effect, grave effect, and some other bonus effect just to be considered playable these days. They compress so much activity onto one card that they dont have enough to give to other cards. Ive noticed that most "boss monsters" in modern yugioh have search or recovery effects instead of actual board impacting effects. Main deck monsters have become such pointless fodder cards that you could swap the main and extra deck amounts and almost nothing would change, abd extra deck monsters have been given main deck monster effects to the point where players are just wasting time spitting out cards ratger than actually playing the game.

[@geraldposter1496]

Could try for magics double sided cards. Front side is what it starts as, back is a transformed state. Doesnt even have to start as or turn into a monster. Now you have main deck monsters turning into boss monsters without being garnets, extra deck monsters evolving, some cards that flip when destroyed to turn into spells and traps (i know some cards basically do this, but now you can put the effect text for the spell form on the other side of the card so you dont need a magnifying glass to pretend to read it). Could also give fusions an easy to summon link esque side, and make the other side the powerful boss monster form if you hard cast essentiallu. For non magic players wondering how you use them in a nonsleeved deck, magic includes blank cards in packs with those types of cards. You write what it is up top and when you play it you pull out the real card.

[@Technizor]

All types of special monsters have greatly dumbed down the entry barrier to each summoning mechanic over time. Ritual Summons basically just pitch additional copies of themselves and have lots of searcher support to make the main deck monster cards and negative card advantage (since they REQUIRE a Ritual Spell card to ritual summon, unlike Fusions). This summoning method cares about the level of the cards used. Fusion effects that fuse materials from GY or Deck and those that aren't even on bricky spell cards reduce the original card disadvantage built in. But these can be too powerful. This summoning method cares about the identity of the cards used as material. Synchros live or die by the arbitrary levels that the archetypes or generic staples can combine to (e.g. Fenrir + Ash Blossom = RIP Baronne). With some exceptions the tuner + non-tuner requirements and levels do limit which Synchro monsters see the light of day. There's a reason why you either see the easily accessed generic negaters or you see full 15 minute combo decks with nothing in between. I very much dislike how Synchro archetypes from pre-MR4 basically can't do anything because they don't have the fuel or archetypal boss monsters to play midrange. It's almost easier to run many of these archetypes as Link fodder. Xyz are basically more permissive synchro summons since you can use duplicate copies (historical usage of Rescue Cat/Rabbit/Tour Guide) and you don't have the tuner requirement. They already came out of the gate with these types of cards already in the picture, particularly around the common Rank 3 / Rank 4 toolboxes. Lately Xyz monsters tend to be "extra deck monsters that use materials" and without built-in Rank Up Magic type summoning conditions on the cards themselves, RUM type monsters are rarely played. The fact that they use Ranks instead of Levels tend to xeno-lock these decks out of other summon types... except for Links who don't care about level at all. Links are where everything is pretty generic by the mechanic itself, and everything else has loosened their restrictions to compete. Many people call it "glorified tribute summons" for a reason.

[@apsamplifier]

Perfectly stated analysis, really. I think I like the stopping points they found with Rituals (giving the monsters useful hand-effects and juicing them up with many net-positive search effects) and Fusions in terms of modernizing them while still keeping their fundamental identity. But Synchro and Xyz have definitely lost a good bit of their flavor along the way.

[@PhilFromSchool]

I've noticed this as well.. the colour of the card becomes arbitrary when they all ignore summoning conditions Chaos Angel isn't really synchro summoning, but it has to be a white card coz it's archetype are white cards

[@70Lu07]

Oh, so they finally are releasing Extra-Deck support for Crystal Beasts?

[@alejandropupo]

Bro that clickbait is CRAZY LMFAOOOOOOOOOOO

[@Elystal]

to me the most ridiculous fusions are runick ones, they literally create fusion monsters out of thin air

[@RavenCloak13]

That's every Fusion deck.

[@Elystal]

@@RavenCloak13 well at least most fusion decks uses materials and moves some monsters, the runick bros just slap a spell on the field and boom free body

[@four-en-tee]

All i'm gonna say is that there's 2 concepts that could further break the main deck and extra deck respectively. Main Deck: powercrept Dark Sage Extra Deck: new extra deck type that summons based on cards revealed from deck The problem really is just that its too easy to put free bodies on the board in Modern Yugioh. That's basically the problem with links: one body turns into, like, 5 cards or some shit. We need to start further regulating generic link extenders and bosses, and i'd start with banning IP Masquerena. Apo's already on borrowed time, but i would like to see if banning IP can justify keeping the card legal. I also wouldn't mind if we had more "IP like" cards (similar to Electrumite replacements like Beyond the Pendulum) that allow for plays on the opponents turn, but had more specific summoning requirements. For example: IP in lore exists in the same setting as the LIve Twins, so maybe you could create an IP that requires you to make it off cyberse monsters?

[@Ichigo90]

On the one hand, it’s *kinda* cool that so many different decks have access to the extra deck as a toolbox, when they otherwise wouldn’t. On the other hand, if every deck is using the same 5 or 6 super strong generic monsters because they all have access to them, and as a result are all ending on the same board… did we *really* see two different decks battling it out, or did we see the same two characters wearing pallet swapped outfits?

[@Lightn0x]

Hot take: all extra deck mechanics are just contact fusion (which is what fusion should have been from the start). The only unique one is xyz I guess because of the overlay.

[@Gatitasecsii]

I agree but also disagree. Contact fusion is what it should've been from the start, but synchros, Xyz and more than all Lynkz are just too generic. Synchros don't ask for specific monsters so long as one is a tuner and the other isn't and the stars add up Xyz don't care about anything as long as the stars are the same Lynkz are literally just free tribute summons

[@blackg450]

Extra Decks coming out the closet

[@JonathanBatchelor-zx3nw]

Link monsters are the only extra deck monster that have intrinsic effects that negate game mechanics simply by being a link monster such as, no defense mode, can't be flipped face down, and immune to pierce. It would be more interesting if there was something inherent to fusion, synchro, and xyz monsters with a similar effect. You want a meta shake up? Have link monsters be effected by book of moon effects with a defense of zero and have hand traps not to be allowed to be used until mainphase 2 of the first turn. It seems to me the entire game now takes place in main phase and the "battle phase" is simply a foregone conclusion. As a returning player and learning all these mechanics it seems to me the primary culprit if power without cost or restraint. Baron and savage Dragon needed to go simply because they cost nothing and do to much. If Baron needed fleur synchron or Savage dragon needed a rokket tuner to make they could still be awesome boss monster bordering on the absurd without stepping into the abyss where they are in every single deck and cost a lot of money to get. S:P Little knight being the latest culprit. If cards and mechanics become so generic and needed in order to have your deck function or be viable then perhaps it's time to bake them into the core of the game itself and have them universally available like speed or action cards.

[@TheMetallingOne]

xyz have been my favorite extra deck type for a while. i really like how (on paper) they feel really balanced compared to the others design-wise, you can give them powerful effects but they have to rely on materials for them

[@Jyzmo]

Good title and humor keep it up ✊

[@numnut154]

I really want some kind of summoning mechanic that is tied to the Chain, like for example you can only play that card at Chain link 4 or a card that has different effects based on where it is in the Chain, I think that would be an interesting way of interacting from the extra deck.

[@forgeree]

i think you didnt have to shorten homogenized

[@orangetuxedoman]

Think about how much engagement this video has received. Controversy Sells.

[@Saixjacket]

I like saying this “everything is a link monster now” visas Amritara and XX bottoms are gonna become very normal. 5:58 exactly Paul!!!!