What is the Ideal Yu-Gi-Oh Power Level? | Pod of Greed Podcast - Episode 64

[@apsamplifier]

*Happy (late) Thursday everybody! Sorry for the wait on the podcast. We promise we're trying our best!* 🙏🏾 As always, please chime in with your thoughts on any of the stories we talked about! Next week we'll get to chat about the Tin announcements (they got announced after we finished recording).

[@haroldnecmann7040]

Damn calen😂

[@destinyshand2049]

I suspect the quarter century will continue until the TCG's 25th anniversary which is 2027.

[@superbadisfunny]

Great podcast as always. Wanted to say I'm a 32 year old male who started reading during covid and i only read fiction novels. Started with Stephen King. 38 books so far. Consuming only anime, horror movies and cartoons lol there's your statistic.

[@Eddysonsan]

No more viewer question submissions?!

[@darthscorn1]

So for the power level discussion: I stopped playing around the middle of Dragon Ruler format, and didn't come back until mid 2021 after opening some packs for nostalgia. Having played a couple of other card games between leaving and coming back, the speed of the game didn't really surprise me. I understood I was 7 years removed and things had evolved. What blew me away more than anything was how consistent the game had become. I started off trying to play Dinos, and there were 2 things that make the game so consistent in my opinion. First is the ability to effectively play multiple copies of the same card in your deck. With Fossil Dig, Oviraptor, Prosperity, etc you were effectively playing 9 copies of the same card, and because you are consistently starting the game the same way, and doing the same combos, it makes the games feel very similar. Now, three year later, we're playing against Snake-Eye, which is a deck with like 15 one-card starters, that all lead into a similar combo. Second, is Link Monsters. By making the summoning conditions on these cards so generic, and with 7 years of the mechanic existing, we just have an ever expanding toolbox of very easy to summon, generic monsters. And when there are specific cards that are simply the best in slot to do a certain thing (Appo, Accesscode, I:P, S:P, etc) it makes the game more generic, and no matter what deck you're playing, there is a lot less deck identity. Which leads to many of the games you are playing feeling similar. There is absolutely skill expression in the game, and I do believe that a better player is going to win a majority of the time. But when I go to locals and so many of the games just feel the same, it gets demoralizing and I start to burn out. My opinion on why people love Edison format so much is because you're at a point in the game when there are legitimate combos that can set you up to win a game, but there are very few ways to assemble 8000 damage in a single turn, and if you do, it may take a multiple card combo to do so. Additionally, there is often counterplay to an OTK. You may clear my board and assemble 8000 damage on board, but if I have Gorz or Trag, I can continue playing. We're at a point in time where Mirror Force isn't just a meme and needs to be played around. We're at a point where Compulse is good enough to end a turn or even win a game. Different decks are trying to win in different ways. So it feels like there is more identity to the decks you are playing. Yes, Goyo Guardian and Stardust are some of the best cards in the game, and nearly everyone is running them. But some decks have archetype specific extra deck monsters that others cannot play. Additionally, because Tuners are a more limited resource than 2 effect monsters, you need to make a decision on what Extra Deck card you're summoning and there's a real cost to using that resource. In modern Yugioh, who cares if I use my Fiendsmith Sequence, I'm just going to put it back in the extra with Engraver to summon a body to summon Sequence next turn. In Edison, if I go into an early Goyo and it gets hit with Smashing Ground, I likely don't have access to it for the rest of the game and it may effect my ability to push for game on turn 7, a place that modern games never reach. The fact that every game these days feels like it leads to the same line of play is where it has become less fun to me. And I think it's part of why Tear is so beloved, even though it was an ultra powerful tier 0 deck. By introducing randomness into the combo it made each game you played feel unique. At this point, I'm not sure if it's possible to reign in the power level of the game, because in my personal opinion, consistency, and the ability to OTK with that is the problem. If you're deck is ultra consistent but can only output 4000 damage, I think that's cool. If your deck can deal 30k damage in 1 turn like Tenpai, but it can only do with a 3 card combo, I think that's cool. Personally, I'd consider Heroes a casual deck at this point. But the fact that uninterrupted they can go into something like Dark Law, Plasma, DPE should say something about possible casual play is. So yeah, I've been ranting for a bit. But my issues are that the game is to consistent, and these hyper consistent combos lead to very powerful boards that effectively win the game on turn 1. Because of power creep, the only real way to print a better archetype is to add more consistency and more recursion, which leads to every game you play or play against it feeling the same. Add in generic extra deck monsters that you have access to every game, where certain things are just best in slot, and it leads to many games across different decks just feeling the same.

[@ThePhantom555]

This may be the most reasonable, level headed take on the game and I agree 1000%. I do love that even casual/rogue decks are hella consistent but even I can admit things may be a little too consistent.

[@shawnramos422]

I agree with the main point completely. We should have more decks like tear and branded despia. Tons of different routes, tons of different ways to play, they're still consistent but if there's enough variety per game and the enemy is able to interact outside of just Having The Out the game would be so much more fun. It's just so feast or famine with a few delicious nuggets showing the game's true potential

[@LocrianDorian]

The game is indeed way too consistent. It's a card game, so inconsistency and thinking of the fly because you didn't get the cards you wanted should be at the very core of the experience. Having the exact same game plan every single duel is not fun.

[@shawnramos422]

@@LocrianDorian Do you not think on the fly in chess? Fighting games? League of Legends? Your game plan adjusts based on how your opponent plays in chess, characters in FGs and LOL. You don't just do the same thing over and over again and a yugioh deck is much more similar to playing a certain character in a game than it is a traditional card game deck. Yugioh just needs to allow decks to have multiple win cons so it's not just "get out the giga board and prevent play". You should be able to play around people's game plans with most decks (obviously with bad matchups that make it more difficult). If you want it to be like MTG though you should play that

[@RLMedia417]

They should print a tier 0 structure deck and see how crazy the game gets. I wanna see what it would happen if everyone could afford the best deck in the game.

[@xInfiniteCaliber]

That would be awesome, but sadly money.

[@apsamplifier]

It would be cool if the national winning deck for the year just got reprinted for the layman as a structure deck

[@johnnynguyen9240]

If that ever happens, those structure decks are gonna sell like hot cakes and be out of stock within days at stores. So yeah gonna be interesting to see the profits Konami would get by having several players buy the product compared to the more competitive tournament players that willingly pay hundreds for those cards.

[@liontamer4132]

Pokemon does something similar with decks from the last world championship, with the caveat that they're not usable for competition play but you can Experience the Power You're talking tourney legal stuff tho so that'd be Interesting

[@blanahaha]

not tier 0, but we've had tier 1 structure decks(monarch, ABC dragon, and others) a few times. So it's not completely unrealistic for it to happen. I could see konami creating a higher power structure deck that cost $30 and you still need 3 of them so a $90 tier 0 deck. Pricey , but way better then the current and past $1,000+ tier 0 that we have.

[@GhostintheMachine25]

1:27:06 It is strange how a lot of men dont have/find the time to read. As a man in my 30’s I definitely dont have as much time to read like I used to however I still find a little free time to read. I read a lot of fiction and it helps calm my mind after stressful work weeks. I also read nonfiction to be aware of what’s going on in the world even though I find a lot of news and current events depressing. My reading mix is probably around 75% fiction to 25% nonfiction. I’ve definitely noticed the lack of men in bookstores these days when I visit, I do consider reading on mobile devices is very popular but I dont like reading on my phone or tablet. I like getting away from the screen and disconnecting from the always connected world (oh damn am I getting old)

[@LocrianDorian]

In my opinion, the mid-late Synchro formats were the absolute peak of Yu-Gi-Oh. Up to that point, the game was getting better and better. I did not mind the initial few XYZ, but eventually they really got out of hand. Pendulum and Link should never have been made. A issue with Konami's approach to the game's design, albeit understandable, is that they always try to promote their new mechanics the most, but in doing this, they make them overpowered compared to the old mechanics, and this continues pushing the power creep. I would prefer if they just banned more old cards to keep the power level of older decks in check, while keeping the overall power of decks at the same level. Also, with the added new mechanics, the game becomes less approachable for new players. There's no reason to have anything more than Fusion, Synchro and XYZ, those provide enough variety as it is.

[@BayouBreakdown]

I have a shutdown story: My dad was scheduled to fly from Louisiana to New York to attend a surgery with my grandfather. Meanwhile, I did an interview the next day or so and got little to no sleep the night before due to my anxiety (I’m unemployed and this was a big interview for a job I highly desired.) I was unaware of my dad’s situation and only vaguely heard about the shutdown. I still hadn’t slept and around 11 o’clock at night I get a message from my brother asking me if I would got to Atlanta with him to pick up my dad. Turns out my dad was on the plane to a layover when the shutdown hit and it left him stranded for several days in the Atlanta airport. He missed the surgery due to the delay and didn’t want to wait another day to be put back on a flight to New York. So I pretty much picked up my brother and started a 16 hour road trip to pick up my dad from the ATL airport at midnight with my brother. Crazy stuff. I hope they don’t mess it up again, I was exhausted when I finally got home.

[@gdgalex1821]

Fun fact about Ultimate Dragon of Pride and Soul: the card Chronicle Magician, which is support for DM, BEWD, and the Pride/Soul Monsters, is actually an appropriate material, so this works with legacy support going back to 2022.

[@alexanderjohnson231]

I was one of those dudes who only read books for educational reasons, but I got into One Piece and reading at least 1 volume a week has been amazing. Switching to reading for fun, and switching from screen time to a silly pirate manga has been such a good change for my brain.

[@1superstick]

I believe that Yugioh as the animes depict it is consistently a great target for power scaling. The pacing was very often literally theatrical. Characters would only ever use 2 or 3 cards to make a single boss monster and place something in the backrow until Arc V if I remember correctly. (I don't count finales of previous shows) Even then, the effects weren't crazy enough to make multiple boss monsters too scary.

[@KidMuny93]

In regards to the book topic, its not a gendered debate, rather an factual observation. Its that simple.. lol.. men tend to be more factual/logical hence reading non fiction and women vice versa. Remember its very okay to generalize when speak/writing about people.

[@W_Sir_Morpheus]

12:00 , i mean...... the exodia ftk made mainstream media. The nerd that won that ycs with whatever meta deck didnt..... Meta Players complain about the nostalgic baiting that Konami does or whatever and honestly i think Konami is doing it all wrong because when its done right then you get that ycs exodia ftk last year, or noah the Olympic runner, or the animation chronicles all making mainstream media, bringing people back to the game or new players etc. Snake-eyes/ fiendsmith isnt doing that, not even close....

[@SoupServerdCold]

I really enjoy listening to the ethics discussions. It encourages me to think about the long term and not about short term quick fixes (or exploits) and how long term side effects can lead to good and/or bad world changing outcomes . Also Alec getting heated over AI helped me while writing Data Science Ethics papers while making me laugh.

[@TBAGProduction]

1:29:00 It's funny I can relate myself too. I finished reading Star Wars: Knight Errant, now I am about to finish Dostoievsky - "Demons", and I am planning to read the Metro trilogy afterwards. Before the Star Wars book I read "Still me" by Christopher Reed autobiography 😂

[@Ookami20]

Best podcast, chillest dudes and always keeps me up to date on Yugioh 💚💚💚

[@SoupServerdCold]

1:12:51 subscriptions like the devil lure you in with the deal of a life time just to slowly strip everything away.

[@apsamplifier]

It really is enshittification at work

[@Halomasterchief16]

I am glad that Alec brought this up. I am a man and do read more nonfiction books. However, I object to the entire premise of the article because it assumes books are the only medium of fiction/storytelling. Men tend to like comic books, anime, and videogames at higher rates than women (women can and do like these mediums too, but to a smaller extent based on the sales). Traditionally, movies target male demographics too (Barbie was considered a big deal for bringing out women to the movies in a way most mainstream movies have not been capable of). This likely reflects a preference for more visual mediums among men.

[@apsamplifier]

Agreed! I didn't really care for the article itself, I think it feels too charged and approaches the situation in what feels like bad faith. How we consume our stories and information, today more than ever, varies wildly. But in my opinion, a story is a story is a story, regardless of the medium.

[@tripple-a6031]

THIS! There are so many different kinds of media and to make such a bold statement while ignoring everything besides novels is ludicrous.

[@Aaron__Parker]

Disney+ came in and choked the market with yearly service for 80 bucks then doubled price. Pretty scummy, but they were losing a bit of money.

[@kelluked]

A couple years ago I got obsessed with an author from Honk Kong who writes Chinese Historical Fiction (specifically Wuxia, Martial Arts Fiction) named Jin Yong (Also goes by Louis Cha). I read one of his trilogies called "The Deer and The Cauldron" which was honestly incredible. I bought all 4 books from his "Legends of the Condor Heroes" series, but fell off midway through book 2 during the pandemic. While my favourite author will always be Hunter S. Thompson, and I also read some non-fiction, it doesn't make much sense to me to say "men don't have time to waste reading fiction" while many of us have 300+ hours in Red Dead Redemption 2.

[@eddiegloria9671]

The Reading discussion has a lot of dimensions to it. You guys should've read the article, as statistics are provided. But ultimately it's a discussion on how the "manosphere" on social media is a visible influence in straight male behavior on a grand scale. One of those changes includes straight men's reading habits. When content for men that becomes popular is about fitness, productivity, grind mindset, and masculinity, then they dont have time for reading fiction.

[@Stormhawk777]

I'm listening to fiction audiobooks all day everyday at work 🤙

[@Stormhawk777]

P. S. If ppl are looking for fiction to read, checkout Brandon Sanderson

[@apsamplifier]

Been trying to get into audio books myself in fact!

[@Stormhawk777]

Brandon Sanderson has a bunch of 1-off stories or huge series to get into. Lots of great world-building and cool magic systems. Huge recommend if you haven't checked him out. He also has a very active KZbin channel

[@ducky36F]

@@Stormhawk777 Sanderson, Hobb and Abercrombie are my go tos 👌

[@starjadiancloneinvestigato1772]

I'm not surprised that cod players who buy the same game every year can't tell if an image is ai created

[@peekay120]

The Blue eyes support is interesting because we are seeing a repeat of what happened in 2016. The support back in 2016 was so heavily targeted at the meta that Blue Eyes was able to win worlds, it almost feels like a similar situation is happening with this new wave of support. Kinda makes you wonder if Konami is trying to brute force another Blue Eyes winning worlds situation to try and bring players back to the game. What a shame they cant push Dark Magician support the same way lol.

[@JimmysALilGirl]

Another great video and I'd love if you continued your recommendations at the end like that. Don't worry so much about when the video is released; it's just as good whether early, late or right on time!

[@apsamplifier]

Noted! We're in a transition phase of life right now but once things settle down we want to REALLY double down and evolve the podcast.

[@JimmysALilGirl]

@@apsamplifier Can't wait to see what you end up doing. I'm happy with how things are now, so anything you add to it should just be icing. See you in the next one!

[@BabadoeTTV]

Ayyyy! We got night podcast!

[@Technodragon9513]

For the reading fiction thing. My last read book was fiction, set in the real world but still fiction with a soft time travel element. As for the rest of my backlog it's all fiction. For graphic storytelling I'm reading multiple manga series and in the novel side is mostly science-fiction and fantasy. It helps that the fiction series I'm reading aren't part of a multi-medium universe so no Star Wars books for example so that keeps me interested in the novels themselves, the only exception for that are some Warhammer 40k and Warhammer fantasy books that are in my backlog so I'd say I read much more fiction. As for non-fiction I mostly don't pay attention to those books, the titles don't seem very interesting and most just seem like some self help filled with superficial stuff anyone could figure out on their own (I know I'm being judgemental but that's the impression I get). So outside of technical manuals for programming languages, system architecture and tool documentation I don't really read a lot of non-fiction.

[@LCDigital92]

How is the Saga of Blue-Eyes structure deck for a Yugiboomer who wants to try something more Edison level with sealed product as opposed to putting a deck together? The structure deck is 2013, but I’m not sure if it’s much more powercrept than Edison.

[@apsamplifier]

It's... hard to recommend today. I'd just wait until we get this new blue eyes deck, likely later this for the holidays.

[@LCDigital92]

@@apsamplifier Thank you, but wouldn’t the new deck be even more close to 2024 Yugioh level than the 2013 one?

[@MrSkullMerchant]

Its a good deck for beginners imo my cousen got into to the game starting with the saga deck 2 years ago

[@ShonicBurn]

I think the easy way to bring subscription prices down is to just stop using them. Our grandparents bought houses and didn't have a single subscription. Paying things one a weekly basis is how you lose more money then you make. Right now i've canceled so many subscriptions it's silly.

[@apsamplifier]

I'm cutting back on all but the very essentials. At one point I realized I was paying something like $100 per month on various unnecessary subscriptions, most of which I didn't use, and now I'm basically down to just 3

[@Watafakmatafak]

Something aoubt growing out of fantasy books might be right. I had a huge collection of some oldschool D&D and MTG books, and i remember reading them all the time. But now, reading fantasy is getting to me, I tried to read some Cyberpunk literature for example William Gibson, and those are more enjoyable now.. Well you never know. Kepp it up guys, this is a great podcast, got me back into collecting YGO card :)

[@invertbrid]

Edison looks like best showcase of the game imo. Turns are fast, still lot of setting traps, combos arent outrageous too. I wanna say tengu plant is better, but decks lIke infernity exist so idk, and turns overall more explosive with tengus. It's good back and forth YGO with lot of reading what ur opp might have and lot 1 on 1 tradeoff, and card advantages really matters. But I'd say HAT and nekroz (after djinn ban but before kozmo second wave released) also good powerlvl of YGO, still fun albeit faster but not outrageous.

[@NecromancerAdr]

Question for the Pot: Do you think the Early Days Collection will include any promo cards? If so, which 3 cards would you like?

[@brycebeechman9435]

Ado being mentioned is the most hyped I've gotten listening to this podcast. The song DIGNITY from the second album is a must listen to.

[@taylorgarcia9365]

Im a pretty avid reader, both fiction and non fiction. We tend to share a similar taste in fighting games and final fantasy, I recommend a brandon sanderson novel for yall.

[@zoroarkling]

Honestly ive mostly read articles about video game news or play through guides to video games ive picked up for the hundredth time, outside of that i mostly read fiction

[@daydreamindaze]

I'm currently reading Star Wars: Dark Disciple! It's an incredibly well written story that takes place during The Clone Wars. It focuses primarily on Asajj Ventress and Jedi Master Quinlan Vos's attempt at assassinating Count Dooku with appearances by Obi-Wan, Anakin, Yoda, Mace Windu, Boba Fett and General Grievous. It's a story of love, betrayal, and redemption. I highly recommend it to any Star Wars fans out there.

[@7thHourFilms]

Manga absolutely counts! I basically didn't read for pleasure from high school (which ended in 2015) to about 2 years ago. I have read like 1 and a half biographies but read more manga. I've read the first 59 chapters of the Yu-Gi-Oh manga (or Season 0), Sailor Moon and now I'm on One Piece. If anything, I don't read non-fiction because I'm just not that interested in novels anymore. Like I read stuff for school; one of my favorites being The Count of Monte Cristo. But nowadays, I am way more interested in manga or graphic novels. Like I can't see myself reading a classic Agatha Christie book like Murder on The Orient Express, not because I won't like it but more because I just wouldn't get through the novel. I'd like to read the graphic novel instead. The article y'all read seems so specific but it might've worked better just as a "People, not just men even, should read more". Like the argument about men reading things that are productive is something but I don't know how productive a biography of Julius Caesar is (random example but it is non-fiction). Idk, kinda strange.

[@wanderer316]

Paul having a podcast with himself. Most of the time, when the other guy comments

[@gonzamm6138]

NGL I didn't know gamepass changed. I knew the price went up but what hasn't during this time. I only have game pass because I like the variety of games it has

[@ODDiSEE_]

50:18 there is insurance specifically for collectibles

[@kennyrichardson3842]

As a guy with a lot of guy friends, me and most of my friends read a lot of fiction so that article feels wild to me. Like, Brandon Sanderson has become one of my friends and I's favorite authors and he has a huge interconnected fantasy world. No idea where this article is coming from, but also there's nothing wrong with people preferring nonfiction vs fiction or vice versa.

[@Dwheel_91]

I think to replace QCR cards for top special rarity, they should go extra in on the Luxury Foil Style cards and make them full arts with the QCR pull rate

[@boliver30]

We need to know what Paul thinks of "My twisted dark fantasy"

[@yogsothoth915]

I read nonfiction every day, but always via audio books

[@daydreamindaze]

That's not reading.

[@adud6764]

​@@daydreamindazeI read dune, but via the movie. I love books.

[@yogsothoth915]

@@daydreamindaze it's why I added an addendum

[@yogsothoth915]

@adud6764 terrible comparison. Unlike a movie, an audio book is identical. Even a footnote heavy work like the works of Terry Pratchett containes all footnotes. Sometimes, it's even more the book than the book was, King made an unabridged The Stand audio book to big for his publishers to bind.

[@adud6764]

@@yogsothoth915 You totally missed the point. Both things are not reading, its as simple as that. You can enjoy audiobooks, nothing wrong with that, but it is not reading.

[@Rahlie0ne3]

I read both fiction and nonfiction. A good book transcends genre

[@SharkTooth57]

Pokemon TCG stores and warehouses are going to start needing armed guards on all shifts, video surveillance, or whatever else. This needs to stop. This is why the pokemon card panic is STILL going on.

[@Basic_Nerd]

Like a lot of returning DM fans I definitely built an Exodia deck in Master Duel. It's bad. So so bad, but when it does work I turn into an 8 year old again. I do have a chain burn deck that is my scorched earth deck when I get frustrated in ranked. If my turn is our turn, then my suffering is our suffering.

[@mrnaughtycat]

The problem with my deck is I need to tribute high atack cards for great maju garzett or the legendary ones

[@MrSkullMerchant]

Great maju garzett takes me back 👊

[@NexusVFD]

The thing about that article is that its NOT talking about people like us. Its talking about the, "You'll grow out of it," crowd of people who ONLY read nonfiction. Its about people who believed the lie that you gain nothing of value from fiction. And despite wanting gender and sexuality to not play a part it does but its also compounded with narrow-mindedness. Being turned off by modern fiction like Alec currently is just a side effect of said fiction no longer bringing anything new and fresh to the table or of interest for him. As a community that consumes fiction via other methods, we start to see tropes appear often and that tends to put us off from the medium as a whole. I.e. Isekai anime.

[@Personarose]

1. Having looked at the article, the full context is in reference to the “manosphere” which I’m tired of hearing about and is on the way out and the masculinity crisis. It suggests that men could benefit from reading fiction as it could leave them more open to different perspectives and more willingness to express themselves that visual media can’t do. 2. I call nonsense as visual media like gaming or watching tv/movies can be just as impactful as reading fiction depending on the story being told. Not to mention, that this “cult of productivity” affecting the public is largely a result of the current social but I’d argue more economic state right now. As much as I don’t like these productivity is everything influencers, I’m not surprised there are men who collectively still deal with a cultural standard of needing to be a breadwinner or have a lack of direction in their lives would adopt this idea. If the economy was better than people would make more time for indulging in hobbies. I’ll also assume the article is talking about traditional books otherwise we could count manga which has increased considerably over the years. That is my primary reading preference although I have started reading a Charles Bukowski novel. 3. While I think the gentleman agreement is good for theme duels for people just getting into Yu-Gi-Oh don’t pay much attention to the complainers as I think these are good for people who want more modern content that actually shows off the archetype but are still enjoyable. I think Yu-Gi-Oh players should understand why people play the way they do or simply find people to play at the pace they prefer instead of complaining on a random video about the duel ending too fast or ending on a less than optimal board. Side Note - Paul if you are looking for music to check out there is Marcus D - Retro 2 which is basically a video game album to a soundtrack that doesn’t exist.

[@benjaminmuratore9341]

Out of curiosity, where are the timestamps? It's been a week and they still haven't been added to the description.

[@Parabol700l]

worm support would be so hype

[@CreaturesOfTheMarsh]

I love reading. I think I’m 12 books in this year - 11 fiction and 1 non-fiction. I know, shocking for a Yu-Gi-Oh! player…

[@yeetus4885]

As a big time Atlantean fan and a casual player I'm disappointed that they forced them together with Mermails. I get they go hand in hand but I never liked Mermails I always went pure and now I can't lol. Also would have been cooler as a structure deck

[@clearcannon4084]

I haven't touched a nonfiction book since school. Maybe 20 pages max. I've read multiple series of fictional series since school. Maybe around 7-10 books

[@SharkTooth57]

They might just keep putting the 25th anniversary logo on all products from now on just to show other people its been around that long.

[@tristanpYGO]

I read a decent amount of fiction. Lot of King and McCarthy which are technically fictional but can feel very real with the characters and dialogue. The 2001 a space odyssey series is also fantastic fiction with real world science.

[@ViroVeteruscy]

Sad part about the stainless steel Dark Magician Girl is that it's still the censored version. As for live-action shows, I recommend Kamen Rider. Kamen Rider: Geats is a good season to start with or Kamen Rider: Ex-Aid if you want a more gamer theme :3

[@ducky36F]

I'm a 30 year old man and I read fiction alot haha. Have to read plenty of non-fiction for my job so to be honest fiction is quite refreshing

[@younasdar5572]

30:50 How about textless, so just have the name line, Ideally transparent and maybe atk/def in the bottom and the rest of the card is just art. Not like anyone is reading the cards these days anyway, but you should make them cards that everyone knows like the current played pots or the ghost lolis etc. 40:00 I doubt it will sell, I for one will not pay that kind of money for a limited collectible with the censored artwork. I wouldn't pay it for erratad text either, not applicable here but just as a matter of principle I will buy those kinds of things if they are accurate to their original appearance in the anime/manga/ocg and nothing else. And as someone who bought the steel gods I assume I am their target audience for this, so my oppinion should matter when it comes to that. 1:35:15 Of course I don't pick up fiction books anymore, I cannot speak for things I don't know but for the ones I do know they have been erratad more than necrovally. And you can only ever buy the newest version. And I for one don't care much for so called entertainment that is infested through and through with "the message". If you watch/read anime/manga fantranslations or just older ones, somehow no one re-translates those afaik, then you get entertainment that tries to entertain you and not lecture you. Yeah entertainment that tries to entertain, what a novel new concept that I hope catches on and who knows maybe even spreads to the west. 1:45:00 But that would be lying, or to put it in legal terms "false advertising". And that is a problem. If, in order to get new players, you have to show players a completely different game to the one you are selling in hopes they buy into it enough that at the point you pull the rug from under them and show them the actual game they stay because of the sunk cost fallacy, then you have lost the plot. 2:01:20 Sounds like it it would be very good with a chaos emperor dragon. yes I had to.

[@majerelynn]

The guy who played Ancient Gear, his name was Corbin Dallas and he had a multipass. 😄 (I wonder how many people will get this reference.)

[@SharkTooth57]

There are over reprinting the wrong cards that are already reprinted to oblivion.

[@TURBO1000YuGiOh]

Might consider getting Yu-Gi-Oh Early Days Video Game if it's good

[@taylorchase-wise4268]

I pretty much only read Fiction as a straight white male haha I got started on Brandon Sanderson Cosmere novels about 6 or 7 years ago and have pretty much only consumed those and Star Wars books ever since. If you have not read Mistborn or Stormlight Archive, then you definitely should!

[@V3geto]

Sry I don't read, not that I can't, it's just for some reason I can't finish a paragraph without falling to sleep. In highschool my teachers would literally allow me to read comic books as long as I did the whole summary thing afterwards, but even then I would just fall asleep halfway through.

[@animeknight99]

Great Podcast 👍

[@sabermaster525]

Can they please bring back the X saber dual terminal archetype?!

[@godsent_tcg]

Who is the better player?

[@cosmo_cat64]

On the topic of books and if you read fiction as a man they seem to think only gay men read fiction. I already get my non fiction from the documentaries i watch,and i watch a ton. I think adult fiction is highly underrated if grown "straight" men think it's beneath them. Some of my favorite novels are pure works of fiction like all quiet on the western front which yes is fiction but historical fiction. When i read i wanna escape from the harsh world these days and just put myself in that old childlike wonder when i read sci fi or fantasy books. This is coming from a 33 year old man who only reads fiction

[@ODDiSEE_]

But is Alec trying to run the sets in Tekken though?

[@kaiserdragon7233]

1:26:53 i read equally amount of fiction and nonfiction. Honestly, that story is insulting. Both woman and man read stories, some more so than others. It's up to the person qnd their taste in literature to guide them.

[@shawnramos422]

The problem with generative AI is that the user just doesn't have control. Why would I want my favorite intricately crafted world made with so little care that there are big chunks of it that had literally no choices made in the process? Design is complex and intricate. The decisions made say a lot about the design and design is integral to every part of creation. Nothing is made from nothing. Well designed things pull inspiration from hundreds of places. Everything from colors, to shapes, to textures, to sounds, to personality, to fashion, to poses, to composition TELL you something about what you're looking at. Why would you give up your ability to control that because an AI can make something that looks decent? Creatively bankrupt.

[@mitchellradspinner4491]

You are absolutely right about Yugi boomers and the blue eyes deck…because I am one.

[@apsamplifier]

Nothing wrong with that. At least now it'll be worthwhile no matter who picks it up!

[@cbgg1585]

Why is Call of Duty still a thing? Cyberpunk (PS5 version)- 90 gigs Elden Ring with DLC- 60gb TOTK and BOTW combined- 25-30gb.. All the other BS asides, no reason why this series should continue pumping out games that are well over 120, 130gb in size. I am also admittedly invested in Activision, but even I cannot believe people are still flocking to their games. Not being able (or attempt) to compress games is a scam in itself.

[@KaoruMzk]

The reason for the bloated file size is poor optimization and lack of file compression. Ever since consoles became glorified PCs that just install the game files from the disc to the drive, most large developers stopped caring about those things since data streaming is no longer an issue they have to deal with.

[@apsamplifier]

Basically this, and I hate it. There's no good reason a console with a 1TB hard drive should only hold a dozen modern games at most

[@1997masterlink]

QCRs are 100% a downgrade of starlights, and im so sick of them and how many of them are in everything.

[@RomeoBarnes]

Alec if you’re the chaos creator then what is Alex? Also tell him hi. Love all you guys

[@Ookami20]

I hope dungeon dice monsters is in that Yugioh collection

[@warbandit1989]

Same, that GBA game was amazing and I would love to see them do a full reboot/update to it

[@sambaroglio1234]

In my opinion, blue eyes toon dragon is still the best blue eyes.

[@dee2273]

All I read is fiction. I’m neurodivergent so that may have something to do with that, but I read for pleasure and non fiction cannot engage my brain, I read novels, comics, webtoons, and manga.

[@jackatlus666]

I guess these studies don't count Manga/Lite Novels as actual fictional books? Lol with the prevalent rise of Anime, I can only imagine the rise of Manga readers have increased proportionally but I could be dead wrong. Alongside with that the dominant percentage of Manga readers and anime consumers are mostly men, yes Manga aimed at women like shoujo and women being interested in the same Manga and anime men are do exist, I know the disparity in numbers is the same as Netflix vs every other streaming platform. Also if these men are actually reading non fiction in order to be productive it does NOT show lmao. They must be reading Andrew tate piece articles or some nonsense 😂 A lot of people actually fail to realize or recognize? Maybe even can't even quantify the significant disparity between ranks when it comes to being #1 in anything vs 2nd+. I remind people all the time that if you look at the numbers like, for example back before Pewdiepie vs T-series was a thing, Pewds outnumbered #2 by 10s of millions. Not just a few but dozens of millions. Like the official NBA and NFL YT channels combined couldn't beat pewdiepie in terms of subs. The top players in any video game comparatively to the ranks just under them is vastly different in skill gap (I.E-League: Pro esports/Challenger players vs Diamonds, there is a HUGE skill gap cooperative to Diamond to Bronze). If you can make it to Gold rank in any game you are better than 50%+ of that playerbase.

[@SSGSTrunks]

I read manga.

[@tristanpYGO]

Ive been thinking Yugioh needs a “fundamental” playstyle. Similar to fighting games like Street Fighter wanting Ryu to be a nice middleground character and balancing characters around him so they are not too strong or weak. Yugioh is such a cluster fck of power

[@W_Sir_Morpheus]

35:51 eh thats a silly ass take lmao. Also UTW formats is a thing, id love a Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis reprint, or a trapdust reprint, etc etc etc.

[@ianmcintosh8307]

whats all the hype about dark magician girl? im not trying to hate on the card or anything but seeing so many different cards over the years this one seems to get a level of hype ive never really understood.

[@dreamiedollie6876]

i'm a woman, but like i pretty much only ever read nonfiction unless it's a manga. do with that what you will?

[@nikolai1566]

Im a straight guy and I only read fiction books

[@NivaOranir]

the skin was still made, just the concept art used AI

[@necessaryevil2560]

Yoo ik they asked you but If I can recommend anything to yugioh players it’s to restart the series in Japanese and watch it all the way through characters and story just so much better fleshed out and not dumbed down for children at least try dm gx 5ds and vrains

[@existinginaspace8347]

I've never once had a Netflix account, somebody's used my email to sign up for a free trial and Netflix tried to bill me for an account that I didn't have once but I charged it back and had them shut down the account. Anything Netflix makes that I want to watch I can get through alternative means for free why would I pay for it..

[@tam8498]

does reading yugioh effects count as fiction?

[@ac1dfoxdie716]

yea love yall

[@chisquare5701]

To each, their own, but imho, Yugioh was broken long before fiendsmith. Purrely draws waaaay too much with ridiculous protection. Kashtira does too many power plays, with brainless ease. Labrynth just keeps doing... things... far too much flow. These decks don't need 'deck building' unless you're planning for a mirror match or tier 0. Over 300 archetypes and only a small half-a-handful are relevant at any given time. New Yubel is a joke. Now we got Yubels just bum-rushing the field for little cost, and absolutely no effort. I know powercreep and all, but these archetypes are basically not backwards compatible when paying against older decks. Automatic lose, almost regardless of who's piloting the decks.

[@phoenixvance6642]

Duel links 2016/17 format

[@aaronwightley9752]

I mean i read a lot of fiction from text on games and then i read books to/with my kids so most of them are fiction but weather that counts or not i dont no

[@Koopamunch667]

AI is still a thing huh. Dont people watch the movies! Never ends well

[@MessiahKnight]

Wow feindsmith already became boring and annoying 😂

[@ChiveDumpling]

The closest book next to me is The Last Wish. Guess I'm gay lol

[@ToiBoxGaming]

i play trickstar and i draw out turns sometimes, but ftk sucks

[@stretchxg]

I swear if the pod is late again I will no longer be your guys’ duel daddy and I will no longer provide you two with free cards 😡

[@rapmetaldemon09]

My take on the xbox game pass situation...Microsoft is a bunch of shidiots! Yes, gamepass is now linked with xbox live gold so your multiplayer subscription comes with the streaming service. However, I am pretty damn sure that back when I actually thought ultimate was a good deal I was still given access to multiplayer without a secondary subscription. This means that ONLY the base core version of gamepass might be a technical increase in value. The ultimate (the one that means anything) is now exorbitantly more expensive than it used to be and is 100% a worse product. I'm pretty sure that with this move they made both xbox live gold and gamepass ultimate both more expensive and simultaneously worse in one fell swoop.

[@beatsmarketingdotcom]

Snake eyes fire king 😊

[@semicharmedlife311]

Forget asking: What does Pot of Greed do? 🫖 Ask: How do you know so much about swallows? 🐦