WHY ARE YU-GI-OH'S BEST PLAYERS QUITTING THE GAME?

[@Anim8tor42]

Fun fact! I topped Oceanics and they ran out of playmats so I didn't even get one of those. (They are still shipping it I hope).

[@MBTYuGiOh]

...

[@jazzalenko92]

Makes 2 of us. They also haven't given any sort of time frame for any of the additional prize support we were meant to get. Like they didn't even have sleeves, lol. Kind of poor form when both euwcq and nawcq may have been terrible to play, but at least they got there prize support

[@RandomGuyCDN]

Thats so fucking poverty from a billion dollar company

[@Skasaha_]

Just a few years earlier Australian YCS' were giving out mats as basically door prizes for sticking around till round 3. It's essentially the reason I bothered to travel all the way to Sydney - why travel if I've got nothing to show for it?

[@barbaryn7899]

Just go to a cheap graphic designer and have them make you an oversized mouse pad. It can be anything you want!

[@Richioh]

Kazuki Takahashi: I don’t want Yugioh card game to have cash prizes. Also Yugioh: Here you go Joey. The prize money for your sister’s operation.

[@ragnaricstudios5888]

Joey: she’s as blind as a god damn bat!

[@rangingaway92]

He spent the money on yugioh cards. Maybe his robot plot armor card cost 3 mil.

[@OscaReyLich]

@@ragnaricstudios5888 You've activated my joke trap

[@tenkyoken]

Konami: Pros are quitting? Time to release a new rarity/artwork Blue Eyes White Dragon/Dark Magician

[@RunicSigils]

Well yeah. People who buy product are better than people who buy product from scalpers.

[@exocolt15]

@@RunicSigilsscalpers can’t exist if Konami did their job properly 🤦🏻‍♂️

[@MateusSoar]

dude, pro is no even 10% of player base, as long the regular joe buy his packs the game will continue

[@SuperSilver316]

If they made a Blue Eyes Light Dragoon, then we are talking

[@giuseppecalabro3667]

And Dark magician Girl, dont forget

[@TheSeventhChild]

On the one hand I can respect the "play for the game, not the bag" vibe that Takahashi might have wanted. On the other hand how is Joey's sister gonna get her eyesight fixed.

[@Clockwisegnome]

Apply the handbrake ya

[@SoshiEcho]

The best players are quitting? This is my chance!

[@saviorselfX29]

Same!

[@okita_souji_alter]

Still gotta spend $1k

[@saviorselfX29]

@@okita_souji_alter Aaaaand I’m out again.

[@NeviTheLettyFan]

To quit? Yeah

[@muhammadaffry2123]

Less competitor let's gooo...!!!!

[@FacetiousEnigma]

The cycle of YGO TCG for the past few years has been: 1. Konami prints an archetype that becomes tier 0. 2. Dedicated players buy the deck for $1,000. 3. Konami lets the deck go for 2 ban lists because they need to appease the whales. 4. Konami finally kills the deck with the third banlist. 5. The format is somewhat diverse and unsolved for about 3 months. 6. REPEAT. All the while, the players who buy the tier 0 decks to compete at the highest level have to play speculation games with Konami and decide whether they should offload their cards before they get banned or risk their assets taking a nosedive overnight. It's even worse now without specific banlist dates. Competitive players could lose their investment and not know until they check their phone and see a banlist has dropped. But the volatility of investment for competitive players wouldn't be quite as problematic if Konami was willing to compensate the players for their investment via prizing. The players know they're going to get shafted, Konami knows too, but they refuse to do anything to make it more bearable. But that's all meaningless when, as Joseph said, cards like Shifter exist. Card designers shouldn't expect players to play go-fish before playing a game with thousands of dollars worth of card investments on the table. I saw another comment here saying, "Takahashi denying prize support was because OCG is cheaper and a FS core is $60." which illustrates another problem with the TCG. Konami just wants to milk us without giving us anything in return. So I completely support every single paper player in the TCG having a mass exodus from the scene so Konami finally get their act together.

[@tjm8790]

But y'all will still keep playing lol

[@ShinerCCC]

Pend best deck. We survive any banlist. I got my Disablasters and Exceed I don't need any more gas. If they free kitkallos and ariseheart to burn it all to the ground then they better include 1 Electrumite and Knightmare Mermaid as the 3rd and 4th horse mans

[@FacetiousEnigma]

@@tjm8790 Don't lump me in. I haven't played paper YGO in 2 years.

[@FacetiousEnigma]

@@ShinerCCC JOKINGLY

[@DeikoMoon47]

At this point; idk how the fuck Konami employees work or who the hell are those leaders or executives, and why they think it would be a great idea to develop a new archetype deck which ended being tier 0 cause you can't find any decent balance to that deck with the purpose of NOT becoming ultra meta but also NOT becoming a failed archetype, also; how many erratas Konami have done to multiple cards to try to balance them? And brother, since when did you see Komoney being communicative with the Yu-Gi-Oh player community? They don't care, and it's complete obvious seeing the state of the TCG including the videogames; Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Links died long time ago when they decided to make meta based on broken skills without any balance 'til another fucking KC Cup And Takahashi, i appreciate the idea of playing the game for the game and not for the bag, but these meta decks are expensive af so with all the respect in my heart... No, fuk u, i want my green paper

[@dinar4331]

Konami needs to learn that you don't need people to make a living off of the game. But the bare minimum of PAY TRAVEL+HOTEL COSTS for the weekend would make a huge difference. Letting good players play for free rather than paying and practicing to get nothing.

[@bboiledeggz3110]

agreed, at least help pay for the travels and living while youre on the event..

[@uncreativeusername-sl9qf]

So i guess what pokemon vgc (maybe tcg too, i dont follow that) does for its top competitors. It’s clearly possible

[@flamepan]

ya im sure theyre real concerned when ycs indi just got 1700 players. Konami wont do shit till the general populace of players quit. And the players ARE letting konami walk all over them instead.

[@codynelson7575]

This!

[@Laflamme78]

​@@flamepan Nothing will change, when people finally start leaving and numbers go down Konami will just cut their losses and kill the game.

[@Viseak]

Regarding prizing, I think the argument/consensus I tend to see is backwards; basically, ‘deck expensive, so prizing should match that’. But, let’s be real, prizing only affects like, if we’re generous, 5% of the entire playerbase. So that’s the last thing I’d be focusing on. Instead, the cost of decks and staple cards should be WAY LOWER, to be inline with the prizing offered. Not the other way around. I’m also not saying there shouldn’t be better prizing either, there really needs to be some incentive to play well, cause even if cardboard was cheap, there’s a huge time commitment to play this game at the highest level. I just don’t think fixing prizing fixes the game all that much at all, because really, it doesn’t affect 95% of the playerbase. Affordable cardboard though? That fixes a lot.

[@xibbas7055]

I mean even in OPTCG they give cards worth half a band to a band for top 64 at a regional that is a pretty attainable goal. If you win a regional in YGO you can maybe make $200 if its a waifu mat.

[@xXSamir44Xx]

Unless Konami prints staples at lower rarities prices won't go down. No sane person is going to sell a 1 in sevetal boxes card for a few dollars.

[@Viseak]

@@xXSamir44Xx well yeah of course, printing practices definitely need to change for prices to go down Supply and demand and all that

[@tame1773]

​@@xibbas7055keyword maybe

[@jack90054]

And this is almost strictly a TCG issue. About two months ago, the OCG launched a new series called Tactical Try Deck that has so much value it mind broke the market. One of the Decks, an Evil-Twin Spright-themed one, includes: An entire playable engine (with Spells, traps, and some extra deck) Ash x 2 MaxxC x2 Imperm x2 Called by the Grave x2 Duster x1 Cosmic Cyclone x1 Crossout x1 Droplet x1 There's also: I:P Masquerena x1 Nightmare Unicorn x1 Accesscode x1 How much does this product cost? JPY1100 at retail, or about USD7.5. This product essentially slashed staple prices by 60+%. Ash and Imperm are now sub $3 cards in the OCG.

[@TheIbney00]

See you guys 3 months from now for the same video where nothing changed and people keep leaving

[@codynelson7575]

Exactly!!! Every format since POTE we've had this discussion, MBT is just posting the same video every few months to farm free views

[@DragonBallsolosyourverse]

Its because people keep leaving Master duel player numbers keep going down for a reason

[@nadalius1154]

Kek, I quit before the whole snake eyes things. When Wanted! started to go upwards of 300+. I can purchase the cards and all but screw that noise. Konami treats us like crap and I'm taking my money else where.

[@FenTyrris]

@@DragonBallsolosyourverse they literally aren't though, you can just look at the steam numbers, they are the same as 2 years ago

[@DragonBallsolosyourverse]

Yea i seen steam charts and their going down consistently

[@RamixTheRed]

I think the issue is that powercreep has finally reached a critical mass, and it probably hit that a while before snake-eyes was even a glint in Konami's eyes. Yugioh has just become way too polarized to the point that pretty much every deck is designed to prevent your opponent from playing Yugioh in the first place because otherwise every other deck has the ability to kill you into the sun if they get to set up. Something broke a long time ago and idk if Konami can or even wants to fix it

[@HiroofDeath]

I can tell you what broke, konami decided to make special summons not special anymore and therefore cheating the rules. Then theyve powercrept special summons up to a point where its unbearable.

[@An_Entire_Lime]

​@@HiroofDeath "Konami decided to make special summons not special" Special summons haven't been "special" since 2004, they didn't break any rules, it was like this from the beggining.

[@Dandylion30]

To be fair to Takahashi, he likely said that without the TCG in mind. In the OCG, you can get a Fiendsmith core for $60 - not a playset, a core.

[@RarecuisineSaucegod-ig8bc]

yeah im sure this is a western problem. i dont blame konami for graping TCG players. speak with your wallet is a thing but players keep buying,

[@trippersigs2248]

@@RarecuisineSaucegod-ig8bc "I dont blame Konami for the environment they created" Is a wild take.

[@RarecuisineSaucegod-ig8bc]

@@trippersigs2248 the scum bag tactics have not killed their game so why stop? Mbt is going to make this same video again next month, and the next game changing staple is going to be secret rare base rarity.

[@UncleJrueForTue]

​@@trippersigs2248It isn't when players and stores can choose not to spend money on plastic wrap and cardboard. Locals, players, and pros are choosing to not play the game anymore. The reason why YCS and regionals are churning record turnout is because there's less places to play yugioh locally, cus it's spurns new players with it's overcomplicated and unfun gameplay loops, burns stores and sellers with it's very unfriendly product model, and incenses active players with it's poor game balance and prizing. If yugioh did the equivalent of MTG's PR nightmare and an all-time flop in 30th edition, it'd unironically sellout and allow Konami to sell more exploitative sets to it's playerbase.😊

[@animationtv426]

@@RarecuisineSaucegod-ig8bc real

[@SeraSmiles]

Honestly my personal "leaving yugioh" story is from the entire other side of this conversation but I think it has some relevance here. I'm a mom who grew up playing yugioh, I didn't even look at other card games really because I loved the game up until around 2015. I remember the doom & gloom of "pendulum is going to destroy yugioh" & every doom & gloom panic before that. Personal issues caused me to take a leave from the game just around the time zoodiac came out but I kept looking back at the game I liked so much every once in a while. It was shocking how fast I was completely lost hearing people talk about the most basic things. Fast forward to 2019ish & I come back to yugioh. It felt like I was a new player. Decks that I had been playing when I left weren't just out of format, it felt like they were playing a different game entirely. I chalked it up to nostalgia & mom brain but even decks in this era that I like feel weird when I play them. I don't actually think that the link era ruined yugioh or anything but just missing out on that transition left me so far off from people who played through it that I don't know if any casual player is ever going to be able to get back to feeling like they know the game after any serious hiatus at this point. Then my son learned to read & got to the point I could show him things I liked when I was his age. He watched pokemon, digimon, yugioh, etc. It was fun to hear him talk about the new pokemon games & be able to tell him about when I played pokemon blue. He asked me if yugioh was a real game & I showed him a few cards I still have, but the idea of actually trying to teach him the game felt awful to me. I considered old retro formats but those felt like dead ends & even low power modern cards are nonsense to try & parse without someone right over your shoulder constantly. I thought maybe card games just weren't something I could really connect him with. Then he pointed out a starter deck for the digimon card game that had greymon on it. The absolute night & day difference between trying to even consider bringing my son into yugioh vs getting into digimon was insane. The mechanics make sense, the cards are something he can read & understand with barely any help, & there is so much less information you have to track separate to the cards themselves. I'm never going to be a competitive player in any card game, but even from the casual side other games are doing so much better. (Even though it feels like Bandai actively hates the digimon tcg sometimes)

[@arch1q892]

Go to therapist not yt comments to long 😂

[@silent_reaper999]

Please 🙏 for the love of God don't get your young son hooked on a pseudo gambling based tcg or gacha as young minds get unnaturally addicted to these via habit. Believe me I know😢

[@basilexposistion9211]

Heres my story. I started playing yugioh around 2003 to 2004. I dont remember the exact year. But i remember yugioh gx hadnt come out yet. Invasion of chaos was the current set. All in all the game was fun. I slowed down around 2018. And had to completely stop in 2021 because life happened and i gained more responsibilities. My problem with the game is that when i started i could run any cards i wanted. And it was fun because we could actually play it. Over time with more sets releasing i had to adapt but in all honesty it was fun. My opponents got stronger monsters. And having to come up with new strategies and work arounds was the reason i stayed in the game. I wanna say around 2014 i started disliking the game because pendulums didnt opporate on the same rules. If i destroyed a monster in battle. It was very frustrating seeing my opponent summon it and 4 others the next turn. Pendulums felt like they belonged in another game. I did enjoy link monsters. I thought it was a cool mechanic. I felt like links are what should have happened instead of pendulums. The problem is around 2018 the game pretty much progressed to the point where the players figured out they could pull off longer and longer combos. It got to the point where it felt like they were trying to see how long they could chain the cards together. And im not jokeing on that. The match where i finally said enough is enough. It started. I played my turn. Only lasted 5 seconds. My opponent proceeds to start a 3 hour combo. And when he finally ended his turn. The second i draw a card. He starts another hour long combo on my turn. So i have to say this. Normal tripple A games a price tag of 60 to 70 dollars at launch. But the thing is you can still play those games years later and change no equipment and youll still be able to play them no problem at all. With yugioh if you wanna compete now you gotta spend 200 dollars on a good deck every few months and you cant even play the game because the opponent takes 4 hours to summon 5 nuttbuster dragons with 90 thousand attack points that negate everything you do. I want to play yugioh not watch my opponent play freaking solitare

[@thechozopandash]

i sometimes worry that my attitude of “i’m just gonna wait out this tier zero (or close to tier zero) format and get back in the game after a few banlists” is going to mean waiting until the game is discontinued

[@hawkticus_history_corner]

@@thechozopandash It really does feel like that the past three years doesn't it?

[@valvadis2360]

So real, i have been on hiatus ever since Diabellestarr was mantatory for every deck, i didn't think the meta was going worse after Fire Format

[@zell245]

@@valvadis2360funny considering shes only run in like 2 decks for that entire period, but whatever fuels your narrative bro. inv4 but tier 0, yeah people haven’t been putting up results with any other deck.

[@darcygrimm8354]

@@zell245truth, mostly was rescue ace until phantom nightmare.

[@lorenzocampici7885]

​@@zell245hey, now fiendsmith can really be played in almost every deck

[@Alx501]

The prizing thing is particularly confounding when Konami LITERALLY control the printing presses and have shown they can just make valuable prize cards/sheets of cards, it is literally just laziness/lack of staffing I literally cannot think of another explanation

[@aidanyoung9133]

Agreed. The profit margin on cards must be absurd. They could make, like, exclusive rarity for Ash Blossom, produce it for

[@SaintStrength0]

They make a f*cking killing, and western players eat it up. They always have.

[@ToaArcan]

As a D&D player, hearing someone compare WotC to one of their competitors in a _positive_ way is a new feeling.

[@engiopdf8745]

MBT's comparisons to WotC are... somewhat outdated. Even at their best, WotC's management of MtG came with its own slew of drawbacks. But in their current state, WotC is hardly anything to admire or aspire towards.

[@AlexanderMartinez-kd7cz]

well, wotc was decent until everything went down the drain in the magic anniversary and the OGL fiasco. konami has always been a cancer on the earth with some side projects.

[@pamonja4301]

Yeah, WoC dropping Mtg on Brazil killed any hopped I hope of getting into the game. At leat Yu-Gi-Oh still has portuguese, all I need to do is sell my liver to pay for the cards.

[@RandomGuyCDN]

He's using the comparison to back before WotC went completely off the wall but the point still stands that even back when WotC wasnt a complete shit show that they still had $$ prize support vs what YGO keeps not shelling out for their players.

[@ducky36F]

Because MBT doesn't actually know or care how WOTC runs things he just has nostalgia for Magic the same way yugiboomers do duel monsters yugioh formats.

[@kataphrut7740]

The attitude he brings up at the start of the video about how complaints from people who pick up the game and almost immediately bounce off it “don’t count” is part of the problem. It’s the one hole the fanbase has dug for itself- everyone knows there’s a problem with the game and how it’s balanced but get defensive if you actually complain about it. Someone complains about power creep or the meta and how a deck they like can’t compete and they get told to essentially suck it up and buy something better (and inevitably more expensive). Can you not see why that maybe might be turning people off the game?

[@travisdinham6084]

According to majority of them, only persons opinions who count are ones who won nationals, YCS n those events. And Konami keep feeding their egos with those toxic "don't play" strategies, aiding to make Yugioh the most toxic fanbase with the most fake fans

[@pamonja4301]

They don't count to this discussion. To the "you need to get a college level course to play a modern deck" they do

[@ducky36F]

Also ironically the same people that feel the need to drop $1000 on a deck and then be mad about it afterwards.

[@manporo5865]

Granted you left off a key detail. "Picked up the game for a week" is very important to that statement. Everyone usually agrees with the power creep and meta issues of the game since it really isn't worth playing into it. At the current state of the game and format, YGO is a horrible card game.

[@SmugOcelot]

avg. YGO player response to a frustrated new player: “You want to play X deck? Bro, just play Y deck it’s so much better.”

[@Sinthioth]

"It's been a bad week for Yugioh" yeah like Yugioh has good weeks lmao

[@TrevorAllenMD]

I wish you coulda seen 2015 and earlier. The game was beautiful.

[@geiseric222]

@@TrevorAllenMDah yes dragon rulers a format people hated until it was out long enough to be nostalgic

[@CyrusIsnt]

Toss was good

[@-clod-8948]

post kashtira ban dune/agov was great

[@anonymous71207]

Master duel launch?

[@bradleymarchand560]

I love that they are pretending that yugioh shouldnt have cash prizes for morale reasons and not out of their own greed to pocket all the money.

[@TrevorAllenMD]

The 1 reasonable argument about cash prizes is early in the game's life Kazuki Takahashi said he never wanted the game to be about money. Which people defend. I think this is reasonable/respectable. But its very counterintuitive since the company who might be using this logic is also forcing $1500 decks down our throats while every other card game has found a way to do it for 1/5 of this.

[@mrbubbles6468]

They aren’t. As proven by the fact that cheap decks continue topping.

[@Finalslashes]

Yea if a card in the best deck cost 100$ it’s about money stop making that excuse

[@percivaldotburgers]

Joey literally went to Duel Kingdom for money and used the money for his sister's surgery, so I dunno maybe Takahashi wasn't that against good prize pools

[@BikkoYGO]

Maybe if we had OCG boxes I wouldnt mind as everything there is dirt cheap.

[@Panory]

@@percivaldotburgers Konami needs to stop offering mats and start offering literal wishes if you can beat the CEO of the company after winning Worlds, like Takahashi wanted.

[@KiuhKobold]

A TL,DW (too long. Didnt watch): game sucks, skillful play doesnt matter if you're playing meta, intense powercreep, company doesnt care about players, proplay rewards are shit, stagnation.

[@gothosfolly]

It all comes down to the game not being as good to play at a competitive level as the competition. If the game didn't suck there would be the possibility of a grass roots tournament scene. Charge an entry fee, take a cut to pay for the costs of running the tournament and some profit and give the rest to the top placing players. But that only works if there is a fun and functional game that attracts people who don't mind losing due to love of the game.

[@Chris_Tootoo]

The repeated tier zero formats, the repeated 1000$+ decks gatekeeping competitive play, the lack of reward for even doing good in the game, unhealthy Ban List, Unhealthy card releases/Rarity Bumps and Short Prints.

[@Sarahbow1991]

I had that breaking moment with yugioh with the banlist that ended the rescue ace/unchained/lab format and made way for fire kind snake eyes. That was one of my favorite formats ever, I’d put so much into unchained and all the motivation just sort of vanished. I moved onto digimon and never looked back.

[@geek593]

For me it was the same list banning Isolde and Circular, killing off two irrelevant decks that happened to be my favorites. Then them not banning Beatrice or touching Runick. Then them banning Baronne, Savage, and Linkuriboh which killed off a few more of my favorite decks to keep Snake-Eyes playable but now with less competition. Then them printing fucking a fucking FTK and more copies of Maxx C. I quit for Shadowverse Evolve. I had already been playing it since release but it was elevated to main game status when Konami felt like pulling a seventeen hit combo on me specifically. SVE's limited list is a single card now but before was three cards that nerfed two dominant strategies that turned the game into a two-deck format in JP meta. They announced the limitation three months before the relevant product came out to coincide with the product's release to give everyone time to make preorder decisions accordingly. The format ended up being excellent, the rest of the cards in the set were able to shine since all the power wasn't constricted on a couple of cards that made two decks too good, and everyone was happy. Konami would never do something like this. Unfortunately Bushiroad seems to be happy having their games be vanishingly niche even if they're great so no one even knows the game exists.

[@xShortRangex]

Whatcha play in Digimon, chief?

[@Sarahbow1991]

@@xShortRangex been playing a lot of red hybrid and looga. lol, life goal is to make pulsemon playable. ⚡️

[@JeshyQT]

Regardless of how people feel about pros How are people siding with KONAMI of all companies

[@Guy-McPerson]

That's the fun part. Nobody is siding with Konami on this. Card prices and lack of tournament support have been issues in the TCG since the start. 25 years of struggle.

[@MEGASTRIX]

Who is siding with Konami??? Lol.

[@ducky36F]

No one is on konamis side. What I disagree with is MBT’s assertion pros are quiting on mass, that wotc is actually a better alternative, that yugioh *should* have cash (or lucrative) prizing and that the players have no say in how yugioh is run. I’ve seen what sells yugioh product lately and I’m sure we all have. We know exactly why Konami makes the decisions it does to push boxes and the majority of the player base absolutely encourages their actions with the wallets regardless of what comes out of their mouths. Heck. The second one box is released without the most broken a*** cards in it we have exactly MBT lining up and saying how “trash” it is.

[@manporo5865]

​@ducky36F but that's exactly the problem right there and why I left. Set design in Ygo is horrible and he is right, if an OP card isn't released, it is garbage

[@sonicboomers122]

Konami, as a company with Yugioh in it, has attempted to create a "balanced" format. They do this constantly, taking Sledgehammers to Yugioh. We have a needlessly complex deck take center stage as their 0 decks, but a handful of common hand traps check it. This is a Complexity collapse, Yugioh is in a spot where learning is a lot of effort, but that effort can be fucked over in an instant. Imagine studying the game of chess. You make to World Chess Toruney and rule is randomly your opponent gets to move twice in a row.

[@kokorikopi]

this is secondary but UNITE THE FUCKING GAMES, i'm so sick of konami seeing that a deck you can spend a hundred bucks on in the OCG is good and deciding it's gouging time, and you can't even import cards because of... the card back? when sleeves are MANDATORY for high level events? is this a joke? they're not even separate games, they literally compete at worlds!

[@vDeadbolt]

That will never happen because Konami has to keep their investors happy. Its a sad reality.

[@r3zaful]

I dont want that either, tcg players are known to be the most at moaning ban this ban that, please keep us separated.

[@papi3106]

the only differences between an english tcg card and a english ocg card is the logo on the back, the card code (EN vs AE) and about 50% price, but nooooooo we cant use them, that's cheating!!!! pisses me off, especially when some cards don't get reprinted in the tcg till like 10 years later, and the ocg has about 5 reprints in that time

[@RandomGuyCDN]

@@vDeadbolt Well as reported their investors arent too happy with the lack of new people wanting to get into their game. So the more loud voices of people leaving the better because it will make those investors act faster.

[@vDeadbolt]

@@RandomGuyCDN I mean Konami have put themselves in that situation. No matter how accessible the game is, the game has gone too complex that new players are drawn away. It's cheaper for them to have the hardcore players pay more for the staples over advertising to newer players.

[@ChaoticMeatballTV]

God, just seeing Vlad jump in and prove the point even harder makes me sad. I do wish someone would bring up Konami's treatment of fans of their other franchises, heck even the treatment of their employees being absolutely god-awful. They do this crap to EVERYONE! Need I remind people about the Castlevania 35th anniversary being celebrated by releasing... NFTs? Overall, Konami will keep doing this to milk the TCG player base, and once they can't anymore then Yugioh will stop being produced. They have plenty of other business ventures that will keep them afloat, and I fear that this game dying out is something they're not concerned with. We'll have to see, but I wouldn't be shocked if this is the biggest extreme loss of players since the release of Cardfight Vanguard.

[@TheMetallingOne]

1:47 i never get tired of mbt making a joke about how farfa throws a baby fit everytime mtg is brought up as a topic xD

[@theskullboy8700]

“He brought up freaking mtg, the point is invalid” -farfa maybe

[@thesitarplayer]

Pokemon treats their top players like they're top players, from being put on stream at the start of a tournament, to having interviews filmed to play in-between rounds. And best of all, not only do you not need to open a line of credit to be able to afford a tier 1 deck that released the day before the event (because the cards aren't legal until 3 weeks after the set was released), you get rewarded for putting the time and effort into the game (via money)!

[@fireky3]

The mats are so hit and miss too. My friend gave me his eatos mat for me to use as a mouse pad, and checking eBay like a decade later he missed out on a crisp 50 bucks for topping a regoinal

[@KompletterGeist]

Yes but who gives a f about possibly getting 50 bucks 10 years later...that's a horrible ROI even when the mat is a "hit"

[@zainiaz07]

Dude, I'm so happy that the Yugioh community is having this discussion, and people are actually leaving the game. For YEARS we had to deal with Komoney treating their community like shit. Nowadays with so many new card games around, we can actually play something else and not miss Yugioh at all. I guess this is Konami's worst nightmare: We have choices now. They can't be putting out the bare minimum and giving a crap about us anymore, cause the grass is in fact greener in the other side now!

[@stevenashley27]

There have been other card games than Yugioh for YEARS. Pokemon, MTG, Cardfight, Buddyfight, FoW, UFS(now universus), Final Fantasy. Just yugioh players didn’t switch cause they either loved the game, the other game was too hard(MTG), had no prizing just like Yugioh (Pokemon) or just sucked/company terribly mishandled the game worse than Yugioh (everything else). But now there’s a bunch of newer card games that have popped out that are fun, cheaper, slightly easier to play, and have been handled well by their companies (albeit Ravensburg fumbled hard in Lorcana on the Bucky nerf). Hell, even Pokemon has finally started paying their top winners. While I do agree with your points to an extent, there’s also some counter points to be made against them

[@ethanallen9973]

It also doesnt help that pokemon a game where you can spend 100 dollars to get any deck in the game. Gives out 20,000 dollar checks to winners.

[@JJJ42069]

Idk about now but the tournaments were also free to enter lol

[@ducky36F]

Pokemon does have more money than god though lol.

[@UncalibratedAimbot]

@@JJJ42069regional and IC tournaments are run by a 3rd party company and neither are free anymore to my knowledge. I believe they are between $50 and $70 USD

[@alitguar8907]

Is their card game fun to play? I only play Yugioh because its gameplay and mechanics are very fun (playing only digital), was thinking about dipping my toes in some paper to play at locals, but the prices and formats are shit, also around my area there are a lot more Magic and Pokemon events.

[@anonymus4683]

@@alitguar8907 It's actually the best tcg I played with the more balanced meta I've ever seen. I've played MTG, Hearthstone, Yu gi oh and Lorcana. Among these I would say that pokemon is by far, very far, much better exept for MTG. Sadly the digital game, well the app is bugged as hell on phone (they made some progress on computer, but still it's the worst digital game...) I'd say pokemon tcg is a world of contrast 😂

[@emiwisp9277]

Kinda unrelated rant to the video, but a similar issue I observed recently. I recently attended San Diego Comic Con, and Yugioh booth there. It was kinda flashy, had a sleek design and was right near the main entrance to the exhibition hall. It was mostly for Learn to Play. I'm a Pokemon player, and at best a casual with Yugioh. So, during the event, as someone who was teaching people to play Pokemon at the event, I got curious how the learn to play experience would be like for Yugioh. Y'know do a little bit of trading notes, maybe learn some stuff about the game. When I managed to go, paper had a bit of a line, but they had demos for both Master Duel and Duel Links. Knowing nothing about Duel Links, I thought it would naturally be a good learn to play experience, especially since it's supposed to be pretty different from the main game. My learn to play experience was... nothing. I was set in front of a tablet where I selected one of four characters (I chose Kaiba) dropped into a duel, and received no further instruction. I basically just pushed buttons and won. I was then handed a commemorative coin and sent off. And like, this was SDCC. They clearly put the time and money into trying to leave an impact and get people interested, but even when I glanced at the paper demos I saw so little interaction. For Pokemon at least, I've been taught to try and engage players. Ask where they're from, get them to learn what's out there, how to continue when they leave, etc. But I got none of that, and I think that's kind of worrying for the state of the game. If high level players are feeling neglected, and entry level players aren't feeling engaged, that's pretty dangerous for the game IMO.

[@ChronoTrojan]

I think it would be really sweet to see alt arts of staple cards handed out at top cut. Top 64 can get an alternate art of an Ash Blossom, Top 8 gets a super shiny alt of Imperm, and 1st gets a starlight Fiendsmith. You either get to hold on to it and use it as a status/achievement symbol, or you can sell it on the secondary market and get a ton of money that way. WotC is far from perfect, but they do prize cards very very well a lot of the times (especially those judge promos)

[@TheWizardMus]

I like this idea, it fits the original vibe of prize cards like the OG Crush Card and Cyberstien without giving players massive advantages for their next tournament or being only status symbols like the match winners

[@justsightseeing1]

@@TheWizardMus except unlike match winner, its actually good and playable while still making it accessible. how can konami not understand this. its simply just print some more (correct) card for the winner.. and i assume the winner in this case get 3 prize card, the ash, imperm, and fiendsmith right

[@maximilianschug6271]

Absolutely. To draw an example form another TCG, Flesh and Blood at big events (Pro tour, worlds) have sidevents for special alt art promos. Like for Pro Tour amsterdam they had a common set of staple equipemnt cards but with art showing traditional(or maybe jsut stereotypical) netherlands clothing instead of the magic armor the normal ones come with. Afaik, those pieces are worth about the same as the entry to those side events were at least. More if you are in a region different than the one the event was in (i.e. Eu event promo being more expensive in the US) (Note: they actually offer monetary prizing for the main events, so that's less good as a comparison poitn for what you were trying to suggest)

[@karetsu889]

This is the reason why I've been getting into Vanguard more. Dress Format has been fun and engaging. I love Yugioh, but something has to be done.

[@TrevorAllenMD]

Konami watching Jess quit, “Thank god now we can sell more tier 0 engines/decks without someone interfering by fooling people into thinking the game is unique or interesting lmao” But really they prob don’t give a sh*t with the way they communicate with us. It makes sense to watch the pros exit. Hopefully they have nearby gamestops to get their YCS winning prize payout, $80 offer per switch! Oh and don't forget about the ziplock bags full of loose packs, or the rubber playmat that nets you $18 on ebay after shipping and taxes!!! $$$ 💰🤑🤑🤑🤑💰

[@colossaldonut5190]

So that was the real reason for the plant hits. To make Jess quit.

[@619ver1]

Yeah, all things considered, they simply not care about western players at all...much like they never really did.

[@deanoxd968]

@@619ver1Jess is from the uk .

[@ElPsyKongroo]

Companies are careful with communication/statements as saying the wrong thing can lead to lawsuits

[@ashfaabid1897]

Meanwhile at Pokemon, 2024 world championship winning deck : - Only costs $54 (after price increase bcs of it winning worlds) - Only takes maybe 5-6 hours of practice for a 12 years old with no Pokemon TCG knowledge to be able to play the deck effectively. But at the same time takes a lot of time and brain power to find and build the perfect 60 card deck to answer the meta - Winning the most prestigious title in the biggest annual event with $50k cash prize + products + exclusive card (with astronomical value ofc) This rlly shows the difference of the difficulty level for newbies to start playing the game, and also the difference of "reward" for pro player's effort and sacrifice in Yugioh and other TCG 😅

[@CoziTCG]

Curation is something Konami refuses to do on a fundamental level. You not only see it in banlists, but you see it in set lists, release schedules and even in card rarities themselves. They simply don’t care about shaping the game in a way that benefits players. Their only consideration is pushing the next hype product. And I know all corporations exist to turn a profit, but some of them understand the value in improving quality of life for consumers. Konami is having none of that.

[@FrostReave]

The issue is Konami only see’s short term profits with no regard for long term profits. Yes a company exists to make money, but to make money long term they need a large and maintainable player base. They have somehow managed to hang on over the years by keeping a very unusually toxic player base but they aren’t getting any new players and are slowly losing their current ones over time and they just never learn from their mistakes

[@RunicSigils]

​@@FrostReave​​​That's most companies nowadays if they are publicly traded. Actually, the only publicly traded company I can think of off the top of my head that plays the long game is Nintendo. And even they're being pushed further ahead than they would otherwise be thanks to investors who are the main cause of this problem. Every other company I can think of that plays a longer-term game like Valve is a private company. They don't have to answer to investors wanting ten times their investment ASAP. And you know in the background somewhere there's a bunch of people just rubbing their hands together who can't wait for Gabe Newell to shuffleboard off so the next person can do that for them.

[@pamonja4301]

​@@RunicSigilsKonami is public? I remember they had a meeting looked like stuff was going to change since they acknowledged the problems of the game, but then nothing, at least in the Tcg.

[@MiyaoMeow588]

If you look at how Konami has historically treated other IPs that it owns, you'll known that this awful mishandling of the game and it's lack of care in regards to the playerbase is not shocking at all. castlevania, metal gear, silent hill (until recently apparently? not sure), once very big IPs widely beloved, now all of them in dire straits or in some cases outright dead

[@r3zaful]

😂 Go look at momotaro dentetsu and power pro franchise, just search on google most sold switch game momotaro. Their biggest strength is their domestic market dominance and management, that is what they are great at

[@Gridiron992]

To quote Jim Fucking Stephanie Sterling Son: "Konami is Konami and Konami is the worst."

[@619ver1]

@@Gridiron992 I was looking for that, thank you."

[@Nephalem2002]

Castlevania only recently got a cartoon and until then I don’t think anyone knew it existed. Metal Gear absolutely.

[@MiyaoMeow588]

@@Nephalem2002 nah, castlevania was huge in the 90s and even after that had a sizable and dedicated following there's a reason that bloodstained was the most successful video game kickstarter during it's time (until Shenmue 3 beat it later)

[@gunsandroses234]

Thumbnail changed lmao. "Best players" = Jessica Robinson

[@cheesy6806]

3:05 An SMT soundtrack in my Yugioh video? A fusion of two of my favorite franchises.

[@Jp63a]

Fusion? Lol funny how it's important for both

[@robthecook1905]

the name of the ost makes sense too, World of Shadows

[@Set2Seth]

Welcome to the Cathedral of Shadows, Where demons gather!

[@KaganeInugami]

*looks at my TV and sees my entire compendium* Yep, this my life.

[@its_heeho]

Need that YGO and SMT crossover where we can fuse demons using a Cathedral of Shadows field spell

[@thestylemage2092]

2:10 Like sending the Pinkertons to their house...

[@Trujones]

Unfortunately, konami will just say : " thats fine, there is always someone to take your place"

[@FrostReave]

That’s the thing though, there won’t be. Yugioh doesn’t seem to be getting any new players. And they are slowly losing the ones they have. It is a massive deal losing players in any game, this is especially true of yugioh

[@edgarparedes8253]

​@@FrostReave except they are getting more tournaments entries than ever before :p

[@FrostReave]

@@edgarparedes8253 Source?

[@edgarparedes8253]

@@FrostReave they broke several world records for tcg tournaments, one was for entries, look it up

[@Jokoko2828]

They ain't wrong, there's at least 2 more decades worth of suckers in the game left.

[@ahirugaodoreru]

I still find it funny that the first arc of the Yugioh Anime involved prize money as an incentive to winning a tournament.

[@ducky36F]

Cos the game in the manga was based on MtG, but you're right it is funny 😂😂

[@Merilirem]

Yep.

[@NekoDalian]

I don't want to hear a company telling me that they want to distance themselves from gambling when opening card packs is literally just gambling.

[@TwoToneShoes]

"Last couple of months" Joseph Snake Eyes is the only deck to win this entire year since Poplar came out. It's been 6 months. edit: okay guys my bad, I was just talking YCSes, it's still been six months of this shit that's my point

[@clumpomeat]

This is just wrong ritual beasts and tenpai got second and first respectively in Europe you're just wrong.

[@TwoToneShoes]

@@clumpomeat I'm talking YCSes, friend.

[@maxhigh-omnitcg8463]

@@TwoToneShoes a World Championship Qualifier top is better than a YCS top

[@TwoToneShoes]

@@maxhigh-omnitcg8463 I would disagree. And even still, if your biggest counterpoint is "Actually in one tournament it didn't happen even though it did in every other tournament" then okay. Slap on 3 more snake wins and 1 tenpai win and, uh, ice barrier melffy spright gets 1 win too (lol, great tourneys there).

[@WavemasterAshi]

​@@TwoToneShoes Seriously, saying "It's not a 100% winrate" isn't really the retort they think it is.

[@BlueStar43032]

For Cardfight vanguard the prizing is actually improving, our own version of YCS getting top cut (top 8) just gave you a playmat, but getting top 4 give you a certificate, trophy, and top 3 gets invited to play for the world championship with first getting sponsored and an exclusive prize card. The entry is free and you get a promo pack plus exclusive sleeves for participating. I participated worlds few months ago and for entry alone, I got exclusive world championship sleeves and playmat, and an exclusive card given to just those players. This year the prizing seems to be improved as even now they’re giving away prizes for making it to top cut and not just top 8 depending on the number of players, I had no idea Yugioh was that bad for prizing

[@mdhutch2002]

The Vlad cameo at the end of the video just says it all. I can't say anything better than he did.

[@akaakaakaak5779]

Idk about magic and yugioh prizes but iirc recent Pokemon international championships have something like a half million prize pool, something like $25,000+ for 1st place, you can get top 64 and you’d still win like $2,000

[@Razma39]

Konami doesn't understand why their game is so popular in the first place. Yugioh is extremely fun at a competitive level. People overlook stuff like the difficult learning curve and horrible management from konami because there is nothing quite like playing yugioh at a high level. People have overlooked the garbage prizing because competitive yugioh is so fun. But to be honest for the first time in all the years I've played competitive yugioh the format is so garbage and unrewarding with zero end to all the unfun 0 skill cards/decks that people are finally just straight up leaving. There are other competitors out there now besides just magic and pokemon that people are staring to see much greener grass elsewhere. Konami absolutely has to change, but I honestly don't think they have it in them there are mounds of fundamental problems to this game that sometimes it feels like luck that the game is even popular in the first place.

[@619ver1]

The problem with th 0skill cards/decks is house made as well though. If your two options are playing floodgate/shifter turbo or sell a kidney to play a deck that dies to floodgate/shifter turbo its....not really much of a choice for many.

[@Cuddlebear6285]

Konami is not gonna change unfortunately, they are one of the most stubborn and head up their ass companies ever, extremely anti-consumer to boot

[@RedMage95]

Unless konami starts changing how they make cards playing Rogue strategies will always be more fun than competitive issue, because those problem cards are less present. Especially if you have a playgroup willing to gentleman them out. But ideally that wouldn't be necessary to enjoy the game.

[@Leprosyyyy]

I want to say something that seems not mentioned enough about the prizing issues in Yugioh, there is a big issue in that this game is Japanese made and Japan has EXTREME gambling laws which restrict money payouts heavily in instances of card or video game payouts. This is made extra difficult because the Japanese government honestly is still warming up to the idea of respecting games/tcg as little more than gambling extensions. Now you might bring up oh Pokemon TCG still pays out there are 3 factors you need to consider: 1. Pokemon is the literal biggest, most lucrative franchise in the world and gets to fudge things even more easily than a company as big as Konami 2. This restricts where they can hold worlds finals because it flat out stops them from holding it in Japan for the most part, something they like doing as they most regularly do it in Japan 3. Unlike Pokemon, we are mired by the fact we have two formats with TCG and OCG. If we were to do prizing solely for the TCG locations, this heavily alienates the OCG scenes and ESPECIALLY the Japanese market. This is made messier by the fact that, lets be honest, they tend to show favoritism to OCG specifically so to go down a prizing path that not only takes this extra effort (and further muddied by the original creator never wanting money to be exchanged for Yugioh) but would heavily favor the TCG regions to the point it might disenfranchise OCG players is a tough ask. I have seen gambling laws in Japan, and honestly Asia as a whole, limit tournaments and potential payouts for years as someone who follows the FGC. I have seen large scale tournaments of games like Street Fighter or Tekken end in these enormous proofs of skill and determination culminating in a grand prize payout of BAGS OF RICE. I totally understand the want for prize payouts, and I think skill being rewarded with these payouts not only is justified but it adds a level of stakes and hunger for victory that makes competitive games even more interesting. But I feel like too many people ignore this very large and core issue of WHY a Japanese game company is very closed pockets when it comes to prizing. The only solution I honestly see would be some sort of external or grass roots movement that could potentially make events that have actual payouts (a type of solution that carries the FGC). I think Joseph's suggestion of the starlight sheets and other reselling options are solid, because that IS LITERALLY how Japan gets around its gambling laws (you win a trinket that you go down the street and exchange for money) but that could potentially rock the boat in a way Konami is not a fan of. Also just to say because some people are stupid and make knee jerk reactions, this is not going against the other arguments. This format is absolute cheeks, a solution to these myriad of issues would be preferable, and also better treatment of champions by the company would be really preferable.

[@RandomGuyCDN]

You say the strict gambling laws are the reason but have you actually looked into why pachinko parlors are the way they are now. Parlor owners literally found ways to skirt the gambling law when it first game into effect by buying an "antique store" that was down the street and around the corner. Then they only kept "antique" items in the parlor as "prizes" and they all had values under them or attached to the pieces. Then when a gambler would cash out they'd be handed an "antique" or few to go take to the "antique store" that the parlor happened to own and there they'd secretly be given $$ for the "antiques" and that how they cashed out to be given $$ to get around the laws at the time. Then the store would just sneak the handed over antiques back to the parlor to reuse. Konami could do the same shit and not be breaching their agreement or w/e they have or w/e garbage their holding on to. Give monatary prizes like big cards or sheets or boxes of product or stamped cards for top 8 that make them 1 of 8 copies in the world and there you go. It's just like their ancestors, handing out things that are worth some value to be traded for real $$. EZ PZ

[@knightlancelot4003]

gambling laws lmao THEY INVENTED GACHA GAMES, PACHINKO WERE EVERYWHERE, HORSE GAMBLING ARE STAPLES IN JAPAN but yeah you can't win money in yugioh this argument sounds even stupider when you realise pokemon upped their prize money

[@peacechan4500]

​@@knightlancelot4003you do realise increasing money price means more drive and a lot lot lot toxic competitive scene right? Look at one piece competitive scene

[@WearWolfeAssassin]

Konami does not and will not care about this while people are still buying cards. Even if we all stop they'll most likely just stop printing cards and release a yugioh branded pachinko machine.

[@FafliXx]

I think the argument about "unskilled" cards is a bit overblown. It's true in every format that the person who draws better has a way higher chance of winning than even someone who knows how to make the play that wins 2% more often. That's the nature of card games. The real skill has always been deck building and deck choice. A better deck will draw well more opften. If you actually know that your deck hard loses to Shifter, you either have to stock up on countermeasures, or play a different deck. If I said "my deck is really strong, but if my opponent draws Ash Blossom I just lose instantly". You would just tell me my deck isn't that good then. Mindgaming your opponent can give you a win here and there if you are lucky, but much like poker, it doesn't matter how good of a player you are if you only play 3 rounds, and your opponent opens Ace King two times in a row. "We should ban this card only a few decks can play because the best deck in the game loses to it." Personally I think the problem is that the best deck(s) in the game are so strong you can barely beat them without floodgates, but that's just me I guess.

[@AruruAruna]

komoney: stop yapping and give your money!!! players: and what do i get in return? komoney: best i can do is recognition :)

[@NickersonGeneral]

My prediction is Konami isn't gonna do or say anything about this controversy, and then a few months later we're gonna see another slew of videos explaining why the game is in a problematic state. It might be for different reasons than this video, but I guarantee one of them is gonna be "the current format is shite right now" This is a pattern that's been like regular clockwork for a years now, and yet the game never dies.

[@damaldazzar]

If KT did not want money to enter the game, why have rarities or shortprint?

[@ermac81]

Changed the thumbnail cause he was getting clowned so hard lol

[@CgfThisnameisrandom]

I think a cool idea for prizing is giving out a prized card from the most recent set at a unique rarity. I mean how cool would it be to get an ultimate rare s:p or a ghost rare mulcharmy. And because they are playable cards with a low pool to draw from, they could easily go for 500 to a grand.

[@origamininja380]

Who was here before the thumbnail change?

[@ownagemester]

As much as I love YGO, I think the game has power crept itself so badly that every new "Good" deck that they have released is basically the same thing with different artwork. Branded, Tear, SHS, Snake Eye (and all it's variants) have all basically been: one card combo that allows you to play your whole deck, summon 3 generic extra deck boss monsters, then either lock your opponent from playing (puppet) or put up so many negates that they can't really do anything. It's a shame because all the cards look really cool, but essentially all do the same thing, just worded differently. It's getting boring and redundant

[@tsukamesuccess7332]

you've never even spectated a tearlaments match

[@N12015]

@@tsukamesuccess7332 Yeah, but in case of Tear is points of interaction. There's such thing as too much interaction to the point of becoming a floodgate by itself. Decks shouldn't proc Nibiru in YOUR TURN.

[@renaldyhaen]

​@@tsukamesuccess7332 YGO Card game isn't only interaction, but the diversity and choice are the thing that make this game great. If I want a fair and good interaction, with the same "tool", I better back playing Chess instead. Chess clearly more fair, you don't need to draw or mill specific card, and it more popular in the world.

[@tsukamesuccess7332]

​@@N12015there is no such thing as too much interaction. floodgates = bad, not floodgates = good. nothing else matters and there are no exceptions.

[@felixdaniels37]

​@@tsukamesuccess7332 There absolutely is, limitations are what makes a card game worth playing. If your ideal deck allows you to play whatever the hell you want, when you want, with no drawbacks, then at that point you're better off playing Calvinball with yourself.

[@ramonmorales6831]

Pro players “quitting” the game means nothing to konami.This is actually funny because its not that big of a deal

[@vbun4662]

Is Yu-Gi-Oh fun? Yea. Is it worth playing? Not irl. I've been pretty happy sticking to Master Duel for Yu-Gi-Oh and Lorcana for local stuff. Most of my local shops even dropped Yu-Gi-Oh events completely. (I live in California and the locals scene is gigantic.)

[@RandomGuyCDN]

You know the game is in trouble when I checked my local stores schedule and they're running edison twice a month and its on the same day as advanced and the slot before advanced. When stores start running retro formats you know there's a problem that needs a fix at some point.

[@R41-e9y]

@@RandomGuyCDN My locals stopped having YGO products at display. The game is basically dead in my town now, because it's far too expensive for the average player. They all went over to Pokémon TCG and/or Lorcana. Pokémon is also suggested to parents instead of YGO when they come in with their children, since it's far more affordable.

[@devilslayer3548]

Master dual is worse than irl

[@vbun4662]

@@devilslayer3548 The game is free to play and get in to. If you're the type of person to be upset at other people playing meta decks then you wouldn't fare any better irl so there's not really much to this convo.

[@jacobp2690]

The problem is the pushback on microtransactions and boosterpacks; for maybe 5% of people who open a BP the purpose behind that opening is to collect, but for that other 95% it's plain gambling and it always has been. The current iteration of Yugioh isn't sustainable morally, legally or otherwise and they know it, Konami has just been riding this wave out while they can because there ain't no going back once they make their moral departure from this time

[@davidcanaan3397]

One of One Piece's biggest issues is actually a result from it's lucrative prizes, in the earlier days the online regional events would fill up too fast because even the entry&participation prizing was insane, and the prize cards (simply a new rarity of easily accessible cards) are gorgeous new artworks and foiling. I believe Bandai has fixed this by restricting prizing to people who actually play the event and not drop after round 1, and they also finally fixed printing enough booster boxes for the first time in the games nearly 2 year lifespan. I know lots of YGO players have converted to it and I have had a blast playing it casually. One really nice thing about the game is how pretty much every deck isn't priced out of the world, there's strategies for every skill level, and the products are really rewarding to open!

[@EndlessMalice]

Not to mention it you invest in cards even if they are pricy. They're usable in most decks of their color. Unless they get powercrept. Unlike Yugioh where the whole "archetype" style makes you buy a whole new core of specific cards everytime you want to build a new deck. Sure you can use some ygo cores as engines in other decks. But it good to know in One Piece you can spend 200$, get all the good cards of a certain color. And just coast off that making a mirad of different builds and only having to buy a few new cards every so often.

[@davidcanaan3397]

@@EndlessMalice there's sadly been a large drop in the OPTCG market recently, between the massive influx of new (although welcome) supply as well as the upcoming reprint set. My personal collection has been fine because I bought most stuff before the game exploded in popularity (my playset of OP01 Kids cost me less than the current price today). Alternate Arts are great because they're for the collectors and not something forced upon the meta players unless you want a shiny upgrade (leaders specifically, I own AA Leaders for some decks that I hate the normal leader card or love the AA for like OP07 Lucci and Vegapunk)

[@EndlessMalice]

@@davidcanaan3397 oh yeah the reprint pack is gonna affect the market. I'm more saying that cards don't often lose playability.

[@davidcanaan3397]

@@EndlessMalice true, it seems like there's a good emphasis on making interesting strategies rather than power creep, and most decks have their own identity inside of the general play of their color identity. There's a few broken elements with Black and Yellow in general, as well as RP Law and the OP09 Blackbeard deck, but in general it's been well designed. Even with the broken decks like Sakazuki and RP Law there's tons of competition with decks like Lucci, Bonney, Doflamingo, and even Nami in the meta (Nami literally just won a major event as alt win con deck)

[@davidcanaan3397]

@@EndlessMalice also the reprint set may also have really hard-to-pull AAs, I've seen the pull rates in JP product is awful (one gold DON! card per case). Looks like the game is really well balancing the players vs collectors

[@dhantefranklin336]

As someone who has heard this exactly video half a decade ago, hell, even before that, Komoney won't do shit. The only way you'll see change is if you all put your money where your mouth is and stop buying product, which will never happen.

[@Fencer_Nowa]

That's why locals totally haven't been dropping the game because product won't sell.

[@dragonknight1560]

... Yea, I agree. Either fix this card game or it's just becomes a collectible card game. You get more money selling the chase cards than you do winning in tournaments that's honestly depressing.

[@anatoli1234567890]

there a fundamental problem in yugioh core that can be fixed . all cards are free to be in any deck as there no costs for any thing. at the start this worked as sending to the grave was a cost. banishing was a cost. now days (for like 10 years) this no longer a cost this 2 are just extra decks. all the big OP extra deck cards are free to be in any deck regardless of the archetype. why they not restricted by archetypes or something. when some of the not so good ones or bad ones are. then there the power creep. we got to a point where there shit ton of decks that have MULTIPLE one card combos that you can just spam, to a point most hand traps cant stop it. how how they going to top that now? to fix that you need to introduce some sort of energy system or restrict how much summons you can do. 1 normal / 1 tribute / 1 special / 1 extra deck .

[@Ruxin34]

Honestly, it was just the prizing for me. Winning every other event but not getting fat stacks made me realizes that if I went ham on some Fleesh And Blud or Locane I would probably be big rich. Ig Friendsith deck price was totally craze too. Maybe next time Konami. On to Metazoo

[@broskiigamers7745]

Personally the only legitimate reason I see for being disinterested in the game is the price barrier to play the best strategies coupled with the pay out for winning or topping. I think not seeing the usual pro players top isn’t necessarily a bad sign, more players than ever ( I’ve been playing since 2004) pay for coaching. I think the skill level of the players in the room are just that much more elevated. We see it outside of Yugioh in things like youth athletics, it’s never been a bigger boom of private coaching to get ahead! Prizing needs to be elevated. Do something like 1st at a regionals gets 1 of every starlight in the current set, Or a case of the current set, something.

[@solar_rifle]

Actually it's more so licensing/legal reasons why TCG can't give out cash prizing. But that's still no excuse as to why they can't just...give an alternative. At the Edison side event at the NAWCQ the giant card supposedly was sold for over 6000$. The fact that you're better off getting good at a near 15 year old format where you can get a winning deck for less than a playset of Engravers really highlights just how bad prize support is for the modern format.

[@fernandobanda5734]

What legal reason? Other TCGs give literal money as prizes. Not all of them, but it's certainly possible.

[@dekmin4634]

​@@fernandobanda5734 konami doesnt hold the ip, shueisha does (the magazine where ygo was a weekly series) so they have to follow their terms.

[@jumpiestaman100]

This same argument was happening during Ishizu Tearlaments. It happens often enough, and clearly has no impact on the game if people are still playing this.

[@trevormannsfield]

Isnt OCG yugioh doing better than ever? I dont think Konami has ever cared about TCG tbh. They've always viewed it as some weird fanfic format that exists solely to milk money out of Americans.

[@user-zx8tv3ug5j]

how about a hard limit on how many cards can touch the field on a single turn? sayyyyyyy five?

[@nickp9444]

I love this game but why is so dang expensive

[@anarchyinthegalaxy]

because Konami is a gambling company that happens to produce a card game

[@u.a.perfectace7786]

Greed.

[@Trujones]

Game has one of the highest competition attendance High rarities are probably the most hard to obtain in any card game I know. And those rarities are the only prints for an archetype. And that archetype just so happens to be the power creep answer to a meta deck or boost said deck

[@ducky36F]

Every single card in this game has no intrinsic value. They are worth what people are willing to pay for them.

[@fieldoflettuce7091]

Because if you don't live in Japan you're a second class customer. Sorry, third class with second being those who play the OCG in surrounding countries outside of Japan.

[@MadaraUchiha-wf4iv]

Well I hope she comes back, made me invest into plants and learn about them. I never care about pros more or less, I am ancient I been watching the game before most of them touched cards but I respect them all, and especially those like Jess and others who made me like the game more and more. I wish her the best. Well I will say this Yugioh is at an impasse. Since Pros though at a point get tired of such a format if it gets too diverse pros hate it and casual love it. Idk how to get to that bridge that both like.

[@maxharper3737]

Honestly I have to fully disagree, Konami needs to appeal more to the Casual market than the competitors. Also if you think losing to shifter is bad then you know how every rouge deck feels not opening with a hand trap against snake-eyes

[@larhyperhair]

THUMB CHANGE LETS GO!!! MBT CANCELLED BY ALL COMMUNITIES SOON REAL!?

[@BoosterGoldy]

Because Konami hasnt cared abt balancing this game since goat format

[@reimoon991]

Konami has always been a shit company whether its been Video Games or Card Games They just never listen to the communities that keep their franchises running and always end up putting a shotgun against their foot. Its been so insufferable. Ima YugiBoomer. Ive tried to get into the competitive series I fell out in XYZ era and came back at the height of Link Monsters. I learned Branded and Purley and even started building a Yubel Deck like i did back in high school and its all so frustrating. Its hard to find fun in a game series I grew up with and made life long friends with. I HOPE and WISH that Konami can fix this....But at the same time im not holding my breath for any meaningful change. in 6 moths it'll still be snake eyes and/or Fiendsmith rulling the format or some variation of it....and If I'm wrong...great! But I'm betting something else will end up taking its place instead and nothing will have changed.

[@travismacpherson3318]

Konami: It’s not about the money. Me: So I can play with proxies then?

[@Miwles]

Whatever you're paying Vlad right now, give him a raise for using Persona music from 5 and 3.

[@sk0lldirlegs221]

Cathedral of shadows my beloved

[@firej77]

I will admit, I do locals every week and for the most part it's fun...then came tonight where I had two out of three games against snake eyes fiendsmith. It felt like the combo was to play out the timer, where my only win was because i drew droll. But at the same time, that one game? Was fantastic. I do love this game. I do really like this game. But the meta is just so...mind numbingly time consuming. And I was curious about potentially going to a YCS, just out of curiosity and daydreams of being that "Pop off" moment. But when i saw that video about their prize pools and recognition, i realized the thoughts I had in my mind were literally just "I wanna be paid in exposure." I love this game...but it's like Konami doesn't want me to. also don't rat out Gimmick Puppet yet, I JUST BUILT THE DAMN THING!

[@IrrelevantOaf]

I unironically wish we had more decks like Swordsoul to face against tbh. They do their same totally original combo that takes 1 minute tops with 2-3 negates and maybe a floodgate/pop. Quick and on to the point. If I can break it? Cool. If not? Also cool since they barely wasted my time at least.

[@franthehonest-eyes4883]

I have played this game for about 23 years and the way things are going right now with the game just make me think it's literally going nowhere so the only ways we can actually enjoy the game is to make our own rules, our own banlist and even custom cards so we can have a good time that doesn't feel like a waste of time. I also think Yugioh is one of the best games ever, having infinite potential and unique experiences that can't be found in other games and I think Konami has done a lot of right things as well (among the wrong), but as it is right now, it depends on the players to do an appropriate management of the game according to what kind of experience we want out of it.

[@OseiTheWarriors]

They don't have to do anything. The cards are more expensive yet events are sold out. Konami is just going to continue making bank. It sucks but it's the truth

[@Leo98pm]

It's literally our fault

[@pamonja4301]

​@@Leo98pmno? It's their fault. Konami it's not a democracy. The whole community aways wanted more prizing but still Konami dint change anything, now they are paying the price. And hopefully this will change something

[@Undrave]

I remember when Anachronism came out, a card game sponsored by the History Channel and lasted... 2-3 years top... they had a big tournament early on and the winner got a friggin' CAR. I think it was Mini? And Anachronism was a game where you needed just 15 cards to take part in a tournament. And they didn't sell them in blind boosters! The rarest cards were mail in promos!

[@MrMintyfreshsmell]

TLDW: Terrible prize pools, horrible pricing on cards, arguably trash meta atm, and Konami's inability to do anything about is forcing players away.

[@TheHairyHobbe69]

Personally, I just want to play at Casuals without everyone playing tier 0/1

[@Lord_Revan89]

My crystal beast boi quit too 😢

[@autumndth]

Saw the Dave strider shirt and clicked haha

[@Rygoken]

I'll miss Neshy. Loved his take on the meta.

[@Lord_Revan89]

@Rygoken me too. He was the reason why I picked up crystal beast. I played it for a year or so after finally figuring out my own play style.

[@Bengully]

whose still watching after the sveral thumb changes?

[@thedevilofparadis6107]

I also blame the players for seeing Konami's bad business practices and continue to participate in it. I'll just stick to playing on simulators like edopro and save my money.

[@arthurhilgert2707]

If Yu-Gi-Oh was less expensive, people would still be mad at the lack of prizing?

[@TheWizardMus]

I think so, you still have to take time and money to go across the country or world for top events. Hell, at the first big level of regionals you probably have to go across several states. It's a massive investment of time and money to compete, the least that should happen is you recoup some of that investment if you preform well

[@pamonja4301]

True. But at least I would get to play.

[@Expelsword]

Kazuki Takahashi didn't want players to be playing YGO for money. That being the case, I'm sure that he didn't want players having to spend hundreds of dollars per card to play. Unfortunately, I don't think he ever could have controlled that.

[@gabrielbrando9439]

Konami about this: "sorry, we don't speak english"

[@davidescobar9309]

Not only I appreciate the video, but the SMT cathedral of shadows background music was amazing. “Welcome to the cathedral of shadows, where demons gather”

[@zPotentxL]

I'm currently playing through SMTV and thought I was going crazy lol

[@thorscape3879]

What problems? I saw a short the other day where some MBT guy was saying the current format looks good.

[@hugoochoa3095]

Yugi boomer here. I tried to return to play the game this year., but I agree it's very hard to return after many years (I quit during the introduction of synchros). I practice on MD but still I struggle to learn new formats,combos, etc. I'm pretty much play casually on MD and just collect the TCG cards.

[@deepwatertrading3530]

It's a hobby at the end of the day.

[@ChillMan5]

Honestly? Just play Master Duel at this point. It solves all this: if you’re not going to get anything substantial as a prize IRL but you still want to play competitively, it fits what one needs to a tee, ESPECIALLY with the craft system being there

[@gumbspleengle5270]

What are the odds konami actually does any of these is the only issue

[@IrrelevantOaf]

Unlikely they are more likely to cater to their nostalgia fans than to the competitive side.

[@KyanbuXM]

Zero, Konami seems aware of Yu-Gi-Oh's slow death and intends to just let it fade away.

[@mannyrebollo9368]

I dont think the "snake-eyes fiendsmith" is the only deck playing yugioh quote is fair. we've all seen the deck get thrown handtraps and it still makes a solid board, there is about 10+ feature matches that all fiendsmith snake-eye or yubel. and the deck can play thru disruptions as if nothing happened. the deck plays 1 card combos 15 plus starters. 2 engines. that can work from field grave and banish. with recursion. but god forbid a person play shifter in the main deck. SHIFTER is a card. but so is 3 copies of crossout designator and called by the grave. "getting outdrawn by shifter" is not a valid point. 3 out of 40 cards. the only thing that WCQ showed. was how well, the most represented deck in the whole format can play thru anything. 50% representation top cut Snake-eye fiendsmith 15% yubel fiendsmith 15% tenpai TOP 64 players. 31 FIENDSMITH-SNAKE EYE of those 31. 31 played fiendsmith with witch snakeyes. 9 out of 64 were Tenpai players. 5 played shifter the whole tournament. in the main deck. and didnt break top 4 1st place snake-eye fiendsmith, 2nd place snake-eye fiendsmith, 3rd place snake eye fiendsmith, 4th place yubel. $850 deck ( Fiendsmith Snake-eye ) $350 deck (Tenpai) $845 deck (Yubel fiendsmith)

[@dinnerden5674]

As the most pro chronomaly, this video explains why I’m quitting yugioh 😔😔😔