Why Yu-Gi-Oh Boomers are Wrong about Yu-Gi-Oh! (A Response to TheActMan)

[@BaneHydra]

"Now we get an archetype based on cars?" is also a weird take cause Vehicroids debuted in Cybernetic Revolution which released in 2005, only 3 years after Legend of Blue Eyes White Dragon. Calling Vehicroids "modern Yugioh" is like calling Lugia or Scizor "modern Pokemon".

[@cbbblue8348]

It's so painful, definitely like what you described. If a genwunner made a "Pokemon used to be good, what happened?" and you have a section where they decided to go ham on Sunkern and Sunflora. Or "Which pokemon you would like to play? A badass fire breathing dragon or A floating inanimate ice cream." It's clear that he is the ultimate yugioh normie who just watched Duelist kingdom and battle city and call it a quit.

[@bassgx1459]

For real, it's like he just searched for weird monster in yugioh, got the Vehicroids pic and pretended like this is what yugioh has "become". Dude really just want to have a boomer period. The only take I can give him is the text format but that's also what the community have been asking Konami for years and it's noticable even from an outsider perspective.

[@Malkibaal]

You are correct and Steamroid and Drillroid appear in the Japanese Dub of Yu-Gi-Oh GX already in the end of 2004. Theactman was born in 1995 so he was just 9 years old in 2004 and 2005 he was 10. Drillroid appeared in episode 11 Season 1 in GX, that was in 2005 in the English dub. It means also that he just could watch Yu-Gi-Oh the first time from the age of 6 to 10 he probably missed a lot details and perceived the whole show superficially.

[@Chief-Remeldian-Olympus]

@@Malkibaal Most that I've talked agree saying modern yugioh is anywhere from Duelist Kingdom to 5ds. That because levels stills matter back then you can't use Xzy and Links monster for ritual summons or synchro summons.

[@Rahnonymous]

​​@@cbbblue8348 "Icecream and garbage bag pokemon bad." said the person who played a game with literal magnets and a sludge monster.

[@UltimaShadowX]

The sheer variety of art YuGiOh has is genuinely one of the biggest appeals. The fact cutesy shit like Melffy can co-exist with Elder Entity monstrosities and robotic Cyber Dragons is something no other card game can offer. The fact "some archetypes are goofy" was even a point is insane to me.

[@maxmaus4402]

It's truly incredible that on the one hand, I can play a deck featuring an army of badass spiritualistic samurai-era people with fire, and on the other hand also have the best card in the deck be a pair of zombies who move with great difficulty as they sing without a care in the world. A zodiac-inspired furry can get in the Unicorn Gundam, or he can get on top of his bro and gattai into some kind of winged warrior angel that I just realized has no feet. A coat with some humanoid Rotoms inside it is meta-relevant. What other game can get away with "possessed coat" being a viable choice?

[@Ms666slayer]

@@maxmaus4402 Literally the meta right know is about Egyptian and Mermaid warriors that fight against an alien invasion vs birds that are on vacation, no other game can have that much contrast.

[@DrAiPatch]

I got my GF to play master duel by showing her the Dragon maids because Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid is her favorite anime..... How is having cute/ funny card art a negative.

[@PhantomThiefXI]

i mean battle spirits has gundam fighting evangelion and kamen riders, with a side of godzilla and ultraman, THEN we get to the original cards of dragons, snakes, idols, angels and robots, so id argue on yugiohs setting's uniqueness

[@GreatgoatonFire]

The problem is that there isn't a coherent reason why they are all the same game. Some cards have a story line but try to fit Skull Servant going on a trip to grill potatoes with the Vendread zombie apocalypse, a bunch of generics fantasy stuff and so on is... Challenging. A few different but connected worlds would be my preferred set up. That way you can have the different tones interacting without making everything work on one planet or whatever.

[@EinDose]

Complaining that there are weird non-serious decks is the weirdest complaint to hear from an old-school Yu-GI-Oh player. You WATCHED THE ANIME, that's basically the one thing I can be sure of. You surely remember that the big bad of the first major arc played Literal Looney Tunes Bullshit as a deck! It was one of the first codified, themed DECKS you could build!

[@thoroughlyjordan]

To be fair, it takes a person with a high IQ to understand that cartoon characters are unkillable perfect lifeforms.

[@ctusiard9755]

And Kuriboh has always been a thing. Tea had cutesy fairies too!

[@lyncario5515]

Yeah, the complain of some archetypes not being serious is super weird since there has almost always been a tonal clash between monsters. The fact that it also ignores every archetypes that are more serious is just as infuriating. Part of the beauty of Yu-Gi-Oh is that you can see Orcust, an archetype about the tragedy of Ningirisu's life, his denial over the death of his little sister, his rising madness because of his grief, and his now innevitable fight against one of his former friend, and then next year there's Mathmech, an archetype about summoning a monster named "Final Sigma" to one-punch the opponent that gets released.

[@nondescriptcat5620]

back in the Good Old Days we had *serious* monsters, like.... Hungry Burger?

[@jeremysollars5922]

Can I pilot ships made of sushi in magic? no? 0/10

[@agushernandezquiroga9064]

I find it insane that theActMan used Roids of all things to make his point about the game not being "serious anymore" as if those cards weren't from 2006.

[@ShyRanger]

2005 even! Cybernetic Revolution was the start of Roids and other cards, that was 2005 What's also funny? One of the "badass insects" he shows is from Invasion of Chaos, 2004 Of course that's assuming he knows about card releases and didn't just get his info from the anime, because IF he did, Insect Princess shows up WAAAAAY after the Roid monsters do in that show.

[@williamaldred335]

God, wait till he sees the appliance cards, trickstars, trains, dragonmaids.

[@TheGuyWhoIsSitting]

“Wait let’s hear him out.” “His favorite deck is nurse burn” “Never mind.”

[@meteordmsyu6298]

Why is it always burn?

[@AstralPhnx]

We should never have let him cook

[@thanatosxmesiah]

@@meteordmsyu6298 yeah from what i see somehow most nostalgia comeback player like nurseburn and stall deck lol

[@__-be1gk]

Act Man would defend Mystic Mine

[@gabrielgois8724]

@@__-be1gk 1000%

[@SamuriX2010]

It was really weird how the act man was so willing to push how cool mermaids and fish are but wasent okay with madolche. Its an odd hill to die on.

[@nondescriptcat5620]

and if he likes mermaids so much, the current best deck is literally depressed mermaids teaming up with possessed Egyptian statues, soooo

[@ErroneousNickname]

The funniest part was the set after Madolche came out, an archtype of badass mermaids sea serpents and "freaky fish guys" was one of the best decks in Mermail Atlantean

[@asmcint]

You think that's an odd hill to die on, dude follows a ton of alt right nutjobs and is a massive TERF. I mean, those are common hills to die on, but they're still weird and should be called out.

[@Ms666slayer]

@@nondescriptcat5620 Depressed Mermaids that lost their Harem master team up to figh and alien invasion with the guy that defeated their Harem master.

[@leaffinite2001]

He sounds like a 5 yr old arguing that dinos are better than trucks

[@LChaos2]

Kuriboh would have been the perfect card to use to explain hand traps. Not only would it get the point across, it also serves to point out the irony of people complaining about the concept of hand traps when it existed since the beginning.

[@tonberryking42]

D.D. Crow is even better, imo, since it's from (around) the same time as Kuriboh, and has had more relevance over the years, even before other hand traps existed/other contemporaries became relevant.

[@LChaos2]

@@tonberryking42 Nah. Kuriboh has been around since the first anime and in the card game since Metal Raiders. DD Crow wasn't shown in the anime until 5Ds, and in the card game until Strike of Neos, quite a few many years after Kuriboh.

[@hazamax2139]

@@tonberryking42 yugiboomers don't get relevance, they haven't ACTUALLY played yugioh outside the old playground. Kuriboh is definetely the best choice to get the point across, even if it is dogshit as a card.

[@sardinee4564]

Compare Kuriboh to the likes of ash blossom or ghost ogre, kuriboh only worked during the battle phase and didn't do anything beside protect your life points, it didn't even protect your monster, the weak effect was the trade off for it being something that was Activatable from the hand, I mean surely you can see the disparity between a card that can cause meaningful disruption from the hand during either players turn and a card like gorz of kuriboh that can stall out for a bit. You can say it's just a development of a concept but the cards functions are completely different.

[@streetgamer3452]

@@sardinee4564 d.d. Crow, effect veiler. They still existed for a long long time. And are handtraps too.

[@ShredAimlessly92]

For every cool, badass archetype, there’s an equally goofy and fun archetype. And that’s not something many games really embrace. And it’s OG characters like Pegasus who set that trend from the beginning with toon cards. Nothing has really changed in that way.

[@ShyRanger]

Also he basically acts like badass archetypes don't exist anymore. When really they never left. Pretty sure Branded was the biggest thing when that video came out, and now we have Kashtira which, while reviled by many, does look super badass.

[@letsgostupid]

​@ShyRanger I would rather play against Branded than Purrely and Kashtira. Not Tear tho...Tearlaments can stay where it is 😂

[@XDantex0]

Calling kashtira and branded a badass archetype is the biggest cope ive ever seen, they're meta thats why people like them 💀

[@Steph_N]

​@@XDantex0 and that's a bad thing because...?

[@ryanhall5360]

It's honestly impressive how you managed to fit all those points, history lessons, and rebuttals into only a 13-minute video. The editing is sharp and fast-paced without cutting the jokes or messing up the timing of the jokes, and it's altogether just a really tightly-written video. Plus, it was nice how you didn't "insult" TheActMan for not knowing about these things, but at the same time validated how a lot of current yugioh players feel about those kind of takes. This was great work, and I hope you make more of this type of stuff in the future.

[@johnuselmann2704]

Don't you mean missing the timing of the jokes?

[@ActuallyNotIlmatar]

@@johnuselmann2704 His timing on actmans favourite deck was on point.

[@delbanking9940]

I hate this video going after the Actman video, because none of what Actman says represents my thoughts on why I don't like Yugioh anymore. I don't like Conditional timing because I find it an annoying concept, that only exists because of specific wording. Not that I can't understand when its done. I just don't like that it is a factor in the game. That my card doesn't work even though I filled outs conditions because its being part of another ongoing interaction in the game. And that I and many people feel is the game is too fast and uninteractive. Games decided in two to three turns. Hand traps don't feel interactive to the boomer, because I can't predict whats in your hand nor know how many tools I have to deal with. Counter spells in magic have the fact that I can see how many lands you have before I play the card. So I can think and realize what the limit of our play is. Hand traps not only make traps useless, but turn every action into a guessing game. And turns bad hands into unplayable ones, you'll even see from MBT Himself. Play a card get negated, scoop. And there's not much he can do about it. And sure there are ways to play that way, but its in specific communities. And, its not like the game will ever again cater to how I play. The game is way too far gone now to ever become the game I enjoyed back in the day. I know that, but I hate hearing yugi boomers 'just don't get the game'. Nah I don't enjoy the game has on offer anymore.

[@ashikjaman1940]

@@delbanking9940 you're not a yugiboomer, you're someone who just doesn't like yugioh

[@Petsinwinter2]

@@ashikjaman1940 Which is perfectly valid.

[@reinatheomni-panda7028]

The whole "non-serious" thing really urks me, because often you'll hear that from people who also play Magic, but when you talk to them about Magic, they ALSO complain about every set and story arc in recent memory being essentially the Jacevengers versus whatever multiverse-ending threat there is for that year - the Jacevengers, Age of Bolas, the Jacevengers versus Cthulu-Galactus (the Eldrazi), now it's the Jacevengers versus the Oil-Borg essentially with New Phyrexia. The whole direction of the story and design for years hasn't ever really lent itself to having fun sidestories that aren't determinative of THE FATE OF THE ENTIRE MULTIVERSE AS WE KNOW IT, and it seems like every year they have to craft the new "biggest story Magic has ever told", and it's so exhausting, like I just can't really care about these characters anymore. Meanwhile, over in Yu-Gi-Oh land, you DO have big long epic stories like the Abyss saga with Albaz and the Swordsouls and Despia and so on, or the Duel Terminal stories with the Ritual Beasts and Zefra and the Qli and the Shaddolls, or the World Chalice story with the Krawlers and Mekk-Knights and the Orcustrion and whatnot, but you also have fun stuff like the Live Twins, the Floowandereeze, Dragonmaids, Kozmo, Weather Painters, Dangers, the Vendread, Suships, Spyral, Geargia, Plunder Patroll, Madolche, the Melffys etc. that are completely divorced from any overarching grand story and I love that. Plus it gives an extra couple degree of creative freedom in design by not having to be confined to SUPER SERIOUS "ADULT" HIGH FANTASY.

[@PhantomThiefXI]

mtg is dbz

[@jmanwild87]

To be frank i love the Phyrexians and eldrazi as a concept (also they get some of my favorite art whenever they pop up.) The problem is that we're lacking story beats that aren't avengers level threats or leading to avengers level threats

[@sakuraryuji01]

I also love the variety in how some older yugioh animes and mangas had an established mini generational story about Kuribohs. Their adorable little things. It always warms my heart to see more made. I also like the established lore of yugioh and GX etc about certain duel spirits being dedicated to serving a master. They have their own motivations to do so. Particular Blue Eyes, Dark Magician , Dark Magician Girl, Neo Spacians, Heroes , Yubel. All of those lores are so expansive and can all coexist. You could even make your own lore as a duelist if you ever thought to go that far.

[@Ms666slayer]

@@jmanwild87 Why we just can't have a block when we see just how normal folk that lives on a plane do their stuff, i mean you have all of thies universe with cool shit and we don;t know anything on how the normla folk do their stuff, how is the politics, how is the culture of every plane, etc. we just go to a plane then we need to fight the same flavor of villian that wants to destroy the multiverse like on the last 10 block.

[@christopherb501]

@@Ms666slayer I miss Lorwyn...

[@ziggystardust1973]

I think the tcg should use those 1, 2, 3, etc points for diffrent effects that the ocg cards have. I feel like that would make reading them somewhat easier for new players. At least if they actually use line breaks before them

[@Zambles]

have been saying this for AGES.

[@olivierdubois9372]

This is not a new take, players have been asking for something like this since PSCT was a thing.

[@haruhirogrimgar6047]

Combine this with Rush Duel style card frames and it would be incredibly readable. I remember trying to convert some TCG cards into Rush Duel text format on the cards and it was awful since Rush Duel cards really only ever have 1 effect. Just adding "Cost 1" "Effect 1" "Cost 2" "Effect 2" instantly fixes the issues I was having.

[@Alkhemia8]

I was literally just talking about that with my friend why don't we have it it makes the text so clean

[@endeav0r_49]

The OCG text formatting mod is one of my favourite master duel mods, alongside alt arts

[@ThurzagLP]

The "archetypes are bad" argument when pegasus exists as in-lore creator of the game is as insane as pegasus himself

[@thiccupcake]

archetypes literally defined yu gi oh for what it is now. I can't imagine 20 years of yu gi oh still being played with random mashes of cards that happen to go well together

[@GamingTopTen]

@@thiccupcakeThat sounds awesome. Put Uraby in every deck.

[@dyrr836]

Also debunks the "Yugioh is too goofy now" when the dude was running a deck of literal cartoon character clowns that he and only he was allowed to use.

[@mups4016]

​@@thiccupcakearchetypes are incredibly old, though. even goat format had chaos

[@kichiroumitsurugi4363]

@@mups4016 And Gravekeeper's. That was the very first archetype ever made

[@Mirai8]

Lockdown during the pandemic got me back into the game. I played from inception until XYZ. I was a casual player at best, but when I saw an Orcust combo video, I knew I had to get back into it. I bought LOTD:Link evolution and never looked back, now after thousands of hours, I'm playing at locals/OTS events. It was so fun leaning all the new summoning mechanics. The Yugituber community really inspired me to play again, so thanks a lot guys, and don't be afraid to jump back in!

[@Degenerick]

🙏🤝👏

[@Dramatic_Gaming]

Honestly, the only two actual criticisms I see worth mentioning are the text bloat and the complexity. I feel like there should be a way to pare down the amount of text even on modern cards to make it more digestible rather than having to just know what to look for. As for complexity, I think the bigger issue is that konami does a piss-poor job at teaching players that complexity & how to navigate it, especially once you start to reach those edge cases. I still remember seeing multiple debates about how Mirrorjade's effect was supposed to resolve even among judges when it first came out.

[@mrbubbles6468]

I mean there absolutely should be. 3/4 of a card are just conditions and summon requirements. TCG should really just put alll of that in the rulebook and come up with keywords for it all going foward. It’s what the OCG did and especially Rush Duels

[@VNeto94]

Konami doesn't seem to give a sh about new players and actually building up a duel. It's goal is to sell new overpowered cards to their solitaire game.

[@davidmorrison8925]

The thing that I think you're missing about complexity is literally every card game I played has some strange interactions that require clarity. I actually think Yugioh is a bit ahead with PSCT, it makes effects on cards easy to understand once you understand PSCT. I do certainly wish there was an easier way to learn the card game for sure, but like every game there will always be a learning curve

[@jorda8915]

@@VNeto94 Yugi boomer detected

[@VNeto94]

@@jorda8915 Any other "arguments"?

[@EnjinSosei]

Yugiboomer here (judged nationals a few years during the synchro/early xyz era), and while I feel like there are some critiscisms to be made of modern YuGiOh, TheActMan sure didnt seem to make any of them, at least not well. Solid video and I think you may have sold me on Rdison format.

[@bernardjohnson6413]

What would you say are valid critiques?

[@EnjinSosei]

@@bernardjohnson6413 The power creep, the price, the speed and complexity of the game creating a learning curve an order of magnitude worse than most of its competitors which makes it very difficult to draw in new players or even returning ones. In a year old comment elsewhere I talk about how the game simultaneously only takes 4-5 turns tops while also going to time frequently enough that sideboarding in cards that take advantage of the time rules was a Thing. I dont play paper rn so idk how accurate that is anymore.

[@The_Big_Jay]

@@EnjinSosei I would argue that the learning curve in and of itself isn't a negative thing, as a high skill ceiling is rewarding for dedicated players. I feel as though we just need better tools for new players to learn, as the jump is usually them giggling at Blue-Eyes memes to getting bodied by a Snake-Eyes player with no in between. The complexity is what draws me to the game.

[@bottlecapster9586]

I love how personally literally just about everyone took him dissing Madolche. Like inherently it's a strange stance to take, but I feel like it hit extra hard because of just how beloved Madolche specifically is. As for the point itself, Yugioh's massive variety of themes and art-styles are to me, part and parcel to what Yugioh is. The anime often uses archetypes as representations of the duelists themselves, embodying their ideals, their motivations, hobbies, etc. There's a real focus in Yugioh on treating your cards as extensions of yourself and as genuine companions, and it's part of why people become so attached to even especially bad decks, because in many ways, you are encouraged to put a piece of yourself into your deck. Then it stands to reason, that the best way to help encourage that act of participation, that act of connecting to your cardboard, that you would want to have as diverse an array of potential decks to express as many kinds of people as you can. The fact that we have cards that pull from such a wide array of themes and mythologies, and in a game that places those thematics on a more or less equal plane, is honestly really cool in my opinion. It's funny as fuck when despite all logic, the death star gets taken down by a bunch of rambunctious trick or treaters, or when literal household appliances take on eldritch monstrosities. It's a game where literally anything and everything can be put into a card, and no matter how serious or light-hearted, you can find something that speaks to you.

[@ExeErdna]

The difference was there wasn't so many hardline archetypes you more so worked off monster typing until that *kinda* went out of control in the XYZ's era. You really don't build a deck like you used to since Konami is wary of making those types of staple cards strong now. Now is find an archetype that visually appeals to you and hope most of it isn't banned or power crept

[@Nerobyrne]

@@ExeErdna I'm kinda mad that the Sargasso archetype isn't really an archetype, and it sucks even if you put it up against the exact thing it was built to combat. Because I really like the Sargasso sea, and them having made a terrible version of it is worse than not having made one at all, imo.

[@VNeto94]

@@ExeErdna Konami should officially create categories of competition by types of summoning and/or deck building, almost like the development of the anime. That would be a lot better to see what's more popular and would open the game for any type of player.

[@ExeErdna]

@@VNeto94 I agree since the extra deck is really the problem for some older players and decks.

[@VNeto94]

@@ExeErdna I think the real problem is style of play in the middle of all this, being forced to either play all your best cards in a couple of turns or try to negate this to your opponent is not fun for most normal players. It takes the "dueling" part out of dueling monsters.

[@Jrey1803]

My fav thing about this community is that we’ll call the game bad and complain about all these things. But the SECOND a popular person not from the community tries shitting on it we all come jumping in to defend it. And I think that’s gorgeous

[@KlaireMurre]

Noone can properly hate something more than those who play it. I don't play ygo just watch it but I have Seen enough bad souls critiques to understand it lol

[@seanr.6498]

If you're gonna dunk on something, you gotta have valid criticisms.

[@FleetAdmirable]

It would be like me complaining about the basketball hoop being too tall when I don't even play basketball.

[@PrettierNPastel]

That's every community tbh

[@survivorfreaknr]

Complaining about a game and trying to balance it through those complaints shows a healthy game. Complaining that its not what you thought it was on the surface when you didnt even bother to do any actual diving just shows igorance of the game in general

[@eclipsedarksouls6036]

Ritual: tributing with levels Syncro: tributing with specific levels Xyz: tributing with same levels Link: this is just tribute summoning from the Extra deck with pointing

[@pink_kino]

and Fusion Summoning which is basically Ritual but with a specific recipe

[@coolguylynxy]

Xyz more like stacking 2 monsters with same level

[@VojvodaSloboda]

im not sure what your point is? are you trying to say tributing for caius is essentially the same thing as exceeding into zeus or linking into sp? that would be a ridiculous notion

[@eclipsedarksouls6036]

@@VojvodaSloboda this comment from a year ago is trying to say that at there most basic and least nuanced form all these extra deck types that yugi boomers are complaining about are basically different ways to tribute summon.

[@VojvodaSloboda]

@@eclipsedarksouls6036 pretty shallow way to understand the criticism if you ask me dont you think? No one is complaining about the summoning mechanic in of itself, but rather the power creep that associated with those platforms. Plus there are further nuances that alter game interactions such as xyz's being ranks and links not having a level or a rank. Its simply easier for people to group the whole platform together. Of course not all link monsters are as effective as SP but to act like the power creep isnt getting out of hand would be ignorant, at least to me. I play both modern and edison too, I think both old and modern yugioh have there appeals. But its pretty undeniable that newer summoning platforms have way to many effects for little cost, especially with how common omni negates are involved.

[@rune4543]

The quality on this one is insane. Extremely well paced, edited, and straight to the point. Really would love to see more of this kind of content.

[@khaymenbrock645]

"It's not serious anymore" i've been watching the anime and yugi on more than one occasion summoned a bunch of fluffy guys to kill dragons

[@ChaoticMeatballTV]

Oh this is new, a video-essay style is something I don't think too many Yugioh creators have been doing as of late, and I'd love to see more! Maybe a video explaining why rotation would be healthy for Yugioh as I know that you've talked about it on stream multiple times before? As for that ActMan video, I purely think that his complaints come from a pre-conceived notion of what Yu-Gi-Oh should always be. I too, saw the anime, primarily GX when I grew up, but when I got into the game once I had a job and regular income, I just learned what was currently being played and wasn't focused on any "well it used to be like this, so now it's bad" since that has infected so many other hobbies I've had (pro wrestling, Pokemon, retro gaming), and it feels like TheActMan was far too stubborn to let his childhood POV go and learn what's new in the past 15-20 years.

[@bruhmoment1835]

That's all of actmans content

[@haruhirogrimgar6047]

@@bruhmoment1835 Dude is also an anti-SJW, it boggles my mind people take him seriously.

[@ubadman1]

​@Haruhiro Grimgar I mean he's a cod KZbinr the bat is low

[@galladiated]

Personally, I think having rotation (again, PERSONALLY) would make yugioh not only a worse game, but a less defined one. Yugioh is unique in the fact that it's one of the ONLY ones to have ZERO rotation, the only thing holding it back is the banlist. Rotation would bring some positive sure, but a lot of negative to a lot of veteran players. A lot of old players LOVE the fact that they can jump back in with an old deck and all of it still be 95% usable. Some fan favorite decks, no matter how controversial they might be, like Blue Eyes, Dark Magician, or even more modern ones like Zombie and Dinos would be unusable. I understand the thought behind it, and for PURELY competitive it would be a good thing more than a bad, but how about we don't fix what's broken.

[@royalhistorian5109]

@@haruhirogrimgar6047 I mean, most of his points about Yugioh are valid like the stupidly long text and the many summoning methods...because yea trying to explain all of this to a newbie or someone that doesn't know Yugioh without getting confused, it's nearly impossible, Links and Pendulum are just the worst in my opinion especially Links because their balance is...not good and I especially dislike the fact that forced this down due to Master Rule 4...like why? Sure, they fixed it but the balancing of Link monsters was just awful...Pre-errata Firewall, Needlefiber, Auroradon, Summon Sorcer, etc. Like god dam, it was horrible. Although yes, there are also a lot of dumb points...Archetypes is the best example of just being...really god dam stupid.

[@nsiderultimaseth]

8:47 I am genuinely staggered by the huge L that Act Man took by making his example of "bad card concepts" one of the most beloved and enduring archetypes in the game.

[@MogFlintlock]

Possibly the most popular rogue archetype that doesn't have ties to the anime.

[@jbutchet6317]

as a madolche user i was absolutely offended by the act man's opinion on madolches. like yeah they ARE adorable dolls that references desserts but do you expect a deck like that to go wide and hit hard? probably. and that's what makes them scary to go against.

[@SageTigerStar]

@@jbutchet6317 I imagine if he had to actually PLAY against Madolche, he'd see why people would rather use them over his Legendary Ocean deck. :P

[@dyldragon1]

He disrespected the goat

[@legeul]

Tell me about it, of all the decks, he really had to go after the most beloved archetype in the game, yes i would rather play a deck with dolls named after deserts over a deck with fish and mermaids.

[@Ragnarok540]

The act man is one of these players that attacked a timelord thinking "the opponent is an idiot for summoning a 0 ATK monster" then after taking 4000 damage, proceed to use raigeki on it.

[@thebloolinegamer]

wait thats just like me fr

[@user-lt2zu4qo8z]

Hehehe. Timelords were fun.

[@greengandalfziggy1]

Let's be real, Yugioh players don't read cards, and regardless, modern Yugioh cards are a nightmare of bad formatting and text bloat.

[@sonicboy5]

So basicly 90% of the playerbase?

[@isidoreaerys8745]

Okay so instead of addressing his valid point about card text conventions causing unnecessarily long difficult to read text. Make up a hypothetical situation in your own head and make fun of that.

[@maron3777]

As someone who stopped paying interest in Yugioh after 5Ds and than came back for Master Duell - I have to say, it was really worth the trial to understand Yugioh once again. The amounts of decks you can build is amazing and there is really something for everyone! Although there is always a sort of meta that is better in most situations (which is the case for basicaly every online game), it is all the more fun to try combat those with your own nifty ideas for some un-meta decks ^^

[@VNeto94]

Konami should officially create categories of competition by types of summoning and/or deck building, almost like the development of the anime. That would be a lot better to see what's more popular and would open the game for any type of player. Mixing it all as the only option is a mistake.

[@BoilerTCG]

I love trying yo defeat meta with my rogue deck, and you can only do that if you understand your deck at full capacity

[@VNeto94]

But trying to defeat good meta decks and this new overpowered summoning game is impractical at a high level.

[@BoilerTCG]

@@VNeto94 thats why it is called challenge

[@Bombastic_daioh]

5D's was the best yugioh but ok

[@keerbeer6519]

This might be your best video ever, a combo of laughs, history, general information about the game and the responses tied it together sooo damn well. Well done man keep it up, started playing again because of you

[@GiantSkyhawk]

We really needed this one

[@Zenbon111]

Not really

[@sleepyscarab4980]

We DID need this because some people still are afraid of modern Yu-Gi-Oh! When there are cheap ways to ease back into the game and ultimately Yu-Gi-Oh! Is so much fun when you can play at a competitive or casual level instead of whining about how the game’s gone to shit

[@peacechan4500]

@@sleepyscarab4980 so basically coping? Yeah Yu-Gi-Oh is literally the worst balanced TCG on the market. Where the new things literally need to be more broken that the last, just to be appealing to buy. But that also the main appeals of Yu-Gi-Oh

[@clevercards5914]

Oh yeah every community needs to highlight a clout grabbing shitpost

[@brucevanbaalen4992]

@@clevercards5914 Not really a Shitpost If he only makes valid Arguments.

[@whitefox6274]

Honestly on of my favorite things about Yugioh is the uniqueness of not only the archtypes but also the artwork, it’s got a little bit of something for everyone really, whether you like giant robots or magicians you will find something to like

[@NARFNra]

I feel this super hard as someone who's grown really tired of modern MTG art design lol, the only thing I wish is that YGO credited the artists

[@GreatgoatonFire]

@@NARFNra What about the alt-art WotC makes each set? The glass-pane Walkers from Spark or Black and White stuff from Innestard for example.

[@Dz73zxxx]

I can testify to this Why? My favourite archetype is chronomaly

[@rabbitbeargaming2441]

I agree. I like certain card arts for reasons. Madolche, Frightfur/Fluffal, and Ghostrick are cute. Meanwhile, Flower Cardian, B.E.S., and Gimmick Puppets look super cool to me. Mostly the reasons why I use certain decks is because of the card art lol

[@NARFNra]

@@GreatgoatonFire I don't really like the way that the alt-art cards are done these days. It feels a bit gimmicky because instead of the cards feeling like they express an individual artist's style or something, it's like they just said "ok everyone, draw black and white sketchy versions as a secret lair type set of collectibles for this set". I think that essentially they moved all the interesting art variety out of it "naturally" appearing in the main cards and put it all in whatever promo they're doing every set, which also means that every time you look at a spoiler list on Scryfall or something you're tabbing through like three alts of the same few cards and they're not very recognizable anymore on the battlefield because they come out in massive sets of promos that look similar instead of the art style being something that adds to an individual card's flavor. Instead it'll be like "here's 15 rares that were carefully crafted into this single art style to fit the set gimmick" and so on, which feels much less earnest than the way it was done in like even the Alara era or something to me. And ultimately, I really do wish they'd let the style variety exist in the main set cards more without it being pushed into promos as just a bonus.

[@VanessaVersus]

"An archetype based on CARS?!" holy shit he really was trying to make the Nuts and Bolts video again

[@GatorEXYGO]

Hands down, the best thing Yugioh has going for it is the sheer visual and stylistic diversity of archetypes. Act Man saying Madolche is stupid while he’s hyping up Legendary Fisherman and completely ignoring any other modern deck with an amazing thematic style is the most pinpoint precise cherry picking I’ve seen. “Thing I like good, thing I don’t like bad”

[@sakuraryuji01]

But the irony is fisherman got upgraded… twice. We also got an upgrade to fortress whale coming. Even older cards evolved. Red eyes, blue eyes , dark magician , Great Moth, Harpie Ladies

[@STEPHxCA]

@@sakuraryuji01 Ishizu cards lol

[@GreatgoatonFire]

When they aren't recycling dragons over and over Konami's artists can get creative. It is weird to me that the cute and jokey cards tend to have the strongest art and most worldbuilding. Ojamas and Flew have much more going on in the art department than "robot dragon standing in a Photoshop filter number 2348"

[@nnnp634]

I have to slightly disagree. I also love the art diversity, but I feel it's less of diversity nowadays and a lot of cards look way too similar. I don't agree it was better in 2005, butvI think there was a space in between when it was the most diverse.

[@cbbblue8348]

@@GreatgoatonFire trust me I used to think Yu-Gi-Oh has too many dragon archetype until I saw Vanguard and Duel Masters

[@TeamAPS]

Well said.

[@fatkiller1000]

My nigga...you were ON the video.

[@cbbblue8348]

​@@fatkiller1000 kinda but Team APS don't really knew what bs came out of Actman mouth when he gave his opinion in the video.

[@underlyingyugioh4311]

@@cbbblue8348 Farfa did a video and act man said I mean I play the game casually not competitively and he and farfa where going to duel on DB but I get why the video was kinda considered a dumpster fire he’s a comedy guy to so he kinda was doing comedy which I guess is hard to see 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@superm530]

@@underlyingyugioh4311 Bad comedy for 30 MINUTES. A quick yugiboomer of 5 minutes would be bereable, not a freaking RANT about NEWYugioh.

[@doug9358]

Some of your most viewed content is of older cards, decks or sets. People have nostalgia, so that helps your channel and makes you money. Then all of the KZbinrs get mad at the “boomers” The card game doesn’t slow down enough for beginners, so they turn to the community. The community is not welcoming and pretentious.

[@itsmetristan3671]

Correction at 7:48, it's not only if it's during a chain resolving. If you tribute a Dupe frog for a Tribute Summon, the last effect of Dupe can't be activated for instance. It's better described as "Optional trigger effects that activate 'when' X thing happens cannot be activated if X thing was not one of the last events to occur prior to the next chain opportunity.

[@DuskoftheTwilight]

I mean, let's be real here, out of all the complaints mentioned in his video, "Optional When effects can't activate unless their condition was the last thing that happened before open game state, while Optional If effects can activate as long as their condition happened at any point since the previous open game state" is pretty dang dumb.

[@tonberryking42]

@@DuskoftheTwilight And here I am saying that mandatory when effects should also miss timing - I mean, we already do chain blocking for both our opponent's cards AND OUR OWN for the purposes of targeting or making sure certain things are in certain places by the time chain link 1 is trying to resolve, why not justify the cards that meaninglessly have "when" where an "if" is equally valid due to being mandatory?

[@Nitrus7]

Tristan you dont have to nerd emoji your judge status in the comment section of a fucking MBT video of all things 😂

[@Adderflail]

@@tonberryking42 they have been changing them to if as they get reprinted

[@khornebread4802]

My only complaint is this: Need better Archfiend cards (Which tbf, was partially addressed with a couple of Labrynth cards and Simult). Also thank you for showcasing some of the Summoned Skull archfiends. I just wish there was more support for them so they see more use.

[@streetgamer3452]

I literally do not get at all what he was saying with the archetype thing. The variety of archetypes is the biggest appeal of Yugioh compared to other card games who keeps a consistent artstyle .

[@dex1157]

Missing the timing is one of those things I sort of get, but can never explain, so I appreciate the cliffnotes version that helps explain it fairly cleanly.

[@jessedale4287]

Ive been playing dark worlds since release in TCG, so I learned real quick how the miss timing thing works

[@dex1157]

@@jessedale4287 ahh shit. I bought three copies of the structure deck recently, so I guess I gotta learn it perfectly now. Although I am still waiting to try and get my hands on the rest of the cards I want for my sub-optimal cheesy backup archetype I threw in there.

[@ayngrand3212]

@@jessedale4287 Dark Worlds don't miss timing, though. Most, if not all Dark Worlds' discard trigger effects are mandatory. What trips players up about that deck ist that they don't trigger off of being discarded for cost, since they specifically state it has to be by effect.

[@phucdisshiet6838]

It's like english in a way (though that probably doesn't help). If can be applied to any hypothetical situation while when cares about the specific period when something occurs. “If” is surprisingly easy to understand. For this word, timing is never an issue. All that matters is “If” something happened. Doesn’t matter when it happened, just that it happened. "When" means that the condition has to be the last thing to happen. For example my opponent activates feather duster, in response I activate call of the haunted to revive e-hero stratos from my GY. The chain resolves backwards, stratos is summoned and immediately after duster destroys call of the haunted. As chain links cannot be interrupted once it starts resolving, the last thing to happen was not stratos hitting the field but duster destroying my cards as such stratos does not meet its condition. If you replace stratos with something like souleating oviraptor that says if instead then that will trigger.

[@BirdmanTCG]

Missing the Timing only happens If you have an When effect that's optional.

[@CamKoudo]

"lesbian vtubers who moonlight as jewel thieves" is not a sentence I thought I would ever hear in my life and yet here we are and I love it xD

[@jakethereaper2060]

The funny part is most of what he said is actually lore accurate

[@Ms666slayer]

@@jakethereaper2060 Yeah he didn't mentioned that they are also internte scammers that steal their fans information when they use the secret password.

[@seanr.6498]

I thought they were jewel thieves moonlighting as vtubers.

[@ashikjaman1940]

Wait until you hear about the rival v-tuber

[@skeletingking]

​@@ok-4726 Trouble Sunny are also apparently twins and one is a 6 foot tall bronze skinned amazon and the other is a pastey white 3/4 foot scrunkly so I think the term twin here isn't taken literally. It's just their gimmicks, they don't even look similar enough to be called twins metaphorically.

[@dashfire109gaming5]

For a while I was scared to enter competitive yugioh. Thanks to master duel, I built my actual first real deck(it was phantom knights. My now favorite archetype of the game). After playing the deck, I love trying to build my board around their negates

[@VNeto94]

It's either negate or do a crazy combo. Seems fun...................

[@dashfire109gaming5]

@@VNeto94 it depend on your deck and your opponent. If you know your deck good enough and know how to bait your opponent, negates aren’t even a issue. For example in master duel. I was facing someone who had Draco future and Lyraclist xyz monster that negates stuff constantly. And a monster that can negate summons. Took me two turns but do to baiting him and knowing my deck well, he ran out of negates, did my combo and won. Also I did it all without negating any of his monster effects. Negation isn’t something can’t be overcome from learning a practicing. Do I still get annoyed when my starter gets negated, yes I do. But then, because I know my deck inside and out, I can get things out another way. In my opinion, it’s better then just then bashing each other’s heads in with big monster with no other play.

[@tripleoo0]

@@dashfire109gaming5 Sure, but when you build a game to be that fast with no real need for resource management, what inevitably happens is that you lock the game into one acceptable playstyle, and that's combo. Modern YGO is too fast for control and OTK strategies to not be incredibly toxic. Those Swordsoul and Despia (and so help me, Ishizu Tearlament) decks that are so consistent and set up really strong boards are what creates the need for Runick engines and Floowandereeze and all manner of floodgate turbo decks. There's no other way to play a control deck in the face of a full board of high-level monsters with 3-4 cards still in the hand. YGO was never thought through this far, and it has resulted in an incredibly toxic game state.

[@haruhirogrimgar6047]

@@VNeto94 Build a going 2nd deck. Pick up Crusadia, jam in some Kaiju's, and then just slam over your opponent. One of my favourite decks was a scuffed build of Exosister, a new mid-range archetype and I made a going second version of it. Strategically picking apart a weakened opponent's board was immensely satisfying and gave me some of the most fun duels of my life against some of the better players I have ever faced.

[@Watchxes]

I really tried to get back in into yu-gi-oh for the past weeks (mostly via master duel, since none of my friends plays this game anymore) but i have to say it is way to bloated now: Forget about building your own deck, if you dont pick a recent meta deck you will get absolutly crushed and even then, there are so much effects and strategies that it propably takes months to understand what crucial mechanics/cards are and what you have to counter. The absurd long effect texts arent helping here lol. Its incredible hard for a beginner to get (back) into the game and i have the feeling that, if you dont dedicate your whole free time to this game, you will stay cannon fodder for "Pro" guys like the one making this video. I had multiple games of my opponent special summoning and stacking cards for 5+ minutes just to have an unbreakable Board at the end at Turn 1 or 2. Imagine that in real live where you have to check if your opponent doesnt cheat lol. 45+ mins reading cards effects until its your turn, where you most likely wont be able to do anything sounds like fun for a beginner. Shure, since a big part of the world by now has internet and access a smartphones to play master duel or order cards on Amazon, there will be a big enough playerbase of hardcore guys dedicating ther whole life to this game and pay konamis paychecks, but i dont see casual players having fun with this game anymore outside of some very limited (Fan-made)-Formats. (Where you have to be lucky to have people play this at your local area.)

[@gabrielpelletier6202]

You know, I have to say, Pendulums are a lot more intimidating to try and figure out if you know nothing, but once you get them, they're honestly extremely easy to understand.

[@gaaraofthefunk265]

I agree. After I returned to yugioh in 2017 (after a 10-year hiatus), it didn't take long for me to learn Qliphort. I know it wasn't meta, but I did end up liking the deck.

[@TheWizardMus]

Legitimately they seem confusing until you actually just try to play with them It's almost as if most people complaining have never bothered to put on the effort to attempt learning how they thing they're complaining about works

[@Honest_Mids_Masher]

People probably look at performapals or Endymion and just get turned off when there's much simpler and easier decks to actually start getting the grasp of pendulums like abyss actors

[@Eis_Cold]

Honestly yeah I stoped playing yugioh around the begining of 5d's so I had no clue what the hell a pendulum monster/summon was but I watched a video that was called something like "every yugioh summoning mechanic for dummies" and played like 2 games with a shitty pendulum deck to try and figure it out and now I play Endymion for fun.

[@monkeylemur]

Yeah extra deck toolboxing is identical to gy toolboxing, playing them on scale is identical to playing a very simple continuous spell, the only really huge decision making factor is somehow in the seemingly most braindead part: when to actually pendulum summon. But due to the new rules that nerfed it, you also need a stable link combo first before actually doing pend summon. But in actual practice, everything is pre-planned, and the only decision that matters is the pendulum summon part which can drastically affect your end board power level. If anybody actually played the pends they complain about, generally the actual scale effect on those wacky extra deck pendulum mons almost never come up, or are basically designed to work at a specific point

[@Fauxpikachu]

To this day, I still don't understand why the TCG doesn't adopt the bullet point style the OCG is using for card effects. It's simple and clean (heh). No confusion, no reading through the entire card twice to make sure you didn't skip over an effect, it just works

[@Silver_Chivalry]

I know I'm a year late, but I appreciate the Kingdom Hearts reference. 😁 And yeah, using bullet points and line breaks could help out a lot.

[@sporkmclork]

YuGiOh's biggest problem is definitely the text-box. It's too small relative to how much useful information it contains (and how useful it is compared to stuff like the Level/Rank bar or the Attribute.) Make it bigger, divide it up between Summoning Condition/Ignition Effect/Trigger effects and conditions, and color the font differently. It would be a welcome change. Hell, do what they do with Planeswalker cards and bleed the art through the textbox so that you can make it a larger part of the card without cropping the illustration.

[@SamLabbato]

We actually saw a simplification like this in Rush duel cards. If it wouldn't cause too big of a stink in competitive, they should just do a complete redesign of the cards and slowly reprint old cards in the new style.

[@mfoltran]

Its usually so big because the game really dont like keywords like magic. There are effects that are seen ALL THE TIME, but they still spell it out instead of using a keyword.

[@drillygo6984]

Yeah rush duels did a great job simplifying yugioh. The layout redesign is so good (the new art direction for the artwork itself is debatable tho). They use numbers to represent level, colors for clearer stats,Bigger frames for artwork and separate sentences for Costs and effects. There are no miss timing, soft once per turn effects, self chainshain, limit of normal summons, oppressive card advantage,floodgates, negates nor redundant card types like continuous,quick spells,continuous and counter traps.

[@VNeto94]

@@drillygo6984 So it tries to solve everything that is still wrong or got even worse in game. The complaints are valid.

[@aidanobrien5591]

I will absolutely never get over the "Yugioh is too goofy" complaint. I think you absolutely hit the nail on the head with the Magic comparison. I, myself, find Magic (specifically Commander) to be the more enjoyable card game these days. That said, Yugioh consistently manages to keep my attention just because it ALLOWS itself to be goofy. I can't make a Magic deck that features "tokusatsu fire fighters" or "furry sky pirates" or even fucking "French and Italian desserts mixed with jobs or animal sounds".

[@The2012Aceman]

Ragavan: "Am I a joke to you?"

[@williamfalls]

Don't forget ships that are sushi.

[@Hauki336]

@@williamfalls gunkan is such a funny archetype

[@pascalsimioli6777]

I loved ygo mixing of archetypes but I've always found the abstract backgrounds awful. Once I needed a better game and a funnier one than "learn this combo and repeat it step by step forever" Magic just came from the heavens above to give me art and gameplay.

[@pokeluis2002]

Literally I can’t take that point seriously when one of the main villain’s main archetype are fucking cartoons

[@heyguysdavehere2609]

What gets me the most is people never mention the legitimate issues (Text size, Short printing etc) and always go for the ‘Back in my day’ approach. Especially when just 1 hour of digging would allow you to find out that BEWD and Dark magician were not good cards and half the cards you remember got banned/limited because they were stupidly broken.

[@asdion]

To play devils advocate, at least pot of greed is just a +1, meanwhile modern yugioh has fusion spells that let you go ~+5 like take branded fusion -1 activation +1 on the discard of a gy effect despia (limited to 1 burial) following this you activate the effect and gain +2 by recovering a spell/trap and adding a despia to your hand, you obviously fusion summon something like Lubellion, which allows you to recover albaz and summon mirrorjade. So in effect a single Spell that is at 3 in TCG (at 1 as it should be in OCG) gives you a massive + while blatantly doing the same thing other limited cards do just better. Most of the original banned and limited cards have gotten powercrept by new cards, and people simply can't bring any argument as to why they should stay so, except for modern additions that have been put on the list because the newest release was made so broken that they had to ban something and they couldn't afford to ban a cashcow. I think the biggest issue for people who talk about the old days is less that they want BEWD and pot and more that they want BEWD to be playable, and it's not like it doesn't get modern support, the support is just awful compared to the stuff new archetypes get.

[@brutalnobody5240]

yes, dm wasn't good at all. BE actually had a short window of play back then because it was actually bigger than an Summoned Skull.

[@drowsyCoffee]

@@asdion The thing is, though, that there *is* an opportunity cost for modern power cards. Things like Branded Fusion, Tri-Brigade Revolt, Predaplanning, etc. require you to play a certain engine to be able to plus you like hell. You need to invest resources into getting them into rotation (At least, if not hand drawn), you need to invest deck space and extra deck space into fitting their engines to be able to play them (Which has all manner of impact, from opportunity costs, to garnets and brickiness, etc.), and most of the time, there is a multi-step combo involved in getting these swings of advantage, which creates a window of opportunity for interruptions to stop said combos. Cards like Pot of Greed do *not* have these weaknesses, as the trade offs for playing them are minimal. In the example of Pot of Greed, it would realistically only occupy one to three slots in deck (Depending how many copies of it are legal), would always be live (Since it isnt part of a multi-card engine that might require to be played in a certain order to be on), and wouldnt really impose any incidental deckbuilding costs like limiting what other engines you could play due to having xenolocks, hogging extra deck space, etc. That is, ultimately, what allows these cards to be legal while something like Pot of Greed isnt. The impact something like Branded Fusion can have in deckbuilding is limited, because not every deck can afford its requirements. The impact something like PoG would have is much higher, because there is virtually no cost attached to it

[@asdion]

@@drowsyCoffee The fact that Branded Fusion is limited to 1 in the OCG proves my point tho none of the "costs" of it are relevant because the archetype is build in a way that makes all of the costs and "cons" move into additional card advantage, and most archetypes that come out these days have this kind of design arguably even more powerful. I doubt Pot of Greed would have any relevant impact these days, it would end up as an ash bait at most because most relevant archetypes are so incredibly consistent that the draw 2 is a "win more" type of situation. It would effectively end up in the same state as handtraps a mandatory include in most decks early on and in non modern archetypes, while later on it gets replaces by blatantly more powerful in archetype cards. Nowadays "Cost" is not a cost just like nowadays "locks" are not a con either. to return to Branded Fusion The cost is 2 monsters from the deck Which is blatantly just 2 copies of Burial and there is a reason why Burial is limited to 1 because it's not a cost it's a + Meanwhile for example Ultimate Fusion is purely just a recovery that only activates its extra effect if you had difficult to summon material on the field. But i agree the "limitation" lies within the fact that it is not completely generic ie it requires a tiny bit of investment into out of archetype cards if you want to splash it, but that is a non point since there is no modern archetype that doesn't have equivalent cards to Branded Fusion, that's like saying Pot of Greed is bad because it's generic while every modern archetype has in archetype pot of greeds that allow them to go +5. But ultimately you are missing my point my statement was not meant to imply that Pot of greed should be unlimited, i am implying that the powercreep is bad for the health of the game because it has outpowered Pot of Greed while ignoring any archetype that is not new leaving them so extremely weak that they are unplayable.

[@sluggernott]

What it is simply is that people don't like change, hence the "boomer" moniker given to these people. It's similar to people who complain about the good old days of their favorite sport (Look at how much the 3 major team sports have changed while still remaining 98% the same) or how much video games have evolved from side scrollers on an 8-bit system , to open world simulation in 4K and 240 FPS. By all accounts, I am a YugiBoomer. I played when I was in middle school-early high school from 2002-2005 and only quit because I was trying to be "cool" and spent my money on music equipment instead. Fast forward nearly 20 years, and I'm a 33 year old grown ass man who likes yugioh now more than ever and think it's a lot more interesting now. My story is long and convoluted, but I eventually grew to accept and even like it's evolution. Nothing should ever stay the same. The game has stayed relevant for so long because of its evolution. Complexity makes the game an interesting challenge. There's a ton of diversity too. Sure, the modern Meta is usually defined by a handful of Top Tier decks, but there are 20 or so very playable decks capable of topping locals or just fun to play in general.

[@thunderstarchampion]

The "it's not serious enough" is so silly to me considering we have a video game that is about an Italian plumber who jumps on Chestnut-esque creatures while trying to find a medieval era princess from a giant turtle with mechanical traps.

[@matthewkuscienko4616]

Not only that, but I feel as though a big part of Yugioh not being "serious enough" comes from a combination of 2 things primarily, those being some archetypes that have a silly theme (such as Fluffal or Madolche) and the popularity of the abridged series that parodies it. These 2 things, for better or for worse, have the power to color people's perception of the game and make it into something it's not, and the more people complain about them, the more fuel it just adds to the fire by spreading that opinion to more people

[@autobotstarscream765]

Which normies shit on for not being Call of Duty and having guns, which is the mentality that birthed Ow the Edge.

[@bernardjohnson6413]

The difference is yugioh was not always coupled with silly and goofy archetypes. Mario on the other hand is a franchise that has stayed consistent. Super Mario bros. had all the same elements that the brand new Mario movie had, and everything in between. And it's not inherently about being serious 100% of the time, but when you go from Egyptian black magic and mythology into Outstanding Dog Mary, you have to see where it's become less intense (a word I find better than serious for this topic)

[@printility9602]

Did My years of not knowing how missing timing works really just get solved by one sentence?

[@richardstamm2144]

I think so much could be fixed by making cards more readable. The original video in which you both pointed out that the top lines are often activation/summoning conditions, and activation limits in this one are both recurring generators of 3-5 lines of text. This would be a massive undertaking for Konami to implement, but just being able to make in-line symbols that indicate that the following is an activation/summoning condition, or that a card name can only be used once per turn/chain/duel would free up a lot of space and allow the formatting of the cards to lend themselves better to quickly parsing what it does. More than that, it makes it easier to pick out which part of a card to read, especially when it's something you're playing against and want to know where to look to read what the opponent is doing.

[@FyrenRei]

That's literally modern japanese cards, they have bullet points (not just xyz cards) and numbers in circles to denote number of effects, as well as denoting restrictions like hopt more optimally and with less words. They don't do that in international releases because the printers they use either charge more money for those specific characters or they can't make them at all, but card text readability has been addressed just not internationally due to circumstances.

[@shadoeboi212]

they could just go the magic route and do Key words.

[@sun332s7]

@@shadoeboi212 YGO has keywords in a form tho

[@kichiroumitsurugi4363]

@@shadoeboi212 That is a dangerous game to play, because then it becomes harder for newer players to decipher an already hard to decipher game state, so they have to be used very sparingly and only on terms that are extremely common, like searching

[@shadoeboi212]

@@kichiroumitsurugi4363 thats kind of my point you key word the sections that in common with other cards and PSCT for anything semi unique. Yugioh already has them and so do most of the popular tcgs

[@Jcbryant123]

I feel like the main disconnect people like Actman have is that they are too focused on what they personally don't like about the franchise, as opposed to having any drop of curiosity about inquiring what/why active players like modern YuGiOh. And they are unable to come to the realization that many of the things they dislike or hate about the game, active players and fans enjoy or embrace. So they go on these rants about how Yugioh should radically change trajectories in order to win over people who haven't played in 15-20 years. And a lot of their suggestions have no semblance of understanding what people who play enjoy about the game. A lot of people like Actman need to internalize MBT's last point, that they never truly played Yugioh, and if they did... they probably wouldn't have enjoyed it. Yugioh isn't for everyone, and that's okay.

[@mnorth1351]

That's fair. I have said before that modern Yu-Gi-Oh is a different game than old Yu-Gi-Oh - not a different game like an evolution, a different game like football is different than basketball. Some people like both; good for them. Some people like the new thing; great, enjoy your present reality. Some people like the old one: can you blame them for complaining that the game they liked was destroyed and replaced by one they don't like?

[@gemscythe]

@M North It's a flawed way of going about things tho, it can virtually be said about everything and anything so being upset seems contrary to common sense. It is obvious that things will evolve to a certain level at some point in time

[@streetgamer3452]

@@mnorth1351 it was never destroyed. It evolved. The game these old people who don’t play anymore usually don’t play anything past playground Yugioh which just isn’t Yugioh cuz it’s primarily not even playing by the actual rules.

[@mnorth1351]

@@streetgamer3452 Blatantly false, bigoted mischaracterization to say fans of old Yu-Gi-Oh didn't even play by the rules. Just look at the popularity of goat format. Plenty of rules, and complexity, and card interactions back and forth. It's just not power-creeped up the Wazu. And my claim is precisely that the two games are so different that it is NOT just an evolution of the same game, it amounts to one game being discontinued, and a new one replacing it.

[@streetgamer3452]

@@mnorth1351 MAJORITY of old fans didn’t. Because they played it purely as a kid

[@ScarHydreigon87]

I didn’t play Yugioh for over 11 years, and only played Playground meta. Fast forward to 2021 when I decided to get back into the game, and after spending several weeks relearning the mechanics, understanding the meta, looking into archetypes, and going to locals, I now enjoy the game more than ever. All because I had the open mindset to learn and expand. That’s why I hate Yugiboomers so much. They’re so close-minded and not willing to learn and adapt.

[@STEPHxCA]

based

[@Dz73zxxx]

I beg to bit differ, as an ex-yugiboomer. On point there, "open mindset to learn". But truth be told, skimming throughout todays mechanics and meta is certainly jarring, the likes of handtraps, misstiming, these and that. What makes me an ex is because i, firstly, agree with you, dare to dive into meta and common cards, and secondly (probably the most decisive), is to liking an archetype. And i suggest to all yugiboomers to do so. Find your favourite weapons, your archetype, then try to dive in. Countless techs to utilize.

[@silviechangames]

@@Dz73zxxxAgree! I am sure that me sticking with crystal beasts will pay off soon..someday..someyear!

[@silviechangames]

@@slayer100141 so then what? you should be able to work your 40hour job a week then go to a tournament and crush anyone? same with chess tournaments right? you work 40hour then go home and beat masters at the game? no? oh almost like hobbies require time and dedication you got weekends to play at and try to enjoy yourself while learning could find a friend and learn together then you'd avoid all of the "bad bad horrible meta" even though meta isnt a bad thing and you or anyone else wont be able to solve that "problem" since its been around as long as games has been around and the mind set is "I play a competitivly game to try and win" not "NEED TO FTK" why are you playing anytime of versus multiplayer game if you not even trying to win or at least learn? do you start streetfighter and never attack?? Do you start forza and never accelerate?

[@skybattler2624]

Adding to 8:38, It is fun to explore a freaking love story between a Dragonling and Saint Nun just for them to face the Pope and the Dragonling's vengeful Twin, only for the two lovers to have their spotlight stolen by Osoro Goggles. Or how about a story of how three teenagers travelled the world to explore, only for one to die, her brother wanting to destroy the world, and her lover becoming god and resurrecting the dead girl to become a keyblade wielder. Or how about a multi-generational epic of several tribes uniting to fight an Alien Invasion, with the next generation fighting fighting demons only to accidentally awaken a god and kill her, and the next generation awakening the dead only to awaken another god that needs to be killed. Not to mention the adventures of ordering oversized Sushi battleships, the tales of ugly-looking trio of troublemakers, or even a meta commentary of the Banlist itself!

[@AquaHedgehog]

A point about summoning mechanics - I'm actually pretty fond of Xyz summoning because it enabled Extra Deck play without the need for extraneous spell cards or specific Tuners. The only real materials needed to get Xyz monsters out are a couple of same-level monsters, which you'd most likely be running in your deck anyway. There's also plenty of support options including changing the levels of monsters that could be used as Xyz material.

[@dyrr836]

That was what I loved about Xyz myself. I was a casual fan as a kid and got into competitive YGO around the time Xyz first launched in the TCG. I immediately clicked with them because they were legitimately the most straightforward summoning mechanic of the time. And then I stuck around because seeing all the new potential they offered had me hooked.

[@Atestinal]

I had a yugiboomer friend who needed to be re-taught synchros a few times, but picked up Xyzs no problem

[@Jake19774TW]

the funniest part of the "Yugioh is dead!" claim is that Yugioh is seeing more and more attendance at events while MTG and the PokemonTCG are seeing a decline in recent years.

[@VNeto94]

Konami should officially create categories of competition by types of summoning and/or deck building, almost like the development of the anime. That would be a lot better to see what's more popular and would open the game for any type of player. Mixing it all as the only option is a mistake.

[@m4y013]

@@VNeto94 konami do this i want zeus to fight against pirates that uses tank as a ship

[@VNeto94]

@@m4y013 and that's the good part about current yugioh. And the most fun aspect about it (archetypes) I was referring to summoning types and eras.

[@TheMasterBlaze]

Despite how much I dislike Konami's business practices they have a very d%mn good creative department. The cards they produce in art and in deck function have all been really good. It really feels like there's been an audience for every archetype they've released in the past decade.

[@Kaleidophoenix]

Pokémon has sold more cards and had record numbers of players at events in the past couple of years. If there's a decline it's because they hit record numbers and are falling back to the mean (saleswise).

[@Scourgerr]

The main thing about the "too many extra monster types" that always bugs me is that most decks usually use just one or two MAYBE 3 at most. Even then, most of the other extra deck types are toolbox stuff you can ignore as a beginner. You can just learn that one that is integral to your deck and then learn the others by watching others play

[@amiablereaper]

And even then often it's the deck's signature type+link summoning, which is far and away the easiest to understand

[@KnightlyBrosGaming]

It is cool to see Summoned Skull have a variant for Fusion, Synchro, XYZ, and Link summoning.

[@Dr.AvenVon]

too bad none of them are any good

[@VNeto94]

Konami should officially create categories of competition by types of summoning and/or deck building, almost like the development of the anime. That would be a lot better to see what's more popular and would open the game for any type of player. Mixing it all as the only option is a mistake.

[@teiten3806]

The link wasn’t summoned skull, but he had a ritual form if you want

[@systemshock1139]

Idk why people say Yu-Gi-Oh is too complicated I was 10 when i started playing with a "complicated deck" just read the text that simple 💀

[@NickersonGeneral]

What I really don't get about yugi boomers is if you hate modern yugioh so much, why not just not play it? Yes, you are allowed to dislike it. Yes, you are allowed to express that opinion. But I swear, every video talking about modern yugioh (good or bad) is FLOODED with commentors bitching about it. This is like me going to every baseball video I can find to complain about how much I dislike baseball. I don't think they can grasp the concept that people genuinely enjoy modern yugioh, and arrogantly assume that because THEY PERSONALLY dislike it, it must be objectively bad.

[@FrnzFrdnnd]

I love YGO. The only card game that really got me to play it for hours. I started when I was a little 7 year old baby, playing the og blue-eyes structure deck. Then, I didn't have money and nobody I know played YGO (because being a teenager means you gotta hate everything you liked before), so I stopped playing but kept an eye open on the game. After almost 12 years, I got back for real and it's been a blast. EDIT: Great video response btw

[@michel0dy]

I LOVE the variety of archetypes in yugioh. I love that I can pick from such a wide range of themes, art styles and change my playstyle to match. The part of "doing it like the anime and using an archetype to convey your character" is honestly the huge appeal yugioh has for me over other card games. My sister, who never played TCGs before, got interested in Speed Duel because of the cyber skater archetype, because she loves watching figure skating and she felt the deck represented her tastes. If that isn't amazing I don't know what is.

[@sealard9635]

“Variety” combo, combo, or combo

[@go-gogodlike6179]

@@sealard9635 Damn straight...weeeeellllll except evil eye, yosenjus, counter fairies, shinobirds, lunalights, melodious, bujins, fire kings, Toons, Monarchs, kaijus, Numeron, Tindangle, Krawlers, Gravekeepers, Darklords, Timelords, chain burn, exodia, eldlich, trains, earthbound immortals, magical muskets, sky strikers, etc

[@brotherhood7596]

I enjoy the lores brought by those archetypes too

[@ark3355]

@@sealard9635 just flat out wrong lmao

[@fallencloser5028]

Bro is yapping but playing nurse burn 💀

[@FruityGroovy]

Back when I first started getting back into Yu-Gi-Oh, I didn't really know much about all the new archetypes, so I just stuck to the modern versions of Blue-Eyes and Red-Eyes at the time, since I could wrap my head around those ones. Around a year ago, I then discovered my all time favorite archetype, Super Quant, and I'm way more active in the Yu-Gi-Oh community than I have been since my childhood. The fact that I am a big tokusatsu/Super Sentai/Power Rangers fan really helped in this becoming my go-to archetype, and the fact that it had an easy enough to understand mechanic and great synergy within its own cards really helped my understanding of the game. Legitimately, Great Magnus is fundamental to my understanding of the game by being such an effective tower, I can legitimately just observe the opponent's moves to try to understand their strategies. It's like the first part of Goku's fight against Frieza, where he's just kind trying to figure out what Frieza can do and how to actually come at him. I love it so much, I actually decided to buy the cards necessary to build the deck irl, and get card sleeves for it. I have never done that before I my life. Whenever I got Yu-Gi-Oh cards, it was from random packs I would occasionally get, and then just put in storage. It's just great that Yu-Gi-Oh has such a large variety of themes that it's almost guaranteed somebody will find a deck they like. And yeah, I have the same complaint about MtG that's in this video; the majority of the cards look boring as shit. It's just one generic fantasy theme after another. The only time I even considered giving Magic a chance is when this trailer featuring two gingerbread people appeared. It looked fun and interesting. And then my enthusiasm was immediately dashed when I learned that there's not even a card of the vengeful gingerbread woman.

[@ddbros789]

Complaining you can’t play nurseburn ftk is wild

[@ethanel4222]

This was an awesome comical response video that pretty accurately portrayed yugioh as it stands today

[@Ghost_Drive]

The Act Man fan with almost no Yu-Gi-Oh experience who had this video recommended to him, this was really interesting! I was almost certain that things were a bit simpler than he made them out to be, and this made that clear to me. I think the major difference in opinion here come's down to people's preferences in games and thoughts on feature creep. I can tell from watching The Act Man's videos that he is a fan of games and stories that get straight to the point and are easy to experience. I can tell that you are a fan of games that are full of depth and are willing to navigate through complicated rules to learn and enjoy them. I ultimately think you both have a point; the game needs a way to make it so that new players aren't dropped into the deep end right away with all the complex mechanics, but people also need to understand that the game isn't unplayable, just complex. While comments are mentioning that Konami can do more on this, I feel the community is also a big part of this based on my experience getting into the fgc 5 years ago, and outside of attacking The Act Man (which I don't care about because he's a 1 million sub KZbinr, he can take it) you seem like you're very willing to do that. You get a like from me.

[@Nerobyrne]

I love Yugioh but I'd never play it in real life. I'm glad games like Master Duel and Link Evolution exist so I don't have to deal with all those rules and can just focus on playing my decks^^

[@VNeto94]

@ExeErdna Konami should officially create categories of competition by types of summoning and/or deck building, almost like the development of the anime. That would be a lot better to see what's more popular and would open the game for any type of player. Mixing it all as the only option is a mistake.

[@TheKeksletsplay]

My opinion, if you go trough all the hastle of learning the game properly, play competitive or it's a waste of time, energy and money. There is no fun in playing dark magician and getting slapped by a single mst.

[@VergaVenuda]

@@TheKeksletsplay no thanks, id rather just play jank in gold than use $500 on a deck that will get outclassed in 3 months in a game which takes ages to make banlists irl

[@Nerobyrne]

@@TheKeksletsplay you're wrong

[@valleyard8674]

Indeed, one of the greatest things about Yu-Gi-Oh is being able to play with demons dragons angels and machines Against someone that has named each of their plushie cards, that have razorblades It's good not to take yourself too serious some times, and considering that the story of the Yu-Gi-Oh cards is that of a multiverse, they have a lot of creative freedom, being able to make a complete new story and archetype, upgrade an archetype, have the interaction between worlds/archetypes, it's a really great way to be able to make content

[@doctorwhouse3881]

There's obviously arguments to be made about the relative lack of "monstery" cards and the overabundance of humanoids/waifus (imo both valid if often exaggerated), but complaining about silly archetypes existing is dumb

[@valleyard8674]

@@doctorwhouse3881 indeed, and let's be real, waifus are always good because of the primal instinct of AWOOOOGA AWOOOOGA

[@kichiroumitsurugi4363]

@@doctorwhouse3881 Yea, if there is anything to pick out, it's waifu oversaturation, Konami just can't get enough of it, but that's really all I can complain about with YGO art in a vacuum

[@gokuissus8510]

Honestly the best response. You hit every single mark.

[@TwistedNightmar3Gaming]

A near 40-year-old yugituber, is one of the first people come to my locals to learn the game or ask questions about it. I genuinely want people to enjoy the game at all levels play.

[@TwistedNightmar3Gaming]

The person is me btw. Just a few weeks ago, a kid and his family sat and watched me play RTT GK va branded-bystial. Probably one of the worst matches for what was going on, but every time he had a question, I'd answer. Last week, his father literally bought a set of every gk card in the game.

[@butterspike680]

It's kinda nuts how he made fun of Madolche, a beloved rogue archetype', only to reveal minutes later that he really likes Nurse Burn, which I'd dare to say, it's universally hated to Mystic Mine levels. Also he suggested Umi Water monsters are better, but they're unamusing at best.

[@ShyRanger]

It's especially weird cause like, isn't Nurse Burn a "don't let your opponent play" deck too? So you're gonna talk shit about Fisherman III being uniteractable but then play a deck that also kinda isn't?

[@DQMaster777]

Average Yugi Boomer: Ah my childhood nostalgia that I can't play St. Joan directly from my hand because it's a fusion monster oh nooo Average Forbidden Memories Enjoyer: My no defeat run was just ended by Heishen at end game, I shall now reset my game in order to take true revenge for my fallen brethren.

[@geminimaxxim]

I think the thing I get stuck on is that a lot of these common complaints that are so easily refuted can be spun into actual meaningful criticisms, if you just jump to the left a bit on the train of thought. "X summon mechanic = bad" for instance is silly and reductive, but it's more accurate and insightful to say "summoning mechanics in general becoming less restrictive is making the game less creative, especially with the addition of more and more generics".

[@VNeto94]

The other youtuber elaborates more in the video. This response is a scarecrow.

[@yatakarasu98]

Can't believe he described Bakura as _the twinkiest frame imaginable_ 💀💀💀

[@Ringo-Was-His-Namo]

Seller/collector here; Don't actually play outside of digital. Gotta say, if someone complains about the artstyle of yu gi oh in particular, their opinion on it just doesnt matter. I love Pokémon and I like MTG, but the only cards I bother to purchase are yu gi oh. There isn't another TCG with anywhere near as much variety and for collecting? I have ¢10 cards I plan on putting in a display and $20+ cards I was disappointed to pull and wanna sell immediately. The card art is bonkers with yugioh to the point where I'll literally take a common over a holo, depending on the style. Yu Gi Oh has the goofiest and most beautiful artwork you can find on cardboard. It's like nfts, but with value

[@Omojuze41]

Killer video dude! Summed up everything perfectly, offered critique while also acknowledging the games' faults. A must watch for everyone honestly.

[@BlueMaximaC099]

My one wish for Master Duel is to not only add more fun decks to solo gates (the SP Challenge stuff was great) but to add more meta decks, combos and staple tutorials. It would make the game easier to learn by far because you could actually start building something meta worthy without having to drop money on gems or wait six months with a suboptimal deck.

[@nichidoushiro]

my sweet child, how else would they make money then

[@steffan5156]

If u do the solos, new account prob could build atleast 1 fully optimized meta deck. The dailies +event do let you build 1 full deck every 1.5-2 month. It's not effortless sure, but it's pretty decent for f2p.

[@amiablereaper]

I would love some challenges every set, like runeterra or duel links, that don't reward cards but do act as tutorials for new mechanics

[@nnnp634]

I would gove you 1000 likes. Imagine f tutorials actually taught you about game interactions, what to do in your mainline, what do do when interrupted etc, instead of just weak 2 card combos in terrible decks (except Drytron, but there wasn't tutorial for it)

[@RNGHater]

So basically bring duel puzzles that could be actually meta relevant? Like go into an Accesscode line with Salamangreat, or use ad lib eff to revive and use mirrorjade again?

[@-clod-8948]

yugi-boomers are so facinating to me as I only got into yugioh from my friends playing at it a lunch in high school around 2017. one of my friends was playing an odd-eyes deck and honestly, that deck was what got me into the game

[@Dz73zxxx]

Quite ironic since yugiboomers would patronize pendulums as YGO killer 🤣 i, too, despised pends, then i find comfort with qliphort rn

[@dudono1744]

IMO the only confusing thing about pendulums is "why tf do they go to the extra deck ?". Turns out it's plot armor

[@rabbitbeargaming2441]

@@Dz73zxxx I myself never really used pendulums except a few I just used as spells and nothing more. Examples being Edge Imp Cotton Eater, Guiding Ariadne, Lunalight Tiger, and Lunalight Wolf. I almost never pendulum summon except in Abyss Actors which is a full pendulum deck

[@dudono1744]

@@rabbitbeargaming2441 same I only used SHS general coral as a spell in duel links

[@comfyghost]

as a guy who plays both insect and zombie decks i am very insulted that he said we "went from giant insects and intimidating zombies" as if the jojo posing golden necromancer isn't intimidating as fuck!

[@Andy_ARBS]

I will say this. This vid is edited perfectly. No weird editing mistakes over here. Thanks Dire!

[@demonkingsparda]

I've often explained yugioh to people trying to learn as "a game where for every rule, there is at least 3 cards that break that rule". As your teaching a new player you basically have to end every sentence with "unless you have a card that says otherwise"

[@wubwubdododo5656]

card text trumps rules every times.

[@u.a.perfectace7786]

Reading card text in the TCG is a pain in the ass. At least the OCG separates multiple effects with an icon. It makes it easier to read. Rush Duels had simplified card text that separated the actual effect and cost to activate it by name. Less card text and still conveys the useful information to player on how to use the card. I would love to see the current card text could get overhauled. Reprints are thing, could modernize them while still allowing the pre updated cards to be played (that way you can still play the cards with the old text format) while newer players don't get overwhelmed by so much bloat.

[@fikkitchen]

This is literally me explaining Yu-Gi-Oh to my roomie 😂 You really have to be explicit about card texts.

[@ToxicAtom]

That's pretty much true for any card game though. Magic, Pokemon, Vanguard, all of them have cards that break the rules as written. That's like, kinda the point of card games. Hell, this is true for most _games._ Like, yeah, in Skullgirls, you take Chip Damage while blocking, EXCEPT if you're playing big band and press an attack at the same time as the directional input, then you parry instead, blocking without taking chip damage. In DnD 5e, melee weapons modifiers are determined by your strength score, EXCEPT is that weapon has Finesse, in which case you can use your dexterity instead. In Magic, you can only cast a spell that targets if there is a valid target when you try to cast it, EXCEPT if the card has an intervening clause that only causes a targeting effect to apply while it's resolving, then you can cast it even if that effect wouldn't have a legal target. Just like all of those, in Yu-Gi-Oh, monsters are only ever treated as 1 tribute for tribute summons, EXCEPT the Mega Monarchs, who have an effect that allows you to treat another tribute summoned monster as a single tribute. This is just, a game design constant.

[@demonkingsparda]

@@ToxicAtom yes but few things are as egregious about it as Yu-Gi-Oh. How do you teach a person the basics when the basics mean nothing? Look at Tear, the only rule that deck follows is the battle phase. Not the best wording but It's 5am and I can't think straight

[@bassgx1459]

The anime is both a blessing and a curse to Yugioh. It brought the franchise to popularity but also made people who watched it got the wrong impression about the game. I'm a yugiboomer and for the longest time, I thought that whatever thing they did in the anime is also translated to IRL. Imagine my shock when I learn people were into degenerate shit like triple pot of greed into raigeki as early as the game goes that my child-like mind couldn't comprehend back then.

[@andrejv.2834]

Seems like konami realised the anime's effect later on, as from arc v onward anime decks resemble real yugioh more and more, even zexal decks can be kinda compared to dino rabbit gameplay wise, except their individual cards weren't as powerful ofc But this isn't helping the majority of yugiboomers who only vaguely remember dm

[@kichiroumitsurugi4363]

@@andrejv.2834 Yea, ZeXaL effectively had its characters run diet versions of Dino Rabbit with a less effective Rank 4 package (especially notable with Yuma and Shark)

[@danfelder8062]

Agree with most, but the "Miss the Timing" complaint mises the point. Some rules are more intuitive than others. Situations that cause abilities to "miss the timing" are unintuitive. The fact a card says "when I'm destroyed, do a thing" and is destroyed but never gets a chance to do its thing is unintuitive. In MTG the ability just gets to do its thing the next time it makes sense to do its thing.

[@a.r2935]

I really hope that this video reaches the right people and encourages them to rediscover their childhood memories of yugioh, smash them right to bits, and piece them back together while exploring an honestly fun and interesting game. I really want to just explore the wackiness of Yugioh, and how MBT is absolutely right in how Yugioh has always had goofiness to take the edge of some very compelling storytelling, both in their anime and in the game. I feel like reconnecting with childhood interests is like that generally, accepting that it was goofy and appealing to your child sensibilities, but acknowledging when the interest decides to respect the viewer. Heck, our most recent serious in card storyline, which features a corrupt church and has many references to various christian and biblical theories and stories, has a whole wacky side-quest where a side character gets a mecha to completely solo one of the final bosses! Can you really accept an interest if you push away such an integral part of it? Can't you enjoy the comedy alongside the tragedies? Honestly I'm saying this as a guy who really loves goofy stuff. Adults wearing spandex and helmets but take on challenges that help them grow as people started me on a journey that led me to Japanese adults wearing spandex and plastic armor getting into slapstick fights sometimes with rubber monster, but can have some genuine and compelling storytelling about confronting your darkness and paving your way forward in your own way. How can you genuinely enjoy something if you can't allow yourself, and your hobby, to have fun? Ramble over, I guess! I just really resonated with MBT's point. Thank you for jump starting what I imagine to be many discussions on how to enjoy the game, and how to present it to people who might want to reconnect with a very strange part of their childhood.

[@louc.6735]

Honestly my childhood memories of Yugioh were all about making up stories about the monsters and where they came from and what they might be like. Modern yugioh is so much better because it tells me what I always wanted to know as a kid: What Are These Monsters????

[@GreatgoatonFire]

I'll be honest, I don't think this video works very well to convince to a Yugi-boomer why they are wrong. "The game is better now" isn't a great argument without showing how it is better. It is more aimed at taking apart the Act-Man's video and does a good job of that.

[@Doku71]

I got back into YuGiOh just recently. Buying old cards I liked when I couldn't get them as a kid. At first I was overwhelmed till trying Duel Nexus, and reading rulings again for traps, effects, and spells. It was actually much easier to understand than I thought. Master Duel did help a bit but held my hand a lot, and as I came to find out, Dragonmaids are expensive on tabletop.

[@ondusidaja]

It's the waifu tax

[@YeetThyMeat]

The formats are just what imo sets Yu-Gi-Oh very high to this day. There's one for just about every impactful era of the game's lifespan and being able to just join a community that still plays like one used to is a great feeling - that one kid who played Magical Dimension in Elementary school

[@silent7159]

I find it ironic how people complain about the amount of text on modern cards when cards like Relinquished and Toon DMG were printed

[@VNeto94]

Proportion and average is a thing.

[@VNeto94]

Power creep to $ell more cards with multiple effects is also a thing.

[@The_Big_Jay]

@@VNeto94 What's wrong with cards that do more than 1 thing?

[@VNeto94]

@@The_Big_Jay It's not the cards themselves separately (duh), it's the overpowered combo driven solitaire summoning engine that completely takes the "duel" part of the game. One either must try to stop it so they can do the same. It's ridiculous.

[@VNeto94]

@@The_Big_Jay the game is becoming more and more like the playground rules only kids could come up with.

[@Populon993]

6:26 this actually is a nice example for both the good and bad points about this "card texts too long" criticism. Yes, this one card does a lot. But as MBT points out, theres only really one thing that you have to worry about when your opponent puts this in front of you. Maybe a second one, when you plan to get rid of it. IMHO The process of "gittin' gud" in this game includes learning how to skim through those texts somewhat efficiently and learning this "Yugioh language". "Reading a card" doesn't necessarily mean reading and understanding every letter on there, but rather figuring out the important part(s). BUT as the video shows pretty well, this single inportant bit is right in the middle of one big paragraph. Plus the texts can be pretty inconsistent. E.g. sometimes a "once per turn" is at the end of the text, sometimes its in the beginning, sometimes it's somewhere in the middle because it only affects the previous (or following) part. If the texts would be written more consistent and would include things like actual formatting and word highlighting, the game would be a hell of a lot easier to learn and less tiring to play. Sure, doesn't really work with the actual cards. Those only have so much space. But simulators have virtually infinite space to work with. Imagine Master Duel would have been released with neatly formatted texts in those detail views. At least they somewhat go in this direction now with some text highlighting and popups that only show a currently active effect...but this also only works with newer cards. Not sure if they also gradually implement it for older stuff (aside from solo mode stuff maybe)

[@dannyboers4704]

Tbh i got so used to yugioh card text it isn’t even a issue for me anymore. I can just skim read every card and remember it for the rest of the day. And even if I need to read a card from my opponent i can just ask to read it and take only like 5 secs. I’m probably in the minority with this though

[@VNeto94]

Yugioh has a text format issue. They overpowered the cards and didn't update their info system.

[@L1nk2002]

I fucking love older yu gi oh formats. I wanto to fucking play every single match waiting for 20 turns until either me or my opponent draws BLS.

[@ArtistNotFound123]

That was something that Act Man was completely wrong about, in regards to different art styles and archetypes. There is nothing cooler than combining different archetypes and seeing how their gameplay styles compare and contrast with their art styles. Combining a cuter more innocent looking archetype with a darker more mysterious feeling one feels like the anime team up I’d watch 2 seasons trying to understand. That’s when I make my own stories up and it becomes even cooler for me.

[@ianbailey4213]

Reminds me of bubble beat down and how people were just throwing in whatever cool warrior toolbox thing you could

[@costelinha1867]

"Fit the dark themes of the story plot" Dude, this show is literally a "power of friendship" type of anime where a bunch of investors unironically lost faith in a dude's company because he lost to a fellow teenager high-school student at a children's card game, this anime was NEVER THAT SERIOUS! (Yes I know it has dark moments, but it's also goofy as fuck and I love it for this.)

[@manwithnewname]

Idk if you only watched the 4kids english dub or what, but both season 0 of the anime (only released in Japan) and the manga have some very serious dark themes, and even the Japanese version of later seasons had characters literally die if they lost a duel. So yeah, it was pretty damn dark in the original vision

[@kichiroumitsurugi4363]

@@manwithnewname Not that season 0 is representative of the story with the card game in mind Also, common misconception, but the Shadow Realm DID exist for the Japanese version, it's just 4Kids made otherwise standard gimmick Duels into Shadow Duels for no reason in addition to the actual Shadow Duels (examples being Arkana and Lumis/Umbra)

[@TheElly750]

There was a time when i was one of those. Complaining about text size, game speed and "what in the hell are pendulums". Then i came back and realized that the game i enjoyed so much as a kid actually matured along with us and is arguably miles better than it was back in the days.

[@brotherhood7596]

Me too. I almost quitted for good when Pendulums came out, but I guess that was the only point

[@VNeto94]

The game actually turned children's imagination into reality, with overpowered cards that can be summoned on the first turn.

[@VNeto94]

that sucks, btw. At a competitive level, it has a become a ridiculous game of summoning.

[@ozzymandice7558]

on the topic of the serious note: yugioh's cards are incredibly serious in ways they never were in the past as well. so many cards and archetypes are involved in ENORMOUS storylines spanning an absurdly impressive amount of design choices that reflect this lore. sometimes they can be very messy (duel terminal), but i think modern yugioh has this specific charm that legacy yugioh never did. there's just something so admittedly exciting about sitting down for a round of master duel and playing swordsoul vs. despia, a match almost reflected in lore. or in tcg, playing tearlaments vs kashtira- you are LITERALLY repelling the alien invasion depicted in the story.

[@NotReal-187]

The alien invaders banished Kitkallos face down, we lose now.

[@PharaohofAtlantis]

I've heard this a few times - where do people FIND the lore? Or is it just on the card art?

[@Ms666slayer]

@@NotReal-187 They actually did it in lore, not only because Kitkallos got banned XD

[@Dragonmatic]

@@PharaohofAtlantis A lot of it are sometimes guesses from the art but there are also plenty of official guidebooks that give us further insight on what is happening within the story, many of which can be read on yugipedia or ygorg translations. Master Duel's own solo gates also helped tremendously towards introducing people to the lore that happens within the cards like World Legacy and Vendread.

[@Powerman293]

I feel fighting the alien invasion of Kashtira even when I'm playing decks entirely unrelated to the lore.

[@11wildy63]

The only thing that I do feel is wrong is how hard it is to get into the game. You can try to teach someone, but most likely they'll find it too complicated, unless they really want to learn

[@OscarSanchez-vo9dx]

I think with master duel being out that shouldn't be much of an issue anymore

[@lyfed2566]

i think yugioh comunity is very kind toward new player to help them overcome the vertical learning curve yugioh have. yugioh player may be very sweatty at times but they always have soft spot for newplayer that is willing to learn

[@monkeylemur]

Yeah you need a person with a right mindset and a person who's actually personally motivated. Usually it takes learning 1 deck and actually start winning with it to get hooked

[@mynameisjohnjackajoe]

​@@monkeylemur This can't be understated. Constantly losing because you got nostalgia baited and build a Blue Eyes deck is not fun. Throw returnees and new players into cold water. Encourage them to build a good modern deck with longevity. They might not get the full potential of that deck at first but the more they play, the more they learn not only about their deck but also modern Yugioh in general.

[@dontmisunderstand6041]

@@OscarSanchez-vo9dx Master Duel isn't good at teaching people the game, and the fact that the only game mode is "play against solitaire meta decks controlled by losers with no life" is an actively negative part of the game. Especially when the tutorials for Master Duel don't teach you how the mechanics actually work, only walk you through one specific set of steps that achieve an outcome where those mechanics have been used. On the other hand, Legacy of the Duelist actually does a decent job of showing you how those mechanics work, and gives you a massive depth of opponents to face that lets you experiment and find out how things work without just losing to a field of omni-negates set up on the opponent's first turn.

[@wackywoohoopizzaman1290]

The fact that Act man haven't watched Yu-Gi-Oh GX how big of a Yugi Boomer he really is.

[@pink_kino]

even though Fusion summoning existed since Season 1 of Yugioh that and Ritual Summoning.

[@wackywoohoopizzaman1290]

@@pink_kinoI know that,but Yu-Gi-Oh GX just is the anime series that really made fusion summoning popular as it is today.

[@Bombastic_daioh]

Or 5D's the real goat.

[@1stCallipostle]

I skipped GX in my youth. Sorry 2006-2008, more reruns of the older stuff was available to me at the time

[@Bombastic_daioh]

@@1stCallipostle 5D's was better in many ways so you missed on the peak of yugioh lol

[@cody501]

All MBT does is win. What a great video! Clearly and concisely debunked the typical complaints that we are all tired of hearing!

[@ianbraun271]

I dunno. I think he came off as a bit condescending and disrespectful toward us Old School/returning players. See: MTG comparisons in terms of game speed, which it was not. It was less interruptions/negates, less abilities per card, and more back and forth. Oh, and traps mattered. Also see: comparisons to "playground Yugioh". Just because we new/returning players can't keep up with the massive combos of modern Yugioh, doesn't mean we came back to it from playing it on the playground with no knowledge of the rules.

[@TimothyGod]

​@@ianbraun271and yet typically those are the cases. Most returning players haven't played proper yugioh. And a lot of what MBT says to refute act man is, come on, it's still a game, you have to learn some stuff. And agreeing with some of the real annoyances.

[@polybear08]

As a Yugi boomer who was a regional/state winner back before goat officially was a format. 2003-2005. I can see both points. I retired from Yugioh in 2006 when i went into seminary work. It was a rude awakening coming back in 2021 and not knowing wtf happened. Took me at least a year and a lot of practice and questions at locals to eventually go 6-2 at a YCS regional using a rogue deck when despia was rampant. (Yes I floodgated😂) and I was really proud of myself. Sure it’s a different world now and I do miss the old game but several local shops host goat so I clap people in both. It’s fair to say the game is different but the Yugi boomer in me finds so much satisfaction hitting a board that took 4 minutes to make with old reliable Raigeki😂. Game is still fire even 22 years later.

[@TeaRektum]

Most based take. Hope you keep playing for years to come mate!

[@polybear08]

@@TeaRektum won’t stop even if top a YCS again lol. Funny thing coming back I realized how valuable old card knowledge was. Slapping a full powered sprite with my old king tigers and tears with Anubis is delicious to the taste haha.

[@lloydbagby8355]

Yah even I played sence 2003 and it kinda why I love floowandereeze and why I fell in love dragon link as both a fast paced deck but having a great grind game

[@ashblossomandjoyoussprung.9917]

"The Act Man's favorite deck is Nurse Burn." ...that explains so much. Honestly, the game becomes so much more tolerable when you learn to run the staple negates. It becomes unfun when you don't have any negates of your own, or outright can't play the game due to stuff like Mystic Mine. If you have Ash and Called By The Grave, almost any deck becomes somewhat playable on a casual level.

[@OscarSanchez-vo9dx]

The people that complain the most about not being able to play refuse to use the options available to them, their in a fist fight with no arms or legs thinking they have a chance against Mike Tyson

[@ashblossomandjoyoussprung.9917]

@@OscarSanchez-vo9dx To a degree, at least. There's a Simpsons episode where it's actually a problem with that boxer that Homer fights where he's too good at boxing, so all of his fights amount to "he beats the boxer in a single round," which is boring for everyone involved.

[@dontmisunderstand6041]

If your TCG requires every deck to run a specific set of cards, it's a poorly designed game. Negation effects are too powerful, and ruin game balance. There's a reason every negation effect came with steep costs before, and that IS the reason. To prevent them from taking over the game. Which, at this point you've already admitted that they've fully taken over.

[@Slither.Wing.]

@@dontmisunderstand6041 it’s called rewards for good deckbuilding, the best deck of the format Ishizu Tear’s don’t even run any handtraps, but feel free to clown yourself further

[@there736]

@@Slither.Wing. the only clown is you and the three people that like your response. Don't Misunderstand didn't say anything about handtraps, he said the whole negation effect that some many cards now have. Deck building in yugioh is a joke all you have to do is follow meta, very little effort required.

[@xboxgamer474246]

As a magic player and fellow act man disliker I love this video. It’s honestly super refreshing to hear someone say YuGiOh didn’t develop a modern identity until 2008

[@vixune]

"Cards these days have too much text." - How to say you've never read Thousand-Eyes Restrict. They literally had to shrink the font to near unreadable levels to put all its text on it. Something that even Endymion or Nirvana haven't had the honour of.

[@drwho9319]

Difference is majority of players didn’t play thousand eye restrict. It wasn’t common to have a card with a lot of text on it compared to today. Players didn’t like that to begin with

[@raptors11111]

Cool, you have 1 example. 1. Lol. Today every single card is as many words as Thousand eyes restrict

[@kichiroumitsurugi4363]

@@drwho9319 lol. TER is basically THE Metamorphosis target at the time, and was a staple in Goat

[@drwho9319]

@@kichiroumitsurugi4363 how can it be a staple if majority of duelist weren’t running thousand eye restrict. I say that’s a stretch to call it a staple at the time. Cards barely had text, it was better game

[@kichiroumitsurugi4363]

@@drwho9319 That's because the meta wasn't as well documented before Goat, and by then, TER was always ran if you had Metamorphosis since it let you turn a goat token into TER and suck up a monster

[@qlxmaosldk3576]

"Yugioh No Serious" is very possibly the dumbest argument ever hit this game. There is no other game that you can group a team of a folktale princess with hairy paws AND bigass giant all-devastating creatures, or crayon-drawn fluffy baby wildlifes AND a battalion of renegade beasts which led by a half-machine man-crow with bigass barrels. please correct my writing i'm learning english

[@animedegenerate1437]

Wildlife is naturally plural so you don’t need to add the s on the end. Otherwise everything else is grammatically correct (yugioh no serious isn’t but it’s in quotes).

[@MVAS-mp9oo]

The only correction is that Shuraig is a man-shrike.

[@oussama6701]

I had the same problem when I returned to yu-gi-oh via Master Duel, but it doesn't take you too long to learn about new rules, you just gotta be open-minded about it

[@VNeto94]

No way to be open minded by modern day solitaire.

[@Eyeshield11721]

@@VNeto94 *Looks at Tear* Yeah, you have no idea how good you have it rn before they show up in MD

[@The_Big_Jay]

​@@VNeto94 Modern day solitaire? You mean literally none of the good decks?

[@VNeto94]

@@The_Big_Jay I mean any deck that can easily access all your overpowered cards and dominate the board in just a couple of turns.

[@The_Big_Jay]

@@VNeto94 Overpowered? Lol. Lmao even.

[@colby2628]

I'm glad critikal called out act man for the art hate too, it was such a dumb thing to cherry pick

[@Riwul]

Sometimes I kinda forget that Joseph isn't just this silly little goofball that makes fun of everyone but a genuine well educated person that can hold dzeeff level discussions. Its really refreshing to hear these from time to time and that you're defending our hobby. Great vid

[@ToxicAtom]

mans straight up went to law school, dude's just hiding his power level

[@DatAsuna]

The wildest take in the original video for me was that he hates archetypes because they simplify the game. But also hates that the game is too complicated and has too many cards. I dropped yu-gi-oh around the same time he did, and got back in just a year or two before his video with legacy of the duelist (which he shows in his video a lot) because it catered to anime nostalgia for people like me who want a bit roster of AI opponents using anime decks. I was able to grasp the new mechanics just by playing the rather good included tutorial in an afternoon, and archetypes made it easy to me to learn in bitesize chunks while also appealing to the "holy shit buster blader is a whole deck now?" factor while also enabling powerful if limited legacy support so my old but bad pet decks like charmers could enjoy some powerful support cards that would never be printed to work generically. So as a yugiboomer, he's still wrong, just learn to read and don't expect half remembering a tv show from 15 years ago to teach you everything.

[@TheWizardMus]

Wait he said that in the original? The Archetype system is the literal best thing about yugioh to me. I've tried getting into magic but the way it just treats all cards as a big clump turned me away. There's something so nice about being able to say I'm playing Ghostricks and my opponent being able to pick a different deck of around the same power level. Or get a free win.

[@verymelonman12]

Yeah this was a damn good rebuttal. I don't have an issue with TheActMan's opinion but it's very uniformed about the game as a whole, so seeing someone refute his points with nuance and brevity is very welcome.

[@theharvardyard2356]

"this can just be simplified to [thing that still goes way over my head]" You did this like four times in a row. I think we have different concepts of "simple."

[@HoseB932]

It’s really not that hard. But being serious about the rules and trying to be cool with them is part of the game. When he says “Open game state.” It just means in the down time when nothing happens, so whoever’s turn it is, gets to start by using a card. From someone who hated and failed numerous reading assignments, Yugioh rules are like, easy in practice over in theory.

[@theharvardyard2356]

@@HoseB932 I always did great on reading assignments, in fact now I teach them, but I have trouble with directions on tabletop games