if red-eyes black dragon with his "pohtenshul" were a video game, i think master duel would be it. the presentation and general play features of this game are shaping up to be awesome, with some of the most streamlined deckbuilding i've ever seen in a yugioh sim (though i wish there were some better filter options). the actual game in motion looks and feels great (besides how slow/sluggish the animations are), but there's just a lot that master duel is missing at the moment. i'm sure i'm not the first nor the last to bring this up, but bo3, alternative banlists/real banlists, retro formats, better monetization, and more accessories/aesthetic options are all missing. more expanded duel room features are missing. new cards are missing. lots of stuff is missing, giving the impression that master duel is more in an open beta stage than up to a full release. i'm fine with that, but i hope it doesn't last long.
what i think is most damning here is the monetization for sure. while it isn't as gross as duel links because of the godsend of a crafting system, things like rarity and gem acquisition are handled in a way i can only describe as pure konamium. my ogdoadic lair deck - a deck weaker than mid rogue, mind you - has taken me upwards of 14 ultra rares to make. meanwhile, my thunder dragon deck is practically budget in comparison with around 5-7. the game gives enough gems to make 2-4 decks depending on how lucky you are, but once you reach that point you're completely fucked unless you're willing to grind out missions for the rest of your life for almost no reward. konami, for the sake of this game's health, should NOT have made it so nearly every archetype or deck type in the game requires at least a few ultras. that should not have even been on the table. are they seriously going to tell me that it was a fair and balanced decision to make sure a fucking venom deck is going to cost at least like 6 ultras to make? don't even get me started on hero, either. i feel for all the people who would want to experiment with them but can't because of how ridiculous the rarity is.
but hey, i still gave this game a middling to positive score. it isn't all doom and gloom. with the decks i have gotten to make, i've had the chance to connect with and play with friends and relatives who i wouldn't dream would be playing yugioh with me up until now. it's opened so very many doors that i hope stay open - it's just up to konami to finally shape up and make a sincere and honest effort at a good game after nearly a decade of going down the drain. i won't stop playing this game any time soon, but it needs to be improved a lot before it really shines.
6/19/22 update: i'm finally quitting this game, at least when it comes to playing it with any sort of actual consistency. the most recent festival and general lack of improvement tell me the developers and/or the higher-ups at konami do not give enough of a shit about this game to want to make it actually good, and that saddens me. what we do have is still a solid skeleton for a game, but it's something with nothing in it and even as a simulator it's far too slow and cumbersome and gacha-y to work all that well. while its presentation is still awesome and it's the best yugioh has ever looked, it's missing so much of what would make it good that it's simply... mid. it continues the trend of (ocg/tcg-based) yugioh games never breaking that ceiling, and this point i wonder if that ceiling will be there forever.
what i think is most damning here is the monetization for sure. while it isn't as gross as duel links because of the godsend of a crafting system, things like rarity and gem acquisition are handled in a way i can only describe as pure konamium. my ogdoadic lair deck - a deck weaker than mid rogue, mind you - has taken me upwards of 14 ultra rares to make. meanwhile, my thunder dragon deck is practically budget in comparison with around 5-7. the game gives enough gems to make 2-4 decks depending on how lucky you are, but once you reach that point you're completely fucked unless you're willing to grind out missions for the rest of your life for almost no reward. konami, for the sake of this game's health, should NOT have made it so nearly every archetype or deck type in the game requires at least a few ultras. that should not have even been on the table. are they seriously going to tell me that it was a fair and balanced decision to make sure a fucking venom deck is going to cost at least like 6 ultras to make? don't even get me started on hero, either. i feel for all the people who would want to experiment with them but can't because of how ridiculous the rarity is.
but hey, i still gave this game a middling to positive score. it isn't all doom and gloom. with the decks i have gotten to make, i've had the chance to connect with and play with friends and relatives who i wouldn't dream would be playing yugioh with me up until now. it's opened so very many doors that i hope stay open - it's just up to konami to finally shape up and make a sincere and honest effort at a good game after nearly a decade of going down the drain. i won't stop playing this game any time soon, but it needs to be improved a lot before it really shines.
6/19/22 update: i'm finally quitting this game, at least when it comes to playing it with any sort of actual consistency. the most recent festival and general lack of improvement tell me the developers and/or the higher-ups at konami do not give enough of a shit about this game to want to make it actually good, and that saddens me. what we do have is still a solid skeleton for a game, but it's something with nothing in it and even as a simulator it's far too slow and cumbersome and gacha-y to work all that well. while its presentation is still awesome and it's the best yugioh has ever looked, it's missing so much of what would make it good that it's simply... mid. it continues the trend of (ocg/tcg-based) yugioh games never breaking that ceiling, and this point i wonder if that ceiling will be there forever.