YuGiOh Master Duel new update frustrates players with lack of meaningful changes
Without updates to the ban list, and a battlepass that is sticking around too long for some, a portion of the community isn't happy.
It’s a new season for YuGiOh: Master Duel, the popular online card game that released earlier this year to ruptious success. With any new season in a live service game, there’s an opportunity to address some of the communities’ largest gripes and package fixes alongside a new battlepass. However, it seems many of the biggest issues remain present in Master Duel. The Elephant in the room refuses to leave.
These issues come as a pair. On one hand, an unchanging banlist that allows some of the game’s most dominating decks to remain on top, and as a result keeps the high echelons of the ranked ladder a tad stale. The other side of the coin is the battle pass itself, which is in the eyes of many too darn long with many players maxing it out long before a new one is added.
Let's tackle the first issue first. Ever since the game was released, decks like Eldlich and Dryton have been oppressive and hard to overcome, unless you intentionally construct decks aimed at overcoming them. Add to this a selection of powerful hand traps (cards that can be used to powerful effect without having to be placed on the board), and you can see how playing the game can be quite repetitive.
The second concern is a little murkier. It’s true that you can easily power through the ranks if you play numerous games a day, but those who only check for a game or two a day of course find it more time consuming to reach max rank. It’s likely that the frustration around the battle pass is obscuring the actual problem - a lack of in-game progression aside from a bare bones ranked mode and the aforementioned battle pass.
In this writer’s opinion, it’s easy to feel a bit bogged down by the game if you’re setting aside an hour or two to it per day. With the exception of the festival events, like the brilliant N / R festival which was a much-needed break from the usual meta, there’s little to encourage players to mix up their deck. It’s like, sure I could bust out a new weird deck, but why endure a gauntlet of uber optimising players with exceptional meta decks for no reason.
If you feel the same way, or take an opposing view on the issue, let us know below! If you’re looking for more YuGiOh content, check out our Synchro Summons guide!