How to build decks for Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel? (2024)

Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel is without a shred of doubt, one of the most popular competitive collectible card games out there. The latest and most successful franchise of Konami's popular Yu-Gi-Oh! series has developed a dedicated fanbase and soared in popularity in the digital card game space. This time around, Master Duel offers a solid PvP network that allows you to participate in competitive matches all around the world.

With more than 10,000 cards and a variety of deck builds to choose from, beginners have an exceedingly tough time selecting the right deck. You can't blame them either, the sheer amount of Monster/Trap/Spell cards you encounter in the game along with their summoning methods and various archetypes, are daunting enough to confuse even the seasoned player.

Chances are, if you're looking to break into the game, you might as well be wondering how can you get started on Building your Deck in Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel. For this very reason, we've decided to compile this detailed Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel Deck Building Guide. We'll be covering each and every aspect thoroughly and guide you through the basics of deck building. Moreover, we'll also be detailing all the resources you need to acquire a basic deck of your choice.

How to Acquire Gems?

Being the primary currency in Master Duel, you will be needing gems for almost any type of transaction in-game. Whether you aim to buy new cards, structure decks, bundles, or are just looking to add aesthetic value to your duel screen, you're going to have to set aside some Gems.

Now, there are quite a few ways to get your hands on those precious Gems. These include

• As a beginner, the game will bestow upon you some gems as an initiation gift, but these are limited and you'll have to use them very carefully. Don't expect gifts like these often though, the game offers progressively lesser gems as you get ahead.
• One of the best ways to acquire more gems is to start out with the game's solo mode. The solo mode consists of sub-campaigns called gates. Once you've cleared all the chapters in a gate, you'll be rewarded with gems.
• The game also contains certain 'limited-time' missions alongside other permanent ones. These are more like tasks that can be performed on a day-to-day basis. Upon completion of said tasks, you get some Gems as a reward.
• Buying a Duel Pass will also grant you Gems and other bonuses from time to time, and if you can upgrade it to gold as soon as possible.
• Lastly, Gems can also be bought using real money through the game's in-app purchases. This does have an element of pay-to-win within it, but it can be beneficial to you if you're looking to go competitive.

As already mentioned, gems are important for a variety of purposes. But for now, we'll limit their usage to creating and expanding your deck.

How Can You Acquire Cards?

In order to build your absolute best deck, you first need to know the processes that go into acquiring cards. You'll also grasp the importance of gems in this regard. In Master Duels, your buying power matters a lot. But the thing that is of even more significance, is your ability to distinguish between different resources and what they'll get you.

Shop

The shop is an extremely important resource when it comes to getting cards. Various types of bundles and deals are available that can aid you greatly in developing your deck.

The available items in the shop include:

• Card Packs: These allow you to purchase cards via the shop. Generally, regular packs will contain eight cards and are sold for 100 gems. In addition to these, you will also encounter secret packs and bonus packs, which prove to be extremely useful. The Secret Packs, especially, are an important resource and will be your prime focus while griding for cards, more on this later.
• Structure Desk: These are pre-made decks of a specific archetype. The decks are fully playable and you can start out with them just after you buy them.
• In addition to these, various other limited-time bundles are sometimes also available, which offer a plethora of bonuses and other related benefits. So, you need to regularly keep in check with the shop.

Card Crafting

Another great method to pull new cards, you need to learn the ebb and flow of the card crafting system. Especially if you're looking for a specific card, this method really comes in handy.

The cards in Master Duel are of four types; normal(N), rare(R), super-rare(SR), or Ultra-rare(UR), all of these can be crafted. If you want to obtain secret packs, then crafting is the way to go. SR and UR cards are required to unlock secret packs, which provide cards of a specific archetype.

Secret packs are absolutely critical when you are collecting cards as they can turn up relatively good entries. After unlocking a secret pack, you'll have to buy it with gems.

In addition to all of this, you can also dismantle cards that you don't need anymore, in return you'll get crafting points(CP) of the same rarity as the card. These CPs can later be used to craft cards of the same rarity. In this way, you can create almost any card that you wish to possess.

In order to craft a card, you'll have to edit your existing deck. Move towards your deck using the deck menu and craft any card you want via the edit deck option. Generate your required card and use it against your opponents at will.

As mentioned earlier, generating new cards takes up CP, so you're better off dismantling any unused cards in your possession.

Solo Mode

The game's all-encompassing solo mode helps us out yet again. You will be able to earn cards from a variety of archetypes when you successfully complete the solo mode campaigns or gates.

Duel Pass

Once again, we would like to focus on the extreme utility of the Duel Pass. While you get no cards or bundles that provide cards from the Duel Pass directly, it is a major resource for Gems. As you should be aware by now, gems are required to obtain most of the resources we've mentioned, so it would not be wise to miss out on the Duel Pass.

Especially since you will be getting one for free upon starting the game. The normal Duel Pass can then be upgraded to Gold to receive even more benefits and bonuses.

These are about all the resources you'll have at your disposal to source your cards. Now, one can wonder: All right! I have my cards, but how do I know the optimal deck build for myself? Well, we answer it all here.

What is a Balanced Deck?

The card limit to a deck in Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel is around 60. But, as a beginner, you should limit your deck to about 40 cards. This is essentially known as a 'Balanced Deck', with 20 monster cards, 10 Spells, and 10 Trap cards.

Dividing your cards in a ratio like this would make the achievement of win conditions more probable. Win conditions imply cards or settings that are more likely to get you to win the match. A greater number of cards in your deck would make it difficult to get to those specific cards that might trigger a win condition. Therefore, it is a good approach to balance your deck beforehand.

Choosing a Deck-Build

With a lot of information to digest, choosing the right deck build for you might not be the easiest of tasks. Nonetheless, the time and effort invested in this domain will never go in vain. The important things you need to consider include keeping the ban list in view when you are making your deck, while also avoiding very specific win conditions that might not come out as you would expect.

Moreover, focusing on the theme is important but it's not the end-all. Don't keep on adding worthless just because they satisfy the theme, rather carefully consider the ones that are the most strategically important.

In order to build a properly balanced deck with all the abilities you want, you will have to put in some time and invest certain resources. So, that you might be able to experiment with different builds before reaching the one that's best for you.

Building from Existing Decks

We understand that sometimes all the information related to deck-building can get a bit overwhelming, especially for players just starting out. Therefore, another recommended path for those who just don't want to put the mind and effort to build a specialized deck is taking up pre-existing decks in the meta.

For this purpose, you can either use one of the many starter decks provided by the game in the beginning or you could research a bit more and look for inspirational decks in Master Duel's current meta.

Moreover, you can also experiment with a variety of archetypes using Master Duel's public deck list which consists of well-made working decks. You can either copy them or get some inspiration from them to edit out your own and create a working model.

In addition to basic cards, you might also want to add certain staples to your deck. These staple cards have a pre-defined purpose and are generally quite useful for the majority of decks. Cards like Ash Blossom and Joyous Spring go a long way in many duels.

Wrap-Up

So to wrap it all up, we would say that once you've chosen a starter deck at the beginning, start practicing in solo mode and learn the technicalities associated with Master Duel card-play. Earn loads of Gems and ultimately invest them to expand your arsenal, there are a number of ways by which you can do that, all of which we have mentioned.

Acquire some good cards and keep experimenting with them to come up with a decent deck build. But it doesn't stop here. If you really want to go competitive, you will need to constantly edit and tune your deck. After a few PvP matches, you should return to re-analyze what you've got and how you can make it better. This is where Dismantling and Crafting come in.

You remove any cards that are now obsolete and place them with newer, powerful ones. On the other side, incorporate the cards that have shown good potential into your win conditions. This will make it much easier to achieve them.

New cards are constantly added to the Master Duel meta, and it is upon you to keep your beloved deck builds up to date with modern standards. We wish you the best of luck in your Yu-Gi-Oh Deck Building journey!