Yu-Gi-Oh as a trading card game follows many different formats depending on how or where you play it. Yu-Gi-Oh: Master Duel is no exception to this rule. With a first-to-one format, strong decks in the TCG (Trading Card Game) and OCG (Official Card Game) are different from Konami’s popular adaptation of the game. Though Master Duel boasts over 10,000 cards, some are stronger than the others by a large margin. Below are suggested decks composed of cards that shape the Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel meta.
Which deck should you use?
Yu-Gi-Oh: Master Duel has a lot of decks that stand above the rest. For instance, the Kashtira archetype can set up a board that forces every card sent to the graveyard. The meta of the Master Duel changes with each new archetype release and ban list. As of Season 30, the best deck to play is any deck that incorporates Snake-Eyes. Snake-Eyes decks give users the ability to avoid targeting negates while subverting hand traps.
Given that Konami changes the game often, crafting these decks is up to those who want to invest time and resources for a deck that is competitive. Here are a few we suggest:
Labrynth
The Labrynth archetype is a Yu-Gi-Oh: Master Duel trap deck based around controlling the field. Labrynth cards can destroy monsters, spell cards, and trap cards before the opponent gets the chance to use them. As it is a trap-based deck, more than half of the deck list consists of normal trap cards that need to be set before activated. Fortunately, the Labrynth deck has monsters whose abilities can set them directly from the deck to the field during the opponents turn. Labrynth Cooclock is a monster card that lets the user activate the set card the turn it was set.
Branded Despia
Branded Despia is a deck that thrives in the best of one format Yu-Gi-Oh: Master Duel offers. This deck heavily relies on Fusion Monsters. Summon powerful dragon and fiend type monsters with effects that allow users to fusion summon other Branded Despia to the field. This resilient deck allows players to play through decks with cards that banish cards.
Purrely
Purrely decks depend on quick-play spell cards in conjunction with XYZ Summoning to defeat opponents in duels. Use spell cards from the graveyard to XYZ Summon Expurrley Noir. When layered with five cards, Expurrley Noir, is not affected by opponents activated effects. It also gains attack points depending on how many cards are attached to it.
What makes this deck strong in Yu-Gi-Oh: Master Duel is the ability to draw cards. If the quick-play spell, Purrely Sleepy Memory, is attached to a Purrely monster, the player can draw one card during the Stand-By Phase. When three Purrely Sleepy Memory spells are layered, the player can draw three cards. Drawing is a powerful tool in Yu-Gi-Oh. Any deck or card that allows players draw while defending themselves will always be viable to an extent.
Snake-Eyes
Snake-Eyes is arguably the best archetype in Yu-Gi-Oh: Master Duel at this moment. This deck gives the user the ability to special summon low level monsters for Link Summoning with relative ease. In a game like Yu-Gi-Oh, hand traps and negates are used to disrupt an opponent’s turn. The Snake-Eyes deck allows you to play through these interruptions to end in a field with your own disruptions. Because this deck is a malleable archetype, users can pair it with other archetypes to make those cards formidable.
Snake-Eyes Fire King
Fire King catapults to the best deck in Yu-Gi-Oh: Master Duel due to enhancements from the Snake-Eyes engine. Snake-Eyes Fire King focuses on destroying fire attribute monsters to destroy cards the opponent controls. Due to the archetype’s playstyle, players can avoid hand traps targeting monsters on the field. Snake-Eyes Fire King can destroy or send the player’s cards to the graveyard to summon stronger monsters to the field.
Promethean Princess, Bestower of Flames is a prominent link monster that can destroy a monster the opponent controls as well as the user when a monster is special summoned to the opponent’s field. This card can stop an opponent’s play while starting a combo for the user. These positives make the Snake-Eyes Fire King deck the best one in Yu-Gi-Oh: Master Duel.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel is available on Android devices, iOS devices, the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC for free.
