A guide to deck building

This is a continuation to Sabb's guide to competitive play, which I highly recommend beginners to have a read. Well, I'm not going to go all formal like Sabb since most of you know me but for those who don't I'll just give some basic introduction. I first started playing Yu-Gi-Oh seriously when YGO1 came out when I was in grade 4, after a few years I took a break from the game until YGO3 (or end of YGO2) came out. After the news of YGO3 closing I decided to start playing in real life and I have since participated in regionals and one national with my Malefics. I'm taking a break now after I found Ygopro since I just don't have the time to drive hours just to attend locals.

This guide is focused on deck building: meta and fun decks alike. I think beginners to the game can benefit from advice given on this and hopefully even the experienced members can take something out of this.

Consistency

We can all agree Yu-Gi-Oh is a game of chance, it may look good on anime to see Yugi turn the duel around dramatically with 1 card but let's face it; we're not all Yugi Moto. It is all statistics (god save my soul for bringing this into games), and I will present you with some numbers I think you'll find interesting that I found from an old TCG article (assuming 40 card decks).

39% - The Chance of Opening with at least 1 copy of a card you run 3 of
58% - The Chance of Opening with at least 1 of 5 target cards
49% - The Chance of Opening with at least 1 of 4 target cards
15% - The Chance of Opening with 1 exact card

As you can see, rather that 15% of getting one card it is more consistent to rely on the 39% of drawing one of your three cards. This is why rather than running 1 copy of different cards you like, it's better to focus on 3 copies of 1 card. This exact same principle applies to the 40 card deck rule: the chances of drawing the cards you need are higher, and in this game that is a crucial factor. Unfortunately, despite how important strategy is in the game, it is useless if we can't draw the pieces we need for it. Consistency can be defined of as the flow of the deck; regardless of the situation if the deck flows well then it is consistent.

Ratio

The ratio between your cards is also important. As a general rule I rarely put in more than 20 monsters in a deck (unless there is milling involved). The ratio between Monster/Spell/Trap differs between each person and deck but in general it is 18/12/10. Like I said this isn't a set formula or rule and everyone's ratio is different, however, it is important to keep balance between your cards. You don't want to draw a hand of all monsters with no spell/traps or vice versa, it's all about balance.

Synergy

Another huge aspect of deck building is Synergy; when I look at Yugi's deck I just cringe, it's a mix of random cards. Again, we are not Yugi Moto; we are not blessed by the gods. Generally, using cards from archetype is a safe way to build decks; Lightsworn/Blackwing etc. If you want to be more creative then when deck building, keep in mind what exactly your deck is trying to achieve. What is the win formula? Will this card work well with the others? These are questions you should always ask yourself.

What many people actually ignore is your play style; whether it be stall, aggro, control. Each deck has its own play style and the cards should support that. Fro example, decks that run aggressively such as Chaos Dragons should not have stall cards in the deck. Make sure your cards support each other and its play style.

Utility *A special thank you to Darkness Son for bringing this up I totally forgot about it*

When we talk about Utility of a card it refers to how useful that card is. A card with high utility is one that can be played to achieve something worthwhile at many different points in the game; a horrible card in the Early game may become a game breaker in Mid game. Synergy and Utility are two sides of the same coin and to make a successful deck, both must be achieved.

High Level Monsters

Yes... we all want to pop out that Blue Eyes or Dark Magician but in today's game tribute summons have gone down the drain (except Monarchs). Requiring two tributes on the field isn't a easy feat when the average time for a monster to stay on the field is 2 turns. It is highly likely you'll have them in your hand the whole game dead; avoid this situation. In the unlikely event you do manage to normal summon a high level monster, don't be surprised to see it destroyed before you can actually use it. I will stay away from high level monsters if you cannot special summon it as a general consistency rule.

Normal Monsters

Unless you are going for a normal monster deck (for whatever reason), don't run any normal monsters. At the moment the only justification for running normal monsters in your decks are for Rescue Rabbit decks or Heros to some extent.

Dead Draws

If we only got a dollar for every time we hear the phrase "I had a bad draw'; it happens to everyone of course but we shouldn't have many potentially dead cards in the deck for that very reason. Dead draws can refer to many things but I view dead draws to be High Lvl monsters we can't summon and Spells/Traps that require another card to activate. As an example I will use Trade-In, we need to discard one Level 8 monster from our hand to activate this card. For these types of cards I recommend running at least double the number of targets; so at least 6 lvl 8 monsters if you are running 3 Trade-In. So stay away from cards that have a high potential to be dead, the card effects may be tempting but sometimes the risk just isn't worth it.

Engine

Every successful deck has its engine, whether it be tool boxing or drawing. The engine is what speeds up your deck, it may not be the win condition but they help to give you the advantage over the duel. There are five main aspects to a deck engine; Consistency, Synergy, Advantage, Versatility and finally Power.

Like it was mentioned before, Yu-Gi-Oh is a game that relies on luck. If we can draw the right card at the right time we have a good chance of winning while a bad hand may leave us helpless, despite how good your strategy may be. The ability to turn any card into a strong offense/defense is crucial in this game and having the cards for the deck engine means you don't have to worry about bad draws destroying your strategy.

Beginning players often mistake the best cards make the best decks. Truth is, in order to win cards that may not be the best but it is crucial for the engine to run correctly. Let's assume that we are thinking of the Mystic Tomato/Armageddon Knight engine to dump Dark monsters into the grave. While beginners may put in Gorz and Dark Armed Dragon instead of the weaker Mystic Tomato or Armageddon Knight, the more experienced players will know that even though those two cards are important, it should never take priority over them. This brings me to my next point of Power.

We can have the best engine in the deck but without our powerful cards we cannot win. By this of course I'm referring to our staples (Solemn Brigade, Dark Hole, Monster Reborn etc) and any so-called 'broken' cards (BLS, JD etc).

Advantage is hugely important in an engine. Having powerful, synergistic cards means nothing if you don't draw them. Drawing gives you more options, and special summoning lets you swarm and gain field advantage. Advantage lets you run you engine better by searching, summoning, and drawing, and is essential to all decks. Another important aspect is Versatility, of course, not every deck can guarantee this which is why we use tech cards to support it.

Staple vs Tech

This is the main issue I find with badly built decks: Why are you running so many techs but no staples? Staples are cards that are run in nearly every deck and is easily splash-able (Dark Hole, Monster Reborn etc). Techs are those that are commonly used but cannot be thrown into any deck. This is one thing I will not budge on, when making a deck, add all of the staples you feel necessary, and then should you have any space left over add your tech cards.

Creativity

Creativity is fine, in fact I value it among the top aspects when I look at decks. Just don't over do it; running too many random tech cards over staples will kill the deck's consistency (Yes I understand the feeling of wanting to be different) but staples are staples for a reason. You got a new idea? Great! Awesome! Just make sure you build the deck so that creativity can shine rather than become one of the 'had-potential' decks.

Net-Decking

I have mixed feelings regarding net-decking. It's a necessary part of learning and I actually recommend it, nobody knows all the decks from the start and when I see a new archetype I'm not familiar of I look at how others have attempted to use it. There is the saying 'Imitation of the mother of Creation', net-decking for ideas is fine but make sure you add your own style and actually give it your colors. Fact is even if you have the deck-list of the world's best deck, unless you actually study it you will never be able to use it as well as a deck you just made from scratch in 1 minute.

Testing

Final thing I have to say when it comes to deck building is, give it a chance. Actually test the deck before you decide you dislike it; ask other people for their opinions, there is no harm from listening to others. If they know what they are talking about then you get new ideas, if they don't... well you still re-consider your deck and maybe even gain self-confidence.

I think that's the main aspects of deck building; its one of the best parts of Yu-Gi-Oh, be creative and imaginary but always remember consistency is first. Good luck and have fun!

Awesome guide! Thanks!

This guide would become much better if you could provide more specific examples for each section. I would merge Ratio with Dead Draws and Synergy with Utility and add a section on Playstyles like below:

Playstyles:

The ratio of the deck all depends on the playstyle of the deck. The main styles in the game can be generalized under twocategories: Aggro and Tempo. The pace of the game no longer allows for true Combo and Control decks to exist.

Aggro decks are arguably the simplest deck around as they focus on winning the game through grinding down the opponent's Life Points to zero. As such, the ratio of Monsters to support will be much more skewed towards the Monster side. In addition to cards that can generate inherent card advantage, Aggro runs a good amount of Monsters that can overwhelm the opponent's Monsters +1 through battle. The only support cards used are generally to help speed up the deck and destroy any defense the opponent could have setup with few to no cards for to set up a reactive play to a shift in the game state or general defense, most generally associated with Trap cards. A prime example would be Merlanteans, Agents, and Chaos Dragons. Merlanteans can easily sweep away an opponent's field presence through their 1-for-1 destruction cards which activate when sent to the graveyard by a Water Monster's effect, usually generating surplus advantage as the Water Monsters are inherent 1-for-1s. Agents can summon a high proportion of Boss monsters whether it is through the Chaos build relying on the Tour Guide Engine, the Gorz/Tragoedia trio, and Chaos/Dark Monsters such as Sorcerer, BLS, and DAD or the Trooper build which can bring back milled bosses such as Hyperion or Kristya with CotH. Chaos Dragons can easily swarm the field with strong Chaos Monsters and an assortment of Dragons. It was the most explosive Aggro deck last format.

Tempo is slightly harder to classify as it is essentially a conglomeration of the main elements of softer Aggro and Control. It runs decently capable beaters that are usually normal summonable that can become 1-for-1 tradeoffs or have some other form of utility alongside a plethora of support cards that can act as efficient removal or generate surplus advantage. Card advantage or Superior Field Presence/Position is sought after through favorable exchanges, simple combos, and efficient beaters. Heroes and Stun decks are good examples. Heroes can easily generate surplus advantage with the versatility of their main star, Neos Alius combo'd with Spark and Hero Blast or TKRO for grinding out games. They can also be more explosive when needed with the capability to create Xyzs through Bubbleman and Photon Thrasher or Fusion bosses through Super Polymerization and Miracle Fusion. Stun decks will often run the more control-oriented builds that have efficient monsters that can grind out the game alongside support. Examples include T.G. Stun with an essentially never-ending monster lineup, Chaos Stun which has TKRO and Doomcali alongside personal techs and Chaos Bosses, and Rock Stun which runs beaters with a solid 1900 ATK and 1-for-1 effects. The new Fire Fist archetype is also a prime example of a highly efficient tempo deck.

Most of the decks in the current meta fall in the second category, but all meta decks have a good level of efficient removal and the ability to explode or dominate the gamestate with a strong field presence.

This is a great guide, I love the ratio section

I had some dosile guy tell me my deck needed fixing because I didn't run 20/10/10... Now Prophecy, are not the type to run that style, overrun by spells actually

- 19/18/3 In my Dark Prophecy
- 17/20/3 In my Light Prophecy

I totally agree that it depends on the deck and I'd urge those who don't realize that to take a look at this guide

UGH... that hit me quite hard. i felt retarded when i look back and reminded my vision when i built a deck, it's quite random lol . thx.

Good guide.Thanks for taking your time to type all this to help everyone