I've been getting back into playing a bit by doing Tag Duels and opening 5 lots of old packs, starting at Magic Ruler instead of Legend of Blue Eyes because we'd already done that gap before, and crafting our decks as we go along. Still subject to the whims of RNG but at least it's on more even footing and lower power creep so more opportunity to bounce back if you're in a rough spot. Theoretically at least. I'm on my phone right now but I could show the deck list later, plus fish out some of the physical cards I have. Tempted to start going to a locals which does sealed draft too, only found out about it recently.
#4th rate duelists zone (Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG/Master Duel/Unlimited)
unique atlas
A patchwork Burn deck, using cards from Magic Rulers through to Dark Crisis. I could definitely do with trimming a little bit, but it's gotten me some wins so far.
unique atlas
So because it's just a casual thing and done opening packs as opposed to putting together stuff with all the options open, we decided to just go without a banlist, but still sticking to standard rules like no more than 3 copies and a minimum of 40 cards. I just checked the banlist for GOAT and lmao, I can definitely see why these choices would be made. Burning Lands in the bottom left there has definitely won me a game gradually, especially cause early on there's not much in the way of removing back row if you're unlucky enough to not pull a Mystical Space Typhoon or like A Wingbeat of Giant Dragon if you're running Dragons. But yeah, it's a solid burn deck with some stall and field removal since the monsters themselves aren't that strong stats-wise. I did pull some that were pretty wild for the time though, Gemini Elf with 1900 ATK, Des Koala with 1800 DEF which could be brought to 2300 with Chorus of Sanctuary in play. But if they're able to get out some 5+ stars, I don't really have a big monster to just overpower it. I'd have to rely on bouncing with Hane-Hane or getting off Cyber Jar or something. On the bottom left, second from the end, The Dark Door can help buy me some time by making it that only one monster can attack per turn. Either minimises the amount of direct damage I take, or if I'm lucky even makes it so I can just mitigate that hit each time by playing some sacrifice in defence mode haha.
Tag Duels can be pretty fun, sometimes you can end up getting screwed over if you're on very dissimilar brain waves but honestly so long as you're not actively countering each other's decks then there's plenty of potential for cool plays. Sometimes you make up for a solid weakness in your teammate's deck, sometimes you play some cards you normally wouldn't because it'd enable a good combo (For example, a teammate putting up Gravity Bind with my burn deck when normally they'd not run it because they don't really have much to actually use once that's down.), sometimes it's just quite a nice synergy (It's a fair bit in the future from where I am at the moment, but something like Lightsworns pairing up with a Zombie deck to capitalise on all that milling could be good). Plus with two people on each side, the chances of getting a completely bricked opening hand or resorting solely to top-decking decreases a fair bit which is nice. Even if your hand ends up being a bit lacking, or needing more setup than it can buy itself, you've got a teammate who might be in a better spot.
