I’ve found new joy in my old hobby of Yugioh. The Master Duel video game has made it easy to get opponents easily, although with the cross platform features it isn’t easy to make friends or at least have rematches. I’m far behind on understanding all the cards so play my own way, I’m disappointed at the lack of creativity from other players but am impressed with the variety of deck types out there. I’ve slowly started building up my own deck and am taking on ranked duels a few at a time.

Sometimes I recognise a card type, this is largely because I watch the TV series, however there are quite a few things that are new to me. I know that I’m unlikely to win many matches as my deck isn’t designed for easy wins but I’ve made the deck to allow me to see different strategies as they play and how they combat certain situations.

I played against a Cyber Dragon deck, a Blue Eyes deck, something that I think was a Utopia deck but it didn’t do much, and a Blackwing deck which can be really good. Where lack of knowledge and investment leave me at a disadvantage I’ve only seen a few cards that create an unfair advantage for my opponents.

Take the Blue-Eyes Chaos Max Dragon as an example, Blue Eyes decks have a spell that can wipe out all opponents monsters which is made fair by the fact that the Dragon can’t attack that turn. What do you do? Use the spell before ritual summoning the Chaos Max Dragon which can’t be easily destroyed or defended against. If this monster comes out against you there’s a strong chance that you’ve lost.

The fun factor in Yugioh is playing around to test out how you could win. I beat Cyber Dragons by letting them attack. I beat the Utopia deck by my opponent not getting the right cards. I enjoyed seeing the unbeatable Blue-Eyes because now I have the challenge of trying to beat it. Although winning is nice, true satisfaction is coming from puzzling things out.

I’ve named my deck ‘Something Interesting’ which I hope my opponents will appreciate because it’s all about facing strong opponents. I like it when duels last a good few turns and give me something to learn.

Master Duel is definitely growing on me because I’m finally getting to experience more than just preset computer opponents, there’s some unpredictability about it and my love of the game is reforming without me spending money or being socially uncomfortable. I’m not a fan of the menus and how cards are acquired but the actual gameplay is fantastic.