Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel is a free-to-play video game developed and published by Konami in 2022 as a new title of the Yu-Gi-Oh! video game franchise. The player has to challenge and defeat other players using a card deck composed of monsters, traps, and spells. You can build lots of clever and game-changing combos, tons of cards are available, and you can now challenge all the players worldwide. Do you believe you can become the most talented player in the world?

What is Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel?

Yu-Gi-Oh! is a very popular Japanese manga created in 1996 by Kazuki Takahashi. Konami realized how vast and amazing the card game could be adapted into a video game and developed many popular Yu-Gi-Oh! video games. In Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel you will discover a brand new, refreshing, and epic experience from a game that has been evolving for over 20 years. Build your deck, hone your skills, and face your foes. It's game time!

Gameplay

Duels: Each duel makes you face your opponent, the players play with a deck they have previously chosen, and they start with a given amount of life points. The duel ends if one or both players' life points reaches zero (it can happen both of them reach zero, in that case, the game ends in a draw), or if certain cards conditions are met (such as having all five cards of Exodia the Forbidden One in hand or all five letters of the Destiny Board on the field). Alternatively, it also ends if a player no longer has any card available in its main deck, or if any of them forfeits. During each turn, each player will go through several phases to place his cards on the battlefield, automatically activate traps or spells, and attack the other player's monsters or life points.

A smooth learning curve: No matter if you are an experienced Yu-Gi-Oh player or a new one, the game has been designed to make the experience available for anyone at any level of skill. Indeed, thanks to the valuable tutorials and the solo mode composed of many challenges, you will quickly learn all the basics and compete against other experienced players.
Epic battles: Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel has a very long list of available cards that will create interesting combos and chains during the game. Also, another interesting feature is the ability to polymerize (or merge) several cards to summon a stronger one during the game, such as the famous three Blue-Eyes White Dragon that can become the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon. Many epic, thrilling, and unexpected situations will happen during the duels, and you will love to try all the possible combinations.

Immense deck-building potential: Build as many decks as you want from the dedicated menu, choose among all your cards and simply build your main deck and extra deck parts. Moreover, once you make your deck, you can simulate any situation using the "Sample Draw" feature. That way, you may have an interesting preview of your deck cards when you have to fight.
Over 10.000 cards: There are tons of cards you will be able to collect, including spells, traps, and monsters. Cards are categorized from normal (N) to rare (R), super rare (SR), and ultra rare (UR). Complete challenges and win duels to earn gems you will spend to buy various card packs in the Shop. You will also make cards and multiple rewards once you complete challenges.

Craft any card: Craft any cards you want in a straightforward way using different kinds of crafting points (CP) in the deck builder menu. Crafting points include normal (N CP), rare (R CP), super rare (SP CP), and ultra rare (UR CP). You will also be capable of dismantling any card to retrieve its crafting points and build new cards from old ones. Then, thanks to the easy-to-use card search engine, find the card you want and forge it. Super rare and ultra rare cards cost 30 CP each, which you will be able to earn from missions, Duel Pass, or dismantling.
Customize your duels: Thanks to all the available accessories, you will be able to customize your duel the way you want. For example, tune the duel field to fight in epic environments or select your cards protector to adjust the appearance and theme of your card backs during the duels. You can also choose your sidekick mate who will react differently during the matches and icons with hexagonal pictures placed beside the players' in-game and profile name.

Learn from other experienced players: Thanks to the card database you will be able to check the decklist from other duelists and analyze their strategy and card combinations. In addition, you can copy other players' decks and find them in your "My Deck" menu, review it if you don't have all the cards, or play it if you have all the needed cards. Pretty handy.
Events and tournaments: You will be able to experience events and tournaments in many different formats. You will have to choose the contest you want and strive for the number one spot.
Cross-platform: Play anytime, anywhere, on any platform. You will be able to seamlessly fight against all the other players on every supported platform, including PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox one Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, Android, and iOS. There will always be someone ready to challenge you.
Cross-play: Thanks to the Konami ID, you will be able to synchronize and save your progression across all the supported devices. We explain how it works in more detail in one of the following sections.
Amazing user interface: All the user interface has been designed and polished to offer a high-quality user experience no matter where you are. Even though many items and information can be displayed simultaneously, you will never get lost and enjoy the beautiful graphics.

Graphics and sound

Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel has stunning and marvelous high-definition graphics with many polished visuals and particle effects. The icing on the cake is the ultra-dynamic soundtrack and audio feedback that bring the card game experience to the next level.

Duration and game modes

Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel offers dozens of hours of fun and challenges with several game modes:

Solo mode

In the Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel solo mode, you will have to face many challenges and opponents controlled by the brand-new AI simulator. Playing the solo mode will make you complete a series of story-based challenges that will remind you of the Yu-Gi-Oh! original stories. In these duels, the game will give you loaner decks you will need to use to face and outsmart your opponents. Note that once you complete the challenge with the loaner deck, you will be able to use your own deck to earn greater rewards.

Up to 14 different chapters await you so far. Each of them is composed of several challenges that will make you learn a little bit more about the whole lore of the game and the chapter's archetype. Moreover, once you complete each chapter, you will have a chance to loot cards from the current chapter archetype.

We strongly recommend you to finish the whole story mode as it will make you earn lots of valuable rewards, such as gems, crafting points (CP), and cards. Last but not least, you will learn all the basics you need to start playing against other players.

Multiplayer mode

The Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel multiplayer mode focuses on honing your skills against other players worldwide. This mode includes matchmade battles where you will face another player and friend duels where you will be able to fight against one of your friends. Another cool feature is that you can spectate your friends' games and learn from them.

The multiplayer mode is the heart of the game where you can unleash your true power, face many different opponents, discover all the subtleties of the game mechanics, test your strategies, and have lots of fun.

What do the reviews say?

Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel is rated 79/100 on Metacritic.

"By its proposal, Duel Master clearly distinguishes itself from Duel Links, the other free-to-play in the universe of Yu-Gi-Oh!. By focusing solely on the playing card game, the title offers a complete experience with official rules and a huge collection of cards on all media thanks to cross-platform." (JeuxVideo.com)

Age rating

This game has received a PEGI 7 because it features pictures or sounds likely to be scary to young children. Not suitable for persons under 7 years of age.

How to save your progression across devices?

First, you will have to complete the tutorial that unlocks the main menu. Once in the main menu, you have to go to the options menu then select "Data Transfer" (which should be filed under Customer Support). You will be prompted to create a Konami ID if you don't have one already. Finally, the screen will give you a QR code or a web link you can use to link your current progress to the Konami ID.

If you want to synchronize your current account on another platform, you will also have to go to the options menu and complete the data synchronization process using your Konami ID.

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