What happened to: ‘Yu-Gi-Oh!’

I was always big into video games as a kid, but the thing that took up most of my free time was in fact a trading card game. I used to love Yu-Gi-Oh!, and I would play it with my friends all the time. But now, as I tried to get back into the game, I’ve realised it’s better that some things stay in the past.

In the game, you assemble a deck of 40 cards, filled with Monsters, Spells and Traps. You normally beat the other player by reducing their 8000 Life Points to zero, via a combination of attacking and burning them with effect damage (you can also win if their deck runs out of cards, but I don’t remember games ever lasting long enough to reach that stage).

Many people knew it from an eponymous TV show, following our protagonist Yugi dueling in tournaments (which, on a re-watch, were still over-exaggerated performance). It was essential viewing in our house, and for other kids I knew–at school we would play Yu-Gi-Oh! at lunchtimes, and there was enough interest to hold moderately sized competitions.

I joined forums to talk and ask questions to learn, and I was derided for being a casual player and a loser

Looking at the TV airdates, I must have transitioned away from the game around 2007. I was getting older, about to go to secondary school, and I was running out of people to duel with. The game, like so many things in my childhood, was essentially a craze, and something else must have come along to replace. Coupled with this, packs and decks became too expensive for a young kid with no income to purchase–I had pocket money, but I couldn’t justify wasting it all on Yu-Gi-Oh cards.

And so, that was that until late last year. I moved house and had to go through a lot of boxes. In one of these, I found lots of my old decks, and my memories came flooding back. Out of curiosity, I watched some videos on YouTube of people building decks or providing ‘Top Tens’.  I rarely recognised of the cards.

The game had evolved substantially–there were now Monster classes called Pendulum, Synchro, XYZ, and Link. Everything now appeared to revolve around playing archetypes in decks. You didn’t just assemble random cards that worked well together any more–every card was now part of a class, with its own support cards. Apparently, everyone now played Kaijus, Sky Strikers, Spyrals or Spellbooks–that was just what you did if you wanted to win.

As I tried to get back into the game, I’ve realised it’s better that some things stay in the past

Despite not knowing the game anymore, there was an itch I wanted to scratch, so I dove back in. I swotted up on the rules as best I could (I didn’t really follow much), and I found an online Yu-Gi-Oh! portal that enabled me to play with people around the world. I created decks with the cards I remembered, resulting in structures that must have looked archaic to those who still follow the game religiously. I just wanted to have some fun with cards I like, and I’m not the sort of person who just copies whatever’s popular so I can win.

I won’t beat around the bush–it went poorly. I’ve played a lot, but have yet to win any games. Things have definitely changed, with all my opponents always opening with elaborate first-turn combos that last five minutes, always made up of the same cards. My opponents stack their field with monsters from the off, and there’s no possible response. The games are over in a few turns–it’s maybe ten minutes of drag, most of which I’m just watching with no ability to respond. I joined forums to talk and ask questions to learn, and I was derided for being a casual player and a loser–for using the wrong cards and the wrong strategies. It’s just unpleasant, and I can’t find the fun anywhere.

I’ve pursued it for a couple of weeks and, hard as it is to admit, I’ve reached the limits of nostalgia. Yu-Gi-Oh! is simply no longer enjoyable for me, and it appears there’s no way back into it unless you follow one of the proscribed paths. I left the game behind and, as I attempt to return, it appears the game has now left me. The game and the community have evolved, but the evolution seems to me to be a negative one.