custom-cards Yugioh Meta

[WhiteThunder777]

Meta stands for most efficient tactic available and it is an important one for the yugioh card game.  These are the competitive decks that are really good which can stand up to other decks.  But if you want to focus on making custom cards, your first priority should NOT be the meta game, but rather what your cards do in terms of design.  

Why is this - it is because if you ONLY care about the meta game, there is a good chance that you are denying the opponent to play the game.  Yugioh is a back and forth strategy game, and custom yugioh archetypes should reflect that.

If you only care about the meta, there is a chance that your custom archetype is an exact copy of an existing TCG Meta, which shows that you as the yugioh custom card creator lack creativity.  The yugioh TCG Meta focuses on the turn player making an endboard and the opponent breaking the turn player's endboard.  

Another point to note is that the meta decks have cards that could potentially be banned at some point.  IF a card is banned in the TCG but not the OCG and vice versa,  it's best to avoid using that existing yugioh card as an idea for your custom card.  

Nevertheless, you should focus on the identity of your custom archetype first, otherwise it ends up as a spam deck that's not very unique to play.  You could try to use an existing mechanic and then fix its flaws as part of the design process of your custom archetype.  For example, Flashstrike as a result focuses on Warrior Union monsters with varying attributes (Tuner and non-Tuner unions) that eventually make Synchro Union and Link Union monsters that can make beatsticks in the process and fixes the issues with the Union mechanic for enhanced gameplay with Unlovely being their secret power.

Now, most meta decks in yugioh are linear by themselves because they do the same thing over and over again with the intent to end on a specific board the opponent must break going 2nd (e.g. Rescue-Ace).  

Linear vs.non-linear

A linear deck is a deck that focuses on ONE specific combo that must happen over and over again to end on ONE specific endboard the opponent must break.  A non-linear deck does not care about its endboard, and have multiple 1 card or 1.5 card combos which can take multiple paths for its endboard.  

The big difference between a linear deck and a non-linear deck is this - for a linear deck (esp. Your custom card archetype) you know where to hand trap, thus ending the turn.  A non-linear deck makes it hard to determine where to hand trap (as in, it resists 1 or 2 hand traps), and thus focuses on versatility (i.e. if you put your focus on designing your archetype first, then there is a good chance your archetype is non-linear in the long run). 

 

[ObexKing]

5 hours ago, Surge77754 said:

Meta stands for most efficient tactic available and it is an important one for the yugioh card game.  These are the competitive decks that are really good which can stand up to other decks.  But if you want to focus on making custom cards, your first priority should NOT be the meta game, but rather what your cards do in terms of design.  

Why is this - it is because if you ONLY care about the meta game, there is a good chance that you are denying the opponent to play the game.  Yugioh is a back and forth strategy game, and custom yugioh archetypes should reflect that.

If you only care about the meta, there is a chance that your custom archetype is an exact copy of an existing TCG Meta, which shows that you as the yugioh custom card creator lack creativity.  The yugioh TCG Meta focuses on the turn player making an endboard and the opponent breaking the turn player's endboard.  

Another point to note is that the meta decks have cards that could potentially be banned at some point.  IF a card is banned in the TCG but not the OCG and vice versa,  it's best to avoid using that existing yugioh card as an idea for your custom card.  

Nevertheless, you should focus on the identity of your custom archetype first, otherwise it ends up as a spam deck that's not very unique to play.  You could try to use an existing mechanic and then fix its flaws as part of the design process of your custom archetype.  For example, Flashstrike as a result focuses on Warrior Union monsters with varying attributes (Tuner and non-Tuner unions) that eventually make Synchro Union and Link Union monsters that can make beatsticks in the process and fixes the issues with the Union mechanic for enhanced gameplay with Unlovely being their secret power.

Now, most meta decks in yugioh are linear by themselves because they do the same thing over and over again with the intent to end on a specific board the opponent must break going 2nd (e.g. Rescue-Ace).  

Linear vs.non-linear

A linear deck is a deck that focuses on ONE specific combo that must happen over and over again to end on ONE specific endboard the opponent must break.  A non-linear deck does not care about its endboard, and have multiple 1 card or 1.5 card combos which can take multiple paths for its endboard.  

The big difference between a linear deck and a non-linear deck is this - for a linear deck (esp. Your custom card archetype) you know where to hand trap, thus ending the turn.  A non-linear deck makes it hard to determine where to hand trap (as in, it resists 1 or 2 hand traps), and thus focuses on versatility (i.e. if you put your focus on designing your archetype first, then there is a good chance your archetype is non-linear in the long run). 

 

If these cards were in the game would you say that they would be meta or not

[WhiteThunder777]

1 hour ago, ObexKing said:

If these cards were in the game would you say that they would be meta or not

I would say that they have the potential to be meta, but from a bigger perspective, the deck focuses on co-linking with beasts.  Though 1 thing I forgot to point out is the issue with Blindness, it denies the opponent from Summoning monsters unless they have S/T removal in play.  It's on it's way to BEING meta (other than it being tri-brigade support), but at its best, it's not meta.

[ObexKing]

24 minutes ago, Surge77754 said:

I would say that they have the potential to be meta, but from a bigger perspective, the deck focuses on co-linking with beasts.  Though 1 thing I forgot to point out is the issue with Blindness, it denies the opponent from Summoning monsters unless they have S/T removal in play.  It's on it's way to BEING meta (other than it being tri-brigade support), but at its best, it's not meta.

Yeah my thoughts with blindness was to make this sort of combo

 

[WhiteThunder777]

1 hour ago, ObexKing said:

Yeah my thoughts with blindness was to make this sort of combo

 

Even if you had searchers to search out Blindness, there is a very little chance that you will draw out Gozen Match or Rivalry of Warlords.  Hence showing another way that this archetype is not really meta. S/T removal will deal with Rivalry and Gozen, and there's no way to get those 2 cards back if removed from the field.

And Blindess' other weakness is an archetype that focuses on monsters with 1 specific Level only, as well as link and Xyz monsters, because neither of these monsters has a Level.  Hence showing that if this was "meta" there's an out to it as mentioned before, thus making it not really meta.

Either way, the Raccoon archetype is not really meta.

Point is, the important thing is to focus on the identity of the archetype first rather than making the archetype itself meta, as it will become stale in the long run.

Edited July 14 by Surge77754
Added a final statement to the reasoning

[WhiteThunder777]

To understand linear decks and non-linear decks, consider the following.

Invoked engine is simple, normal Aliester, search invocation and then invoke your fusion monsters. It's that simple.  But also linear decks, you know where to counter them.  Point being, linear decks focus on ONE specific combo to end on ONE specific endboard.  For example, Kashtira ends on a zone lock.

On the other hand, a non-linear deck encourages flexibility.  These types of decks do not have a specific endboard in mind.  Instead, they focus on the potential.  Take for example, Flashstrike, which shows the unexplored potential of Union monsters.

https://www.duelingbook.com/deck?id=12978066 - Flashstrike original pack

Let's look at this in more detail.

There's one potential 1 card combo with Flashstrike Summer.

Summer - add La Mer, and then go into Eas, and from there, use Eas to recycle La Mer, use La Mer's level altering effect to go into Mirage.  Use Mirage effect to pull Eas from GY.  You now end with an untargetable Mirage and Eas. 

Sky - trib herself for cost to SS Summer, and then use Summer to get the resource(s) you need.

There's another 1.5 card combo with Summer and 1 other Flashstrike Tuner. Use summer to add whatever you want, and then go from there.

And that's going 1st.  Point is, the endboard is not as important when compared to linear decks making them adaptable. 

Going 2nd

SS Summer and then SS either La Mer or Wing, and then go into Unlovely by using the opponent's most troublesome monster as the 3rd material, as the PSCT for Unlovely's summoning condition states either field. Then you can decide what to do with Unlovely.

OR Normal Summon Flashstrike Waffle, and then use Waffle to remove the opponent's most troublesome monster.  

When you focus on the potential of custom cards, the sky's the limit.

One weakness of the deck is the opponent activating something in response to your summons.  

 @ObexKing

Edited July 22 by Surge77754

[WhiteThunder777]

To understand why power creep is not a good idea, look at these 2 Flashstrike expansions.  Power creep discourages you to play the original.

The original Flashstrike archetype focuses on Synchro Unions with a knack for Level manipulation, which then expanded to Link Unions in expansion 1.  

Expansion 2 allowed Flashstrike to tap into the further potential of Flashstrike monsters, which helped the archetype.

https://www.duelingbook.com/deck?id=14387169 - Expansion 1, introduces Link Union monster to Flashstrike, as well as a non-Tuner that can make herself a Tuner.

https://www.duelingbook.com/deck?id=14522713 - Expansion 2, introduces a Flashstrike monster that can be equipped from the hand (Flamingo), a Flashstrike Cont. trap that can recycle from GY or banishment, as well as SS a Flashstrike monster from the S/T Zone and Wonderful who turns a Flashstrike non-Tuner monster it points to a Tuner monster.

Neither of these expansions power creep the original.

To integrate the Flashstrike Deck, expansion 2 introduces Flashstrike Duskfly, based on Dark Tender.  As a hand trap QE, she can tribute herself from hand or field to set whatever Flashstrike Spell/Trap you need for your turn.  Rogue equips a Flashstrike from GY or banishment to your Flashstrike monster, giving it extra powers or capabilities.  Flashstrike Flamingo is a Union that equips from hand.  Dream is a Tuner that turns herself into a non-Tuner 

You can also integrate Expansion 1 Link Union Flashstrike monsters into your strategy.  Flashstrike Butterfly is a Union that turns herself from a non-Tuner to a Tuner allowing you to give more explosive flavour to your plays.

Edited August 8 by Surge77754

[WhiteThunder777]

A lot of people don't know this, but Unlovely is a very good going 2nd card and should be used in any Flashstrike deck when building.  Here's why, according to the latest TCG Rulings, Unlovely can use the opponent's most trouble Extra Deck as the 3rd material as long as it was Special Summoned from the Extra Deck, given that the 1st and 2nd materials are a Flashstrike Tuner and a Flashstrike-non Tuner.

If you look at the PSCT of Flashstrike Unlovely:
Cannot be Synchro Summoned. You can Special Special Summon this card (from your Extra Deck) by sending 2 "Flashstrike" monsters you control (1 Tuner and 1 non-Tuner), and 1 monster that was Special Summoned from the Extra Deck from either field to the GY. If Summoned this way, this card cannot be equipped to monsters you control. Return this card to the Extra Deck during the End Phase of your next turn. Unaffected by Trap effects. (Quick Effect): You can target 1 "Flashstrike" monster in your GY; equip it to this card. You can either: Target 1 "Flashstrike" monster you control; equip this card to that target, OR: Unequip this card and Special Summon it. The Level of a monster equipped with this card becomes 1. If the equipped monster would be destroyed by battle or card effect, destroy this card instead. You can only use each effect of "Flashstrike Unlovely" once per turn.

The text either field means your field or your opponent's field, making it legal.

But if you don't know which troublesome Extra Deck monster on the opponent's field as the 3rd material, look at these examples.

1. Dragon Master Magia - 3 negates (monster, spell, trap) with 5k ATK and 4k defence.  Even though it floats into a Blue-Eyes monster or a Chaos or Black Luster Soldier Ritual monsters, those cards are not that good.  
2. Number F0: Utopic Draco Future - monster negate via snatch steal, battle immunity and destruction.  If you use this as material, your opponent will lose a lot of resources.  
3. Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon - Protection against destruction effects + negate.  3k ATK but the thing is, if you use it as material, the opponent will have to find ways to get this back or risk losing a lot of resources.
4. Bow of the Goddess - 4 monster negates on one card. 

 

 

[WhiteThunder777]

Okay, since the Flashstrike strategy was deleted because I wanted to start over.  I want to clarify a few things:

1. The first thing you want to do is try to find out what you want your archetype to do.  This is very important as it sets up the "canvas" in which you want to sculpt the archetype.  You can look at existing TCG archetypes for inspiration.  Do NOT make the canvas initial idea complicated, it'll achieve its own identity eventually.
2. Once you have the canvas, then make the cards effect based on your canvas.  
3. Test your archetype and get feedback from others, but be aware of what they are saying and take in ONLY constructive criticism. 

Without an identity, all cards of your archetype are dead weight, which is what we don't want.  

[JasperYoung]

Thanks for the info.

 

Edit: Thanks for the update.

Edited September 11 by JasperYoung

[Ahmad Alzubi]

I like all these information, but what if I stick to the identity of my arctype and what each card should be/do, however this makes it OP in the eyes of other players?
look at this archtype and the comments for example (your feedback is appreciated)

 

[WhiteThunder777]

6 hours ago, Ahmad Alzubi said:

I like all these information, but what if I stick to the identity of my arctype and what each card should be/do, however this makes it OP in the eyes of other players?
look at this archtype and the comments for example (your feedback is appreciated)

 

I'll check on the cards now.  If the archetype has an identity, and you stick to it, it means that the archetype is going somewhere.  An archetype whose cards do not have an identity will be likely messed up.

Tbh, the archetype is very innovative as there is a clear win condition here - summon the big fusion monster here.  But know this, not all archetypes have an alternate win condition for them to work.

 

Edited August 15 by Surge77754

[ObexKing]

What if a deck has multiple win conditions that work effectively? would it be considered meta?

[WhiteThunder777]

2 hours ago, ObexKing said:

What if a deck has multiple win conditions that work effectively? would it be considered meta?

That's a very good question.  This is what I am going to discuss right now.  

When a deck has multiple win conditions to achieve, it may not necessarily be meta, but rather, something along the lines of a rogue deck.  A rogue deck tends to be unpredictable. 

When a deck has multiple win conditions, it means there's more than one way to play the deck, it doesn't mean that the deck is meta.

[Ahmad Alzubi]

12 hours ago, Surge77754 said:

I'll check on the cards now.  If the archetype has an identity, and you stick to it, it means that the archetype is going somewhere.  An archetype whose cards do not have an identity will be likely messed up.

Tbh, the archetype is very innovative as there is a clear win condition here - summon the big fusion monster here.  But know this, not all archetypes have an alternate win condition for them to work.

 

Thank you! do you think it's OP?

[WhiteThunder777]

5 hours ago, Ahmad Alzubi said:

Thank you! do you think it's OP?

So the main deck monsters are not really beaters, but combo pieces.  The Xyz monsters are really good, as the card text says, it's not really overpowered to be honest.  If something requires more resources to be used, the effect must complement that resource.  

Now for the negates, they require more than 1 material, but well worth it.  

Overall, the effects are really good, not overpowered.  

[Ahmad Alzubi]

1 hour ago, Surge77754 said:

So the main deck monsters are not really beaters, but combo pieces.  The Xyz monsters are really good, as the card text says, it's not really overpowered to be honest.  If something requires more resources to be used, the effect must complement that resource.  

Now for the negates, they require more than 1 material, but well worth it.  

Overall, the effects are really good, not overpowered.  

I'm a bit confused tbh! the deck has no Xyz monsters, only effect and fusion monsters..
I you think you're talking about the "Sokondians" archtype which is featured in my signature, however I was talking about the "Immortal Dragons" archtype, here's the link

 

[WhiteThunder777]

On 8/16/2024 at 8:26 AM, Ahmad Alzubi said:

I'm a bit confused tbh! the deck has no Xyz monsters, only effect and fusion monsters..
I you think you're talking about the "Sokondians" archtype which is featured in my signature, however I was talking about the "Immortal Dragons" archtype, here's the link

 

These Immortal Dragons are really well designed tbh.  

[WhiteThunder777]

So how do you tell a linear or non-linear yugioh custom archetype apart?

A linear archetype has ONLY 1 way to start off its combo to end on ONLY 1 specific result.  For example, Invoked tends to end on Mechaba and pass.  For linear archetypes, after multiple plays against them, you know where to hand trap them.  Hand trapping Aliester the Invoker makes the opponent end their turn. 

A non-linear archetype is an archetype with various ways to pilot it.  There is not a specific end result to achieve.  They have multiple ways to achieve their end results, thus they are resistant to 1 or 2 hand traps. Meaning if you can design a custom archetype that can withstand 1 or 2 hand traps, chances are, it may be non-linear.  

 

 

[WhiteThunder777]

A key takeaway is this when designing custom card archetypes.  Let X be the archetype name in Question.

1. Do NOT copy the yugioh TCG Meta and incorporate it into your custom cards.  For example, Snake Eyes but better,  This shows that you only know how to copy existing things and not know how to make your own thing.
2. Do keep in mind that your cards do NOT exist in a vacuum.  For example, Cyberse has Cynet Mining as its best support card.  Warriors have Reinforcement of the Army. Etc.
3. Do keep in mind the TCG banlist.  If a card is Banned in the TCG but not in the OCG, do NOT use it as a guide to design custom cards.  Similar thing goes for the a card banned in the OCG but not the TCG. 
4. You can make your favourite deck meta but you will have to check its power level as you go.  You want to win with your deck consistently but the problem is winning should not be your main goal, fine-tuning your mechanic is.
5. DO make sure that your cards have an identity when designing.  An example of very bad card design is the roid archetype in GX.  If we look at any 2 cards, we don't know what the archetype wants to do as a whole.  
6. Do not do Link 1 that searches field spells (e.g. Balelynx).  This is problematic because the main deck will be loaded with hand traps which is not good.
7. MST, Twin Twisters, Cosmic Cyclone are all staples that can help you write back row removal on your custom cards regarding archetype design.  Exiled Forces can also be used for this, but for monsters.  
8. Take a break when necessary when designing custom cards.
9. Floodgates vs. Protection - a floodgate is something that denies the opponent from playing (look at Skill Drain, Rhongo, Dark Law, Vanity's Fiend/Emptiness etc.).  Requires a lot of balance to work with and is thus not recommended when custom card designing.  Protection is usually something that safeguard you (e.g. The activation and effects of your "X" cards cannot be negated by your opponent's Extra Deck monsters).  This allows "X" to safely play through ED negates, thus forcing the opponent to use ED monsters that don't negate, hand traps, or main deck monster negates). 

Edited September 5 by Surge77754

[WhiteThunder777]

What makes a card generic? It can be put into any deck.  This makes it so that deck building is discouraged.  

To determine if the summoning requirements are generic or not, look at this.  This is one of the reasons why cards get hit on the banned like link 4 Bow of the Goddess.  Let X be the archetype name in question.

• 2 "X" monsters on a Link monster as materials is not generic.  You must have 2 "X" monsters on your field to summon the card.
• 1 "X" Tuner + 1 "X" non-Tuner on a Synchro monster is NOT generic.  You must have an archetypal tuner and an archetypal non-Tuner to summon the card. Same as 1 "X" Tuner + 1+ non-Tuner "X" monsters.

As an example, Verte Anaconda was generic, but it could have been fixed if it said 2 "Predaplant" monsters - that way it would not have been abused in other decks.

Another example is Linkuriboh got hit because of its generic requirement.  To fix this, it would have said 1 "Kuriboh" monster as the link materials.  

Here's another example.  

Let "X" be the archetype name and X1 be the number of materials required to summon the Link monster.

• A Link 1 that requires 1 non-Link "X" monster is NOT generic.  The pitfall here is you don't want to search out the field spell, but rather use it to further the mechanics of your archetype. 
• In the same manner a Link X1 monster that requires X1 "X" monsters as material is NOT generic. But do NOT make anything to break the game in general.  Don't make a "X" monster that is treated as 2 materials for the Link Summon of an "X" monster, that cheats and you don't want that.
• Special Condition for Links: “If a ‘X’ monster you control is used as Link Material for a ‘X’ monster, you can also use this card in your hand as Link Material.” (e.g. Micro Coder)

Now we can do a similar manner to Fusion, Synchro, Xyz, and Ritual, but keep in mind, there will be a modification to the formula!!

Fusion Examples 

• Generic: 2 monsters with different Attributes 
• Archetypal:  “2 ‘X’ monsters” or “1 ‘X’ monster + 1 monster with a different Attribute”

Synchro Example 

• Generic: 1 Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner monsters or 1 Tuner + 1+ non-Tuner monsters
• Archetypal: 1 "X" Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner "X" monsters
• Special Condition: “1 Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner monsters. For this card’s Synchro Summon, you can treat 1 ‘X’ monster you control as a Tuner.” For archetypal, do this, 1 "X" Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner "X" monsters.  For this card's Synchro Summon, you can treat 1 'X' monster you control as a Tuner.  (Harpie Lady Synchro Level 8) 

Xyz Example 

• Generic: 2 Level 4 monsters OR 2+ Level 4 monsters
• Archetypal: 2 Level 4 "X" monsters OR 2+ Level 4 "X" monsters

Ritual Example 

• Generic: Any monsters whose total Levels equal 8.
• Archetypal: Any "X" monsters whose total Levels equal 8

 

 

 

 

Edited September 6 by Surge77754
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