9/19/18

Cats-On-Mars

thatgamingpikachu

People seem to really hate Master Rules 4.

And for good reason

Before Master Rules 4, the game was much simpler. There was no limitation on how many Monsters you could Summon from your Extra Deck, you could create highly chaotic fields (one of Yu-Gi-Oh!'s staples), and everyone would just have a generally fun time playing the card game as they always have. 

When I found out about Master Rules 4, I was taken aback. What's this Extra Monster Zone garbage? That wasn't there before. I can only bring out one monster from my Extra Deck at a time? That's stupid. Link Summoning seemed cool enough, but isn't it a waste to use my monsters on that? The same monsters I'm using to Link Summon could've been used to Fusion, Synchro or Xyz Summon, which I can't do because then I wouldn't be able to bring out anything else. 

These are common complaints that I here about Master Rules 4.

People praise Master Rules 3 because not only did it stick to what the game had always done, but it also introduced the concept of Pendulum Summons. Pendulum Summoning allowed the game to become even more hectic, with Duelists now being able to Special Summon any number of monsters from their hands or face-up in their Extra Decks once per turn, as long as their Levels were within the range of the Pendulum Scale.

Pendulum Summoning led to easy swarming of the field with Fusion, Synchro, and Xyz Monsters, allowing new, OP strategies to be executed.

Master Rules 4 put those Decks and cards in their place, along with a few very necessary bans and limits.

Decks like Pendulum Magicians were stopped, or at least made a little more difficult initiate (Once again, along with bans), and now you can't spam the field right away, you have to build towards it.

The reason why I prefer Master Rules 4 over the older rules is because there's a lot more strategy involved in the game now. You have to carefully select your Monster Zones to set up your Link Summons, as well as plan out all your future Fusion, Synchro, Xyz, or Pendulum plays. Link Monsters are generally well designed, both gameplay-wise and aesthetically. Nothing feels insanely overpowered besides Firewall Dragon, which has been Limited to 1 as of the time of me writing this.

People say that all the Extra Deck plays have been neutered ever since MR4 came in to play, when it reality, that's not true at all. Sure, it's a little harder to get your Extra Deck monsters out, but people treat it like it's an impossibility. If you really want to, you can freely Summon anything from your Extra Deck. Just use it for what it's worth, and then Link it away so that you can go into your further Fusion, Synchro, or Xyz plays. And on top of that, Link Monsters can actually assist you in your Fusion Summons as well as bringing out more powerful Link Monsters by Linking away your weaker ones. The only thing really massively hurt here is Pendulum, which definitely needed a huge nerf, which I am fortunately able to say that it did. Not that this is anywhere near Tier 0 Meta, Ritual Summoning is much more rewarding now, because Ritual Monsters do not use the Extra Monster Zones. So feel free to incorporate some Ritual tech into your Link strategies.

Personally, I can't play the game in Master Rules 3 anymore. It's just not fun. Sure, you can still Link Summon in that format, but they don't serve any purpose. I played MR3 for a few months before I started practicing with MR4 online, and later on, in real life with friends. Without Link Summoning, the game feels empty and dead to me. My favorite Summoning Method is  Link Summoning, and some of my new favorite Monsters in the entirety of the game are  Link Monsters. Extra Linking, while annoying to my opponents, is really fun and satisfying to pull off. And on a more sadistic note, it's funny seeing my opponent's surrender immediately because they don't want to adapt and face my strategies.

The theme of this post is to adapt. It's a thing that too many Duelists have been refusing to do, simply because they can't cause mass chaos on the field anymore. Yu-Gi-Oh! is a game, and should be fun for everyone. To resolve this problem, I believe that Konami should just split the game into two different formats, one for Master Rules 3, and one for Master Rules 4. That way, everyone can have fun. Me personally? I'm just gonna keep Link Summoning and using those monsters to bust out my Fusions, Synchros, and Xyz Monsters.

Because that's what makes the game fun, at least to me...

~ Dawn