But also, that little bit of plastic wrap, around 9-13 cards at a time...

It would be great if I didn't have to uhhhhh, make a pile of plastic every time I open a box of cards. That part of it always makes me feel... Sleazy, gross, slimy. I try to only get singles for what I need, but I understand that people NEED to open the rare ones for them to exist in enough quantity

Only really expensive card in the deck though! All of the others are about $1.
Pretty sure it's just that Marshmao here is a secret rare in ONE set so far. ^^"
(Not me trading in a phyrexian altar for marshmaos tho. 👀💦)

The only real difference between a Force of Will and an Ash Blossom is the price point.

I mean, if you can keep track of storm in mtg, yugioh is no more complicated than that, I'll be real.
The main differences between the two are, mtg has life, cards, and mana as resources, whereas ygo has cards and life. So, less gaining card adv, and more going +0 for value through tutors.

Why are they $25 tho?! 😭

Hell, there's an official format where people are only allowed to use structure decks! (i can imagine Branded cleans that up, but it's not guaranteed 🤔)

If you say, wanted to play "generation duel", which has 5 formats to play in that separate the card lists by the *series*. You'll have Duel Monsters, GX, 5Ds, Vexal, and ARC-V formats WITHIN generation duel, AND, Konami will sanction the tournament if there are enough attendees at an offical lgs.

Yugioh, however, aged like a fine wine. It saw the core fundamentals that people enjoyed in the game, and kept trying to smooth out combos, make the game feel more fluid, and even make dozens of different gamemodes you can try with your friends! Sanctioned even!

(In regards to Mitsurugi Ritual, Shaddoll/Branded Fusion)
"So you're telling me I can use materials from my deck AND special summon it from the deck/extra deck??? Like Fusions and Rituals always should've been so we aren't going -3 for a middling monster???"

Hell, even having a VIABLE ritual monster combo makes me feel good. It's taken Yugioh almost 30 years to get ritual and fusion monsters not feeling wasteful.
Now that Yummy⭐Snatchy got limited to 1, I have to rework Yummys, and I'm lookin real hard at the Mitsurugi engine rn. 👀

Neither are even to be played against others though. Golos is hella banned, and should stay that way... But that deck was *meditative* to goldfish. Same with the Azami one.
Feels kinda like tcg player's prayer sessions. Sitting there, letting the deck play out, mulling life over. :')

Hell, my competitive GOAT format deck was only $120, which is kinda pricey, but again, compared to trying to play say, modern mtg, where decks range from $400-$1300, I feel like I made off like a bandit. (Well, tbf, the yummy deck was an xmas present, and the goat deck was obtained via trade ins)

On top of it. Building a CASUAL commander deck for mtg is easily like $300+, depending on the land and power cards you need, competitive ones can easily run you around $800.
My competitive Yummy deck for yugioh, cost me $65. And most of that was SHIPPING costs on singles.

Konami has always done tie ins for yugioh, but they are generally pretty subtle, "iykyk" type references. Or they make them terrible mechanically, so they end up, at most, as cards that sit in a binder for a laugh.

It all started with Ikoria's Godzilla cards, and I warned folks then, "it's cool and all, but it's just a sign of what's yet to come". Nobody believed me... Then secret lairs, and d&d tie ins, and it all led up to MotM killing off a 30 year long canon to excuse why we were going to 40k land next.

Mtg doesn't feel like mages battling anymore, it feels like strategists commanding their favourite brands to consume each other. I despise that it was a better financial play to use mtg as kindling for what could've been a standalone Universes Beyond card game.