YGOPRODeck now has a Limited Play mode! But what is Limited, how can you do it online, and how does it differ from Constructed?
What is a Limited Format?
A "Constructed Format" is how you're used to playing yugioh; whether it be Goat Control, TCG-Advanced, Trinity Format, Speed Duels, or Rush Duels. If you bring a deck to a game of Yugioh, it's Constructed Play: Your deck is pre-Constructed.
Limited Formats are still Yugioh, played with regular Yugioh cards. The difference is that you don't start with a deck! In order to make one, you're instead given Booster Packs which you'll open and make a deck from: The card pool is Limited.
There are many different forms of Limited, just as there are many forms of constructed. In this article, I'll be focusing mainly on Chaos Sealed, a Format I've been having a tonne of fun with recently.
What is a Chaos Sealed?
"Sealed Format" is a general term for a type of Limited: You open some booster packs, build a deck from the packs you opened, and then duel someone who did the same. For example, in ETCO sealed, everyone opens some ETCO booster packs, builds decks using just those cards, and then duels each other. Konami's official pre-release events use this Format.
"Chaos Sealed" is Sealed, but all of the packs are from a random assortment! This grants the entire history of Yugioh as a card pool and every draft is sure to be completely different. In a Limited event I played in today, we had Mekk-Knights, fighting against Obelisk the Tormentor, fighting against cards I've never even heard of before.
If I need booster packs, how can I play Limited online?
Good question! This is where YGOPROdeck.com comes in. We now have a Pack Opening Simulator, with which you can open any pack from the entire game! This makes Limited easier than ever before.
To play some Chaos Sealed, all you need to do is this:
- Head over to https://db.ygoprodeck.com/pack-open/.
- Tick the tick for Deck Builder Mode.
- Each player names a booster pack.
- You'll all be opening the same packs as everyone else.
- Don't worry about having to pick a good one!
- Open 12 boosters total.
- If you're playing with 2 people, open 6 of each.
- If you're playing with 4 people, open 3 of each.
- From each booster, add cards to your card pool with the + icon.
- View the deck with the eye icon.
- Only pick cards you think that you'll play.
- After you've opened 12 boosters, open an additional 4 Battle Packs.
- I'd suggest 4 boosters of Battle Pack: Epic Dawn.
- Export your Deck, edit it to your liking, then Duel!
- I'd suggest allowing 30-card minimum maindeck size.
- I'd also suggest using Master Rule 5 rules.
Why specifically these Limited rules?
I've been playing a bunch of Chaos Sealed over the past month in preparation for this article. This was the ruleset that I found to best work, but feel free to add some house rules - You don't have to just play Mika's Rules Sealed!
12 boosters total means that you should get a good number of playables, even if you've deliberately chosen weak booster packs. Since everyone opens the same types of packs, there's no real downside to picking weak packs.
Since you're opening some wacky packs (many of which have appallingly unplayable cards), you should have a Minimum Maindeck Size of 30. This means that your deck won't be 100% unplayables.
Battle Packs were designed to be drafted, for Limited play. Adding the extra 20 Battle Pack cards in really helps to smooth out the experience. Try mixing up which Battle Packs in future, to see how they differ!
Deckbuilding Tips
If you're only used to playing in TCG-Advanced Format, these games are going to be pretty wild. Don't expect turns to be longer than a few actions, even if you've picked some of the latest packs! Here are some tips for deckbuilding:
Pick high-ATK and high-DEF monsters. The main bulk of your deck should be essentially level 4 Normal Monsters with 1800+ ATK, or 1900+ DEF. These will help you kill your opponent's weaker monsters and deal some damage.
Don't go too heavy on Tribute Summons or Extra Deck monsters. You should pick all the Extra Deck Monsters that you open - there's no downside to doing so - but don't expect to summon them too often. In a 30-card deck, I'd recommend:
- 10 high-ATK level 4 or lower monsters
- 5 high-DEF level 4 or lower monsters
- 5 Tribute Summon monsters
- 10 Spells/Traps, or "synergy monsters".
A "synergy monster" can be anything from Iron Chain Coil for your Iron Chain Repairman to a Treeborn Frog to help your Tribute Monsters. I wouldn't recommend picking "string archetypal" cards like Sky Striker Mobilize - Engage!. Even though it's strong in the TCG, it's useless unless in Limited unless you have a "Sky Striker" monster and a lot of spells.
Dueling Tips
When Dueling, remember that your opponent has the same sort of cards as you. If you didn't open any packs with Torrential Tribute in them, don't expect to be hit by a Torrential Tribute!
Take note of what cards your opponent did get. Maybe they have a really strong rare card! It might be worth making sure that they can't get 2 level 4 monsters on board if you saw they they pulled a Number 39: Utopia, which is a pretty powerful card in Limited.
Card advantage is pretty important here. I'd say that it's much more important than in the TCG. Because of this, you should try to get more cards than your opponent, and you should be on a path to victory.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why should I play Limited?
It's fun! Primarily, it's a fun-first Format, though there is a lot of skill involved; in both deckbuilding and in playing. If Limited isn't for you, then maybe you're just more of a Constructed kind of person - and that's cool too!
This pack has a banned card! Can I play it?
There's no banlist in Limited. You can play all the cards you pick. That's one of the coolest parts about this Format!
I picked a pre-erratum (old card text) card.
Whenever I play, I typically just go with whatever the latest card text is. Many newer players aren't familiar with the old printings and old rulings of cards, so it might be better to just go with that. If everyone playing agrees to use printed card text beforehand, then go ahead!
What pack can I pick to make me win more?
You all open the same packs, so there's no strategical advantage to picking one pack over another. You didn't just skip half of the article, right?
Which packs are the most fun?
To be honest, most 9-card packs are fine. The Dark Illusion is pretty fun, and I had a lot of fun with Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy. Circuit Break has some nice commons, as well as Soul of the Duelist.
Which packs are the least fun?
I'd avoid playing with some of the really old ones unless you're prepared for some bad cards. Cyberdark Impact is particularly notorious for having few playables. Be prepared for lots of "Normal Summon Abaki, pass". I'd also recommend not using packs like Duel Power, which only have 5 cards and mostly have Extra Deck monsters. If you want to open Astral Packs, you should probably open 3x as many, since they only have 3 cards per pack.
