The Progression Series is currently one of the most popular Yu-Gi-Oh related content out there with a strong following! This article will go over what the series is and things to do if you want to give it a try as well! Without further ado, let us begin.
Feel free to watch them here! if you're interested!

The Core Rules

The core rules for the Yu-Gi-Oh Progression series are as follows:

• Each player will open 24 packs (or a booster box) of a main Yu-Gi-Oh set every week.
• Duelists will play their matches in the Traditional Format. Essentially, this means that Forbidden cards are playable at 1 copy.
• Players must then build or construct a deck with their current available card pool, which expands each time a set is opened.
• A best of 3 duel (match) is then played with the winner receiving a small prize to upgrade their deck! These are either Tournament Packs (or their equivalents) or wildcards,

Additional things to note:

• Traditional Format is the format of choice for playing the Progression Series.
• Later on, the loser gets to have 1 "pity" pack (whatever the current equivalent of the Tournament Pack) is before the start of a new round. This was a much-needed change when the ZEXAL era rolled around.
• Cards will turn into their errata'd versions whenever their functional changes apply.
• Wildcards vary from common to Secret Rares and will be based on the set opened last week. (e.g Say you're currently opening Magic Ruler and you spun on the Ultra Rare Wildcard, you'll be able to pick any UR of choice from Metal Raiders.)
  Pretty simple, right? The series has been going strong ever since June 2020, starting from the Legend of Blue-Eyes White Dragon up to Duelist Alliance at the time of this article's release! Both YouTubers have been duking it out since last year, and some incredible gameplay and fun was had throughout. Highlight moments include sleepers such as White Magical Hat, Magical Scientist, Painful Choice, or Divine Dragon Knight Felgrand are great to watch and revisit.
  

Getting Started

This sounds great and all, but aren't opening boxes quite expensive? And how do you manage any of them?
These are all valid concerns, but luckily YGOPRODECK has us covered! Let's take a look at the Pack Opener and the collection manager respectively! Both tools are great for any draft or Progression related play.

There are a lot of packs to choose from as the simulator currently has most, if not all of the ones available on the TCG-side. It's a good idea to set it to Sealed Draft Mode and to set your packs to 24, as that is how many packs a Booster Box will contain.
In the case of Pity / Prize packs and whatnot, you can simply just open the singletons. To paint a better picture, let's go over actually opening the packs.

Once you've finished your 24 packs, scroll down below and press the Add Draft to Collection button!
The collection manager is pretty straightforward, as you are able to keep track of the cards you have. It also has a bunch of features that make things easier for you, such as being able to search by set name and modify the card quantities. You can manually add cards to your collection in the case of wildcards.

Customizing your Experience

As great as the Progression Series is, it's far from flawless. It's no stranger to anyone following the Progression Series is that things are skewed over to Cimo's side. His access to DM staples (e.g Snatch Steal and Imperial Order ) and infinitely sacky cards have and will continue to plague Gage weeks on end. The late implementation of the pity pack did not make matters too great as those could've been much helpful sooner.

Assuming you're playing with a group of friends who want to try and take their own spin at the experience, you may want to try customizing the rules a bit to help prevent massive snowballs for long periods of time.
Progression Playoffs is an interesting spin-off variant created by fellow writer MBT alongside his friends. It features a weekly Ban cycle where the losers are able to ban specific cards as they see fit! Card limits are also a possibility. The fast implementation of the Pity system is also great news for anyone wanting to try it out.

There's a lot of other options to consider too! Side sets are aplenty and can contain some pretty spicy stuff to allow players to up their game and have a more realistic feel to their matches. Reprint sets, Battle Packs, Battles of Legend, Duelist Packs, Deckbuilding packs, and so on are just the tip of the iceberg!
Lastly, it's worth noting that you don't have to start at LOB! If you want a funkier experience, starting in the other eras can work too. 5Ds, GX, Zexal, ARCV, and even Vrains can be a ton of fun as things will never be quite the same with each one.

Tips on Building and Playing

Early on, you definitely want to keep an eye out on strong generic cards that'll carry over multiple decks. The speed of the format is something to consider as it'll dictate your card choices in the long run. As you get access to more archetypes, the choices get a lot more complex and may require a few tries to get it right.
Pay attention to cards that get better as time goes on. LODT had Substitoad which remained quite dormant for most of the GX era. However, later sets in 5Ds provided great Frog support that brings the whole thing together.
Removal can either become a luxury or a commodity depending on your pulls, but it's generally a good idea to at least stock up on them as they can go a long way in keeping you safe from your opponent's strategies.
Tech cards can give you a lot of mileage if timed right. They may either be blowouts for weeks or be a one-hit-wonder. Recent examples in OG Progression include Gage's Koa'ki Meiru Drago which was able to shut down Blackwings for a good amount of time. Right now Cimo also managed to show the power of Lead Yoke against his ill-prepared opponent.

At the end of the day, don't forget to have fun as well! After all, you're playing a custom mode that you and your friends agreed upon. Winning is great, but don't forget to enjoy yourself too. Gage is a shining example as he's still able to get back up and running even after big losing streaks. Frustrations abound though, so make sure to take a break if things are getting heated.

Conclusion

And that concludes our write-up and introduction to the Progression Series! It's definitely one of the breakout stars of the past year. There's a bunch of dedicated servers out there who focus on this, so that might be worth your time if you decide to check them out.