My Intro to Speed Duels

I recently started playing Yugioh again after a ten-year absence. What I came back to was a much faster and more complicated game, but it was still fun. After 2 months of playing in locals, it was still apparent that I had many things to learn to be competitive. I never considered playing Speed Duels, but that changed quickly.

One weekend, my local's owner mentioned that a Sneak Peek would be held for the new Speed Duel Set the following weekend. I had never played or even considered playing Speed Duels, until I saw the prize was a Sneak Peek exclusive play-mat featuring Magician of Black Chaos. Nobody seemed interested to participate so I thought it would be a good chance that I could win and I signed up.

The Sneak Peek

Arriving on the day of the Sneak Peek I found that there would be 6 people competing and that the tournament would require our decks to be constructed from the packs received that day. In Speed Duel packs there are 4 cards included with no foils guaranteed and I remembered that this is how pack opening used to be. I did pull one Ultra Rare card, Switcheroo, to accompany my playset of Crazy Fish.

Round 1

As I headed into my first match, I was unsure what to expect since everyone was playing with a similar cardpool. Unsurprisingly, having a one card mulligan twice a duel is pretty great in a format with 20 card decks. Also, I was unaware that Crazy Fish was the second strongest normal summon available and somehow I had pulled three. I proceeded to 2-0 my first game on the back of double Crazy Fish. 

Round 2

This round went as smoothly as the first. My opponents let me know that I must have had great luck with my packs. Again, I was carried by my nearly unbeatable Crazy Fish and Switcheroo. I swiftly 2-0'd my second match and moved on to the final round. 

Round 3

The final round was not as easy as the first two. In Game 1 I faced a monster that even my Crazy Fish could not overcome, Girochin Kuwagata. With 1700 attack, there was nothing I could do to get over it, so I took the loss. Game 2 my multiple Fish took the game. It all came down to the final game for the play-mat. Game 3 began with my opponent summoning his Girochin Kuwagata and I got worried.  He passed to me and I drew Sphere Kuriboh. I summoned one Crazy Fish and passed it back. After using Sphere Kuriboh and destroying his monster the following turn, I took the game following a couple turns of Crazy Fish attacking.

The Aftermath

I had achieved my goal of winning the event and taking home the play-mat. After talking with everyone, we all had such a great time that we asked our store owner to hold a weekly event.  Since then, it has grown to 2 events a week and everyone who played in the sneak peek continues to play and our group grows every week.

I was fortunate to find a group that enjoys Speed Duels, but there are many players that have never tried it and refuse to give it a chance. I hope I can provide a few reasons that could interest you into trying Speed Duels. 

Reasons to Play Speed Duels

Reason 1 - More Yugioh is good

 Although Yugioh has been around since 2002 for the TCG, we have primarily had a single format this entire time. Having a second format is not only great for us because we have a completely different way to play Yugioh, but can lead to even more formats if Konami believes that we will support them. 

Reason 2 - Great Nostalgia and Character Decks

Speed Duels has done a great job so far of creating competent character decks and decks supporting older cards that haven't ever been played. For example, cards like Kairyu-Shin or Serpent Night Dragon have strategies built around them. New sets typically support the starter decks sold alongside them allowing improvements for your character's deck.

Reason 3 - All Decks are Budget Decks

We are used to Yugioh being an expensive game, but Speed Duels is really affordable, even for top strategies. A meta deck in Advanced format can cost upwards of $500 in some formats. For that price, you can own a playset of every card in Speed Duel's current card pool and have money left over. 

Reason 4 - Deck Diversity 

So far, there have been many decks that I would consider good to great. With products still being released at a semi-regular rate, we can expect more support for current decks as well as new strategies. Products may take longer to release currently than Advanced format, but that gives more time for strategies to develop. 

Reason 5 - You Can Play Limited

Have you ever wanted to just buy a box of cards grab a couple friends and be able to play. With Speed Duels this is a possibility, since just a few packs can be made into a deck. Similar to my experience with the sneak peak, just grab a box and a few friends and you can have a tournament. 

How to Start?

Starting out with Speed Duels is rather simple. All it takes is one starter deck which includes two decks, one for you and one for a friend. Building a community can take time, but most people are just looking for someone else to play. A locals like mine, which had nobody playing Speed Duels two months ago, now has a regular group playing multiple times a week. Why can't your locals be the next one to do the same?

If we continue to grow as a community, maybe one day we can see Speed Duels regionals and other bigger tournaments. This way my future articles can be more about topping decklists and less about asking people to consider picking up the game in the first place. I hope to be at that first regional and hope you all can join me.