The casual perspective of Yugioh undergoes a paradigm shift once introduced to competitive gameplay. While modern play consists of a delicate balance between making, breaking, and preventing boards, to the untrained eye, it is understandable to view the game as a whole as being "won on the first turn." If competitive play is the goal, these skills can be taught. But if a player just wants to play how Yugioh "used to be" - slower methodical, with an emphasis on more fundamental card-game pillars - that would still be a valid goal, given guidance.
The goal of this article is to help competitive players play with their casual friends without either party feeling like they can't play how they want. There will be decks that aren't compatible with the following methods - Floowandereeze doesn't have many options that differ from a flurry of normal summons followed by a Floowandereeze & Empen play. But in most decks, there are alternative lines that result in less overwhelming boards. Think of it like not smashing every ball in Tennis, or not performing a zero-to-death combo against a beginner in a fighting game.
Casual Frustrations
Having games effectively end on the first turn is the overall conceptual frustration of casual players. There are multiple factors that add to this oppressive atmosphere. These are unbreakable boards, an overwhelming amount of actions, and the lack of deck identity.
Unbreakable Boards
Modern decks emphasize amassing interactions and presenting pieces that ignore opposing interaction. On the base level, this includes negates, either in the form of monster effects such as the historical Apollousa, Bow of the Goddess, or monsters with built in protection like Lady Labrynth of the Silver Castle. In a match-up against a casual deck, these cards represent an insourmountable wall. Even less competitive boss monsters such as Blue-Eyes Chaos MAX Dragon skirt typical removal conventions - destruction via card effect and in most cases, battle.
To remove theoreticals, let's say our casual friend is playing Live Twins. Not a Live Twin Spright deck, nor one chock full of hand traps. A Live Twin deck consisting of at least one copy of each archetype card, supplimented with low-power non-engine such as Enemy Controller. This deck has reasonable consistency via one card starters, removal via Evil★Twin Lil-la and Evil★Twin's Trouble Sunny, and grind game with Live☆Twin Channel. It is reasonable for the casual player to think this would be able to handle competitive threats. It is not.
In a vacuum, Trouble Sunny could beat over most threats with battle tricks. But actual gameplay includes disruptions. Casual players want to feel that they are playing the game. A back-and-forth narrative appeals to the beginner. Duels are much more memorable when both players get to play out their script and showcase what makes their decks unique.
Deck Identity
This can be achieved with minimal to no changes for most decks by ending on an archetype-specific end board as opposed to a generic board. For example, Ritual Beast can end on Archnemeses Protos - a card that doesn't create a narrative and doesn't showcase Ritual Beast's playstyle. If the beginner's deck can handle it, consider ending on Ritual Beast Ulti-Gaiapelio instead. Ulti-Gaiapelio creates a puzzle to solve, which is rewarding to defeat by depleting its ammo. Against an even lower power deck, lines can be further simplified to ending on Ritual Beast Ulti-Pettlephin, and attacking with Ritual Beast Ulti-Apelio - a simple narrative of offense and defense.
If you're playing with a deck that does not typically play its boss monsters in leiu of high-power generic monsters such as Mannadium Prime-Heart in Mannadium, consider keeping a copy sleeved to sub in when you're dueling against a new player.
Overwhelming Amount of Actions
It's not secret that Yugioh cards do more than they used to. Modern card design such as Snake-Eyes Poplar and Spiritual Beast Tamer Lara even consolidate starter and extender roles. As a result, turns get longer, and what you can do on your opponent's turn grows. To the competitive player, it is understood that these are tools that allow for interaction. To the beginner or casual player, this is like watching the longest unskippable cutscene ever. Similarly to how creating an unbreakable board fosters frustration, "borrowing" the opponent's turn after taking a ton of time on your own robs the casual player of autonomy, not to mention excitement.
This concept goes hand-in-hand with the previous topic. By limiting your end boards to in-archetype boss monsters, it likely reduces the amount of actions required to perform, and less disruptions happen.
Casual Unfriendly Decks
Unfortunately, the basis of certain decks do not gel with the casual environment in any form. Surprisingly, most competitive decks can scale down to meet any opponent. However, decks like Prank-Kids are too entrenched in their deck's identity to adapt. Prank-Kid's M.O. is fusing, causing disruption, and gainging resources on both turns, and is integral to the deck no matter how scaled down the combo is. It's rare, but some decks lose too much of their identity when conforming to friendlier conventions.
Scaling
Over time, players and their decks grow stronger. Maybe your casual pals learn about a little card called Dark Ruler No More and start building boards. Casual players don't always want to get into the competitive scene, but if they do, it's important to impart the true nature of the game before they get discouraged. Ramp up interaction and your boards as they do to keep them challenged!
Conclusion
Yugioh is one of the most difficult card games to learn - casually or competitively. While it is rewarding, immediately being confronted by the full force of the meta is ultimately unfun. This can be remedied by reducing the intensity of boards, the length of turns, and limiting interaction until the desire to discover the intricacy of this game blossoms.
