Yu-Gi-Oh: Guide to deckbuilding for beginners

[Kakashi-Sharingan Warrior]

Plz rate my deck:
Monsters (26):
Elemental Hero Avian x2
Elemental Hero Burstinatrix x2
Elemental Hero Clayman x3
Elemental Hero Sparkman x3
Cyber Dragon x3
Elemental Hero Bladegde x2
Elemental Hero Bubbleman x2
Elemental Hero Necroshade x2
Elemental Hero Wildheart x2
King of the Swamp x3
The Light - Hex-Sealed Fusion x2

Spells (11):
Dark Hole x1
Emergency Call x3
Polymerization x3
Pot of Greed x1
Reinforcement of the Army x2
The Warrior Returning Alive x1

Traps (7):
Call of the Haunted x1
Dust Tornado x1
Magic Cylinder x1
Raigeki Break x2
Sakuretsu Armor x2

Total: 44

Fusion (28):
Chimeratech Overdragon x1
Cyber End Dragon x1
Cyber Twin Dragon x1
Elemental Hero Eriksheiler x1
Elemental Hero Flame Wingman x3
Elemental Hero Madballman x3
Elemental Hero Mariner x1
Elemental Hero Necroid Shaman x1
Elemental Hero Phoenix Enforcer x2
Elemental Hero Rampart Blaster x2
Elemental Hero Shining Flare Wingman x3
Elemental Hero Shining Phoenix Enforcer x2
Elemental Hero Steam Healer x1
Elemental Hero Tempest x1
Elemental Hero Wild Wingman x1
Elemental Hero Wildedge x3

Total: 28

Should have made your own thread.

Anyway:
Cyber Dragon is limited (Can only have 1 in the Main Deck and Side Deck combined)
Dark Hole, Pot of Greed and Call of the Haunted are Forbidden (Unless you play traditional format, they cannot be in your Main Deck or Side Deck, if you play traditional, they're Limited)

Also, the Fusion Deck is now known as the Extra Deck and has a 15 card MAXIMUM. (In otherwords, you can only have up to 15 Fusion or Synchro monsters in your Extra Deck)

Anyway, as people love to talk about their own decks here. Mine is a Warrior-Synchro, that focuses on using warrior tuners like Jutte Fighter and Junk Synchron, also, I like to use LV4 Light monsters so I can use Lightwave tuning and make lv4 tuners (I currently cannot afford any Rose, Warriors of Revenge). The two work very well together, and it is incredibly easy to summon synchro monsters. Also, as I duel my brother a lot, who uses zombies, my side-deck is filled with anti-zombie cards, and 'Beast of the Pharoah' which could be used against him (he uses Zombie World) or with him in a tag duel.

[grimlin]

as we all need to agree each deck works differently with each person. i have ran the same deck for 5 years and its a one of a kind deck. i get alot of hate when i beat people but it works and im comfortable with it.

i love runnin skill drain in my beatdown cuz it will stop alot of decks in there tracks. royal decree for heavy traps and beast king barbaros with mauseleum of the emperor to get him out quick at the cost of 3000lp and wipe there heavy field. (never fails when played just right)

[Skater Trainer]

as we all need to agree each deck works differently with each person. i have ran the same deck for 5 years and its a one of a kind deck. i get alot of hate when i beat people but it works and im comfortable with it.

i love runnin skill drain in my beatdown cuz it will stop alot of decks in there tracks. royal decree for heavy traps and beast king barbaros with mauseleum of the emperor to get him out quick at the cost of 3000lp and wipe there heavy field. (never fails when played just right)

Necro-post much?

[celebitrainer]

I know balance is crucial in a deck, but there are some decks that just get better and better the more you stock up on monsters (or so it would seem, at least).
Lately I have been stockpiling all the Naturia cards I can get my hands on; so far I have: *3+ copies of every one that came out prior to Duelist Revolution (at least I will once the ones I ordered on Amazon arrive)
*3+ copies of every Naturia monster (except Pineapple, I only have one of them) in Duelist Revolution, as well as 3 Naturia Forests and 2 Landoise's Luminous Moss's
*3 Naturia Dragonflies
*3 Naturia Hornneedles
*1 Naturia Tulip
*1 Naturia Sunflower
*2 Naturia Hydrangeas
*2 Naturia Cliffs
*1 Naturia Fruitfly

See my problem? There are too many different monsters in this archetype for me to possibly include more than one of each in a single deck. I've counted at least 28 (besides the Synchros and Fusion) monsters and a few Spells/Traps on the side; if I successfully obtained 3 copies of every one, the permutations would be practically endless because so many of them have extremely useful and powerful effects.

[~Sirnight~]

Balance is difficult to keep up, especially in the meta we live in with all these different archtypes that sometimes require you to not have balance. Like Lightsworn, which run around 25 monsters, or Gladiator Beasts, which tend to have a smaller amount of monsters, just what's needed.

Naturias are a deck that, while most of the monsters are good and useful, you need to prioritze which ones you run. I'm pretty sure that when it comes to cards like Sunflower, it pales in comparison to focusing on Bambooshoot or Beast. You have Cliff (should be three maybe) searching out your most useful cards, so make sure they're good ones. The key is always prioritizing in the best parts of your theme, and not comforming to rules you think should apply for every deck.

[celebitrainer]

I've been trying to get a third Cliff but had no luck; I'll just have to wait a little while until it becomes a bit more available. Also, all but one of the ones I ordered arrived, so I have put together a practice deck to test my skills with the ones I have.
Also, I'm trying to figure out the right non-Naturia cards to put in the deck; here are my options:
Monster Reborn
Lightning Vortex
Lonefire BlossomX2
GigaplantX2
Giant Trunade
Miracle's Wake
Marshmallon
Defense DrawX3
Magic CylinderX2
The World TreeX2
Miracle FertilizerX3
Wall of Thorns
Polinosis

What do you think; which ones should I or shouldn't I include?

[DarkMagician12]

I often use cards which can do direct attacks, and cards to boost up my Dark Magicians. I do use traps such as Cemetery Bomb, and other ones which can tear apart my opponents deck. Any other things I could do?

[~Sirnight~]

I've been trying to get a third Cliff but had no luck; I'll just have to wait a little while until it becomes a bit more available. Also, all but one of the ones I ordered arrived, so I have put together a practice deck to test my skills with the ones I have.
Also, I'm trying to figure out the right non-Naturia cards to put in the deck; here are my options:
Monster Reborn
Lightning Vortex
Lonefire BlossomX2
GigaplantX2
Giant Trunade
Miracle's Wake
Marshmallon
Defense DrawX3
Magic CylinderX2
The World TreeX2
Miracle FertilizerX3
Wall of Thorns
Polinosis

What do you think; which ones should I or shouldn't I include?

Reborn is always good, no reason not to run it.
Lightning Vortex is generally uneeded, with Dark Hole legal.
Lonefire and Gigaplant are great in anything Plant. Don't forget Tytannial.
Trunade is alright if you play Bambooshoot; clears out any Solemns.
No to Miracle and Marshmallon and Defence Draw. Generally uneccessary.
Cyclinder is meh. If you have room you can run it if you want, but there are better Traps.
No Tree.
Fertilizer; depends on how many Plants you plan to run.
No Wall.
Polinosis; again, depends on how well you get out monsters.

I often use cards which can do direct attacks, and cards to boost up my Dark Magicians. I do use traps such as Cemetery Bomb, and other ones which can tear apart my opponents deck. Any other things I could do?

Direct attacks, okay that's a strategy. So is building around Dark Magician. As is burn damage. As well as deck milling or whatever that last one implies. Together, however, there lacks a theme tying them together. Focus on a single strategy or theme to make the deck more consistent.

[Sweep Freak]

I run a deck that only uses steps one and two. It uses Magical Merchant to kill my entire deck, get a card to get Phantom of Chaos, copy Noreleras, kill my opponent and abuse graveyard effects to summon high powered monsters.

[~Sirnight~]

I run a deck that only uses steps one and two. It uses Magical Merchant to kill my entire deck, get a card to get Phantom of Chaos, copy Noreleras, kill my opponent and abuse graveyard effects to summon high powered monsters.

Step three is about synergy, which a deck like Norleras has to have; there's synergy in Phantom with your big Darks, right? The draw engines you use? Just because it isn't some fancy combo doesn't mean it isn't synergy.

[nzk10]

I run a Crystal Hamon deck (as far as i can tell, on the internet, no one has posted a deck like it, so yay originality!) which is basically a regular Crystal Beast deck (with rainbow dragon, crystal abundance, ancient city rainbow ruins) but i have 3 copies of hamon, who is extremely easy to summon because when crystals die, they turn into continuous spells, so i can sacrifice 3 dead crystals for a hamon. and, best part is, even though they go into the grave when i do that, i can still use them to summon Rainbow Dragon! i also include torrential tribute, because i dont really care if my beasts get destroyed. so? how does the deck concept sound? (in wc10 i have about 70-80% win rate with it. i wanna know if the deck sounds good first before i upload a decklist.)

[Dark Exxod]

I run a Crystal Hamon deck (as far as i can tell, on the internet, no one has posted a deck like it, so yay originality!) which is basically a regular Crystal Beast deck (with rainbow dragon, crystal abundance, ancient city rainbow ruins) but i have 3 copies of hamon, who is extremely easy to summon because when crystals die, they turn into continuous spells, so i can sacrifice 3 dead crystals for a hamon. and, best part is, even though they go into the grave when i do that, i can still use them to summon Rainbow Dragon! i also include torrential tribute, because i dont really care if my beasts get destroyed. so? how does the deck concept sound? (in wc10 i have about 70-80% win rate with it. i wanna know if the deck sounds good first before i upload a decklist.)

There was a dude at locals who ran a Crystal Beast deck almost exactly like yours.....back in May/June 2008.The first time we dueled against eachother in those locals,he acted like a smart-*** since he knew I was running Monarchs(previous to Caius's release,Monarchs didn't do too well against CBs).....Heh,Caius humbled him.

[Skamory7]

Can you guys rate my deck? I don't have a specific type deck because i never buy structure decks. just saying:

Monsters(28):
Paladin of White Dragon
Fabled Kushano
Saber Beetle
Sphinx Teleia
Chaos Sorcerer
Morphtronic Cameran
Morphtronic Clocken
White Horned Dragon
Lord of D.
Goggle Golem
Van' Dalgyon The Dark Dragon Lord
armed Dragon lv5
White Magical Hat
Elemental Stratos
Blue Eyes White Dragon
Dark Tinker
Hedge Guard
Neo Aqua Madoor
Patrician of Darkness
Armed Dragon LV3
Machina Fortress
Inpachi(2)
Hyozanru
Andro Sphinx
Earthbound Immortal Wiraqocha Rasca
Relinquished
Hane-Hane

Spells(19):
White Dragon Ritual
Dian Keto the Cure MAster
Monster Reborn(2)
Flute/Summoning Dragon(x2)
Polymerization
Swords/Revealing Light(2)
Yami
Lightning Vortex
Cursed Armaments
Soul Exchange
Scapegoat
Token Sundae
Black Illusion Ritual
Mystical Space Typhoon(x2)
Tribute to the Doomed
Axe of Despair

Traps(6):
Spellbinding Circle
Ultimate Offering
Sakuresu Armor
Magic Cylinder
Metalmorph
Roar of the Earthbound

Extra Deck(3):
Fabled Valkyrus
Black-Winged Dragon
Dragon Knight Draco Equiste

That's my real life deck in game mine is much better.Please rate my deck

-Skamory7

[Ballistic Buizel]

Can you guys rate my deck? I don't have a specific type deck because i never buy structure decks. just saying:

Monsters(28):
Paladin of White Dragon
Fabled Kushano
Saber Beetle
Sphinx Teleia
Chaos Sorcerer
Morphtronic Cameran
Morphtronic Clocken
White Horned Dragon
Lord of D.
Goggle Golem
Van' Dalgyon The Dark Dragon Lord
armed Dragon lv5
White Magical Hat
Elemental Stratos
Blue Eyes White Dragon
Dark Tinker
Hedge Guard
Neo Aqua Madoor
Patrician of Darkness
Armed Dragon LV3
Machina Fortress
Inpachi(2)
Hyozanru
Andro Sphinx
Earthbound Immortal Wiraqocha Rasca
Relinquished
Hane-Hane

Spells(19):
White Dragon Ritual
Dian Keto the Cure MAster
Monster Reborn(2)
Flute/Summoning Dragon(x2)
Polymerization
Swords/Revealing Light(2)
Yami
Lightning Vortex
Cursed Armaments
Soul Exchange
Scapegoat
Token Sundae
Black Illusion Ritual
Mystical Space Typhoon(x2)
Tribute to the Doomed
Axe of Despair

Traps(6):
Spellbinding Circle
Ultimate Offering
Sakuresu Armor
Magic Cylinder
Metalmorph
Roar of the Earthbound

Extra Deck(3):
Fabled Valkyrus
Black-Winged Dragon
Dragon Knight Draco Equiste

That's my real life deck in game mine is much better.Please rate my deck

-Skamory7

It's nice! Packed with lots of good cards, its just next time theme the deck. That way, you can make some pretty awesome combos and the cards will just work better together as a unit, rather than as a single card.

[Skamory7]

It's nice! Packed with lots of good cards, its just next time theme the deck. That way, you can make some pretty awesome combos and the cards will just work better together as a unit, rather than as a single card.

Screw that deck now. Well, I still have it, but my Morphtronic deck is a LOT better. and, now, they all work together(mental note: lower equip spells from 10 down to somewhere lower). I have a thread for that deck, but i'll post it here. Also, both monster reborns, cylinder, and sakuretsu got lost by my cousin(freak him for that). Alright, here it is:

Monsters(21)
Morphtronic Clocken x1
Morphtronic Boomboxen x1
Morphtronic Radion x1
Morphtronic Videon x1
Morphtronic Celfon x3
Morphtronic Boarden x2
Morphtronic Magnen x2
Morphtronic Lantron x1
Morphtronic Scopen x2
Morphtronic Cameran x1
Morphtronic Vacuumen x1
Morphtronic Slingen x1
Gadget Hauler x2
Gadget Driver x2

Spell(18)
Morphtronic Map x2
Morphtronic Accelerator x1
Junk Box x1
Factory of 100 Machines x1
Mystical Space Typhoon x1
Creature Swap x1
Terraforming x1
Swords of Revealing Light x1
Morphtronic Repair Unit x2
Double Tool C&D x2
Ekibyo Drakmord x1
Axe of Despair x1
Malevolent Nuzzler x1
United We Stand x1
Mage Power x1

Trap(11)
Dark Bribe x1
Morphtransition x1
Bottomless Trap Hole x1
Morphtronic Bind x1
Morphtronic Forcefield x2
Morphtronic Mix-up x1
Skull Lair x1
Mirror Force x1
Windstorm of Etaqua x1
Morphtronic Monitron x1

I hope you like my deck! Please post a rate 1-10 and any cards you would like me to put in or take out...

[the3rdH0kage]

I run an insane Karakuri deck.