I still play the Duel Masters mobile game every day and with each time I just get more upset that they let it die out here instead of letting it become the power house it is in Japan. Happy to see you talking about it just so more people get to hear more about it!
@@fernandobanda5734it absolutely did the first time around, but WOTC actively allowed it to die out here. It was growing in popularity and would have continued to do so if they continued supporting it and implemented proper ban lists.
This is the narrative I tend to see around Duel Masters. AND IT SUCKS! It's just a different card game with the way it plays, and I'd love to have those rules here. But apparently, "It doesn't have a market" because it failed twice. Never because it never got the support it needed. That's infuriating.
@@hickknight I don't know the ins and outs of what the game had or didn't have in the West (other than novelty). I'm just saying it's silly to say they didn't try when they a) Released the exact same game for twelve sets and then b) Spent money not only bringing it back but redesigning it. Companies don't like to lose money either, you know? They didn't "let it die". I'm sure a lot of people would love Duel Masters here. I don't know if enough people would buy it, considering they didn't.
Duel Masters flopping in the west is a damn crime. It's great that it's the cardgame that dominates Japan, but I'm shocked Hasbro and Takara Tomi don't try and revive it here during this craze. And no, I'm not counting Kaijudo as a legit attempt. Not a single person I talk to has any bad memories of this game. It was PEAK. The fact that every other cardgame ever copies it speaks volumes to its strengths.
@@tratanlightbreaker6029 It reminds me of when Dragon Quest (called Dragon Warrior at the time) first came to the west. They looked at the Akira Toriyama art and said "Nah, white folk won't like this" and replaced it with generic western fantasy art. Just because it may not seem as "Western friendly doesn't mean you should throw out a perfectly good quality product. It's the most popular TCG in Japan for a reason, and we're all well aware Japanese TCGs can sell very very well even over here. Can't believe that was Duel Master's second chance.
The card pool gap is so wide between discontinued english versin with current JP cards. It will be a really huge amount of cards must be produced to fill that gap, and I don't think any players will really buy all of those products, which can lead into another bankrupt, again. Even after the official expansion in my country, there's still very few people know Duel Masters is still continues, and it affects the sales of the products distributed here. I don't think language is the main problem, my place has also got official expansion for YGO OCG too and uses JP text cards. Our DM community is very helpful for helping and guiding any new members too, even when they have absolutely no knowledge of reading japanese. Just remember to know your cards and how they works, and opponent does the same, clear
Fun fact most creatures we have today came from duel masters manga series like silvers. Some of the new mechanics that are played today come from powerful effect that have been played in duel masters for years. In fact the new horror 80s set in magic is using duel masters art style and rarity style in thier card designs. Also duel masters was removed from the market because of the japanese market showed that duel masters sold better than magic which can be seen in the ocg market today. They sold the rights to a third company that failed to promote the card game as a new game. However, the card game mechanics are good and have seen update as of the latest version of the game. Can't wait for Duel masters Lost. The manga for magic has a lot of duel master references that people might like.
Ive been getting into game design lately as a hobby, and these TCG essential elements have been invariably useful and very fun to think about. Glad to have found this channel!
That's awesome to hear! Designing card games as a hobby is exactly what made me want to start this channel, so hearing other people with the same interest find it useful is the highest praise!
I am still sad and honestly angry that Duel Masters got discontinued in the west while it's currently one of the biggest games in Japan...The English speaking world killed off the ancestor of alot of the newer tcgs, such as Digimon and Vanguard...If anything Duel Masters should be the biggest game of all time considering the massive influence it has. But no, instead we get stuff like Lorcana and other pale imitations of the game that started it all and does not get the proper respect outside of Japan that it deserves...
Duel Masters was my first TCG, I played it as a kid, I have huge collection of English cards (Just Missing 3 or 4 cards of English sets and I also have some Japanese ones). I tried getting into Magic after I played duel masters because the player base was there... But I never could get into MTG. It just felt so slow, and getting stuck without mana in hand to add really sucked, and I couldn't summon expensive cards so I had to use cheaper cards in Magic. Unlike in Duel Masters when I actually could use any card as a Mana, and then even turn the situation around with my big summons
Definitely interesting to hear that perspective! I cam at Magic after playing Pokemon and Yugioh, and Magic honestly seemed fantastic in comparison. I could definitely understand Magic feeling like a down-grade after playing DM.
You know to be fair, I am sort of glad that Duel Masters didn't see much success in the West. 1. Because companies like Hasbro if they ever fully got their hands on the IP would run that game into the ground. 2. The design for the newer Duel Master cards in Japan takes a lot away from that classic 2000s aesthetic, which, if ported over to a Western audience probably would have killed the game even more. It is a shame though because I remember having several Duel Masters cards at one point during my childhood.
Could you make a video, on duel masters summoning types and how they are played. Ive been into DM but playing DMP and the new set has mechanics i cant really find info on
Personally, I always preferred DM. It "just works" for me. Yet, while researching the TCG rules-based interactions, I have come across people that have an issue with not being able to play anything during their opponents turn (except for Shield Trigger and Blockers of course). And I get why. I feels bad to see your side get annihilated without the chance of any form of retaliation. For this, I really liked the idea of traps in Dragoborne and its inherent lane-based system added way more depth and complexity to this. I think that some sort of traps would be interesting, but on the flipside, too many traps and you end up like Magic where no player wants to attack anymore to not lose their creatures. Great video and looking forward to Part 2 :)
Part two definitely goes into DM's interaction all being based on your own turn. One thing that does come up a few times in the part 2 script is how DM and MTG are often on opposite extremes, and a lot of modern games do something in between - like Traps in Dragoborn, or counter in Vanguard or One Piece.
@@tcgacademia Yeah, the counter mechanic in One Piece is actually my favorite solution to this problem. It adds much more complexity by making the player decide to either discard a creature in hand and power up a creature on the field or maybe lose the current one to play the creature in the hand during the next turn. It's so well thought out, it actually fits in really nicely with DMs philosophy.
Yes. Because multicolor Creatures put in the Mana Zone in DM would give you 1 Mana in theory, but in reality you get 1 Mana for AT LEAST 2 Civs. Giving multis “Mana sickness” makes them fair compared to mono Civ cards
Something maybe important of note about magic's life system of 20 is that it is centered around the idea of using a 20 sided dice which a tabletop game player would likely already own. Nowadays its debatable due to the reach of card games going far beyond people who also play pen and paper rpgs, but the simplicity of just needing a twenty sided die is noteworthy. (Edit:grammar)
I haven't played Duel Masters but having played quite a few games inspired by it, I agree with all your points. I love the flavor of Magic lands, and playing casually the randomness doesn't hurt as bad but everything about trying to draw *A* land is frustrating. Not getting the right color? That's on me for building too greedily. Not being able to play cards on turn 3? Might be my fault but more likely I didn't get that cool landscape and just sat there for a while. Coincidentally, missed growing to level 3 the other day in Wixoss because I got greedy.
I remember the old days of having to spend 3 ener to hit level 4 - missed grows were definitely more common. Don't think I've missed it in Diva so far, but there's definitely been a few situations that have been close. And yeah, one of the most frustrating things about mana is that even with perfect ratios, you still get screwed way more regularly than in most other games' resource systems.
I think the least intuitive part of Magic's system is that it's additive (ie. a 4RR card costs 6, despite 6 being printed nowhere on the card). I've seen a few games use a similar system, but have some pips below the cost total to indicate how many colour source you need to cast it (so 6, with two red pips underneath acts like 4RR in MTG). Seems like a good compromise - Duel Masters can be a bit too simple in that way.
Putting the lack of instants aside, I don't get why the amount of mana each card in Duel Masters gives you doesn't scale with its utility. While the system it has stops you from not being able to play anything, it seems as though the deckbuilding process would be quite similar except that each of your lands has morph, essentially.
The shield concept is, for me, very interesting and it is the one of the main things I liked in Duelmaster. The base is really powerful, if you lost something ("life" in this case) you receive something in change (a card/an effect) to compensate the lost. This is a good chance to balance the game and the "lucky pick" of the topdeck. And the second stuff I loved are the mana system. I really hate the "dead pick" when you draw a land in the middle of the game and this is the same thing have make me to appreciate FoW (Force of Will) because the land are in a separated deck.
The "life point" system in every game have different twist. In Magic/yugioh if you hit your opponent neither take bonus advantage. In Pokémon if you "hit your opponent" you take an advantage (a prize card) can make you stronger make the battle a rampage. In Duelmaster and in a similar manner in Battle Spirits if you damage the opponent they take an "advantage" and that make the duel more balanced in my opinion. Battle Spirits make this system really complex because your mana and your life are connected but the concept is strong. Today we have Digimon and the "mana system" are really interesting. If you play a big card you take the risk to give at your opponents a lot of point for play numerous card/a strong card to balance the game.
Great video man. For that layout you had of the 6 different types of systems in the game, is that from anywhere? Trying to learn more about game design. I agree that having varience in the resource engine is not fun.
It's actually from an earlier video series I did for the channel - essential elements of tcg design. It's not the be-all, end-all, but I do find it useful as a way of breaking down different elements in a card game, especially if you're looking to compare them.
Duel Masters was/is the best TCG there ever was. And i don’t mean the others are bad in comparison. But if you have ever played this, you would be well versed with this amazing gameflow that exists in DM due to all cards doubling down as mana & cards respectively. Also not having to bring dices, life counters, etc. is just amazing and simple game design (in a good way). Looking at the japanese version becoming a behemoth of a game, I wonder why they haven’t tried to bring it back in the west. I mean yes, they’d need to bring all the old cards back again givem they are awesome in conjunction to each other when creating a metagame but they’d also need to offer newer japanese cards with maybe alternative artworka as modern DM cards as so different from the earlier cards in comparison (much more anime-looking and with newer borders). Having the option to reprint those with more classic designs would be awesome. This is the one TCG that does it all but got robbed of its legacy hard in the west. Wish we could bring it back.
Gameflow is something I find really important in tcgs and DM really does flow really well. At this point it would be really difficult to bring the game over to the west unless there's some kind of huge format rotation, but it would still be nice to see them try, especially given how well the tcg scene in general is doing right now.
Duel Masters from a design perspective absolutely succeeds at its goals - to be a easy to learn, light card game targeted at children. I dont think that removing points of frustration, like lands actually make it a better game though. There is so much granulairity to magic design that has allowed it to be long lasting game that is popular with everyone from pro tour hall of fame players to Timmy at the commander table. Lets look specifically at how lands effect limited play. The choice to add mana fixing lands, at which rarity and with what specific effect can change a format from being focused on mono color, two color, 5 color, etc. I dont believe that level of design space is really possible in such a discrete way in DM. Magic isnt perfect but its long lasting appeal speaks to how strong its core tennants of design are
I do still like Magic a lot (and still draft it regularly), and I think it's very easy to overstate the negatives of lands. I still generally prefer systems without land cards, though, and Duel Masters still has plenty of tools to nudge players to mono-colour, dual-colour, three-colour, etc.
I lost my deck when I was around 2nd grade. This is so long ago. And I could not remember what game it was. But just seeing tbat back cover made me remember, and it seems I really like playing dark looking cards in any card game since childhood, hahaha XD
aside from the obvious issue in video, or I would rather call it the tradeoff, using land system, a dedicated card type for resources inside a deck, is actually has advantage namely the addition of design spaces. The more you see lands from mtg and card that interacts with it, it's getting interesting how many design spaces it offer. But back to the tradeoff, there are some that straight up makes it a non game. So what I wanna say is, the land system is not that terrible but I think if you want to make a land system, I think you need to make adjustments, recent example that appears are Lorcana's Ink, it's the middle ground of land system and duel master, or from dead game I know, Zenonzard also have their twist of Land System which is super interesting. With that said Duel Master mana system is also great, in the end where you take inspiration, be critical about it
Absolutely! I think it's easy to be overcritical of lands, and there's also a ton of other options to consider as well. Being critical is absolutely the right call when working on a resource system - it's not a matter of one just being 'the right way to do things.'
@@tcgacademia I used to be so anti-land, the mana screw/flood possibility sounds stupid. But looking at different angle, it definitely has some merits. But those mana screw/flood moment can still happen hahah
I've been meaning to check out SWU - it does look interesting. Although I am getting tired of everything being a franchise these days (I say as I preorder a vtuber tcg 😆 ).
@@tcgacademia so many IP games especially for very large IPs is a little exhausting. The old SWCCG player in me has a soft spot for Star Wars games. SWU feels like they got a lot right with the engine.
@@tcgacademia that there are no OG tcg themes anymore? yeah, its an easy jumping off point to get people interested, however that then leads to expectations and you live/die on the back of said IP. unless you use multiple, which risks losing players quicker... I feel a big rumble in tcgs will be coming soon though!
While personally I think duel Masters is much better in its design then magic, magic dose have some interesting points for its favor A difference I think works for magic favor over duel masters is having veritable color costs in there card (potentially needing one two or more of that cards color) it’s an avenue that helps magic the gathering makes different enough cards in the same color at the same mana value (if you look at three cost in duel Masters you can see it’s incredibly difficult for the game to make interesting new 3 cost without having it being creature type specific supports) But I understand if they did it magics Way it would conflict with how the games “ cost reduction” rulings work (as the reason you can only reduce cards down to one cost is One is the minimum you need to pay for a cards color cost)
The card pool gap between discontinued DM english and official JP cards is too wide, like if YGO were having the same fate, the TCG would like only existed up to the 1st series Battle City arc while the OCG is continuing until today. And it very not worth it to start catch up from that point, but it's also not good to restart from the latest series, since the game is literally allow using any printed cards that's within regulations. Even some decks still use DM-04 Gigavolver against modern Heaven's Gate decks
Yeah - unfortunately there's such a huge gap in card pool that I think it would be really difficult for DM to return to english, unless it was an online client like Master Duel.
I honestly think that's a big part of the reason it failed in the west. The name sounds like a yugioh knock-off, so a lot of people (myself included) never gave it a chance.
@@tcgacademia Do still have my old Duel Master cards, though as usual, never did play well. Me and my younger brother, being the only ones with the cards in town, and neither really having much english comprehension skills, didn't help sementing the game. Though, as the case was with all other card games, the playground really just used them to flip coins, as nobody could read or understand them yet.
It was all done on purpose, since both of them originate as using MtG as the base. Also, don’t think for a second that the editors in CoroCoro along with the heads at WoTC did not know of the success Yugioh had in Shonen Jump in the late 90’s. Trust me, they were very aware of what they were doing when they named the game.
As a mechanical system, I'd agree 100%. Although it's not focus of this video, I do think Magic's system works better than DM as a tool for roleplaying, though, so I do think there's a reason it's still doing well, beyond just sunk cost.
@@kagemushashien8394I know you weren't asking me but I feel like it comes from a few different things. 1. The player has a role in the "story" to actually play (plainswalker) 2. The gameplay matches the flow of the story (building up lands which plainswalkers draw their magic from and then using that magic) 3. The cards themselves are weaved into the world, they are not just random monsters but creatures that fit into the story. All of these come together to allow you to be a character within a story as you are playing the game. You are a plainswalker, using lands from the plane you're in to gain mana, using that mana to summon creatures that are part of that world or are from past plains you've visited. And you're fighting against an opponent doing the same.
@@bryce7344 How about my story: You are a Melder, you Meld together world's that I have created, characters, stories, universes, combine them into your deck and play your favorite characters, items, events, etc from the stories you like and love. The goal? Well it's just a friendly brawl with your opponent, it's like football, but you are the commander, and you don't have to stay in your respective post, you can join your friends on the frontline, ever fought together with your favorite character from the story I created from another game/show? Well now you can, and the possibilities are somewhat limitless. Create your own story within the brawl. There's more... Many formats and game modes you can choose from, from in universe lore formats, to newly designed ones ready to have their own story, or create your own, Home rules are official, or maybe meld formats together. And perhaps it will be the next installment, I made sure it's as versatile as the standard 52 card decks... There's more, the cards themselves are part of a bigger picture, each story has their own content to choose from, either they have their own official game, show, book, movies, etc, or a combination, their worlds are more than just cardboard merch, and it's all connected, all cannon, through the card game... So basically my own MCU with a Tron Legacy and Ready Player One twist, but with my own special sauce to make it original, some stories may be references, some inspired, and others, original...
@@bryce7344How about my story: The player's are a Melder, they Meld together world's that I have created, characters, stories, universes, combine them into your deck and play your favorite characters, items, events, etc from the stories you like and love. The goal? Well it's just a friendly match with your opponent, it's like football, but you are the commander, and you don't have to stay in your respective post, you can join your friends on the frontline, ever wanted to fight side by side together with your favorite character from the story from another medium but was created by me? Well now you can, and the possibilities are somewhat limitless. Create your own story within the confines of a simulation of what I have created. There's more... Many formats and game modes you can choose from, from in universe lore formats, to newly designed ones ready to have their own story, or create your own, Home rules are official, or maybe meld formats together. And perhaps it will be the next installment. There's even more, the cards themselves are part of a bigger picture, each story has their own content to choose from, either they have their own official game, show, book, movies, etc, or a combination, their worlds are more than just cardboard merch, and it's all connected, all cannon, through the card game. So basically my own MCU with a Tron Legacy and Ready Player One twist, but with my own special recipe to make it original, some stories may be references, some inspired, and others, original.
i don't know... i tried it "back then" in real live as well as the videogames and even now but even watching current games it's mostly like a non interactive game. Watching a duel is mostly like "play mana, tap mana, play card" while the other one is watching. Since nobody attacks until you have at least 6 creatures out or can finish in one go the game becomes quite boring since nothing much happens. That was even the case back then were ygo at least had traps to do something during your opponement turn and a few quick spell cards it's even more weird to watch it now. I mean yeah Digimon kinda has the same issue but during a turn there just happens "more"
The two reasons I don't really care for Magic are the mana and battle system. DM has the more interesting resource considerations. Do I want this card later or do I play it as mana now so I can play cheaper cards now? Magic is if you have land you play land. I also find the kind of... fire and forget combat system where the opponent just figures out how to block to be pretty boring. I like the way DM lets me target things a lot more. DM has it's own issues, other than blocking and shield triggers there's not a whole lot you can do on your opponents turn and it doesn't exist outside of japan. And MTG does allow for way funkier boardstates which is where the game can get fun for me.
I mean, you do have to figure out what's the best block so that you know if your attack is going to be advantageous for you. Your opponent technically decides what to block with, but they really don't "decide" all the time. There are often good attacks to be made, and so decisions are limited for both players, but there's plenty of boardstates where the attacking player decides much more than the defending player. In DM, it's the other way around. You almost always have perfect attacks because you know there's no interaction. If your opponent has tapped creatures and you're not winning that turn, you're probably eating every creature that you can. I wouldn't call that fun either. I guess the most fun is when creatures would trade and there's a real decision.
@@fernandobanda5734 Sure but whenever I play Magic I always miss being able to choose a target, I can't just attack a creature unless I have a specific card, it always feels like something is missing.
@@morzathoth919 Blocking in Magic would be the analogous action. If your opponent attacks and you have a bigger creature, you can eat it for free, which means your opponent probably won't attack. This is the same as in Duel Masters. But I understand that it doesn't "feel" the same.
I actually don't love end-of-turn draws in most games, since it's hard to plan what you're doing until you know what the opponent is doing. Like you can sequence X, Y, and Z on your next turn, but then the opponent attacks, or doesn't attack, or destroys one of your creatures, or plays another creature on their side, and you have to reevaluate your plan. So you're not gaining much in planning time since you don't know the conditions of your next turn, and you're also losing the big hit of excitement in drawing an unknown card to start your turn. It works in certain games, like Flesh and Blood, but I think start-of-turn draw is a better default.
I have heard from others discoussing the mana problem that some people really dislike that they have to sacrifice some cards to function as mana. I have heard it explained almost like a violation towards the players freedom of playing all the cards that they have put in their deck.
But i feel like other card games also lets their players constantly gets a choice where they have to prioritise among their game plans and as a result, have to let go of some plans to realize others. As an example, the pokemons ultra ball where you have to sacrifise two cards to tutor a "creature" from your deck. Or slay the spire where you often get into a crossroad of choosing a card to add to your deck thats either good for the coming fights in the near future or a really good card for the late game. With all this said i would like to make a case for the player experience of always evaluating and revaluating the needs to realize the game plan, even if some sacrifices have to me made.
from my experience playing dm it was always a pretty easy choice because no card in your deck was precious, early game you drop that double breaker into mana to play a weenie and late game you draw another power card and drop a weenie into mana to play it. even the niche tech cards you could usually tell within a turn if you would need them against your opponent's deck so they were always a reliable mana drop in most situations too
I kind of get that - I still prefer systems that let you play your cards reliably, but sacrificing an opportunity to play your big, cool dragon because you need to use it as mana instead can be a feel bad - although like Dimitar mentions, the secret is to just run multiple copies.
As much as I prefer duel masters over magic the gathering, without one, we really wouldn't have the other. Also, I don't know if RUclips deleted your reply to my comment. But my "too many tcg flavors put into one basket" idea is still available.
Yeah - I spell this out more clearly in part 2, but this is less about one being 'better', and more just reflecting on how a change in focus has such a big change on the rules mechanics. And yeah - keeping the "overflowing flavour basket" idea in my back pocket, but I think I have the rest of my videos for the year more or less planned out at this point. Always appreciate ideas, though! I never know when I'll come up against a block and need an idea to pull out for a video.
I have to say that as much as I like always having enough lands with duel masters, the execution is somewhat... ugly. An upside down card is just not very aesthetically pleasing and will always confuse me as to whether it was displaced by accident or not. The "any card as land" approach also completely removes manabase considerations. A good manabase is very satisfying to play with. Even more so if it's aesthetic too.
While I definitely see your point, resources in most games tend to devolve into messy piles of cards sitting on top of each other, so I don't mind DM being less aesthetic there. And you still need to balance your colour ratios in a 'any card as a resource' system, much the same as a land-based system. Magic does have it's own appeal there, though, for sure.
@@tcgacademia unless you're playing casual commander and everybody has 40 lands in play, I don't see the messiness in it. There are certainly horribly messy players, but that's considered bad practice.
@@admiralcasperr Back when I played (in a variety of formats), myself and other players would stack lands when casting spells and, depending on the decks in question, they might sit it all sorts of weird piles during the game. Definitely never bothered me, but it is a thing I could see bothering someone.
Typically you'd have your shields in the middle with creatures in front and mana behind, and I honestly find it quite aesthetically pleasing. In magic it usually turns into a bit of a mess when I have lands, creatures, artifacts, planeswalkers and/or enchantments in play and can't find a good way to organize them (ofc. not a huge problem in constructed/draft, mostly commander, but still)
LOL😆 For real, though, I actually still like Magic a fair bit, and still play semi-regularly - I just also like other games as well and I think some games work better than MTG in certain area. Especially lands.
No life/hp is bad. Single number (biggest number wins! Yay......:yawn:) attack value is bad, though admittedly magics combat isn't better by having dual combat stats. Original VS system had the best combat in any ccg I have played.
At the basic level, DM might have a better system, but those arts are not very pleasing. It feels like the worst of both worlds between the western and Japanese Aesthetics.
Have to disagree with you. The land system absolutely influences deck building, but I wouldn't say for the better. Lands result in too many non games and are restrictive to those that don't want to dish out for better lands. Never seen anyone excited to slip a steam vents into their deck, opposed to a Bolzard Dragon. I think DM has less variance for the baseline of participating in the game. Both fantastic games though, played them both since release.
Creature lands have been in the game for ages now, so it's not like it's 100% recent, but yeah, with all the recent spell lands it definitely feels like they're a lot more comfortable nudging their approach closer to DM now.
I still play the Duel Masters mobile game every day and with each time I just get more upset that they let it die out here instead of letting it become the power house it is in Japan. Happy to see you talking about it just so more people get to hear more about it!
I don't think trying twice is "letting it die". It didn't have a market here.
@@fernandobanda5734kaijudo was an awful attempt to reboot it.
@@fernandobanda5734it absolutely did the first time around, but WOTC actively allowed it to die out here. It was growing in popularity and would have continued to do so if they continued supporting it and implemented proper ban lists.
This is the narrative I tend to see around Duel Masters. AND IT SUCKS! It's just a different card game with the way it plays, and I'd love to have those rules here. But apparently, "It doesn't have a market" because it failed twice. Never because it never got the support it needed. That's infuriating.
@@hickknight I don't know the ins and outs of what the game had or didn't have in the West (other than novelty). I'm just saying it's silly to say they didn't try when they a) Released the exact same game for twelve sets and then b) Spent money not only bringing it back but redesigning it. Companies don't like to lose money either, you know? They didn't "let it die".
I'm sure a lot of people would love Duel Masters here. I don't know if enough people would buy it, considering they didn't.
Duel Masters flopping in the west is a damn crime. It's great that it's the cardgame that dominates Japan, but I'm shocked Hasbro and Takara Tomi don't try and revive it here during this craze. And no, I'm not counting Kaijudo as a legit attempt. Not a single person I talk to has any bad memories of this game. It was PEAK. The fact that every other cardgame ever copies it speaks volumes to its strengths.
The Kaijudo reboot was even bigger crime.
@@tratanlightbreaker6029
It reminds me of when Dragon Quest (called Dragon Warrior at the time) first came to the west. They looked at the Akira Toriyama art and said "Nah, white folk won't like this" and replaced it with generic western fantasy art.
Just because it may not seem as "Western friendly doesn't mean you should throw out a perfectly good quality product. It's the most popular TCG in Japan for a reason, and we're all well aware Japanese TCGs can sell very very well even over here.
Can't believe that was Duel Master's second chance.
The card pool gap is so wide between discontinued english versin with current JP cards.
It will be a really huge amount of cards must be produced to fill that gap, and I don't think any players will really buy all of those products, which can lead into another bankrupt, again.
Even after the official expansion in my country, there's still very few people know Duel Masters is still continues, and it affects the sales of the products distributed here.
I don't think language is the main problem, my place has also got official expansion for YGO OCG too and uses JP text cards. Our DM community is very helpful for helping and guiding any new members too, even when they have absolutely no knowledge of reading japanese. Just remember to know your cards and how they works, and opponent does the same, clear
TWICE 😢 MY MONEY
@@tratanlightbreaker6029seriously
Fun fact most creatures we have today came from duel masters manga series like silvers. Some of the new mechanics that are played today come from powerful effect that have been played in duel masters for years. In fact the new horror 80s set in magic is using duel masters art style and rarity style in thier card designs. Also duel masters was removed from the market because of the japanese market showed that duel masters sold better than magic which can be seen in the ocg market today. They sold the rights to a third company that failed to promote the card game as a new game. However, the card game mechanics are good and have seen update as of the latest version of the game. Can't wait for Duel masters Lost. The manga for magic has a lot of duel master references that people might like.
Ive been getting into game design lately as a hobby, and these TCG essential elements have been invariably useful and very fun to think about. Glad to have found this channel!
That's awesome to hear! Designing card games as a hobby is exactly what made me want to start this channel, so hearing other people with the same interest find it useful is the highest praise!
I am still sad and honestly angry that Duel Masters got discontinued in the west while it's currently one of the biggest games in Japan...The English speaking world killed off the ancestor of alot of the newer tcgs, such as Digimon and Vanguard...If anything Duel Masters should be the biggest game of all time considering the massive influence it has. But no, instead we get stuff like Lorcana and other pale imitations of the game that started it all and does not get the proper respect outside of Japan that it deserves...
Yeah. It doesn't need to be number one in NA - I just wish we could play it without whipping out a translation sheet.
Duel Masters was my first TCG, I played it as a kid, I have huge collection of English cards (Just Missing 3 or 4 cards of English sets and I also have some Japanese ones). I tried getting into Magic after I played duel masters because the player base was there... But I never could get into MTG. It just felt so slow, and getting stuck without mana in hand to add really sucked, and I couldn't summon expensive cards so I had to use cheaper cards in Magic.
Unlike in Duel Masters when I actually could use any card as a Mana, and then even turn the situation around with my big summons
Definitely interesting to hear that perspective! I cam at Magic after playing Pokemon and Yugioh, and Magic honestly seemed fantastic in comparison. I could definitely understand Magic feeling like a down-grade after playing DM.
You know to be fair, I am sort of glad that Duel Masters didn't see much success in the West.
1. Because companies like Hasbro if they ever fully got their hands on the IP would run that game into the ground.
2. The design for the newer Duel Master cards in Japan takes a lot away from that classic 2000s aesthetic, which, if ported over to a Western audience probably would have killed the game even more.
It is a shame though because I remember having several Duel Masters cards at one point during my childhood.
Could you make a video, on duel masters summoning types and how they are played. Ive been into DM but playing DMP and the new set has mechanics i cant really find info on
Personally, I always preferred DM.
It "just works" for me.
Yet, while researching the TCG rules-based interactions, I have come across people that have an issue with not being able to play anything during their opponents turn (except for Shield Trigger and Blockers of course). And I get why.
I feels bad to see your side get annihilated without the chance of any form of retaliation.
For this, I really liked the idea of traps in Dragoborne and its inherent lane-based system added way more depth and complexity to this.
I think that some sort of traps would be interesting, but on the flipside, too many traps and you end up like Magic where no player wants to attack anymore to not lose their creatures.
Great video and looking forward to Part 2 :)
Part two definitely goes into DM's interaction all being based on your own turn. One thing that does come up a few times in the part 2 script is how DM and MTG are often on opposite extremes, and a lot of modern games do something in between - like Traps in Dragoborn, or counter in Vanguard or One Piece.
@@tcgacademia Yeah, the counter mechanic in One Piece is actually my favorite solution to this problem. It adds much more complexity by making the player decide to either discard a creature in hand and power up a creature on the field or maybe lose the current one to play the creature in the hand during the next turn. It's so well thought out, it actually fits in really nicely with DMs philosophy.
Same here. Duel masters could easily have become an alternative format for players who still like MTG lore.
I have a question.
Why multicoloured Duel Masters cards(Fire/Nature for example) are tapped when placed in mana zone? Balancing reasons?
Yes. Because multicolor Creatures put in the Mana Zone in DM would give you 1 Mana in theory, but in reality you get 1 Mana for AT LEAST 2 Civs. Giving multis “Mana sickness” makes them fair compared to mono Civ cards
Something maybe important of note about magic's life system of 20 is that it is centered around the idea of using a 20 sided dice which a tabletop game player would likely already own. Nowadays its debatable due to the reach of card games going far beyond people who also play pen and paper rpgs, but the simplicity of just needing a twenty sided die is noteworthy.
(Edit:grammar)
You still need to remember to put that die in your pocket 😆 But yeah, a single d20 is a pretty handy way of tracking life.
I haven't played Duel Masters but having played quite a few games inspired by it, I agree with all your points.
I love the flavor of Magic lands, and playing casually the randomness doesn't hurt as bad but everything about trying to draw *A* land is frustrating. Not getting the right color? That's on me for building too greedily. Not being able to play cards on turn 3? Might be my fault but more likely I didn't get that cool landscape and just sat there for a while. Coincidentally, missed growing to level 3 the other day in Wixoss because I got greedy.
I remember the old days of having to spend 3 ener to hit level 4 - missed grows were definitely more common. Don't think I've missed it in Diva so far, but there's definitely been a few situations that have been close. And yeah, one of the most frustrating things about mana is that even with perfect ratios, you still get screwed way more regularly than in most other games' resource systems.
I wonder if we can have a blend of "Spells are lands" and Magic's card cost system (2 Red and 2 Generic rather than 4 with at least one being Red).
I think the least intuitive part of Magic's system is that it's additive (ie. a 4RR card costs 6, despite 6 being printed nowhere on the card). I've seen a few games use a similar system, but have some pips below the cost total to indicate how many colour source you need to cast it (so 6, with two red pips underneath acts like 4RR in MTG). Seems like a good compromise - Duel Masters can be a bit too simple in that way.
Oh yes, I have lost track of how many times I miscounted how much my cards cost because of the pips.
Putting the lack of instants aside, I don't get why the amount of mana each card in Duel Masters gives you doesn't scale with its utility. While the system it has stops you from not being able to play anything, it seems as though the deckbuilding process would be quite similar except that each of your lands has morph, essentially.
I really wish there was an official "Duel Masters" format for MTG.
Love that there are people that think TCGs need more random factors besides drawing random cards each turn to be exciting
I feel like mtg might have changed their minds about the resource differences with mdfc
The shield concept is, for me, very interesting and it is the one of the main things I liked in Duelmaster. The base is really powerful, if you lost something ("life" in this case) you receive something in change (a card/an effect) to compensate the lost.
This is a good chance to balance the game and the "lucky pick" of the topdeck.
And the second stuff I loved are the mana system. I really hate the "dead pick" when you draw a land in the middle of the game and this is the same thing have make me to appreciate FoW (Force of Will) because the land are in a separated deck.
The "life point" system in every game have different twist.
In Magic/yugioh if you hit your opponent neither take bonus advantage.
In Pokémon if you "hit your opponent" you take an advantage (a prize card) can make you stronger make the battle a rampage.
In Duelmaster and in a similar manner in Battle Spirits if you damage the opponent they take an "advantage" and that make the duel more balanced in my opinion.
Battle Spirits make this system really complex because your mana and your life are connected but the concept is strong.
Today we have Digimon and the "mana system" are really interesting. If you play a big card you take the risk to give at your opponents a lot of point for play numerous card/a strong card to balance the game.
Great video man. For that layout you had of the 6 different types of systems in the game, is that from anywhere? Trying to learn more about game design.
I agree that having varience in the resource engine is not fun.
It's actually from an earlier video series I did for the channel - essential elements of tcg design. It's not the be-all, end-all, but I do find it useful as a way of breaking down different elements in a card game, especially if you're looking to compare them.
@@tcgacademia I appreciate the info my friend, will have to check that video out.
Duel Masters was/is the best TCG there ever was. And i don’t mean the others are bad in comparison.
But if you have ever played this, you would be well versed with this amazing gameflow that exists in DM due to all cards doubling down as mana & cards respectively. Also not having to bring dices, life counters, etc. is just amazing and simple game design (in a good way).
Looking at the japanese version becoming a behemoth of a game, I wonder why they haven’t tried to bring it back in the west.
I mean yes, they’d need to bring all the old cards back again givem they are awesome in conjunction to each other when creating a metagame but they’d also need to offer newer japanese cards with maybe alternative artworka as modern DM cards as so different from the earlier cards in comparison (much more anime-looking and with newer borders). Having the option to reprint those with more classic designs would be awesome.
This is the one TCG that does it all but got robbed of its legacy hard in the west. Wish we could bring it back.
Gameflow is something I find really important in tcgs and DM really does flow really well. At this point it would be really difficult to bring the game over to the west unless there's some kind of huge format rotation, but it would still be nice to see them try, especially given how well the tcg scene in general is doing right now.
I’m creating a card game that’s a combination of both duel masters and yugioh
sharing it anywhere? i just made my own too, actually! 😂 would love to compare notes
Duel Masters from a design perspective absolutely succeeds at its goals - to be a easy to learn, light card game targeted at children.
I dont think that removing points of frustration, like lands actually make it a better game though. There is so much granulairity to magic design that has allowed it to be long lasting game that is popular with everyone from pro tour hall of fame players to Timmy at the commander table.
Lets look specifically at how lands effect limited play. The choice to add mana fixing lands, at which rarity and with what specific effect can change a format from being focused on mono color, two color, 5 color, etc. I dont believe that level of design space is really possible in such a discrete way in DM.
Magic isnt perfect but its long lasting appeal speaks to how strong its core tennants of design are
I do still like Magic a lot (and still draft it regularly), and I think it's very easy to overstate the negatives of lands. I still generally prefer systems without land cards, though, and Duel Masters still has plenty of tools to nudge players to mono-colour, dual-colour, three-colour, etc.
it isn't a batter game, it's a different game, and sometimes that's enough
3 "Rare cases"
Finally, I found the game I have been playing unknowingly in my childhood. For fuck's sake it took me what, more than 10 years?! I'm 22 now, fuck!!!
I lost my deck when I was around 2nd grade. This is so long ago. And I could not remember what game it was. But just seeing tbat back cover made me remember, and it seems I really like playing dark looking cards in any card game since childhood, hahaha XD
Follow-up after reading the comments here, it seems I took too long to rediscover this game. Fuck!!!
Can’t wait for part 2
aside from the obvious issue in video, or I would rather call it the tradeoff, using land system, a dedicated card type for resources inside a deck, is actually has advantage namely the addition of design spaces. The more you see lands from mtg and card that interacts with it, it's getting interesting how many design spaces it offer. But back to the tradeoff, there are some that straight up makes it a non game. So what I wanna say is, the land system is not that terrible but I think if you want to make a land system, I think you need to make adjustments, recent example that appears are Lorcana's Ink, it's the middle ground of land system and duel master, or from dead game I know, Zenonzard also have their twist of Land System which is super interesting.
With that said Duel Master mana system is also great, in the end where you take inspiration, be critical about it
Absolutely! I think it's easy to be overcritical of lands, and there's also a ton of other options to consider as well. Being critical is absolutely the right call when working on a resource system - it's not a matter of one just being 'the right way to do things.'
@@tcgacademia I used to be so anti-land, the mana screw/flood possibility sounds stupid. But looking at different angle, it definitely has some merits. But those mana screw/flood moment can still happen hahah
Next you should include Star Wars Unlimited, it's a fascinating tale on the Magic based formula
star wars unlim reminds me of Runeterra as well with the prio system.
@@MattIsAMage I will check that out
I've been meaning to check out SWU - it does look interesting. Although I am getting tired of everything being a franchise these days (I say as I preorder a vtuber tcg 😆 ).
@@tcgacademia so many IP games especially for very large IPs is a little exhausting. The old SWCCG player in me has a soft spot for Star Wars games. SWU feels like they got a lot right with the engine.
@@tcgacademia that there are no OG tcg themes anymore? yeah, its an easy jumping off point to get people interested, however that then leads to expectations and you live/die on the back of said IP. unless you use multiple, which risks losing players quicker... I feel a big rumble in tcgs will be coming soon though!
While personally I think duel Masters is much better in its design then magic, magic dose have some interesting points for its favor
A difference I think works for magic favor over duel masters is having veritable color costs in there card (potentially needing one two or more of that cards color) it’s an avenue that helps magic the gathering makes different enough cards in the same color at the same mana value (if you look at three cost in duel Masters you can see it’s incredibly difficult for the game to make interesting new 3 cost without having it being creature type specific supports)
But I understand if they did it magics Way it would conflict with how the games “ cost reduction” rulings work (as the reason you can only reduce cards down to one cost is One is the minimum you need to pay for a cards color cost)
The card pool gap between discontinued DM english and official JP cards is too wide, like if YGO were having the same fate, the TCG would like only existed up to the 1st series Battle City arc while the OCG is continuing until today.
And it very not worth it to start catch up from that point, but it's also not good to restart from the latest series, since the game is literally allow using any printed cards that's within regulations. Even some decks still use DM-04 Gigavolver against modern Heaven's Gate decks
Yeah - unfortunately there's such a huge gap in card pool that I think it would be really difficult for DM to return to english, unless it was an online client like Master Duel.
I keept mixing up Duel Masters with Duel Monsters (what the Yu-Gi-Oh! shows called the game.)
I honestly think that's a big part of the reason it failed in the west. The name sounds like a yugioh knock-off, so a lot of people (myself included) never gave it a chance.
@@tcgacademia
Do still have my old Duel Master cards, though as usual, never did play well. Me and my younger brother, being the only ones with the cards in town, and neither really having much english comprehension skills, didn't help sementing the game.
Though, as the case was with all other card games, the playground really just used them to flip coins, as nobody could read or understand them yet.
It was all done on purpose, since both of them originate as using MtG as the base. Also, don’t think for a second that the editors in CoroCoro along with the heads at WoTC did not know of the success Yugioh had in Shonen Jump in the late 90’s. Trust me, they were very aware of what they were doing when they named the game.
THESE WERE ALL THREE YEARS APART???? WE NEVER STOOD A CHANCE
I know, right? Putting together the timeline for this was actually wild.
duel masters>>>>>>>>>>>>>mtg
As a mechanical system, I'd agree 100%. Although it's not focus of this video, I do think Magic's system works better than DM as a tool for roleplaying, though, so I do think there's a reason it's still doing well, beyond just sunk cost.
@@tcgacademia How do I make my TCG able to be roleplayable?
@@kagemushashien8394I know you weren't asking me but I feel like it comes from a few different things.
1. The player has a role in the "story" to actually play (plainswalker)
2. The gameplay matches the flow of the story (building up lands which plainswalkers draw their magic from and then using that magic)
3. The cards themselves are weaved into the world, they are not just random monsters but creatures that fit into the story.
All of these come together to allow you to be a character within a story as you are playing the game. You are a plainswalker, using lands from the plane you're in to gain mana, using that mana to summon creatures that are part of that world or are from past plains you've visited. And you're fighting against an opponent doing the same.
@@bryce7344 How about my story:
You are a Melder, you Meld together world's that I have created, characters, stories, universes, combine them into your deck and play your favorite characters, items, events, etc from the stories you like and love. The goal? Well it's just a friendly brawl with your opponent, it's like football, but you are the commander, and you don't have to stay in your respective post, you can join your friends on the frontline, ever fought together with your favorite character from the story I created from another game/show? Well now you can, and the possibilities are somewhat limitless. Create your own story within the brawl.
There's more... Many formats and game modes you can choose from, from in universe lore formats, to newly designed ones ready to have their own story, or create your own, Home rules are official, or maybe meld formats together. And perhaps it will be the next installment, I made sure it's as versatile as the standard 52 card decks...
There's more, the cards themselves are part of a bigger picture, each story has their own content to choose from, either they have their own official game, show, book, movies, etc, or a combination, their worlds are more than just cardboard merch, and it's all connected, all cannon, through the card game...
So basically my own MCU with a Tron Legacy and Ready Player One twist, but with my own special sauce to make it original, some stories may be references, some inspired, and others, original...
@@bryce7344How about my story:
The player's are a Melder, they Meld together world's that I have created, characters, stories, universes, combine them into your deck and play your favorite characters, items, events, etc from the stories you like and love. The goal? Well it's just a friendly match with your opponent, it's like football, but you are the commander, and you don't have to stay in your respective post, you can join your friends on the frontline, ever wanted to fight side by side together with your favorite character from the story from another medium but was created by me? Well now you can, and the possibilities are somewhat limitless. Create your own story within the confines of a simulation of what I have created.
There's more... Many formats and game modes you can choose from, from in universe lore formats, to newly designed ones ready to have their own story, or create your own, Home rules are official, or maybe meld formats together. And perhaps it will be the next installment.
There's even more, the cards themselves are part of a bigger picture, each story has their own content to choose from, either they have their own official game, show, book, movies, etc, or a combination, their worlds are more than just cardboard merch, and it's all connected, all cannon, through the card game.
So basically my own MCU with a Tron Legacy and Ready Player One twist, but with my own special recipe to make it original, some stories may be references, some inspired, and others, original.
i don't know... i tried it "back then" in real live as well as the videogames and even now but even watching current games it's mostly like a non interactive game.
Watching a duel is mostly like "play mana, tap mana, play card" while the other one is watching. Since nobody attacks until you have at least 6 creatures out or can finish in one go the game becomes quite boring since nothing much happens. That was even the case back then were ygo at least had traps to do something during your opponement turn and a few quick spell cards it's even more weird to watch it now. I mean yeah Digimon kinda has the same issue but during a turn there just happens "more"
Yeah we need a duel masters remastered cause magic lands pisses me off
The two reasons I don't really care for Magic are the mana and battle system. DM has the more interesting resource considerations. Do I want this card later or do I play it as mana now so I can play cheaper cards now? Magic is if you have land you play land. I also find the kind of... fire and forget combat system where the opponent just figures out how to block to be pretty boring. I like the way DM lets me target things a lot more.
DM has it's own issues, other than blocking and shield triggers there's not a whole lot you can do on your opponents turn and it doesn't exist outside of japan. And MTG does allow for way funkier boardstates which is where the game can get fun for me.
I mean, you do have to figure out what's the best block so that you know if your attack is going to be advantageous for you. Your opponent technically decides what to block with, but they really don't "decide" all the time. There are often good attacks to be made, and so decisions are limited for both players, but there's plenty of boardstates where the attacking player decides much more than the defending player.
In DM, it's the other way around. You almost always have perfect attacks because you know there's no interaction. If your opponent has tapped creatures and you're not winning that turn, you're probably eating every creature that you can. I wouldn't call that fun either. I guess the most fun is when creatures would trade and there's a real decision.
@@fernandobanda5734 Sure but whenever I play Magic I always miss being able to choose a target, I can't just attack a creature unless I have a specific card, it always feels like something is missing.
@@morzathoth919 Blocking in Magic would be the analogous action. If your opponent attacks and you have a bigger creature, you can eat it for free, which means your opponent probably won't attack. This is the same as in Duel Masters.
But I understand that it doesn't "feel" the same.
Definitely agree, although there is a certain satisfaction turning your board sideways and leaving the math to the blocker 😆
Years late the One Piece TCG would come out and, I think, perfect what Magic and Duel Masters were going for.
I'm not sure it perfects the system, but OP is a really good game, and I've really been enjoying playing it.
I really feel tcgs should have you draw at end of turn. That way you have opponents turn to figure out what you are gonna do on your turn.
I actually don't love end-of-turn draws in most games, since it's hard to plan what you're doing until you know what the opponent is doing. Like you can sequence X, Y, and Z on your next turn, but then the opponent attacks, or doesn't attack, or destroys one of your creatures, or plays another creature on their side, and you have to reevaluate your plan. So you're not gaining much in planning time since you don't know the conditions of your next turn, and you're also losing the big hit of excitement in drawing an unknown card to start your turn. It works in certain games, like Flesh and Blood, but I think start-of-turn draw is a better default.
I have heard from others discoussing the mana problem that some people really dislike that they have to sacrifice some cards to function as mana. I have heard it explained almost like a violation towards the players freedom of playing all the cards that they have put in their deck.
But i feel like other card games also lets their players constantly gets a choice where they have to prioritise among their game plans and as a result, have to let go of some plans to realize others.
As an example, the pokemons ultra ball where you have to sacrifise two cards to tutor a "creature" from your deck.
Or slay the spire where you often get into a crossroad of choosing a card to add to your deck thats either good for the coming fights in the near future or a really good card for the late game.
With all this said i would like to make a case for the player experience of always evaluating and revaluating the needs to realize the game plan, even if some sacrifices have to me made.
from my experience playing dm it was always a pretty easy choice because no card in your deck was precious, early game you drop that double breaker into mana to play a weenie and late game you draw another power card and drop a weenie into mana to play it.
even the niche tech cards you could usually tell within a turn if you would need them against your opponent's deck so they were always a reliable mana drop in most situations too
Also, that's why you have multiple copies of a card. Even if you use one for mana early on, you can still summon another copy of it later in the game.
I kind of get that - I still prefer systems that let you play your cards reliably, but sacrificing an opportunity to play your big, cool dragon because you need to use it as mana instead can be a feel bad - although like Dimitar mentions, the secret is to just run multiple copies.
As much as I prefer duel masters over magic the gathering, without one, we really wouldn't have the other.
Also, I don't know if RUclips deleted your reply to my comment.
But my "too many tcg flavors put into one basket" idea is still available.
Yeah - I spell this out more clearly in part 2, but this is less about one being 'better', and more just reflecting on how a change in focus has such a big change on the rules mechanics. And yeah - keeping the "overflowing flavour basket" idea in my back pocket, but I think I have the rest of my videos for the year more or less planned out at this point. Always appreciate ideas, though! I never know when I'll come up against a block and need an idea to pull out for a video.
I have to say that as much as I like always having enough lands with duel masters, the execution is somewhat... ugly. An upside down card is just not very aesthetically pleasing and will always confuse me as to whether it was displaced by accident or not. The "any card as land" approach also completely removes manabase considerations. A good manabase is very satisfying to play with. Even more so if it's aesthetic too.
While I definitely see your point, resources in most games tend to devolve into messy piles of cards sitting on top of each other, so I don't mind DM being less aesthetic there. And you still need to balance your colour ratios in a 'any card as a resource' system, much the same as a land-based system. Magic does have it's own appeal there, though, for sure.
@@tcgacademia unless you're playing casual commander and everybody has 40 lands in play, I don't see the messiness in it. There are certainly horribly messy players, but that's considered bad practice.
@@admiralcasperr Back when I played (in a variety of formats), myself and other players would stack lands when casting spells and, depending on the decks in question, they might sit it all sorts of weird piles during the game. Definitely never bothered me, but it is a thing I could see bothering someone.
Typically you'd have your shields in the middle with creatures in front and mana behind, and I honestly find it quite aesthetically pleasing. In magic it usually turns into a bit of a mess when I have lands, creatures, artifacts, planeswalkers and/or enchantments in play and can't find a good way to organize them (ofc. not a huge problem in constructed/draft, mostly commander, but still)
why are we comparing 2 completely different games?
Damn you like to shit on MTG every time you get the chance, huh? LOL
LOL😆 For real, though, I actually still like Magic a fair bit, and still play semi-regularly - I just also like other games as well and I think some games work better than MTG in certain area. Especially lands.
Magic is the oldest TCG, so obviously its base mechanics that it has barely changed are going to be outdated and its biggest weakness.
No life/hp is bad.
Single number (biggest number wins! Yay......:yawn:) attack value is bad, though admittedly magics combat isn't better by having dual combat stats.
Original VS system had the best combat in any ccg I have played.
Can you elaborate on the no life/hp is bad?
At the basic level, DM might have a better system, but those arts are not very pleasing. It feels like the worst of both worlds between the western and Japanese Aesthetics.
I disagree, I think Most duel masters cards really pop in a special way
People that just say lands in mtg are bad just don't understand how they shape deck building for the better
Have to disagree with you. The land system absolutely influences deck building, but I wouldn't say for the better. Lands result in too many non games and are restrictive to those that don't want to dish out for better lands. Never seen anyone excited to slip a steam vents into their deck, opposed to a Bolzard Dragon. I think DM has less variance for the baseline of participating in the game. Both fantastic games though, played them both since release.
@@Baboon-nk4wq You're right, I was thinking about competitive Magic, for casual play probably it Just sucks.
I feel like mtg might have changed their minds about the resource differences with mdfc
Creature lands have been in the game for ages now, so it's not like it's 100% recent, but yeah, with all the recent spell lands it definitely feels like they're a lot more comfortable nudging their approach closer to DM now.
plus the lands, that have alternative functions like cycle lands or boseiju allows you to use them in the late game as well.