- The senior producer of Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel has spoken about the game and his vision for it
- He is excited by the prospects of turning Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel into a beloved esports title
- To that end, Master Duel will adopt a uniform banlist for both TCG and OCG players and will opt in for a best-of-one format
Kenichi Kataoka has spoken about his vision for Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel esports. He revealed the competitive league will feature a best-of-one format and will adopt a universal banlist.
Kataoka Speaks About Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel Esports
With the new Yu-Gi-Oh! video game, Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel, quickly proving to be a resounding success, the game’s developers are already eyeing an esports league. The esports news outlet Upcomer shared a translation of an interview between the game’s senior producer and 4gamer.net.
Kenichi Kataoka, the senior producer of Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel, confirmed there will be an esports league in the game. He said that he envisions leagues for both the TCG and OCG variants of the game as well as a world championship event. Kataoka said that he can’t reveal much more than that but promised fans that more news will be released very soon.
Master Duel Will Play by Its Own Rules
The Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel league will adopt a brand new rule set that will differ from the original card game and its various digital adaptations. As of now, Master Duel’s list of banned and limited cards will be different from both the TCG and the OCG.
The TCG and the OCG are the two variants of the game and have some notable differences. The OCG (original card game) is the Asian version of Yu-Gi-Oh! which receives new cards a few months prior to its Western counterpart, the TCG (trading card game). Master Duel will try to avoid this dissonance by implementing its own unique rule set that is the same for all players. Kataoka summarized it the following way:
“As this will be a game where duelists from around the world will compete with each other, it will be done with a separate ruleset unique to this game that does not follow the Yu-Gi-Oh OCG/TCG formats. For more details, please play the game and check for yourself.”
Best-of-One Will Replace Best-of-Three
Lastly, competitive Yu-Gi-Oh! will also be undergoing a change. Because Master Duel doesn’t have a best-of-three mode, it will instead opt in for a best-of-one format. According to Kataoka, this change is intentional and in line with the latest developments in competitive Yu-Gi-Oh!
“These battle rules take inspiration from the latest Yu-Gi-Oh OCG/TCG master rules and are more focused on single battles. We do not currently have information regarding other rulesets at this time. For now, we hope you enjoy competing against each other in single battles.”
