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After completing the tutorial, Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel will give the player one of three starter Structure decks to pick. On top of that, there are a trio of other Structure decks the player can purchase for 500 Gems, and each of these can be bought 3 times.
While fairly similar in power, not all of these decks are created equal. While none of these decks are ready to climb to the top of the ladder on their own, they can help build a collection.
This brings up a question: which Structure deck is truly the best?
The starter Decks are where all players begin in Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel
There are three Starter decks that players can pick up, and each of them is just fine, offering a different way to play the game.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel starter decks
- Power of the Dragon
- Synchro of Unity
- Link Generation
All three of these decks can ultimately be unlocked easily, but the player only gets one to start with. For beginners or players just coming back to Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel, Power of the Dragon is a solid pick. It’s a typical beatdown deck with high-damage monsters. Lots of dragons and big beaters to win matches with.
Synchro of Unity is for Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel fans of Synchro Summoning and makes things a bit more complicated. That deck also contains a very powerful removal spell, in Mystical Space Typhoon and is useful in so many decks. This deck is built around Warrior-Type monsters and allows them to summon powerful Synchro monsters that can boost attack points.
Finally, there’s Link Generation, which is the most complex of the starter decks. Link Summoning brings a powerful monster from the Extra Deck, usually by sacrificing specific monsters already in play. It’s a key to many meta decks, so having knowledge of this gameplay style is important.
As far as the other Structure Decks, they are there at the time of writing. Each has their own merits, but is one stronger than the others?
Structure Decks for Purchase in Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel
- Rage of Cipher
- Magician of Pendulum
- Re-Contract Universe
Rage of Cipher is all about Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon
Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon is an incredible monster, a Rank 8 XYZ which can take control of an enemy monster for the turn. It also boosts their attack and negates their effects. That cannot be understated when it comes to power.
You can only control that monster for one turn though, and only the original Galaxy-Eyes can attack that turn. There are also other powerful monsters to overlay on top of it though, for more serious effects - Neo Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon, Galaxy-Eyes Cipher X Dragon, and Cipher Blade Dragon, for example.
It’s important to keep that Cipher Dragon in play too, as it’s really important to batter other players into bits. It will no doubt be a target, and there will be spells to help summon bigger monsters such as Rank-Up-Magic Cipher Ascension and Constellar Belt.
This is the first deck the writer bought, because at the time, they were playing a lot of Dragons in both ranked and casual play.
Re-Contract Universe combines “ZW” monsters with XYZ monsters
ZW cards are the Zeal Weapon cards and are important to the overall strategy. Players will want to focus on getting monsters like Number 39: Utopia, Ultimate Draconic Utopia Ray or Ultimate Leo Utopia Ray into play, and buffing them.
It’s a very monster-centric deck, and so players want to fill the board as fast as possible. Buffing them with ZW cards is going to be key as well, and dominate the board with powerful effects from those XYZ monsters.
It also has plenty of Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel cards to boost summon speed, or cards to fetch powerful monsters (Zexal Destruction). In particular, ZS - Ascended Sage is a great opener for this deck, as it can be Special Summoned if the player has nothing in play. If players can get the right cards in play early, it’s devastating.
Magician of Pendulum conveniently focuses on Pendulum Summoning
Magician of Pendulum is the most complex of the three decks, but it also comes with incredible power. It’s a deck that, if the player understands how Pendulum Summoning works, can potentially Pendulum Summon every single turn and dominate games.
The deck also has at least one Fusion, Pendulum, Synchro, and XYZ monster in it, so it’s got variety on top of that. It’s heavy on the Magicians and Performapal monsters since they rely on Pendulum Summoning.
This means the Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel deck will want to get stuff out like Timegazer Magician and Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer to begin the proceedings. If a player has no cards in their Pendulum Zones as well, they can activate Amazing Pendulum, to add two “Magician” Pendulum Monsters that are face-up in the extra deck.
This comes as a result of being sent from the field to the graveyard - putting them in their hands. Suddenly, it’s very easy to kick off some Pendulum shenanigans. It has plenty of cards to help find the necessary summon material, and very quickly overwhelms the opponent.
Magician of Pendulum is the best
Magician of Pendulum has the most flexibility, variety, and raw power on tap out of any of the structure decks. All three of the decks are good and require knowledge of the game’s mechanics they utilize, of course.
Magician of Pendulum is ready to go when it comes to the world of Pendulum Summoning, and doesn’t really need a lot else to make it work. It may not climb the ladder like a real meta deck, but it’s, for this writer’s money, the best deck.
It also has very useful, powerful cards in it like Pot of Avarice and Pendulum Fusion, both of which can be used elsewhere.That’s the real power of Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel Structure decks - getting cards the duelist needs to build other decks faster.
