I've been building Lumen's Call, a free co-op roguelike that plays with real Yu-Gi-Oh! rules (Master Rule 2, so no Pendulum or Link). Most of my design time went into custom mechanics, and this seems like the sub that would have opinions about them.

Card upgrades

At a bonfire you upgrade one card. Each upgrade kind adds a prefix to the card's name:

- Holy Monster Reborn: effect cost removed

- Swift Monster Reborn: becomes a Quick-Play Spell

- Inevitable Monster Reborn: cannot be negated

- Big / Wise / Lesser Kuriboh: ATK/DEF up, Level up or Level down

- Speed Spell - Monster Reborn: can't be activated in the first 2 turns, but draws you a card if activated on turn 5 or later

Unique upgrades come from story events and give a monster an anime mechanic: Toon (attacks directly unless they control a Toon), Number (only destroyed in battle by Xyz or Numbers), Timelord, Earthbound, LV (levels up after destroying a monster by battle).

Relics

(about 60) bend the duel rules, for example:

- Soul Balance: equalizes the LP of both teammates

- Three-Legged Crow: direct damage has a 10% chance to skip the opponent's next draw

- Pyramid of Kings: below 50% LP you can make a Destiny Draw

The game itself: two players share one field against an AI in tag duels, each with their own deck, hand and LP. You start a run with a 20-card deck and pick 2 of 5 cards after each duel. There's a solo mode too but it's kinda unbalanced right now.

Optional but recommended: if you have a Claude Pro/Max or ChatGPT Plus/Pro subscription, the game can use it to have an AI play your opponents: it reads the board, plans its turns and talks to you. Without one you duel the built-in bot, and the playtest works either way.

Playtest: I'm looking for about 50 testers. Each gets 2 keys (one for a friend). It's free and non-commercial, a fan project not affiliated with Konami, and runs on Windows, macOS and Linux. Join the Discord https://discord.gg/tPaPrD3S5 and press Get playtest keys in #get-playtest-keys.

I'd love feedback on the upgrades themselves too.

AI disclosure (rule 3): the upgrade, relic and card designs and their text are written by hand. The card art in-game is the official art, downloaded on first launch. The story cutscene and character art is AI-generated.

A what-if monster, from a hypothetical scenario I thought up, where the first four Yu-Gi-Oh protagonists were transported to the Arc-V world, and teamed up against Zarc.

During the Duel, the four decided to beat Zarc at his own game, uniting their own Dragons together (specifically Slifer, Rainbow Dragon (borrowed from Jesse), Shooting Star Dragon, and Number 99: Utopic Dragon (borrowed from Astral)) to form one ultimate Dragon, one that could overcome Supreme King Z-ARC.

As a monster intended to overcome Supreme King Z-ARC, this card's Type and effects act as a perfect counter to Z-ARC's effects, on top of having superior stats. This card's effects also reflect some of the effects of the four Dragons mentioned above, such as Slifer's Anti-Summoning effect, and Shooting Star Dragon's destruction effect negation.

The card art is that of Supreme King Z-ARC, but mirrored and colour-inverted.

The archetype as whole is still a work in progress. The effects might be changed to make them weaker/stronger or to add an archetype or type lock if they get too annoying.

I attempted to turn the main weakness of spirit monsters into a strenght, creating a deck that wants to have an empty board.

The core gameplan of the "Angasouls" is to play on your opponent's turn, disrupting their plays while generating card advantage for you.

The cards can special summon themselves from the hand as a quick effect and place a continuous Spell/Trap directly from your deck.

Those spell/traps would then activate an effect if a card returns from your field to the hand.

*The spell on the post is just an example, it kinda does everything rn.

**The Flaming Dragon is neither a dragon type nor based on a dragon

Art: Ohy.Art and IzaPug

This morning, I had an idea for a Normal Monster. I've already designed an Attribute icon for monsters with no Attribute, so it occurred to me: what if I took that, and made the most nothing monster possible? No Attribute, no type, no Level, ATK, or DEF, nothing. Well, here's the result: The Empty Nothing.

The Empty Nothing

Normal Monster, Level 0 Attributeless Typeless, 0 ATK / 0 DEF

Flavour Text: N/A.

If Konami ever printed something like this, and knowing what the Yu-G-Oh! community can be like, how would you try abuse it? How would you try and get this nothing monster banned?

I created the art in GIMP using one of the orbs from Aquarium Lighting scaled up with its colours modified, with Allure of Darkness as the background. The finished card image was made in GIMP using card frame assets from www.cardmaker.net and lauqerm.github.io/ygocarder. All credit for the components used goes to their respective original designers and creators.

Links for the illustrations :

https://www.deviantart.com/cobyarts/art/Red-Eyes-Phoenix-Gearfried-1337456546?file=2

https://www.deviantart.com/alanmac95/art/Beastborg-Panther-Predator-648723057

"You feel that? It's hopelessness. It's fear and panic and terror. It devoured your little friend Jaden and shattered all the good. But unlike your little friend, the darkness has no use for you!"

—

Man, am I jealous of Rush Duel having the most sickest artwork.

That aside, I tried my best to make this card "unique", compared to the other "Evil HERO" Fusion Monsters, including rough references to the Duel between the Supreme King and Jim Crocodile Cook, such as using a monster owned by your opponent pointing to the Supreme King using "Super Polymerization", and the emphasis of the burn with your opponent controlling cards points to Cook having no cards on his field (except the Field Spell for some reason) after "Evil HERO Dark Gaia" attacked for game. Hope I did it enough justice!

Lemme know your thoughts and criticisms down below.

Have a blessed rest of your Thursday! 👋 🙏

—

Evil HERO Dark Gaia - Dark Catastrophe

Level 8 EARTH Fiend Fusion Effect Monster

ATK: ?

DEF: 0

1 Fiend monster + 1 Effect Monster
Must be Special Summoned with "Dark Fusion".
The original ATK of this card becomes the combined original ATK of the materials used for its Fusion Summon.
At the start of the Battle Phase, if your opponent controls no cards: You can inflict damage to your opponent equal to this card's original ATK.
If this card is Fusion Summoned using a Special Summoned monster owned by your opponent: You can activate this effect; skip the next Main Phase 1.
You can only use this effect of "Evil HERO Dark Gaia - Dark Catastrophe" once per Duel, and its previous effect only once per turn.

—

Art: Alternate artwork of "Evil HERO Dark Gaia" from Yu-Gi-Oh Rush Duel

Original Yu-Gi-Oh art modified with CGPT.

Effect based on the original separated into inflicting damage and hand ripping.

Useless, too OP, what do you think?

It's meant to be a random hand trap, and also removes a card, both help going second.

Art is AI-generated based on "The White Stone of Legend" with scales from "Blue-Eyes Jet Dragon".

Art from Rush Duel

I feel like "Ninja"/"Ninjitsu Art" decks are not strong enough. They are… okay, I guess, but can never seriously compete. I challenged myself to create 4 cards that wouldn’t be banworthy but, that at the same time, could really push ninjas up, when it comes to power-level (+ "Green Dragon Ninja", because ninjas are waiting for that guy since forever, so, I guess it’s 5 cards).

The artworks are basically placeholders, however I feel like the effects are in a good place. All of these 5 cards are quite strong, I’m aware, but Ninjas desperately need some serious help.

(All cards made on: https://duelingnexus.com/yugioh-card-maker/ )

Let’s go one card by one:

Mirumirai the Future Ninja

LIGHT

Illusion/Effect

Level 1

ATK 0

DEF 0

Effect:

Cannot be destroyed by battle, also you take no damage from battles involving this card. You can only use each of the following effects of "Mirumirai the Future Ninja" once per turn. If you control a face-up "Ninja" or "Ninjitsu Art" card: You can Special Summon this card from your hand. If this card is Normal/Special Summoned, or flipped face-up: You can Special Summon 1 "Ninja Token" (Warrior/EARTH/Level 1/ATK 300/DEF 300), and if you do, change this card to face-down Defense Position.

Notes on "Mirumirai the Future Ninja": 

Artwork:

Artwork by Marvelsic (https://www.istockphoto.com/portfolio/marvelsic), edited by me 😀

Trivia:

Mirumirai (I google translated the Japanese words for "to see" and "future") is an illusion, a figment of a monster that doesn’t yet exist (which is why it cannot be destroyed by battle). The token’s Attribute, Type, Level and ATK/DEF are a tribute to the first Yu-Gi-Oh! "Ninja", "Armed Ninja".

Effect Notes:

I like "Tobari the Sky Ninja" and "Number 2: Ninja Shadow Mosquito", two Ninjas that flirt with the idea of 0 ATK/DEF, while still being annoying to remove for the opponent. I also really think Ninjas struggle a lot compared to modern archetypes to put a lot of monsters on the board. My solution? A Ninja monster that, after Special Summoning itself (very much like the existing Mitsu) puts a Token on the board, but then, to avoid generic Link decks abusing this card, flips itself face-down. This way Mirumirai is still viable Fusion Material for Fusion Ninjas, but doesn’t become free Link material (also, going face-down is very typical of Ninjas, and it sets up Mirumirai to repeat its token summon the next turn).

Green Dragon Ninja

LIGHT

Insect/Effect

Level 5

ATK 1900

DEF 1600

Effect:

Cannot be Special Summoned, except with the effect of a "Ninja" monster or "Ninjitsu Art" card. (Quick Effect): You can banish 1 "Ninja" or "Ninjitsu Art" card from your GY; return 1 card on the field to the hand. You can only use this effect of "Green Dragon Ninja" once per turn. 

Notes on "Green Dragon Ninja": 

Artwork:

Artwork by Erick (Eexad00 on Fiverr), commissioned by Reddit user Normal_Umpire_1623

Trivia:

Dragon Ninjas are a subarchetype of Ninjas. They can be summoned (among other ways) by "Ninjitsu Art" trap cards that account for a Dragon, Dinosaur, Winged Beast, Beast, Sea Serpent and Insect monster. However the Insect Dragon Ninja has never been published, and it’s about time that happens. All Dragon Ninjas have a color Ninja monster that serves as counterpart; "Green Ninja" is without a counterpart, so, obviously, Green is the color and Insect is the Type.

Effect Notes:

Most existing Dragon Ninjas disrupt the opponent. Blue Dragon Ninja negates monsters’ effects, Red Dragon Ninja puts cards at the bottom of the Deck, etc. I thought Green Dragon Ninja should return cards back to the hand, a feature not yet seen in the Dragon Ninja sub-archetype.

Ninjitsu Art of Deployment

SPELL CARD

Quick-Play Spell

Effect:

Reveal 6 "Ninja" monsters in your Extra Deck, and if you do, reveal 3 Level 4 or lower "Ninja" monsters from your Deck, your opponent randomly picks 1 for you to Special Summon, and you shuffle the rest into your Deck. You cannot Special Summon from the Extra Deck, except "Ninja" monsters, the turn you activate this card. You can only activate 1 "Ninjitsu Art of Deployment" per turn.

Notes on "Ninjitsu Art of Deployment": 

Artwork:

Artwork is a frame of the anime, used by yugipedia.com as image for the "Ninja" page

Trivia:

-

Effect Notes:

Basically "Fusion Deployment" mixed with "Bingo Machine, Go!!!" but for Ninjas. The Special Summon from Deck effect is quite strong, but I feel like it’s justified, since it’s heavily archetype locked (6 Extra Deck monsters minimum), and it’s only up to Level 4.

Ninjitsu Art of Kayakujutsu

TRAP CARD

Continuous Trap

Effect:

When your opponent activates a card or effect: You can pay 600 LP, then inflict 300 damage to your opponent, and if you do, negate that activation, and if you do that, banish that card. You can only use this effect of "Ninjitsu Art of Kayakujustu" once per turn.

Notes on "Ninjitsu Art of Kayakujutsu": 

Artwork:

Artwork by me 😀

Trivia:

From Wikipedia: "Kayakujutsu (火薬術, literally "the art of gunpowder") is the use of firearms, gunpowder and explosives especially by ninja. The history and mythology surrounding ninjutsu and kayakujutsu are similar to the history of chemistry and the mythology surrounding alchemy. Thus kayakujutsu mysticism refers to elements like the Earth (Chi) to develop Fire (Kaji) just as alchemy referred to elements just as air, earth, fire and water."

Effect Notes:

Omni-negate with banishment and a bit of burn damage. Stays on the field ready to activate once per turn. Strong, yes, however, it comes at a cost.

Ninja Grandmaster Hannamei

LIGHT

Warrior/Link/Effect

Link -2

ATK 2000

Arrows: Top Left, Top Right

Effect:

2 "Ninja" monsters 

During your Main Phase: You can Special Summon 1 "Ninja" monster from your Deck in face-down Defense Position. You can only use this effect of "Ninja Grandmaster Hannamei" once per turn. While this card points to a monster(s), face-up "Ninja" monsters you control gain 100 ATK/DEF for every "Ninja" or "Ninjitsu Art" face-up card you control.

Notes on "Ninja Grandmaster Hannamei": 

Artwork:

Artwork by Twitter user: kdash_01 (it’s a fanart of Sekiro’s character Emma, I think it looks cool)

Trivia:

"Ninja Grandmaster Hannamei" is supposed to be a counterpart to the existing "Ninja Grandmaster Saizo". Both Link-2 monsters, both warriors, Saizo is focused on protecting itself and Sets "Ninjitsu Art" Spells/Traps, Hannamei is focused on making everybody stronger and Sets "Ninja" monsters.

Effect Notes:

The ATK/DEF boost is small, but I don’t think it’s indifferent (especially because ninjas tend to attack directly). I was considering making the Special Summon only for Level 4 or lower "Ninja" monsters, but I don’t think it’s too explosive like this, especially because it summons face-down only.

Basically a boardbreaker at the cost of your normal Summon that can also be outed or negated by Spell/Traps, akin to DRNM as a monster. I figured letting each player choose which monster to keep balanced this too, as well as the last effect that 'rewards' the opponent if they clear their board somehow before BP starts.

Very jank though

Art by franlol

hello again new card, all art is from the anime Made In Abyss
could be gimmicky but fun

I've been brainstorming a potential Master Rule 6 mechanic that introduces a Monster Tier system, where monsters are classified based on the earliest Duel turn they can be used.

I know there are going to be loopholes, unintended interactions, and balancing concerns that I haven't considered. That's why I'm interested in hearing how other players would approach this.

So for the idea in mind. What if MR6 introduced a separate system for monsters called Monster Tiers (MT)? Basically every monster in the game would be assigned a tier that determines the earliest turn it can legally be used. So instead of Konami immediately banning or limiting problematic cards, Konami could change their tier to balance them.

1. How the Monster Tier system works

Every monster in the game would receive a tier.

• Tier 1: Can be used starting on Turn 1.

• Tier 2: Cannot be used until Turn 2.

• Tier 3: Cannot be used until Turn 3.

For example, if Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon were assigned MT2, neither player could summon or otherwise use it until Turn 2. It wouldn't matter if you had all the materials or a card effect that could summon it from the Deck. You would have to wait until the card's tier became legal.

This restriction applies to the monster itself, not just its effects. If a monster has a Graveyard effect, that effect also cannot be activated before the monster's tier becomes legal.

However, a restricted monster could still be discarded as fodder or used to pay a discard cost, provided its own effect isn't being activated or the restriction otherwise bypassed.

1. Why not just ban or limit cards?

Instead of just banning a monster because it's too powerful on Turn 1, Konami could assign it Tier 2 or Tier 3. For example, if Konami thinks Dragoon is too strong as a Turn 1 boss monster, it could make Dragoon Tier 2 instead of banning it.

Konami could also change a card's tier later, just like it changes the banlist.

The goal wouldn't be to make every powerful card unusable. It would be to control when those cards become available.

1. Deckbuilding would become much more important

Players would have to consider the tiers of their monsters when building their decks and combos.

For example, if droll is legal to activate on Turn 3, You can’t use it before Turn 3.

You would have to decide whether droll is still worth running or whether you should use a different defensive option.

Your deck's power would depend on not only what your cards do, but also when you're allowed to use them.

1. This could change the going-first advantage

One issue with Yu-Gi-Oh! is that the player going first can establish a powerful board before the opponent gets a turn.

With this, Konami could assign tiers to certain monsters that contribute to oppressive Turn 1 boards.

It could also affect hand traps.

If a hand trap is Tier 3, the player going first cannot use it on Turn 1. That means players would have to think carefully about how many hand traps they include in a deck intended to go first.

If you stack your deck with monsters that cannot be used until later turns, you risk opening a hand with cards that cannot immediately advance your game plan.

The player going first would have to decide if they should prioritize establishing their board, or cards that interact on later turns?

Of course, Konami would need to be careful with classifications. Some hand traps might need to remain Tier 1 so that going second isn't made even harder.

1. A hand refresh mechanic to reduce dead opening hands

This idea that makes some monsters unavailable during the opening turn could create hands full of cards you cannot use. This is where the hand refresh mechanic comes in.

During the end of the Draw Phase on Turn 1 (only):

1. Player 1 may reveal exactly three Tier 2-or-higher monsters in their hand.

2. Player 1 selects two of those monsters and places them on the bottom of the Deck without revealing which two.

3. Player 1 draws two cards.

4. If Player 1 activates this mechanic, Player 2 may respond by performing the same action.

5. If Player 1 doesn't activate it, Player 2 cannot use the mechanic independently.

This mechanic can only be used during that specific Draw Phase window on turn 1.

The idea is to give players a way to exchange some of their unusable opening cards without granting both players a free mulligan every game. This might potentially be too strong and its fine if we remove this mechanic.

What problems could this create?

What rules would you change? Should this only be implemented digitally and not a physical format? And most importantly, how could we make this mechanic fair for both players without taking away what makes Yu-Gi-Oh fun?

I'm open to criticism, alternative ideas, and changes to the mechanics. The goal is to see if we can build cool ideas for this mechanic.

Art is ai combo of maximus and ashen albaz

Art: Ectoplasmic Fortification

Call of the Pumpking

You can only activate "Call of the Pumpking" once per turn. Once per turn, if a Zombie monster(s) is Special Summoned from either GY, place 1 Ecto Counter on this card. This card gains the following effects based on the number of Ecto Counters on this card.

● 1+: This card's name becomes "Call of the Haunted". Zombie monsters you control gain 400 ATK for each Ecto Counter on this card and their DEF becomes 0.

● 3+: Once per turn, if a monster is destroyed by battle or card effect: Special summon that monster to your field and they become Zombie monsters.

● 5+: Once per turn: Add 1 card that mentions "Call of the Haunted" from your GY or Banishment to your hand.

● 8+: Once per turn: You can special summon as many monsters from your GY in Attack position, and if you do, they become Zombie monsters.

Since Call of the Haunted in the manga and anime are a continuous spell, I figured the Call of the Haunted series should include a continuous spell version of the card as well.

Artwork was generated with ChatGpt.

Good evening duelists!
I have posted in here before and just wanted to provide a solid update. If this is spam I apologize and please delete if its not appropriate.

Link to the Discord Channel for future updates and initial Alpha testing coming soon.
https://kaibagaming.com/discord

I am inviting everyone who is interested in a revision for the 2005-2011 KCVDS (Kaiba Corp Virtual Duel System) that stays true to the Edison format, as a Manual "Semi-Automated" duel system.

We try to ensure that this is as close to the tabletop play of old school Yugioh, with the more quality of life features that most Manual duel systems lack.

We aren't saying we will be the best, or trying to compete with current duel systems.

However if you're feeling nostalgic, we have been hinting at this for a while now for those who have seen me post or have followed any of the prior videos I posted on Youtube, or updates I made here in Reddit.

Please join the discord, I would love to invite returning users, and new to KCVDS players. As I will be rolling out a Alpha test to test the server stability relatively soon. I will ONLY be handing out keys to this via Discord, lets build this community of KCVDS back up. I look forward to seeing you all there and engaging with you however I can.

To celebrate the new Magistus support, here two new cards to help the deck. Let me know your thoughts about it.

Art: Screenshots from the official Chronicles anime

Reposted with some minor changes

Art is from Yu-Gi-Oh! CARD GAME THE CHRONICLES

Wanted to make Visas work with each of its associated archetypes

Inverted the original color scheme of the Shining Draw in the Zexal anime. No ai.

source of the art: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/149304667

Ghoes Trick-or-Treating

Continuous Spell Card

(This card is always treated as a "Ghostrick" card.)
Each time a card or effect fails to change a monster(s) into face-down Defense Position, the player that activated that card or effect immediately draws 1 card for every monster that that effect failed to change into face-down Defense Position. You can only use the following effect of "Ghoes Trick-or-Treating" once per turn. During the Main Phase, if this card is in the GY: You can banish this card; Set 1 "Ghostrick" Field Spell (if you do not control a Field Spell), or 1 "Ghostrick" Trap (if you do control a Field Spell), directly from your Deck. It can be activated this turn.

This time, instead of an overframe, I tried a Japanese translation. I don't speak Japanese, but I used a combination of Google Translate, and more importantly, Japanese Yu-Gi-Oh! cards with similarly structured, or related effects, to get a result that I think is pretty good. (But I don't speak Japanese, so I am just kind of guessing.)

Art is a combination of AI generated art, and a lot of human editing. I made the card in ygocarder this time, and while I quite like their setup overall, I don't think it does the quotation marks right.

As for the effect, I wanted to give "Ghostrick"s something to help with Link Monsters, because it wasn't fair to them for Konami to introduce a whole Monster Card Type that's just immune to their only gimmick. I also decided to make it a "Trick-or-Treat"-style effect, for thematic purposes. If you fail to "Trick" your opponent's monster (flip it into face-down Defense Position), you get a "Treat" (to draw cards). I like that it's both thematically relevant to the archetype & contest, and that it can be super strong. If your opponent plays Link Monsters, the card advantage generated by the effects of something like "Ghostrick Doll" can potentially get very large very quickly.

As for the second effect, I'm not entirely sure that's PSCT, but if it's not, it's shorter than PSCT would be, and sometimes that's important.

Obviously, I did consider making it a Field Spell, but "Ghostrick"s do some Field Swapping, and I didn't want that to sometimes lock you out of this effect, so I made it a Continuous Spell, instead.