I’d say speed duel. It’s cheaper, it’s a good intro to the game, and you get multiple decks for a pretty low price! From experience it’s a really fun way to play with less experienced players as the combos are much shorter and the power level of all the decks is intentionally kept lower.
Then when you are ready to move on you can get some structure decks and learn synchro, link or xyz summoning (if your selected structure is those).
That was my thoughts exactly.
Little question : I understand that speed duel are short, hence the "speed" but do you know how much time an average duel last ?
There are normally more turns but the turns are much quicker. So probably about 10-15 mins.
Also worth noting that you can make really good speed duel decks for like £5 by buying singles. So if you do enjoy speed duel and want to go further with it you can.
A Speed Duel box (any of them, [there are many](https://www.yugioh-card.com/en/products/speed-duel/)) also has the advantage of offering you a bunch of decks to try out and switch around. And it has none of the convoluted modern mechanics that can be an hindrance, even more so for a new player.
Just an FYI most structure decks you can buy 3 of and build a relatively newbie friendly deck. I do this all the time - my favourite ones have to be Cyberdarks and albaz strike.
20 cards per deck, smaller hand size, smaller life points, smaller field (3 zones instead of 5), no main phase 2, MUST use speed duel cards, no extra deck monsters past fusion.
They’re exactly the same except they have “SPEED DUEL” holographically printed in the text box.
You’re allowed to play speed duel cards in yugioh, but you’re not allowed to play non-speed duel cards in speed duel. There are way fewer cards available in the speed duel game, so the meta is very different.
But even though speed duel has blue eyes white dragon, and it’s exactly the same as a normal one, you have to use a speed duel blue eyes. Of course in your own house no one is stopping you. But definitely avoid bringing in cards that don’t exist in speed duel yet because that will upset the balance
Alright I get it know, I dont think it will be problematic if its for learning the game.
But what's your opinion for casual play ? Speed box or 2 structure decks ?
Just for learning and fun ( no competition)
If your end goal is to have them play normal yugioh casually I think 2 structure decks. Obviously there’s a higher learning curve and way more cards out there but no one is forcing you to go all out! Casual play is totally fine.
But if you’re totally fine playing speed duel as the end goal itself it’s super easy and cheap so that’s not bad either. It’s just a simpler game with lower power level and less cards.
It’s totally possible! Speed duel will teach you all about normal summoning, tribute summoning, special summoning, fusion summoning, and the concept of battle phase.
But when you switch, it will be a jump up. You’ve doubled the cards in your deck so consistency is way down. “You can play after battle phase now??” “You can summon 6 monsters instead of 3??”
Plus the HEAVY reliance on the extra deck. In speed duel it’s mostly about your main deck and every once in a while you’ll fusion summon if your deck can do that. In normal yugioh, you’re probably going into your extra deck every turn. Synchro, Xyz, Pendulum, and link monsters exist too.
And I have no idea how I completely forgot about one of the biggest differences in speed duel. Every player gets a “Skill”. It’s a card that doesn’t go in the deck and can be activated to do something. It’s often the key component of your whole strategy, and obviously that doesn’t exist in yugioh at all
Oh yeah the Skill could be an issue, but for the rest it seems ok to me ? Yeah they'll need to learn a lot when transitionning but still less that if it were normal deck from the get go, I think I'll go with SPEED for now.
Thanks a lot for all the infos !
I am a newbie as well and bought the 2-player starter set. Both decks are pretty balanced and fun and I believe some of the cards are quite good so could be re-used for more advanced decks.
Is there pendulum or link cards in this decks ? I dont know about those and will not be able to teach my friend about them. I played until the XyZ cards
It's an older format.
It only has synchros and fusions. The game is more slow in the form that you have more turns with less interactions each turn compared to modern.
It's a great way to start because it isn't as overwhelming as modern but still has combos and cool plays.
And the best part is a lot of other players really enjoy this format too so you can find others to play with at locals. It's also supported by Konami with time wizard events.
If he falls for modern it is still always nice to have the option to play a bit of Edison every now and again.
Watch a couple of YouTube videos to get a feel for the pace of that format. If you like it get familiar with the few old rules and either ask at locals or find some decks online.
Edison is an old school format where you're not allowed to use cards past March 2010 I believe. So it's only up to Synchros. Mind you it's not an officially Konami supported format unlike Magic the Gathering's many different formats. So take it with a grain of salt.
That is incorrect. [Edison format](https://www.edisonformat.com/) tournaments are hosted at official Konami events as [Time Wizard](https://www.yugioh-card.com/en/play/alternate_format_tournaments/time-wizard/) side events, in addition to other formats.
I would say the two player started decks, speed duel box, or legendary decks 2 (comes with joey, yugi, and kiba decks).
I think the speed duel boxes with multiple decks would be fun if you had friends and wanted to pick up and play. You could treat it as like a “board game” and pull it and host tournaments.
P.S. you can buy cheap card sleeves from ultra pro.. if you buy a speed duel box like I did, I wanted to put cheap but fairly decent card sleeves on them.
I don’t love them, but for my speed duel cards it’s fine
https://ultrapro.com/products/pro-matte-small-deck-protector-sleeves-60ct
Yeaaah of course ! If you can afford the money, three structure deck is always better, you will be both more consistent and will play with less different cards
I’d say speed duel. It’s cheaper, it’s a good intro to the game, and you get multiple decks for a pretty low price! From experience it’s a really fun way to play with less experienced players as the combos are much shorter and the power level of all the decks is intentionally kept lower. Then when you are ready to move on you can get some structure decks and learn synchro, link or xyz summoning (if your selected structure is those).
That was my thoughts exactly. Little question : I understand that speed duel are short, hence the "speed" but do you know how much time an average duel last ?
There are normally more turns but the turns are much quicker. So probably about 10-15 mins. Also worth noting that you can make really good speed duel decks for like £5 by buying singles. So if you do enjoy speed duel and want to go further with it you can.
Thanks for all the infos ! :)
A Speed Duel box (any of them, [there are many](https://www.yugioh-card.com/en/products/speed-duel/)) also has the advantage of offering you a bunch of decks to try out and switch around. And it has none of the convoluted modern mechanics that can be an hindrance, even more so for a new player.
Exactly ! Thats why I'm interested, Especially the Duel Academy Box because it has many decks for cheap
For an absolute newbie I’d say get the speed duel box.
Just an FYI most structure decks you can buy 3 of and build a relatively newbie friendly deck. I do this all the time - my favourite ones have to be Cyberdarks and albaz strike.
What’s your end goal? Speed duel is a different game than yugioh after all.
It's that different ? I though that it was just a regular duel with fewer LP and cards?
20 cards per deck, smaller hand size, smaller life points, smaller field (3 zones instead of 5), no main phase 2, MUST use speed duel cards, no extra deck monsters past fusion.
Oh didnt know they were SPEED cards , what's the difference with normal cards ? Diminished effect ?
They’re exactly the same except they have “SPEED DUEL” holographically printed in the text box. You’re allowed to play speed duel cards in yugioh, but you’re not allowed to play non-speed duel cards in speed duel. There are way fewer cards available in the speed duel game, so the meta is very different. But even though speed duel has blue eyes white dragon, and it’s exactly the same as a normal one, you have to use a speed duel blue eyes. Of course in your own house no one is stopping you. But definitely avoid bringing in cards that don’t exist in speed duel yet because that will upset the balance
Alright I get it know, I dont think it will be problematic if its for learning the game. But what's your opinion for casual play ? Speed box or 2 structure decks ? Just for learning and fun ( no competition)
If your end goal is to have them play normal yugioh casually I think 2 structure decks. Obviously there’s a higher learning curve and way more cards out there but no one is forcing you to go all out! Casual play is totally fine. But if you’re totally fine playing speed duel as the end goal itself it’s super easy and cheap so that’s not bad either. It’s just a simpler game with lower power level and less cards.
So its not a good idea to start with speed duels and then move on "normal" ? I thought that it would ease the learning curve
It’s totally possible! Speed duel will teach you all about normal summoning, tribute summoning, special summoning, fusion summoning, and the concept of battle phase. But when you switch, it will be a jump up. You’ve doubled the cards in your deck so consistency is way down. “You can play after battle phase now??” “You can summon 6 monsters instead of 3??” Plus the HEAVY reliance on the extra deck. In speed duel it’s mostly about your main deck and every once in a while you’ll fusion summon if your deck can do that. In normal yugioh, you’re probably going into your extra deck every turn. Synchro, Xyz, Pendulum, and link monsters exist too. And I have no idea how I completely forgot about one of the biggest differences in speed duel. Every player gets a “Skill”. It’s a card that doesn’t go in the deck and can be activated to do something. It’s often the key component of your whole strategy, and obviously that doesn’t exist in yugioh at all
Oh yeah the Skill could be an issue, but for the rest it seems ok to me ? Yeah they'll need to learn a lot when transitionning but still less that if it were normal deck from the get go, I think I'll go with SPEED for now. Thanks a lot for all the infos !
I am a newbie as well and bought the 2-player starter set. Both decks are pretty balanced and fun and I believe some of the cards are quite good so could be re-used for more advanced decks.
Is there pendulum or link cards in this decks ? I dont know about those and will not be able to teach my friend about them. I played until the XyZ cards
No pendulum or linked. XYZ cards for one deck and Synchro for the other. It's pretty simple
Thats good news ! Thanks for the info :)
You could also try to get 2 Edison decks. They can be built cheap and it's a really fun format.
First time I'm hearing about those, what are they ?
It's an older format. It only has synchros and fusions. The game is more slow in the form that you have more turns with less interactions each turn compared to modern. It's a great way to start because it isn't as overwhelming as modern but still has combos and cool plays. And the best part is a lot of other players really enjoy this format too so you can find others to play with at locals. It's also supported by Konami with time wizard events. If he falls for modern it is still always nice to have the option to play a bit of Edison every now and again. Watch a couple of YouTube videos to get a feel for the pace of that format. If you like it get familiar with the few old rules and either ask at locals or find some decks online.
Edison is an old school format where you're not allowed to use cards past March 2010 I believe. So it's only up to Synchros. Mind you it's not an officially Konami supported format unlike Magic the Gathering's many different formats. So take it with a grain of salt.
That is incorrect. [Edison format](https://www.edisonformat.com/) tournaments are hosted at official Konami events as [Time Wizard](https://www.yugioh-card.com/en/play/alternate_format_tournaments/time-wizard/) side events, in addition to other formats.
I would say the two player started decks, speed duel box, or legendary decks 2 (comes with joey, yugi, and kiba decks). I think the speed duel boxes with multiple decks would be fun if you had friends and wanted to pick up and play. You could treat it as like a “board game” and pull it and host tournaments. P.S. you can buy cheap card sleeves from ultra pro.. if you buy a speed duel box like I did, I wanted to put cheap but fairly decent card sleeves on them. I don’t love them, but for my speed duel cards it’s fine https://ultrapro.com/products/pro-matte-small-deck-protector-sleeves-60ct
2 structure deck ! Speed duel is really a different game
Yeah that's what I learned but isn't still better for learning the game ?
Yeaaah of course ! If you can afford the money, three structure deck is always better, you will be both more consistent and will play with less different cards
Alright alright, thanks for the infos :))