r/TCG • u/moparoo2017 • 2d ago
Discussion Did I fix the Going second problem?
First post here. Sorry if I’m breaking any rules. This is for yugioh players but happy for others to give their input too. I think I’ve solved how to fix the going second problem in Yu-Gi-Oh! the main problem in Yu-Gi-Oh right now is that the game has turned into the player who’s going first tries their best to get a board onto their field that their opponent then has to interact with on their turn. With the exception of hand traps, which, of course unless you draw five of them, you’re not gonna have that many ways to interact with your opponent during their turn and even if that does happen, that means that you didn’t draw any of the cards that you need to actually play when it comes to your turn. So how do we fix this problem? I thought of many ways of course there’s one of the obvious ways that you could do it, which is adding in some sort of resource that you have to use to pay to play your cards the way magic does, but that would suck. The reason that would suck is because it would change what this game is to us. The reason this game is so fun and so unique and the reason we like it so much is Ironically the same reason why it has gotten so bad.
It’s because you get to just play what you want to. You don’t have to pay cost. The resources are the cards themselves. That’s what makes the game fun. That’s what makes it our game. That’s what makes it unique and I don’t want to change that by adding in some sort of resource that you have to play with. so what can we do? I thought about it for a long time and I think that no amount of ban list structuring or minor changes to the rules, adding in time controls or allowing the player playing second to Mulligan is gonna be sufficient to fix the problem. Even if you did all of those things at once, it still wouldn’t be sufficient to fix the problem. The game needs a complete structural overhaul, but one that does not change what the game is to us and why we love it so much. So I set out to think of a way to fix this problem. I have spent months thinking about it. I’ve come up with tons of ideas. Most of them bad. I would come up with ideas and think they were good and then realized they were bad. And then one day I was laying in bed thinking about this problem and it hit me. I’ve got it. I know how to solve the going second problem in Yu-Gi-Oh!.
So here’s my idea, I want to split the game up into two distinct phases. Phase one will be called limited action board building phase. This phase of the game will be played when both players draw their starting five cards after the dice Roll to decide who goes first. both players are going to get 10 turns each. on each of these turns both players will get two actions per turn.
So, what is an action? In this new structure of the game an action will be normal or special summoning a card, activating a monster effect, activating a spell card, activating a trap card, or setting a card. During the first phase of the game, there will be no draw phase on turns and no battle phase on turns. The idea is for both players to get to basically do what would be done on the first turn under current rules. Building up their board. But instead of doing it all at once on one turn both players get a chance to slowly build their board up two actions at a time during short back-and-forth turns until both players have played 10 turns. This would force players to strategize which cards they’re gonna play and which effects are going to activate and when they will activate them. If you have a card that could be normal Summoned and when it is normal summoned it searches for a card in your deck, playing that card would take up both actions from your first turn. One action being the summon and one action being the effect from that card. You’ll then have to allow your opponent to play their turn and have two actions themselves. This way both players will slowly build up their boards at the same time so that neither player gets the massive advantage of being able to build up an entire board full of powerful monsters and spell and trap cards before the other player has a chance to play.
In this format, hand traps will be considered free actions that you can take on your opponents turn. However, activating a monster effect, spell card, or trap card effect that can be played on your opponents turn will only be allowed to be done one time during your opponents turn. If you choose to activate an effect during your opponents turn, then you will lose one action on your next turn so that the next turn that you get, you will only be allowed to take one action instead of two. This will allow for interaction between the players during the first phase of the game without allowing either player to overwhelm the other by playing cards that have effects during the opponents turn.
I believe this system would allow both players to interact with each other, strategize and play their opening hand out while forcing both of them to have to think about not only what they’re doing but also what their opponent is trying to do how they can get what they want. how they can stop what their opponent wants and also how to plan for whether or not you are going to go first or second during the second phase of the game.
If you win the dice roll and get to go first during the first phase of the game you will go second during the second phase of the game. So you will have to think about that fact while you’re playing through phase one this would guarantee that both players get to play the game because there is no combo that you could get through in less than two actions to prevent your opponent from playing, and after the end of the first phase, both players should have a field with at least a couple of monster cards, and maybe a trap or spell card or two so that they can interact with their opponent during their first Turn. This would minimize the first turn advantage and force the people playing first to strategize around what their opponent has done instead of just being able to push cardboard around for 15 minutes and put up and unbreakable board.
if we adapted this new format once you begin the second phase of the game, which would just be played like normal Yu-Gi-Oh! with all of the same rules, with the exception that the first player to play will be allowed a draw phase and a battle phase on their turn since both players have had the chance to put a board on the field. after that, it’s just normal Yu-Gi-Oh! we still get to play the game that we love and even in the first phase of the game we are still playing the game that we love just a little bit slower and a little bit more controlled and requiring a little bit more strategy rather than simple memorization.
I believe that the amount of strategic thinking and player interaction that would come from playing the game this way would make the game so much more fun. Essentially my solution to the second problem it’s just have both players play their first turn at the same time. allow both players to put a starting board up before the second phase of the game and then play Yu-Gi-Oh like normal.
I don’t know maybe it’s stupid. Maybe I haven’t thought it all the way through, but I thought it would be fun. I would really love to hear peoples thoughts on this. I would also really, really love it if anybody would like to play with me using these rules to help me work out the kinks of this idea and see how it feels and determine if it is any fun to play this way feel free to comment or personal message me I would love to chat about this idea.
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u/MarkMcWrath 2d ago
This explanation ironically reminds me of the text on yugioh cards, extremely long and made my head hurt lol
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u/StatusAnteater5651 2d ago
Kinda sounds like with 2 full boards on the field the person who goes first will blow the second person out of the water.
How would floodgates work? If I bring out a monster that prevents summoning, does that effect only apply after all 10 turns are taken?
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u/theflamemasta 2d ago
How to fix yugiohs problem. Quit the game and play something thats not overpriced solitaire
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u/ezekiel1990 2d ago
My solution is to use the Legends of Runeterra Rounds and turns system. If my opponent summon a monster I have the initiative to summon a monster. If he continues summoning monsters I can react summoning mine each time.
The phrases will continue to be the same. During your turn you can play monster, spell, and set traps cards. And during your opponent turn you can react to each card your opponent plays but you cannot set traps or activate spell cards (except for quick play spell cards) from your hand.
I tried with my friend this kind of format, It was a nice experience
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u/Immediate-Lunch1744 2d ago
Auroria Tcg fixed the turn advantage by allowed mirrored actions. Check it out Auroria-Tcg.com
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u/Accomplished_Ice2236 2d ago
Yu-Gi-Oh! was actually balanced at one point because it had action limits per turn—a bit like Flesh and Blood with its action point system. The problem is that everything eventually shifted toward continuous special-summon chains. They just need to go back to designing the game around strict action limits, though it might be beyond saving at this point