Introduction of Genesys
If you’ve been following Yu-Gi-Oh for a few years, you’ve probably caught yourself thinking, “The game wasn’t like this before.” Perhaps you took a break from playing and, upon your return, discovered that your beloved deck is now completely obsolete. This isn’t exactly a problem in itself, you see, as quite a few TCGs share these characteristics. However, you’re certainly not alone in this observation. Yu-Gi-Oh has, for years, been going through a quiet design crisis. Many within the community recognise this issue, but few know precisely how to name it. Ultimately, the game became a victim of its own success. It lacks a clear resource system like other TCGs. Furthermore, it doesn’t have set rotations to periodically ‘reset’ card power. Consequently, Konami found itself trapped in an increasingly steep spiral of power creep.
This is precisely the context where Yu-Gi-Oh Genesys emerges. This new, official Konami format appears to resolve the current issues plaguing Yu-Gi-Oh. Nevertheless, to properly grasp what Genesys is trying to achieve, we first need to understand what Yu-Gi-Oh has done terribly. Therefore, we must look right at the heart of the problem: how the game handles (or rather, fails to handle) resources
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The Birth of Alternative Formats: Nostalgia as a Response
The launch of Yu-Gi-Oh Genesys has genuinely excited the Yu-Gi-Oh community. Finally, Konami seems to be seriously considering the need to offer alternatives to the standard format. Generally speaking, Japanese companies, much like Yu-Gi-Oh itself, have a poor habit of being overly conservative with their products.
I call this habit poor because you should think about this: how many alternative ways are there to play Yu-Gi-Oh? Certainly, Konami has attempted a few times, but they’ve always done so without much support and less promotion than they give to standard Yu-Gi-Oh. Just look at how long standard Yu-Gi-Oh took to get full-art cards!
Funnily enough, alternative ways to play Yu-Gi-Oh are typically formats that tend to turn back the clock with the TCG. They go back to before the Synchro, Pendulum, and other eras. Ultimately, this demonstrates a dissatisfaction with the current format, in my view. We’ve seen cards that are simply too powerful, archetypes dominating the meta absolutely (although this hasn’t been quite the case recently), and competitive decks becoming super expensive.
Although this isn’t a problem unique to Yu-Gi-Oh—just take a quick glance at its older cousin, Magic: The Gathering, and the issues remain the same—we are here to discuss Yu-Gi-Oh, not Magic. Consequently, the Yu-Gi-Oh community didn’t simply stand still in the face of the game’s problems. For instance, people started experimenting with the Edison format around 2020. This format very quickly gained significant popularity.
The Fundamental Problem: Yu-Gi-Oh and Its Resource System
If we compare Yu-Gi-Oh with other card games, one key thing appears to be missing from Konami’s offering: a clear resource system. Unlike virtually all other TCGs, Yu-Gi-Oh possesses practically no resource management structure whatsoever.
For example, Magic: The Gathering uses Lands; Pokémon utilises Energy; Hearthstone relies on Mana; and Digimon employs Memory.
In Yu-Gi-Oh, you don’t need to pay mana to activate your cards’ effects. Consequently, cards often feature a limiting phrase such as “once per turn” to prevent effect spamming, since you don’t need to pay anything to use the ability. Consider Magic, where once your mana is consumed, you cannot do anything further. Similarly, in Pokémon, your cards must be loaded with Energy before they can act. In Yu-Gi-Oh, your only fixed limitation is the Normal Summon. Beyond this point, you play as much as your cards permit. Typically, the best deck is the one that optimises this process most efficiently.
From this observation, we can reasonably infer that the resource in Yu-Gi-Oh is the cards themselves. Furthermore, a single wrong move with your cards means you have instantly lost resources because you failed to optimise them effectively.
When Does the Problem Truly Begin?
Once we establish that Yu-Gi-Oh uses a very particular resource system, and that resources in any game are meant to be spent and weighed up, we can start to see where certain design flaws begin to emerge (flaws, in my opinion, that is).
Think about this for a moment: where do the cards you spend in a card game usually go? They typically end up in the graveyard, or an analogous zone. In Yu-Gi-Oh, your spent resources (the cards) move to the graveyard, and you lose access to them. That is fine and dandy. Now, what happens then when a player can also utilise the resources sitting in the graveyard? The very things that were supposedly spent resources?
For quite a while now in Yu-Gi-Oh, a card heading to the graveyard no longer signals a loss. We can extend this logic to banishment, a zone where a card genuinely used to be removed from the game. Or consider destruction, which should be a bad thing. Now, having a card destroyed possibly generates more advantages than keeping it on the pitch. Think about the turn resource: what do we say when you not only use your own turn but also manage to play on your opponent’s turn? Even worse, where once you needed specific pieces to summon a card (which, in itself, is a resource), you now have a load of generic cards.
No More Costs in Yu-Gi-Oh
In my view, the game no longer features any real costs. Nothing costs anything; nothing is a resource to be spent. If a deck instructs you to send cards to the graveyard to achieve something, yet that same deck uses cards from the graveyard to do other things, that is simply not a cost. If your deck needs to banish cards, but still uses those banished cards, that is certainly not a cost either. Of course, every deck in Yu-Gi-Oh operates via a specific mechanic—which is perhaps the most brilliant part of the game—but the game has entirely lost the sense of what it means to spend a resource.
It becomes difficult for a game to develop healthily when it increasingly abolishes its systems of resources and punishments. Naturally, the strongest deck will always be the one that does the most while spending the least, and, of course, uses the smallest number of non-archetypal cards possible.
How Yu-Gi-Oh Genesys Tries to Fix This
Genesys is a fully Konami-supported tournament system that they developed over two years. The format introduces the following fundamental changes:
Link and Pendulum Monsters are not permitted.
The original playing field is used, with no Extra Monster Zones or Pendulum Zones.
The standard Forbidden and Limited Card list is not used.
Deck construction uses a point system where some cards are assigned a specific point value; most cards cost zero points.
Point System
The format initially featured 505 cards with point costs. Furthermore, these costs are increased or decreased based on card usage. The standard limit is 100 total points for the Main Deck, Extra Deck, and Side Deck combined.
I believe that Genesys introduces an approach that tends to heal this wound. Many decks will now be forced to play purely with only one or two staples for support. Since the game itself no longer has natural forms of resource, weighing up the value of the cards you can include seems like a brilliant solution. Consider this: even if a deck focuses on one mechanic and loses power in other areas, players typically mix in another archetype to resolve that issue. Alternatively, they bring in a host of generic cards that work simply because they are generic.
With Genesys, this is far more difficult. You become obliged to genuinely weigh up what goes into your deck and accept what is left out. You either play that sleek, perfect engine, or you sacrifice it to include a powerful staple that stops your opponent. I think this is an excellent method, although I personally dislike an external mechanism regulating the game. Having to constantly calculate card values for your deck feels cumbersome, on top of having to examine the card list continually.
Pot of Greed as the Perfect Example
Pot of Greed costs 30 points in Genesys. A card this powerful, which was banned precisely because of its lack of cost (draw two cards, pay nothing, no once-per-turn limit), can return to the game simply by being expensive. A complete playset of three copies of this card would cost 90 points. Consequently, this eliminates most of the other powerful cards from your deck in a 100-point limit tournament.
You would need to sacrifice quite a lot to play with it. This creates genuinely interesting decisions: is it worth running three Pot of Greed and only having 10 points left over? Or is it better to distribute those points across control and interaction cards?
Why Were Links and Pendulums Removed?
I didn’t quite understand why they removed Links and Pendulums. The problem with Link Monsters is the spamming and their generic nature. It would have sufficed to simply make them more expensive. Perhaps Konami genuinely wanted to bring back that classic Yu-Gi-Oh feel, before these mechanics over-complicated the game. Legend has it that Konami is building a time machine just to remove Pendulum from the game entirely.
Challenges and the Future of Genesys
I’m not certain what the future holds for Yu-Gi-Oh with Genesys right now. Konami has already announced Genesys Invitationals at major events such as the Yu-Gi-Oh Championship Series. The first full North American Genesys YCS is apparently planned for 2026, according to YGOrganization. This demonstrates an initial commitment, but only time will tell if this support will continue.
One issue I already see with Genesys is how poor it seems for generating interest among new players. I mean, for those already involved in the game, this is just another way to play. Nevertheless, let’s be honest: having to search a list of values, card by card, to know what you can or cannot include in your deck is quite disheartening, wouldn’t you say? Thankfully, Konami created a browser-based deck builder to simplify that process.
Yu-Gi-Oh Genesys Database
Another curious point about Genesys is its ceiling: Pendulum and Link are out. If the format proves successful, will Konami become less interested in releasing new Link Monsters, for example? This would be a good justification for the company to curb the power of Link Monsters and repeat the ‘abandonment’ of the Pendulum mechanic. This time, it makes more sense to release, in greater quantity, cards that can actually be used in Genesys.
Wrapping Up
Genesys was designed for everyone, but mainly to provide a good experience for duelists seeking a less complicated game. It is also aimed at those who are new to the game, who have a favourite deck and want it to be more competitive, or anyone simply looking for a new experience.
The format represents a bold attempt to resolve Yu-Gi-Oh’s fundamental design issues without completely redesigning the game. By transforming deck construction itself into a resource system, Genesys forces players to make significant choices—something the standard format has lost over the years.
Only time will truly tell if Genesys will be a lasting success or just another abandoned attempt by Konami. One thing, however, is certain: the community is engaged, and perhaps that is exactly what Yu-Gi-Oh truly needed.
No Link and Pendulum Archetype Spotlight
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