1.

Decide your playing style - This is important, as it determines how people wo

uld look at you as a duelist. Are you a rash duelist who would rapidly summon, a
ttack and activate cards? Or are you the deep thinker who would analyze your han
d and field before making a move? Or maybe the duelist that would remove cards f
rom play so your opponent cannot use them again? Considering these would help yo
u choose a deck archetype.
2. Choose your deck type -a themed deck, or one that follows a specific theme of
cards. Never have a deck with too many cards in it. This is referred to as card
salad, and you will be not drawing parts of combos.
3. Choose your deck basis - I'd rather recommend a themed deck, as the cards are
least likely to get banned, resulting in sure playablity. Refer to the tips for
a link about archetypes.
4. Choose your monsters - Once you know what deck you want to play, and how you
want to play it, choose your base monsters. Every archetype will have at least 1
0 main monsters. Once you've put them into a list of cards you'll want, add in t
he appropriate support. Keep that to around 18 cards, unless you really need it,
like in the case of maybe the Elemental Heroes.
5. Control quantity - You should have:
LV 1-4: Around 12
LV 5-6: Around 4
LV 7-8: Around 1 or 2
LV 9 and above: Never more than 2, depending on the deck. Some decks can
and need to be all high monsters. In fact Malefics are an Arcanetype with only
high level monsters with the two main ones being level 10. They are easy to summ
on needing only the nonmalefic forms, and a field spell.
6. Choose your spells - Once again, around 1/3 of the 12 spells in your deck wou
ld be for monster support/combos. The rest would be attributed to favourites and
staples. Add them into your list once you've decided.
7. Choose your traps - 10 traps, no more, no less, for any deck type. The only e
xception is for decks that rely on traps, like decks which have many weak monste
rs. Among these, 3-5 should be support for your deck type, and the rest should b
e staples like Mirror Force, Dimensional Prison, and Bottomless Trap Hole.
8. If you're running a large monster count, such as in Dragon Rulers or Mermails
, 3-6 traps should be enough. A good choice for a deck that relies solely on mon
sters would be Royal Decree.
9. Lay out your cards and make sure that they work together well. Its no use if
you have cards that do not work together well. List the cards that you need to i
mprove your deck and make it your business to buy those cards. Watch the cards y
our common opponent plays. Also add some generic cards in your side deck that yo
u can use later on, in between duels.
10. Go get the cards - Well, next you have to find the cards you need. Always go
to the local card shops and ask around for trading deals, or singles.
11. Get playing with friends and local players for the fun and to find out more
about the deck, like in order to find it's weaknesses.
12. After a few more games, it's time to cover your deck's weaknesses and exploi
t it's strengths, and modify it with new support cards. During this time, you sh
ould already have taken out at least 5 cards, and replaced them with something m
ore useful.
13. Then, repeat the process of playing and modifying, and never be afraid to ha
ve a perfect deck. A deck should be everchanging, with new cards every week of g
ameplay.
14. Half your deck should be made of monster cards. One monster card for every s
pell/trap in your deck. This is a good starting point. You'll most likely end up
with a few more monsters than 20.
15. Choose your decks. Structure decks are good for cards that work together and
of the same type, but they don't have synchro or tuner monsters. Starter decks
have lots of different kinds of cards and tuner/synchro cards. Booster packs hav
e cards that don't work together, so get them at your local store, because when
you buy them at the store, on the back of the package, it will tell you what var
iety of cards it is giving you. The other option are websites that sell every pa
ck from the first to the latest, meaning you'll find everything. Also they sell
singles of every card. This allows you to get cards that might be extraordinaril
y rare. It's not always cheap but if there's a card you absolutely need, it work
s.
16. You should have around 13 level 4 or below monsters. They come in three main
types- Normal Monster, Effect Monster, and Tuner monster. Balance each type so
there are about more Normal and Effect Monster cards(like 8 or 9) to about 4-5 T
uner monsters.
Normal, Yellow bordered non effect monster cards without tributing should have 1
600 or more attack. In the current metagame (the popular cards and decks that pe
ople use), the only reason people run a normal monster is so they have a target
for Rescue Rabbit, granting them a free rank 4 xyz.
Effect monsters attack can vary, but make sure their effect helps you. Flip effe
ct monsters can have very good effects, such as inflicting damage to your oppone
nt based on specific types of cards your opponent has on the field, or destroyin
g monsters, such as Old Vindictive Magician. The good attack for a level-4 or be
low effect monster is 1600 or more (unless it's a flip monster, their attack and
difference does not matter) If they can attack directly, or let another monster
gain a large amount of attack, it does not matter what attack/defense points th
ey have. Some cannot be destroyed if the monster has a certain amount of attack,
good for defense position monsters, and some can attack/defend more than once.
These are great monsters. Shield Wing, which has only 900 defense, can defend tw
ice per turn and not get destroyed.
Cards with one tribute need at least 2300 attack. Have 4 or less of these. It de
pends on the card and deck. Some Arcanetypes, as well non-Arcanetype based cards
, are one tribute level fives or six with lower than that attack and can be extr
emely useful. For instance Reeze Whirlwind of Gusto has only 1900 ATK, and yet s
he is the best Gusto after Sphreez, because she switches a card on your side of
the field with an opponent's monster, and if she dies you still keep the monster
you swapped with.
Cards with two tributes need at least 2600 attack. Fill in the rest of your mons
ter card section of your deck with these cards.
17. Trap cards are useful, but especially the ones that prevent attacks from ene
my monsters. You should have about 6 or more of these trap cards, and some examp
les are Scrap Iron Scarecrow, Negate Attack and Sakurestu Armor. Spellbinding Ci
rcle and Nightmare's Wheel prevent the monster from attacking as long as it is o
n the field. Your style matters though, it's really up to how you play.
You should have ten trap cards, and so pick four others that will help you in ga
me play too.
18. Regular Spell cards should either destroy enemy monsters, inflict damage to
your opponent, and should let your monsters gain large amounts of attack. You sh
ould have at least 7-10 of these. Nowadays also special summoning spells are alm
ost mandatory for getting a
19. High level monster out. Even one tributes are near impossible if you only no
rmal summon to win, because this from of summoning is a once per turn occurrence
s. So you can get your low level out and it will most likely die before your nex
t turn, thus you'll need to summon another and at that point your pretty much sc
rewed.
There is also a kind called Quick-Play Spell cards. They have a lightning bolt i
con next to the word "Spell Card," printed on the card. You should have three to
five of them, because they can be used on your opponent's turn. Book of Moon is
a common Quick Play spell.
20. Refrain from using cards that are forbidden. Some examples are Graceful Char
ity and Pot of Greed. These cards are known to be too strong which would make yo
ur deck sort of 'cheating'. These cards can also make fights with other duelists
.
Remember to never use forbidden cards in tournaments. You could use them when du
eling with a friend but he/she might not accept the offer.
21. Test Your deck against a hard adversary, then make your deck stronger by buy
ing more cards and don't buy unless needed.