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Duelist's Tower, a Free-For-All Yu-Gi-Oh! Format


TheVanguard

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I recently posted this on the yugioh reddit and I was interested in getting some more in-depth opinions on it.

 

Recently I was introduced to the glorious wackiness of the MTG format "Wizard's Tower" and wanted to have a crack at adapting it to become playable in yugioh. This format is intended to be fun-first way to pass time while putting your junk commons to good use. The premise is simple: Everyone shares a deck of awful random cards. Last duelist standing wins.

For this game you'll need:

  • A massive stack of main deck cards, preferably random crap commons you've whipped out of a tin.
  • A slightly smaller stack of extra deck cards (optional)
  • 2+ Players (This format is intended for large groups)
  • The confidence to attempt something as foolish as this

Setup:

  • Place the main deck on the table
  • Deal 3 cards to each player
  • Reveal the top 7 cards of the Main Deck and place them in front so everyone can see
  • Place the Extra Deck off to the side and do the same with the top 2 cards
  • Give everyone 16000 life points (or more, you'll need it)
  • Believe in the heart of the cards

Drawing:

  • In a regular game you'd draw from the top of your deck. But this isn't a regular game, this is Duelist's Goddamn Tower. So instead you choose one of the seven revealed cards and add it to your hand. Refresh the revealed cards to 7 during the End Phase.

Searching the deck:

  • Rather than searching the deck, you choose from the 7 revealed cards. This may sound restrictive but it'll all make sense when I explain...

Targeting Specific Cards:

  • Often in yugioh, effects will name specific card name, archtype, type or attribute to target. Throw all that out the window. This is how we do it in the tower:
  • When a Spell/Trap targets a specific card, it instead targets any card which shares the first letter OR 1 word with the named card.
  • When a Monster targets a specific card, it instead targets any card which shares an Attribute with that monster OR the first letter of the named card OR 1 word with the named card.
  • To put this into practice lets suggest I'm activating E - Emergency Call. Instead of searching the deck for an Elemental Hero, I instead search the revealed 7 cards of the deck for a card that starts with E or contains the words "Elemental" or "HERO".
  • As another example, if I'm using Tytannial, Princess of Camellas effect, I can tribute any WIND-Attribute Monster, rather than specifically a Plant-Type.
  • This being said, if a card does meet the conditions of targeting, such as having the right type or being part of the right archetype then it's also a valid target.

Pendulum Zones:

  • Because this is a multiplayer format and we don't want a single player hoarding all the Pendulums for themselves, players now share Pendulum Zones with the players to their left and right. In other words, your left Pendulum Zone is the right Pendulum Zone to the player to your left. Also pendulums get their own graveyard that isn't on top of the extra deck, it's more convenient this way.
  • Pendulum Zones are also back to the way they used to be, their own separate zones rather than combined with the left/right spell/trap zones
  • Monsters cannot be Pendulum Summoned from the revealed deck areas.

The Extra Deck:

  • This is where things get really wacky so pay attention. Link Zones aren't a thing in this format, they cause too many headaches and it's casual anyway so nobody cares, but Link Monsters are still valid. Any player may Special Summon one of the revealed Extra Deck cards if they meet its requirements, however the requirements are different to make things easier:
  • Fusion - No longer requires polymerisation. Any monsters in your hand or field which share an attribute with the fusion monster can be used as material.
  • Synchro - No longer requires a tuner. Any monsters with a total level equal to the Synchro monster's level can be used as material
  • XYZ - Any monsters that has the same type of number (odd or even) can be used as material. E.g. Utopia can be summoned using a Level 2 and a Level 6 as XYZ material.
  • Link - Same as normal, just without link zones.
  • Tribute - Yes, you read that right. Tribute monsters can go in the extra deck for this format, they can count as either a Tribute/Normal Summon that does not contribute towards your 1-Normal-Summon-per-turn or as a Special Summon, player's choice (this makes monarchs and god cards playable).

Battle:

  • Works as normal but you can't attack anyone who hasn't had a turn yet.

Clarification and additional rules:

  • The player who goes first does draw a card.
  • Ritual monsters do not require their ritual spells but still go in the main deck. Discard or tribute monsters with a total level equal to or greater than the Ritual Monster's level and discard any 1 spell card.
  • Ignore all effects that say "Cannot be Normal Summoned / Set / Special Summoned" or "Can only be Summoned by the effects of..." Everything is fair game and usable.
  • There's no distinction between 'your' and 'your opponents' decks or graveyards.
  • "Opponent" is a plural term that applies to ALL other players.
  • I haven't tested it yet, but feel free to play this sealed by opening packs and not checking them until they appear, just add any Extra Deck monsters to the Extra Deck when revealed and replace it.
  • Remember, this format is fun-first. Feel free to ignore whatever rules you want so long as everyone's down for it.

TL;DR - Gather your crap cards, forget the meta and have some fun.

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while i think this type of format would be interesting, to say the least,  don't think it would be able to pick up well enough, simply due to the nature of yugioh. magic, pokemon, ect, have inbuild systems that make games like this work (like cube format, ect) but yugioh would require you to ignore too many things, and throw too many things on the backburner for it to work, and not everything would actually be usable, even under those conditions.as far as your rules, there are a few things i'd suggest changing up:

 

 

battle would be better off going in the same manner as full-table duels, in which the person who goes last, attacks first, would save the early players from potential OTK attempts, while allowing everybody to establish/break any boards that may exist.

 

links, where i play, have a unique ruling for us, since link based decks wouldn't function without it, and i think it may help you as well: link arrows in the EMZ, when 3 or more players are involved, would depend solely upon the person summoning the monster. for example, if i were to summon a decode talker, the person allowed to use decode talker's up arrow, would be whomever i choose, and nobody else would benefit from said arrow. similarly, were i to perform an extra link, i would be allowed to choose who i wished to lock out of the EMZ. for both choices, the decision would not be allowed to change for the duration of the link monsters/ extra links presence, that way i'd have to choose carefully who i wished to lock out each time, which would allow for versatility, but also not damage the link format's rules.

 

the rest seems about solid enough though, just some suggestions on the basic mechanics. though the ritual and fusion thing (and even the Xyz/synchro thing) might unbalance the game a bit too much overall.

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