Mythik is a great game for casual players. Tons of different archetypes, no clear domination from any of them. It's perfect for those who have favorites they want to play in a deck and make work!
Great list! Brother, you knocked it out of the park on this one. I may have put Pokémon in place of Yugi-Oh, only because I really don’t know enough about the latter, but I don’t think anyone could go wrong with your suggestions for any of these for casual play. Great video!
Thank you so much! Yes, I did consider Pokemon as well - but the biggest issue I find is that it's really difficult to strike a good casual balance. In Pokemon, it's super easy to build your decks to see half your deck Turn 1 - effectively like Meta decks - and if you don't do that, you end up with some games where you play draw-go until you find energy. The game just tends to float strongly to extremes, which isn't an issue at all in Competitive as decks are going to all be maxing out, but makes it just a little harder to avoid those blowout games I mention in the criteria. That said, the ease of learning, beloved theme, and some fun deck design (shoutout to the Ambipom coinflip deck from the last year) made it really close to the list for me and a totally reasonable pick either way!
Good list, excellent criteria. Yugioh can be a casual game, our local does a casual night and it is sometimes bigger than our competitive nights, as well as goat, speed and edison leagues on weekends. Most veteran players have goat built with them too.
Yugioh is just so bombastic and dramatic! Which makes sense, as it was made to be an exciting game to watch play out in a story. But I think that makes it the most fun to play casually, and the support for classic formats and Speed Duels really gives players a great outlet to get that experience.
Just discovered your channel. I haven´t seen every video yet but I wanted to say thank you for just beeing a normal and kind person who is doing good content. Some of the other TH-camrs are sooo annoying because they think they have to act as they are hosting a late night show.
I appreciate the kind words! I just do my best to present my opinions, and provide useful and hopefully entertaining content. I know many other super cool content creators who do the same as well, so I hope you can find more of them :)
I think Yu-Gi-Oh being a top casual game is super agreeable. People's strong desire to continue playing it despite occasional bad formats show it isn't a fluke that it's endured so long. What made the Yugitube scene explode over the past several years was everyone coming up with their own ways to play while official events were postponed during lockdown. It also makes sense for it to not be at the top of the list due to complexity and needing to understand some matchups are actually pretty unfun. But once you get a sense of what you enjoy about the game (and what kinds of gameplay you want to avoid), it's deeply satisfying to create an environment for your friend group or locals. The fact that different eras of the game feel so different just adds to the variety 😁
I buy pairs of starter deck ofi many TCG. Is a collection but having 2 descks I can play casually. Today I have a commander deck and a Jhoira modern deck. 4 keyforge, 2 Star Wars Destny all in portuguese (I'm brazilan). Also, 4 flesh and blood, 2 Weiss Schwarts. And 5 Grand Archive deck I assemble.
I just bought some flesh and blood stuff and I wish there was the equivalent of day9 playing magic. There are so many chain effects I’m struggling to understand with my tiny peanut brain. 😂 The art is DOPE though.
I'm surprised Shadow Verse Evolve did not make the list. $20 - $25 starter decks, fast games, understandable rules. Perfect for occasional or new gamers.
now that altered is out, what is your thought on altered fiting this criteria? too competitive? also why don't you consider pokemon a casual enough game?
@@MaindeckGames what makes so good is that there is no single player elimination because who reach 15 power wins the game. Commander is great don’t get me wrong, but some times one player is eliminate early in the game and is just looking for a while. It does not happen in melee Agot and for me is very relevant. Also AgoT lcg was very good game as well. Give it a try if you have the chance
That's always an awesome feature in multiplayer, same reason Lorcana made it as high on the list as it did. I'll have to find it and give it a try sometime!
I feel like YuGiOh! Breaks part of your criteria. Especially with how likely am I going to get blown out vs a more competitive deck. I think listing Speed Duel should be in spot 5. Disney Lorcana product is so impossible to get that it should be DQd from the list at this point. I like this list, but it seems like you spend 20% of the video putting up criteria to not get backlash, then ignored it.
Thanks so much for your comment. You know, it's a pretty tricky thing to nail down. I don't feel I ignored my criteria, but I do feel like how much weight is placed on different aspects can vary from person to person, especially when we are trying to nail down what "casual" play is. For some people, casual play is two starter decks playing against each other, for others its two meta decks, and everything in between. Ultimately, there isn't a game that fits ALL of the criteria listed, and I challenge anyone to name a game that does. So instead, I just have to make subjective decisions based on where I personally weight particular elements: in other words, is how good a game is at criteria X enough to overlook its issues for criteria Y? In the case of YGO, you absolutely can get blown out by a meta deck if you are playing something non-meta. That's part and parcel with the bombastic gameplay style of the game, and that's why it almost didn't make the list. But I put a lot of weight into both Speed Duel, and the accessibility of the game in general as one of the "big 3" games. If it weren't for Speed Duel, it wouldn't have made the list: but I don't have a firm distinction between the two, and I also think that non-Speed Duel YGO can be a blast to play casually. Lorcana product availability is abysmal *right now*, and as I noted in the video, part of this is assuming that's on the way to being fixed. However, singles are extremely available on TCGPlayer and Cardmarket, with prices trending downward as more product releases. I wanted this video to be "good" for a longer period than just the next couple of weeks, so I took a bit of a gamble that those trends would continue for the next few months as Ravensburger figures things out. Lorcana's IP and benefits in multiplayer, looking at the criteria again, really carry it to its position, though I could absolutely see someone ranking it lower right this second because of the lack of product. Hope that makes a bit of sense, happy to chat more about it!
"Top five game for casual players is Yu-Gi-Oh." The most complicated tcg known to man is number five? That's far from casual And Disney Lorcana? Are you kidding me? I agree that it's a very fun and original game...but trying to get a pack is near impossible. Trying to build a deck is gonna break the bank and then some. The game itself, casual. But obtaining the cards is mission impossible
Where's flesh and blood? its new, amazing and cheap to start playing casually. Just buy a 10-15 euro blitz deck and you're ready to start playing from 0
Pokemon deserves to be on both lists imo. At a competitive level, it is crucial to play each turn as perfectly as possible in order to optimize your board state and hand state. You weigh statistics with each card to figure out what to play first. But at a casual level, you can play your favorite team of Pokemon and just have good fun with your friends. It's exciting to play with less popular cards and realize their combo potential. It's also dirt cheap to build any deck. These days the GLC format is a great alternate way to play that turns the game on its head, making formerly weak Pokemon huge power houses while making each of your plays more painstaking than in standard.
"Casual is not an insult" I gotta agree.
I love locals and event experiences. But game night at home with friends? Those are irreplaceable!
Both are essential experiences to the full hobby! Hopefully that intro makes my intentions clear, lol!
I am no where near a competitive player. I play to have fun, not to prove my merit. This video was a breath of fresh air. Thank you.
Mythik is a great game for casual players. Tons of different archetypes, no clear domination from any of them. It's perfect for those who have favorites they want to play in a deck and make work!
Great list! Brother, you knocked it out of the park on this one. I may have put Pokémon in place of Yugi-Oh, only because I really don’t know enough about the latter, but I don’t think anyone could go wrong with your suggestions for any of these for casual play. Great video!
Thank you so much! Yes, I did consider Pokemon as well - but the biggest issue I find is that it's really difficult to strike a good casual balance. In Pokemon, it's super easy to build your decks to see half your deck Turn 1 - effectively like Meta decks - and if you don't do that, you end up with some games where you play draw-go until you find energy. The game just tends to float strongly to extremes, which isn't an issue at all in Competitive as decks are going to all be maxing out, but makes it just a little harder to avoid those blowout games I mention in the criteria. That said, the ease of learning, beloved theme, and some fun deck design (shoutout to the Ambipom coinflip deck from the last year) made it really close to the list for me and a totally reasonable pick either way!
Good list, excellent criteria. Yugioh can be a casual game, our local does a casual night and it is sometimes bigger than our competitive nights, as well as goat, speed and edison leagues on weekends. Most veteran players have goat built with them too.
Yugioh is just so bombastic and dramatic! Which makes sense, as it was made to be an exciting game to watch play out in a story. But I think that makes it the most fun to play casually, and the support for classic formats and Speed Duels really gives players a great outlet to get that experience.
Just discovered your channel. I haven´t seen every video yet but I wanted to say thank you for just beeing a normal and kind person who is doing good content. Some of the other TH-camrs are sooo annoying because they think they have to act as they are hosting a late night show.
I appreciate the kind words! I just do my best to present my opinions, and provide useful and hopefully entertaining content. I know many other super cool content creators who do the same as well, so I hope you can find more of them :)
Just randomly started this vid, but this comment section, and yours in particular, got me hooked.
I think Yu-Gi-Oh being a top casual game is super agreeable. People's strong desire to continue playing it despite occasional bad formats show it isn't a fluke that it's endured so long. What made the Yugitube scene explode over the past several years was everyone coming up with their own ways to play while official events were postponed during lockdown. It also makes sense for it to not be at the top of the list due to complexity and needing to understand some matchups are actually pretty unfun. But once you get a sense of what you enjoy about the game (and what kinds of gameplay you want to avoid), it's deeply satisfying to create an environment for your friend group or locals. The fact that different eras of the game feel so different just adds to the variety 😁
Good list! I dont play any of these games, save magic...maybe i should try some of them out.
Time for SPEED DUELS!
You should!
I buy pairs of starter deck ofi many TCG. Is a collection but having 2 descks I can play casually. Today I have a commander deck and a Jhoira modern deck. 4 keyforge, 2 Star Wars Destny all in portuguese (I'm brazilan). Also, 4 flesh and blood, 2 Weiss Schwarts. And 5 Grand Archive deck I assemble.
I just bought some flesh and blood stuff and I wish there was the equivalent of day9 playing magic. There are so many chain effects I’m struggling to understand with my tiny peanut brain. 😂
The art is DOPE though.
I'm surprised Shadow Verse Evolve did not make the list. $20 - $25 starter decks, fast games, understandable rules. Perfect for occasional or new gamers.
now that altered is out, what is your thought on altered fiting this criteria? too competitive?
also why don't you consider pokemon a casual enough game?
Definetly commander is great for casual, but you know what, melee format in A Game of Thrones lcg (before tcg) was even better!
I've never gotten to try AGoT! That sounds awesome, though. What made it so good?
@@MaindeckGames what makes so good is that there is no single player elimination because who reach 15 power wins the game. Commander is great don’t get me wrong, but some times one player is eliminate early in the game and is just looking for a while. It does not happen in melee Agot and for me is very relevant. Also AgoT lcg was very good game as well. Give it a try if you have the chance
That's always an awesome feature in multiplayer, same reason Lorcana made it as high on the list as it did. I'll have to find it and give it a try sometime!
YGO is for casuals? Have you seen the sheer amount of text on these cards lol Speed Duel is fine though
It appeals to casual players despite that
lmao I can't believe my random insistence on calling Weiss Schwartz by it's German pronunciation has actually taken hold in your brain lol
You forgot Spellfire!! ❤
Another list for dragon ball super card game masters fits all criteria and players
Reporting from the future. Lorcana is everywhere. It's at LGS, Target, and even Best Buy.
It sure is! Great for Lorcana's accessibility, glad they've figured it out!
THHIS OFFENDS ME!!
lol jk it doesn’t
FIRST
Wow
Lol a literal one second difference 🤣 next time it's mine.
@@MD-Ztrgodyou have to wake up pretty early in the morning to get ahead of me
You missed one ☝️
Correction: the one ☝️
I feel like YuGiOh! Breaks part of your criteria. Especially with how likely am I going to get blown out vs a more competitive deck. I think listing Speed Duel should be in spot 5.
Disney Lorcana product is so impossible to get that it should be DQd from the list at this point.
I like this list, but it seems like you spend 20% of the video putting up criteria to not get backlash, then ignored it.
Thanks so much for your comment. You know, it's a pretty tricky thing to nail down. I don't feel I ignored my criteria, but I do feel like how much weight is placed on different aspects can vary from person to person, especially when we are trying to nail down what "casual" play is. For some people, casual play is two starter decks playing against each other, for others its two meta decks, and everything in between. Ultimately, there isn't a game that fits ALL of the criteria listed, and I challenge anyone to name a game that does. So instead, I just have to make subjective decisions based on where I personally weight particular elements: in other words, is how good a game is at criteria X enough to overlook its issues for criteria Y?
In the case of YGO, you absolutely can get blown out by a meta deck if you are playing something non-meta. That's part and parcel with the bombastic gameplay style of the game, and that's why it almost didn't make the list. But I put a lot of weight into both Speed Duel, and the accessibility of the game in general as one of the "big 3" games. If it weren't for Speed Duel, it wouldn't have made the list: but I don't have a firm distinction between the two, and I also think that non-Speed Duel YGO can be a blast to play casually.
Lorcana product availability is abysmal *right now*, and as I noted in the video, part of this is assuming that's on the way to being fixed. However, singles are extremely available on TCGPlayer and Cardmarket, with prices trending downward as more product releases. I wanted this video to be "good" for a longer period than just the next couple of weeks, so I took a bit of a gamble that those trends would continue for the next few months as Ravensburger figures things out. Lorcana's IP and benefits in multiplayer, looking at the criteria again, really carry it to its position, though I could absolutely see someone ranking it lower right this second because of the lack of product.
Hope that makes a bit of sense, happy to chat more about it!
"Top five game for casual players is Yu-Gi-Oh." The most complicated tcg known to man is number five? That's far from casual
And Disney Lorcana? Are you kidding me? I agree that it's a very fun and original game...but trying to get a pack is near impossible. Trying to build a deck is gonna break the bank and then some. The game itself, casual. But obtaining the cards is mission impossible
Where's flesh and blood? its new, amazing and cheap to start playing casually. Just buy a 10-15 euro blitz deck and you're ready to start playing from 0
You can start playing any tcg casually with a 10-20$ starter deck though...
First!
Sorry, @taylorboe1235 got it! Better luck next time!
@@MaindeckGames he's just so fast! Beat me by a second 🤣
😎
Yugioh is also the MOST competitive and least casual tcg out there…..
YGO is far from the most competitive. Its basically a single player TCG at this point.
How is pokemon not here? Its like lorcana, no competitive to it
It was on the competitive list….somehow. Lol 😂 Different strokes for different folks though.
Pokemon deserves to be on both lists imo. At a competitive level, it is crucial to play each turn as perfectly as possible in order to optimize your board state and hand state. You weigh statistics with each card to figure out what to play first. But at a casual level, you can play your favorite team of Pokemon and just have good fun with your friends. It's exciting to play with less popular cards and realize their combo potential. It's also dirt cheap to build any deck. These days the GLC format is a great alternate way to play that turns the game on its head, making formerly weak Pokemon huge power houses while making each of your plays more painstaking than in standard.
Yeah, also you can find Pokémon cards literally everywhere and it's really easy to learn the rules