Yu-Gi-Oh Introduces New Duel Monsters Game

Like many major franchises this year, Yu-Gi-Oh! is also celebrating its anniversary with a brand new anime series. As the seventh entry in the franchise, Yu-Gi-Oh Sevens debuted in Japan this month to a lot of acclaim for how refreshing it seems to be right off of the bat. Not only has it de-aged its central cast, and now has them all in Elementary school, but it’s introduced a new way to play the trading card game that speeds things up far more than it has ever done in the past (even with the advent of Speed Duels).

Yu-Gi-Oh Sevens has introduced fans to Rush Duels, a new mechanic that’s currently exclusive to the trading card game in Japan. Invented by the new main character Yuga Ohdo (at least in universe anyway), this new way to play the game limits the amount of monster, spell, and trap cards on the field at a single time but allows players to use as many as they can in any given turn.

As explained in the new anime, Rush Duels allow for three monsters and three spell or traps cards for each player’s side of the field. Each player begins with four cards, and are able to summon as many monsters as they want during their turn. Tributes still apply, and the actual turn phases are trimmed slightly (but that’s more for how the game is played in real life).

During your Draw Phase, you can draw as many cards as you want until you have at least five cards in your hand (or draw a single card if you already have five). Yuga does this to his advantage in the anime by summoning three monsters off the bat and laying a spell card on the field, and then draws five during his next turn. These are really the only major difference in mechanics from the way the game is already played for now, but as the anime continues to evolve the Rush Duel is certainly going to do so as well.

The Rush Duel is introduced to the newest anime as a way to shake up the stilted way Duel Monsters is looked at in the Yu-Gi-Oh! world at this point as a major corporation now uses it to monitor and penalize those who try and enjoy it outside of their set rules. Yuga created this new type of game to carve out his own path to becoming the King of Games, and now fans are along for the ride to see where it all goes from here!

Are you excited to see that Yu-Gi-Oh! is back with a new anime? What do you think of Rush Duels so far? How else do you think the game will change as the anime continues? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or talk to me directly about all things anime and other cool things @Valdezology on Twitter!