#i love the toon world decks so much too. i was so happy to see toon dm

[mahoushojoumonster]

(( Hmm, you know those special toon card's pegasus had in the early season? something around that with mana and mahaad. ))

These actually exist and I have thought about them!

For me, the toon monsters (much like in Roger Rabbit) exist in their own little space in the monster realm (or maybe toon world is just one of those weird places nestled somewhere in the human world?), which means that a lot of the cards that are ‘copies’ of other monsters aren’t necessarily going to be interacting with their counterparts that often without reason (like a murder for which one of the toons has been framed…?).

I see them as separate entities because of the behaviors these characters have shown in the anime is too hilarious to just write off as ‘these are the same’. I love the idea that many monsters would look at their toon counterparts and just feel a little… weird about it.

Mana falls into this category. When Toon DMG has been brought up in conversation prior, she has outwardly stated that she feels the toon version of herself to be a little ‘feral’, and complained that TDMG bites. Hard. This has come up when she speaks to Pegasus characters in particular. She doesn’t hate toons, and finds the antics of them a little charming but also just feels a little strange that there is a child version of herself running around that fights like a demon possessed by a sugar high. And bites.

Mahad on the other hand (having raised the OG demon), thinks it’s adorable and every time he’s come across the little one, she has been a perfect angel for him (because toon comedy logic must prevail, right?). He has seen the toons in action, and aside from the amusement at their tactics in battle (when you’re not in battle against them, it’s hilarious), he has no real problems with the Toons at all, even if Toon BEWD is a little…. Terrifying with all those teeth (NOTE: carry a sturdy frisby around to distract TBEWD if you value not having chunks taken out of you).

They are not currently aware that a version of him exists because they haven’t come across him.

I consider every so often doing a toon verse thing, and I have found it fun to explore the idea when it comes around… and on an occasion it has popped up in my inbox as a m!a for Mana, but I really do like the idea that these are different characters purely because it is hilarious thinking about Mana and Mahad arguing over the cuteness of a caricature of her.

Feel free to ask more questions, I have a lot of thoughts about toons….

#; ask #out; zombie speaks #i love the toon world decks so much too. i was so happy to see toon dm

[disneytva]

Extra Wild ETs: Justin Roiland & Mike McMahan’s ‘Solar Opposites’ Lands at Hulu

Misfit aliens from space trying to adapt to life on Earth have been a popular staple of sitcoms such as My Favorite Martian, ALF and 3rd Rock from the Sun. This spring, a new brood of aliens make their impressive debut in Hulu’s Solar Opposites, the hilarious new animated offering from Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland and former head writer Mike McMahan (Star Trek: Lower Decks).

The series, which overflows with the inspired lunacy you might expect from the madmen who gave us Rick and Morty, follows a team of four aliens who have crash-landed into suburbia after escaping their exploding home planet. Two of them, Korvo (Roiland) and Yumyulack (Sean Giambrone) believe their new home is awful and polluted, while the other duo Terry (Thomas Middleditch) and Jesse (Mary Mack) love humans, their junk food and pop culture.

Roiland, who won an Emmy in 2018 for executive producing Rick and Morty (and yes, he also voices both Rick and Morty for that hugely popular show) tells us that he had the idea to center a show on a pair of odd-couple aliens about 14 years ago. “At some point, it was going to be a live-action series, but it never happened,” he recalls. “Mike McMahan and I were trying to develop another show, between the second and third season of Rick and Morty, but everything we did felt really laborious. So, we decided to put that other idea down and try the odd-couple alien pitch again … and then, once we went back to the original premise, everything became very easy.”

Loving the Aliens

“Justin has all these books of random sketches and ideas from years past,” says McMahan. “We flipped through them and landed on a rough drawing of Terry and Korvo, which we used as the inspiration to build out the family. I was a new dad at the time, so I added the kids/replicants and the baby/Pupa character, we were going for a classic sitcom/FOX look from afar, which would get weirder the closer you looked. The tone we wanted to hit was ‘funny and fun over everything else at all times,’ which you can still clearly see in the finished show.”

McMahan and Roiland then put together the story for the pilot, which is very close to the final version that viewers will get to see on Hulu this month. “We originally had interest from Netflix and Syfy, but those didn’t happen, and then Hulu stepped in,” says Roiland. “We then added [exec producer/writer] Josh Bycel (American Dad!, Happy Endings) along, and things really got moving. It was a lot of work, but everyone is really kicking ass — and it’s been a lot of fun, too.”

In addition to the show regulars, the series also boasts a phenomenal list of guest voice actors. The first season alone features the likes of Alan Tudyk, Tiffany Hadish, Tom Kenny, Alfred Molina, Christina Hendricks, Rainn Wilson, Eric Bauza, Amanda Leighton, Maurice LaMarche, Miguel Sandoval, Nat Faxon, Natalie Morales, Phil LaMarr and Kari Wahlgren. The show is produced by 20th Century Fox Television and the animation is handled by Green Portal Productions and Vancouver-based Bardel Entertainment, which also handle Rick and Morty.

Roiland says he and McMahan had a great time brainstorming about the aliens, their weird biology and how they interact with the world in unexpected ways. For example, whenever they get stressed, their bodies begin to emit little creatures that look like a hybrid between a giant virus and a pink booger (they’re called gooblers).

“It’s funny to think about humanity from the perspective of alien beings,” says Roiland.

“We are going to have lots of fun with the gooblers, but I can’t tell you more about it because we don’t want to ruin the joke.”

Overall, both Roiland and McMahan say the show is a bit sillier and looser than their other collaboration, Rick and Morty. “Our process of writing and producing is quicker, but we still strive for the same level of humor and surprises. We have so many ideas about how these aliens survive on the planet. But when you think about it, it’s really an immigrant story,” Roiland points out. “These characters are very new to their environment, and we get to have fun by looking at things we take for granted and build jokes and sketch storylines around those ideas.”

McMahan says one of their biggest challenges was to always keep the comedy and the tone of the show as light and fun as possible, even when pouring their efforts into making sure everything was professionally executed. “It’s easy for a show to become ‘right,’ but also lose the frivolity that made you like it in the first place. Solar Opposites is always a balancing act between, ‘we have to make a really good, emotionally solid TV episode’ and ‘let’s do some crazy, effed shit that makes us laugh. I’m really happy with how the first season ended up in that regard.”

Juggling Toons Looking back at the past few years, Roiland says the big challenge was juggling the production of Solar Opposites, all of his Rick and Morty duties and launching his own gaming studio Squanch Games in 2016. “Everything was happening at the same time,” he says. “But luckily I had an amazing team. Mike and Josh were amazing and did a great job of running the room day to day. It’s the old adage: You have to surround yourself with talented people and get out of their way. We are having so much fun with this show and our voice cast brings so much to the table: They truly embody the characters and add some hilarious improv material to the show, as well.”

Roiland, who says he was hugely influenced by shows such as The Simpsons, Beavis and Butt-head, Ren & Stimpy and Liquid Television when he was younger, says fans could see a possible appearance by Rick and Morty on Solar Opposites in the future. “In an infinite multiverse, everything is part of the multiverse, so they could easily be a couple of realities away,” he says.“I have no idea how you would navigate the IP waters, but that would be really friggin’ cool!”

“Our initial pitch to Hulu always included a heavily serialized element, so there’s a big part of the show that’s always been designed to be binged,” adds McMahahn. “I’ve never worked on a serialized animated comedy, and I don’t see a lot of them, so I heavily nerded out that we got to make a serialized show along with a goofball comedy. What you see on the screen (in that respect) is exactly what I wanted it to be from conception through execution, which is a rare treat for a creator. Also, the art team and the voice actors are insanely talented, everyone gave it their best, and you’ll see that the first season is something special.”

Roiland says he hopes the audience will get some entertainment and some happiness by watching his new show. “Things are pretty sad out there in the real world, so we hope Solar Opposites and new episodes of Rick and Morty will offer people a little bit of distraction.”

“I hope audiences will sit down to watch a show about crazy funny aliens, and then be surprised as they keep watching how serialized and thought-out everything is,” adds McMahan. “In any other time, this show couldn’t exist. To me, the only reason a show should exist on Hulu (or any streamer) is because it feels like a miracle, like you can’t believe what you’re watching. Sometimes that feeling comes from a cancelled show being resurrected. For Solar, it’s the jokes, language, what we can show on screen (Solar is TV-MA, which is crazy what you can do) and the serialized elements. Somehow, this show feels like a classic, broad network sitcom and like an insane cable show that fell out of another dimension, all at the same time.”

#Solar Opposites #Mike McMahan #Justin Roiland #Hulu #Hulu Originals #Hulu Original Animated Series #Hulu Original Series #20th Century Studios #20th Century Fox #20th Century Fox Television #20th Century Fox Television Animation #FOX Television Animation #20th Century Television Animation #20th Century Television Studios

[intheclique]

CLIQUE talks ‘Ellen Chetcuti’

In another ‘CLIQUE EXCLUSIVE,’ we sit down with one of the most well-known female influencers on the scene ‘Ellen Chetcuti.’

Not only does she have a passion for the Toon scene, un be-known to many; Ellen has a serious love for music production and often shares her special love and time mixing in private on the decks.

With a history of strong songs releases such as, ‘Collapse, Desolate, The Upset Clown,’ and new tunes like ‘Evil Intentions & The Ferryman’ on her SoundCloud. (Click for link) She shows no sign of slowly down, nor falling out of love with music.

With a hectic work life balance, she proves with the right time management, and utilizing the correct priorities, anything is possible. So long as you don’t ‘push the feeling & you’re enjoy what you’re doing,’. That’s all that matter as long as you pull it off with a smile. It is all that counts.

So…

Let’s cut the talking.

Let’s get to it.

Without further ado, Ellen Chetcuti.

(C) Original image (clink link.) 

Q. Hey, Ellen, first off thanks for taking the time to talk to CLIQUE this morning, how’s things?

A. Things are looking up really; it is looking like things are finally going in the right direction for me at the moment, so got all the time in the world. I always seemed to complain about time I just didn’t seem to have; but now I have the time. It’s weird… *chuckles* I’m just really lucky.

Q. How you been handling lock-down?

A. To be honest it’s been pretty easy, I’ve stuck by the rules, done what’s been asked. I’ve just kept being productive, woke up, and made sure I make the most of my time.

Q. It has been a bit of a mad year hasn’t it?

A. It’s been a crazy year, already doing a teaching course, but I’ve gotten through and I’m at the end, and ready to relax a little bit more now.  Time to prioritize things a bit more.

Q. This year has seen you take up more music, with your new Instagram page, (Click for link.) more regular music, how you finding your music making?

A. I definitely think every track I post is getting better. I’ve got loads to learn and I’m nowhere near I want to be but would love to get to know more of the equipment that’s out there. See, I feel like having the separate music page definitely helps. It’s keeping friends, friends; separate to those who are interested in my platform for music. It makes it so much more better for the journey.

Q. We have followed your sound for a couple of years now and must say every track you make brings its own unique sound. How do you go about it?

A. To be honest, I feel when I sit down and have a plan it won’t make out how I want it to anyways. So, I start with a kick then synths, unlike bass or kick second. Synths to me bring out the vibes and heart of the song. So, the synth takes the track on it’s way. However, I’ve done a very kick & bass track recently literally driven my track currently.

(Image - Duplicated feeling : The Upset Clown : The Devul : Desolate.) 

Q. What makes a good track?

A. For me it’s all about the emotion, it’s all about when you can feel something rather than throwing everything together which can sound pretty basic, I’d like to say I try to tell a story.

Q. You’ve been involved in music for years, you’ve sang, you were a part of the band BERNACCIA, you’re producing music, what’s been your favorite? Or is this all a part of the process?

A. Well I was at Uni and it was such an exciting part of my life; but it wasn’t the best part of my life, the band I joined, however, were the some of the best memories I’ve ever made, but I think in my third year of Uni I felt I was relying on other people and felt I was on the same step without moving forward so I thought it's now or never to self-teach myself watching tutorial after tutorial and just getting on with it. Fast forward to now it’s such a great feeling.

Q. Favorite genre and why?

A. It’s really hard I listen to really atmospheric techno like ‘Afterlife’ and then the other spectrum heavy techno. I’ve found if I’m playing on the decks at home I like to really play the heavy stuff to move and dance.

Q. Where do you see yourself in 5 years’ time?

A. It’s hard to say, I don’t really think about the future but this year, the first goal is to post some sets online, would love more feedback, a public appearance DJ set would be amazing and even a singular track signed. See, I’m so content with what I’m doing, the speed is great, so let's just see what happens. ‘As long as I’m smiling.

Q. Who’s your top 3 influencers?

A. Fideles, literally just headphones on and it tucks me away. VTSS’s vibe is so unique and slightly heavier. AirRod always listened on Amelie lens label, his tunes are always one to make you bop you can’t not dance to them. They are all the most recent at the moment that I’m totally into.

Q. You certainly like to two-step, tell me one of your all-time favorite festival and memory.

A. English festival was JUCTION2, the group we went with was perfect, sun shining, vibes brilliant, the whole weekend just on cloud 9. Outside UK 100% ADE Amsterdam they have the festivals in the world. Sound systems are unreal, the people are lovely they’re there for the music they’re cool as fuck! It’s always a good vibe and you are always a party guaranteed somewhere. When we went to ADE me and my mate got backstage long story short, my friend was nearly going to get kicked out but when we came back in, this lad who saw us nearly get kicked out got us back in, simply amazing didn’t sleep for three days aha…

Q. Your perfect night out?

A. Perfect night out to me is, hyping yourself up with your friends at pre’s or even just meeting in a bar for me it’s always Tokyo. Going into the club getting a drink then always find your position on the dance floor and stay there all night in the middle never too close to the front, always center of the dance floor.

Q. Perfect night in?

A. Pretty similar, I love to make cocktails, I don’t drink all the time but it is nice to drink in the house to relax, put a set on the tv have a conversation with friends about life and just have happy vibes and let the positive aura float around.

Q. Peroni or Vodka?

A. Peroni! 100% every time every day.

Q. Do you find there is a time limit on making music?

A. That’s a funny one I can’t make tracks dead quick I could make one, like a decent one in a week it just depends on how you’re feeling. I don’t have a plan; it just happens and some days it doesn’t happen at all. If I’m not feeling it I just start afresh and then just start again. But then again sometimes if I’m not feeling it, I just leave it to come back to. I think with me as when you’re hearing the same thing and I may actually love the sound but at the same time I may get sick of it; so I have to remember at one point I y’know I liked it, so it's great to have fresh ears to come back to, so it’s all unpredictable.

Q. If you could survive on a desert island with only three things what would they be and why?

A. I’d want a bloody hat, like a funky hat. Some acid *ha lol* and an iPod with some headphones because probably going to die so may as well go out with a bang…

Q. Which festival are you still wanting to go to?

A. TimeWarp unquestionable wanted to go and still haven’t been able to make it. Coursework and Uni got in the way. It’s been a fine balance. It’s literally is learning to keep a fine balance. Work-life balance. One day…

Q. Tell me about your latest track, ‘Evil Intentions’ & ‘A Portion of Matter...’

A. Well, like I said earlier it’s one end of the spectrum to the other, in the definition of ‘ A Portion of Matter’ made it a long time ago I got a little sick of it, I make that many synths it got a little messy. Erm… so left it a couple of months. Came back and you know what then fixed it and it just happened once I rearranged better. Evil Intentions just happened in two days and boom it happened.

Q. If you could collaborate with anyone who would it be?

A. Oh, this is a good question hmm…. There's a DJ who he’s called Jan Vercauteren, (click for link.) he’s big but he has his own sound and his tracks are class. I remember thinking I wish I could make something that; would love for him to be able to show me how to make some acid leads. His tracks seem to have all these elements that just seem to work.

Q. Any final things you would like to add?

A. No just thank you. Haven’t really talked about my music so nice to talk about my music and where I am.

- - - - - - - - 

Well, we can’t thank you enough Ellen.

Thanks so much for your time.

For all things Ellen Chetcuti find links to her socials below.

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/el_chetcuti_music/

SoundCloud https://soundcloud.com/ellenchetcutimusic

#northeast #interview #article #music #techno #producer

[filosofablogger]

Welcome to yet another Monday, another excuse to be jolly!  Okay, so maybe that’s a stretch, but … I think we might be able to find something to chuckle about, don’t you?  But first, grab a snack and a cuppa … after last week’s fiasco with Jolly in the kitchen, I did all the cooking this morning.

Larry’s bacon

Benjamin’s juice boxes — but he’ll share if you ask nicely!

Cardening anyone?

Some people, idled by the pandemic, are finding creative things to do around the house.  John Brayshaw of Spen Valley, West Yorkshire in the UK was one such person.  He bought the house where he lives just six months ago and had been planning to build a deck in the garden.  So, last week he began digging post holes and … you’ll never guess what he found under his garden … c’mon, take a wild guess!  Nope, not a dead body.  Nope, not a stash of drugs.  A car!  Yep, that’s right …

“I had all the materials ready and I needed to do something to put my brain back into action. I was just sat in the house watching the news and it was frying my brain. So I thought let’s start this decking, I never for a second thought I’d find anything like this. I was digging post panels for my decking and I hit something hard, so I started doing some digging around it. I’d say the hole it is in 7ft deep, 10ft long and 5ft wide.

It’s really weird. It’s not something you find every day – it is literally in the middle of my garden. It’s one of those things that you literally have to see it to believe it. I was like ‘what on earth is this?’ I thought it was an old air raid shelter at first, then I saw the roof and I thought ‘who’d bury the roof of a car?’ Then I kept digging at saw the door, the steering wheel and realised it was a full car complete with the registration plate. The only thing that was missing was the wheels.

I’ve been told that at the end of world war two there was an influx of people that used to work for the Secret Service. It has also been suggested to me that the colour of the car is known as ‘RAF grey’. The house has got a full cellar, which is under a trap door. I can’t find a trace of the registration plate anywhere and there seems to be no record of the car available, which is weird as well.”

I sense a story here!

Making the best of the situation

A bakery in Finland says business is rolling in after it introduced a cake shaped like toilet paper. The bakery in Helsinki was at risk of financial ruin last month after all its orders were canceled. The coronavirus pandemic took a serious toll on business at the same time people in Finland were hoarding toilet paper.

The bakery’s owner did some quick thinking and turned things around. You might say it’s cleaning up. The first five toilet paper cakes sold within an hour and the cake became a social media hit. The bakery now has hundreds of orders. Its owner was even able to add two extra people to her nine-member team.

Baker owner Sanna Lampinen said, “For us it’s a game changer and I am relieved because I know that all my employees are safe for months now and I am hoping that the situation will stay.”The toilet paper cake is made of oat batter, passion fruit mousse and covered with white fondant, a thick, creamy sugar paste.

Happy kitties …

Cats are natural born climbers.  I know this because we have five of them, used to have ten, and it is not unusual to see them atop a bookshelf or other horizontal surface.  We used to have one who could jump all the way to the top of a 7-foot door and lie there for hours.  Our cats have a small condo, just two stories, and it’s only about 2 feet tall, so not enough of a challenge for them.  Most mornings I come downstairs to find pictures just slightly askew, or a bite out of the leaf of the house plant atop the entertainment center.  So, when I saw this creation …

… I was mesmerized.  This creation was designed by Rob Coutu from Windsor, Connecticut, who has two cats, a red tabby and a Savannah cat.  Rob says that the Savannah likes the towers so much, she has taken over both of them and doesn’t want to let the tabby use them!  Sounds like our Tiger Lily.  Now, when Rob’s creation made the news on Bored Panda, many people owned by cats expressed such an interest that Rob decided to start selling the building plans.

I know my way around a hammer, saw and nails, and have built some decent bookshelves in my day, so I considered ordering a set of those plans and seeing what I could do.  Until I found out that the material cost for the project is still mounting, and currently stands somewhere around $3,500 plus the tons of labor he has put in.  We love our furry family members and there’s not much I wouldn’t do for them, but … $3,500???  No … just no.  Still, it is a marvelous creation, don’t you think?

How about some fun ‘toons for a few chuckles?

And lastly, a cute animal video …

And now, sadly, our time together must end, for I have chores to do, and I’m sure you do too.  Remember to share your smiles today, for these are tough times for everyone and you’d be amazed how much something as simple as a smile can brighten the day.  Love ‘n hugs from Filosofa and Jolly!

Jolly Monday With Smiles 😊 Welcome to yet another Monday, another excuse to be jolly!  Okay, so maybe that’s a stretch, but … I think we might be able to find something to chuckle about, don’t you? 

#cat condo #cute animal video #Helsinki bakery #John Brayshaw #toilet paper cake

[operationrainfall]

Title Yu-Gi-Oh!: Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution Developer Other Ocean Interactive Publisher Konami Release Date August 20th, 2019 Genre Card Game, Strategy, Simulation Platform Nintendo Switch Age Rating T for Teen – Fantasy Violence, Mild Blood, Partial Nudity Official Website

It’s odd to realize I’ve been playing Yu-Gi-Oh! for almost two decades now. I got into the well-known card game just before it came stateside from Japan, and was instantly captivated by the art and overall style. I’ve watched firsthand as the game has evolved over the years, going from simplistic and easy to pick up to quite complex and incredibly fast. Like any card game, it’s changed a lot over time, and that’s part of why this Yu-Gi-Oh! game was so exciting. Not only is it the first Yu-Gi-Oh! videogame to hit a Nintendo console in a while, it’s also the first in recent history to feature up-to-date mechanics for the latest style of summons, Link Monsters. The question then, is whether Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution is the best game in the series, or just the latest?

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For reference, the last Yu-Gi-Oh! videogame I played, Zexal World Duel Carnival, came out some 6 years ago. I say “I played” cause there have been other releases since then on PC, PS3 and Xbox in various regions, but I don’t like playing card games on consoles. I prefer portables, and feel that’s the ideal way to play a series like this. So I never played the original Legacy of the Duelist, but worry not, I’m still very up to date with the game mechanics. That’s what happens when you judge the game in your free time. So my hope with Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution was that it would let me get into the game without too much fanfare, unlock the cards I wanted quickly, and give me sufficient replay value. And I can say the game mostly delivered on all of those fronts.

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There are essentially 3 main modes in the game – Single Player, which consists of Campaign and Duelist Challenges; Multiplayer, which lets you face opponents locally or online; and Battle Pack, which lets you draft random cards to build decks. There’s also a card shop where you can spend hard-earned in-game currency to buy more packs. I spent most of my time with Campaign Mode, which features iconic battles from every Yu-Gi-Oh! series, including the original, GX, 5D’s, Zexal, ARC-V and VRAINS. Every consecutive series after the first introduced and focused on a new Summoning mechanic, starting with Fusion, then Synchro, Xyz, Pendulum, and finally Links. Each mission has a bit of story, followed by a duel. Here you have a choice between using a story deck faithful to what was used on the show, or your own constructed deck or pre-constructed structure deck. The upside to using the story deck is they totally ignore the restrictions of the Forbidden and Limited list, letting you sometimes use multiple copies of some of the most powerful banned cards in the game, such as Pot of Greed. The downside is that they are so faithful that they often are chock full of mostly useless cards. I found it was fun to occasionally use a story deck, but more often I used my own decks, especially once I had unlocked enough cards to build a half-decent one.

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Playing through Campaign Mode to 100% completion takes a good long while, and I’d estimate I spent 70% of my overall playtime with it. The only exception to that rule is the latest series, VRAINS. To my surprise, this mode only had 3 missions, compared to 20+ for the others. Worse yet, there was absolutely no story for VRAINS, which was a bit of a letdown. And though you’re seemingly welcome to tackle the series in the order you prefer, I almost wish Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution had forced me to play VRAINS first. The reason being this mode explains Link summons, and how they changed pretty much every core aspect of the game. While I was already familiar with the changes, I can just see the confusion older players unfamiliar with the current mechanics would face. It especially would have made sense, given how short that particular Campaign is. But that complaint aside, I was mostly happy with Campaign Mode. It’s just as silly and challenging as the TV show might lead you to expect, and features tons of unique decks to battle against. While I was most familiar with the original show and 5D’s, it was fun seeing how they changed things up with each series. From ancient Egyptian spirits to motorcycles to dimensional travel and more, there’s a lot of interesting ideas represented by the Yu-Gi-Oh! series. They may not be perfectly explained or make the most sense, but that’s honestly the charm of most anime series. That sheer creativity coupled with great artwork makes for a heady brew.

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Once you beat all the missions in any of the Campaigns, your fun isn’t over. There’s something called Reverse Duels, which lets you play the iconic duels from the opposite side, oftentimes as the villain. There’s some really cool story decks you can use here, such as Pegasus’ Toon deck or Strings’ Slifer the Sky Dragon deck. What makes these interesting is they aren’t restricted by what cards were available when they first debuted. You’ll find more recent cards in these classic decks, so long as they make thematic sense. The only thing you won’t find are Link Monsters, which are entirely relegated to the VRAINS Campaign. So, if you want to use this new mechanic, you should play those missions first and buy a lot of Playmaker’s packs. I should mention, by progressing in the Campaigns, you’ll unlock packs for a variety of characters in the card shop. These will feature cards often used by those characters, as well as totally unexpected archetypes. Given that there’s some 9000+ card pool in the game, you’ll have your work cut out for you acquiring the maximum 3 copies of everything, especially since I found the RNG for the card shop was a bit diabolical. Sometimes you’ll unlock stuff with ease, but when I was fishing for multiple copies of cards I already owned, things got ridiculous, as in spending thousands of in-game cash on packs, only to not get what I wanted. I’d almost swear the game worked to stop me from getting what I wanted. And while this is a feature common to all the Yu-Gi-Oh! videogames, it’s exacerbated by one small detail – the lack of a code machine. Previous games allowed you to input an ID found on the bottom of physical cards to unlock them in the game for a price. I would have loved that feature here, as it would have made getting playsets of all the cards I needed much less time-consuming.

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Duelist Challenges have you face off against iconic characters as well, but this time they’re better-equipped. They’ll use more powerful themed decks, sometimes what you might expect them to use, other times not. A good example is Bandit Keith using a Pendulum / Scrap deck, or Alexis Rhodes using an Ice Barrier deck. I loved the unexpected quality of these match ups, and overall found Duelist Challenges more difficult and satisfying than the battles found in Campaign Mode. The one quality common in both is that often your AI opponent will have much better luck drawing their key cards than you will. Sometimes to an unfair degree. That said, it’s nothing a bit of strategy can’t solve. The Heart of the Cards might work in the show, but here you’ll need to rely on your tactical planning. Plus, it’s not all that hard to trick the AI opponent into making missteps you can capitalize on.

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The last mode I’m gonna mention is probably my favorite. Battle Pack lets you buy random packs and use what you pull to make decks. You can either hand pick cards from a pool or choose to just play with a random assortment. Then, when you’re all done playing a few rounds, you get to keep all the cards you pulled! I personally love this mode, since it relies less on using competitive and often boring Meta decks and rewards you more for creativity and flexible thinking. While it does cost 2000 points to play a few matches, compared to 200 or 400 per individual pack in the card shop, I find it’s well worth it. Especially since you can use your drafted deck to face local opponents, AI foes or play people online. While I’ve 100% completed Campaign, I’ll be coming back to Battle Pack for a long time.

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More Duels on Page 2!

Now I’ve mostly talked about the positive aspects of Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution, but there are some areas it falls short. One aforementioned area is how incredibly difficult it can be to pull what you need from packs. A related problem is the game doesn’t tell you when you pull new cards. That’s more of a minor problem, but it’s also one I’ve seen previous games do better. I also wouldn’t have minded a way of clarifying which archetypes are represented in which pack. Each one has a ton of different cards, and if you can remember them all, you have a better memory than me. More substantive is how the game doesn’t really help you navigate the Deck Edit mode. There’s a lot of filters to help search for things, and I had to discover them all on my own. That isn’t to say it’s impossible to figure out, but a little guidance would have gone a long way here. And, speaking of guidance, while I don’t mind the tutorials the game provides, I also feel they could have been more robust to help guide new players. The simple truth of the matter is Yu-Gi-Oh! is a very complex game with a lot to comprehend. That can be a bit intimidating to newer players, and without courting those people, this game will only really draw the attention of players already well-versed with the series. And that’s a shame, since there’s a lot to enjoy here.

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While most players won’t be buying this game for the art or music, I still feel I should touch upon both like usual. Visually, the game is a bit of a mixed bag. The interface for playing is clean and uncluttered, but it’s also a bit barebones. One fellow Yu-Gi-Oh! fan said the graphics could have come from a PS2 game, and I couldn’t entirely disagree. However, there is one area the graphics are pretty attractive, and that’s with the summon of iconic monsters. Whenever you summon a Dark Magician, Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Elemental Hero Thunder Giant or the like, they’ll get a flashy animation. These are quite cool, and do a lot to add to the mystique of these cards. The only downside is that there’s no option to toggle these off, because in duels where they are summoned repeatedly, it can wear a bit thin. As far as the writing in the game goes, it reads pretty well, though I was irritated when characters had a caption saying they were thinking to themselves, which was totally unnecessary. On the sound side of things, I have a less rosy opinion. The music in the game is very muted, even with my volume turned all the way up. There’s some adequate sound effects for things like Turn Change or activating cards, but it’s pretty average. It’s not offensive, but it could have been much flashier. Especially since previous Yu-Gi-Oh! videogames had features like dynamic music, where it changed dramatically when you were running low on Life Points. Not to mention, the theme songs from the shows were pretty memorable.

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All in all, I really enjoyed Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution. Even with its flaws, it’s easily the best videogame in the series to date. There’s a ton to keep you busy, and I’ve easily spent 30-40 hours already just for the sake of this review. The biggest issue I have with it is that it doesn’t do enough to court players unfamiliar with the nuance and newfound complexity of the game. Things like the Forbidden and Limited List are also confusing, in that they aren’t the most recent version, but instead seem a mishmash of previous lists. But if you can look past that sort of thing, you get a lot of bang for your buck for only $39.99. If you’re a fan of the series and are eager for an excuse to dive in and test out new deck ideas, then you’ll enjoy the game. Just be ready to spend a long time grinding for the cards you need.

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[easyreview cat1title=”Overall” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”3.5″]

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REVIEW: Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution Title Yu-Gi-Oh!: Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution

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