Forum:The Four Magic Deck-size Numbers

I have been playing Yu-Gi-Oh! for almost 10 years now, and the one question that new players always ask me is, "How many cards should I put in my deck?" I will now answer that question once and for all.

The Official Rules

As we all know, the official rules state that the number of cards in one's main deck should be no less than 40 and no more than 60. Keeping that in mind, determining how many cards need to be in your main deck really depends on what your strategy is for the deck.

The Four Magic Numbers

When I am building a deck, I usually try to stick to what I like to call the four magic numbers. Those numbers are 40, 41, 42, and 45. Depending on the strategy of the deck, sticking to these four numbers will help ensure that I draw into the cards I need when I need them. Now don't get me wrong, the total number of cards in one's deck is not the only factor involved. You also have to take into consideration the ratios of cards in the deck. These ratios, like the total deck size, depend greatly on the strategy of the deck, but a good rule of thumb is have at least half the deck be monster and the other half fairly split between spells and traps I will go into exact ratios for different strategies in my next article.

So, now all of you new players out there have a better understanding of how many cards need to be in your deck for it to stand a chance of being competitive. Look for my next article coming to a blog or forum near you. Until next time, play fair and play hard. Macroman2011 (talk • contribs) 16:48, February 24, 2011 (UTC)

I never go above 42 for any Deck whatsoever, and never 42 unless using Lightsworn. I avoid 41 if possible but for some Decks I find that it works a bit better because of the extra card. BF2 Talk Deck Guides 19:07, January 19, 2012 (UTC)

42 is also agreed, however you don't actually explain why,

Also, your rule of thumb is out of date, most decks these days are 1:2 ratio of s/t:m or m:s/t, as it's just more effeciant (t.g., inz, wind-up, agents, dark world, rabbit)

-Resk (✩)( ☯) 19:09, January 19, 2012 (UTC)

A Ratio of Monsters to S/T isn't really that important - it varies by Deck. Some Decks with lots of searching Spells and Traps (the old Six Samurai, Elemental HERO) can afford to go to as little as 10 monsters, whereas some Decks like Plant Synchro use around 20. Other decks, like Lightsworn, function best with high Monster Counts while decks like Frognarchs run well without Traps and can have either a low Spell Count or up to 20 Spells. BF2 Talk Deck Guides 19:13, January 19, 2012 (UTC)

I don't see why you would ever need over 40. Anything over 40 is just delaying the chance of drawing what you need.
It's simple math. More cards + same number of draws = less chance of drawing the specific card(s) that will help you. 202.169.221.112 (talk) 02:53, January 20, 2012 (UTC)

If you have too many self-mill cards in a lightsworn deck or too many discards to stack on Rejuvenation in a dragon-exodia deck, there is a slight risk of deck-out. In such cases a few extra cards in the deck may be good for precaution, but still not strictly necessary. --Dragonking (talk • contribs) 03:40, January 20, 2012 (UTC)

41 works pretty well compared to higher numbers and sometimes you just can't find something to drop, but as for Lightsworn and Dragon-Exodia, I find myself winning or losing with Lightsworn before I deck out - even in Merchant Turbo where I mill up to 20 cards in a turn and thin my deck quite quickly, it's a non-issue. The only time I can think I'd Deck out is if I had Lumina -> Garoth, and that's not going to stay out for long. BF2 Talk Deck Guides 13:50, January 20, 2012 (UTC)

I see this constantly. And commonly, I disagree. It all depends on the type of deck you're running though. I've got three separate 60 card decks that rarely lose in both casual and tournament play, but I've also got 5 40ish card decks that can also dominate quickly. It all depends on the playstyle you're aiming for, and the type of cards you're using. My 60s are a rather nasty Dark Beatstick deck, a Cyber deck that rarely fails me, and an Arcana Force deck I built for fun, but ended up turning ridiculusly strong with Athena and other good Fairy support. However, a very swift Nordic deck I built actually has a lot of power as well, and is 41 cards. So yeah, it depends on how you build and how you play as well. Also, having more then 40, yes, decreases your chance of drawing what you want, but a well constructed deck should be able to use anything it's given, and not have to rely on drawing just "that one card". It seems to be the case with my Dark Deck, that I've got enough versatile cards that the whole deck can run entirely differently every time I play because I can use every card that's drawn in several effective ways. Ia Morte 14:35, January 25, 2012 (UTC)

I understand that this is what you have experienced in Real Life. I have seen decks with 60 cards at local tournaments - however, none of these Decks have gotten more than two wins and these were usually because of luck - some of these decks were well constructed but even then, they're just not as consistent. You should be able to fit all the cards you want in easily. Even at locals, all the 3-1 and 4-0 people have Decks that are 40-41 cards, and at Regionals, everybody who wins even a single match has 40-41 card Decks. At a YCS, all the Top players have 40-42 cards in their Decks. There's a pattern here. BF2 Talk Deck Guides 16:07, January 25, 2012 (UTC)

Indeed. It's preferred to have a deck size down at 40. The deck I get consistant wins with nearly always is my 60, but the reason it thrives is the fact that it's basically four decks in one, with lots of similar cards. Basically, it's got several strategies that run independantly upon each other with some cards in common, which keeps it in a dominant position. However, it's been under construction for over 3 years, so it wasn't one that was easy to make. Ia Morte 04:25, January 26, 2012 (UTC)