Overview
As part of promotional activities for the upcoming Yu-Gi-Oh! SEVENS world and RUSH DUEL update for Duel Links, Konami invited various media outlets to sample the update early and ask questions with the game's producer, Akitsu Terashima.
We've compiled a bunch of questions and quotes from different outlets that we think you might find interesting about Konami's thought process when planning a new world update, the new Rush Duel release and what the future holds for Duel Links.
When was the decision made to add Rush Duels to Duel Links? Was it in response to the format's success in Japan, or was it always the plan?
We started to think about adding Rush Duels to the game about two years ago, but really we decided to do it about one year ago with the success of Yu-Gi-Oh VRAINS. We are a little worried about whether the players will welcome this new way of playing, but we have worked very hard on game balance and ways to bring in new players - so we ultimately decided to implement Rush Duels into Duel Links.
Rush Duels tend to play out a lot faster than your typical Yu-Gi-Oh TCG matches or in the Speed Duel Format. It's simpler, and you draw until you have five cards in hand every single turn - what were the challenges when it came to adapting Duel Links' longstanding Speed Duel format for Rush Duels?
Yes, you’re right, we did run into a number of difficulties - for example, life points. The number of cards in the deck was also a challenge that we needed to change. We had to listen to everyone involved and change them to get it right.
Our directors, really everyone played the game until we felt we got the balance right with 6,000 Life Points and the deck limits. In Japan, we have the physical game, and the balance was done step by step, but now, with it being brand new in Duel Links, we’re confident it’s already balanced.
Rush Duels adds lots of new cards - it’s a clean slate to the card pool, potentially allowing cards and archetypes that older players will have grown up to become viable again, especially with Legend Cards like Dark Magician. Can we expect to see a lot of nostalgic monsters and strategies to make their way back into Duel Links?
That’s exactly right! The intent going forward is to continue bringing back more of these more nostalgic cards that older players loved, and hopefully bring them back to the game.
Duel Links is constantly refreshing the cards available to players. Is the intention to release new card boxes in tandem with the official release, or can we expect Duel Links exclusive cards and sets?
For now, that’s not in our plans. But I understand the idea of that could be quite appealing to players of Duel Links, so it’s certainly something that I am thinking about for the future.
It’s fair to say that Speed Duels (the format that Duel Links is currently based on) hasn’t quite had the same level of success as Rush Duels. Are you worried that Rush Duels will overshadow the original Duel Links experience at all?
No, I’m not worried about it being overshadowed at all. You can see through events like the World Championship Series the amount of people who like the game, who will still like it. A lot of people who are still playing Duel Links have been doing so for the last five or six years, so I don’t think that they will quit because of Rush Duels - rather this new mode will attract even more new players.
It’s been said before that you love playing Rush Duels with your family when you’re at home – when you’re duelling with them, what’s your favourite Rush Duels deck to use and why?