Building a Schoolyard deck

 Building a Schoolyard deck is actually pretty easy. The key to building is to keep it simple, because the point of the format is to strip away the complexities of modern Yu-Gi-Oh. Cards from the first few years of Yu-Gi-Oh are almost always a safe bet, but there are plenty of new cards with generic enough effects to fit right in. The cards listed on this page make up the original Schoolyard deck. It is the foundation on which this format was built and is an excellent starting point for anyone wanting to build their own deck. Your deck must conain 20 non-effect monsters, 20 effect monsters, 20 spells, and 20 traps and cannot have any duplicates.

Non-Effect Monsters

Non-effect monsters are absolutely essential to Schoolyard. The format wants to slow things down to the point at which a good old fashioned beat stick becomes the winning strategy. Biggest body = biggest damage. But it’s important to mix a variety of different stats into the deck. I’ve found that a few great blockers, a few great beaters, and the rest falling somewhere in the middle makes for the best gameplay.

Effect Monsters

Effect monsters are the driving force in modern Yu-Gi-Oh formats. It only takes one starter to get the combo chain going. Well that’s NOT the case in schoolyard. You really want the most generic of effect monsters in your schoolyard deck. Classics like Magician of Faith, Kuriboh, and Witch of the Black Forrest are perfect in a schoolyard deck. Flip effect monsters are a now staples. And generic interaction makes for extremely fun games. Swinging a Rai Rider into the biggest monster at the table will hurt, but it’ll stop the problem opponent from killing everyone. The Cuckoo Commanded to Croon is a great card draw engine without being too powerful. And Time Wizard is just some good stupid fun. There’s no need to stress when building because you’ll quickly discover if an effect monster is simply too strong (I discovered this with Treasure Panda).

Spells

A lot of the same deck building practices from effect monsters can be applied to Spell cards. Keep it generic. No archetypes. When in doubt, go old school. Classic power spells are absolutely welcome here. Raigeki, Harpie’s Feather Duster, even Pot of Greed. The beauty of this format is that one player getting the Pot of Greed just paints a target on their back for the other players at the table. You’ll find that despite the power of these spells, the game stays pretty balanced. Now that’s not to say that some spells aren’t too strong, or too oppressive. Swords of Revealing Light, for example, was not a good addition to a 4-player game. And Mage Power was simply too strong of an equip spell. Again, you’ll figure out pretty quickly what cards are too powerful for the deck.

Traps

And traps are the same story: powerful, but generic. Solemn Judgment, Magic Cylinder, and Call of the Haunted are great additions. And let me just say, there are few moments sweeter than a Just Desserts win.

Keep in mind that you’ll want to put a similar number of each monster attribute in the deck in order to make the most of the buff/debuff dice, and adding a couple mechanics that care about attribute (Like Homunculus the Alchemic Being) can really spice up the dice rolls.

Original Schoolyard Decklist

1 Lava Golem

1 Blazing Inpachi

1 Hane-Hane

1 Guardragon Justicia

1 People Running About

1 Giant Soldier of Stone

1 Charcoal Inpachi

1 Great White

1 Mirage Dragon

1 Big Eye

1 Luster Dragon #2

1 Infernity Archer

1 Ceremonial Bell

1 Jerry Beans Man

1 Gunkan Suship Shari

1 Spirit of the Fall Wind

1 Rai Rider

1 Magician of Faith

1 Turtle Tiger

1 Homunculus the Alchemic Being

1 Kuriboh

1 Old Vindictive Magician

1 Wattlemur

1 The Cuckoo Commanded to Croon

1 Princess of Tsurugi

1 Oppressed People

1 UFO Turtle

1 Labyrinth Wall

1 Summoned Skull

1 Time Wizard

1 Witch of the Black Forest

1 Sonic Duck

1 Cure Mermaid

1 United Resistance

1 Baby Dragon

1 Silver Fang

1 Celtic Guardian

1 Amazoness Swords Woman

1 Hunter Dragon

1 Unexpected Dai

1 Change of Heart

1 Trap Hole

1 Amulet of Ambition

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Cosmic Cyclone

1 Raigeki

1 Waboku

1 Harpie's Feather Duster

1 White Elephant's Gift

1 Axe of Fools

1 Heavy Storm

1 Just Desserts

1 Enchanting Fitting Room

1 Creature Swap

1 Time Seal

1 Michizure

1 Solemn Judgment

1 Draining Shield

1 Dark Hole

1 Torrential Tribute

1 Pot of Greed

1 Trap Stun

1 Dust Tornado

1 Magic Cylinder

1 Horn of the Unicorn

1 Fissure

1 Floodgate Trap Hole

1 Rush Recklessly

1 Dimensional Prison

1 Premature Burial

1 Dark Bribe

1 Zero Gravity

1 Monster Reborn

1 Reverse Glasses

1 Call of the Haunted

1 Horn of Heaven

1 Blast with Chain

1 Pot of Duality

1 Jar of Avarice