What is “Schoolyard” format?

“Schoolyard” is a format of Yu-Gi-Oh that encourages and enables casual multiplayer Yu-Gi-Oh for players of any level of experience. A format that harkens back to the days of beatdown and removal that so many Yu-Gi-Oh players started with, while allowing for games to add additional players for a more social experience. Whether you haven’t played since grade school, or haven’t stopped playing for 20 years, this is a format for you.

The idea is really quite simple. 2-4 players share a single 80 card deck. This deck contains 20 generic effect monsters, 20 non-effect monsters, 20 spells, and 20 traps, and there are no duplicates in the deck. There are no field spell zones, no extra deck, no pendulums, and no archetype synergies. We also have the optional (and highly encouraged) buff/debuff dice. These dice are rolled at the start of every turn to determine how much of a buff or debuff will be applied, and which attribute it will be applied to. Other than that, and some technical wording (which will be clarified in the official rules) the rest of this format operates just the same as normal Yu-Gi-Oh.

So throw together a deck, grab a few friends, and enjoy a less competitive, multiplayer Yu-Gi-Oh experience.