Mermails, and Konami, yet again

I tried playing Mermails on DN today. They are, expectably, too strong, and I felt really sorry for my opponent each time I beat them with the usual boring combos.

It's way too easy to create a +4 in card advantages when playing Mermails. I'm not telling more specifically about its plays, you guys should all be familiar with them. The exact same feelings as if I were playing Inzektors with 3 Dragonflies and Hornets. Popping cards on the field, special summoning a lot of monster, massive damage and usually ending the duel in 1 or 2 turns. Everytime I started with an "average" hand, I had game. They are too broken, but also too boring as I didn't even need to think of what to do. Just summon Megalo, popping some cards, add Abyssphere, drop Moulinglacia, picking some more cards, attack for near game, set Sphere end. Next turn is gg no matter what.

Yes, I don't even need to think of anything to special after 2 hours of playing. I miss the early Plant format (2 Danylion, 2 Lonefire Blossom, Spore but no Bulbs) when I have to consider my moves every turn. I love YGO, as I've always been loving it for 7-8 years. But I'm getting tired, really.

So the question is, what the **** has Konami done to YGO?

I quitted during the TeleDAD format so I'll only be talking about more recent formats. In 2009, "Big 3" were Blackwing, Lightsworn and Cat Synchro. Blackwing was the most balanced: beatdown (Shura), some "average" special summoning elements (Bora, Gale, Blizzard), attack boost (Sirocco). The only annoying thing was triple Black Whirlwind which gave them too much speed. Handleable after all. Lightsworn is explosive but inconsistent, just like Chaos Dragon today. Cat Synchro made better push than Blackwing, but they didn't have any reliable combos aside abusing the Cat.

Then came the X-Sabers and Infernities. More summoning, faster, more inconsistent. Infernities were mad as always, but they needed setup. Same as Sabers, they needed to set up to start combo off.

In 2011, the plant-based decks became popular. Quickdraw Dandy, Debris Hime, Dark Debris (Doomcaliber, Caius, DAD...). Best recent format IMO

The 3 mentioned eras were good. The most important reason was that we didn't need to play the exact same thing as the other players who piloted the same deck (aside from Lightsworn and Frog FTK in game 1 only). We were not forced to do anything for the win. Each person had a different playstyle, which led to different approach to the game, and that way of approaching the game can be changed against different match-ups. Of course, as time went on, more broken hands were created more usually. Again, those broken hands could be abused by many different ways.

Take a look at recent metas: Six Samurai: Gateway, United, Kageki and Kagemusha and a bunch of Kizans ending with Shi En, some Kizans and some prioections. Agents just did the same thing everytime: Earth for Venus, Venus for 3 Balls (along with T.G. Striker sometimes), then Hyperion and Kristya came out. Or Inzektor: Dragonfly equips Hornet, boom, Centipede comes out, boom, adds Dragonfly, and Gigamantis included sometimes. Or Wind-Up loops? Or set Geargiarmor + Nishipachi? Or Dark Solitaire World?

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I mean, the old decks' strategy couldn't be explained in one line of words. The new meta decks, conversely, are very easy to understand and operate. The consequences can easily be seen: Skills are not as important anymore. You don't need skills to to those combos mentioned above. We, semi-pro or competitive duelists, do not feel bad losing. But, it's really really bad to lose against an under-average player just because they have better hand. That thing did happen in the past, but not as frequently as now.

It's just some random thoughts of me about the game right now. I'm not quitting, I'm still in love with it. Just hoping things will get better soon. Don't talk about Cosmo Blaze here. Onslaught of the Fire King, along with their 2700 boss which has a Cyber Eltatin-like effect, is just as stupid as Mermails.

Btw, my Mermails build that I used:

Some explanation:

Max on almost everything: I'm not a control player. I just want to go fully aggressive as soon as possible.

Abyssgunde: I play too fast, which results in a lot of dead (Warning'd, Torrential'd,...) Mermails in grave. Bringing back a second Megalo for instant Big Eye is cool.

No Diva: the normal summon is often taken by Abysspike or Undine.