Konami Obliterates Retro Yu-Gi-Oh! Format Events with New Rules Announcement

A big red “no” symbol over the Yu-Gi-Oh! monster Time Wizard.

Konami really likes to shoot itself in the foot sometimes, don’t they? In case you missed it, over the weekend Konami announced some changes to the Time Wizard format for the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG.

If you don’t remember what the Time Wizard format is, it was announced during the COVID-19 pandemic as an official format that would allow duelists to relive retro formats and since the announcement the team has held official Time Wizard tournaments as side events at big events such as YCS tournaments featuring various eras including fan favorites GOAT and Edison. Duelists loved this! Then, this past weekend happened.

Konami seemingly randomly announced a few key changes to the rules for Time Wizard events starting with the North American World Championship Qualifiers which will run from July 11-13.

In the FAQ section asking about rules for Time Wizard events, it starts by being very simple explaining that these events “use the available Cards, Forbidden & Limited List, rule regarding drawing on the first turn, and the Dueling Field of the selected Time Wizard format.” This is standard and not a problem. However, the very next line has thrown duelists into a fit of Brooklyn rage:

Starting at the NAWCQ, current Game Mechanics and current card text will be used for Time Wizard Events.

Why is this a problem? Well, it’s only a problem for some retro formats including the aforementioned extremely popular GOAT and Edison formats. Starting with I believe HAT format, this actually isn’t really a problem. However, we have to remember that Yu-Gi-Oh! has been around for over 25 years now and as such the game mechanics have gone through a few stages of evolution.

In the earlier formats there are mechanics such as priority which do not exist anymore, but greatly defined the formats. Also, several cards that were very powerful back in the day have since been given errata to nerf them such as Goyo Guardian or Brain Control. These cards are in most, if not all, of the main decks played in some of these formats, but with the errata they now kind of suck. Honestly, Yugituber Nyhmnim has done one of the most comprehensive breakdowns of the changes to these formats and I’ve included their video at the bottom of this article.

The whole reason behind Time Wizard and retro formats is to experience a different era of Yu-Gi-Oh!. These new rules completely ignore and pervert this premise. Now, duelists can’t actually experience retro formats as they were at official events which genuinely sucks. It’s as if Konami gave us an ice cream cone and after we got a couple licks in, knocked it out of our hands. But why? Why would Konami do this?

At the moment, I have heard three prevailing theories that I think all hold some water. I’m going to briefly discuss each one below from least likely to most likely.

The least likely, but still plausible reason, is to prepare everything for an attempt to integrate retro formats into Master Duel. We know that they’ve done events in the past that did pseudo-retro formats. In addition, they recently made a handful of cards from retro formats craftable such as Trap Dustshoot.

I know many duelists, including myself, have been hoping that Konami would implement some feature to allow us to play retro formats and there is a possibility that they will implement it with these bastardized versions and they want a more uniform experience for veterans and newcomers alike.

Next, we have the theory that this is to push Advanced Yu-Gi-Oh!. If duelists are focused on playing retro formats via Time Wizard, then they aren’t buying new sets because they don’t need the new cards.

This means Konami makes less money because they seem to have a very awkward approach to reprints lately with some hits (I’m so excited Magical Android got a reprint in the upcoming Battles of Legend: Monster Mayhem) and some misses.

I do think that this is maybe a smaller piece of the puzzle than some like to think. Heck, Retro Pack 1 was really popular leading to a reprint of Retro Pack 2 which is launching this August. This is what makes things even more confusing to me honestly as these packs are worthless thanks to the new Time Wizard rules.

If I play Sangan from Retro Pack 1, it will have its original text which is now invalid with the new rules. Therefore, there’s no reason for me to buy Retro Pack 2 as any cards with errata would be functionally unplayable (I’m not sure if there are really any cards in Retro Pack 2 impacted by this honestly, but someone more versed in it and retro formats might be able to explain it).

Honestly, Konami could have just continued with new Retro Packs and they would have done amazing with the retro format community. There are a handful of cards that don’t have many prints and therefore are not very cheap. This could have actually become a bigger market for them. Anyways, I’ve rambled too much on this point.

Finally, this is most likely the biggest reason for these new rules that will send Time Wizard and retro formats pre-HAT to the Shadow Realm: judges. Yu-Gi-Oh! has been around for 25+ years now. There are a lot of people involved that did not experience older formats with their different mechanics and pre-errata cards.

This could be due to them being too young to have played or maybe they just picked up the game in the last 10 years or so regardless of age. If the judges aren’t familiar with the rules of the retro format it could lead to a lot of disputes and problems.

If this is the main driving force behind the change, then it’s disappointing because it shows a level of laziness that is just sad. Konami could literally provide old copies of the Yu-Gi-Oh! rulebook to provide to judges who are officiating at these Time Wizard events. They could add pre-errata versions of cards to Yu-Gi-Oh! Neuron, their official app. There are small things that could be done instead of polluting these beloved retro formats.

At the end of the day, I don’t know what exactly will be the end result of these rules. My best assumption is that attendance at these side events will drop significantly. There’s a part of me that thinks that is Konami’s goal so that they can justify discontinuing the Time Wizard events (at least the pre-HAT era ones), but I don’t fully buy that.

All that said, I think the community-run events will become a lot more popular which once again just confuses me because it means Konami is actively making the choice to lose easy money. I really hope that Konami wisens up and rolls these new rules back.