Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel Normal and Rare Rarity Festival launching March 23

Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel is getting its next Festival event on March 23, though this time it won’t be themed around something as simple as a specific summoning mechanic. 

Running from March 23 to April 4, the “N and R Rarity Festival” will require players to only use decks that feature Normal and Rare cards. 

Because most decks are comprised of a solid mix of Normal, Rare, Super Rare, and Ultra Rare cards in Master Duel, this will force anyone who wants to participate in the Festival to use new strategies that don’t feature many of the most powerful cards in Yu-Gi-Oh!’s storied history. This will put a focus on some lesser-used archetypes too, with many getting a chance to shine in this limited format. 

Just like with the Xyz Festival, the main goal of the event will be to earn Medals or reward points that players can claim at the end of any duel they participate in via the Event Duel tab. These Medals stack, with players earning more rewards, such as Gems and Pack Reward Tickets, as they continue to stockpile them over the course of the event. 

Medals are earned whether you win, lose, or draw in a duel, though you can’t earn Medals if you surrender. You can use your own deck of one of several pre-built Loaner Decks to compete, either method will result in the same number of Medals being earned, a change Konami has implemented for this Festival. 

To better keep the balance, Konami has implemented further restrictions to curate a special Forbidden and Limited card list for the event. 

To start, all Super Rare and Ultra Rare cards are not allowed to be used in any deck. Additionally, a number of cards from the following archetypes in the Normal and Rare card pools have been Semi-Limited, Limited, or Forbidden to keep the Festival balanced for other archetypes that might not have full lists in those rarities: True Draco, True King, Megalith, Majespecter, Generaider, Timelord, Phantasm Spiral Dragon, and Tenyi. 

Cards that deal effect damage to the opponent or oneself have also been limited in various ways, with a full list of details and the entire event-exclusive Forbidden and Limited card list being published on March 17.