TCGeniusMaster Duel vs paper Yu-Gi-Oh!: what's the difference?
Master Duel is Konami's free digital Yu-Gi-Oh!: it plays by the same rules and card text as the paper game, but it has its own card pool (13,892 cards so far) and its own ban list: 172 cards that are in both have a different ban status in Master Duel than in the paper TCG today.
| Master Duel | Paper (TCG) | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free to download; cards come from packs opened with Gems, or crafted | Bought as packs or singles |
| Card pool | 13,892 cards | 14,369 cards in our database (TCG and OCG) |
| Forbidden cards | 111 | 122 |
| Limited (1 copy) | 72 | 95 |
| Semi-Limited (2 copies) | 26 | 8 |
| Top decks now | Elfnote, Dracotail, DoomZ | Light and Darkness Ritual, Elfnote, Blitzclique |
So which should you play?
Master Duel is the cheapest way to try a deck and play ranked matches any time. Paper is where Regionals, YCS events and locals happen, and where your cards hold real value. Many players test in Master Duel and buy the paper cards for the decks they like.
The deck builder knows both: pick Master Duel or TCG and Genny only uses cards that are legal there, at the right number of copies.
Related
Master Duel ban listMaster Duel top decksTCG ban list right nowAll answers
Updated October 10, 2026 from TCGenius data. Numbers on this page are worked out from our database each time it changes.