Played this game on and off since its release. I dropped off around Pendulums and got back into it a little bit once Rush Duels were introduced. Duel Links was initially the only YGO online player until Master Duel was introduced. Since Master Duel, Duel Links has become the "10 minute" version of YGO. The game is close to the standard meta in both Master Duel and tabletop, for better and for worse.

You can have some quick fun, games in a variety of formats. However, there is an overwhelming amount of information to slog through and a strong monetization pressure. Even logging in you are bombarded with messages with new decks, new quests, new rewards, ect. The game does cater to fans of the anime but its not really the focus anymore. A big appeal of Duel Links was being able to play Yami and have a Dark Magician that worked thanks to his character skills. The current version is nostalgia formats from roughly half-a-decade ago with skills focused on older meta archetypes.

This can make early-game unlocking pretty nice, as you will be collecting a lot of rewards and unlocks in a short amount of time, all with recognizable characters, but you will very quickly see the bloat. You will end up with way too many characters and trying to chase one card only to have to wade through boxes and boxes of pulls. It doesn't exactly encourage long-term engagement. This is worsened by how fast the meta changes (usually once a month).

The only benefit over Master Duel is that Duel Links has Rush Duel. It's an okay format. It's far easier to understand, but the meta changes are worse in it. You're either playing garbage or top-tier decks with nothing in-between. Also, the characters and archetypes in Rush Duel just aren't appealing to me, with most of its archetypes feeling like Temu version of the original archetypes.

It you're curious about YGO, it's better to try Master Duel. It's better about onboarding players even if it does have issues with it. Duel Links also plays by different rules to encourage faster games (smaller field, smaller hand, smaller deck, character skills). If you just want some "on the bus" duels, this is the YGO for you.

This game has gone to ♥♥♥♥ in the recent days, I don't recommend picking it up, Duel Links's identity can only be saved with a private server that rollbacked to like 2021 or something, the power creep and skills made this game worse to enjoy, I'd actually pick up the TCG or Master Duel at this rate if you're considering to get into YGO

1 min to see ur opponents combo or 5 mins to see ur opponents combo (MD), take ur pick. This game is fun tho, I like the pve side and has rush duel.