Yu-Gi-Oh! Dueling Network targeted by NAS

[Rethel34]

I think online TCG counts as gaming, right? Anyone else here a frequenter of the Duel Simulator? Just this morning I was online and everything seemed fine. I returned only a couple hours later to find most of the images removed from the site. Just a few minutes ago, I decided to look into the forum, hoping answers might be given on how the situation was being handled. While I had no such luck, I found that the site owner had been given a cease and desist order from NAS. Details from YGOrganization go as follows:

A law firm claiming to be acting on the behalf of Nihon Ad Systems (NAS), an animation production and licensing company that currently manages many of the rights of the Yu-Gi-Oh! series, has filed a cease and desist order to the popular third-party online simulator.

According to head administrators from Dueling Network, the website was ordered to remove all imagery relating to the Yu-Gi-Oh! trading card game and animated series.

Currently, there is no evidence to imply any involvement on the behalf of Konami.

In addition, based on the information we currently know, the C&D order is limited to DN. It will not affect the Wikia-hosted Yu-Gi-Oh! Wiki or our own site, YGOrg, which are legal entities independent from DN and should be protected under the rules of Fair Use.

We'll keep you updates if more information comes to light.

This, to me, is depressing news. To the best of my knowledge, two key factors play into this order. Firstly, the root admin of the site, under the username BlackLusterSoldier, appears to have taken donations to help ease costs for the url. This exchange of money is regrettably a factor that the company can use against him should things be taken further than simply "remove the images". Secondly, from what I have heard, a Yu-Gi-Oh! video game has been in development that NAS is involved with. Thus, NAS saw DN as "competition", and since DN did not own legal rights to Yu-Gi-Oh!, the C&D was filed.

Luckily, it doesn't appear Konami is involved directly, so should it remain that way, perhaps things will blow over and eventually calm down. Luckily the admins are doing what they can to get the site back to where it can be used, but I am concerned that this may end with the removal of DN. This is especially depressing for me, as DN is perhaps one of the most up-to-date and complete Duel Simulators (at least in terms of card listings), and as I am rather poor and cannot afford to put as much into this hobby; there are also rather few locations in my immediate vicinity where tournaments are held, so my only RL opponents are my siblings, which can get boring rather quickly. Even should I be able to participate in a tournament, my RL Deck is . . . underwhelming at best.

So, while we as users can't do much other than sit back and pray the admins find a solution, I was wondering what other people's opinions/feelings were on this. Assuming, of course, that there are other members here who may be users of DN.

[MCProductions]

Well, that sucks.

I may not have played Yu Gi Oh in a long time, and I think I only used this site once, but dang, that bites.

I would say F**Konami, but apparently they aren't responsible for once

[Rethel34]

Yeah, a lot of the lesser members are verbally attacking the admins and Konami, but their blame is ill-placed. Admins can't do anything about it, and Konami isn't at fault. NAS is. I would say they should Duel for the fate of the site, since everything's Yu-Gi-Oh! related, but I know that's childish.

[Zera]

Yugioh's a mediocre game anyways, so I'm sure the destruction of Dueling Network will have minimal negative impact. I expect players to migrate to MTG or Hearthstone.

[Ether]

While it's unfortunate that this happened, there are alternatives, which is a good thing. At least, as far as I'm aware, Devpro wasn't targetted by this, which at least gives an option for players to use while this is sorted out. If DN does stay down, I would imagine a large amount of it's player base would migrate to Devpro fully.

[Rethel34]

@Zera: I have yet to be able to get into MTG, and I've had many people try to teach me to play. I just can't get into it. So "mediocre" is kinda just an opinion.

@Satin: Indeed, but of course Devpro can't easily be targeted. lol Too many servers. Many are already migrating there, but I am concerned about whether I can use it. My internet's bandwidth is veeeerrrrry limited as-is. DN almost kills it some days, even on the low quality setting, so unless I get a really top-notch yugioh patch or whatever for LackeyCCG (heh, as-if), my online card game days may be limited if things go south. :'( Eh, it was fun while it lasted, though.

[euklyd]

Didn't Dueling Network go down once before? Like years ago? What happened then?

Yugioh's a mediocre game anyways, so I'm sure the destruction of Dueling Network will have minimal negative impact. I expect players to migrate to MTG or Hearthstone.

This post does a great job of encouraging less-than-happy YGO fans not to switch to those games lol

[Anacybele]

Yugioh's a mediocre game anyways, so I'm sure the destruction of Dueling Network will have minimal negative impact. I expect players to migrate to MTG or Hearthstone.

Yeah, this is just a stupid post and only an opinion. I know I would never migrate to MTG (if this is referring to Magic: The Gathering). It looks far too confusing to me. And I have no idea what the hell "Hearthstone" is.

I think I might have used this site before when I was really into the Duel Monsters card game (I prefer calling it that rather than just Yu-Gi-Oh, since I like it better and it's the name used in the anime), as I remember using something like it before. And I honestly wouldn't mind having people to play with. Especially since I got my hands on my favorite card back in October thanks to Comic Con. :P Duel Monsters is the best card game out there to me! Even above Pokemon!

Edited March 26, 2016 by Anacybele

[eclipse]

Yugioh's a mediocre game anyways, so I'm sure the destruction of Dueling Network will have minimal negative impact. I expect players to migrate to MTG or Hearthstone.

Coming into a thread to bash the thread's subject, when the thread isn't about bashing said subject, counts as trolling. Do NOT ever do this again.

[Magical CC]

Yugioh's a mediocre game anyways, so I'm sure the destruction of Dueling Network will have minimal negative impact. I expect players to migrate to MTG or Hearthstone.

Pff. Players dont just simply migrate to another game just because their game was took down. What is the last time MTG or Hearthstone has anything that can be compared to DN anyway? You have to pay cash in Hearthstone, son. DN lets you access to every card in the game. People come to DN to test their deck or to enjoy decks they cannot buy in real life or in official Yugioh games. DN simulates real duel and teach you to do everything by yourself which is great for newbies. There, I opened your mind. Dont have to thanks me.

Edited March 26, 2016 by Magical CC

[Zera]

Coming into a thread to bash the thread's subject, when the thread isn't about bashing said subject, counts as trolling. Do NOT ever do this again.

I played Yugioh for several years, both IRL and via DN, and it is was an amazing slow motion trainwreck. The new mechanics introduced with each series drove off older players who thought the game was getting way too complicated (it was TBH), and the pervasive power creep was downright incredible. I quit Yughioh a couple years ago,but still view new cards on Yugioh Wikia every now and again. I am still amazed at how new cards constantly outmode old ones. If DN users would leave Yugioh and find a better card game (I haven't played MTG and Hearthstone but heard they were nice), then I see a C&D of DN as a very positive thing. That's not trolling, that's a substantiated opinion by a knowledgeable (former) Yugioh player. I apologize if it came off as trolling.

Edited March 26, 2016 by Zera

[solrocknroll]

I'd recommend ignoring Zera.

It sucks to hear that this happened. I had some cards a long time ago, but I don't know where a lot of them are anymore. I do love the anime, so I do know a thing or two about it.

I had thought about playing on DN since I don't have income to spend on cards though.

[Jedi]

I played Yugioh for several years, both IRL and via DN, and it is was an amazing slow motion trainwreck. The new mechanics introduced with each series drove off older players who thought the game was getting way too complicated (it was TBH), and the pervasive power creep was downright incredible. I quit Yughioh a couple years ago,but still view new cards on Yugioh Wikia every now and again. I am still amazed at how new cards constantly outmode old ones. If DN users would leave Yugioh and find a better card game (I haven't played MTG and Hearthstone but heard they were nice), then I see a C&D of DN as a very positive thing. That's not trolling, that's a substantiated opinion by a knowledgeable (former) Yugioh player. I apologize if it came off as trolling.

I'm a former YGO player myself and I still think you're wrong lol, you also can't in good faith recommend something without actually having played it, MTG is a huge money sink because you have to constantly update to the new sets, the meta is never the same for more than a few months at a time because of how it works. "Standard" always changes to reflect the new sets so decks are not going to be even allowed consistently unless you're playing anything goes, its a bit wonky.

Most long running card games have power creeps, while I don't agree with alot of the new yugioh mechanics I can say they sped up the game for people who like speedier games.

I know nothing about the finer things of Hearthstone other than it actually uses Warcraft II music for its loading screens and thats neat because I thought Blizzard forgot their games before WoW actually existed.

Edited March 26, 2016 by Jedi

[Anacybele]

Yeah, let's ignore Zera and talk about more positive Yu-Gi-Oh topics. I mentioned that I managed to get my favorite card, does everyone else here have favorite cards/monsters? I usually hear people say Dark Magician or Blue Eyes White Dragon because of the anime, at least the older players like me. But mine is the Red Eyes Black Dragon! Though that's because of the anime too. :P Flame Swordsman comes in a close second. Also mostly because of the anime. lol (and that he's a fire guy with a sword! I really like fire and swords!) And if you've watched the anime, you probably know who my favorite Yu-Gi-Oh character is (other than Astral from Zexal). XD

Monsters I also like:

- Pretty much every Red Eyes card (Red Eyes Metal Dragon, Black Skull Dragon, etc.)

- Dark Magician

- Ancient Fairy Dragon (from 5D's)

- The jewel based monsters from GX, most specifically Sapphire Pegasus (my favorite mythical creature with my favorite stone?! YEAH!), Topaz Tiger, and Rainbow Dragon

- Winged Kuriboh (from GX)

- Red Dragon Archfiend (from 5D's)

- Stardust Dragon (from 5D's)

Yeah, I like a lot of dragons, cute monsters, and pretty monsters. XD I really like fire based monsters too.

Edited March 26, 2016 by Anacybele

[Zera]

My favorite card was Arcanite Magician. I got into Yugioh because my brother bought me the "Spellcaster's Command" structure deck. I built my deck around summoning Arcanite Magician as early as possible and giving him as many spell counters as possible (+1000 ATK per counter). I also had a fun Synchro-swarm draw-engine Karakuri deck, but by the time I had the cards to make it tournament viable, Karakuris were no longer viable. BTW, without DN, Yugioh is a huuuge money sink - that really annoyed me.

[eclipse]

I played Yugioh for several years, both IRL and via DN, and it is was an amazing slow motion trainwreck. The new mechanics introduced with each series drove off older players who thought the game was getting way too complicated (it was TBH), and the pervasive power creep was downright incredible. I quit Yughioh a couple years ago,but still view new cards on Yugioh Wikia every now and again. I am still amazed at how new cards constantly outmode old ones. If DN users would leave Yugioh and find a better card game (I haven't played MTG and Hearthstone but heard they were nice), then I see a C&D of DN as a very positive thing. That's not trolling, that's a substantiated opinion by a knowledgeable (former) Yugioh player. I apologize if it came off as trolling.

I played Yu-Gi-Oh! while Spell cards were Magic cards. I didn't like how the game evolved, which is why I left. However, that doesn't give me the right to walk into a thread related to Yu-Gi-Oh!, and say that they should move elsewhere.

Yeah, let's ignore Zera and talk about more positive Yu-Gi-Oh topics. I mentioned that I managed to get my favorite card, does everyone else here have favorite cards/monsters? I usually hear people say Dark Magician or Blue Eyes White Dragon because of the anime, at least the older players like me. But mine is the Red Eyes Black Dragon! Though that's because of the anime too. :P Flame Swordsman comes in a close second. Also mostly because of the anime. lol (and that he's a fire guy with a sword! I really like fire and swords!) And if you've watched the anime, you probably know who my favorite Yu-Gi-Oh character is (other than Astral from Zexal). XD

Monsters I also like:

- Pretty much every Red Eyes card (Red Eyes Metal Dragon, Black Skull Dragon, etc.)

- Dark Magician

- Ancient Fairy Dragon (from 5D's)

- The jewel based monsters from GX, most specifically Sapphire Pegasus (my favorite mythical creature with my favorite stone?! YEAH!), Topaz Tiger, and Rainbow Dragon

- Winged Kuriboh (from GX)

- Red Dragon Archfiend (from 5D's)

- Stardust Dragon (from 5D's)

Yeah, I like a lot of dragons, cute monsters, and pretty monsters. XD I really like fire based monsters too.

You. . .LIKE the Crystal Beasts?

WOOHOO, I'M NOT ALONE~! It's pretty funny when I can wipe the board, then let loose with three Crystal Pegasus and two Crystal Mammoths, which is a ORKO.

EDIT: Weirdly enough, it was Yusei and Crow that kept me interested in Yu-Gi-Oh! for as long as I was. Yusei because he could fight his way out of a paper bag, and Crow for being amusing. Hmmm. . .perhaps a cross-series sparring match is in order? I'd pay to see Ibuki from Cardfight!! Vanguard and Yusei duke it out using fists.

Edited March 26, 2016 by eclipse

[Anacybele]

Heck yeah, I love the Crystal Beasts (I knew they had a group name, I just forgot). I actually still remember almost all the ones Jesse had. I'm pretty sure there were seven not including Rainbow Dragon (the seven combine to summon it), but I can only recall six for some reason. Sapphire Pegasus, Topaz Tiger, Ruby Carbuncle, Emerald Tortoise, Amethyst Cat, and Amber Mammoth. But I can't think of what the seventh was. >_<

Yusei is probably the best duelist out of all the main protagonists, he's so awesome! He won with a deck full of random cards as well as a deck that he couldn't directly attack with! That's impressive shit right there. I also like Crow. ^^

[RandomSwordmaster]

A running joke I had with my friends is that the protagonists' decks are all filled with 40 copies of a card known as "Plot Card". What does "Plot Card" do you may ask?

It's effect is as follows:

This card's original name, effect, and card type becomes that of the exact card you require to win the Duel, irregardless of the card in question being real or not.

Personally, I liked 5Ds the best. A shame they had to end it abruptly due to supposedly "bad ratings", when they gave way to the trainwreck that was Zexal.

Anyway, I do hope DN survives this ordeal, I've frequented it for the past few years, and made me a lot of friends. The game in general has made me a lot of friends both on the internet and IRL over the years in high school. DN was the one place where we could face each other without being hampered by the lack of money to make the decks we wanted to play. I had fun beating all my friends with my sphinx deck (and for the record, sphinxes are the worst archetype in YGO), in that the variant I used was revolving around quickly summoning out high level/rank boss monsters to overwhelm my opponent.

Edited March 26, 2016 by RandomSwordmaster

[Magical CC]

Wow, 5Ds has bad rating? Really? I always thought it's one of the better series in the franchise. Badass main characters, rivals, hot female characters and a more mature story.

[JSND Alter Dragon Boner]

Yeah i read somewhere that Zexal is rated REALLY well, the first and second season do OKAY, and 5D does the worst out of them all

Frankly 5D does slow down after Dark Signer era. Around the time when they rewrote the story for Crow to enter the main cast pretty much. It manage to recover during the final arc but by then the damage have been done

Arc V on the other hand COMPLETELY blows all of them out of water. Its probably the #1 reason i followed yugioh again lately

ZeXal is the reverse story. It begin really badly, but the second season is actually really good

Anyway favorite monsters wise... its probably Junk Synchron. There was a time when i run nothing but Junk Synchron in my deck. Dragunity Junk Synchron. X Saber Junk Synchron. Nordic Junk Synchron. Frozen Insect Junk Synchron is probably my favorite of the variants(Level Eater for Dark Destroyer, which is a pretty effective counter to Six Samurai). Debris Dragon is also nice since its basically Junk Synchron 1.5

Stardust Dragon is probably the single most well designed boss monster of main character. You know a boss monster is well designed when its not considered for limitation or banning, but is powerful enough to the point that many powerful deck had "Stardust Dragon turbo" as their core strategy. The best example is probably Dragunity which is literally Turn 1 Stardust Dragon.

Crystal Beast and Karakuri is probably my favorite archetype. Crystal Beast because i like the concept of the thing and Abundance is hilarious. Karakuri is just pure fun because spamming Bureido out of nowhere and drawing 3 cards in one turn is fun

Edited March 27, 2016 by JSND

[RandomSwordmaster]

My favorite archetype is probably Hieratic (this was pre-Druler format btw).

Are you done with your turn? Ok.

*special summons 30 times in one turn*

*runs over you with a field full of boss monsters*

[Anacybele]

Wow, 5Ds has bad rating? Really? I always thought it's one of the better series in the franchise. Badass main characters, rivals, hot female characters and a more mature story.

Yeah, I totally agree with this! 5D's is awesome for exactly this reason. I was even a little scared during the Dark Signer part. lol But that might also be the reason for the ratings, people found it too scary. >_> But that's dumb given how mature some other animes are.

But Yusei is badass, Crow is entertaining, Leo and Luna are adorable, and Kalin has to be one of the best antagonists out of all the series. You really feel for him after awhile, he basically tries to end his own life after the terrible things he did to his old friends as a Dark Signer. Him hating himself for all that makes him realistic.

I found out Leo actually becomes a sixth Signer, that is sweet. I actually kind of foresaw it, and was pleasantly surprised when I learned of it. ^^ Too bad this part wasn't ever dubbed, as the localization stopped dubbing the show after awhile. >_>

I've not watched Arc V yet. I dunno if I will, I guess I just haven't felt like watching any Yu-Gi-Oh lately.

Edited March 27, 2016 by Anacybele

[eclipse]

Heck yeah, I love the Crystal Beasts (I knew they had a group name, I just forgot). I actually still remember almost all the ones Jesse had. I'm pretty sure there were seven not including Rainbow Dragon (the seven combine to summon it), but I can only recall six for some reason. Sapphire Pegasus, Topaz Tiger, Ruby Carbuncle, Emerald Tortoise, Amethyst Cat, and Amber Mammoth. But I can't think of what the seventh was. >_<

Cobalt Eagle~! But don't worry about forgetting that one, because its effect is pretty bad. I can think of reasons to run the other six, but I could never justify that one.

[Anacybele]

I thought it was a bird, thanks, eclipse. :P

[Rapier]

I heard of this from a friend who plays over DN with me. It's even worse for me because I have 15+ [unfinished/untested/beta] decks on DN and I'll have to migrate to another game because I can't stand TGCs without card images. Oh well, I hope they manage to get the cards back someday.

I'm not going to migrate to other TCGs just because DN is basically unplayable for me, but I'll be dedicating more of my time to other games. I was into Magic the Gathering since before I knew DN was a thing, and I do play it regularly (I'm horrible at it, but so are my friends). Now, I'm interested on knowing more about Cardfight!!! Vanguard (because for some reason animu illustrations are pretty and I'm simple minded) and some friends of mine also expressed interest on learning how to play it. When Cardfight Vanguard Online is finally released, I'm going to give it a try (or try sooner if I find a decent platform).

Also, since we're talking about YGO in general:

My favorite archetype is probably Hieratic (this was pre-Druler format btw).

Are you done with your turn? Ok.

*special summons 30 times in one turn*

*runs over you with a field full of boss monsters*

This is also what made me get away from the series for such a long time. I couldn't stand decks that would special summon 30 times in turn 2 and then ORKO. Playing against Hieratic, Dragon Ruler or Prophecy opponents was always horrible. And don't let me start speaking about cards with "fake difficulty" esque OP effects, like Maiden with Eyes of Blue. YGO became absurdly unbalanced and complex to the point I could only play with friends or casually with other people who were also puzzled or frustrated with the new mechanics and cards. With that said, I still like it a lot, and seeing the card illustrations and the love that some old cards are getting made me build a dozen [terrible] Harpie/Blue-Eyes/Red-Eyes/Vampire decks.

About the anime, tbh I don't think it's the franchise's forte. The first manga was cool and the bullshit tactics were at least believable. I really like the anime series, but I recognize that it has a lot of flaws. The Pegasus arc was made of bullshit moves/effects and convenient ass-pulls from a lazy writer; most of the plot points about the first YGO anime were discarded to the banish zone (like Seto being a villain in the egyptian arc, instead of a faithful pal to the Pharaoh); its season 4 was a huge boring filler and Bakura kind of came out of nowhere as the big bad. There are more issues, but I can't remember the rest.

As for GX, I don't know. I've watched the first episodes, then I became bored with the pacing. I liked the manga, though. Never watched or read 5D and the idea seems kind of silly to me, but I want to check it out some other time. Zexal doesn't interest me at all, and I get mixed feelings toward Arc-V (which I've never watched, but I guess I should).