In Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel, there are a lot of cards that are annoying to deal with when going up against other duelists in Ranked matches. Unfortunately, many of those cards are very popular and can fit easily into other types of Decks. While there are ways to get around them, they're still rarely pleasant to see when an opponent plays them and may have caused many duelists to surrender as soon as they appeared on the field.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel is a free-to-play game that's available on PC, next-gen and previous-gen consoles, and mobile devices. It's a simulator for the popular Yu-Gi-Oh! card game, that allows players to build Decks and pit them against other duelists from around the world. It might be a bit painful for newcomers to play Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel, since it can be tough to get started, but even casual fans of the anime and card game should be able to build a Deck that works for them before long. There are many strategies to use, and since there are over 10,000 different cards, and more to be added in the future, there are plenty of ways to make any kind of Deck to suit players' individual preferences.
Most of the truly annoying cards in Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel are overpowered monsters that can shut down opponents' cards and combinations. Thankfully, there are counters to the worst ones. Witch's Strike can clear an opponent's entire field and hand if they negate an effect or summon, and while it won't protect against everything, it's a good card that works well in almost every deck. Some of the best competitive meta decks in Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel also involve summoning a multitude of monsters, so Nibiru, the Primal Being is a good hand trap that can get rid of all of them while at the same time summoning a powerful beatstick, though players should be wary of the Token that their opponent will get out of it. It's almost impossible to completely protect against all of the overpowered cards in the game, but with some careful planning, players can still enjoy dueling without having to worry about having their strategies ruined by one monster.
Masquerade The Blazing Dragon Can Burn Players' LP Fast In Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel
Masquerade the Blazing Dragon is a Fusion Monster that has a very irritating effect. While it's on the field because it was Fusion Summoned, every time the opponent activates a card effect, they have to pay 600 Life Points, making it one of Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel's trickiest Fusions to deal with. In addition, while their opponent controls any Fusion, Synchro, XYZ, or Ritual monster, the player can Special Summon it from their Graveyard, albeit without its burn effect.
Masquerade wouldn't be so bad if its cost couldn't activate multiple times per turn. It's easy to burn through Life Points setting up anything with it on the field, and its Material requirements, one DARK monster and one "Despia" monster, mean that it's relatively easy to bring out. At 2500 Attack Points, it's not too hard to overpower, but its other effect means that it can be used as Fusion Material for itself unless players can banish it. With the right card combination, it can become a vicious cycle that quickly leaves players bereft of Life Points.
Ash Blossom Is One Of Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel's Most Annoying Hand Traps
Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring is one of the most popular hand trap monsters in the game, and may be better off banned in Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel in 2022. If an opponent tries to use any effect that would add a card from their Deck to their hand, Special Summon a monster from their Deck, or send a card from their Deck to their Graveyard, players can discard this card from their hand to negate the effect. It's versatile and can negate a wide variety of cards, making it almost a staple of meta decks.
Ash Blossom is irritating because it can easily shut down almost any card combination. Many strategies rely on one of the effects that it can negate, and although it's not the worst card in the game, it can still prevent players from even beginning to make a move. In addition, it can't be used against other copies of itself due to the fact that it doesn't affect cards discarded from the hand. Players also won't need to search through Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel's free card packs to obtain it since it's available as part of a bundle pack specifically for it.
Toadally Awesome Isn't So Awesome In Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel
Toadally Awesome is a Rank two XYZ monster that can be summoned with any two Aqua-Type monsters. Its first effect, to summon a Frog monster by detaching a material, isn't so bad, but the second is fairly annoying. It lets players discard or Tribute an Aqua monster, including itself, to negate any effect and destroy the card it came from once per turn. In addition, it can return a Water monster, also including itself, to the hand from the Graveyard if it's sent there.
The reason this card is so bad to face is that it's very easy to bring out and use to repeatedly shut down strategies. It might not seem like it, and in a normal Frog Deck, which is one of Yu-Gi-Oh!'s more obscure archetypes of monsters, it's not so bad. Its true obnoxiousness, however, becomes obvious when it's in a Shark Deck. Sharks' XYZ focus, power, and field swarming make them tough to deal with on their own, but Bahamut Shark can repeatedly summon Rank three or below Water XYZ monsters from the Extra Deck, including Toadally Awesome. Players can return it to the Extra Deck after using its own effect to Tribute itself and summon it back over and over to repeatedly negate one effect per turn.
Divine Arsenal AA-Zeus - Sky Thunder Is Too Easy To Use In Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel
Divine Arsenal AA-Zeus - Sky Thunder is a Rank 12 XYZ monster that is very irritating to deal with. All players need to do is attack with any XYZ monster, and then they can summon it using that monster as material. It's almost a staple of XYZ strategies for this reason, and often one of the first cards players craft in Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel when making a meta deck. Its effect allows it to detach two materials from it in order to send every other card on the field to the Graveyard instantly. In addition, if one of its players' other cards are destroyed, they can attach it to Zeus as another material.
The reason Zeus is so annoying is that it's incredibly easy to bring out. It's so simple that it can be done in almost any Deck, even one not focused on XYZ, and in ones that are, it's too easy. One attack lets the player clear the field and get a powerful beatstick with a clear path to their opponent's Life Points. Thankfully, it's on the Limited list, with only one copy allowed in each Deck, but all players need to do is XYZ summon once in Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel to dominate the field and shut down any hope of victory.
Destiny HERO - Destroy Pheonix Enforcer Is Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel's Most Annoying Card
Possibly the most annoying card in Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel, and indeed the real-life game, is Destiny HERO - Destroy Pheonix Enforcer. It has a Quick Effect that allows it to destroy one card that each player controls once per turn, including the opponent's. If it's destroyed, including by itself, the player can simply bring it back with its secondary effect, which allows them to Special Summon a Destiny HERO from their Graveyard on their next Standby Phase. In terms of battle, it may not be very powerful at 2500 Attack Points, but it's still a devastating card.
Pheonix Enforcer wouldn't be quite as bad if it weren't for a vicious card combination that makes it all too easy to bring out and puts it at one of Yu-Gi-Oh!'s top HERO monsters. Predaplant Verte Anaconda lets players mimic the effect of Fusion Destiny in the Deck and send the materials for Enforcer to the Graveyard in order to summon it right away. The Link materials for Anaconda are any two effect monsters, so this combination can go in any Deck and summon Pheonix Enforcer at a moment's notice. It's a recent addition to the game and one that will hopefully end up on Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel's ban list soon.