Retro Draft is attracting a lot of players old and new to try their hand with some of the best cards from the first years of Yu-Gi-Oh! Even our own Jason Grabher-Meyer decided to get out from behind the laptop and back to the tables to try his hand at it. He’s been Dueling since the dawn of time (or 2002, whichever is later) and he’s played with all the cards available in Retro Draft before. So I decided to sit in as he played in Retro Draft to see how he would approach it.

Here’s what Jason opened up in his first pack:

Yata-Garasu

Spear Dragon

Torrential Tribute

Gravekeeper’s Assailant

Airknight Parshath

Spirit Message “A”

Gemini Elf

Opticlops

Magic Drain

Jason took Yata-Garasu, regularly Forbidden in Advanced Format play. “If there’s a mistake anywhere in this draft, it’s probably right here.” Yata-Garasu is extremely powerful, and its ability to stop your opponent from drawing cards ever again is tough to pass up. “It was either that, or the Torrential,” he continued, referring to the Torrential Tribute he passed up.

Over the next few picks he chose more monsters to round out his Deck, including Gemini Elf, Bazoo the Soul-Eater, Gemini Elf, and Guardian Sphinx, but passing up multiple Gravekeeper cards including 2 Spies. After that, he started looking for some Traps for his Deck. Good Spells are hard to come by in Retro Pack 2, but there are a lot of really great Traps. Jason managed to pick up Reckless Greed and Dark Spirit of the Silent, and grabbed A Legendary Ocean just in case. Finally, he was left with the lone Spirit Message “A” that he had opened in his first pack, unloved by the other 7 players at the table.

In the second pack, here’s what Jason had to choose from:

Thousand-Eyes Idol

Insect Imitation

Spirit Message “L”

Gravekeeper’s Spy

Jam Defender

Parasite Paracide

Melchid the Four-Face Beast

Tornado Wall

Magic Drain

Slim pickings here, but since Jason opened it up he got to take the Spy and leave the rest. Except for Insect Imitation. That one made its way all the way around the table back to him. He followed up the excellent Gravekeeper’s Spy with Opticlops, a second Bazoo the Soul-Eater (which he took over Royal Decree, dangerous in an environment with few ways to eliminate Traps), a second A Legendary Ocean, a Royal Decree that managed to find its way to him past several other players, Spear Dragon (taken over The Masked Beast), Skull Invitation, and two copies of Curse of the Masked Beast, the Ritual Spell that would let another player summon the Masked Beast that Jason didn’t want.

So far, Jason’s Deck was looking really good. He had plenty of high-powered monsters, A 4-Starred Ladybug of Doom to destroy his opponent’s Level 4 monsters, and a Guardian Sphinx to eliminate all defenders every turn! He also had that Decree, which turned out to be incredibly important in his first round match, allowing him to negate Gravity Bind and win the Duel with no cards left in his Deck.

Here’s what he opened up for the final pack:

Gravekeeper’s Spy

Spirit Message “N”

Skull Invitation

Guardian Sphinx

Chain Destruction

Melchid the Four-Face Beast

Asura Priest

Mask of Restrict

Bazoo the Soul-Eater

Jason passed on the chance to give his first Spy something to search for and took his 3^rd Bazoo the Soul-Eater instead. He got the gift of Bottomless Trap Hole for his second pick, and followed that up with second copies of Dark Spirit of the Silent and Reckless Greed in addition to a Goblin Attack Force. In the end, the last few picks were decidedly unstellar. Emergency Provisions was the best of the bunch, and the other 3, Thousand-Eyes Idol, and Spirit Messages “A” and “L” made it by default. Here’s what he wound up playing:

Guaridan Sphinx

3 Bazoo the Soul-Eater

Goblin Attack Force

Gemini Elf

Spear Dragon

Opticlops

Gravekeeper’s Spy

4-Starred Ladybug of Doom

Yata-Garasu

Thousand-Eyes Idol

Emergency Provisions

Bottomless Trap Hole

Skull Invitation

Royal Decree

2 Reckless Greed

2 Dark Spirit of the Silent

It served him well in the first round, but in the second round Jason just couldn’t handle all the Book of Moons and Bottomless Trap Holes his opponent had access to. In the end it was Dark Necrofear that knocked the Old Man of Dueling out of the running. That said, Jason had a great time playing, a sentiment that nearly everyone who played has shared. If you can get some Retro Pack 2, give it a try with your friends!