The first genuine post here for over a year. Honestly I'm here to ask a question.

So I've been wanting to get back on the Yu-Gi-Oh horse for a while now. Problem is I stopped playing years and years ago.

I know I've missed several editions of Yu-Gi-Oh that have come out, the 5 D's being the biggest change I'll wager. So how do I get back into it? Where are the current rules I can read up on? Do some people still play with old rules? Can old cards play with new ones? What the hell is Synchro?

I know you're the guys to ask about this. My warrior deck is unbeatable, and I still have it, so I want to take some names.

And have a lesser used emoticon for your trouble

Me and Twilightwings are really the only people here that will help you when it comes to yugioh as far as I know.
First things first...what is a synchro?

anywho...
A synchro summon is when you use a monster thats a tuner-for example a Dark Resonator and tune it with a none tuner monster. For example Dark Resonator is a level 3 tuner. So if i had that and a random level 4 monster I could send them both to the grave to summon a level 7 sychro monster. Their levels combine to become the level of the sychro.
Rather simple once you get it.
A pic of Dark Resonatro (tuner) as I dont know how to hyperlink words http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090814024913/yugioh/images/0/01/DarkResonatorDTP1-EN-DNPR-DT.png

However another type of monster has been introduced since then named the XYZ monsters. These ones you simply summon by having two monsters of the same level on your field and overlaying them...though the ones needed are diffrent for each card.
For example a basic one is Utopia: http://images.wikia.com/yugioh/images/archive/1/17/20110626201438!Number39UtopiaYS11-EN-OP.jpg
See where it says "2 level 4 monsters"? That means in order to summon it you need any two level 4 monsters on your field. Simply place them on top of each other and summon Utopia atop of them. The two monsters overlaid become its materials which are used in its effect.

Did any of that make sense?

So are these just essentially glorified fusion and tribute summons? That XYZ monster reminds me of that monster is it called Magna Guard? Something like that.

Is there a pdf of the most recent rules I can look at?

Funny video by the way, I need to catch up on the abridged series. Didn't even know Yu-Gi was in the anime, I thought that brown haired guy had took over.

I'll have a look for one for XYZ but this one at least covers Sycnro summons. http://www.yugioh-card.com/uk/rulebook/V7_English_Rlbk_lores.pdf

And that was from a one of film that was made where the characters from yugioh, 5ds and GX met each other due to time travel. The new anime (Zexal) is...really bad in my opinion.

In my opnion the anume goes in order of: 5D's, Zexal, The original, and then GX... just my opinion.

But yeah if you need any help I'll be willing to give tips/explain stuff.

If you want, I can be incredibly sarcastic about the comparison between the various card games that exist and their respective benefits. Watch, it's easy:

Magic: Pretty good, although hard to get into, but my god the rules are complicated at high level play. That and OLOLOLOLOLOL BLACK LOTUS COSTS MORE THAN A WELL USED CAR
Lot5R: We should really play this. Like, all of us. Seriously, it's brilliant fun and actually a really good setting, once you get past the Weeaboo.
Yu-Gi-Oh: Resourceless strategy is resourceless, but that doesn't necessarily make it-Ok, it's HOW unbalanced? They need a specific banlist and don't just balance things as they're released? Ok, wow. Still, it's not awful and can be fun if played properly i.e. with zero pretentiousness/seriousness
Pokémon TCG: Good card game simulation of an anime of a GameBoy game. And that's about it.
Cardfight Vanguard: Pretty pictures.
WoW TCG: Go play WoW, it's what Blizzard would want!

Time for my opnion!

Magic: Personally okay with this game now. I use to hate it but that was because my locals were just a bunch of jerk. Still not a game to get into easily though and it can get rather stall in my opinon. Mix and matching isn't as easy in this game as in yugioh. Speaking of yugioh...

Yugioh: Okay I personally love this game... but it's kind of unbalanced. On one hand there are little restrictions on what you can mix... but that leads t o silly broken things. Als othe people asking for play test for... dude most decks are broken because cards not made for the dek are added into the deck... and some decks use to suck until later cards were made. That's why most of the banned/limited cards are the older cards.

Vanguard: It's okay... mostly just pretty pictures to me though. The variety of the game right now is depressing... hopefully it will get better.

Pokemon: I enjoy it... it's kind of like yugioh though. The more serious you take it the more boring it gets.

Lot5R: What is this?

WoW: Play WoW as in the game, not the cards.

So XYZ isn't even in the 5d's rulebook? Is there ANOTHER edition after this one?

Ketran, assume that there is ALWAYS an edition of Yu-Gi-Oh after whichever one you're reading. Konami are moneygrubbing fucks and keep forcing people to buy new rulebooks.

Kite, google Legend of the Five Rings. It's that. If you're lazy, try either of the following links:
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=legend+of+the+five+rings
http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Legend_of_the_Five_Rings

Well I looked through the pdf and nothing seems to have changed duelling wise apart from this side deck thing which is a bit weird. Usually I have one game and that's it, not best of X number.

Sums it up. Nothing has really changed about dueling as a whole, just a couple of things added. And yes, the recent gen after 5Ds is Zexal...Avoid the anime like the god damn plauge.

Why is he wearing a scouter? I'm going to assume you've all seen DBZ.

And his hair is even more ridiculous than Yugi's. Oh they're going to have a lot of fun in the abridged series aren't they.

The Hair is just...wha?
And the scouter is called a Duel Visor. In Zexal its done so that when people duel the use visors to see the monsters-thus making all the monsters and effects a sort of virtual reality thing and not holograms appearing out of nowhere with nothing to project them.

But if I remember correctly when Yugi went to duel Kaiba in the original anime he had some emitters that projected the holograms onto the field. Am I mistaken?

You are not. But every other time (Through out all of 5ds and GX) the hologramns just appeared in mid air with no explanation or projectors. Just place the card on a disk and boom there it is.

Oh Japanese continuity errors how I missed you.

But speaking of fake scouters that let you see monsters I have an app for my phone that displays a 3D model over a Yu-Gi-Oh card. So if I put Time Wizard in front of it a little time wizard pops up. It's very limited and they're not animated but it's a start.

...tell me more of this app. I am interested.

Well you'll need a smartphone, and it's called Yu-Gi-Oh! Dueling. It takes control of your camera and when you position it so that a card is in view a 3D model will pop up on the screen, and you can move your phone around it to see it from behind and etc. It's only on a limited number of cards right now and the author is working on adding more, plus it can be a little unreliable.

But like I said it's a start, as camera quality gets better (12megapixel here and it still looks blurry), and phone hardware gets better (the 3D models aren't extremely high quality but Celtic guardian looks great) the app itself will get better. If the author continues to develop it.

Sounds like a fun app. Also on the topic of Zexal it is a huge hit or miss. some people love it... others want it to stop existing right now.

Like Marmite then?

I'd go for that comparison. Its aiming for a pretty set group of people who play the game (in other words the kids) and replaces a lot of the dark storyline that Yugioh animes have had in the past for "Hey! The main character has ADD and an alien floating over his head!"

Darn it, it's ADHD! ADD and ADHD are different problems! Why do you do this! It's on purpose isn't it!!!

Mabye Mabye not. I have too much ADD to pay attention

This thread is now about Pokemon 6th gen.

THREE DEE PERSPECTIVE NIGGAS

I'm all for Gen VI though I'm not looking forward to the next wave of "Old gen is better" rants. Thats life, play the old games if you dont like new gens. Simple as.