When I was getting back into Yu-Gi-Oh in 2016, “3 busted engine cards, 1 mandatory Garnet” was the shiny innovation in card design of the day. Cards like Brilliant Fusion, Speedroid Terrortop, and Set Rotation were the new hotness, with good players in the community ardently justifying the inclusion of bricks in decks to enable these strong options.

These days, things are different. Pro players strive to cut every bricky card that they can, because consistency has become more important than ever. So how did we get here? In this video essay, I dive into this rapid change in deckbuilding philosophy, the balance of consistency vs. power, and see if there is still space for Garnets in Yu-Gi-Oh’s modern formats.