As Arc-V comes to a close, a new entry begins! Introducing Yu-Gi-Oh Vrains (Don't ask, we fired our naming department years ago).
Back when we showed 5Ds there has been a tradition of each series introducing a new way to play Yu-Gi-Oh and Vrains will not be different. Synchro, Xyz, Pendulum are in the past, its time to say hello to Link Summoning! (New Extra Deck Monster, no we're not extending the size).
We heard you complaints that the game was getting out of control with all the extra deck shenanigans so with Link Summoning we're introducing the Extra Monster Zone! There will be 2 zones shared by the players that are owned by no one at the start of the games. Link, Synchro, Xyz, and face-up Pendulum monsters may only be summoned in the Extra Deck Zone (One per player).
https://i.imgur.com/7srDt7L.png (Yeah, pendulum zones now take up a spot in the S/T zone. too)
Only one zone for Extra Deck monsters?! This is madness Konami! Thats where Link Monsters come in. Link Monsters can be summon with the materials listed such as 3 effect monsters, 2 earth monsters, 1 normal monster by sending monsters from the field to the graveyard. As you will see, Link Monsters have no Defense points, and can also not be switched to defense or be flipped face down. You can also notice there are red arrows on the cards going all over the place. These red Arrows point to "Linked Zones", you can now special summon monsters from the extra deck in these extra linked zones. The main monster we're releasing to promote the mechanic, Decode Talker, is a Link 3 monster (They also don't have levels or ranks, did we mention that?) which means he has 3 arrows. Two diagonally facing your board, and one facing straight up on your opponents. Since Decode Talker has an effect that says if your opponent activates a card or effect that targets a card / cards on your field, you can tribute one monster in one of his linked zones to negate (which means if your opponent used the linked zone you gave them, free negation!)
https://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Decode_Talker
Don't forget, Link Monsters can be summoned with other Link Monsters. So say you have a Link 2 monster and 1 effect monster, you can summon Decode talker. During our testing at Konami, it seems Pendulum monsters may not be able to be used for a Link Summon. You can also link summon in a linked zone, as cards like HoneyBot have linked zones to the sides of them, which means you'll now have 3 Linked Zones to work with as opposed to 2.
We are also introducing a new Cyber/Cyverse type to the game! So stay tune for Starter Deck '17 and Code of the Duelist for these new Cards!