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colors_tcg Portfolio Metagame Guide
Aug. 23rd, 2025 05:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crabg1rlWelcome to Lenga's portfolio metagame guide! Let's start with a Q&A.
Why should I do portfolios?
Because they add almost one crayon per mastery.
Why should I do portfolio pairs?
Because you can use a "not yet mastered" deck in both a monochrome and palette portfolio, a "pair" will contain nine unmastered decks for eight crayons, while doing a palette and a monochrome one at a time will contain ten unmastered decks for eight crayons.
What's with orange decks?
There are about twice as many decks of most other colors compared to orange. (At press time there are 2842 red decks, 1074 orange decks, 1515 yellow decks, 1642 green decks, 2599 blue decks, 1849 purple decks, 1643 brown decks, 2032 gray decks, and 806 special decks.) This means that you *will* eventually run out of orange decks if you just collect whatever from your fandoms. If you want to use my method, you are going to find yourself superficially adding more orange decks. If you master 45 decks with “paired portfolios”, you’ll gain 45 choice cards and 85 crayons, even if you still have to spend 20 orange crayons to maintain a color balance.
What if I don't want to focus on orange decks?
Then you're probably going to want to throw in more monochrome portfolios (such as red) to maximize the rewards from what you are mastering. My guide doesn't cover this.
What's going on with posting multiple portfolios in one comment?
My portfolio batches provide the same results as mastering the portfolios one at a time and are only preventing the portfolio mods and masteries mods from reading spam comments,
Can I use that method?
You can ask the mods for permission to use that method. Raven is the main mod doing masteries right now and the one who gave permission to me specifically.
When should I master my first deck? Or master my first portfolio?
Personally, I recommend that you wait to pick your portfolio decks. Most players will use Little Spell Academia to master their first deck for the purpose of Pot of Gold. For maximum optimization after that, I would recommend waiting up to 30 days to gather as many cards as possible through Recycled Art and trades. Then you can select your portfolio decks from your multiple nearly completed decks.
What about special decks?
If you are not going to use special decks in monochrome portfolios, you will master at most 1 special deck per 16 regular decks. If you will use special decks in monochrome portfolios, you can master 1 special deck per 8 regular decks. Either way, particular care is required for color balance.
I want to see some examples.
Alright, it’s time to d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-DUEL! YU-GI-OH EXAMPLES, HERE WE GO.
To help me visualize portfolios in a spreadsheet, I use something called "conditional formatting". If I haven't yet used the mastered deck in a palette portfolio, the corresponding column will be highlighted in a color. Likewise for the monochrome column.
The following text is fairly universal among spreadsheet programs like Google Sheets, Excel, and LibreOffice.
[Range] C1:C9998
=AND(EXACT(B1,"orange"),EXACT(C1,"none"))
[Range] D1:D9998
=AND(EXACT(B1,"orange"),EXACT(D1,"none"))
I've uploaded a spreadsheet you can fill out yourself here. See here if you're having trouble opening an .ods file.
For our first portfolio pair, I’ll get us started with orange as the monochrome, so it’s out of the way. Note that there are none at all in the just "Yu-Gi-Oh!" section and we have to continue to "Yu-Gi-Oh! 5DS" which has 2, Arc-5 with 5, past GX with 0, and finally one from Sevens. That’s 8 out of about 128 decks, so only half of the 1 in 8 ratio you might expect in color balance. (EDIT: This draft was composed before “torso” was donated. Never say never.)
“reporter” appears in both portfolios.
For number 2, let’s use the much more bountiful blue. “orichalcos” will appear in both.
Number 3 is going to be green. “insect” appears in both. Starting to get a little more already mastered...
Now we finally can use three decks that are already mastered on each side! Yay! Black Rose for both.
Now that we’ve built up a decent buffer, let’s mix it up with specials for the last two.
Now let’s look at the portfolios all together.
Can you see how you might like to make brown or gray monochrome portfolios for the next ones?
Why should I do portfolios?
Because they add almost one crayon per mastery.
Why should I do portfolio pairs?
Because you can use a "not yet mastered" deck in both a monochrome and palette portfolio, a "pair" will contain nine unmastered decks for eight crayons, while doing a palette and a monochrome one at a time will contain ten unmastered decks for eight crayons.
What's with orange decks?
There are about twice as many decks of most other colors compared to orange. (At press time there are 2842 red decks, 1074 orange decks, 1515 yellow decks, 1642 green decks, 2599 blue decks, 1849 purple decks, 1643 brown decks, 2032 gray decks, and 806 special decks.) This means that you *will* eventually run out of orange decks if you just collect whatever from your fandoms. If you want to use my method, you are going to find yourself superficially adding more orange decks. If you master 45 decks with “paired portfolios”, you’ll gain 45 choice cards and 85 crayons, even if you still have to spend 20 orange crayons to maintain a color balance.
What if I don't want to focus on orange decks?
Then you're probably going to want to throw in more monochrome portfolios (such as red) to maximize the rewards from what you are mastering. My guide doesn't cover this.
What's going on with posting multiple portfolios in one comment?
My portfolio batches provide the same results as mastering the portfolios one at a time and are only preventing the portfolio mods and masteries mods from reading spam comments,
Can I use that method?
You can ask the mods for permission to use that method. Raven is the main mod doing masteries right now and the one who gave permission to me specifically.
When should I master my first deck? Or master my first portfolio?
Personally, I recommend that you wait to pick your portfolio decks. Most players will use Little Spell Academia to master their first deck for the purpose of Pot of Gold. For maximum optimization after that, I would recommend waiting up to 30 days to gather as many cards as possible through Recycled Art and trades. Then you can select your portfolio decks from your multiple nearly completed decks.
What about special decks?
If you are not going to use special decks in monochrome portfolios, you will master at most 1 special deck per 16 regular decks. If you will use special decks in monochrome portfolios, you can master 1 special deck per 8 regular decks. Either way, particular care is required for color balance.
I want to see some examples.
Alright, it’s time to d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-DUEL! YU-GI-OH EXAMPLES, HERE WE GO.
But first, the spreadsheet
To help me visualize portfolios in a spreadsheet, I use something called "conditional formatting". If I haven't yet used the mastered deck in a palette portfolio, the corresponding column will be highlighted in a color. Likewise for the monochrome column.
The following text is fairly universal among spreadsheet programs like Google Sheets, Excel, and LibreOffice.
[Range] C1:C9998
=AND(EXACT(B1,"orange"),EXACT(C1,"none"))
[Range] D1:D9998
=AND(EXACT(B1,"orange"),EXACT(D1,"none"))
I've uploaded a spreadsheet you can fill out yourself here. See here if you're having trouble opening an .ods file.
For our first portfolio pair, I’ll get us started with orange as the monochrome, so it’s out of the way. Note that there are none at all in the just "Yu-Gi-Oh!" section and we have to continue to "Yu-Gi-Oh! 5DS" which has 2, Arc-5 with 5, past GX with 0, and finally one from Sevens. That’s 8 out of about 128 decks, so only half of the 1 in 8 ratio you might expect in color balance. (EDIT: This draft was composed before “torso” was donated. Never say never.)
“reporter” appears in both portfolios.
| ♥ Palette Portfolio #: 1 ♥ Red deck: war ♥ Orange deck: reporter ♥ Yellow deck: cubic ♥ Green deck: brute ♥ Blue deck: undead ♥ Purple deck: polite ♥ Brown deck: monkey ♥ Gray deck: stun gun | ♥ Monochrome Portfolio #: 1 ♥ Monochrome Color: orange ♥ 1st deck: blackbird ♥ 2nd deck: reporter ♥ 3rd deck: performage ♥ 4th deck: you show ♥ 5th deck: soulburner ♥ 6th deck: iron wolf ♥ 7th deck: soulburner ♥ 8th deck: roads |
For number 2, let’s use the much more bountiful blue. “orichalcos” will appear in both.
| ♥ Palette Portfolio #: 2 ♥ Red deck: blush ♥ Orange deck: blackbird (already mastered) ♥ Yellow deck: necklace ♥ Green deck: ESP ♥ Blue deck: orichalcos ♥ Purple deck: illusion ♥ Brown deck: blue eyes ♥ Gray deck: exposition | ♥ Monochrome Portfolio #: 2 ♥ Monochrome Color: blue ♥ 1st deck: undead (already mastered) ♥ 2nd deck: zombira ♥ 3rd deck: kidnapped ♥ 4th deck: fisherman ♥ 5th deck: orichalcos ♥ 6th deck: machine ♥ 7th deck: blue maiden ♥ 8th deck: no malice |
Number 3 is going to be green. “insect” appears in both. Starting to get a little more already mastered...
| ♥ Palette Portfolio #: 3 ♥ Red deck: dice ♥ Orange deck: performage (already mastered) ♥ Yellow deck: red eyes ♥ Green deck: insect ♥ Blue deck: kidnapped (already mastered) ♥ Purple deck: harpie lady ♥ Brown deck: trusting ♥ Gray deck: wisel | ♥ Monochrome Portfolio #: 3 ♥ Monochrome Color: green ♥ 1st deck: virtual ♥ 2nd deck: ESP (already mastered) ♥ 3rd deck: brute (already mastered) ♥ 4th deck: insect ♥ 5th deck: protect ♥ 6th deck: birthmark ♥ 7th deck: ccarayhua ♥ 8th deck: beatdown |
Now we finally can use three decks that are already mastered on each side! Yay! Black Rose for both.
| ♥ Palette Portfolio #: 4 ♥ Red deck: black rose ♥ Orange deck: you show (already mastered) ♥ Yellow deck: zorc ♥ Green deck: virtual (already mastered) ♥ Blue deck: zombira (already mastered) ♥ Purple deck: fairy tale ♥ Brown deck: pots ♥ Gray deck: inca | ♥ Monochrome Portfolio #: 4 ♥ Monochrome Color: red ♥ 1st deck: war (already mastered) ♥ 2nd deck: blush (already mastered) ♥ 3rd deck: dice (already mastered) ♥ 4th deck: black rose ♥ 5th deck: walkure ♥ 6th deck: kulelna ♥ 7th deck: aquaactress ♥ 8th deck: big benkei |
Now that we’ve built up a decent buffer, let’s mix it up with specials for the last two.
| ♥ Palette Portfolio #: 5 ♥ Red deck: walkure (already mastered) ♥ Orange deck: soulburner (already mastered) ♥ Yellow deck: games ♥ Green deck: protect (already mastered) ♥ Blue deck: spellcaster ♥ Purple deck: spellcaster ♥ Brown deck: broadway ♥ Gray deck: nazca | ♥ Monochrome Portfolio #: 5 ♥ Monochrome Color: yellow ♥ 1st deck: cubic (already mastered) ♥ 2nd deck: necklace (already mastered) ♥ 3rd deck: games ♥ 4th deck: red eyes (already mastered) ♥ 5th deck: spiria ♥ 6th deck: ba ♥ 7th deck: revive ♥ 8th deck: gemstone | ♥ Palette Portfolio #: 6 ♥ Red deck: dragon-type ♥ Orange deck: iron wolf (already mastered) ♥ Yellow deck: spiria (already mastered) ♥ Green deck: birthmark (already mastered) ♥ Blue deck: dragon-type ♥ Purple deck: ribbonchan ♥ Brown deck: security ♥ Gray deck: totem-pole | ♥ Monochrome Portfolio #: 6 ♥ Monochrome Color: purple ♥ 1st deck: polite (already mastered) ♥ 2nd deck: illusion (already mastered) ♥ 3rd deck: harpie lady (already mastered) ♥ 4th deck: toon ♥ 5th deck: puzzle ♥ 6th deck: ribbonchan ♥ 7th deck: amazoness ♥ 8th deck: jester |
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Now let’s look at the portfolios all together.
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Can you see how you might like to make brown or gray monochrome portfolios for the next ones?
ADDENDUM: Crayon Metagame Guide
Date: 2025-09-10 07:57 pm (UTC)14 cards if you have a good engine to master one set of 5 pairs of portfolios per month.
* by using portfolios, gain 2 crayons and 1 mastery per deck
* gain 50 crayons a month from games
* gain 50 choice cards a month from
* trade 1000 cards a month to get 50 crayons from sketchpads
* ergo you will remain in the black if you spend 6 crayons per deck
Technically, the optimal move is to wait for cards to be generated as the probability approaches 1 over time, but we're not playing Colors until the heat death of the universe, here.
I recommend waiting 3 months to promote decks to collecting and master them with crayons.