List of Yu-Gi-Oh! cards

The following is a list of notable cards in the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game. The cards listed are notable for their relevance to the anime and manga of the same name, its spin-off series, Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, and the real-life card game.

Contents 1 Individual Cards 1.1 Advanced Ritual Art 1.2 Blue-Eyes White Dragon 1.3 Cyber Dragon/Cyberdark Dragon 1.4 Cyber-Stein 1.5 Dark Magician 1.6 Dark Magician Girl 1.7 Exodia 1.8 Red-Eyes Black Dragon 1.9 Kuriboh 2 Series of Cards 2.1 Arcana Force 2.2 Chaos 2.3 Crystal Beasts 2.4 Dark World 2.5 Destiny Heroes 2.6 Elemental Heroes 2.7 Gadgets 2.8 Gladiator Beasts 2.9 Monarchs 2.10 Neo-Spacians 2.11 Ojama Trio 2.12 Sacred Beast Cards 2.13 The Six Samurai 2.14 Wicked God Cards 3 See also 4 External links 5 References

Individual Cards

Advanced Ritual Art

A Ritual Spell that can be used to summon Ritual monsters from your hand by sending Normal monsters from your deck to the Graveyard. The card is notable for making the aforementioned monsters playable, both of which had been deemed unplayable at a competitive level. Since its release it has been used in a "One Turn Kill" variant. Advanced Ritual Art would be used to Summon Demise, King of Armageddon by sending Insect-type monsters (Insect Knight and Neo Bug are the typical choice) to the Graveyard. Demise's effect would then clear all other cards from the field, while the player special summons Doom Dozer by removing the insects from their Graveyard. Then by playing Metamorphosis to summon Cyber Twin Dragon, the player could attack directly with both monsters for the win. This is no longer usable since Metamorphosis has been banned. An alternate way to win is to use Megamorph to double the original attack of Doom Dozer and attack with it and Demise. (Assume if the user has lower lifepoints than their opponent, which is often the case due to the payment requirement of Demise's effect)^[1]

Blue-Eyes White Dragon

The signature card of Seto Kaiba, it is considered to be one of the strongest monsters in the anime. Its attack is White Lightning in the English anime, and Burst Stream of Destruction in the Japanese anime. In the manga and anime, there are only four in the entire world,^[2] the explanation being that the card was considered "too powerful" and therefore discontinued. Kaiba, who dreams of owning all of them, acquires three of them through underhanded tactics such as mafia deals, or forcing the owners into bankruptcy. Only three of one card can be in one's deck at a time, and the fourth Blue-Eyes belonged to Sugoroku Mutou (Solomon Muto in the English anime). After claiming the final Blue-Eyes, Kaiba rips it up so it can never be used against him.^[2] The card becomes Kaiba's trademark card and a motif of sorts, as he owns a jet, a dueling dome and a theme park all based on the beast. It is rumored that the card Kaibaman was created by Kaiba himself and is heavily based on him in appearance.^[3] In the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX episode in which Kaibaman appears, he even has the same voice, deck and mannerisms.^[4] Kaiba's appearance of a white coat and bright blue eyes also conjure the dragon's image. It should also be noted that Kaiba's armor in the PlayStation 2 video game Duelist of the Roses is themed from the Blue-Eyes White Dragon as well. In the final season of the anime, the dragon is revealed to be the spirit of Kisara, a young woman who was captured by Akhenaden for the power of the beast. Kaiba's past incarnation, Priest Seto, fell in love with Kisara and defended her to death. Priest Seto first became interested in the Blue-Eyes when he saw Bakura's Diabound use Burst Stream to defeat Obelisk the Tormentor - he cites this incident as indicating there exist monsters with powers that surpass the Pharaoh's God Cards. This leads to his search for stronger monsters that eventually leads him to Kisara. After Akhenaden killed her and possessed Seto, Kisara's spirit entered Seto's mind and destroyed Akhenaden. The love the two shared is the reason why Kaiba was driven to claim all the Blue-Eyes cards in the present. In the anime, the monster itself is described by Zorc as "the ultimate creature of light," with power greater than that of the three God Cards. The second Yu-Gi-Oh! Movie supports this by having Blue-Eyes and its forms representing Kaiba, the King of Light, and being his strongest creatures. In the anime, the Blue-Eyes White Dragon's power is further demonstrated by being the first monster who deals actual damage to Zorc, cutting off Zorc's forearm with a blast (although Zorc still beat Blue-Eyes). Even Exodia, considered by many to be invincible, was unable to do this: while he did damage Zorc, Zorc was able to regenerate. The Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon is portrayed in the anime as an evolution of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. It was capable of deflecting all of Zorc's attacks with its own Triple Burst Stream. The Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon and Dragon Master Knight (known in the game as Master of Dragon Soldier) are further evolutions of the Ultimate Dragon. Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon is summoned by first sacrificing a Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon. It was only featured in the second movie. Dragon Master Knight, a combination of Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon and Black Luster Soldier, made a few appearances throughout the anime. Each time it is summoned through a combined effort of Yugi and Kaiba. In the TCG the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon is commonly used for One-turn kill deck types.

Cyber Dragon/Cyberdark Dragon

One of the favorite cards of Zane Truesdale, the two cards symbolize yin and yang, with the bright, active Cyber Dragons being the yang and the dark, passive Cyberdark Dragons being the yin. The cards are part of a dueling philosophy known as Cyber-Style, the art of which was taught at a dojo. Zane was the dojo's top pupil and thus earned favor from the dojo's master, who gave him his Cyber End Dragon. Cyberdark Dragon, however, remained sealed in the dojo for being too dangerous. After Zane graduated Duel Academy and subsequently falls into a losing streak, he reforms with a dark persona. He thus returns to the dojo to claim the forbidden Underworld deck with the Cyberdark Dragon. His master, in an attempt to show Zane the error of his ways, seized control of his treasured Cyber End Dragon. Zane, however, turned on his master and destroyed it to claim the Underworld deck. In the fourth season of the anime, Zane is defeated by a practitioner of the rival Psycho-Style and passes his deck on to his brother Syrus. Cyber Dragon serves as a popular card in the real life Trading Card Game and as such multiple copies of the card feature in the Top eight decks in Shonen Jump tournaments.^[5]. This is due to the fact it is not only a powerful "beatstick" (high ATK monster), but as it can be Special Summoned, it can be quickly tributed for an even stronger monster. It also hosts a wide array of support cards including four fusions: Cyber Twin Dragon, Cyber End Dragon, Chimeratech Overdragon and Chimeratech Fortress Dragon. All of these have been involved in "One Turn Kill" decks, although this deck type has been weakened by the banning of Cyber-Stein and the limiting of Overload Fusion and Future Fusion.^[6] Cyberdark Dragon and the cards in its series are similarly powerful, allowing players to not only reuse the cards in their Graveyard, but to provide monsters with even higher ATK than the normal Cyber Dragon: the ideal cards for use with the Cyberdarks, Exploder Dragon, Masked Dragon and Twin-Headed Behemoth, are easy to get into the Graveyard by their effects, and the latter two boost the Cyberdarks to 2200 and 2300 ATK points (compare to Cyber Dragon with only 2100). As well, their release more or less coincides with the release of Five-Headed Dragon: thus, players can create decks that utilize both. In such a deck, even if Five-Headed Dragon (5000 ATK) is defeated, players can simply summon Cyberdark Dragon and get an even stronger monster in exchange. The design of cards in the Cyber Dragon series has links to Chinese mythology, Cyber Dragon representing the Chinese dragon, Cyber Kirin representing the Qilin, and Cyber Phoenix representing the Fenghuang.

Cyber-Stein

Cyber-Stein or Devil Franken in the OCG , which is named after Frankenstein. At the cost of 5000 Life Points this card allowed a player to Special Summon a Fusion monster. Cyber-Stein has been the subject of two controversies in the history of the card game. Cyber-Stein was originally printed only for winners of Shonen Jump Championship competitions, with the first card having a bid placed on eBay for over 20,000 US dollars.^[7] The buyer did not pay,^[7] however and the card was resold for approximately $7,000 USD. The card is now available as a rare in Dark Beginning 2 (Unless a card of higher rarity is in the pack, there is one random rare in every booster a late entry into the forbidden list).^[8]

Dark Magician

Used mostly by Yugi Moto (although another duelist also used it),^[9] the Dark Magician is a rival to the Blue-Eyes, mostly due to the bitter rivalry between their owners. The Dark Magician, while possessing less raw attack power compared to the Blue-Eyes, has many alternate forms with greater power and special abilities that allow Yugi to use and reuse him in countless ways to trump Kaiba's dragon. Notable alternate forms include the Magician of Black Chaos, Dark Paladin, Dark Eradicator Warlock, and Dark Flare Knight. Magician of Black Chaos was used to defeat Pegasus, the Duel Monsters card game creator, during Duelist Kingdom, and Dark Paladin was used by Yugi to defeat Kaiba in their final duel during Battle City. Additionally, the Dark Magician has a large library of specific spell and trap cards that can augment its power. Several of these are general to the Spellcaster class of monsters, like Magical Dimension and Diffusion-Wave Motion. Others, such as Thousand Knives and Dark Magic Attack, are specific to the card type. It can even be summoned by a card exclusive to it, known as Dark Magic Curtain. In the final season of the anime, the card is revealed to be the embodiment of Mahad, the Pharaoh's childhood friend and guardian. When Bakura attacked Mahad, Mahad sacrificed himself to merge with Illusion Magician, the fusion forming the Dark Magician. In doing so, Mahad vowed to protect the Pharaoh for eternity, a vow that he continues to serve to the Pharaoh's reincarnation, Yugi.

Dark Magician Girl

A female counterpart to the Dark Magician, she is another of Yugi's trademark cards. In the English anime she is voiced by Bella Hudson. Following her introduction into the anime, she gained a greater deal of popularity among the fandom. She, unlike the Dark Magician, has appeared as a Duel Spirit twice. The Dark Magician Girl played an important part in the fourth season of the anime, she was the representative of the Duel Monsters' world who begged Yugi and Yami Yugi to stop Dartz. She would eventually lead the forces of her world in an all-out assault on the Leviathan in an attempt to destroy it, but this failed. In the final season of the anime, the card is revealed to be the Ka Monster of Mana, the Pharaoh's childhood friend and Mahad's pupil/successor. Her Duel Spirit appeared once again in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. During a school festival, the one day Duel Spirits can take physical form, she appeared to duel Jaden Yuki. The crowd cheered actively for her, and even though she lost, she didn't care because she had so much fun. Before the day ended, she used the last of her energy to give Syrus Truesdale, who she thought was cute and who also had a crush on her, a kiss on the cheek.^[10] She plays with a Spellcaster deck, which centers around her own card.

Exodia

Also known by its full title "Exodia the Forbidden One", Exodia is commonly perceived in the anime and manga as being the strongest of all Duel Monsters (even though the anime later states the God Cards are stronger). Its first appearance in the anime was a memorable one: it destroyed all three of Kaiba's Blue-Eyes White Dragons and depleted his Life Points with a single blast. Although Exodia is typically shown as being summoned and attacking in the anime, its actual effect activates in the hand: players who gather all five Exodia parts in their hand can declare an automatic victory, regardless of Life Points.

Exodia is split into a head, and four limbs (two arms and two legs). The story of why and how it was split and sealed is revealed in the final season, when its original master, Shimon (Sugoroku Mutou's past incarnation) fragmented it because it was too powerful. However, when Zorc (perhaps a reference to the monster, Dark Master - Zorc) attacked the palace, Shimon released the beast to do battle with him. Although the two traded blows with near-equal power, Exodia lost because it was summoned by Shimon's energy, and thus when Shimon could no longer power it, Exodia was destroyed. Exodia has a counterpart called Exodia Necross, a ghostly, necromantic version of it. Used by Gozaburo Kaiba against his stepson Seto Kaiba,^[11] this version of Exodia is powered by the five limbs being in the Graveyard, and as long as all five parts remain, it cannot be destroyed by a monster with higher ATK power, Spell or Trap card (the difference of the battle damage is still calculated towards the lifepoints). The only way to destroy it is by either a monster effect (though it's immune to them in the anime) or removing 1 (or more) of the 4 Forbidden ones limbs or Exodia the forbidden one from the graveyard. It gains 1000 points every time it battles. Kaiba manages to destroy the beast by removing the five limbs from play. Exodia Necross is thus stripped of its powers and left a weakened husk. In the TCG, Exodia Necross isn't as powerful; although it remains indestructible from battle, Spell, and Trap Cards, it is still open to monster effects. Its effect also only applies to the specific term "destroyed by...", meaning it can be returned to the hand or deck, removed from play (by any card), destroyed while face-down, and can have its effects negated and then be destroyed. The ATK increase is only 500 points, and only occurs during the Standby Phase. General consensus with the card is that if players are going to create a deck with the Exodia parts, it is better to use them for an automatic win than summoning a monster.
Later in the GX anime, the character Adrian Gecko plays an Exodia deck featuring another counterpart called Exodios the Ultimate Forbidden God, which is summoned by the effects of Ultimate Unsealing Ritualistic Technique. When in play, It gains a 1000 attack points for every Exodia part send to the graveyard when it attacks. When all 5 limbs are send to the graveyard, the controller of this card automatically wins the duel. Exodius cannot be destroyed and is also immune to all of the opponent's Spell, Trap cards, and Monster effects. In the OCG, Exodius can only be Special Summoned by returning all monster cards from the graveyard to the deck. When its removed from the field, its removed from play. Furthermore, its special effect applies to any Normal Monster send to the graveyard for it to attack and gain a 1000 attack points. Its open to the effects of Spells, Traps, and Monsters.

Red-Eyes Black Dragon

A dark dragon that is commonly seen as a counterpart to the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Its link to Blue-Eyes is explicitly stated in the first movie: "The Blue-Eyes brings victory, while the Red-Eyes brings potential." While the Blue-Eyes is stronger one-on-one, the Red-Eyes has a greater number of alternate forms that can overpower the Blue-Eyes, such as Meteor Black Dragon (used in the first movie by Yugi to destroy all three of Kaiba's Blue-Eyes at once) and Black Skull Dragon. Other notable forms of the Red-Eyes are the Red-Eyes Black Metal Dragon and the Red-eyes Darkness dragon. The Red-Eyes is one of Jonouchi's (Joey Wheeler) strongest cards. It originally belonged to Dinosaur Ryuzaki (Rex Raptor), but he bet it against Jonouchi in the hopes of seizing his Time Wizard. Jonouchi instead used that same card to fossilize the dragon and thus claimed victory, along with Dinosaur's favorite card.^[12] The dragon has since appeared in many of Joey's duels. It played a key role in defeating both the Meikyū Brothers and Bandit Keith during Duelist Kingdom. When Joey lost it in a duel with a Rare Hunter and subsequently won back by Yugi during Battle City, Joey vows to duel and become better and face Yugi in the finals to earn it back (in the English dub, Joey lets Yugi borrow it to help him save the world). The beginning of a duel between Joey and Yugi after the Battle City tournament and before the Waking the Dragons arc is seen in which Yugi says that he still has something of Joey's and Joey says "It's time for me to earn it back," and as Joey has the dragon afterwards it is assumed he was able to defeat Yugi. Joey has a rematch with Dinosaur in Season 4, where Dinosaur intends to defeat the dragon as a punishment for its apparent betrayal. Joey instead uses it along with Hermos to create the Red-Eyes Black Dragon Sword to power up his Gearfried the Swordmaster to defeat Dinosaur again. Just like Blue Eyes Shining Dragon, Red Eyes Black Dragon has a form with the same affect as the Blue Eyes called Red Eyes Darkness Dragon. It also has its own magic card in which it can help destroy an opponent's life points judging by its attack power. The card is also used by Nightshroud, aka Atticus Rhodes in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. Nightshroud uses the full extent of the card's power through a wide array of cards based around it, including Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon and Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon, a stronger form of the card. After Nightshroud is defeated, his spirit is sealed in the card and eventually reclaims Atticus for a short time when he uses the deck to duel Zane.

Kuriboh

Kuriboh has been used in Yugi's Deck, and has been seen many times. It initially appeared alone, but later became one of Five Kuriboh Brothers, each with a different ability ranging from combining into new forms of Kuriboh to blocking an opponent's strike. Kuriboh also has a counterpart, Winged Kuriboh, who serves as a Duel Spirit and card in Jaden's Deck.^[13] It was given to Jaden from Yugi in the first episode of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.^[14] Winged Kuriboh has an alternative form Winged Kuriboh LV10. This was used by Jaden in his duel against Chazz to defeat his VWXYZ Dragon Catapult Cannon.^[15] Kuribohs have the ability to negate battle damage. Thanks to this ability Kuriboh is sometimes side decked to counter "One Turn Kill" Decks.^[16] The Kuriboh series is backed up with a few support cards. One of which, The Flute of Summoning Kuriboh, can be used for tech in Monarch decks, either to place a Kuriboh in hand to block the aforementioned One Turn Kill, or to Special Summon one to be tributed. Despite this ability, Kuribohs are looked down on in the anime, Kaiba stating that he doesn't know a serious duelist who uses it during his second duel with Yugi. Unlike most of Yugi's duel monsters (except for Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl) Kuriboh appears to be more sentient than most other holograms during Yugi's duels; in "Duel Identities", it was taunted by Mai and began making scratching gestures in the air, as if it wanted to defeat Mai's Harpie's Pet Dragon on its own. It was also known to get angry when Kaiba insulted its weak ATK points in Kaiba and Yugi's rematch duel. In addition, during the Virtual World arc, Kuriboh chose itself as Yugi's Deckmaster against his wishes and was affectionate towards him, eventually proving to be an asset in defeating Gansley. The same trait passes over to Jaden Yuki, as his Winged Kuriboh is also a duel spirit that can speak with Jaden and show emotion.

Series of Cards

Arcana Force

The main components of Sartorius' deck, they are light-based antithesis to the Neo-Spacians. The Arcana Force monsters are largely based on the Major Arcana, and the Spells and Traps that supplement them are based on the Minor Arcana. The Arcana Force monsters and many of their related cards rotate on screen when played - their effect is determined by their position (right-side up or up-side down) when the opponent calls for the rotation stop, in turn giving the opponent the illusion the cards are based on luck and they are able to decide their fate, a reflection of Sartorius' views on destiny.^[17] The abilities of the cards may help either duelist depending on their position. However, stronger Arcana Force monsters merely have a less-powerful, but still helpful ability as their secondary effect as opposed to a detrimental one. All Arcana Force monsters are Fairy-Type and a Light Attribute. The leader of the series is Arcana Force Extra - The Light Ruler, the 23rd "extra" Arcana Force card and the only one not based on an actual Tarot card, instead being the embodiment of light. The summoning of the card is preceded by a convergence of three pillars of red, blue and green light. In addition, an even mix of these colors in the spectrum produces white light. The arcana monsters will be released in the pack Light of destruction. Arcana Force Extra - The Light Ruler was released in the OCG in Pack 1 of Limited Edition 10 as a promotional card on March 21, 2007. ^[18]

Chaos

A deck-archetype that reigned over all tournaments prior to the creation of the Forbidden List, it's these monsters and "Yata-Garasu" that were blamed for the creation of the Forbidden List in the first place. The trademark Chaos cards are Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End, Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning, and Chaos Sorcerer. When they were first released, Chaos Emperor Dragon and Black Luster Soldier were the two that were used, because Chaos Sorcerer's effect didn't seem to make it worth playing at the time. The original Chaos Deck relied on discarding Light and Dark Attribute monsters and removing them from play to meet the popular Special Summoning conditions of the Chaos monsters. With their powerful effects, ability to be easily summoned, and high attack power, the Chaos monsters could easily dominate an opponent. It's of popular opinion among the best players in the game that Black Luster Soldier is the better card, for it's ability to remove from play helpful monsters used by many during this time such as, Sangan, Witch of The Black Forest, Sinister Serpent, and others that had to be sent to the graveyard to get their effects. With Chaos Emperor Dragon in particular, players would use it's effect while Sangan or Witch of the Black Forest was on their field by paying 1000 lifepoints to destroying all cards on the field and in both players hands, allowing the player to search their deck for Yata-Garasu with either Sangan or Witch's effect once they went to the graveyard with CED's effect. With Yata, this could stop the opponent from drawing cards if it inflict lifepoint damage to them. The end result is a situation in which the opponent has no cards in their hand or on the field, and cannot draw, making it nearly impossible for them to win, especially if the controller of Yata-Garasu had another monster on their side of the field to inflict higher amounts of damage to the unprotected opponent's lifepoints. This dangerous strategy has become known as a Yata-Lock, and both Yata-Garasu and Chaos Emperor Dragon were two of the cards on the first Forbidden List for this reason. With Chaos Emperor Dragon and Black Luster Soldier being banned, the Chaos theme didn't see much play until the release of the popular card, Cyber Dragon in the Cybernetic Revolution Set. Along with Zaborg The Thunder Monarch and a few other Light and Dark attribute monsters being released, this allowed players to create competitive Chaos Decks once again, but this time with Chaos Sorcerer's. With it's effect being a slightly weaker version of Black Luster Solder's (only being able to remove 1 face-up monster on the field instead of any, and not having BLS's second attack effect when it destroyed a monster by battle), but still being effective, Chaos Sorcerer quickly rose to being in the Top 8 decks for many tournaments. Different interpretations of the deck would be used, all of which included multiple copies of cards such as Cyber Dragon, Zaborg The Thunder Monarch, Cyber-Stein, and cards to help get Light and Dark monsters in the graveyard, such as Magical Merchant and Morphing Jar. This newer Chaos Deck also used the now widely played card Return From The Different Dimension, which was released as a promotional card in the Yu-Gi-Oh movie in the US. With Return if the player had a significant amount of Light and Dark monsters removed from play from summoning Chaos Sorcerer's, they would then activate Return by paying half their lifepoints to Special Summon their removed from play monsters to the field. The end result would be a field of monsters strong enough to deplete the opponent's lifepoints. This deck type is known as a Chaos Return Deck, named for it's notable cards Chaos Sorcerer and Return From The Different Dimension. Since then, the Chaos deck has been weakened steadily by the banning of key cards and eventually, all three Chaos monsters themselves would be banned. Although weaker versions of the Chaos monsters have been released including Demise, King of Armageddon, Ruin, Queen of Oblivion and the Sky Scourges, these cards aren't Special Summoned by removing Light and Dark monsters from play, but rather by Ritual Summon or with the card Advanced Ritual Art, with the exception of Sky Scourges who can actually be Special Summoned by removing 1 Light/Fairy attribute monster, and 3 Dark/Fiend attribute monsters. There's also a card named Light and Darkness Dragon, which was released as a promotional card in the 1st American volume of the Yu-Gi-Oh GX manga. The artwork on the card features the ring that is present on both of the Envoys and it's effect is significantly as powerful, being that the controller must decrease it's attack to negate all Summons, Spells, and Traps that are activated, including the owners. Ironically, the monster is also treated as both Light and Dark attributes.^[19] Both of the Envoys are also used in the Yu-Gi-Oh anime. Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning and Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End were in the decks of the characters, Yugi and Kaiba, respectively in the original Yu-Gi-Oh series. Black Luster Soldier made an appearance again and was played by the character, Dimitri in the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX series, while he was using Yugi's stolen deck in one episode.^[20]Chaos Emperor Dragon was also used again by Kaiba against the character, Zigfried.^[21] also in the original Yu-Gi-Oh series. It is later explained in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX series that Chaos Emperor Dragon is banned from tournament use in the anime.^[22] Ironically, reflecting how it is banned in the actual card game.

Crystal Beasts

A set of cards belonging to Jesse Andersen in the Yu Gi Oh! GX Anime Series. The Crystal Beasts were made from gemstones gathered from all over the world, and have the special ability to occupy space in the Magic Card field once they are destroyed. From there, various support cards can be used to revive them. They have become stronger now that Jesse has retrieved the Ultimate Gem Lord, Rainbow Dragon; the trump card of the Crystal Beasts deck. There is one potent spell card in particular that can destroy all of the cards on your opponent's side of the field by tributing 4 crystal beast cards in your spell or trap card zones. Then, depending how many cards that are destroyed, you can special summon that number of Crystal Beasts to your field. In accordance with Rainbow Dragon, sending the four crystal beasts you just special summoned to the graveyard will grant the card 4000 additional attack points. This move can be used in one turn kill decks as well.

Dark World

A set featuring monster cards whose effects activate when they are discarded to the Graveyard by a card effect. Sometimes, secondary and more powerful effects are also present, activated when the card is discarded by the opponent's card effect. The Dark World monsters are named after colors (such as Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World to gold). The lone exception is Reign-Beaux, Overlord of Dark World (Reign-Beaux IPA: /ˈreɪnboʊ/) who is named after a rainbow (though the name is pronounced "Rainbows" due to the correct pronunciation of the word "beau" and the x added to the end). A common misunderstanding of the Dark World monsters is that their effects can be trigged by any discard done for any reason. This is not the case, as official card rulings state the discard must be the result of a "card effect", a definition which excludes "cost" and discarding during the End Phase to maintain the handsize limit.^[23] A Dark World deck typically revolves around cards with discard effects such as Card Destruction,Dark World Lightning and Graceful Charity. It proved popular due to its ability to quickly swarm the field and counter cards such as Don Zaloog and Spirit Reaper. Dark World monsters have recently appeared as the villains of the third half of the third season in the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX television series, controlling an alternate dimension. Their leader is Brron, Mad King of Dark World. Brron also implies his deck contains a Fusion card called Colorless, Chaos King of Dark World, but the card is not actually seen.

Destiny Heroes

A series of Dark-attribute Warriors, these are the trademark cards used by Aster Phoenix during the second season of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. They are considered the rival cards to Jaden's Elemental Heroes, and possess abilities pertaining to time or the passage of time, ranging from the displacement of his opponent's monsters into the future to the revival of his monsters or halving of his opponent's Life Points within a turn. In the same way, they have a wide support base of cards, some of which (Dark City, D-Cubic and Destiny Mirage) directly parallel the support (Skyscraper, Wroughtweiler and Elemental Mirage) for the Elemental Heroes. Some of the Destiny Heroes include Diamond Dude, Doom Lord, Dreadmaster, and Dogma. Many are based on various anti-heroes of British literature (such as Double Dude being a reference to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde). In the original series, all the Destiny Heroes had the suffix "Guy" and had names starting with "D" (Devilguy, Doomguy, Dogmaguy, etc). The only exceptions were Plasma (though the original name is Bloo-D, which D is still a main part of the name) and Darkangel (lacking the "Guy" suffix).

Destiny Heroes served as a playable deck type, particularly while Elemental Hero Stratos was unrestricted.^[6] This deck type has proven a popular choice and has featured in some of the top eight decklists in "Shonen Jump TCG Championship Series Tournaments".^[24] Beyond this, a decktype known as "Diamond Dude Turbo" (abbreviated DDT) is also seeing play, relying on using Diamond Dude's effect in tandem with Destiny Heroes "Malicious" and "Dasher", as well as "Card Trooper" and the Spells "Destiny Draw" and "Magical Stone Excavation". The Deck Revolves around using 'Destiny Draw and Magical Stone Excavation with "Diamond Dude"'s effect to gain card advantage, as costs are not paid with "Diamond Dude"'s effect.^[23] "Malicious" and "Dasher" are sent to the Graveyard with the many discard effects featured in the deck so their effects can activate, allowing the player to get many monsters to the field. The latest type of Destiny Hero deck is known as a PC, better known as "Perfect Circle", which similar to the DDT is revolved around one of the Destiny Heroes, Destiny Hero Disk Commander. When Magical Stone Excavation was limited down to one, DDT and Destiny Heroes nearly disappeared of the face of the earth. Soon people discovered how powerful a deck would be by running Disk Commanders, Malicious' and Fear Monger would make the deck extremely faster than most during the current format. The deck still requires the use of Destiny Draw. Currently Disk Commander has been limited down to 1 and Malicious down to 2 but the deck is still payable and is still able to work unlike DDT.

Elemental Heroes

A series of monsters that serve as the trademark cards used by Jaden Yuki. The strength of the Elemental Heroes comes from the various Fusions that are created through combinations of the Elemental Hero cards, nearly every two Heroes can combine, allowing for a very flexible deck (however many people have been turning to fusion substitute monsters such as King of the Swamp to further increase the chances to get a better fusion). While most of the Elemental Heroes are each based on the designs of various American super heroes (like Necroshade to Spawn and Burstinatrix to Sunpyre), the design of Elemental Hero Neos is based on the Japanese manga Guyver. They also have a wide support base of Spell cards, such as Spark Blaster and Cyclone Boomerang. Elemental Heroes can receive field support from the field cards made for them: Skyscraper and Skyscraper 2 - Hero City. Skyscraper increases their attack by 1000 points when their attack is lower than their opponent's monster that they attack. Skyscraper 2 allows the user to return a E-Hero destroyed in battle to the field once per turn. As of the September 2007 Banlist, "Big City", is a highly-playable Tier 2 deck archetype, consisting of 10-ish Elemental Heroes, relying on abuse of Elemental Hero Stratos, in tandem with "Elemental Hero Ocean" and "Skyscraper #2 - Hero City".

Gadgets

A series of machine-type monsters whose effects allow players to search for relevant gadget monsters. They are Green Gadget, Red Gadget and Yellow Gadget. Each of the Gadgets can search each other from the player's deck. They are also supported by Stronghold the Moving Fortress, Boot Up Soldier - Dread Dynamo, Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon and Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Chimera. They are found in the Machine Re-Volt Structure Deck. They were notably used by Yugi Mutou in the Ceremonial Duel against Atem in the last episodes of Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters. Gadgets are a very popular set, due to their effects; though why they are considered a good decktype is the subject of heavy debate and controversy. Players often use them to get ahead in what is considered card advantage, by gaining another Gadget in hand each time a gadget is summoned and protecting the Gadgets with numerous removal and negation-based cards like Sakuretsu Armor and Royal Oppression. The "bane" to this deck however was considered to be Elemental Hero - Stratos (E. Hero Airman), but with his restriction, the deck has the capability to thrive again.

Gladiator Beasts

This series of cards was release in the Gladiator's Assault booster pack and is base in the strategy and effort of activating their effects. Most Gladiator Beast monsters have the ability of "tag" with another Beast in the deck and summoning it onto the field to activate its effect. The effect reads "At the end of the Battle Phase, if this card attacked or was attacked, you can return it to the Deck to Special Summon 1 Gladiator Beast monster from your Deck, except a copy of the same monster". The most powerful Gladiators Beast in the OCG is Gladiator Beast Alexander with 2400 ATK Points but the other language versions of the game have Gladiator Beast Octavius with 2500 ATK Points. This monsters also have a "Contact Fusion" theme just like the Neo-Spacians with E-Hero Neos sending the monster to the Deck instead of the Graveyard and no need of Polymerization and so far 2 fusions have been release, Gladiator Beast Gaiodiaz and Gladiator Beast Heraklinos, this one been the most powerful with 3000 ATK Points and the ability to negate the activation of a Spell or Trap Card by discarding 1 card from your hand, this effect does not have a limit so it could be use multiple times. Other Gladiator Beasts include Gladiator Beast Murmillo, Gladiator Beast Bestiari,Gladiator Beast Hoplomus and others. The names of this monsters have been taken from gladiator classes in the Roman period or real characters in the time such as Alexander the Great and Octavius. It has yet been confirmed if this series of cards will be shown in the Anime series.

Monarchs

A series of cards whose effects are triggered when Tribute Summoned, allowing the player to remove cards from the field or hand in some manner. The members include Zaborg, Mobius, Thestalos, Granmarg, Raiza, Gaius and, the newly released, Kreis. The effects all deal with the disposal of cards. All the Monarchs have 2400 attack points, 1000 defence points and are level six with the exception of Zaborg who is level five. The Monarchs were initially released in Ancient Sanctuary with Zaborg the Thunder Monarch. Since then single monarchs have been released in following sets. The Monarchs are used in the anime by the "Light Brigade" led by Sarina, Sartorius' sister. This particular arc depicts four duelists who each use decks based around their Monarch's elemental inclination (ice, thunder, fire, etc), with Raiza not being featured as it was not in existence at the time.^[25] The Monarchs are very popular deck theme in the real life Trading Card Game. Often featuring in top eight decklists in major tournaments. Monarch decks usually focus on Tribute Summoning Monarchs without losing any card advantage by tributing monsters. This is often done with cards such as Treeborn Frog, Brain Control and Soul Exchange.^[26]

Neo-Spacians

Another set of cards Jaden had in his deck during season 2. The six alien monsters, each based on a manga design, originated from Neo Space and came to help Jaden fight the Society of Light. Their unique ability, other than their effect, is that they can evoke Contact Fusions with Elemental Hero Neos, upgrading his form with their power. Its members are composed of Aqua Dolphin, Flare Scarab, Air Hummingbird, Grand Mole, Glow Moss, and Dark Panther, with each being of a different Attribute. The Neo-Spacians are typically lacking in power, but have powerful effects to compensate: the effects of the Contact Fused-Neos is typically an upgraded version of this effect. They also have several Contact and Coccoon cards that let them Special Summon themselves. They even have their own field card, Neo Space, to counteract the return of Contact Fused-Neos cards back to the Fusion Deck. Recently, Neos has been shown to have the ability to Contact Fuse more than one Neo-Spacian at the same time, leading to Chaos Neos, Storm Neos, and Magma Neos. In a past episode, Neos Contact Fused with Rainbow Dragon, creating Rainbow Neos, although it isn't really considered Contact Fusion, as it also requires a fusioning Spell Card, for example Super Fusion or Polymerization, as shown by Jaden when he Fusion Summons Rainbow Neos. In the TCG Neo-Spacian Grand Mole has seen the most play because of its ability to send a monster back to a players hand simply by attacking it. The effect activates before Damage Calculation so there are no Life Points lost by doing this. A "Mole-Lock" can be created in this way by using its effect in combination with Ultimate Offering, returning all your opponents' cards on the field to their hand. The card is one of two (the other being Elemental Hero Stratos) Elemental Hero cards that have been restricted.

Ojama Trio

A set of cards, used by Chazz Princeton in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. The members include Ojama Yellow, Ojama Green, and Ojama Black. Ojama Yellow initially served as Chazz's only duel spirit. But after forced into a duel where Chazz could only use monsters with 500 or less attack points Chazz acquired the other two brothers much to his annoyance.^[27] Each Ojama has 0 attack points and 1000 defence points. Although weak in appearance, they host a great deal of support cards, such as Ojama Delta Hurricane! and Ojamagic and a fusion, Ojama King and Ojama Knight, who cuts the Monster Spaces on an opponent's field by 3 and 2 respectively. Ojama King lacks in ATK power also, but has 3000 DEF, which can trump most attackers. The support card Ojama Trio is often used by players in the TCG who are using burn decks (a deck type that focuses on inflicting direct damage to the opponent via card effects, as opposed to battle damage).^[28] Ojama Trio places three Ojama tokens on the opponents side of the field, restricting their opponent's ability to summon, allowing Just Desserts and Secret Barrel to inflict more damage, and also inflicting 300 points of damage when each token is destroyed.

Sacred Beast Cards

The Sacred Beasts (三幻魔, Sangenma^?, Three Phantom Demons in the Japanese anime) are prominent plot points in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. Known as Uria, Lord of Searing Flames, Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder, and Raviel, Lord of Phantasms. They are dark counterparts to the God cards, but their history and reason for existing are not made clear. The Chancellor of Duel Academy mentions a legend that they have the power to destroy Duel Monster cards by absorbing their energy, and they were thus sealed on the island. Like the God cards, the Beasts are depicted as the most powerful of all Duel Monsters in GX and serve essentially the same purpose as the God cards did in the original anime. The main antagonist of the first season, Kagemaru, used the cards to drain energy to rejuvenate his aged body, but was defeated. The antagonist of the third season, Yubel, also used them for the same purpose of rejuvenating itself. Yubel also reveals the Sacred Beasts have a combined form, Armitael, Phantasm of Chaos, although its design and role differ greatly from the combined form of the God Cards.

The Six Samurai

Introduced in the set Strike of Neos, the Six Samurai are a group of six monster cards featuring a futuristic samurai design. Each of the Six Samurai have an effect that is activated only when two or more Six Samurai with different names are on the field at the same time. The effects can range from destroying Spell or Trap Cards, automatically destroying monster cards that a Six Samurai attacks, being able to attack a player directly or attacking twice in one turn. They all have a secondary effect referred to as "My Buddy as a Shield", which allows a player to save one of their Samurai about to be destroyed (by cards such as Smashing Ground or Ring of Destruction) by tributing another Six Samurai on the field. To further the playability of these monster, Upper Deck Entertainment attained special permission to print a monster card that Japanese players (who normally have entire sets of cards upwards of three months before players in other countries) have never seen before: Grandmaster of the Six Samurai. Grandmaster of the Six Samurai is considered the "Seventh Samurai" in the Six Samurai series because "Six Samurai" appears in its card name. It is a 2100 attack, 800 defense monster that can be Special Summoned from a player's hand when they have another Six Samurai monster on the field (this is very important as this is a LV5 monster, meaning a Normal Summon would require a tribute). Being considered a Six Samurai monster, Grandmaster of the Six Samurai is able to activate the effects of other Six Samurai on the field and, because of this, he is considered the most important Six Samurai monster to have in a deck. While he lacks the "My Buddy as a Shield" effect, Grandmaster of the Six Samurai has a valuable "The Warrior Returning Alive" effect built into him. When destroyed by an opponent's card effect, he is able to return one Six Samurai monster in the Graveyard (including himself or other copies of himself) to the controller's hand. Another valuable card for the Six Samurai series is Great Shogun Shien. Great Shogun Shien is a 2500 attack, 2400 defense monster that can be Special Summoned from a player's hand as long as he has two or more Six Samurai on their side of the field. His primary effect limits the opposing player from playing more than one Spell or Trap Card per turn and, to prevent its destruction, it also has the ability to tribute a Six Samurai monster on the field to save itself.

Wicked God Cards

The Wicked Gods (邪神, Jashin^?), introduced in Yu-Gi-Oh! R, are a trio of cards owned by Pegasus' protégé and adopted son, Yakou Tenma. Tournament-legal versions of the cards, known as The Wicked Dreadroot, The Wicked Avatar and The Wicked Eraser, exist in the OCG, released alongside the June 2005, February 2007, and March 2007 respective issues of V-Jump. Their TCG equivalents are pending release in United States Shonen Jump, with The Wicked Eraser included in the magazine's September 2007 issue, The Wicked Avatar included in the November 2007 issue, and The Wicked Dreadroot was included in the January 2008 issue. The Wicked God Cards slowly made their introduction in Yugioh! R. The founding of these cards were hidden and concealed away by Pegasus, after the release of the first 3 God Cards and the unfortunate events which followed them, the thought of having these cards in the wrong hands would be too great of a risk. When they had been discovered by Yakou Tenma, who is Pegasus' protege they were thoroughly impossible to impede.

See also

• List of promotional Yu-Gi-Oh! trading cards
• Egyptian God Cards

External links

• The Yu-Gi-Oh! Wikia
• Yu-Gi-Oh card rulings-powered by netrep™ API

References