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Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game

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The Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game is a collectible card game based on Duel Monsters (Magic and Wizards or M&W in the original Japanese manga), a game which appears in the popular Japanese manga Yu-Gi-Oh!, and the two Yu-Gi-Oh! anime series, which are Toei's Yu-Gi-Oh! series and NAS's Yu-Gi-Oh! series (known as Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters in Asia), where it serves as a main plot device. The card game is known as Yu-Gi-Oh! Official Card Game: Duel Monsters in Asian countries where Konami releases the game. The game is known as the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game in countries where Upper Deck Entertainment distributes the game.

Each player is alloted a certain number of life points (most of the time 8000), and the main objective of the game is to reduce an opponent's life points to zero. Like many other trading card games, Duel Monsters is a game mainly for two players to compete head-to-head, but variations exist where players can allow for three or more players.

There are also video games based on the card game, with minor differences between it and the collectible card game.

Editions

In Japan, there are two editions of the game: the earlier Carddas version, and the better-known Konami version, the latter of which being the one played worldwide. Some cards are exclusive to the Konami version, and some cards are exclusive to the Bandai edition.

Only three boosters had been released for the Carddas version before the license of the card game was sold to Konami later. The game was popular, although it used a simplified and modified version[6] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yu-Gi-Oh%21#endnote_version) of the gaming rule used in the manga, and is less faithful to the manga compared with Konami's versions of the game. In the Carddas version, some of the cards were not rereleased to Japanese audiences after the Bandai edition ended distribution. This included cards that did nothing more than describe characters from Toei's anime series. Yugi Mutou (Yugi Moto), Dark Yugi (Yami Yugi), Katsuya Jonouchi (Joey Wheeler), Hiroto Honda (Tristan Taylor), Anzu Mazaki (Téa Gardner), Miho Nosaka (Melody in the English Dungeon Dice Monsters video game), Seto Kaiba, and Shadi were on the cards.

Game play

When the game first appears in the manga, both players are described as wizards summoning powerful creatures.

Cards

Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG cards are divided into three categories: Monster Cards, Spell Cards (Magic Cards), and Trap Cards.

Note: Magic Cards received a name change made effective in the English expansion set Magician's Force. All Magic Cards released after that point were known as "Spell Cards", with no change besides being referenced to as "Spell Cards" or "Spells" on other cards.

Monster Cards

Monster Cards are the basic cards a player uses to attack the opponent, or defend from the opponent's attack. Monster Cards can be divided into four categories:

  • Normal Monster Cards — Identified by its background color yellow. These are the most basic type of Monster Cards.
  • Fusion Monster Cards — Identified by its background color violet. These are monsters summoned by combining two or more monsters using the Spell Card "Polymerization". This type of monsters would not be put into the main deck. Instead, they would be put into a special pile called "Fusion Deck".
  • Ritual Monster Cards — Identified by its background color blue. These are monsters summoned by using their own unique Ritual Spell Cards to offer monsters which fulfill certain conditions as Tributes.
  • Effect Monster Cards — Identified by its background color orange. These are monsters with special abilities (effects). A Fusion or Ritual Monster with effects can also be considered an Effect Monster.

Spell Cards (Magic Cards)

Identified by its background color green, Spell Cards have a wide variety of usage, from supporting your side to weakening the opposite's side. They can only be activated during the turn of the player who plays it (except Quick-play Spell Cards, which can also be activated during the opponent's turn). Spell Cards are divided into six types:

  • Normal Spell Cards — Identified by having no symbol next to the words "SPELL CARD" or "MAGIC CARD". These are the most basic type of Spell Cards.
  • Equip Spell Cards — Identified by having a cross symbol upright cross next to the words "SPELL CARD" or "MAGIC CARD". These are cards that can be "equipped" to a monster to modify its condition, and are destroyed once the equipped monster leaves the field.
  • Field Spell Cards — Identified by having a compass rose compass rose next to the words "SPELL CARD" or "MAGIC CARD". These are cards that alter the conditions on both sides of the game. Only 1 active Field Spell Card can exist on the field at any time; when a new one is activated, the old one is destroyed immediately.
  • Ritual Spell Cards — Identified by having a flame symbol flame symbol next to the words "SPELL CARD" or "MAGIC CARD". These are cards used for summoning a Ritual Monster.
  • Continuous Spell Cards — Identified by having the infinity symbol File:Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG card icon - Continuous.png next to the words "SPELL CARD" or "MAGIC CARD". These are cards that, once activated, stay on the field, and their effects continue until they are removed from the field.
  • Quick-play Spell Cards — Identified by having a lightning symbol a zigzag with nonpointed ends, from upper right to lower left next to the words "SPELL CARD" or "MAGIC CARD". This is a special type of Spell Cards which can be played at almost anytime.

All Spell Cards (except Equip Spells, Field Spells, and Continuous Spells) have a one-time only effect, and are destroyed after activation.

Trap Cards

As their names imply, Trap Cards are cards that works like a trap. They can only be activated by first setting them on the field in your turn, and then waiting until next turn (the opponent's turn). Because of this, they usually have effects that are supposed to "trap" the opponent when certain conditions are fulfilled. Identified by its background color purple, Trap Cards are divided into three types:

  • Normal Trap Cards — Identified by having no symbol next to the words "TRAP CARD". These are the most basic type of Trap Cards.
  • Continuous Trap Cards — Identified by having the infinity symbol File:Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG card icon - Continuous.png next to the words "TRAP CARD". They are basically the same as Continuous Spell Card, except having the properties of a Normal Trap Card.
  • Counter Trap Cards — Identified by having a curved arrow symbol a curved arrow pointing from upper left to right next to the words "TRAP CARD". These types of cards are used to "counter" something, such as the summoning of monsters, and the activations of card effects.

All Trap Cards (except Continuous Traps) have a one-time only effect, and are destroyed after activation.

Product information

Yu-Gi-Oh Trading Cards are available in starter decks, and booster packs. Both the starter decks, and booster packs have their own unique ID's which the cards in that set are numbered with. (For example, the Luster Dragon card from the Legacy of Darkness booster pack has the number LOD-050, where the LOD is the ID for the Legacy of Darkness set.)

Starting with the Soul of the Duelist series of products, the ID scheme identifies the language of the card. For example, the US version of Mystic Swordsman LV4 has an ID of SOD-EN012 where the EN identifies it as an english card. This system make it easier to identify cards from different countries worldwide (JP for Japan, etc.)


Terminology

Pop: To acquire from a pack, i.e. pop a Luster Dragon from an LOD Pack. Often, the word "pull" is used.

Errata: Changes in card text that were not made in time for the first release of a card. They are posted on the official website of the distributor of the cards, Upper Deck.

Duel: One third of a match.

Match: A series which can range from two to four duels.

Winner: The first to win either two duels or win one duel in a series which has had two draws.

Draw: A duel in which both players life points have depleted simultaneously, or another circumstance occurs when no clear winner can be decided. A match can also result in a draw if three drawn duels have occurred or both players have one win and any match in the series was a draw.

Combo: When two or more cards are played in series in order to achieve some final goal.

Beatdown Deck: A deck composed of mainly strong monsters and literally beats down the opponent's lifepoints.

Burn Deck: A deck composed of mainly direct damage cards. It can be sub-divided into 2 categories - Aggro-Burn and Stall-Burn. While Aggro-Burn use a more aggressive way to damage opponent, Stall-Burn mainly stall with cards while trying to damage opponent with cards like Lava Golem and Wave-Motion Cannon. This term derived from Red direct-damage cards from Magic: the Gathering.

Chaos Deck: An aggro-control deck that mainly based around the "Chaos Monsters" (i.e. Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning (known as "Chaos" due to its Japanese direct translation: Chaos Soldier), Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End (before it's ban), and sometimes Chaos Sorcerer and Dark Magician of Chaos). People often critizes this type of deck as "cookie-cutter", mainly due to the fact that it's everywhere.

Control Deck: A deck composed of mainly cards that disrupt opponent, i.e. Discard and lock.

Bye: When a player automatically advances in a tournament because there are an odd number of players in the round.

Bomb/Blow: Slang term used for Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy Of The End's Ignition effect. Also used for Exiled Force's Ignition effect.

One Turn Kill/First Turn Kill (OTK/FTK) deck: A deck that can end the game in one turn, usually based around some combo, i.e. Cata-Sci and Last Turn-Jowgen. AKA FTK deck due to the fact that it can win a game on the 1st turn occasionally.

Token: A card that is a representation of a monster card that is not physically a "card" in a deck. They can only be play via other cards' effect (i.e. Scapegoat), and they would not return to deck, goes to Graveyard, etc. if they would be destroy, they would just be "remove from play" (not to confused with term "Remove from game").

Counters/Spell Counter: An "object" that would be place onto a card that usually act as a "marker" to show some sort of numerical value of an effect. They usually don't do anything by themselves, however. Spell Counter is just a special type of counter.

Remove from game (RFG): Originally, cards that are remove from the game cannot be played again during the rest of the game. However, that was changed when various cards have effect that could bring cards back into the game from this "zone". Sometimes RFG is known as "Going to D.D." due to the effect of cards like D.D. Warrior Lady and Different Dimension Fusion.

Starter Decks

The starter decks are named after various characters from the animated series. Each starter deck contains 50 cards, a game mat, and a rule book.

There are currently four starter decks available in the US:

  • Yugi Starter Deck (SDY): features Yugi's favorite card Dark Magician (Yugi Muto is known as Yugi Mutou in the manga and Japanese versions)
  • Kaiba Starter Deck (SDK): features Kaiba's beloved Blue Eyes White Dragon
  • Joey Starter Deck (SDJ): includes Joey's Red Eyes Black Dragon (Joey Wheeler is known as Katsuya Jonouchi in the manga and Japanese versions)
  • Pegasus Starter Deck (SDP): has Pegasus' powerful "toon" monsters and his Relinquished card (Maximillion Pegasus is known as Pegasus J. Crawford in the Japanese versions)

The Yugi and Kaiba Starter Decks have been re-released with slightly different cards since their initial release in the U.S., and the second set is known as the Evolution series. It is generally thought that the Evoloution series improved the respectve deck of each character, and they are more readily available than the initial release. The codes for the Evolution Series decks are:

  • Yugi Evolution Starter Deck (SYE): contains the powerful Black Luster Soldier
  • Kaiba Evolution Starter Deck (SKE): includes a Kaiser Sea Horse card in order to summon his Blue Eyes White Dragon easily

Four structure decks have been released containing 40 cards each. These decks do not follow the theme of being based off of a character from the show. Instead they are based off of a specific creature type or attribute. These decks also contain multiple copies of same named cards. The codes for the structure deck are:

  • Dragon's Roar Structure Deck (SD1): Based off of dragons and contains the Red Eyes Darkness Dragon
  • Zombie Madness Structure Deck (SD2): Based off of zombies and contains the Vampire Genissis
  • Blaze of Destruction Structure Deck (SD3): Based off of fire and contains the Infernal Flame Emperor
  • Fury of the Deep Structure Deck (SD4): Based off of water and contains the Ocean Dragon Lord - Neo Daedalus

Booster Packs

In addition to the starter decks, a number of booster packs have been released. The booster packs each contain around 110 cards (some have more, some have less), but they are typically sold in nine card packages, with each package featuring at least one rare card. Every booster pack starting with Soul of the Duelist contains 60 cards. The only exceptions to this are the Dark Beginnings 1 & 2, as well as Dark Revalations 1 & 2, which contain cards from past booster sets.

Where the starter decks are based around characters from the animated series, each booster pack has a different thematic element, which provides for new battle strategies.

The Booster Sets available in the U.S. are:

Tournament Boosters containing three cards each are given out at Yu-Gi-Oh! tournaments. There are currently 6 seasons of tournament boosters.

Promo Cards

Many promotional Yu-Gi-Oh! trading cards have been released in special packs, with video games and with magazines. Even McDonald's had a set of Yu-Gi-Oh! cards that came with meals.

List of Promotional Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Cards

Rare Cards

Most cards are "common", but some cards are "rare". There are different official levels of rareness:

  • Rare (R). The name of the card is printed in silver foil. There is about one in every pack.
  • Super Rare (SR). The illustrations on these cards are printed with a holographic foil background. There's about one per 20 packs
  • Ultra Rare Cards (UR). The name of the card is printed in gold foil. The illustrations on these cards are printed with a holographic foil background. There's about one per 30 packs.
  • Secret Rare Cards (SCR). The name of the card is printed in holographic silver foil. These cards feature a sparkling holographic illustration ("polarizing silver"). There's about one per 30 packs.
  • Parallel Rare (PR). The name of the card is printed in gold foil. The illustrations and borders on these cards are printed with a holographic foil background.
  • Ultimate Rare Cards (UTR). The name of the card is printed in gold foil. The illustrations borders, and card type buttons (and star level buttons for monsters) on these cards are printed with a holographic foil background. They also have a relief effect. UTR cards are as rare as they get - about one for every 60-90 packs.

In the English game, the rarity is slightly different.

  • Rare. One per pack, unless the pack contains a different type of rare card. Identified by the card name being printed in silver foil.
  • Super Rare. Varies; roughly one per 6 packs. Identified by the picture being printed in holographic foil.
  • Ultra Rare. Varies; roughly one per 12 packs. Identified by the card name being printed in gold foil and the picture being printed in holographic foil.
  • Secret Rare. No official rarity; said to be one per 30 packs. Identified by a polarizing silver title and a special foil effect in the highlights of the card. There are no Secret Rare cards in sets after "Ancient Sanctuary".
  • Parallel Rare. None in English.
  • Ultimate Rare. No official rarity; probably about one per 20 packs. There are no cards only available as Ultimate Rares; all Rare, Super Rare, and Ultra Rare cards are also printed as Ultimate Rares. They are printed exactly like their Japanese counterparts, but are noticably thinner and more flimsy than the other rarities due to their printing. Ultimate Rares were first seen in "Soul of the Duelist".
  • Promo Rare. This unofficial title is given to promotional cards. These cards look very similar to Secret Rares, but are not nearly as rare. However, recent promo cards have been printed in standard Ultra Rare and Super Rare style. It is likely that the old style has been discontinued.

An interesting note is that English packs only have one rare card each. The exception is the reprint series Dark Beginning 1, Dark Beginning 2, Dark Revelation 1, and Dark Revelation 2 where packs occasionally contain one Rare and one Super or Ultra Rare card. Japanese packs, on the other hand, do not even guarantee a Rare in each pack, though that was changed after the Japanese release of Soul of the Duelist.

Using physical cards in Yu-Gi-Oh! video games

Each card has a unique 8-digit code printed on it. When that code is entered into one of the myriad Yu-Gi-Oh! video games which accept said codes, a digital copy of that card will be added to the player's virtual cards. Thus, players can port their real-world decks into the games.

Countries

Konami distributes the Konami card game in the following countries:

Upper Deck distributes the Konami card game in the following countries:

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