Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game
Encyclopedia
The is a Japan
ese collectible card game
developed
and published
by Konami
. It is based on the fictional game of Duel Monsters created by manga artist
Kazuki Takahashi
, which is the main plot device during the majority of his popular manga
franchise, Yu-Gi-Oh!
, and its various anime
adaptations and spinoff series. The Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game was first launched by Konami in 1999. It was named the top selling trading card game in the world by Guinness World Records
on July 7, 2009, having sold over 25 billion cards worldwide. The trading card game continues to gain popularity as it is played around the world, mostly in Japan, North America, Europe and Australia.
Prior to December 2008, Konami's trading cards were distributed in territories outside of Asia by The Upper Deck Company
. In December 2008, Konami filed a lawsuit against Upper Deck alleging that it had distributed unauthentic Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG cards made without Konami's authorization. Upper Deck also sued Konami alleging breach of contract and slander. A few months later, a federal court in Los Angeles issued an injunction preventing Upper Deck from acting as the authorized distributor and requiring it to remove the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG from Upper Deck's website. In December 2009, the court decided that Upper Deck was liable for counterfeiting Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG cards, and it dismissed Upper Deck's countersuit against Konami. Konami currently serves as the manufacturer and distributor of the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG; it runs Regional and National tournaments and continues to release new Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG card products.
Each player's turn contains six phases (although some are technicalities and skipped in most situations): Draw Phase, Standby Phase, Main Phase 1, Battle Phase, Main Phase 2, and End Phase. During the Draw Phase, the turn player draws one card from his or her deck. The Standby phase exists only for card effects that occur at the beginning of the player's turn (e.g. maintenance costs for certain card effects) and is otherwise skipped. During each of the Main Phases, the player may "summon" a monster (once per turn, not counting other monsters summoned by card effects), manipulate monsters that are already in play, use Spell and Trap cards, and set cards face-down. During the Battle Phase, the player may attack the opponent's monsters (or his or her Life Points directly, if the opponent has no monsters in play) once with each of his or her own monsters, while the opponent may attempt to defend with his or her own Traps, Spells, or monster effects. The End Phase (like the Standby Phase) exists only for card effects that occur at the end of the player's turn, and is otherwise skipped. Play continues until a win condition is met. A player typically wins by reducing the opponent's Life Points to zero, but will also win if the opponent is unable to draw a card (i.e. has no cards left in his or her deck) or if a player successfully meets the conditions of a card that grants an automatic win (an uncommon strategy due to the relative ease with which a competitive opponent can prevent it).
When a monster card "declares an attack", one of the opponent's monsters is selected as the target. At this time, the ATK points of the attacking monster are compared with the relevant ATK or DEF points of the opponent's targeted monster (depending on whether it is in Attack Position or Defense Position). The monster card with the lower points is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard. If the destroyed monster card was in Attack Position, then its owner will lose Life Points equal to the difference between the two monsters' points. For example, if Mystic Tomato (which has 1400 ATK and 1100 DEF) attacks an opponent's Sangan (1000 ATK and 600 DEF) in Attack Position, then the opponent's Sangan is destroyed and he or she loses 400 Life Points. However, the owner will not not lose Life Points if his or her monster card was in Defense Position. In the previous example, if Sangan had been in Defense Position (placed in a horizontal orientation), then it would still be destroyed by an attacking Mystic Tomato but its owner would not lose Life Points.However, If the Defensive Points of a Card (for this example the card Mystic Elf, which has 800 ATK and 2000 DEF) is higher than the ATK points of the attacking Card, the owner of the attacking card will lose life poin t to the difference of each number (If Mystic Tomato attacked the Mystic Elf in Defense mode, the owner of Mystic Tomato would lose 600 life points). No Cards are destroyed after the end of a attack subject to a card effect (like D.D Warriors effect which removes both this card and the attacking card from play)
In this way, monster cards in Defense Position protect their owner's Life Points. On the other hand, only monster cards in Attack Position can declare attacks, and their positions cannot be manipulated afterward.
If the opponent has no monster cards in play, then an attacking monster may target the opponent's Life Points directly. This causes the full amount of that monster's ATK points to be deducted from the opponent's Life Points. A very general strategy is to use card effects (those of monster, Spell, and Trap cards) to eliminate the opponent's monsters, so that a player's own monsters can attack the opponent's Life Points directly.
Spells come in 6 forms.
1. Normal
2. Quick Play (appears as a lightning bolt)
3. Continuous (appears as a
)
4. Equip (appears as a plus)
5. Field (appears as a compass)
6. Ritual (appears as a flame)
1. Normal traps
2. Continuous trap cards (appears with a
)
3. Counter trap cards (appears with a curved arrow)
(now no longer part of Yu-Gi-Oh's Organized Play), Konami
, and Shonen Jump
have all organized numerous tournament systems in their respective areas. These tournaments attract hundreds of players to compete for prizes such as rare promotional cards.
There are two styles of tournament play called "Formats;" each format has its own rules and some restrictions on what cards are allowed to be used during events.
The Advanced Format is used in all sanctioned tournaments (with the exception of certain Pegasus League formats). This format follows all the normal rules of the game, but also places a complete ban on certain cards that are deemed too advantageous for tournament play. These cards are on a special list called the Forbidden, or Banned List. There are also certain cards that are Limited or Semi-Limited to only being allowed 1 or 2 of those cards in a deck and side deck combined, respectively. This list is updated every six months(September 1, March 1) and is followed in all tournaments that use this format.
Traditional format is sometimes used in Pegasus League play and is never used in Official Tournaments and reflects the state of the game without banned cards. Cards that are banned in Advanced are limited to one copy per deck in this format.
Rating Systems
The trading card game formerly incorporated worldwide rankings, but since Konami canceled organized play, the ratings were obsolete. Konami has developed a new rating system called "COSSY," (Konami Card Game Official Tournament Support System.)
(promotional cards from the anime/manga adaptation, which are illegal in official tournaments with the exception of their legal card forms. These have recently been reprinted into legal versions, however the original promotional cards remain illegal.) For these unofficial variants of the game, the rules, such as what cards are legal or not, are agreed upon ahead of time. However, very recently, official Tag (team) Duel rules have been introduced into the main game, advertised in the form of Tag Force 2 and Championship 2008.
, Structure Decks, booster pack
s, collectible tins, and occasionally as promotional cards.
Booster Packs
Duelist Packs
Promotional cards
Some cards do not have this code. For example, all but two copies of Japanese Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon cards say "Replica" where the code should be (They are considered replicas of the other two that were given as prizes in a Yu-Gi-Oh! tournament in Tokyo).
Some cards do not have anything at all. For example, the Shadow Ghoul monster card from the English Metal Raiders and Dark Beginning 2 booster sets has no code number, as opposed to being a replica card. Some other examples of cards that do not have any codes at all are Labyrinth Wall (and its sister card, "Wall Shadow,") Gate Guardian and its "pieces," Sanga of the Thunder, Kazejin, and Suijin.
There are also Duel Terminal cards. (Prefixed by DT in cards.) These are used in a Duel Terminal machine, which are at various locations around the country. In these machines, you can lay down a Duel Terminal card, and the machine will scan it in so you can play with it. These cards are also compatible with a Duel Scanner peripheral for the Japanese version of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's: Duel Transer for the Nintendo Wii.
and Japanese folklore
, the card game was a potential target for religious advocate groups to accuse of promoting idolatry
, among other things. Perhaps to alleviate their concerns, the English names of the cards were not always given a direct translation, instead opting for a name less controversial. For example, the "Black Magician" in the original Japanese was changed to the "Dark Magician" in English, which reduced its association with black magic
and the card "Trial of Hell" was changed to "Trial of Nightmare". However, this has caused some problems with the naming of certain cards, such as Archfiends (Demons in Japan), who (before the advent of Dark Crisis) all had unique names in the English version. Thus they had to be reclassified as Archfiends to meet the new standard. In addition the use of Christian themes have also been censored out of the international edition of Yu-Gi-Oh.
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese collectible card game
Collectible card game
thumb|Players and their decksA collectible card game , also called a trading card game or customizable card game, is a game played using specially designed sets of playing cards...
developed
Game design
Game design, a subset of game development, is the process of designing the content and rules of a game in the pre-production stage and design of gameplay, environment, storyline, and characters during production stage. The term is also used to describe both the game design embodied in a game as...
and published
Publishing
Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...
by Konami
Konami
is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
. It is based on the fictional game of Duel Monsters created by manga artist
Mangaka
is the Japanese word for a comic artist or cartoonist. Outside of Japan, manga usually refers to a Japanese comic book and mangaka refers to the author of the manga, who is usually Japanese...
Kazuki Takahashi
Kazuki Takahashi
is a manga artist, illustrator and game creator who created the manga Yu-Gi-Oh!, which led to the anime versions of it, Toei's Yu-Gi-Oh! and Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters , as well as a spinoff manga , three spinoff anime and several video games, novels and books...
, which is the main plot device during the majority of his popular manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
franchise, Yu-Gi-Oh!
Yu-Gi-Oh!
is a Japanese manga created by Kazuki Takahashi. It has produced a franchise that includes multiple anime shows, a trading card game and numerous video games...
, and its various anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
adaptations and spinoff series. The Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game was first launched by Konami in 1999. It was named the top selling trading card game in the world by Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...
on July 7, 2009, having sold over 25 billion cards worldwide. The trading card game continues to gain popularity as it is played around the world, mostly in Japan, North America, Europe and Australia.
Prior to December 2008, Konami's trading cards were distributed in territories outside of Asia by The Upper Deck Company
Upper Deck Company
The Upper Deck Company, LLC , founded in 1988, is a private company primarily known for producing trading cards...
. In December 2008, Konami filed a lawsuit against Upper Deck alleging that it had distributed unauthentic Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG cards made without Konami's authorization. Upper Deck also sued Konami alleging breach of contract and slander. A few months later, a federal court in Los Angeles issued an injunction preventing Upper Deck from acting as the authorized distributor and requiring it to remove the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG from Upper Deck's website. In December 2009, the court decided that Upper Deck was liable for counterfeiting Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG cards, and it dismissed Upper Deck's countersuit against Konami. Konami currently serves as the manufacturer and distributor of the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG; it runs Regional and National tournaments and continues to release new Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG card products.
General Gameplay
Yu-Gi-Oh! is a strategic trading card game in which players draw cards from their respective decks and take turns playing cards onto "the field". Each player custom-builds his or her own deck, which can contain up to three copies of any given card and must contain a minimum of 40 cards but cannot exceed 60 cards which is the maximum. Players may also create an "Extra Deck" containing up to 15 cards that may only be used in certain situations. Each player starts with 8000 "life points", and the usual win condition is the reduction of the opponent's Life Points to zero. This is typically achieved by using "monster" cards to attack the opponent's monsters and then attack his or her life points directly. The other two card types are "Spells" and "Traps", which have nearly an endless variety of functions. For example, these cards' effects may "destroy" an opponent's monster, negate the effects of an opponent's card, or retrieve a specific card from one's own deck, to name just a few. Most monster cards also have effects, in addition to their previously-mentioned ability to attack. Card effects are the driving force for the creation of innumerable strategies and play styles.Each player's turn contains six phases (although some are technicalities and skipped in most situations): Draw Phase, Standby Phase, Main Phase 1, Battle Phase, Main Phase 2, and End Phase. During the Draw Phase, the turn player draws one card from his or her deck. The Standby phase exists only for card effects that occur at the beginning of the player's turn (e.g. maintenance costs for certain card effects) and is otherwise skipped. During each of the Main Phases, the player may "summon" a monster (once per turn, not counting other monsters summoned by card effects), manipulate monsters that are already in play, use Spell and Trap cards, and set cards face-down. During the Battle Phase, the player may attack the opponent's monsters (or his or her Life Points directly, if the opponent has no monsters in play) once with each of his or her own monsters, while the opponent may attempt to defend with his or her own Traps, Spells, or monster effects. The End Phase (like the Standby Phase) exists only for card effects that occur at the end of the player's turn, and is otherwise skipped. Play continues until a win condition is met. A player typically wins by reducing the opponent's Life Points to zero, but will also win if the opponent is unable to draw a card (i.e. has no cards left in his or her deck) or if a player successfully meets the conditions of a card that grants an automatic win (an uncommon strategy due to the relative ease with which a competitive opponent can prevent it).
Monster Cards
Attacking with monster cards is the main means by which a player reduces the opponent's Life Points to zero. These cards are also used defensively, since the opponent's monsters cannot attack your Life Points directly as long as you have monsters in play. Furthermore, most monsters cards have their own effects (just like Spell and Trap cards), and can be manipulated by other cards. Before discussing their many functions and varieties, we will outline the common components of all monster cards.- ATK and DEF points: These are short for 'attack' and 'defense', and determine the result of a battle between two monster cards (see more about attacking below). When a monster is involved in a battle while in Attack Position (whether attacking or being attacked), only its ATK points are applied and its DEF points are ignored. The reverse is also true: when a monster is attacked while in Defense Position, only its DEF points are applied and its ATK points are ignored.
- Level/Rank: This is indicated by the number of Level Stars shown under the monster card's name, and a higher level usually corresponds to higher ATK and DEF points. Recall that a player may summon one monster card per turn, in addition to those summoned by card effects. A monster card of level 4 or lower can be simply placed onto the field, or normal summoned. However, a monster card of level 5 or higher requires that the player first send one monster already in play to the Graveyard (the discard pile) before it can be summoned--a maneuver called tribute summoning. Furthermore, monster cards of level 7 or higher require two tributes in order to be tribute summoned. Note that tribute requirements do not apply to monster cards summoned by card effects (even their own); these special summons do not require any tributes, regardless of the level of the summoned monster card. In the case of Xyz Monsters their rank is indicated by black and yellow stars located on the left side of the card so card effects that apply towards a monster's level doesn't hold true for Xyz Monsters.
- Attribute: A monster card will have either a light, dark, earth, wind, fire, water, and divine attribute. This is indicated by an icon at the upper-right corner of the card. A monster card's attribute has no inherent significance (that is, a water-attribute monster has no advantage over a fire-attribute one), but is relevant in the context of other cards' effects (e.g. the Spell card Umiiruka adds 500 ATK points to all water-attribute monsters).
- Type: Unlike the mere seven possible attributes, there are 22 different types which may apply to a monster card (Dragon, Spellcaster, Zombie, Warrior, Beast-Warrior, Beast, Winged Beast, Fiend, Fairy, Insect, Dinosaur, Reptile, Fish, Sea Serpent, Machine, Thunder, Aqua, Pyro , Rock, Plant, Psychic, and Divine-Beast). All monster cards have at least one type, while some have as many as three. This is indicated in text form just above the card text. Like attributes, a monster card's type has no inherent significance and becomes relevant in the context of other cards' effects.
Monster Categories
There are several categories of monster cards, which are color-coded and vary in the methods by which they are summoned. Generally, the monsters with more difficult summoning methods will have higher ATK points and better card effects. Additionally, monster cards in some categories are stored in the Extra Deck (see the "General Gameplay" section above) rather than the Main Deck. This is advantageous because there is no risk of drawing such a monster card at an inopportune time (e.g. you are unable to meet the summoning conditions at the moment); the player simply retrieves it from the Extra Deck when the summoning conditions are met.| Monster Category | Card Color | Summoning Method | Notes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yellow | Normal Summon (including Tribute Summon). | Do not have any card effects and are generally only used for their ATK and DEF points. These are not commonly used because of the superiority of Effect monsters. | |||||
| Orange | Normal Summon (including Tribute Summon). | Function the same as Normal Monsters but also have card effects. Most monsters used will be Effect monsters due to their ease of summoning and beneficial card effects; virtually every deck uses them. Some have effects allowing them to be Special Summoned, thereby bypassing tribute requirements. | |||||
| Black | Xyz Summon: Select at least two monsters on the field with the same level, and stack (overlay) them in a pile. Then select an Xyz monster in your Extra Deck with the same rank as those monsters, and summon it on top of the pile. | Stored in the Extra Deck. Most Xyz monsters have effects that reference the number of monsters stacked beneath them. They have ranks instead of levels, to prevent them from being used for the summoning methods of the remaining categories in this table. | |||||
| White | Synchro Summon: Select one Tuner-type monster and any number of other monsters on the field, and send them all to the Graveyard (tuning them). Then select a Synchro monster in your Extra Deck with a level equal to the sum of the tuned monsters' levels, and summon it. | Stored in the Extra Deck. These are the second most commonly used monsters, after Effect monsters. | |||||
| Purple | Fusion Summon: Each Fusion monster lists the names of at least two specific monster cards. The player uses a card effect (e.g. the Spell card Polymerization) instructing them to send those listed monsters to the Graveyard (fusing them) and summon the corresponding Fusion monster. | Stored in the Extra Deck. Because Fusion summoning requires specific card effects, it is not done by most players. For dedicated fusion-based strategies, there are many alternative methods of summoning Fusion monsters without having to assemble the listed monster cards. | |||||
| Blue | Ritual Summon: Each Ritual monster names a specific Spell card. This Spell instructs you to send as many monsters to the Graveyard (tribute them) as necessary until the sum of their levels matches or exceeds the level of the Ritual monster. Then summon the Ritual monster from your hand. | - | Tokens | Grey | Only created by card effects. | Tokens function as place-holders by acting temporary monster cards. They are created by specific card effects. Most often, players use any object to represent a token (e.g. a coin or scrap of paper). Tokens can only exist on the field and disappear if they are sent anywhere else. |
Attacking
As mentioned briefly in several above sections, attacking is a critical role of monster cards. It is the primary means by which a player reduces the opponent's Life Points. Only monster cards in Attack Position (placed in a vertical orientation) can attack, and each such monster card can attack once per turn during the Battle Phase.When a monster card "declares an attack", one of the opponent's monsters is selected as the target. At this time, the ATK points of the attacking monster are compared with the relevant ATK or DEF points of the opponent's targeted monster (depending on whether it is in Attack Position or Defense Position). The monster card with the lower points is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard. If the destroyed monster card was in Attack Position, then its owner will lose Life Points equal to the difference between the two monsters' points. For example, if Mystic Tomato (which has 1400 ATK and 1100 DEF) attacks an opponent's Sangan (1000 ATK and 600 DEF) in Attack Position, then the opponent's Sangan is destroyed and he or she loses 400 Life Points. However, the owner will not not lose Life Points if his or her monster card was in Defense Position. In the previous example, if Sangan had been in Defense Position (placed in a horizontal orientation), then it would still be destroyed by an attacking Mystic Tomato but its owner would not lose Life Points.However, If the Defensive Points of a Card (for this example the card Mystic Elf, which has 800 ATK and 2000 DEF) is higher than the ATK points of the attacking Card, the owner of the attacking card will lose life poin t to the difference of each number (If Mystic Tomato attacked the Mystic Elf in Defense mode, the owner of Mystic Tomato would lose 600 life points). No Cards are destroyed after the end of a attack subject to a card effect (like D.D Warriors effect which removes both this card and the attacking card from play)
In this way, monster cards in Defense Position protect their owner's Life Points. On the other hand, only monster cards in Attack Position can declare attacks, and their positions cannot be manipulated afterward.
If the opponent has no monster cards in play, then an attacking monster may target the opponent's Life Points directly. This causes the full amount of that monster's ATK points to be deducted from the opponent's Life Points. A very general strategy is to use card effects (those of monster, Spell, and Trap cards) to eliminate the opponent's monsters, so that a player's own monsters can attack the opponent's Life Points directly.
Spell Cards
These are cards that can be played either from the hand, or set on the field for later use. They can either power up your monsters attack/defense, destroy other cards, increase life points, etc. It is important to have a good balance of these in your deck.Spells come in 6 forms.
1. Normal
- Sent to the grave after the effect resolves.
2. Quick Play (appears as a lightning bolt)
- Can be set to be activated during your opponents turn as well as your own, or played during your own turn outside of the main phases. However, you cannot activate a quick-play spell on the same turn that you set it on the field.
3. Continuous (appears as a
)
- Remain on the field after activation until they are removed or destroyed.
4. Equip (appears as a plus)
- Attach to a monster to alter its stats, or provide an effect. If the equipped monster leaves the field, it loses Equip Spells.
5. Field (appears as a compass)
- Played in a special field card zone, which provides an effect that takes place over the entire duel while active. Only one field card can be active in the duel at a time; if a player plays a field spell while one is already in play, the first field spell is destroyed.
6. Ritual (appears as a flame)
- Used to summon ritual monsters.
Trap Cards
Cards that are activated in response to certain situations, most often when an opponent activates an effect or attacks. They are set face down on the field and cannot be activated on the turn they were placed down unless there is a card effect that says it could be activated the turn the trap card is set. Some are used to destroy an attacking monster, negate battle damage, or possibly redirect damage back to the opponent, though, these effects may differ. There are three types of trap cards:1. Normal traps
- They cannot be activated during either player's turn if it was set that turn. Certain normal traps turn into equip cards but are still considered normal trap cards.
2. Continuous trap cards (appears with a
)
- Their effect stays in play until its destruction circumstances are fulfilled.
3. Counter trap cards (appears with a curved arrow)
- No cards except other Counter traps can be played after a Counter trap has been activated.
Spell Speed
Card effects all have certain speeds. This determines when they can be played and which effect can be "chained" to another.- Spell Speed 1 cards can ordinarily only be played during the turn of the player who controls the card. Comprises Spell cards (excluding Quick Play) and Monster Effects (excluding Quick Effect Monster cards)
- Spell Speed 2 cards can be played in any turn, and can be activated in response to either Spell Speed 1 or 2. Comprises Quick Play spells and Normal/Continuous traps and Quick Effect Monster Cards.
- Spell Speed 3 cards are only Counter trap cards. They can be activated in response to either Spell Speed 1, 2, or 3.
Tournament play
Tournaments are often hosted either by players or by card shops. In addition, Upper DeckUpper deck
Upper deck may refer to :* The Upper Deck Company, an American trading card business* The upper deck is the highest level internal deck on a ship, i.e. just below the superstructure and open deck....
(now no longer part of Yu-Gi-Oh's Organized Play), Konami
Konami
is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
, and Shonen Jump
Shonen Jump
Shōnen Jump or Shonen Jump may refer to:*Weekly Shōnen Jump, a Japanese manga anthology magazine published by Shueisha since 1968*Monthly Shōnen Jump, a former sister publication of Weekly Shōnen Jump, published from 1970 to 2007...
have all organized numerous tournament systems in their respective areas. These tournaments attract hundreds of players to compete for prizes such as rare promotional cards.
There are two styles of tournament play called "Formats;" each format has its own rules and some restrictions on what cards are allowed to be used during events.
- Advanced Format
The Advanced Format is used in all sanctioned tournaments (with the exception of certain Pegasus League formats). This format follows all the normal rules of the game, but also places a complete ban on certain cards that are deemed too advantageous for tournament play. These cards are on a special list called the Forbidden, or Banned List. There are also certain cards that are Limited or Semi-Limited to only being allowed 1 or 2 of those cards in a deck and side deck combined, respectively. This list is updated every six months(September 1, March 1) and is followed in all tournaments that use this format.
- Traditional Format
Traditional format is sometimes used in Pegasus League play and is never used in Official Tournaments and reflects the state of the game without banned cards. Cards that are banned in Advanced are limited to one copy per deck in this format.
Rating Systems
The trading card game formerly incorporated worldwide rankings, but since Konami canceled organized play, the ratings were obsolete. Konami has developed a new rating system called "COSSY," (Konami Card Game Official Tournament Support System.)
Casual play
Casual players typically agree to follow an unofficial variant of the rules, such as multiple player duel (where three or more duelists play every-man-for-themselves) and use of the Egyptian God CardsEgyptian God Cards
The Egyptian God cards or the in Japan, are a series of powerful monster cards in Yu-Gi-Oh! that serve as a focal point in the series' manga, the second series anime, and video games based on the anime and manga. The cards have ties to the truthful history of Ancient Egypt within the series and...
(promotional cards from the anime/manga adaptation, which are illegal in official tournaments with the exception of their legal card forms. These have recently been reprinted into legal versions, however the original promotional cards remain illegal.) For these unofficial variants of the game, the rules, such as what cards are legal or not, are agreed upon ahead of time. However, very recently, official Tag (team) Duel rules have been introduced into the main game, advertised in the form of Tag Force 2 and Championship 2008.
Product information
Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Cards are available in Starter DecksStarter pack
A starter pack is a sealed package of cards or figurines, designed to serve as the beginning of a collection, in collectible card games and collectible miniature wargames....
, Structure Decks, booster pack
Booster pack
In collectible card games and collectible miniature wargames, a booster pack is a sealed package of cards or figurines, designed to add to a player's collection....
s, collectible tins, and occasionally as promotional cards.
Booster Packs
- As in all other Trading Card GamesCollectible card gamethumb|Players and their decksA collectible card game , also called a trading card game or customizable card game, is a game played using specially designed sets of playing cards...
, booster packs are the primary avenue of card distribution. In Konami's distribution areas, five random cards are found in each booster pack, and each set contains between fifty and sixty different cards. However, in Upper Deck's areas, early booster packs contained a random assortment of nine cards (eight common cards and one rare card) with the whole set ranging around 130 cards. To catch up with the Japanese meta game, two or more original sets were combined into one. Now, more recent Upper Deck sets have simply duplicated the original set. Some booster sets are reprinted/reissued (e.g. Dark Beginnings Volume 1 and 2). This type of set usually contains a larger amount of cards (around 200 to 250), and they contain twelve cards along with one tip card rather than the normal five or nine. Recently, since the Release of Tactical Evolution, all booster packs that have a Holographic/Ghost Rare card, will also contain a rare, meaning if you receive a Holofoil card in a pack you will still receive 1 Rare card and 7 Common cards. Current sets have 100 different cards per set. There are also special booster packs that are given to those who attend a tournament. These sets change each time there is a different tournament and have fewer cards than a typical booster pack. There are eight Tournament Packs, eight Champion Packs, and 10 Turbo Packs.
Duelist Packs
- Duelist packs are similar to booster packs, albeit are focused around the types of cards used by characters in the various anime series.
Promotional cards
- Some cards in the TCG have been released by other means, such as inclusion in video games, movies, and Shonen Jump Magazine issues. These cards often are exclusive and have a special type of rarity or are never-before-seen to the public. Occasionally, cards like Cyber Valley and Chimeratech Fortress Dragon have been re-released as revisions.
Using physical cards in Yu-Gi-Oh! video games
Nearly every card has a unique 7–9 digit code printed on it. When that code is entered into one of the Yu-Gi-Oh! video games that accept it, a digital copy of that card is added to the player's virtual cards. Thus, players can port their real-world decks into the games.Some cards do not have this code. For example, all but two copies of Japanese Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon cards say "Replica" where the code should be (They are considered replicas of the other two that were given as prizes in a Yu-Gi-Oh! tournament in Tokyo).
Some cards do not have anything at all. For example, the Shadow Ghoul monster card from the English Metal Raiders and Dark Beginning 2 booster sets has no code number, as opposed to being a replica card. Some other examples of cards that do not have any codes at all are Labyrinth Wall (and its sister card, "Wall Shadow,") Gate Guardian and its "pieces," Sanga of the Thunder, Kazejin, and Suijin.
There are also Duel Terminal cards. (Prefixed by DT in cards.) These are used in a Duel Terminal machine, which are at various locations around the country. In these machines, you can lay down a Duel Terminal card, and the machine will scan it in so you can play with it. These cards are also compatible with a Duel Scanner peripheral for the Japanese version of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's: Duel Transer for the Nintendo Wii.
Controversy
Otherwise, due to the nature of the inspirations of some of the cards, such as ancient mythologyMythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
and Japanese folklore
Japanese folklore
The folklore of Japan is heavily influenced by both Shinto and Buddhism, the two primary religions in the country. It often involves humorous or bizarre characters and situations and also includes an assortment of supernatural beings, such as bodhisattva, kami , yōkai , yūrei ,...
, the card game was a potential target for religious advocate groups to accuse of promoting idolatry
Idolatry
Idolatry is a pejorative term for the worship of an idol, a physical object such as a cult image, as a god, or practices believed to verge on worship, such as giving undue honour and regard to created forms other than God. In all the Abrahamic religions idolatry is strongly forbidden, although...
, among other things. Perhaps to alleviate their concerns, the English names of the cards were not always given a direct translation, instead opting for a name less controversial. For example, the "Black Magician" in the original Japanese was changed to the "Dark Magician" in English, which reduced its association with black magic
Black magic
Black magic is the type of magic that draws on assumed malevolent powers or is used with the intention to kill, steal, injure, cause misfortune or destruction, or for personal gain without regard to harmful consequences. As a term, "black magic" is normally used by those that do not approve of its...
and the card "Trial of Hell" was changed to "Trial of Nightmare". However, this has caused some problems with the naming of certain cards, such as Archfiends (Demons in Japan), who (before the advent of Dark Crisis) all had unique names in the English version. Thus they had to be reclassified as Archfiends to meet the new standard. In addition the use of Christian themes have also been censored out of the international edition of Yu-Gi-Oh.
External links
- Official Konami Trading Card Game website (KonamiKonamiis a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
) - Yu-Gi-Oh! Online worldwide portal
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Wikia
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Rulings
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Database