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Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game

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Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game
Exodia
Head of Exodia, one of 5 cards needed to declare an instant win
PlayersTwo (officially)
Setup time< 5 minutes
Playing time< variable1
ChanceSome
Age range6 and up
SkillsCard playing
Arithmetic
1 Depends on various factors; calculating, strategizing, decisions, etc.

The Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game is a collectible card game based on Duel Monsters which appears as the main plot device 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). In its fictional contexts, the game is sometimes referred to as Magic and Wizards or M&W in the original Japanese manga.

The card game is known as Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters: Official Card Game (sometimes shortened as "OCG") 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. It is inspired by the game in the manga and anime series; however the rules are adhered to more strictly and are comparatively more consistent and balanced than the game represented in its fictional contexts.

Each player is allotted a certain number of Life Points at the start of the game), usually 8000, and the main objective of the game is to reduce an opponent's Life Points to zero, or win by alternate means. Like many other trading card games, Duel Monsters is a game mainly for two players to compete head-to-head, although there are unofficial variations of the rules thought up by fans that allow the play of three or more players.

There are also video games based on the card game, with minor differences between it and the collectible card game, and the video games generally give away copies of rare and/or powerful cards (usually three of them) with the game.

Product information

Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Cards are available in Starter Decks, Structure Decks, Booster Packs, and occasionally, as Promotional Cards. All cards in Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game / Yu-Gi-Oh! Official Card Game have their own unique ID's which the cards in that set are numbered with. (For example, the Luster Dragon #2 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 language card. This system makes it easier to identify cards in different languages worldwide (JP for Japan, etc).

With "Power of the Duelist" booster packs, the first few letters that appear before the dash has been expanded to include four letters instead of the three commonly found. This may be to distinguish sets of cards from one another by being more specific (Four letters allow for more variation than three). This has also happened in the newest pack as of 11/12/06, Cyberdark Impact.

In addition to this, almost every card ever printed (in both the TCG and OCG) has an 8-digit code in its bottom left corner. The same code is used for different copies of the same card. Although this immediately appeared useless to players of the game, two main uses have been introduced among fans. First, many of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Video Games have incorporated a password feature, in which players can input the 8-digit code in order to obtain the corresponding card in the game itself (However, this system is often abused by players using online lists to obtain extremely rare cards in-game). Secondly, the codes are used as one of the many methods to determine who makes the first move in a duel, judging by the last two-digits of the code. There has been much conversation among fans as to the extent that these codes could be used for in the future.

Booster Packs

Booster Packs, like all other Trading Card Games, are the main way to distribute cards. In Yu-Gi-Oh!, each booster packs contains 5 cards (OCG) or 9 cards (TCG). The number of cards in a normal booster set ranged from 50-60 cards for OCG, and can go up to around 130 cards in some old booster sets in TCG (Since it's 2 OCG sets combined into one). More recent TCG sets have stopped the "combination" routine, and now simply duplicate the original OCG set. In additional, some booster sets are reprinted / reissue sets, such as the Dark Beginning series (Known as Beginner's Edition in OCG) or OCG-exclusive Duelist Legacy series. Those sets usually contains a much bigger amount of cards (Around 200-250). Also, in both Dark Beginning and Dark Revelation series, 12 cards are in a pack (plus one tip card) instead of normal 5 or 9.

Starter Decks and Structure Decks

The starter decks are released for new players to get hang of the most basic gameplay and mechanics. They are named after various characters from the second animated series. Each US starter deck contains 50 or 40 distinct cards, a game mat, and a rule book. They are extremely weak, and are designed to teach players the basic rules.

Character Starter Decks

There are currently five starter decks available in the US:

Character Structure Decks

There are also eight character-based structure decks released in Japan. These are different from the U.S. Starter decks as in that they contain different cards than their U.S. counterparts and are also called structure decks instead of starter decks. These decks tend to be more powerful than the starter decks, and have been notable among fans as being "playable from the box". The codes for the Structure Decks are:

  • Yugi Structure Deck (YU): features Dark Magician Girl, the Dark Magician family, and other cards that's used by Yugi in early part of Battle City arc of the anime.
  • Jonouchi ("Joey") Structure Deck (JY): features Jinzo, Red Eyes Black Dragon, some luck chance cards, and other cards that were used by Jonouchi in early Battle City arc.
  • Kaiba Structure Deck (KA): features the Vampire Lord, Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon, Blue Eyes White Dragon (3 in the deck, one with Japanese writing, one with Chinese writing, and one with English writing, referencing the Manga, which mentioned the previous owners of the BEWD's were from those countries), and other cards used by Kaiba in early Battle City arc of anime.
  • Pegasus Structure Deck (PE): features cards that are used by Pegasus in the Duelist Kingdom arc of the anime. Some examples are the "toon" monsters and Relinquished. The deck also included the three (non-playable) 'invitation' cards that were sent to Yugi about the Duelist Kingdom.
  • Yugi Volume 2 Structure Deck (SY2): features cards use by Yugi in later Battle City arc in the anime. Some examples are Black Paladin and Dimensional Magic.
  • Kaiba Volume 2 Structure Deck (SK2): features cards use by Kaiba in later Battle City arc in the anime. Some examples are XYZ Dragon Cannon and Shrink.
  • Jonouchi ("Joey") Volume 2 Structure Deck (SJ2): features cards use by Jonouchi in later Battle City arc in the anime. Some examples are Gilford the Lightning and Foolish Burial.
  • Marik Structure Deck (SDM): features cards use by Marik in Battle City arc in the anime. Some examples are Lava Golem, Magic Shard Excavation, and Unholy Calamity.

Evolution Starter Decks

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 Evolution series improved the respective 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 ritual monster Black Luster Soldier, the ritual spell card "Black Luster Ritual", and "Dark Magician" (LOB artwork)
  • Kaiba Evolution Starter Deck (SKE): includes a Kaiser Sea Horse card in order to summon Blue-Eyes White Dragon more easily, along with the continuous trap card "Shadow Spell" and "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" (LOB artwork)

Type Structure Decks

The Type Structure decks have been released containing 40 cards each. These decks do not follow the theme of being based on a character from the show. Instead they are based on a specific creature type or attribute. The main purpose is to help new players start the game with stronger cards and combos. These decks may also contain multiple copies of same named cards and common versions of hard to find cards, essentially making these decks more powerful even without modifications.

In addition, all decks include an instruction booklets contain tips on how to use the deck's current goal (for example, The Fury of the Deep Structure Deck explains how to use Gravity Bind and A Legendary Ocean as a combo to allow 4-Star monsters to attack), and how to expand on that goal with new cards. Each Structure Deck also contains 1 or more cards that can only be found by buying that deck. The codes for the structure deck, and what they are based on, are:

  • Dinosaurs Rage Structure Deck (SD09): Based on Dinosaur Type monsters. The new cards are Super Conductive Tyranno, Jurassic World, Great Evolution Pill, Tail Swipe, Hunting Instinct, Survival Instinct, Volcanic Eruption, and Seismic Shockwave. The Special Edition Version of this Deck also released for the first time in the TCG the Five-Headed Dragon (Five-God Dragon in Japan). [1]
  • Rebellion of the Machines Structure Deck (SD10): Based on Machine Type monsters. The new cards are Antique Gear Gadgeldragon, Antique Gear Engineer, Antique Gear Chimera, Dark Revolver, Antique Gear Garage, Antique Gear Hand, Antique Gear Bomb, and Antique Gear Tank. This deck also includes reprints of the popular Gadgets and Mobile Fortress Stronghold. This deck has already been released in the OCG, and will arrive in the TCG in early 2007. [2]
  • Surge of Radiance Structure Deck (SD11): Based on Light Attribute monsters. The new cards are Sky Hero - Neo Parshath, Sky Saint Meltius, Wisdom Angel Harvest, Guide of Victory Freya, Calling Nova, Holy Jeral, Geruen Duo and Divine Protection of Goddess. Released in OCG, TCG release date unannounced. [3]

Tournament Boosters

Collector Tins

  • 2002 Collector Tins - Includes 2 packs each of Legend of Blue-Eyes White Dragon and Metal Raiders, along with 1 pack of Spell Ruler and one of 6 Variant cards.
  • 2003 Collector Tins - Includes 1 pack each of Legend of Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Metal Raiders, Spell Ruler, Pharaoh's Servant, and Labyrinth of Nightmare, along with one of 6 Variant cards.
  • 2004 Collector Tins - Includes 1 pack each of Dark Crisis, Magician's Force, Pharaonic Guardian, Invasion of Chaos, and Ancient Sanctuary, along with one of 6 Variant cards.
  • 2005 Collector Tins - Includes 1 pack each of Dark Beginnings 1, Dark Revelation Volume 1, Soul of the Duelist, Rise of Destiny, and Flaming Eternity, along with one of 6 Variant cards.
  • 2006 Collector Tins - Includes 1 pack each of Shadow of Infinity, Elemental Energy, Enemy of Justice and 2 packs of Cybernetic Revolution, along with one of 6 Variant cards. The second wave of collectable tins includes 1 each of Cybernetic Revolution, Elemental Energy, Shadow of Infinity, Enemy of Justice and Power of the Duelist.

Promo Cards

Many promotional Yu-Gi-Oh! trading cards have been released in special packs, with video games and with magazines.

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 (except when you get a rarer card). OCG packs are not guaranteed to have a Rare card, unlike their TCG counterparts.
  • Super Rare (SR): The illustrations on these cards are printed with a holographic foil background. 1 Super Rare comes in every 6 packs on average and in almost every Structure Deck.
  • 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. 1 Ultra Rare comes in every 12 packs (for all sets from Legend of Blue-Eyes up through Ancient Sanctuary, and the Dark Beginnings/Dark Revelations reprint sets) or 24 packs (from all sets starting from Soul of the Duelist up through current releases, barring the Dark Beginnings and Dark Revelations reprint sets.)
  • Ultimate Rare (ULT) Cards: 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 due to them being embossed. There are alternate ULT versions of every Rare/Super Rare/Ultra Rare in the sets starting with Soul of the Duelist through to Force of the Breaker and will be the same for future 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"). They are used primarily for promos (ex. tins & video games) and in all sets from Legend of Blue-Eyes up through Ancient Sanctuary. On average, there was 1 in every 36 packs of those sets. This format of rarity is no longer used in the games or boosters, and only continues in the tins, master collections and limited edition boxes.
  • Parallel Rare (PLR): The name of the card is printed in either gold foil or just as a regular Common version of the card would be printed. The illustrations and borders on these cards are printed with a holographic foil background. Called Parallel Rare because their shininess has lines which run vertically and horizontally across the card. These are found in the TCG only through sanctioned Upper Deck Hobby League events.

The rarity of cards affects their value substantially. Rare cards are usually a few dollars, Super and Ultra 8 or 9 dollars and 12 to 15 dollars (respectively), and others increase value very substantially. An Ultimate Rare version of a card may affect the original value of a card from between about 5 dollars to 40 dollars. A 1st edition mark may also increase value.

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

Nearly every card has a unique 8-digit code printed on it. When that code is entered into one of the myriad of 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.

Some cards do not have this code. For example, all but 2 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 don't 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 don't have any codes at all are Labyrinth Wall, Gate Guardian and its pieces, Cosmo Queen, and Tremendous Fire, along with many Ritual Monsters and Ritual Spell cards. It is still unknown why they don't have any codes.

Common Terminology

See Common Yu-Gi-Oh OCG/TCG Terminology

Controversy

Adaptation from Japan

Many Japanese cards are used in the manga or anime and popularized globally years before the cards are released outside Japan. For example, the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon, a popular card from the beginning of the game, was just released in America late in 2005. The Blue Eyes Shining Dragon, which requires tributing a Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon(as a summon condition), was actually released almost a year before the Ultimate Dragon was available for play.

Expensive Prices

Early in the game, new popular cards were extremely rare and expensive to come by, making this a "Rich Man's Game" in the eyes of some players. However, recent reprinting of older cards in Structure Decks, Booster Pack Tins, and new reprint packs such as Dark Beginnings have made this less of an issue than it once was.

In an extreme example, 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. The buyer did not pay, however and the card was resold, bringing 6,000 US dollars. The card is now available as a rare (one random "rare" card can be found per booster pack) and can be found for about ten dollars. These cards likely have such a high demand because there are very few copies printed (about 2 per distribution, where a distribution is one given to a randomly picked participant and one given to the 1st place winner of a regional tournament). This low supply creates a high demand for the cards, raising the price.

There are still some cards released under similar circumstances of around the same price (Shonen Jump Championship cards), while others (generally "ultra rare" from tournament packs [above]) consistently hover around $100-$200. Other sought-after cards tend to be priced anywhere from $15 to $50 depending on rarity, usefulness in gameplay, anticipation, and other general popularity that applies to the supply/demand rule. The $100-$200 cards, for example, are found in 1 out of 108 tournament packs, which are generally given out as prizes (and consolation prizes) for local tournaments (thus harder to obtain than booster packs, but not extremely difficult to find).

Card Editing

File:Ygoedit.jpg
OCG version of "Don Zaloog" (left), TCG version (right); note that the guns have been changed to swords

Another issue is card editing, which occurs when Konami translates a card for use in the TCG, often with an edited picture (example: Don Zaloog's TCG picture depicts him holding swords, when the OCG version shows him holding guns instead). Edited art often removes guns (sometimes changing them to "laser/space/cosmo guns"), pentagrams, hexagrams, cleavage, blood, halos, horns, crosses, or completely changes the picture for the TCG with new artwork (such as with Tragedy, Ultimate Offering, Soul of the Pure, or Monster Reborn).

Purists have also noted that many card names are changed for the TCG, sometimes to tone down the name (i.e., Five God Dragon becomes F.G.D. in video games and Five-Headed Dragon in the TCG[5]) and sometimes for a nonapparent reason. Other times the name is simply broken down or re-arranged to make it less offensive (Dark Ruler Hades becomes Dark Ruler Ha Des). Some feel that Konami does not correctly translate card names (examples: Buster Rancher and Fushioh Richie) in some cases, while other players feel that card names are usually translated correctly. Upper Deck employees often cite the reason for name changes and art edits as being Konami's belief that it needs to make the game appropriate for children outside of Japan.

Misprinted Cards

A recent controversy involved a rumored second promotional deal between Upper Deck and McDonalds. Reportedly, due to a production error in one of UDE's Southern Californian facilities, cards from this promotional deal were accidentally placed in some Elemental Energy packs, thus allowing a few lucky duelists to get a sneak peak into what would be in the new promo pack. As the promotional deal has never been officially announced, it's unknown how this foul-up will impact it. A similar incident supposedly happened at one of the Power of the Duelist Sneak Previews, with a duelist 'pulling' what appeared to be an English Victory Dragon from the set. Kevin Tewart has confirmed that the card is a fake, however.

In a similar incident, an English Crush Card Virus (Deck Destruction Virus of Death in Japan) was found in place of the Sneak Preview's normal promo, Hidden Soldiers. The card appears to be real, and is listed as the next Shonen Jump Championship promo. Kevin Tewart has not commented on whether or not this card is a fake; instead, he sidestepped the issue with this announcement:

Hello everyone.

Now that I’m back from Japan (I was at the World Championship) and the Power of the Duelist Sneak Preview surprise is out, it's time to implement a slight change to Yu-Gi-Oh! tournament policy that is effective immediately:

"Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG promotional cards become legal for all tournaments upon their formal release. Promotional cards that have not been formally released are not legal for tournament play."

Note the use of “formal” and “formally”. That would exclude any special cards which may have been pre-released for promotional purposes.

Thanks!

Kevin Tewart

Senior Game Designer

UDE Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG R&D Lead

Upper Deck Entertainment

The card is now on Netrep, so it is confirmed that the card is real and the next Shonen Jump Championship promo.

Notable players

  • Ng Yu Leung, 2003 World Champion [6]
  • Masatoshi Togawa, 2004 World Champion [7]
  • Miltiadis Markou, 2005 World Champion [8]
  • Dario Longo, 2006 World Champion
  • Nat W. H. Chan, 2004 World 1st runner-up [7]
  • Vincent Wielandt, 2006 European Champion [9]
  • Theerasak Poonsombat, 2004 US National Champion [10]
  • Max Suffridge, 2005 US National Champion [11]
  • Austin Kulman, 2006 US National Champion [12]

Rulebook

To read the rule book, click here: [1]

Learn to Play

To learn how to play the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game, play the interactive demo:[2]

See also

Polymerization (card)

References

  1. ^ Seven Days – September 25, 2006 "metagame.com". URL Accessed December 10, 2006
  2. ^ Structure Deck SD10 - Rebellion of the Machines "manjyomethunder.twoday.net". URL Accessed December 10, 2006
  3. ^ Structure Deck - Surge of Flash (SD11) "manjyomethunder.twoday.net". URL Accessed December 10, 2006
  4. ^ Structure Deck 12 - Curse of Darkness "manjyomethunder.twoday.net". URL Accessed December 9, 2006
  5. ^ OCG/TCG Card Name X-Ref List "pojo.com". URL Accessed December 10, 2006
  6. ^ Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Game World Championship (2003) "kidzworld.com". URL Accessed December 9, 2006
  7. ^ a b Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championships (2004) "metagame.com". URL Accessed December 9, 2006
  8. ^ Worlds Promos "ygpnorthwest.com". URL Accessed December 9, 2006
  9. ^ The 2006 European Championship "metagame.com". URL Accessed December 9, 2006
  10. ^ 2004 U.S. National Championship "metagame.com". URL Accessed December 9, 2006
  11. ^ 2005 U.S. National Championship "metagame.com". URL Accessed December 9, 2006
  12. ^ 2006 Yu-Gi-Oh! United States National Championship "metagame.com". URL Accessed December 9, 2006
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