List of Yu-Gi-Oh! cards

The following is a list of notable cards that are 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 three spin-off series, Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, and Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal, and the real-life card game.

Blue-Eyes White Dragon
'''Blue-shouldn't use this card unless your entire deck is based around it. it doesn't have an effect and can be targeted and destroyed by many things.

During the Memory World arc, the Blue Eyes White Dragon is revealed to be the Ka of a girl named Kisara. She and Priest Seto (Seto Kaiba's past incarnate) shared a deep bond that appears to have carried over into Kaiba's modern-day obsession with the BEWD. As a monster, versus just a playing card, the power of the Blue Eyes was shown to surpass even that of the Egyptian gods, as it was the first monster to successfully injure Zorc Necrophades.

Crush Card Virus
This is another signature card of Seto Kaiba. In the anime it's simply referred to as "Crush Card" and was known as "Deck Destruction Virus of Death" in Japan. Tribute 1 DARK monster with 1000 or less ATK. Check all monsters your opponent controls, your opponent's hand, and all cards they draw (until the end of your opponent's 3rd turn after this card's activation), and destroy all monsters with 1500 or more ATK. Kaiba uses this in every arc minus the Memory World, KC Grand Prix, and Legendary Heroes arc.

Due to its obvious game-winning capabilities, its effect was heavily weakened when it was released in the TCG, so that it only destroyed monsters with 1500 or more attack points on the field and in the person's hand, no longer the deck as well. It was quickly banned in the TCG after it saw immense play and was seen as game-breaking. The most common complaint players give is that it allows you to view the opponent's hand for three turns after its activation, allowing you to figure out your opponent's strategy and modify yours accordingly.

Cyber Dragon
Cyber Dragon is the signature card of Zane Truesdale in the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX anime, and a staple for many tournament decks in the TCG and OCG. Cyber Dragon is a five star monster that can be Special Summoned if your opponent has a monster on the field but you don't. Three Cyber Dragons can be fused into Cyber End Dragon, a monster with 4000 ATK points, creating one of the strongest monsters in the game in terms of ATK. The latest ban list puts Cyber Dragon back at 3 making Cyber End Dragon a much more viable option.

The Cyberdark cards are the counterpart to the Cyber Dragon series, and make their debut in season 2 of GX. They consist of Cyberdark Keel, Cyberdark Edge and Cyberdark Horn, and they can be fused to create Cyberdark Dragon. The Cyberdark strategy revolves around equipping Level 3 or lower Dragon-type monsters and gaining their attack strength, or fusing them to create Cyberdark Dragon who can equip any dragon in the grave, as well as gain attack power proportionate to the number of monsters in your graveyard.

Cyber Dragon is also popular among Synchro users, as its free summon effect allows players to easily bring high-level Synchro monsters into play.

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 without using Polymerization or material monsters.

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. The buyer did not pay, however and the card was resold for approximately $7,000 USD. Due to its ability to quickly put a powerful fusion monster into play ignoring its summon requirements, giving a huge advantage to the player, this card has been listed into the group of cards banned from official tournaments since 2006.

Dark Armed Dragon
Dark Armed Dragon, commonly abbreviated to  DAD, is commonly played in the winning Shonen Jump tournament decks and it is based on Chazz Princeton's Armed Dragon cards. Dark Armed Dragon is a Level 7 2800/1000 DARK monster that can only be Special Summoned by having exactly 3 DARK Monsters in the Graveyard. While it is on the field, one can remove from play one DARK monster from the graveyard to destroy one card on the field. When this card is released, a common strategy was to use cards such as Dark Grepher and Armageddon Knight to send DARK monsters to the Graveyard, then remove them, and use recursion effects such as Return from a Different Dimension, and Dimension Fusion to swarm your opponent to win. As a result, it was restricted to two per deck (semi-limited) and now it is restricted to one (limited).

Dark Magician
Yugi Mutou's key signature card. In the manga and anime, Yugi often uses the Dark Magician against various foes, making it his signature monster card. When in a duel against a strong foe, Yugi often 'evolves' Dark Magician to stronger forms using Ritual and Spell Cards. The Magician of Black Chaos and Dark Magician of Chaos are examples of its more powerful forms, along with Sorcerer Of Dark Magic, Dark Sage and Dark Eradicator Warlock. It's pretty good, considering it's a magician and you can build a pretty good deck around it.

There is another Dark Magician-type monster called Dark Magician Girl, which Yugi starts using in the Battle City arc of the manga and anime. While it is weaker than Dark Magician, it gains ATK for every Dark Magician or Magician of Black Chaos in either Graveyard. The Dark Magician Girl also has another form that Pegasus uses in season 4 against Kaiba called Toon Dark Magician girl used with Toon World.

Another addition to the Dark Magicians is Dark Magician Knight, which is a card that can be summoned with a card called "Knight's Title" which effect is "Activate this card by offering 1 face-up "Dark Magician" on your side of the field as a Tribute. Special Summon 1 "Dark Magician Knight" from your hand, Deck or Graveyard".

In the final arc of the manga and anime, a priest named Mahado served under Pharaoh Atem, using the Millennium Ring. In a fatal battle against Bakura, he allows himself to be killed, so that his spirit can become the Dark Magician. His apprentice, Mana, later becomes Dark Magician Girl.

Exodia Set
This contains the following cards: cards "Exodia the Forbidden One", "Left Arm of the Forbidden One", "Right Arm of the Forbidden One", "Left Leg of the Forbidden One" and "Right Leg of the Forbidden One".

A player with all of Exodia's parts in their hand can declare an automatic victory, regardless of Life Points. Exodia is divided 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 fragmented it because it was too powerful. However, when 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 by Zorc.

Exodia has a few counterpart cards. Exodia Necross, a ghostly, necromantic version of it, which is summoned by the effect of the Spell Card Contract with Exodia and can only be used when all the five pieces of Exodia are in the Graveyard. Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord, which is summoned by returning all monsters in the Graveyard to your deck, and when it attacks, you can send any monster to the grave from your deck, when all "the Forbidden One" cards are sent to the graveyard by its effect, the player wins the game. And Exxod, Master of the Guard, found in the Structure Deck "Invincible Fortress". It's important to note that the Exodia Head (identified as Exodia the Forbidden One) is an Effect Monster while the four limbs are all Normal Monsters.

Exodia-centered decks are based into cards that fasten the search for monsters from the main deck at the expense of offensive power. Players relying on this strategy end-up on a race to gather the Exodia cards in hand before having their Life Points depleted (a hard task as only one copy of each part is allowed per deck in official matches),though there are a few strategies which help players get all the Exodia cards in their hands in minimal amount of turns. It isn't a very reliable deck, because it's hard to get all five cards without dying first.

Judgment Dragon
Often compared to Dark Armed Dragon in terms of sheer power, Judgment Dragon (Judgment Dragoon in Japan) can be seen as the LIGHT counterpart of DAD and is, currently, one of the strongest Duel Monsters. It is the trump card of the Lightsworns archetype, a 3000/2600 LIGHT Dragon monster that can only be special summoned while there are four or more Lightsworn monsters with different names in the player's graveyard. Judgment's Dragon effects include the self-milling typical of the Lightsworns, which will send the top four cards of the player controlling it at the end of each of his/her turns, and the ability to destroy every other card on the field, but not itself, by paying 1000 life points. Judgment Dragon was infamous in that players dropped one Dragon, wiped the field, then dropped the other two for one winning swing, which made this card restricted to a maximum of two copies per deck.

Kuriboh
Kuriboh, although weak, is commonly used in the anime, has quite a few uses, and is known for its cute appearance.

Kuriboh (クリボー) 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 (ハネクリボー), who serves as a Duel Spirit and card in Jaden's Deck. It was given to Jaden from Yugi in the first episode of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. Winged Kuriboh has two alternative forms: Winged Kuriboh LV10 and Winged Kuriboh LV9. Winged Kuriboh LV10 was used by Jaden in his duel against Chazz to defeat his VWXYZ Dragon Catapult Cannon. Winged Kuriboh LV9 was used in yu-gi-oh GX volume 3 against Seika Kohinata. This card was included with the book as a promotional giveaway. A female variation, the Kuribon, was introduced in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's as part of Luna's (Ruka) Fairy/Spirit deck.

Kuribohs have the ability to negate battle damage. Thanks to this ability Kuriboh is sometimes side decked to counter "One Turn Kill" Decks. 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.

Polymerization
Known simply as Fusion in the Japanese version, this is a Spell card that enables the user to combine certain monsters with one another (known as Fusion Material Monsters) into a new one (known as a Fusion Monster) to perform a "Fusion Summon." Generally monsters summoned in this way have a higher attack and defense than their original forms and inherit one or more of the effects of the material monsters in some form or another. This card is integral to many decks, and is used by many characters in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. Main character Jaden Yuki arguably has his deck based on it, as most of his Elemental Hero monsters are weak without combining with one another.

A type of fusion monsters called "Evil Hero" mainly used by Jaden Yuki after being obsessed by the dark side of his aura, is not used by Polymerization, but "Dark Fusion" another card used for fusing Elemental Heros to become Evil Heroes.

This card possess a stronger version, the "Super Polymerization", that demands the player to discard one card to activate it, but the fusion summon can't be negated by another card's effect and can have one of the opponent's monsters in the field as a fusion material.

Red-Eyes Black Dragon
A dark dragon that is commonly seen as a rival and counterpart to the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Its link to Blue-Eyes is explicitly stated in the first movie: "The Blue-Eyes brings power, while the Red-Eyes brings potential". While the Blue-Eyes is stronger in terms of pure power, the Red-Eyes has a greater number of alternate forms that can overpower the Blue-Eyes. The Red-Eyes is one of Joey Wheeler's strongest monster cards. It originally belonged to Rex Raptor, but he bet it against Joey in the hopes of seizing his Time Wizard. Joey instead used that same card to fossilize Rex's dinosaur monsters and thus claimed victory, along with his favorite card. The card goes on to become a key card in Joey's deck, and he gradually integrates more and more cards to strengthen the dragon and call forth its alternate forms. In the Battle City arc, Joey loses the card to a Rare Hunter, which is then reclaimed by Yugi. Joey declines to take the card back, saying he would reclaim when he grows as a duelist and beats Yugi in a duel. While the conclusion to their duel is never seen, following arcs in the anime show Joey has Red-Eyes in his deck, implying that he won.

The card is also used by Nightshroud and his host, 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. After Nightshroud is defeated, his spirit is sealed in the card and Atticus periodically calls on its power for assistance, though he does use Red Eyes outside of his Nightshroud form. Red-Eyes also makes an appearance in the first Yu-Gi-Oh! movie, as a card found by Shougo Aoyama, and finds himself under pursuit by Kaiba.

In 2008, the Structure Deck "Zombie World" was released and along with it, the Ultra Rare card, Red-Eyes Zombie Dragon, which is the zombie counterpart of Red-Eyes Black Dragon.

Other counterparts include Red Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon, which can special summon one dragon from the player's hand or graveyard, a cybernetic, Red Eyes Black Metal Dragon metal-coated version with increased ATK and Red Eyes Darkness Dragon which gains ATK points from each Dragon in the player's graveyard, and the newly introduced Malefic Red-Eyes Black Dragon, a malevolent corruption of the original, which can be special summoned by removing a regular Red-Eyes Black Dragon from the deck itself, but cannot stay on the field without a Field Spell. When Fusion with Summoned Skull, it will make Black Skull Dragon. Another Fusion is with Meteor Dragon to form the powerful Meteor Black Dragon. Red Eyes Wyvern is also a rarer, but less powerful counterpart on Red-Eyes Black Dragon.

Signer Dragons
Six Dragons/Synchro monsters who play a pivotal role in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, which introduces the concept of Synchro/Tuner monsters into the game. Each dragon is the signature card of one of the Signers, the series' main characters. The Signer Dragons are: Stardust Dragon (Yusei Fudo), Red Dragon Archfiend (Jack Atlas), Black Rose Dragon(Akiza Izinski), Ancient Fairy Dragon (Luna), Life Stream Dragon (Leo), and Black-Winged Dragon (Crow Hogan). In the anime series, all of the Signer Dragons are related to, and serve an all-powerful monster, the Crimson Dragon, whose card was never seen.

Ancient Fairy Dragon
This Synchro monster has the highest DEF of the Signer Dragons at 3000 but its strength lies in its two special abilities. One: once per turn you can Special Summon a level 4 or lower monster from your hand at the expense of not conducting a Battle Phase in the same turn. Two: you can destroy a Field Spell Card on the field and gain 1000 Life Points and on top of that you can add a Field Spell from your deck to your hand.

This card also works well in tandem with her servant Regulus from Ancient Prophecy where it can return a Field Spell from the Graveyard and back into the deck.

Black Rose Dragon
This Synchro monster has become widely used in plant-type decks due to its ability to make a hole in the enemy defense by reducing an opponent monster attack to 0 and put it in attack mode by removing a plant monster from the graveyard. It can also act as a "field bomb", destroying all cards placed in the field (including itself) after being synchro summoned if the situation on the field becomes too unfavorable to the player, just this effect has made this card a staple in many non-plant-type decks.

It also has the support card Thorn of Malice that, if equipped to it or to a plant monster, raises its attack and gives it piercing damage, among other effects.

Black-Winged Dragon
Known as Black Feather Dragon in Japan, this synchro monster is a good option to counter burn decks or to gain an extra advantage from cards activated by expending life points. It can be used to negate an effect damage by placing a counter on this card and drop its ATK by 700 for each counter on it. In addition the duelist can remove all the counters from Black-Winged Dragon and select an enemy monster to decrease its ATK by 700 for each counter removed and the opponent gets hit for damage equal to that amount.

Life Stream Dragon
Not only does this Synchro/Tuner monster have high stats (2900 ATK/2400 DEF), but it has the ability of negating damage-dealing effects from other cards, rendering burn decks useless. When synchro summoned, this card can also help players when their life points are below 4000, increasing them back to 4000, and by removing an equip spell card from the graveyard, can prevent its own destruction. Its only drawback is that between all six Signer Dragons, it is the most difficult to Synchro Summon, as it requires another Synchro monster, "Power Tool Dragon" as a Synchro Material.

Power Tool Dragon
Despite not a Signer Dragon by itself (it is actually a Machine type monster), it is indispensable to Synchro Summon Life Stream Dragon and it aids players who favors equip spells, as once per turn it can put randomly one among three equip spells from the deck on the player's hand and can prevent its own destruction when equipped with an equip spell, by sending the spell to the graveyard instead.

Red Dragon Archfiend
With the highest attack points among the Signer Dragons (3000 ATK), this monster, known as Red Demon's Dragon in Japan can tear down an enemy's defense instantly as when it attacks an opponent's defending monster, all defending monsters the opponent controls are destroyed. To counterbalance its devastating effect, it has the drawback of having other monsters you control destroyed at the end of the turn unless they are used to attack.

It also has a stronger Assault Mode, and can be tuned with Majestic Dragon and another monster to Synchro summon the even stronger Majestic Red Dragon. It can also be tuned with two tuner monsters to Synchro summon its most powerful version, the level 12 Red Nova Dragon (Scar-Red Nova Dragon in Japanese), a 3500 ATK monster, which gains 500 ATK for each tuner monster in the graveyard. The card is also immune to card destruction effects, and can negate an opponent's attack by removing itself from play, and returning to the field at the end of the turn.

It also has some support cards like Crimson Fire, which negates the effect of an opponent's spell or trap card that inflicts damage on the player and strikes the opponent with double of the prejudice

Shooting Quasar Dragon
A stronger version of Stardust Dragon, only Synchro Summoned with three or more Synchro monsters (one of them being also a tuner), it is a 4000 ATK/DEF level 12 monster that can attack multiple times and negate the effects of other cards once per turn. If removed from the field, all monsters in the field are destroyed and the player can still summon a Shooting Star Dragon from the extra deck.

Stardust Dragon
Considered one of the most useful Synchro monsters due to its ability to prevent cards on the field from being destroyed by having it tributed and returned to the field at the end of the turn allowing this effect to be used multiple times.

It also has a stronger Assault Mode, and can be tuned with Majestic Dragon and another monster to Synchro summon the even stronger Majestic Star Dragon. It can also be tuned with a Synchro/Tuner monster to Synchro summon another stronger version, the Shooting Star Dragon, a 3300 ATK monster that can attack multiple times during a turn, based on the number of tuner monster cards found among the top five cards in the deck. The card is also immune to card destruction effects once per turn, and can negate an opponent's attack by removing itself from play, and returning to the field at the end of the turn.

It also has some support cards like Starlight Road, a trap that prevents cards on the field from being destroyed, and allows the player to special summon a Stardust Dragon from the Extra Deck, and Stardust Xiaolong, a level 1 monster that can be special summoned from the graveyard when Stardust Dragon is Synchro Summoned, aiding the player to summon Majestic Star Dragon or Shooting Star Dragon.

Aliens
Aliens are a powerful series of reptile monsters introduced in "Power of the Duelist", "Cyberdark Impact", "Strike of Neos","Crimson Crisis" and other packs. Alien cards usually focus on using A-Counters which allow the user to use a variety of choices such as destruction, specific theft, revival and weakening a monster's attack.

Ancient Gears
Ancient Gear (Antique Gears in the original Japanese version) are a set of machine-type monsters used by Dr. Crowler in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. The cards can negate the effects of spells and traps that activate when an "ancient gear" attacks, giving them some layer of protection against common strategies. The cards are a reference to war machines used by the Holy Roman Empire that utilized gears. Though human or animal shaped in nature, most of the cards in the series feature a helmet similar to those worn by members of the Roman guard.

Arcana Force
A series of cards used by the principal antagonist of the second season of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, Sartorius. The cards are based on the Major Arcana tarot cards, reflecting Sartorius's ability to see the future. In the anime, the cards spin and their position when the spin ends(upright or upside down) determine their effects, with the former position always conferring positive effects while the latter confers negative. In the OCG and TCG, a coin flip is used instead.

Archfiends
Archfiends didn’t get their own classification until they started being printed as such. The term is mostly used in English language cards instead of the term, 'demon', in the Japanese cards. Monsters such as Terrorking Archfiend, Skull Archfiend of Lightning, Archfiend Soldier, Archfiend General and the Synchro Monsters Red Dragon Archfiend and Thought Ruler Archfiend' are part of this archetype. Some of the first of these cards were produced in a chess themed set, that had a chess board in the background of the artwork, and piece names in the card titles. These were released in the Dark Crisis and Dark Revelation booster packs. There was Terror King, Infernal Queen, Dark Bishop,Shadow Knight, Des Rook and Vile Pawn, respectively. This batch all pretty much required the use of a card called Pandemonium, the field card that lets the player use the Archfiends without paying life points, and even allow some Archfiends to be on the field (Archfiend General). All cards with Demon in their name in the original card game were retroactively classified as Archfiends in the English version. This caused problems, as no consistency of names had been established to replace Demon in the English version, so many cards without Archfiend in their name were classified as Archfiends. This was confusing, as such information wasn't to be found on the cards themselves. Some of these cards include Lesser Fiend, Axe of Despair, Summoned Skull, and Shadow Tamer. In Yu-Gi-Oh GX, a shadow duelist named Titan used an archfiend-oriented deck.

Blackwings
A dark-archetype of Winged Beasts used by Crow in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, known as "Black Feathers" in the Japanese version. They can easily Synchro summon as they utilize special summoning effects to swarm your opponent, thus increasing the total level of monsters. There are a lot of cards that work well with Blackwings like Icarus Attack and Swallows Nest. These cards allow you to destroy your opponents cards by tributing Winged Beasts and change your winged beasts. Example: Shura The Blue Flame. Attack and destroy a monster with Shura. Special summon Vayu with Shura's effect. Synchro Summon Vayu, whose effect of Synchroing in the Graveyard is negated, and Sirocco to get a Blackwing Armed Wing. Synchro Summon Vayu and Sirocco again in the Graveyard to get out another Blackwing Armed Wing, whose effect is negated. You now have two 2300 beaters, one with trample, on the field. Many duelists consider Blackwings to be quite overpowered due to their ability to be summoned easily and their effects that emulate teamwork between the cards. Cards like "Sirocco, the Dawn, for instance, who can pool the power of all Blackwings into a single monster are not just game winners but are in the vein of cards such as Ring of Destruction. Despite these complaints not much has been done on the part of Konami to limit Blackwing decks.

Chaos
A deck-archetype that ran rampant over all tournaments prior to the creation of the Forbidden List, it is 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 (commonly abbreviated to CED), 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 is of popular opinion among the best players in the game that Black Luster Soldier is the better card, for its 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 its effect while Sangan or Witch of the Black Forest was on their field by paying 1000 Life Points 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 inflicted Life Pointdamage 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 impossible for them to win, barring effect cards in their graveyard activating. 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. After Chaos Emperor Dragon and Black Luster Soldier were 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 its effect being a slightly weaker version of Black Luster Solder's but still being effective, Chaos Sorcerer quickly rose to being in the Top 8 decks for many tournaments until it too was banned. An update to the Forbidden list moved a new version of "Chaos Sorcerer" from the Forbidden status to Limited. The effect has been changed so that it cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. Chaos Sorcerer is currently Unlimited, meaning that players are allowed to have up to three copies of the card in their decks.power

Although Chaos as an archetype is now non-existent in competitive play, weaker versions of the Chaos monsters have been released such as Demise, King of Armageddon and Ruin, Queen of Oblivion. Various other monsters relying on summoning by removing cards in the graveyard from play are also commonly released, such as the Sky Scourges, two of which have abilities that mirror the abilities of Black Luster Soldier and Chaos Emperor Dragon. A new 8-star synchro monster named Chaos Goddess was released in a recent pack However, it is difficult to bring out, requiring a light-attribute tuner and two or more dark-attribute non-tuner monsters. By discarding a light monster from the hand, a dark monster that is level five or higher can be special summoned from the Graveyard, unless it specifically states it can't be.

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 and was played by the character Dimitri in the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX series, while he was using Yugi's stolen deck (although Yugi himself never used the card. Chaos Emperor Dragon was used by Kaiba against the character, Zigfried von Schroeder.

Charmers
Charmers, known in Japanese as Spirit Envoys, are a special archetype of Spellcaster-type monsters with a different Attribute in which they have power over. The Charmers compose of mostly girl Charmers, Aussa the Earth Charmer, Hiita the Fire Charmer, Wynn the Wind Charmer, Eria the Water Charmer, Lyna the Light Charmer and the only male Charmer Dharc the Dark Charmer. Charmers have the power to lure monsters of the corresponding Attribute to the Charmer's side of the field as long as that Charmer stays alive.

There are also Familiar-Possessed versions of Charmers (Aussa, Hiita, Wynn and Eria) that send the corresponding Charmer and monster of the same Attribute to the Graveyard for them to be Special Summoned. Once on the field, when Familiar-Possessed Charmers attack an opponent's monsters in Defense Mode, the difference is subtracted to the opponent's Life Points. At press time, there are no "Familiar-Possessed Lyna" and "Familiar-Possessed Dharc".

Powerful versions of Charmers can Special Summon from the player's hand a monster of the corresponding Attribute by tributing 1 monster of that same Attribute to the Graveyard. The only drawback is the monster successfully Summoned on the field goes to the Graveyard if that particular Charmer is destroyed. So far, the only powered-up Charmers are Avalanching Aussa, Blazing Hiita, Storming Wynn and Raging Eria. Lyna and Dharc have no powered-up versions of themselves yet.

Charmers also have Spiritual Arts Trap cards that can be activated by Tributing 1 monster of a particular Attribute. Different "Spiritual Arts" card have different effects.

Somewhat related to the Charmers are the Ritual Monster Elemental Mistress Doriado and the Ritual Spell Doriado's Blessing. When successfully Ritual Summoned, Doriado adds an EARTH, WIND, WATER and FIRE Attribute to her default LIGHT Attribute using Monster Effects, Spells and Traps from each of those Attributes. Some say Doriado is the teacher of the Charmers herself due to her Extra Attributes Effect.

Crystal Beasts
A set of cards belonging to Jesse Anderson in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX The Crystal Beasts (known as Gem Beasts in the Japanese version) were based on gemstones gathered from all over the world, and have the special ability to be treated as spell cards once they are destroyed, giving extra bonuses. From there, various support cards can be used to revive them. They have become stronger now that Jesse has retrieved the Rainbow Dragon; the trump card of the Crystal Beasts deck.

In the TCG, Crystal Beasts are able to quickly swarm the field using Crystal Beast Sapphire Pegasus and Crystal Blessing to amass Crystal Beasts in the spell/trap zones, then use Crystal Beacon and Crystal Beast Ruby Carbuncle to summon them all at once. Besides this, when four Crystal Beasts exist in the spell/trap zones, Crystal Abundance allows the player to send all cards on the field to the Graveyard and then summon a numbers of Crystal Beasts from the Graveyard equal to the number of cards sent from the opponents side of the field. When used in such a fashion, Crystal Beast decks can accomplish a one-turn kill.

Placing "Crystal Beasts" in the spell and trap zone also benefits the player when they have the field card "Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins" in play. This card carries several cumulative effects that may be activated depending on the number of "Crystal Beasts" that reside in the spell/trap zone. The effects are as follows: 1 card - "Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins" is immune from card destroying effects; 2 cards - you can halve the battle damage you take once per turn; 3 cards - negate the activation of a spell or trap by sending one "Crystal Beast" card you control to the graveyard; 4 cards - once per turn, during your main phase, draw one card; 5 cards - once per turn, during your main phase, special summon one "Crystal Beast" from your spell & trap zone.

Cyber Girls
This series of cards are used by Alexis Rhodes from Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. The monsters are all female monsters themed on dancing-related sports or ballet, such as Etoile Cyber, Blade Skater, Cyber Blader, Cyber Tutu, Cyber Gymnast and Cyber Prima. Their effects range from direct attack, card destruction, attack power increasing and not being destroyed by battle, depending on the monster. They were introduced in the third episode of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, titled A Duel In Love, in which Alexis brought out Cyber Blader, a fusion monster.

The background behind each of the Cyber Girls are all designed the same. As a result of these backgrounds you can tell the card is a Cyber Girl. They can be found in the Elemental Energy and Enemy of Justice expansions.

Dark Scorpions
This archetype of cards are all DARK-Attribute Warrior-type monsters. The Dark Scorpions are loosely based on the Robin Hood legend, but some fans speculate the Dark Scorpions are reminiscent of Pokemon's Team Rocket or Dragonball Z's Ginyu Force. The Dark Scorpions consist of their charismatic leader Don Zaloog and his friends Dark Scorpion - Gorg the Strong, Dark Scorpion - Meanae the Thorn, Cliff the Trap Remover, and Dark Scorpion - Chick the Yellow. When any or all the Dark Scorpions cause Battle Damage to an opponent, their Effects can cause serious damage against that opponent.

When Don Zaloog is out and the card Mustering of the Dark Scorpions is activated, any Dark Scorpion monster is automatically summoned onto the field. Dark Scorpion Combination is a Trap that allows all 5 Dark Scorpions on the field to attack the opponent directly and cause him/her to lose 2000 Life Points (400 for each Dark Scorpion), and activate their Effects for added damage. Additionally, Meanae the Thorn can look for any card with "Dark Scorpion" in its name (or Cliff the Trap Remover) in either the Deck or Graveyard and add it to the player's hand, including Dark Scorpion Combination.

Dark World
This archetype of cards are all Dark-Attribute Fiend-type.This card's special ability is to Special summon themselves (or activate there effect's in the Graveyard ) when they are discard by a card effect.This card are really good when are combined with cards that help discard card's from your hand, like Card destruction,Dark World Lightning , Morphing Jar and others.There are some support card's from this deck , including , in June 18 , the new Starter deck Devil's Gate ( release in Japan 18 June ).

Destiny Heroes
A series of DARK-attribute Warriors, these are the trademark cards used by Aster Phoenix (Edo Phoenix in the Japanese version), introduced in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. They are considered counterpart cards of protagonist Jaden's Elemental Heroes, and possess abilities pertaining to 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 (Diamondguy), Doom Lord (Devilguy), Dreadmaster (Dreadguy), Captain Tenacious (Diehardguy), Blade Master (Daggerguy) and Dogma (Dogmaguy). Many are based on various anti-heroes of British literature (such as Double Dude being a reference to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, in contrast to American superhero-based Elemental Heroes). 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),Dread Servant,Darkangel (lacking the "Guy" suffix), and the Final D, which is the fusion of D-Heroes Dogma Guy and Bloo-D, also known as Dragon D-End(Destiny End Dragon).

Destiny Heroes served as a playable deck type, particularly while Elemental Hero Stratos was unrestricted. 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". Beyond this, a decktype known as "Diamond Dude Turbo" (abbreviated DDT) also exists, 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. "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. Another type of Destiny Hero deck is known as "Perfect Circle", which revolves around Destiny Hero - Disk Commander. By using cards like Destiny Draw and Foolish Burial to discard Disk Commander, players can then revive it continuously using Destiny Hero - Fear Monger, among other cards, and draw two cards every time Disk Commander is special summoned from the graveyard, allowing them to accumulate large hands with ease.

Earthbound Immortals
Known as Earthbound Gods (jibakushin) in the Japanese version, Earthbound Immortals are powerful monsters used by the Dark Signers in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's. Each of them represents one of the Nazca Lines which, in the anime, are powerful beasts that threatened the world 10,000, and 5,000 years ago. When summoned, they absorb souls, and negative energy in order to give them power. Earthbound Immortals are particularly powerful in that they have the ability to attack the player directly and can not be chosen as an attack target, although the anime often introduces scenarios in which they can attack monsters and be attacked themselves. Also in the anime, they are immune to traps that directly effect them. They require a field spell to be active in order to be summoned, and they are destroyed if the field spell is destroyed (in the anime, this simply negates their effects.) There are eight Earthbound Immortal monsters, one for each Dark Signer, Uru (Roman Goodwin), Ccapac Apu (Kalin Kessler), Cusillu (Devak), Ccarayhua (Misty Tredwell), Aslla Piscu (Carly Carmine), Chacu Challua (Greiger) and Wiraqocha Rasca (Rex Goodwin). There is also an eighth Earthbound God in the anime series,Scar-Red Nova, whose servant tried to subjulgate Jack Atlas to make of him a vessel to its rebirth, but Jack managed to absorb the god's powers instead to create his Red Nova Dragon.

Elemental Heroes
Elemental Heroes are the trademark of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX main protagonist, Jaden Yuki, as well as being the supporting cards for the Destiny Heroes belonging to Aster Phoenix (Edo Phoenix in Japanese). Elemental Hero decks rely heavily on fusion so as to gain the power to control the situation, as the basic Elemental Heros are weak on their own. Many (if not all) Elemental Heros also have their own specialized support cards that have been released in later booster packs. Some of which in recent releases have been Elemental hero Stratos (CT07), Elemental Hero Ocean (Re-print)(CT07) and Elemental Hero Ice Edge (STOR). There is supposedly a new field spell yet to come for them called "Elemental Sanctuary" but this is unconfirmed and has been said to be most likely a OCG exclusive if it comes out at all. Some Elemental Heros Require what is called "Contact Fusion" and all materials and the special summoned monster are returned to there respective decks.

Several well-known Elemental Heroes monsters are the basic Clayman, Sparkman, Burstinatrix(Burst Lady), Bubbleman, Avian(Featherman), Neos, Bladedge(Edgeman), Stratos(Airman),Necroshade,Prisma, and Wildheart(Wildman), and the fusions Flame Wingman, Shining Flare Wingman, Tempest, Magma Neos, Chaos Neos, Glow Neos, Storm Neos, Neos Wiseman, Marine Neos, Mariner(Sailorman), Plasma Vice, Dark Bright, Mudball Man, Thunder Giant, Rampart Blaster(Rampart Gunner), Electrum, Wildedge, and Divine Neos(God Neos). In the manga, Jaden mainly uses a different set of Elemental Heroes, including Woodsman, Stratos, and Ocean, and his key card Terra Firma(The Earth), given to him by Koyo Hibiki. Similar to Neos, Terra Firma can gain additional forms by sacrificing another Elemental Hero on the field, and after absorbing another Elemental Hero, he becomes Terra Firma Magma.

In addition, there exist "Evil Heroes", dark-attribute versions of certain Elemental Heroes that gain additional effects, which are more destructive. One of these cards is Elemental Hero Darkbright which is a fusion monster.

Fortune Ladies
This Archetype was first introduced in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's. The "Fortune Ladies" were used by Carly Carmine as a Dark Signer. These "Fortune Ladies" gain anywhere from 200 to 400 attack points during the player's Standby Phase and have unique effects that include draw power, special summoning, spell/trap/monster removal, and inflicting effect damage. The Fortune Ladies are Fortune Lady Water, Fortune Lady Fire, Fortune Lady Earth, Fortune Lady Light, Fortune Lady Dark, and Fortune Lady Wind. A monster that supports Fortune Ladies is Solitaire Magician.

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 and Machina Mayhem Structure Decks.

They were notably used by Yugi Moto in the Ceremonial Duel against Atem in the last episodes of Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters.

Gadgets are a mildly well known set, due to their effects and appearance in the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime series. 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, Widespread Ruin, Dimensional Prison, Bottomless Trap Hole and Royal Oppression. The card known as Elemental Hero - Stratos (E. Hero Airman) tended to neutralize the use of Gadgets this way. Stratos has recently been limited to one copy in play, allowing Gadget use to thrive again.

Gemini Monsters
Gemini Monsters (known as Dual Monsters in the OCG) are a subtype of Effect Monster. They have effects, but these effects must be "unlocked" by performing an additional Normal Summon on them while they are face-up on the field (known in the OCG as a Second Summon). Until then, they are treated as Normal Monsters on the field and in the graveyard. You can not special summon Gemini's from the hand or the deck by abilities that supports normal monsters, like "Ancient Rules", because they still count as Effect monsters while in the hand and Deck. However, since they count as Normal monsters while they are in the Graveyard, they benefit greatly from the many support cards that allow Normal Monsters to be summoned back from the Graveyard, like "Birthright". All Gemini Monsters to date are treated as Normal Monsters while they are face-up on the field before being Gemini Summoned, or while they are in the Graveyard. If they exist anywhere else, they are treated as Effect Monsters.

The process of Gemini Summoning a Gemini Monster (that is being treated as a Normal Monster by its effect) is just the same as performing any other Normal Summon, except that the monster is already on the field and you don't have to Tribute monsters for Gemini Monsters of Level 5 or above. You cannot Gemini Summon a Gemini Monster that has already been Gemini Summoned (and is still considered to have been Gemini Summoned). Once a Gemini Monster has been Gemini Summoned, it is then treated as an Effect Monster and it gains the effect(s) written on it.

In order to Gemini summon you must normal summon the Gemini monster again but if you do this you can not normal summon a monster in the same turn you do this in. While this entire process seems very troublesome to go through for just one monster, note that Gemini monsters usually have extremely powerful effects, often without a drawback. The Gemini Monsters were initially released in Tactical Evolution, with more released in Gladiator's Assault, Phantom Darkness, Light of Destruction, Structure Deck 17: Warrior's Strike and Stardust Overdrive Booster Pack.

Gladiator Beasts
This series of cards was released in the Gladiator's Assault booster pack and is based 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 Gladiator Beast in the TCG is Gladiator Beast Heraklinos with 3000 ATK Points. These 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 3 fusions have 1 card from your hand; this effect does not have a limit so it can be use multiple times. Other Gladiator Beasts include Gladiator Beast Murmillo, Gladiator Beast Bestiari,Gladiator Beast Hoplomus and others. Usually, one card or more comes in a pack to support this Deck. 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 to be confirmed if this series of cards will be shown in the Anime series. Of all the deck types used in tournament gameplay, this is one of the most well-known and powerful. It is also one of the few deck types which all cards in the series are unlimited (With the exception of Gladiator Beast Bestiari being limited).

Harpie Lady
The Harpie Lady cards were made famous by the anime character Mai Valentine. They are all winged-beast cards of the wind attribute. They are cards based on the Harpies in Greek mythology. However instead of appearing as ugly, they are quite beautiful. The monsters include Harpie Lady, Cyber Harpie Lady, Harpie Queen, Harpie Girl, Harpie Lady Sisters, and Harpie's Brother. Support cards include Elegant Egotist, Triangle Ecstasy Spark, and Harpie's Hunting Ground (making the Harpies one of the few archetypes to have their own specific field spell). Their support monsters, Harpie's Pet Baby Dragon and Harpie's Pet Dragon attack points and special abilities are increased by the Harpie Lady monsters. Harpies combine the ability to be rapidly summoned, to destroy the opponent's cards, and to increase each other's attack and defense points. Properly played, Harpies can overwhelm the opponent in moments with high attack power and powerful effects, but they are individually not too strong, so they are vulnerable to opponents who Summon strong single Monsters early to whittle down the number of Harpies on the field.

Infernity
An archetype used by Kalin Kessler in the 5d's anime series, which include a handful of DARK type monsters possessing strong effects which can only be activated when the player has no cards in hand. An advantage of this archetype is that it includes cards whose effects are activated in field, at hand, in the deck or graveyard. However, most Infernity monsters have weak ATK and DEF and the necessity of having an empty hand leaves the player with fewer options to defend himself in the case of a predicament. In the U.S. version of the series their name are changed to "Infernality".

In the current TCG/OCG format, the Infernity Loop is a rather powerful play. By setting up a hand with no cards, players use infernity launcher to special summon Infernity Archfiend and Infernity Necromancer. Then use Archfiend's effect to get launcher from the deck. Set that launcher and use Necromancer's effect to special summon a tuner (infernity revenger or beetle). This allows the player to special summon either 3 either level 8 or 9 synchros. Popular choice would be, Stardust Dragon, Scrap Dragon, Mist Wurm, Trishula Dragon of the Ice Barrier, and Infernity Doom Dragon.

Jurracs
The Jurracs, also known as Juraks in OCG, are notably the only dinosaur archetype to date in the game. All are FIRE attribute monsters whose gameplay revolves around quickly getting a boost in their attack and being place as beatsticks in the early game. As most of the decks the Jurracs are able to play sychro monsters, in fact, they have their own synchros such as Jurrac Giganoto. The dinosaur thematic of the Jurrac monsters makes references to some species as their appearances and name seem to be strongly based on them.

Lightsworns
Known as Lightlords in the OCG. A series of LIGHT monsters who's effects are based on sending cards from the top of your Deck to the Graveyard, whether it be for a cost of a particular card or the effect of a Lightsworn monster. Due to the speed at which this archetype depletes the number of cards in your deck, running out of cards and decking out is always a risk. However, many of the Lightsworns are built for speed and ending the game quickly. In addition, the deck has a boss monster known as Judgment Dragon, which can basically reset the field and strike for heavy amounts of damage. If built correctly, sending cards from the top of your deck to the graveyard each turn will help the player much more than hurt him, and Lightsworn can be a deadly, and often frustrating, deck to be paired off against.

A way to counter this is to use a removal deck, 'Dimensional Fissure' is useful because any cards sent to the graveyard are removed from play instead. This prevents Lightsworns from sending cards from the top of their deck to the graveyard.

Macro Removal
This deck is based on the combined effects of cards such as Macro Cosmos, Dimensional Fissure or Banisher of the Radiance with the effect of D.D. Survivor which allows you to special summon it during the end phase of the turn it was removed from your side of the field.

This deck aims to destroy any graveyard-based strategy and also gives you advantage over standard decks. A common variant of this deck is the Macro-Monarch Deck, focusing on the effect of D.D. Survivor to tribute it for the tribute summon of the Monarchs, then special summoning the tributed D.D. Survivor again during the end phase.

Cards such as D.D. Scout Plane, Cyber Valley, Chaos End, Different Dimension Reincarnation and Return from the Different Dimension are also used in this deck.

Monarchs
The Monarchs, also named Emperors in the OCG, is an Archetype of high-level monsters (all monarchs are level 6 with the exception of Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, who is level 5) with 2400 attack points, 1000 defense points and an effect triggered when they are tribute summoned. The Monarchs were initially released in Ancient Sanctuary (AST) with Zaborg the Thunder Monarch. Single monarchs have been released in the following sets:

Zaborg the Thunder Monarch (AST), Mobius the Frost Monarch (SOD), Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch (RDS), Granmarg the Rock Monarch (FET), Raiza the Storm Monarch (FOTB) Delg the Dark Monarch (STBL) and Caius the Shadow Monarch (SDDE). The "Four Elemental" Monarchs are used in the anime by the "Light Brigade" led by Sarina, Sartorius' sister. This arc depicts four duelists who each use decks based around their Monarch's elemental inclination (Ice, Thunder, Fire, Earth). The Monarch Deck is a very popular deck theme in the TCG, 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 Battle Fader, Cyber Dragon, Treeborn Frog, Brain Control and Soul Exchange.

Machina
The Machina archetype started March 2009 when the Machina Mayhem structure deck was released. Its main focus is Machina Fortress. The deck uses searching monsters such as Machina Gearframe and Machina Peacekeeper to add Machinas to your hand, allowing you to summon Machina Fortress. The deck's key cards are all found in the structure deck, making it a good deck for beginners. The Machina archetype itself has fared fairly well in tournaments, particularly for a deck that has been given so little support.

Machina's are very consistent. Machina Mayhem is very strong, focusing on having union monsters to power up your monsters and protect them, then destroying you opponent with Machina Fortress, Machina Force, and The Big Saturn. It is recommended to buy at least three, combining the good cards to make a unbeatable, championship-worth deck. This deck is one of the best structure decks out there. it's fairly cheap and easy to use, so it's perfect for beginners.

Malefic
Known as SIN Monsters in Japanese Ver. This were used by Paradox in Yu-Gi-Oh! 3D: Bonds Beyond Time. During the movie, Paradox steals monsters from various characters from the various series, and plays dangerous 'Malefic' versions of them. They are special summoned by removing their counterparts in the Deck or Extra Deck from play. Similar to Earthbound Immortals, they require a field spell to be in play and to remain on the field. The Malefic Monsters Paradox possesses are Malefic Stardust Dragon, Malefic Cyber End Dragon, Malefic Rainbow Dragon, Malefic Blue Eyes White Dragon and Malefic Red Eyes Black Dragon. Outside of the monsters he had stolen, Paradox has his own personal Malefic monsters, Malefic Parallel Gear, Malefic Paradox Dragon and Malefic Truth Dragon.

Meklords
Known as "Machine Emperors" in the Japanese version and used in the 5D's anime series by the "Three Emperors of Yliaster" and their combined form, Aporia. While in the anime series some Meklords are composed of five different monsters that combine into one single form, in the real game each Meklord is one single card. Some single traits of all Meklords is that they can only be summoned in the field by following a specific condition and most of them have the ability of take control of the opponents' Synchro monsters to empower themselves. Some Meklords also possess some special independent effects that put them in advantage even against players who do not use Synchro Monsters at all.

Morphtronics
Morphtronics, known as Deformers in the Japanese versions, are an Archetype of monsters debuting in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's. They are used by Leo in the anime, and were introduced in the Set "Crossroads of Chaos". They're continued in the sets, Crimson Crisis and Raging Battle. Their effects are dictated by their Battle Position.

They are depicted in how they "morph" when they change their Battle Position, which changes their effect and appearance (humanoid form in Attack Position; item form in Defense Position). They transform into small household items, like magnets and mobile phones. Despite their appearances, Morphtronics are not all Machine type monsters and they also represent a wide array of Attributes. These cards may be based on the entire Transformers toyline that are still very popular.

Morphtronics are low in Level and have low ATK and DEF, but often have effects that can rapidly boost their collective power. Because of their low levels they benefit from cards such as Gravity Bind or Morphtronic Bind and Level Limit - Area B. They also benefit from Light of Intervention so that they can be Normal Summoned in face-up Defense Position.

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. They were designed by Jaden, printed by Kaiba, and sent into space (where Jaden later finds them) in order to share the game with alien life. The ideas which led to their creation, while appearing to simply be the overactive mind of a childhood Jaden, are in reality linked to his past life as the King of Neo Space. Their unique ability, other than their effect, is that they can evoke Contact Fusions with Elemental Hero Neos, upgrading his form with their power, without using Polymerization. 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. Each Neo-Spacian has a "Chrysalis" version of itself that acts as an aide to summoning them.

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 Magma Neos, Chaos Neos and Storm Neos.

Neos also has forms created using regular Fusion methods: Rainbow Neos, a fusion with Rainbow Dragon; and Elemental Hero Divine Neos, which is a fusion of Neos and all six Neo-Spacians in the anime. In the TCG, it is a fusion of Neos, at least one other Elemental Hero, at least one Neo-Spacian and two other monsters, which can be Elemental Heroes, Neo-Spacians, Destiny Heroes or Evil Heroes. Despite having weak stats for a level 12 monster (2500 ATK & DEF), by removing one of the aforemented monsters from the graveyard, Divine Neos gains 500 extra ATK and the effect of the monster removed for the rest of the turn.

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-related cards that have been limited.

Nordic
An archetype used by Team Ragnarok in the 5D's anime series composed of cards inspired in the Norse mythology whose main strategy is aiding in the summoning of one of the Aesir, three powerful Synchro Monsters with devastating effects. Each of the Aesir can only be Synchro Summoned with one of its correspondent Tuners, Nordic Beasts for "Thor, Lord of the Aesir", Nordic Alfars for "Loki, Lord of the Aesir" and Nordic Ascendants for "Odin, Father of the Aesir". There are also spell and trap cards excusive for the use of Nordic and Aesir monsters.

Numbers
A type of Xyz Monster that is a major part of the story in the Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal anime series. In the anime, the 99 Numbers cards are pieces of the spirit Astral's memories, which begin to possess other duelists. Astral teams up with Yuma Tsukumo to battle those duelists with Numbers cards, earning the card upon victory and Numbers can only be destroyed in battle by other Numbers. The most prevelant Numbers in the series is Yuma's key card, "No. 39 Utopia".

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. In the English version, Ojama Yellow has a high-pitched, falsetto voice, while Ojama Black and Ojama Green have voices similar to Moe and Curly of The Three Stooges.

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 two fusions, 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, such as Ancient Gear Golem.

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). 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.

Recently, new Ojama cards Ojama Red and Ojama Blue have been released, as well as a support Field Spell Ojama Country in the booster pack Raging Battle.

Sacred Beasts
The Sacred Beasts (三幻魔) 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, Armityle, the Chaos Phantom, although its design and role differ greatly from the combined form of the God Cards. These monsters reflect the Egyptian God Cards; Slifer the Sky Dragon, Winged Dragon of Ra & Obelisk the Tormentor. However, unlike the Egyptian God Cards, Sacred Beast Cards are not directly immune to trap, spell and monster effect cards.

The Six Samurai
The Six Samurai are a series of Warrior-type monsters that debuted in Strike of Neos, with further support included in   Gladiator's Assault. Their names include "The Six Samurai" or "Shien". They rely on having multiple Six Samurai on the field to use their effects, and as such a Deck revolving around them is often based on swarming the field.

The "Six Samurai" monsters consist of the original six, as well as their allies and masters. "Shien" cards are supported by this theme, "Great Shogun Shien" seeming to be the warlord they serve. The overall theme seems to be futuristic, while in some form drawing inspiration from feudal Japan.

The basic Six Samurai monsters (the initial '6ay') all have the effect "If this card would be destroyed you can destroy another "Six Samurai" monster you control instead" and also "While you control another "Six Samurai" monster with a different name, this card can... " meaning that their effects only activate when another "Six Samurai" monster is on the field.

Toons
"Toons" are a set of monsters utilized by Duel Monsters creator Maximillion Pegasus (Pegasus J. Crawford in the original version) throughout the series. The cards are unavailable to other duelists in the anime, as Pegasus himself owns the only copies. The cards consist of "cartoon" version of other monsters, including Blue-Eyes White Dragon. The cards are generally immune to damage by monsters, but are destroyed if their "Toon World" support card is removed from the field. Pegasus uses the monsters in almost all of his duels, including his appearance in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX

The monsters, albeit with watered-down effects, were released early in the real card game's history. The cards are parodies of depictions of characters in American cartoons. Some examples of Toon cards are Toon Alligator, Toon cannon soldier , Blue eyes Toon Dragon.

Synchrons Warriors
"Warriors" are a set of Warrior-type cards most commonly used by Yusei Fudo in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's. In most duels, Yusei would start off with Speed Warrior, whose attack doubles on the turn it is summoned. Four of his Warrior cards, Junk Warrior, Turbo Warrior, Nitro Warrior and Road Warrior, are Synchro Monsters at levels 5, 6, 7 and 8 respectively. Similarly, he has 4 matching "Synchron" monsters, Junk Synchron, Turbo Synchron, Nitro Synchron and Road Synchron, that he uses for Synchro summoning, often using the respective Tuner for each Synchro Monster. These monsters often have effects that support the summoning of Synchro Material Monsters. Most of his Warriors are speed-themed, with designs based on vehicles and car parts. Other Warriors and Synchrons in Yusei's deck includes Max Warrior, Junk Archer, Level Warrior, Turret Warrior, Fortress Warrior, Shield Warrior and Quickdraw Synchron. The monsters Drill Warrior and Drill Synchron were created by a viewer in a contest held by the anime. So far the only Synchro monster in this archetype is the level 2 Synchro/Tuner monster Formula Synchron that allows the player to draw one extra card when synchro summoned.

T.G.
T.G., short for Tech Genus is an archetype used by Bruno in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's. They are all bionic in appearance to reference the identity of their master. It consist of monsters who can "replace" themselves with different monsters when they're destroyed. Most of the non-Synchro monsters search for other T.G. monsters besides ones that share their name. Some T.G. Synchro monsters can only be summoned with other Synchro monsters as materials.

Vehicroids
"Vehicroids"(Commonly known as just "roids") are a set of Machine Cards used by Syrus Truesdale in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. Roids are weak in terms of ATK since their level 6 monsters don't have over 1600 ATK. Roids are also a set of cards whose artwork are cartoonish and are based on some sort of Machine in real life (Example: Truckroid or Steamroid). Some of the roids strongest cards are Armoroid, Super Vehicroid - Stealth Union, Super Vehicroid Jumbo Drill, and UFOroid fighter. In fact the warrior on the UFO in UFOroid Fighter is Elemental Hero Tempest in which can have the ATK of this card to 4000. Roids have many support cards in which turn Forbidden Cards into Unforbidden cards here. For Example Monster Reincarnation and Ambulanceroid special summon the monster instead of returning it to your hand. These cards have a lot of combos. For example the Decoyroid lock, which is made of Decoyroid, Ambulanceroid, Rescueroid, and Cyber Summon Blaster against a Deck where you must attack ensure a guaranteed win. This Deck purely relies on strategy.

All the "roids" are Ambulanceroid, Decoyroid, Cycroid, Rescueroid, Carrierroid, Expressroid, Truckroid, Kiteroid, Jetroid, Patroid, Armoroid, Submarineroid, Steamroid, Gyroid, Drillroid, Stealthroid, UFOroid, Shuttleroid, Steam Gyroid, Ambulance Rescueroid, Super Vehicroid - Stealth Union, Super Vehicroid Jumbo Drill, UFOroid Fighter, Pair Cycroid, Supercharge, Wonder Garage, and Vehicroid Connection Zone.

Wicked God Cards
The Wicked Gods (邪神), 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 have been released in 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 Wicked Dreadroot" and "The Wicked Eraser" were released in the TCG in Wave 1 of the 2010 Collector's Tins.

In terms of the anime, the founding of these cards are hidden 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.

Worms
These Worms are a series of LIGHT Attribute Reptile-Type monsters, which focus heavily upon Flip Effects. Visually, they resemble hideous alien creatures of a predominant single color, and often possess lipless toothy vertical mouths. They were introduced in Duel Terminal - Synchro Awakening!! and have their own set, Duel Terminal - Invasion of Worms!. They are a very well developed set that yet has been used by players in tournaments and contests. Story wise, it might be the Worms are invading and attacking Hero City. In the artwork of Worm Zero it is possible to see what looks like Hero City underneath Zero as it comes down from the sky.

X-Sabers
X-Sabers are an earth-based archetype of monsters. They can give you quick field advantage based on the special summon effects of their monsters and support cards. This deck also features many tuner monsters which allow you to quickly synchro summon any Synchro monster or any X-Saber Synchro monster such as XX-Saber Gottoms or XX-Saber Hyunlei.

Cards such as XX-Saber Faultroll or XX-Saber Boggart Knight allow you to easily swarm your opponent. Example: When you control no monsters, Special Summon XX-Saber Gardestrike, then normal summon XX-Saber Boggart Knight and use its effect to special summon XX-Saber Fulhelmknight, then Special Summon from your hand XX-Saber Faultroll and use its effect to Special Summon another LV4 or lower X-Saber monster to get 5 monsters in one single turn. A known broken combo is the X-Saber Faultroll + XX-Saber Ragigura loop. This loop consists in special summoning X-Saber Ragigura, then adding by its effect one XX-Saber Faultroll from your graveyard to your hand, then special summoning that XX-Saber Faultroll, then tributing XX-Saber Ragigura by the effect of XX-Saber Gottoms/Mass Driver (depending if you want to discard or burn your opponent)and then special summoning XX-Saber Ragigura again with the effect of one XX-Saber Faultroll, adding from your graveyard another XX-Saber Faultroll, the tributing both XX-Saber Faultroll and X-Saber Ragigura, special summoning XX-Saber Ragigura again and continuing in the same order until you discard your opponent's entire hand or lower your opponent's LP to 0.

This is a powerful deck, often featuring in top eight decklists. There are also powerful support cards such as Saber Slash which allows you to destroy a number of face-up cards equal to the number of face-up X-Saber monsters you control or Gottoms Emergency Call which allows you to special summon two X-Saber monsters from your graveyard if you control a face-up X-Saber monster.