Play Yu

Banish (Japanese: Jogai, lit. "exclude"), known as remove from play prior to the Problem-Solving Card Text, is a term used to describe the act of putting a card away from the game. Banished cards are not in any particular zone. Cards can only be banished by a card that uses the word "Banish" (or older terms).

Because banished cards are not in any particular zone, a player can place their banished cards anywhere in the play area that is not a zone. They are typically placed either above or to the right of the Graveyard Zone, or just under the field (directly in front of the player). Most video games place it to the right or above of the Graveyard.

Mechanics

Banishing a card(s) causes them to leave the field, and is stacked face-up (by default, unless stated otherwise) in a special pile outside the playing field. These face-up cards, and the total number of Banished cards are Public knowledge. Banishing a card also does not specify the place the card(s) will end up.

If a Token Monster(s) would be banished, it simply disappears, and is not stacked with banished cards.

Banished cards cannot be destroyed. Returning a banished card to the Graveyard is not considered to be sending that card to the Graveyard, and can be done even if a card like "Dimensional Fissure" is active.

Banishing Face-down

In addition to normal face-up banishes, several cards can banish cards face-down. Cards banished face-down are not public knowledge, and any of its properties cannot be specified.

Cards banished face-down can only be looked at by its possessor, but the number of banished face-down cards owned by either player is still public knowledge. They are also unaffected by cards that specify properties of the banished card, other than the card that banished it.

Token Monsters cannot be banished face-down, and cannot be targeted with such Effects.

If a card is banished face-down, it cannot activate its own "Leaves the field" effect.

Temporary Banish

A Temporary banish can be identified with a timing statement directly behind the word "banish", telling when to return the card. Returning a banished card(s) to the field does not start a chain.

If a temporarily banished card will not be able to return to the field, due to having no appropriate open zone to place in, or is prevented (such as by "Prohibition"), then it will be placed in the Graveyard when it would return.

If a card controlled by a player that is not its owner is temporarily banished by a card like "Interdimensional Matter Transporter", it will be in the owner'spossession, but it will return to the player who control it when it was banished. However, if the effect that gave temporary control of that card to the opponent is no longer active, it will then return to the original owner.^[1]

If a card would be banished when it leaves the field is temporarily banished by another card effect, it will not return to the field when it should.

If an effect that banishes temporarily targets a face-down card, the target will be banished face-down, and will return to the field face-down.

Info on cards affected by Temporary Banish

When a card stops being face-up, in this case, because of being temporarily banished, it will lose some specific information/applications on it.^[2]

Info lost

• Whether if it was placed on the field by specific method or not (Special Summoned by certain effect, Tributing a certain monster for Tribute Summon, etc).
• Any previously applied effects.

Info not lost

Monster cards

• Material used for its Summon.
• Its time of Summon.
• Its place before being Summoned.

History

Originally, there were few cards which could banish other cards (called "remove from play" at the time), with some of the first being "Soul Release" and "Banisher of the Light". The first card to recover banished cards was "Miracle Dig".

However, over time, banishing cards has become a popular theme with several cards to go with it (such as Chaos and "D.D." cards). In turn, more cards were created to bring banished cards back, including "D.D.M. - Different Dimension Master", "Dimension Fusion", "Dimension Explosion", "Burial from a Different Dimension", and "Leviair the Sea Dragon".

In the Problem-Solving Card Text update, "remove from play" was renamed "banish". This was both to make card text easier to understand and to distinguish it from the similarly-named "removed from the field", which was renamed "leaves the field" in the same update for this reason.^[3]

Thematically, cards which banish tend to either imply that the card's soul is being removed (e.g. "Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer", "Bazoo the Soul Eater") or are sent to another dimension (e.g. the "D.D." series).

While the location that banished cards are placed does not have an official name, official sources occasionally refer to it as the Banished Zone^[4] or banished pile^[5] (removed zone^[6] or removed from play pile^[7] prior to the Problem-Solving Card Text update), despite it not being a zone. These terms are never used in card texts or official ruling materials; cards in this location are simply referred to as "banished cards".

Deck theme

Since many Decks rely on the Graveyard, Decks that rely on the effects of "Dimensional Fissure", "Macro Cosmos", "Banisher of the Light", and "Banisher of the Radiance" have grown in power. Being able to shut down an opponents Graveyard plus having "D.D. Survivor", an 1800 ATK monster that keeps returning every time it's banished while face-up, have shown themselves to be powerful Decks. "D.D. Scout Plane" is also incredibly useful in these Decks: if it is banished from your hand or Deck, it will be Special Summoned. The main weakness of these Decks is the fact that it is not difficult to remove the card that banishes other cards, and cards like "Imperial Iron Wall" and "Chaos Hunter" counter such Decks with ease.

Structure Deck: Advent of the Emperor/The Dark Emperor Structure Deck revolves around banishing.

Anime

In Yu-Gi-Oh!, if a Duel Disk is connected to a Dueling Arena, the banished cards were put where the Graveyard Zone of the Dueling Arena is. If not, the banished cards were placed in the Duelist's pockets.

In Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, cards being banished are depicted as being sucked into a black vortex.

In Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL, monsters being banished or Special Summoned while banished sometimes enter in and emerge from portals identical to the Graveyard's one, but green.

In Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V, cards banished from the Graveyard disintegrate with a vortex, cards banished from the field disintegrate and scatter, and cards banished from the hand disintegrate into a purple sphere. However, it is unclear where these cards are kept in a duel disk.

In Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS, cards banished from the GY are disintegrated within a high-tech-appearing vortex interface.

References

1. ↑Konami. Yu-Gi-Oh! Official Card Game - Perfect Rulebook 2015. p. 45. https://ygorganization.com/perfectrulebook/.
2. ↑https://ygorganization.com/learnrulingspart13/
3. ↑Tewart, Kevin (May 23, 2011). "Problem-Solving Card Text, Part 2: New Words & Phrases". Konami. https://yugiohblog.konami.com/articles/?p=2915. Retrieved July 28, 2011.
4. ↑YCS Mexico City: Top 8 Feature Match: Ismael Campos Altamirano vs. Salvador Molina Ochoa
5. ↑Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME » Round 5 Feature Match: Astro Marc Hahn vs. Botanist Willie Newsome
6. ↑Public Event Prize Card Playoffs Semifinal: Jack Hoyt VS Matthew Abrams
7. ↑Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME » Round 6 Feature Match: William Erker vs. David Sanville

Attention, duelists! You may remember the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game from the Before Days of 2002, but if you’re reading this guide, you’re probably wondering: what ever happened to that old game? Surprisingly, it’s only gotten more popular, so there's no better time to learn how to play the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG for beginners and returning fans alike.

How to play Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG

Tournament attendance records are broken every year and, because publisher Konami continually releases both support for the decks of yesteryear and all-new playstyles, it’s never been easier to build a Yu-Gi-Oh! deck you enjoy and find people to play with.

Whether you’re a total novice or a returning duelist who could use a refresher, this guide to learning how to play the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG will get you up to speed with the basics of the trading card game.

How to play Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG

The Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG is played in turns that follow a specific order of operations. To begin a duel, the decks are shuffled and each player draws an opening hand of five cards. Here’s a breakdown of the flow of a player turn.

Draw Phase: The first thing you do every turn is draw a card. The one exception is the first turn of the player who goes first, who doesn’t draw anything.

Standby Phase: This is when some card effects activate, as indicated by the cards’ text.

Main Phase 1: In this phase, you make most of your non-combat actions. These include the normal summon/set of one monster (in face-up attack position or face-down defense position respectively), any special summons you are allowed, the activation/setting of spells and traps, and changing battle positions of your monsters, including flip-summoning facedown defending monsters into the face-up attack position.

Battle Phase: This is where the magic happens. Each monster in attack position gets to attack once. When you attack, you compare your Atk value to the opponent’s Atk or Def value, whichever is relevant. Battle can go one of a few ways.

Main Phase 2: Just the same as Main Phase 1, preparing for your opponent’s turn.

End Phase: This is when some card effects activate, which you’ll see in the cards’ text. If you have more than six cards in your hand, discard until you have six.

How do you attack in Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG?

Attacking a monster in attack position

• You attack a weaker monster in attack position: You destroy the monster and do damage directly to the opponent equal to the difference.
• You attack a monster of an equal strength in attack position: Both monsters are destroyed.
• You attack a stronger monster in attack position: Your monster is destroyed and you take damage equal to the difference.

Attacking a monster in defence position

• You attack a weaker monster in defence position: You destroy their monster.
• You attack a monster of an equal strength in defence position: Nothing happens.
• You attack a stronger monster in defence position: You take damage equal to the difference.

If your opponent doesn’t have any monsters, you deal your monster’s full Atk in damage.

How many cards are in a Yu-Gi-Oh! deck?

You’ll bring to the table a Main Deck of 40 to 60 cards, and an Extra Deck of zero to 15 special monsters. You’ll know a monster belongs in the Extra Deck if it has “Fusion”, “Synchro”, “Xyz” or “Link” in bold on its card text.

In tournament play, where a round is decided by a best-two-out-of-three, you can also bring a separate Side Deck of up to 15 cards to swap in between duels to adapt to your opponent’s specific deck. You may have no more than three copies of any card between these three decks.

If building a deck from scratch sounds intimidating, you can pick up a pre-built Structure Deck for under £10/$10. Once you have a sense for how the deck plays, consider experimenting by getting two more of the same one. That way you can swap out the cards that weren’t carrying their weight with extra copies of the ones you wished you saw in your hand more often.

Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG card types

Now let’s look at some Yu-Gi-Oh! card types, beginning with the stars of the show: monsters. There’s a lot going on here, so let us walk you through the different parts of a Yu-Gi-Oh! monster card.

Monster cards

Name: Simple, but the interactions of many cards that specify a card name necessitate a mention.

Level: This determines how difficult a monster is to summon. A Level 1 to 4 monster requires no Tribute to summon. A Tribute is where you pick a monster on your field to send to the Graveyard (in other words, discard) before summoning your bigger monster. A Level 5 or 6 monster requires one Tribute, and a Level 7 or higher monster requires two Tributes. That said, defer to any specific summoning conditions a card might mention.

Attribute: Every monster belongs to one of seven Attributes. These only matter when a card’s text dictates.

Type: Every Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG monster belongs to one of twenty-five Types. Again, these only matter when a card’s text dictates.

Text: For Normal Monsters, this is flavour text. On Effect Monsters, it explains their effects or summoning conditions.

Atk: The relevant stat when the monster is in attack position (vertical), even if it is not the monster attacking.

Def: The relevant stat when the monster is in defence position (horizontal). You do not take damage from battles involving your Defence Position monsters.

Spell cards

You won’t just be summoning monsters; you’ll also be supporting them with spells and traps. These cards are much simpler in design, but they come in a few subsets. Spells can be played face-up and activated immediately or Set - played facedown to be activated on a later turn. In the case of Quick-Play Spells, they can be activated as soon as your opponent’s turn!

• Normal Spells have no icon.
• Equip Spells have a plus icon, and are played by targeting an appropriate monster.
• Continuous Spells have an infinity icon, and remain on the field indefinitely.
• Quick-Play Spells have a lightning icon. If you Set them first, they can be activated on your opponent’s turn.
• Field Spells have a compass rose icon, and remain in the Field Spell Zone indefinitely.

Trap cards

The last of the core card types is the trap. These get played facedown on your turn to activate on a later turn when their conditions are satisfied.

• Normal Traps have no icon.
• Continuous Traps have an infinity icon, and remain on the field indefinitely.
• Counter Traps have an arrow icon, and are uniquely fast - only another Counter Trap can be activated in response to them.

Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG field layout

Now that you’ve seen the soldiers and support, let’s check out the field of battle. In the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG, orderly card placement isn’t just a matter of etiquette, it’s part of the strategy, so you may want to play on a labeled play mat until you’re used to it.

• The Deck Zone houses your Main Deck (your Side Deck is kept off the board until a duel ends). If your deck is depleted and you need to draw, you lose.
• The Graveyard (GY) is where cards are usually sent when they leave the field. But death isn’t always the end! Some cards have effects that can be activated in the Graveyard.
• The Extra Deck Zone houses your Extra Deck, its contents kept secret.
• The Field Zone is where you play Field Spells. Unlike other cards that remain on the field indefinitely, you can play another Field Spell by removing the one you currently have out.
• Main Monster Zones are where you’ll be summoning or setting most monsters. Monsters can be played in the face-up attack position or facedown defence position.
• The Extra Monster Zones are only for Monsters summoned out of the Extra Deck, which you always have access to if you can meet their summoning requirements.
• Spell & Trap Zones are where you’ll be activating or setting your spells and traps. The leftmost and rightmost spaces have a special interaction with Pendulum Monsters, which can act as Monsters or Spells.

There is no designated space for this, but cards can be “banished”, which you can think of as “double dead”. Of course, life always finds a way, and even banished cards might find their way back into play.

What does Chain mean in Yu-Gi-Oh?

Some cards in the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG can be activated in response to something happening, and may even be responded to themselves with another card. This event is called a Chain.

As the chain builds, card effects do not resolve until both players agree they are done adding to it, at which point each effect in the chain resolves in backwards order, so the last card played is the first to resolve. Cards may only respond to another card if it has an equal or greater Spell Speed.

Spell Speeds are assigned as follows:

• Spell Speed 3: Counter Traps
• Spell Speed 2: Monsters with “Quick Effect” in their text. Quick-Play Spells, Non-Counter Traps
• Spell Speed 1: All other cards.

That should be enough tutorial to get you started on your own journey to becoming a duelist and learning how to play the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game. Once you’re familiar with the basics, take a look at the different Special Summoning styles that will really bring your deck to the next level and the best ways to start your collection.

Trading Card Game
Cover of Yu-Gi-Oh!: Legendary Collection 4: Joey's World
Publisher(s)	Japan: Konami (1996−present) US: Upper Deck (2002−08) Konami (2008−present)
Publication date	1996; 24 years ago (1996)
Players	1 vs. 1, 2 vs. 2 [1]
Age range	12 and up (OCG), 6 and up (TCG)

The Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game^[a] is a Japanese collectible card gamedeveloped and published by Konami. It is based on the fictional game of Duel Monsters created by manga artistKazuki Takahashi, which appears in portions of the manga franchise Yu-Gi-Oh! (under the name of "Magic and Wizards"), and is the central plot device throughout its various anime adaptations and spinoff series.^[2]

The trading card game was launched by Konami in 1999 in Japan and March 2002 in North America.^[3] It was named the top selling trading card game in the world by Guinness World Records on July 7, 2009, having sold over 22 billion cards worldwide.^[4] As of March 31, 2011, Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd. Japan sold 25.2 billion cards globally since 1999.^[5] A faster-paced variation, Yu-Gi-Oh! Rush Duel, launched in Japan in April 2020.

Gameplay[edit]

In the trading card game, players draw cards from their respective decks and take turns playing cards onto "the field". Each player uses a deck containing forty to sixty cards, and an optional "Extra Deck" of up to fifteen cards. There is also an optional fifteen card side deck, which allows players to swap cards from their main deck and/or extra deck between games. Players are restricted to three of each card per deck and must follow the Forbidden/Limited card list, which restricts selected cards by Konami to be limited to two, one, or zero. Each player starts with 8,000 "Life Points", with the main aim of the game to use monster attacks and spells to reduce the opponent's Life Points. The game ends upon reaching one of the following conditions:^[6]

• A player loses if their Life Points reaches zero. If both players reach zero Life Points at the same time, the game ends in a draw.
• A player loses if they are required to draw a card, but has no more cards to draw in the Main Deck.
• Certain cards have special conditions which trigger an automatic win or loss when its conditions are met (e.g. having all five cards of Exodia the Forbidden One in the hand or all five letters of the Destiny Board on the field).
• A player can forfeit at any time.

Card types[edit]

Gameplay revolves around three types of cards: Monster, Spell, and Trap cards. Monster cards are summoned by each player to attack the opponent’s monsters or life points (if the opponent has no monsters on the field) or defend against their attacks. With some exceptions, each monster typically possesses ATK (attack) and DEF (defense) points, which are used to determine the results of battles, levels, with more powerful monsters requiring tributes or special summoning techniques to summon, and types and attributes, which determine how they are affected by other cards. Normal and Effect monsters are stored in the Main Deck and are either Normal Summoned once per turn, Tribute Summoned by tributing existing monsters on the field, or Special Summoned by certain card effects. Ritual Monsters are stored in the Deck and summoned using a corresponding Ritual Spell card.

Four other types of monster, Fusion, Synchro, Xyz, and Link, are stored in the Extra Deck and each requires unique methods to be Special Summoned to the field. Fusion Monsters require a card with a fusion effect, such as Polymerization, to merge monsters. Synchro Monsters are summoned by combining the levels of a Tuner-type monster with other non-Tuner monsters. Xyz Monsters, which possess Ranks instead of levels, are summoned by stacking monsters with the same level, which can then be used as Xyz material to be used for certain effects. Link Monsters, which possess a Link rating instead of a Level and do not possess DEF points, are summoned using multiple monsters and possess Link Markers that affect spaces on the field that they point to. Monsters marked with a green gradient are Pendulum monsters which can be placed in Pendulum Zones and used for Special Summoning multiple monsters at once. Token monsters, represented by either official cards or makeshift counters, are summoned through effects for defense or tributing purposes and cannot exist outside the field.

Spell cards are magical spells with a variety of effects, such as raising ATK points of a specific monster or reviving destroyed monsters. They can be played from the hand during a player's turn or placed faced down for activation on a later turn. They come in six varieties; Normal, Quick Play, Continuous, Equip, Ritual, and Field. Trap cards are placed on the field face-down in advance and activated in response to certain criteria, such as an opponent's attack. These come in three varieties; Normal, Continuous, and Counter.^[7] An additional card type, Skill, is used exclusively in the Speed Duel gameplay format.^[8]

All monster cards possess a type and attribute. Types include Warrior, Machine, and Dragon. While there exist 25 types, there are only seven attributes. They are as follows: Dark, Earth, Fire, Light, Water, Wind, and Divine. The most common of all of the attributes is the Dark attribute. The Divine attribute has by far the fewest members at just six and includes the Egyptian god cards; Obelisk the Tormentor, Slifer the Sky Dragon, and the Winged Dragon of Ra.

Zones[edit]

Cards are laid out in the following manner:

• Main Deck: The player's Main Deck is placed here face-down, and can consist of 40 to 60 cards. Normal, Effect, Ritual, and Pendulum Monsters can be stored here. Spell and Trap cards are also stored here.
• Extra Deck: The player's Extra Deck is placed here face-down, if they have one, and may contain up to 15 cards consisting of Fusion, Synchro, Xyz, and Link Monster cards. Pendulum Monsters are placed face-up here when they would otherwise be sent from the field to the Graveyard.
• Graveyard (GY): A Zone where cards are sent when they are discarded or destroyed, such as used Spell/Trap Cards which were used or monsters that are tribute or destroyed in battle.
• Main Monster Zones: A field of five spaces where Monster cards are placed when successfully Summoned. Prior to the addition of Link Monsters, any kind of monster could be placed there at any time. After Link Monsters were introduced, monsters from the Extra Deck could only be Special Summoned from the Extra Deck to the Extra Monster Zone, or a Main Monster Zone a Link Monster points to, up until the rule change for April 2020 onward, where only Link Monsters and Pendulum Monsters from the Extra Deck follow this restriction.
• Extra Monster Zones: Introduced with Link Monsters, this is a Zone where monsters from the Extra Deck can be Summoned. An Extra Monster Zone is not a part of either player's field until they Summon a monster to the Extra Monster Zone.
• Spell/Trap Zones: Five spaces in which either Spell or Trap cards can be placed.
• Field Zone: A Zone where Field Spell cards are placed.
• Pendulum Zones: The leftmost and rightmost spaces in the Spell/Trap Zones where Pendulum Monsters may be placed instead of Spell or Trap Cards, in order to activate Pendulum Effects and perform Pendulum Summons. Originally separate Zones, these were integrated into the Spell/Trap Zones at the same time as the introduction of Link Monsters.
• Banished Zone: Cards that are "banished" by card effects are placed outside of the game in a pile.

Phases[edit]

Each player's turn contains six phases that take place in the following order:

• Draw Phase: The turn player draws one card from their Deck.^[7]
• Standby Phase: No specific action occurs, but it exists for card effects and maintenance costs that activate or resolve during this specific phase.^[7]
• Main Phase 1: The turn player may Normal Summon or Set a monster, activate cards and effects that they control, change the battle position of a monster (provided it wasn't summoned this turn), and Set Spells or Traps face-down.^[7]
• Battle Phase: The turn player may choose to attack their opponent using any monsters on their field in Attack Position. If the player chooses not to attack, they can skip straight to the End Phase.^[7]
• Main Phase 2: The player may do all the same actions that are available during Main Phase 1, though they cannot repeat certain actions already taken in Main Phase 1 (such as Normal Summoning) or change the battle position of a monster that has already been summoned, attacked, or had their battle position changed during the same turn.^[7]
• End Phase: This phase also exists for card effects and maintenance costs that activate or resolve during this specific phase. Once this phase is resolved, the player ends their turn.^[7]

The player who begins the game cannot conduct the Draw Phase or the Battle Phase during their first turn.^[7]

Formats[edit]

Tournaments are often hosted either by players or by card shops. In addition, Konami, Upper Deck (now no longer part of Yu-Gi-Oh!'s Organized Play), and Shonen Jump have all organized numerous tournament systems in their respective areas. These tournaments attract hundreds of players to compete for prizes such as rare promotional cards.

There are two styles of tournament play called "Formats"; each format has its own rules and some restrictions on what cards are allowed to be used during events.

The Advanced Format is used in all sanctioned tournaments (with the exception of certain Pegasus League formats). This format follows all the normal rules of the game, but also places a complete ban on certain cards that are deemed too powerful for tournament play. These cards are on a special list called the Forbidden, or Banned List. There are also certain cards that are Limited or Semi-Limited to only being allowed 1 or 2 of those cards in a deck and side deck combined, respectively. This list is updated every three months (January 1, April 1) and is followed in all tournaments that use this format.^[9]

Traditional format is sometimes used in Pegasus League play and is never used in Official Tournaments and reflects the state of the game without banned cards. Cards that are banned in Advanced are limited to one copy per deck in this format.^[10]

The game formerly incorporated worldwide rankings, but since Konami canceled organized play, the ratings were obsolete. Konami has developed a new rating system called "COSSY" (Konami Card Game Official Tournament Support System).^[11]

With the introduction of the Battle Pack: Epic Dawn, Konami has announced the introduction of drafting tournaments. This continued with a second set for sealed play: Battle Pack: War Of The Giants in 2013. The final Battle Pack, Battle Pack 3: Monster League, was released in August 2014, with no Battle Pack products released since.

Product information[edit]

Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Cards are available in Starter Decks, Structure Decks, booster packs, collectible tins, and occasionally as promotional cards.

Booster packs[edit]

As in all other trading card games, booster packs are the primary avenue of card distribution. In Konami's distribution areas, five or nine random cards are found in each booster pack depending on the set and each set contains around one hundred different cards. However, in Upper Deck's areas, early booster packs contained a random assortment of nine cards (rarity and value varies), with the whole set ranging around one hundred and thirty cards. To catch up with the Japanese meta game, two or more original sets were combined into one. Now, more recent Upper Deck sets have simply duplicated the original set. Some booster sets are reprinted/reissued (e.g. Dark Beginnings Volume 1 and 2). This type of set usually contains a larger number of cards (around 200 to 250), and they contain twelve cards along with one tip card rather than the normal five or nine. Since the release of Tactical Evolution, all booster packs that have a Holographic/Ghost Rare card, will also contain a rare. Current sets have 100 different cards per set. There are also special booster packs that are given to those who attend a tournament. These sets change each time there is a different tournament and have fewer cards than a typical booster pack. There are eight Tournament Packs, eight Champion Packs, and 10 Turbo Packs.

Duelist packs[edit]

Duelist packs are similar to booster packs, albeit are focused around the types of cards used by characters in the various anime series. Cards in each pack are reduced from nine to five.

Promotional cards[edit]

Some cards in the TCG have been released by other means, such as inclusion in video games, movies, and Shonen Jump Magazine issues. These cards often are exclusive and have a special type of rarity or are never-before-seen to the public. Occasionally, cards like Elemental Hero Stratos and Chimeratech Fortress Dragon have been re-released as revisions.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Rush Duel[edit]

Yu-Gi-Oh! Rush Duel (遊戯王ラッシュデュエル, Yū-Gi-Ō Rasshu Dueru) is a variation of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game which launched in Japan in April 2020 alongside the release of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens anime series.^[12] This variation of the game, which uses a completely different set of cards from the main Trading Card Game, features reworked rules designed for simpler and faster paced duels.^[13]

• The playing field now has only three Monster Zones and three Spell/Trap Zones, and Extra Monster Zones and Pendulum Zones are not featured.
• The phase order for each turn is Draw, Main, Battle, and End. Unlike the main game, there is no Standby Phase or Main Phase 2.
• Players begin the game with four cards each, with the starting player able to draw on their first turn. During the Draw Phase of each player's turn, they must keep drawing until they have five cards in their hand. If the player already has five or more cards in their hand, they may only draw one card. There is no maximum limit to the number of cards players can have in their hand. However, if a player is unable to draw the required amount of cards when asked to (e.g. if the player's hand is empty and there are four or less cards remaining in their deck at the start of their Draw Phase), they will automatically lose the game.
• Players can Normal Summon and Tribute Summon as many times as possible during a single turn.
• Certain cards, such as Blue-Eyes White Dragon, are marked with a "Legend" icon. Each player may only have one Legend card in their deck.

Comparison to other media[edit]

In its original incarnation in Kazuki Takahashi's Yu-Gi-Oh! manga series, Duel Monsters, originally known as Magic & Wizards, had a rather basic structure, not featuring many of the restricting rules introduced later on and often featuring peculiar exceptions to the rulings in the interest of providing a more engrossing story. Beginning with the Battle City arc of the manga and Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters anime series, more structured rules such as tribute requirements were introduced to the story, with the series falling more in line with the rules of the real life card-game by the time its spin-off series began. From the Duel Monsters anime onwards, characters use cards which resemble their real life counterparts, though some monsters or effects differ between that of the real life trading card game and the manga and anime's Duel Monsters, with some cards created exclusively for those mediums. Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's featured an anime-original card type known as Dark Synchro, which involved using "Dark Tuners" to summon Dark Synchro Monsters with negative levels. Dark Synchro cards were featured in the PlayStation Portable video game, Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Tag Force 4, while Dark Synchro Monsters featured in the anime were released as standard Synchro Monsters in the real-life game. Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V features Action Cards, spell and trap cards that are picked up in the series' unique Action Duels, which are not possible to perform in the real life game. In the film Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Dark Side of Dimensions, an exclusive form of summoning known as Dimension Summoning is featured. This method allows players to freely summon a monster by deciding how many ATK or DEF points it has, but they receive damage equal to that amount when the monster is destroyed.^[14] The Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS anime series features Speed Duels which use a smaller number of Monster and Spell & Trap Zones and remove Main Phase 2 for faster duels. In the anime, characters can activate unique Skills depending on the situation (for example, the protagonist Yusaku can draw a random monster when his life points are below 1000) once per duel. A similar ruleset is featured in the Duel Terminal arcade machine series and the Duel Links mobile game.

With the exception of the films Pyramid of Light and The Dark Side of Dimensions, which base the card's appearance on the English version of the real-life card game, all Western releases of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters anime and its subsequent spin-off series, produced by 4Kids Entertainment and later 4K Media Inc., edit the appearance of cards to differentiate them from their real-life counterparts in accordance with U.S. Federal Communications Commission regulations in concerning program-length commercials, as well as to make the show more marketable across non-English speaking countries.^[15] These cards are edited to only display their background, illustration, level/rank, and ATK/DEF points.

Konami-Upper Deck lawsuit[edit]

From March 2002^[16] to December 2008, Konami's trading cards were distributed in territories outside of Asia by The Upper Deck Company. In December 2008, Konami filed a lawsuit against Upper Deck alleging that it had distributed inauthentic Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG cards made without Konami's authorization.^[17] Upper Deck also sued Konami alleging breach of contract and slander. A few months later, a federal court in Los Angeles issued an injunction preventing Upper Deck from acting as the authorized distributor and requiring it to remove the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG from Upper Deck's website.^[18] In December 2009, the court decided that Upper Deck was liable for counterfeiting Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG cards, and it dismissed Upper Deck's countersuit against Konami.^[19][20][21] Konami is now the manufacturer and distributor of the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG. It runs Regional and National tournaments and continues to release new Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG card products.

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

External links[edit]