How to Know What Your Pokemon and YuGiOh Cards Are Worth

As a successful reseller of Pokemon and YuGiOh cards on EBay, Amazon, and ComC, I can tell you that it takes a lot of hard work. How do you know which cards will sell VS the cards that won't sell. Here are some tips on how to successfully sell Pokemon and YuGiOh cards on eBay.


How to Check  Current Prices for Yu-Gi-Oh Cards

For Yu-Gi-Oh cards, I tend to use the values that are listed on the TCGPlayer.com website. When you look up a card on TCGPlayer.com, it gives you a low value, a medium value, and a high value. TCGPlayer also has a Market Price, which tracks the last few average actual sales for that card. If the Market Price is close, equal to, or higher than the Mid price, it's usually a sign that the market is strong for that card. If it's significantly lower, then you'll have to price that card lower to help sell it more quickly.

The low value is the lowest "near-mint" price that a seller on the TCGPlayer seller network is currently listing that card for (near-mint being a card that has no noticeable defects or play-wear). The low price is the absolute minimum that I would list a card for sale. But, the Market price is a safe price to use if you don't mind waiting for cheaper listed copies to sell.

There's also another great price guide resource for Yu-Gi-Oh called Yu-Gi-Oh Prices. This site not only shows you various recent price listings from TCGPlayer, Amazon, and EBay, but also shows you price trends. This way you can see cards that are falling in price or rising in price.


How to Check  Current Prices for Pokemon Cards

For Pokemon cards, you'd likely want to use Troll and Toad. While Troll and Toad is mostly known for Magic the Gathering cards, they also sell a great many Pokemon cards, as well. TCGPlayer does sell some Pokemon cards, but not to the degree that Troll and Toad does. The list price on Troll And Toad is generally around the price you'll see cards listed for on EBay anyway. You will find that a large number of holographic cards in Pokemon tend to only sell for about $0.50 to $1 USD. However, if you go onto EBay and find that card is actually selling for around 2-3 dollars, then it's perhaps worth a shot to sell it.

On the other hand, 50 cent holos are usually better off being sold in groups of 5 or 10 as a lot, as bidding wars can ensue and end up netting you more than the lot is actually worth. If the lot sells for less than the individual Troll and Toad prices overall, as long as you make profit after fees and shipping, then you've still made out. This is simply because those holos are considered "bulk" to most people and moving them at all is a plus. All in all, Troll and Toad is the best and easiest way to see if you have a card worth $5 or more.


Check eBay Completed Listings and Lowest Buy-It-Now Prices

Once you've identified which cards are worth selling, you'll want to double check the completed listings on EBay to see what previous users have purchased that particular card for. Don't be too discouraged if the price is much lower than you'd expect. Sometimes buy-it-now is not used, and cards can be won at auction for far lower prices than they typically retail for. This is useful information, though, because it will tell you what the market will currently bear for that particular card.

Next, check what the current lowest buy-it-now prices are (price + shipping) and see how they stack up with the completed listings. Card values can fluctuate wildly at times, but generally they stay within a range. The greatest part of looking at the completed listings is identifying what cards simply don't sell. If you see far more auctions that end without a sale than those with a sale, chances are that card isn't in particularly high demand. You may want to hold onto it and list the ones first that have the highest percentage of successful sales.

It's usually pretty easy see at a glance what's selling and what isn't. Just be sure to check the auction end dates, as some cards completed listings' results will have end dates from several months ago. Chances are, if that card hasn't sold in months, it's better to hold onto it, or put it as part of a lot (more on that later!)

Now that you know a card should have a good chance of being sold, the easiest way to actually sell a card on EBay is to simply list it for the lowest price. However, that is not always the best option. By checking the completed listings, you may find that people are willing to pay a bit more for a card than the lowest price currently sits at. All you have to do is wait for the cheaper copies to sell. Also, check the feedback of the seller with the lowest price. If they have little or no feedback, or have a rating below 97%, you can feel safe listing your card for perhaps a bit more than they have it for.


What Cards Actually Sell?

This is now the toughest part of selling cards. It's easy to find a card price and list it for around that number. However, what actually sells versus what doesn't? Believe it or not, Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon are somewhat similar in this regard, due to both collectible value and play-ability in competitive environments.

Collectible Value & "Rotations"

In both Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh, the cards from the first few sets of each Trading Card Game tend to have a fairly high collectible value. Even Yu-Gi-Oh cards that are banned in competitive tournaments, such as Heavy Storm or Change of Heart, or older Pokemon holos from Base Set like Charizard and Blastoise, still see lots of sales occur on EBay and other sites. It's players' particular fondness for certain cards that they used to play with or collect that drives up the value of older cards.

The other cards that tend to have a lot of collectible value are what are referred to as "staples" which are cards that most competitive players in either game use in the majority of their decks. In Yu-Gi-Oh these include cards like Raigeki and Mystical Space Typhoon, which see play in most decks. Even though these cards are today heavily printed at common rarity, their original printings were not common, and as they are shiny holographic versions, they are highly sought after.

In Pokemon, however, besides cards like "Pokemon Catcher" and some Supporter cards in recent years, there are not nearly as many staples as there are in Yu-Gi-Oh. This also lends itself to the fact that in Yu-Gi-Oh, besides what is on the official tournament ban list, you can use any card ever printed in the game. However, in Pokemon, outside of casual league play, only the sets from the past couple of years are considered legal. For example, cards of the Heart Gold Soul Silver series are no longer recognized as usable cards in competitive decks. While there are many advantages to this "rotation" strategy for both competitive and sales reasons, it can leave you with a LOT of worthless cardboard.

Playability

The one major similarity in selling Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon "staples" is that when they are being played in pretty much every deck at that time, even common and uncommon cards (Trainers and Supporters in Pokemon, Spell and Trap cards in Yu-Gi-Oh) can fetch $2-3 a piece, if not more. Some staple uncommons in Pokemon can list for over $10 USD! The important thing is to recognize their value to players and collect them to sell if you're not playing to play with them and move them quickly!

The major difference in selling Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon "staples" however, is the fact that once those trainers and supporters rotate out of the Pokemon competitive scene, they become just like your Caterpie and Nidoran: bulk commons.

In Yu-Gi-Oh, however, even though Lightsworn decks don't see nearly the play that they once did, staple monsters, even in common printings like Lyla and Ryko, still sell for $2-$3 a copy because of their utility in other decks. Dark World Dealings is a hot card for the Dark World deck, but because of their usefulness in other decks, such as Chaos Blackwings and Zombies, they also go for about $3 a piece. Yu-Gi-Oh "staples" retain their value far longer than Pokemon's. So if you have Pokemon staples that you're not using, it's a good idea to move them ASAP.

The Liquidity of Cardboard

At this moment, you may be asking yourself, what can I do with all of these older cards that I'm apparently stuck with? There are always bulk lots to consider, but first let's take a look at the most important concept in selling cardboard, liquidity.

There are advantages and disadvantages to dealing in either card game. The liquidity of Yu-Gi-Oh cards tends to be higher than that of Pokemon's, merely because Yu-Gi-Oh is a highly competitive game. Many players are just looking for one or two cards to finish their deck or to take it to the next level. In Pokemon, even the more competitive players are more collectors by nature. Even if you have some of the nicest looking holos from the newest set that aren't necessarily tournament playable, they likely will sell for more than you'd expect at auction.

For older sets, this is where using sites like TCGPlayer and Troll and Toad come in handy. They do the price research mostly for you. While you still need to check completed listings on Ebay to confirm that a card listed at $20 on those sites will actually sell for that when you go to list it, generally they set prices that high due to having the demand for that particular card.

The major difference between Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh from a liquidity aspect is that Yu-Gi-Oh reprints cards like crazy. Pokemon does not. In fact, usually all Pokemon does is create promo versions of certain cards (and these do have some value). With Yu-Gi-Oh, a card previously only available as ultra rare, becomes super rare, then rare, then common, especially if it's a card that sees tons of play.

One thing Konami clearly does a lot of is see what cards actually get played. Many times, if they see certain ultra rare or secret rare cards from older sets no longer seeing much competitive play, they get them reprinted as common in their structure decks or reprint sets! From a collector's standpoint, this is immensely frustrating, because they see their once very rare cards go from valuable to valueless. The good news, though, is that even as common (cards such as Dark Armed Dragon, for example) still sell, but at highly deflated prices.

Pokemon, on the other hand, has its rarer cards keep their value quite well. They don't usually reprint cards, except as promotional cards in collector's tins. They have, however, reprinted very powerful cards as Mewtwo EX as promotional cards, but they announce these reprints very soon after the set that they are released in comes out. Reprints in Yu-Gi-Oh just sort of happen at will based on whatever cards they think will see play in tandem with upcoming releases. While there are actually very good reasons as to why Konami decided to reprint certain cards for accessibility reasons, it makes selling the older cards very, very difficult.

Older Pokemon holos, though, like even a Zapdos or Blastoise, can fetch between $5-$10 easily. Holos from the increasingly rare Skyridge and Aquapolis sets can fetch between $10-$20. Simply being out of circulation for awhile increases their value, especially if you're looking for near-mint to mint copies!

This is to say, Pokemon card selling requires more patience, but the card values are far more stable, and the liquidity of selling cards of certain popular Pokemon (Charizard, for example) or ultra rare card types (EX, level X, shiny, gold star, etc) remain fairly constant. While certain EX cards currently in Black and White will see a drop in value after "rotating" out of competitive play, they will still be sought after by many collectors.

Many Yu-Gi-Oh cards have been reprinted to death, however. Look at cards like Dark Necrofear that used to be extremely high-dollar cards. While Dark Necrofear has not yet hit bottom as a mere common reprint quite yet, the number of promotional printings it has had is astounding, and because it doesn't see much competitive play anymore (despite still being a pretty useful card!) older copies can sell for as low as $1! If you're lucky to have a 1st edition copy, you may eek out $3-5. However, holographic cards simply aren't worth what they used to be in Yu-Gi-Oh. They also don't sell all too well if they're not in top-tier decks.

Selling in Playsets, Bulk, and Lots

One of the most common ways to get rid of low-dollar cards is to sell them in playsets. In Yu-Gi-Oh, you can have three of any given card in a deck (unless it is restricted, limited or semi-limited on the official tournament ban list from Konami). In Pokemon, you can have a maximum four of any given card outside of basic energy cards. Granted, you can also sell playsets of high-value cards, as well, to get the most out of one sale. Listings with multiple cards in them always sell better than single cards.

I have personally found, though, that listing two or three of a card, even those that you can only legally play one of in a deck, is still a good strategy. Yes, you may not get exactly what those cards are "worth" when you consider list prices, but they are far more likely to sell. Money is always more valuable overall than pieces of cardboard, so as long as you're profiting on less liquid assets, you're ahead of the game. This is the easiest way to put lots together, and has proven profitable for myself and thousands of other sellers again and again.

There is, of course, the chance that play-set lots will sell for far lower than they would sell individually, but this is a risk you'll have to take. The best way to protect yourself from this is to NEVER start an auction at $0.99 with free shipping. I only ever use the buy-it-now option, and choose a price that's 5 to 10 percent lower than the lowest current available price (calculating for both price + shipping) and offer free shipping, If I do my research correctly, 9 times out of 10 that item will sell for either market value or about 10 to 15 percent below, a reasonable loss at which to make a sale.

There are also the bulk lots you can do, by grouping together random lots of holos, commons, and uncommons. I have personally NEVER been a fan of these "random" auctions as most of the time people just get ripped off. Some sellers that provide lots, however, will always give you your money's worth, if not more. They're not all bad, certainly, but there are plenty of shady ones out there. If you're going to do a lot, my advice is to actually list the cards in said lot, even if it's random, so that at least the buyer has an idea which cards they have a chance of receiving. Honesty is the best policy, as it is in everything. Whenever I have put up lots, I simply name the cards the winner will receive. These sell better than any other lots, and provide a way to get rid of bulk holos and rares as a value-added bonus.

There is of course, nothing wrong with selling off bulk commons and uncommons with a random rare thrown in. As long as you don't put in too many duplicates (excluding duplicates of common cards you know see play) you should get generally positive feedback. Bulk lots are the cheapest way for players to build up a collection. Just make sure they're getting a good value. If you know you've given them a good value while still leaving room for a healthy profit margin, you're all set.


Pokemon vs Yu-Gi-Oh: Which Will Sell Better?

Overall, if you know your card prices, and you know what sells, both Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh sell about the same. Pokemon you may find yourself selling in lots more often than in Yu-Gi-Oh, but there's plenty of market out there for both trading card games in singles and playsets. Just keep in mind a couple of major points.

Novelty is Money

Whenever a set is first released, cards that get super-hyped tend to sell for far higher values than they will after the set has been out for a bit and supply of singles has increased. This is one reason that a lot of card players and dealers alike attend pre-release events, to get their hands on cards that the general public can't go out and buy yet. These are your cash cow cards, and if you feel that card won't be highly sought after when the release date hits, sell high. Knowing what cards are really needed in the current competitive scene, though, is very, very important. Those are the ones that sell the most, bar none.

Top-Tier Deck Lists

One easy way to know what cards will quickly sell is by looking at winning deck lists in their respective games. Top Yu-Gi-Oh lists are everywhere, and top Pokemon lists are as well. Just by Googling top decks for Yu-Gi-Oh or Pokemon, you can tell what cards are seeing lots of play. Take special note of any holographic cards that see a lot of play, those are the ones that will sell the best!

Selling off a Collection

For many of you reading this, you may be looking to liquidate your collection or know someone who would like to sell off the bulk of a collection. I personally do not like the idea of selling off a collection all at once. While it's certainly doable, and plenty of people buy collections all of the time, if you do it right, selling off the more valuable singles, then selling off the bulk is probably the better way to go.

There's nothing wrong with having a bidding war over a collection (happens all the time!) but bear in mind that sorting through a collection properly enough as to get the highest sale price can take just as long as selling off singles and bulk lots. If you have binders and binders of cards that you know aren't going to sell singly for more than $2-$3 and you have only a couple of big money cards, then it's probably OK to go this way. Just remember you have to include shipping costs, as well, which can get hefty when selling a collection! Best practice is, though, to sell off the bigger cards first, then sell the rest in one big lot.

While you can always sell to gaming vendors, keep in mind that they need to turn a profit off of what they buy. Buy lists are definitely worth looking at, because if a vendor has a high buy price for something, chances are you could sell it for more on EBay! So while selling to a game store or vendor is OK, if you're selling off a whole collection, you're better off selling it yourself.

Here's one thing, however, that you need to consider in Yu-Gi-Oh VS Pokemon. In Yu-Gi-Oh, there are a lot of "junk" cards that no one wants, whereas in Pokemon, holos of even the less popular Pokemon are wanted just for collection purposes. When you're selling a collection, keep that in mind, because Yu-Gi-Oh players buy collections to boost their trade binders, whereas Pokemon players and collections buy collections to either resell or just to boost their own collections. So if you're trying to sell a whole collection in Pokemon, it may be worth just bulking the whole thing together as long as you list all of the valuable stuff in it. In Yu-Gi-Oh, players are looking to win as cheap as possible, so getting all of the value you can out of singles is the better way to go, and perhaps keep a few bait cards to sell the rest off! Just be honest, and you'll be fine.


Flipping Cards for Profit vs Liquidation

This entire article has been based on the assumption that you are looking to flip cards for profit. If you are simply looking to get rid of the "money cards" or even a whole collection, everything said here still applies. However, if you're willing to take a bit lower of a profit margin, or really just want some fair value, there are a few things to keep in mind.

1. Selling the entire collection in bulk is OK if you really need the money now and you don't want to be in it for the long haul. It's also OK if you're helping a friend out so they can get money for something else. Just bear in mind to research the prices of the bigger stuff so you KNOW you'll get a fair price, rather than just stick some arbitrary number up there (25 cents a card or something). But that's just what I suggest.

2. People can make a nice little profit as a hobby buying singles on the cheap and reselling them for a premium. Bargain hunters are all over EBay, and if you're desperate to move things, put them about 2/3 of what they usually go for, and they'll snap them right up. Keep in mind that the most liquid parts of your collection (the things every one is looking for) are what you should always look to move first. The rest of it is what collection buyers will buy up, simply to restock their binders, or simply out of looking to get a lot of cards quickly and cheap.

3. If you do decide to sell off a collection, bear in mind that people going to buy them rarely will want to pay market value for it. Yes, cards are only worth what people are willing to pay for them, but there are ways to squeeze extra dollars out of them. Bear in mind that most collections won't be full of $50-100 gems or even $20 hot sellers. If you know that your collection is full of binder filler, you can afford to take below market value for it. Just keep that in mind.

The reason that I have made this article so profit-oriented is that I simply see people selling off their cards all of the time by simply not doing their homework and using the excuse "I just want to get rid of them!" Flipping cards for profit is a great way to sustain the trading card collection hobby and there's a nice little economy built around it. Just be sure that you're get a fair deal, and keep in mind you can take a loss if you'd like, but more often than not, your cards are more valuable than you think!

Do you have any more tips on how to sell trading card games like Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon on eBay? Let us know in the comments!

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

With the Dark Illusion set, Toons keep getting better. Toon Dark Magician may be the best of the Toon monsters printed so far! The best part about this Dark Magician is that he can summon a Toon monster directly from your deck!  He also has the ability to search out a Toon Spell or Trap card from your deck, including Toon Kingdom! It also doesn't hurt that he can attack your opponent directly for 2500 !

In particular, you're going to want to get a Red-Eyes Toon Dragon. You can then use the Toon Dragon's ability to summon yet another Toon Dark Magician from your hand and repeat the process! In effect, you can combo off a bunch of summons in one turn just like the classic Six Samurai decks and many other competitive decks today.

You’d want to start with a deck list  like this:

Monsters (16)

3x Toon Cannon Soldier
3x Toon Gemini Elf
3x Toon Masked Sorcerer
2x Toon Mermaid
2x Toon Cyber Dragon
3x Toon Dark Magician
3x Red-Eyes Toon Dragon

Spells (17)

2x Comic Hand
3x Mimicat
3x Pot of Duality
3x Toon Kingdom
3x Toon Table of Contents

Traps (7)

1x Bottomless Trap Hole
2x Call of the Haunted
2x Dimensional Prison
2x Toon Briefcase

Toon Summoned Skull is a classic Toon monster that usually sees play in Toons, but Toon Cyber Dragon is a newer option you can play instead. The Cyber Dragon is probably better, though, since you can Special Summon it in the same way you could a regular Cyber Dragon.

The monster line-up doesn’t look overwhelming, but since they can all attack directly if your opponent doesn’t control a Toon, they don’t have to be overwhelming on power. Also, remember that you can just banish a card face-down if they would be destroyed. There’s enough defensive cards in the deck to deal with any major offensive threats from your opponent.

Answering Great Reader Feedback About Building a Toon Kingdom Deck

Over time, I’ve received some great reader comments about building their own Toon Kingdom decks. One reader suggestion is to use the continuous Spell card Field Barrier to protect your Toon Kingdoms. I feel this would be a good card to consider for the sideboard, especially against decks with enough firepower to continuously blow away cards in your Spell & Trap Zones.

Another reader suggestion is to use a different draw card in place of Pot of Duality. This is because you can’t Special Summon monsters in the same turn as playing Pot of Duality. However, this wouldn’t be the first Special Summon happy deck to play Duality. This is because Duality lets you choose one card from among the next three.

You could use Upstart Goblin instead of Pot of Duality, which gifts your opponent 1000 LP to draw you a card. This isn’t my favorite option, but Upstart Goblin has been used for years with much success. There are other options, such as Jar of Greed. But since you can unleash some powerful direct attacks with Toon monsters, the life gain for your opponent may be a moot point.


Will a Toon Kingdom Deck Be Able to Win at Local Tournaments?

Frankly, I don't see Toons winning anything serious anytime soon. But, they have a chance in being a lot of fun and winning on the pure strength of Toon Kingdom on occasion. I just can't see them being consistent enough to be worth sleeving up for an actual Advanced-level tournament.

While this isn’t a competitively optimized list, it is a place to start your Toon Kingdom deck. You can substitute whatever Toon monsters you find most useful. Also, keep in mind you have your XYZ monsters and Link Monsters at your disposal, something that Toons never had before. As an archetype, Toons are continuing to look a lot scarier with each new set release that includes them.

Will Toons ever again become consistent enough to actually win tournaments as they could in the early days of Yu-Gi-Oh? That’s quite hard to say, considering you could end up banishing all of your Toon Kingdoms by accident. That is unlikely, though, with how many ways you have to tutor them out. Also, there's enough copies of your monsters and support cards to keep from burning through all of them.

While I don’t plan on just building Toons myself and playing Yu-Gi-Oh again, it’s been a lot of fun to watch Konami continue to give one of the original Yu-Gi-Oh deck archetypes new life. You never know what they’ll reprint or support next.

Of course, you can always play a Toon deck on Duel Links. But, that's a whole different article!

Updated 4/22/2020

Here are some other Yu-Gi-Oh trading card game articles you may enjoy:

- Yu-Gi-Oh Blackwings Deck Profile
- Can a Gladiator Beast Deck Still Be Competitive?
- GOAT FORMAT! - Intro to the Format
- Fire Princess Burn - Old School Yu-Gi-Oh! Deck Profile!
- The Legendary Fisherman - Old School Yu-Gi-Oh Deck Profile

by    Phoenix Desertsong; Old School Duelist

One of the key cards in Yu-Gi-Oh’s second North American set, Metal Raiders, Thousand Dragon is a secret rare still highly sought after by collectors because of its nostalgic value. It has been reprinted at common several  times, including Starter Deck Joey, Dark Beginnings 2, Legendary Collection 4, and the Speed Duel Starter Deck: Duelists of Tomorrow, and once at rare in Millenium Pack 1. Still, as one of Joey’s favorite cards from the early Yu-Gi-Oh anime and one of the more powerful cards in the first couple of sets, Thousand Dragon gets a ton of collector love.

Thousand Dragon is a basic Fusion monster, who lists Time Wizard and Baby Dragon as his fusion materials. He has 2400 ATK and 2000 DEF, solid numbers for a fusion monster from those materials. Having these two monsters and a Polymerization could mean big trouble for opponents in the early days of casual Yu-Gi-Oh play. Of course, someone could answer him with a Dark Magician, Blue-Eyes White Dragon, or Serpent Night Dragon. But, removal was at a premium in those days, with Fissure and Dark Hole the most common answers, and Raigeki tough to come by. He was never a very competitive card, but he was fun and quite rare to pull.

Even unlimited edition copies can still fetch a few dollars if they are graded and authenticated by PSA. The PSA SMR report lists PSA 8 copies for $20 and PSA 9 copies for $30. On eBay, the PSA 9 copies can fetch even $40. If you happen to have one graded a Gem Mint PSA 10, you may expect $100 - although completed listings fall closer to $75. These aren’t bad numbers, but 1st edition is where the long-term value of this card lies. First edition PSA 8 examples have an SMR price of $75, PSA 9 examples around $150, and PSA 10 can command a whopping $450. One sold in September 2019 for over $650.

As of 10/25/2019, here is where the population of these graded cards stands:

Unlimited - 14 PSA 8, 36 PSA 9, 32 PSA 10
First Edition - 12 PSA 8, 33 PSA 9, 62 PSA 10

Interestingly, there are many more 1st edition PSA 10 examples in existence, but it’s easily the more desirable card. If you’re purely a collector, a PSA 9 or PSA 10 unlimited edition example is fine. If you’re looking for ROI, definitely hunt for the 1st edition PSA 10. It’s a nice card to own just to have a piece of Yu-Gi-Oh history in your possession.

Long ago, my brother and I were very much into collecting YuGiOh. His favorite cards were the Elemental Heroes, as he was a big fan of the YuGiOh GX anime series. Interestingly enough, the Elemental Heroes have actually aged quite well, as have their counterparts, the Neo-Spacian cards. While Elemental Heroes have gone in and out of the competitive scene (here’s to you Neo-Spacian Aqua Dolphin!) the cards have actually remained quite relevant in YuGiOh Finance!

YuGiOh Prices is perhaps the greatest YuGiOh Finance resource there currently is. They track the Top 100 Most Expensive Cards that are metagame-relevant. As of February 2019, the top card is Ultimate Rare Cyber Dragon, which is probably not a surprise to anyone. Not only is Cyber Dragon a great deck archetype, but it’s an iconic YuGiOh card - which also happens to be from the YuGiOh GX era.

Despite its many reprints, Cyber Dragon has three printings that have appreciated over time, the original Ultimate Rare printing in Cybernetic Revolution, the secret rare Collectible Tin printing, and the Dark Revelation 4 Ultra Rare printing. In just the past year (feb 18 to Feb 19) both the DR4 Ultra Rare and CRV Ultimate Rare have risen in average price by 140 percent!

But, among the Top 100 Meta-Relevant cards are a number of Elemental HERO cards:

Elemental HERO Air Neos
Elemental HERO Bladedge
Elemental HERO Bubbleman
Elemental HERO Neos Knight
Elemental HERO Shining Flare Wingman
Elemental HERO Shining Phoenix Enforcer
Elemental HERO Flame Wingman

Outside of Bubbleman, seeing seven Elemental HERO monsters in the Top 100 Most Expensive Cards is actually pretty surprising, isn’t it? Well, like Magic the Gathering and Pokemon, YuGiOh is a Trading Card Game with a HUGE casual player base. Beyond being iconic to fans of the YuGiOh GX anime, the Elemental HERO cards, especially the Fusion Monsters, are just nice to look at.

(Elemental HERO Thunder Giant was also on this list, but recently fell off. We'll still look a look at him in this article, though, as he's an interesting card.)

So, let’s take a look at the finance implications of each of these Elemental HERO cards and figure out which printings are the best investments for your YuGiOh binder.


Elemental HERO Air Neos - Strike of Neos

Printed only in Strike of Neos, this Elemental HERO fusion has both ultra rare and ultimate rare printings. While ultimate rare cards are typically far more valuable than their ultra rare counterparts, this is not the case with Air Neos. Whereas the Ultra Rare version is up 123% over the past year, the ultimate rare is only up 98% in the same time. Both versions have an average price around $65, with 1st edition copies going for a bit more. Ultimate rare YuGiOh cards are notoriously condition sensitive, so Near-Mint ultimate rare copies of this card will be more valuable in the long run.

From a playability standpoint, Air Neos does have a good ability. He has a base 2500 ATK, but when your Life Points are lower than your opponent’s, Air Neos gains ATK equal to the difference. That’s pretty bonkers! Unfortunately, he returns to the Extra Deck at the end of the turn. It’s still a VERY powerful ability, nonetheless, so it makes sense that players want this card around to play in their casual HERO decks.

Still, Air Neos is difficult to summon since it requires specific monsters to be Fusion Summoned. Fortuantely, a card from Savage Strike called Neos Fusion allows you to get around not only his summoning restrictions, but also having to shuffle him back into the deck that turn! So, if you can get him onto the field, Air Neos is extremely deadly in the right situation.


Elemental Hero Bladedge - Elemental Energy

A casual fan favorite, Elemental HERO Bladedge is a key to one of the original boss Fusion Monsters, Elemental HERO Wildedge. On its own, it's a 2600 ATK monster with the ability to inflict piercing battle damage to monsters in defense position. It's also an EARTH-type Warrior monster, which is useful in certain deck builds. Really, it's the collectible appeal of this card that's putting it into the $20 range.


Elemental Hero Bubbleman - Elemental Hero Collection

Bubbleman is easily the most competitive of the six HEROs we’re looking at here. He’s seen top deck play as recently as October 2018. Not only is he a Level 4 monster, but he’s the only card in your hand, you can Special Summon him from your hand. If you control no cards and have no cards in your hand when he’s summoned, you can draw 2 cards. That ability is actually pretty relevant, not to mention all of the Fusion monsters Bubbleman facilitates Summoning.

Being a competitively relevant card, even common printings of Elemental Hero Bubbleman have appreciated in price between 2018 and 2019. His original rare printing in Cybernetic Revolution is still relevant, as well - up 47% in a year! His ultimate rare printing hasn’t fared nearly as well, though.

What puts Bubbleman on this Top 100 cards list, though, is his secret rare printing from the Elemental Hero Collection. It’s up 80% in the last year and keeps appreciating.With an average price of $27, they’ll dry up fast when players decide they want a full playset (three copies) of this particular card!



Elemental HERO Neos Knight - Extreme Victory

Like Air Neos, Elemental HERO Neos Knight is considerably more valuable in Ultra Rare than in Ultimate Rare! Up 87% year-over-year, Neos Knight has an affordable average price of $13. The ultimate rare averages $11, despite being considerably rarer, and is only up 30% over the past year.

Unlike Air Neos, Neos Knight doesn’t have to return to the Extra Deck at the end of the turn. Here’s what he does:

“This card gains ATK equal to half the ATK of the Warrior-Type Fusion Material Monster used to Fusion Summon this card, other than "Elemental HERO Neos". This card can attack twice during each Battle Phase. If this card attacks or is attacked, your opponent takes no Battle Damage.”

Not only can Neos Knight be an extremely powerful beat-stick, but he can attack TWICE in the same battle phase. The downside is that he inflicts no Battle Damage. But with 2500 original ATK, you’re really just using this guy to clear the path for your other monsters to do the rest of the work. The other downside is you need to fusion summon him, although you don’t require a Elemental Hero Neos (or a Gemini-summoned Neos Alius) to summon him.

Neos Knight has popped up in competitive decks in the past, particularly Qliphorts in mid-2016. But it sees the most play in the online game YuGiOh Duel Links. Still, with Neos Fusion making this guy a lot easier to summon in a pinch, Neos Knight is much more viable than it was before!


Elemental HERO Shining Flare Wingman - Elemental Energy

One of the original big boss Fusion Monsters of the Elemental Heroes deck, Shining Flare Wingman is the Fusion between Elemental HERO Flame Wingman and Elemental HERO Sparkman. He gains 300 ATK for each "Elemental Hero" card in your graveyard. Also, when he desteroys a monster by battle and sends it to the graveyard, you inflict damage equal to that monster's ATK in the graveyard to your opponent. Ouch. No wonder that the Ultimate Rare printing of this card was pushing $60 in March 2019. The Ultra rare original printing is also moving up.


Elemental HERO Shining Phoenix Enforcer - Enemy of Justice

Shining Phoenix Enforcer is an extremely powerful Elemental HERO fusion monster. Just read this:

“Must be Fusion Summoned and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. This card gains 300 ATK for each "Elemental HERO" card in your Graveyard. This card cannot be destroyed by battle.”

Unlike some of the other Elemental HERO cards we’ve mentioned, Phoenix Enforcer’s ultimate rare printing is actually by far his most valuable, followed by his ultra rare printing in the same set. The ultimate rare is up an insane 983% in the last six months to an average price of $58! The ultra rare is “only” up 188% to an average of $14

While Shining Phoenix Enforcer is difficult to summon in a competitive environment, casual HERO players love this guy because he is easily a finisher for the deck. He’s also an important card in the YuGiOh GX anime. There’s a lot to like about this card.



Elemental HERO Flame Wingman - The Lost Millenium

Jaden Yuki’s signature card from the GX anime, Flame Wingman has been a favorite of YuGiOh collectors since the day he was released in The Lost Millenium. But, his original ultra rare printing has actually bottomed out recently. Collectors seem to be favoring two other printings. Interestingly, it’s not Flame Wingman’s rarest printing - the Elemental Hero Collection secret rare that put it on this list - that’s seeing the most action. Rather, it’s the Legendary Collection 2 Mega Pack Secret Rare (up 58% to $9.50) and the Lost Millenium Ultimate Rare (up nearly 100% to $24). For this card to double in a year, with a lot of that movement in the past month, this should be an important target for any Elemental HERO collector.


Honorable Mention:

Elemental HERO Thunder Giant - Dark Revelation 3

Thunder Giant is actually a pretty good fusion monster. He’s easier to summon and doesn’t leave the field like the Neos fusions. Even though he has to be Fusion Summoned, it’s not required to have “Elemental Hero Sparkman” and “Elemental Hero Clayman.” Thunder Giant has 2400 ATK and is a Level 6 monster. He also has a fairly good ability:

“Once per turn: You can discard 1 card to target 1 face-up monster on the field with original ATK less than the ATK of this card; destroy that target.”

So, this is a pretty sweet card for a HERO player. But, there are a lot of printings of this guy - being a popular card from the YuGiOh GX anime. Which is the best? In the case of Thunder Giant, the Dark Revelation 3 Ultra Rare is the most valuable. It has an average price of about $80 and is up 43% in just the last three months. It’s a great investment for the serious HERO collector.


Like with Pokemon, YuGiOh is a game with a huge casual player base but also a strong collection base. By identifying the printings of each card that are appreciating on a regular basis, you can make smart decisions that will make your YuGiOh card collection a good investment. While YuGiOh Finance hasn’t taken off the way that MTG Finance has, it may get there eventually. So, don’t worry about reprints of your favorite cards, as long as you know the key printings for each popular card.


Any YuGiOh finance questions? Comment below, and we’ll do our best to answer them!

What’s the Next Most Expensive Yu-Gi-Oh Card?

The runner up for the most expensive Yu-Gi-Oh card is another Shonen Jump Championship Prize Card. This is the 2017 Shonen Jump Championship prize card, a Link monster called Iron Knight of Revolution. Like Grandopolis, it also cannot be used in a Duel.

Iron Knight of Revolution requires 3 Machine-Type effect monsters to successfully Link Summon. When this Extra Linked card attacks your opponent directly and reduces their life points to 0, you win the Match. In many ways, this is probably the superior monster. In any case, a copy of Iron Knight of Revolution was listed on eBay for $11,999 in January 2019.


What’s the Most Expensive Playable Yu-Gi-Oh Card?

For a long time, the most expensive playable Yu-Gi-Oh card was Crush Card Virus. This is actually still the case in 2019. Two copies of the Shonen Jump Championship 2007 ultra rare printing were listed on eBay for about $3,000 - one of which was in lightly played condition and the other in near-mint condition. Another two copies of the Shonen Jump Crush Card Virus were listed on eBay for $4,995 each. Of course, if you really want to own a Crush Card Virus, a Gold Series 2008 copy sells for a little over $35.


But in February 2019, the surprise unbanning of Cyber-Stein in a late January 2019 Forbidden & Limited update caused the Shonen Jump prize card to be listed for about $10,500 on eBay. Of course, Cyber-Stein has a rare printing in Dark Beginning 2 which sells for as low as $13, plus with the Extra Deck limited these days to 15 cards and no one really playing that many fusion monsters, Cyber-Stein was no longer broken enough to worry about. It’s still fun to summon a Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, though - even at the cost of 5000 Life Points.



What’s the Most Expensive Card in Yu-Gi-Oh History?

There are many other expensive Yu-Gi-Oh cards out there, but reportedly a one-of-a-kind Black Luster Soldier printed on stainless steel is the #1 most expensive card in the game’s history. It was the prize given to the winner of the first-ever Yu-Gi-Oh tournament ever held in Japan back in 1999. According to Gemr.com, in 2016, the stainless steel Black Luster Card was valued at around $10 million and reportedly sold at one point for $2 million!

The most expensive Black Luster Soldier that you can buy otherwise is the Duel Terminal 7 rare printing which you can buy for roughly $5 in 2019.

In January 2019, the most expensive Yu-Gi-Oh card in competitive play was the Ultimate Rare printing of Cyber Dragon from Cybernetic Revolution, a card that was selling at the time for around $100 USD.

Once one of the most popular decks in Yu-Gi-Oh, Destiny Heroes returned to modern Yu-Gi-Oh in 2018 with the Legendary Hero Decks. Because it was included in the decks, it was decided to return Destiny Hero - Disk Commander from the Banned and Restricted List to Unlimited status. This means you can now play three copies of one of the most powerful Destiny Hero cards of all time in your deck… But, wait, there’s an errata?

That’s right. There was no way that a monster that could draw you two cards every time it returns from the graveyard to the battlefield could be brought back into play without some serious limitation on its effect. So, Konami continues their rather frustrating trend of nerfing old cards just to make them legitimate cards that can be played in tournament decks without severely warping the competitive game.

The “new” Destiny Hero - Disk Commander after errata is extremely different from the original version. This little Level 1 Warrior monster originally read like this:

“When this card is Special Summoned from the Graveyard, draw 2 cards.”

Wow, that sounds pretty busted… It was. There’s a reason why Destiny Hero decks dominated Yu-GI-Oh for a long time. That is some nuts card advantage. So, how can they make it fair enough for it to return from the banned list?

Here is the Disk Commander Errata:

“Cannot be Special Summoned from the GY the turn this card was sent to the GY. If this card is Special Summoned from the GY: You can draw 2 cards. You can only use this effect of "Destiny HERO - Disk Commander" once per Duel.”

Wow, that’s a lot of deck. Let’s break this down.

Cannot be Special Summoned from the GY the turn this card was sent to the GY.

OK, this bit is understandable. This makes the effect a bit more fair, right? You can draw 2 cards if you Monster Reborn this guy, but you can’t do it until next turn, OK?

If this card is Special Summoned from the GY: You can draw 2 cards.

That sounds awfully familiar. So, if that’s all, that’s not too bad of an errata. Let’s all run three copies of Disk Commander!

Oh, wait, there’s more…

You can only use this effect of “Destiny HERO - DIsk Commander” once per Duel.

Ick. You mean we can only draw two cards ONCE? Hmm… well, that makes playing three copies rather pointless, doesn’t it?

You can see why this errata was made. It’s a double-whammy, but there are many reasons why this is necessary. First of all, it’s easier to Special Summon monsters from the GY more often than ever. Drawing two cards is still obviously quite good, and being a Level 1, there are plenty of reasons to want to play this card just as material to summon a Synchro, XYZ, or Link monster. But if its effect is only good once per turn, is it still worth playing?

I say yes. If you are playing a dedicated Destiny Hero deck, it’s totally worth playing one copy of Disk Commander, pitching it to Destiny Draw to draw two cards. Then, there are a myriad of ways to take advantage of him being there and Special Summoning him. Also, Elemental Hero Stratos was returned to one copy per deck in September of 2018, so he’s an obvious monster to choose with Stratos’ ability.

Destiny Hero - Disk Commander is still worth playing even with this double-edged errata craziness. There is pretty much zero reason to play more than one copy in my opinion. It’s easy to hate the errata, but there’s good reasoning for adding both of those restrictions on his effect. While he hasn’t seen competitive play since the initial return of Destiny Heroes in 2018, he’s still a fun card.

​

Once in a while, we’ll pick a random card with YGOProDeck’s database to build around for fun. Today, it’s Pacifis, the Phantasm City! This isn’t bad at all, since it’s part of the Phantasm Spiral archetype! This Field Spell is pretty sweet! And there’s a deck out there we can tech!

First, we’ll look at Pacifis itself. It’s a field spell that counts as “Umi” while it’s face up on the field. For our purposes, though, this won’t matter so much.

“You cannot Normal or Special Summon Effect Monsters the turn you activate either of this card's effects (even if this card leaves the field). Once per turn, if you Normal or Special Summon exactly 1 Normal Monster (and no other cards): Add 1 "Phantasm Spiral" card from your Deck to your hand. If your opponent activates a card or effect (except during the Damage Step), and you control no Tokens: You can Special Summon 1 "Phantasm Spiral Token" (Wyrm-Type/WATER/Level 8/ATK 2000/DEF 2000).”

This is a really powerful card. As we’ll see, we’re really only going to be Special Summoning Normal monsters a lot of the time. So, this isn’t really an issue. The Phantasm Spiral support cards are actually quite good, too, so that first effect is actually extremely important. The second ability is also particularly awesome. I mean, who doesn’t want a free 2000 ATK and 2000 DEF monster that’s level 8?

So, how do we build around this? Let’s take a look at a June 2017 regional Phantasm Spiral deck that actually fared quite well. Except… we’re going to make a couple of quick changes for it to be legal with the May 2018 Forbidden and Limited List. The changes are actually in our favor.

Monsters
2x Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring
3x Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit
3x Kabazauls
3x Megalosmasher X
3x Phantasm Spiral Dragon
3x Rescue Rabbit

Spells
1x Dark Hole
3x Fossil Dig
3x Heat Wave
3x Pacifis, the Phantasm City
1x Phantasm Spiral Crash
2x Phantasm Spiral Grip
1x Phantasm Spiral Wave
2x Pot of Desires
1x Raigeki
3x Terraforming
2x Unexpected Dai

Traps
3x Phantasm Spiral Battle
1x Phantasm Spiral Power
3x Quaking Mirror Force
1x Skill Drain
2x Solemn Strike
1x Solemn Warning


Extra Deck

Xyz
1x Abyss Dweller
2x Bahamut Shark
1x Castel, the Skyblaster Musketeer
1x Evolzar Dolkka
1x Evolzar Laggia
1x Gem-Knight Pearl
1x Number 38: Hope Harbinger Dragon Titanic Galaxy
1x Number 39: Utopia
1x Number S39: Utopia the Lightning
1x Steelswarm Roach
2x Toadally Awesome
1x Tornado Dragon

In the original list piloted by Michael Craig at the Seattle, Washington Regionals, he ran one copy of Maxx “C” and 2 Dark Holes. At the time, Rescue Rabbit was limited, as well. We gotta cut the Maxx “C” and the 2nd Dark Hole. But, Rescue Rabbit is unlimited! As it turns out, triple bunnies is actually a huge improvement for this deck! Let’s break it down.

Creatures Breakdown

A lot of this deck focuses around Phantasm Spiral Dragon, as we’ll see. There are a ton of ways to Special Summon him with the Phantasm Spiral Spells and Traps. He has 2900 ATK, which is PLENTY good! He also has 2900 DEF, which is actually pretty above average. He’s going to be one of your main beatstick monsters in this deck, obviously, as well as a way to Xyz into some Rank 8 Xyz monsters, especially Number 38: Hope Harbinger Dragon Titanic Galaxy.

We have five hand-traps in the form of two Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring and three Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit. With these we can shut down shenanigans from the deck and effects on the field. Ash Blossom is the one most people play, but both are great.

Rescue Rabbit is really awesome in this deck because he grabs our level 4 Normal Monsters in Kabazauls and Megalosmasher X. Being Water attribute and Dinosaur type, these monsters help us access some great Rank 4 Xyz monsters. Kabazauls is a pretty ancient 1700 ATK monster while Megalosmasher is a far more recent 2000 ATK level 4 beatstick. Really, they exist for Xyz summons, but they can do damage if you need them to. Playing 3 Rabbits gives us more consistency, which is cool.

Spells Breakdown

Let’s get the obvious ones out of the way. Dark Hole and Raigeki help us keep the board clear. Terraforming is obviously to get our Field Spell. Pot of Desires helps us draw out of bad hands, even with that steep 10 card banishment cost. The rest we need to look at more closely.

Three copies of Fossil Dig help us dig out our Dino monsters. With three Rabbits, we may able to trim a copy, but we can always grab that third Kabazauls or Megalosmasher X. Heat Wave is actually one of the better spells in the deck. This card can only be activated at the start of Main Phase 1, but that’s OK. When you play it, neither player can Normal or Special Summon an Effect Monster, until your next Draw Phase. That’s actually extremely brutal for most decks, but not this one.  

Unexpected Dai is another way to Special Summon one of our Level 4 Dinos to play. It’s another consistency card, but this one is only good if you control no monsters. Still, it’s going to be good in a lot of situations.

Now we’ll get into the Phantasm Spiral spells. We already covered the field spell in Pacifis. Phantasm Spiral Crash is an Equip Spell that gives the equipped Normal Monster the ability to inflict piercing battle damage. Then, when that monster deals battle damage to an opponent, you can Special Summon a Phantasm Spiral Dragon from your hand, deck, or graveyard and equip it with this card. If that wasn’t good enough, you can then switch an opponent’s monster from Attack to Defense position. You can only use this effect once per turn, because otherwise that would  be pretty silly.

Phantasm Spiral Grip is similar to Crash, except this deck runs two copies instead of one. Grip gives the monster 500 ATK and if that monster destroys a creature by battle, you can Special Summon a Spiral  Dragon and inflict 1000 damage to your opponent. This one may actually be better in some cases as you will likely run over a lot of things.

The last one is Phantasm Spiral Wave. This one is particularly strong because it makes the equipped Normal Monster unable to be destroyed once per turn. If it’s battled that turn, at the end of the Battle Phase, you can do the Spiral Dragon summoning thing. While that Dragon can’t then attack like with the other two, your opponent then has to discard a card. So, it’s still a decent card.

Traps Breakdown

First, we’ll get the staples out of the way. Two copies of Solemn Strike and one copy of Solemn Warning deal with summons that need to be nipped in the bud right away, and with Strike, problematic monster effects. Skill Drain is really good in this deck, and it’s too bad we can only run one. It hoses so many decks.

We also run three copies of Quaking Mirror Force. If you don’t know what it does, this is how it reads:

“When an opponent's monster declares an attack: Change all your opponent's Attack Position monsters to face-down Defense Position. Monsters changed to face-down Defense Position by this effect cannot change their battle positions.”

This is fine because we actually want to beat on opponent’s monsters with our Phantasmal Spiral support. It’s bad against Link monsters, though, who are immune to it. Still, it’s a strong card.

Phantasm Spiral Battle is a pretty awesome Trap card, as it can be activated from your hand if you control an “Umi” field spell, which Pacifis just happens to be! If you control only Normal Monsters, you can blow up  one card on the field. Then, you can banish this card from your Graveyard, you can target one Normal Monster on the field and equip all Phantasm Spiral Equip cards you control to it. While very situational, it can help you live the dream of summoning all three Phantasm Spiral Dragons in one turn.

The last card is Phantasm Spiral Power. Here’s what it does:

“If all monsters you control are Normal Monsters (min. 1): Target 1 Effect Monster your opponent controls; until the end of this turn, it loses 1000 ATK and DEF, also it has its effects negated. If "Umi" is on the field, you can activate this card from your hand. You can banish this card from your Graveyard, then target 1 Normal Monster you control; equip 1 "Phantasm Spiral" Equip Spell Card from your hand or Graveyard to that Normal Monster.”

Being able to deal with a bigger Effect Monster is great, being a hand trap is better, and recycling an Equip Spell is awesome! You only need one, but it’s great!


How Competitive Are Phantasm Spirals?

Before Link Summoning, this deck could be pretty good. It has a nice little Xyz Summoning engine and really messes with other decks’ strategies. That being said, it’s extremely reliant on its engine. But, when it works, it’s really tough to stop.  If you tweak the Extra deck to include Links, though, it’s probably going to hold its own.

Outside of the meta hand trap creatures, this deck is very cheap to build. Would you build Phantasm Spirals?

Kaiser Glider is one of, if not the first ever Yu-GI-Oh cards that I bought on eBay. It was actually the ultra rare reprint in Dark Revelations 1 that I bought, and not the original Dark Crisis ultra rare printing. It’s been reprinted multiple times since, once at rare, and several times at common. While Kaiser Glider was never a top-level monster, he was one of my favorites for a long time for what he can do.

This golden Dragon that Seto Kaiba played in the Yu-Gi-Oh anime has two fairly relevant abilities. The first is that he can’t be destroyed in a battle where both monsters share the same ATK. More often that not, this means that the Glider can ram into other 2400 ATK monsters and actually win. This meant things like Jinzo and later the Monarchs, which is actually pretty relevant.

But the real reason you would play Kaiser Glider was his bounce ability when he’s destroyed. When he’s destroyed and sent to the GY, he lets you send one monster on the field back to its owner’s hand. Important to note is that he must be sent to the grave, which means if he gets banished instead, his effect doesn’t activate. This was less of a problem back in the day, though.

Kaiser Glider is also a Light-attribute Dragon, which made him fairly good in the casual Traditional Chaos decks I built at the time. Traditional is the format where nothing is banned and all forbidden cards are limited to a single copy. There weren’t a ton of good Light-attribute monsters back then, so I actually played this guy a fair amount.

Plus, this was pretty good when someone brought out a Chaos monster that they may not be able to easily re-summon after removing 1 Light and 1 Dark monster from their grave. So, this actually could mess up people’s Chaos Emperor Dragon plays. People could just remove it with Black Luster Soldier’s banish ability, though. Still, it would mean the OG Soldier couldn’t attack that turn. But most of the time, it just meant people couldn’t deal with him UNLESS they brought out a BLS or didn’t have a monster in play when they removed it. It really proved to be a nice monster for me back then, though, even in tournament play.

Was Kaiser Glider ever actually good? Yes, and no. Because he required one tribute to summon, people preferred to play Airknight Parshath who could generate a lot more card advantage and did piercing battle damage. I actually never really liked Parshath back in the day having only 1900 ATK, although he was clearly the better monster when it came to terms of card advantage. But that didn’t mean that Kaiser Glider wasn’t annoying to people, because people really never thought about having to play around it. It was pretty fun to ram him into Jinzo, Mobius and Thestalos - although he was kinda bad against Zaborg… More times than not, he would be helpful and I can’t remember him ever being bad.



Kaiser Glider in Duel Links

Like a lot of older Yu-Gi-Oh cards, Kaiser Glider is fairly decent in Duel Links. There’s a lot of popular ways to summon him fairly easily in that game’s metagame, especially Dragon’s Rebirth. While Dragon’s Rebirth is a good Yu-Gi-Oh card, it’s much stronger in the 20-card Duel  Links format where tribute monsters are actually very strong.

While he’s not a top card in the game, his bounce ability is very strong, although his first isn’t  nearly as often. He’s also usually 2700 ATK due to Seto Kaiba’s ability to start the game with the Mountain field spell in play. So, while he really never sees competitive play anywhere, he does see a fair share of Duel Links play for Kaiba fans.



Kaiser Glider in Goat Format

There are a number of things that Kaiser Glider has going for him in Goat Format. One is that he’s a Light-Attribute Monster, which is very important in Chaos decks. Also, his ability to not be destroyed by monsters with the same ATK in battle is actually fairly relevant. Here’s a list of meta monsters that he actually wins in battle against:

• Granmarg the Rock Monarch
• Jinzo
• King Dragun
• Mobius the Frost Monarch
• Ryu Kokki
• Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys
• Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch
• Zaborg the Thunder Monarch
  
  

While that’s not a long list, it means that Kaiser Glider is actually a decent sideboard tech against Monarchs and even Zombies and their boss monster. He also answers Sacred Phoenix, which was actually a pretty popular card at one point. He even deals with the occasional King Dragun play. The funny thing is, if you happen to control one, you can Special Summon Kaiser Glider from your hand.

The bounce ability is pretty good, too, just for tempo purposes. It does mean that you want to summon Kaiser Glider into a situation where his ability will be profitable to you. He’s a bit situational, which is why many people didn’t play him back in the day. But, there are definitely spots in which he’s good. He’s great to toss and bring back with Call of the Haunted or Premature Burial, too. He deals with most of the offensive threats you’re going to face, too.

Is he the best sideboard option in Goat Format? It depends on what decks you plan to face, really. But, he’s worth a shot I think, especially if you play against a lot of Monarch decks. Just remember you don’t want him bouncing Zaborg or other Monarchs. You have to deploy him just right for him to be at his best. But, he’s pretty brutal when he bounces fusion monsters, too, which are obviously rampant due to Metamorphosis.


Kaiser Glider in Modern Yu-Gi-Oh!

One crazy thing about the Glider is how good he actually is against Synchro, Xyz, and Link Monsters. He’s simply outclassed nowadays, but if he dies and hits the Graveyard and he bounces one of those guys, that’s pretty costly. Of course, there are just so many ways to banish things nowadays. While he may not be relevant today in competitive Yu-Gi-Oh, I’m sure many Dragon players found an excuse to jam him. He was never actually a bad monster and could cause some tempo swings on his own.

Did you ever play with or against Kaiser Glider?

Today we’re taking a look at a Yu-Gi-Oh! Beatdown deck from the 2003 Legacy of Darkness (LOD) Advanced format. The list is from the Old School Expert on YouTube.

Monsters
1 Airknight Parshath
1 Cyber Jar
1 Fiber Jar
1 Jinzo
1 Exiled Force
3 Gemini Elf
1 Injection Fairy Lily
1 Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer
1 Magician of Faith
1 Sangan
3 Spear Dragon
1 Witch of the Black Forest
1 Yata-Garasu


Spells
1 Confiscation
1 United We Stand
1 Premature Burial
1 Monster Reborn
1 Change of Heart
1 Snatch Steal
1 Dark Hole
1 Raigeki
1 Heavy Storm
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 The Forceful Sentry
1 Delinquent Duo
1 Pot of Greed
2 Graceful Charity
1 Painful Choice

Traps
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
1 Magic Cylinder
1 Mirror Force
1 Imperial Order
1 Torrential Tribute


SIDEBOARD

1 Axe of Despair
1 Dark Ruler Ha Des
2 Fissure
1 Magic Jammer
1 Mage Power
2 Magic Drain
2 Nobleman of Crossout
1 Solemn Judgment
1 Penguin Soldier
1 Swords of Revealing Light
1 Trap Hole
1 Waboku


Here’s the breakdown video from the Old School Expert on YouTube!

Goat Format is probably the best way ever to play Yu-Gi-Oh! It’s based off of the April 2005 Forbidden/Limited List, often better known as the “banlist” and includes cards up until before Cybernetic Revolution. The reason Cybernetic Revolution isn’t included is because of Cyber Dragon and Cyber Twin Dragon, which badly warped the game at the time. So, Goat Format is considered the best format of all time.

The best deck at the time was Goat Control, a deck built around Scapegoat, Thousand Eyes Restrict, and Metamorphosis. By the time I started playing seriously, I didn’t play in organized tournaments right away, and I was using the October 2005 list for Traditional format, which has no banned cards. I didn’t start playing seriously until Enemy of Justice in 2006. So, I never built a Goat Format deck, but many cards I used were a big part of the format.

Let’s take a look at the banlist that defined the format:

April 2005 Forbidden/Limited List

Forbidden:
Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End
Fiber Jar
Magical Scientist
Makyura the Destructor
Witch of the Black Forest
Yata-Garasu
Butterfly Dagger - Elma
Change of Heart
Confiscation
Dark Hole
Harpie's Feather Duster
Mirage of Nightmare
Monster Reborn
Painful Choice
Raigeki
The Forceful Sentry
Imperial Order


Limited:
Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning
Breaker the Magical Warrior
Cyber Jar
D.D. Warrior Lady
Dark Magician of Chaos
Exiled Force
Exodia the Forbidden One
Injection Fairy Lily
Jinzo
Left Arm of the Forbidden One
Left Leg of the Forbidden One
Morphing Jar
Protector of the Sanctuary
Reflect Bounder
Right Arm of the Forbidden One
Right Leg of the Forbidden One
Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys
Sangan
Sinister Serpent
Tribe-Infecting Virus
Twin-Headed Behemoth
Card Destruction
Delinquent Duo
Graceful Charity
Heavy Storm
Lightning Vortex
Mage Power
Mystical Space Typhoon
Pot of Greed
Premature Burial
Snatch Steal
Swords of Revealing Light
United We Stand
Call Of The Haunted
Ceasefire
Deck Devastation Virus
Magic Cylinder
Mirror Force
Reckless Greed
Ring of Destruction
Torrential Tribute

Semi-Limited:
Abyss Soldier
Dark Scorpion - Chick the Yellow
Manticore of Darkness
Marauding Captain
Night Assailant
Vampire Lord
Creature Swap
Emergency Provisions
Level Limit - Area B
Nobleman of Crossout
Reinforcement of the Army
Upstart Goblin
Good Goblin Housekeeping
Gravity Bind
Last Turn

Notably, Metamorphosis, Scapegoat, and Thousand-Eyes Restrict weren’t restricted to one copy per deck yet. While Goat Control wasn’t the ONLY deck in the format, it was like 90 percent of the format or something. I never played more than one Scapegoat in my decks, and I typically played a blend of Beatdown and what I like to call Aggro Control. It was sort of random but strangely effective. I didn’t have the money for the best cards at the time, but I ran enough meta cards that I usually won more than I lost.

So, had I begun playing Tournament play during Goat Format, which is strangely enough when I started actually playing seriously, what would I have been up against? Here’s a typical Goat Format deck, based on a list from Format Library:

Monsters
2 Airknight Parshath
1 Asura Priest
1 Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning
1 Breaker the Magical Warrior
1 D.D. Warrior Lady
2 Magical Merchant
2 Magician of Faith
1 Morphing Jar
1 Sangan
1 Sinister Serpent
1 Tribe Infecting Virus
2 Tsukuyomi

Spells
2 Book of Moon
1 Delinquent Duo
1 Graceful Charity
1 Heavy Storm
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
2 Nobleman of Crossout
1 Pot of Greed
1 Premature Burial
2 Scapegoat
1 Snatch Steal

Traps
1 Call of the Haunted
2 Dust Tornado
1 Mirror Force
1 Ring of Destruction
2 Sakuretsu Armor
1 Torrential Tribute

SIDEBOARD
2 Legendary Jujitsu Master
2 Mystic Swordsman Lv2
1 Book of Moon
2 Creature Swap
1 Dust Tornado
2 Seven Tools of the Bandit
3 Trap Dustshoot

FUSIONS
3 Thousand-Eyes Restrict
1 Dragoness the Wicked Knight
1 Darkfire Dragon
2 Dark Balter the Terrible
1 Fiend Skull Dragon
1 Giltia the D. Knight
1 Reaper on the Nightmare
1 Ryu Senshi
1 Dark Blade the Dragon Knight
1 The Last Warrior from Another Planet
1 Gatling Dragon

One point of contention with the Goat Format is the legality of Exarion Universe. He was a tin promo during 2005, and a monster I ran with regularity. However, many Goat Format players forbid it from being played. If you can play it, though, it’s a 1800 ATK / 1900 DEF monster with the Dark Attribute.

It has an interesting secondary effect that you can choose to activate if you attack a Defense Position monster. You can have it lose 400 ATK and inflict piercing Battle Damage. This is an ability I actually used a lot. That was 1000 piercing damage if I attacked a Magician of Faith. Owie. So, personally, I love that guy. But to be honest, he was pretty busted - which is why I played him. I made a LOT of people running Apprentice Magician Engines at the time MAD!

Blade Knight was a great one, too, a tin promo that many people disallow in Goat Format. I played him, too.

My Take on Goat Format - The Aggro Control Deck!

So if I were building a Goat Format deck, it would not play Metamorphosis. I never really got into that sort of deck. I’d play something more like the decks I used to play. This list doesn’t have Blade Knight or Exarion Universe, but if I were allowed to play them, I would! Here goes:

Monsters (18)
1 Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning
1 Airknight Parshath
1 Dark Ruler Ha Des
1 Jinzo
1 Asura Priest
1 Breaker the Magical Warrior
1 D.D. Warrior Lady
1 Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer
1 Old Vindictive Magician
1 Gravekeeper’s Guard
2 Gravekeeper’s Spy
1 Skilled Dark Magician
1 Skilled White Magician
1 Night Assailant
1 Magician of Faith
1 Sangan
1 Spirit Reaper

Spells (13)
1 Brain Control
1 Book of Moon
1 Enemy Controller
1 Graceful Charity
1 Lightning Vortex
1 Heavy Storm
2 Nobleman of Crossout
1 Pot of Greed
1 Premature Burial
1 Scapegoat
1 Smashing Ground
1 Snatch Steal

Traps (9)
1 Bottomless Trap Hole
1 Call of the Haunted
1 Dust Tornado
1 Mirror Force
1 Ring of Destruction
2 Sakuretsu Armor
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Trap Dustshoot


SIDEBOARD
1 Cyber Jar
2 Legendary Jujitsu Master
2 Mystic Swordsman Lv2
1 Mobius the Frost Monarch
1 Zaborg the Thunder Monarch
1 Magician of Faith
1 Night Assailant
1 Gravekeeper’s Spy
1 Gravekeeper’s Guard
2 Necrovalley
1 Magic Cylinder


Back in the day, I didn’t have Jinzo or Mirror Force. But nowadays, they’re so easy to get, so why not have them? I also used to run 42 or 43 cards and never had a problem. In a Goat Format with Exarion and Blade Knight, they’d be two extra cards. But I’m going to go without them because some people don’t like them in the format. And that’s OK with me.

So my approach to the meta may be rather unorthodox, and I’ve applied what I know now. This particular list needs to be play-tested heavily, but in general this is the way I’d go.

The sideboard looks really strange, but the beauty of Yu-Gi-Oh is that your sideboard can transform your entire deck. And a few of these cards actually were in my sideboard back then, even though back then it was literally 15 good random cards. There’s a reason Cyber Jar is in there, by the way.

Let’s break it down.

Monster Cards Breakdown

I don’t think Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning needs any introduction. He and Breaker the Magical Warrior (very much in this deck) flip-flopped being my favorite card of all time. BLS is now and forever. When I sold off my entire Yu-Gi-Oh collection, I kept my Gold Rare copy that I got played for about $10. Not a great financial move in hindsight, but he actually won me tournaments with Blackwings and Gravekeeper Twilight nonsense. So, he’s seen real battle, and that’s worth keeping him for me.

This is the guy that wins me the game when he drops. I have NEVER LOST a game of Yu-Gi-Oh where he came down. Ever. I’m serious. My secret rare one had the same success rate. He was stolen. It was very sad.

Airknight Parshath is a card that I liked but never played much. But he’s vital as a Light Monster. There were more Light monsters I played like Kaiser Sea Horse, but I only played him to summon Blue-Eyes White dragon or later on the almighty Super Conductor Tyranno (which won me a lot of games, actually) with a single Tribute. The card draw is nice.

Dark Ruler Ha Des was one of my favorite monsters back in the day. Why not? He beat Jinzo! He also negated the effects of monsters he killed, including Sangan. So badass. I played him in a Dark World deck later and just, wow. He also murders Flip Effect monsters and especially the Gravekeeper flips. Ironically, I play a lot of those.

Jinzo is Jinzo. He stops all traps. Plain and simple.

That’s four tribute monsters, which sounds like a lot, but as you’ll see, I always have tribute fodder.

Asura Priest was never one of my favorite monsters. But a Light monster with 1700 ATK that could attack all your opponent’s monsters is pretty good. I had a common DB2 copy back then. Great spirit monster, though.

Breaker the Magical Warrior is a freaking awesome monster, and besides Envoy of the Beginning, he is my favorite Yu-Gi-Oh card of all-time. He’s a 1600 ATK monster, technically, but the spell counter gives him 300 ATK. Later, decks that abused Spell Counters would make him super special awesome. But even on his own, he was a staple of a lot of decks. Removing that spell counter to essentially be a Mystical Space Typhoon was sweet.

D.D. Warrior Lady was a staple at the time because she could just get rid of stuff. She was a great rattlesnake when you played her face-down. 1500 ATK and 1600 DEF are kind of meh stats. But she’s worth playing in this format.

Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer was one of my favorite monsters at the time, too. Turns out I was right to play him, because he was a format destroyer! He actually shut down Chaos decks at one time! He stops your opponent from banishing stuff from either graveyard, so he stops opponents from summoning BLS, but not you! (I guess Chaos Sorcerer is legal in Goat Format, and I used to play him, too!) He also allowed you to remove up to 2 monsters from your opponent’s graveyard each time he dealt Battle Damage. Ouch. I could run two, but one is usually enough.

This is when you start seeing how obsessed I was with Spellcasters back then. Sure, Breaker was a staple, but I went way beyond. Old Vindictive Magician was an awesome common back in the day from Magician’s Force. I think I opened a pack with both this AND Wave-Motion Cannon in it and Skilled White Magician. Pretty sure that pack was Dark Revelation 1 because the Magician was rare. I think I traded the Wave-Motion Cannon to my brother.

Anyway, Old Vindictive Magician was the Dark Spellcaster version of Man-Eater Bug. She saw a lot of play back in the day in Apprentice Magician decks. But she was pretty good just as a random one-of, too, especially in this kind of deck, as you’ll see. Also, her flip effect monster destroys a monster of the field, BUT it can only be one of your opponent’s. This is a HUGE advantage over Man-Eater Bug, which would have to destroy one of your monsters if your opponent didn’t have any and it was flipped.

When I first started playing competitive Yu-Gi-Oh, one of the first decks I played was Gravekeeper’s. I thought the Gravekeeper monsters were awesome! So, I later built the Gravekeeper engine into my decks. In most decks I’d build with Gravekeeper’s, I’d play 3 Spies, 2 Guards, and 3 Spear Soldiers, plus 2 or 3 Necrovalley. But in this Goat Format deck, I play just 2 Spies and 1 Guard.  This isn’t uncommon from what I’ve seen of top decks in the format.

Usually, when you flip Spy, you’d get another  Spy, then flip the other Spy for the Guard. If you had both Spies in hand, that kind of blew, but it became discard fodder to Graceful Charity, Lightning Vortex, etc. If you flipped the Spy and had no targets left, the opponent could look at your deck to confirm and that was an annoying amount of information to give up. (I’m not sure if you can just say “fail to search” nowadays in Yu-Gi-Oh like you can in Magic the Gathering.).

Still, you played these guys for a couple of reasons. Firstly, Spy has 2000 DEF and Guard has 1900 DEF. That is higher or the same as many other monsters in the Goat Format. That means your opponent is often taking Battle Damage and you’re getting value. The Spy gets you a special summon, and the Guard returns a monster to the hand. That’s DEVASTATING against Fusion Monsters, for example. Also, you are almost guaranteed to have a Tribute available for your boss monsters. There’s another reason they’re in here, too, as we’ll get to later.

Speaking of Skilled White Magician, I played a couple of them back in the day. Actually, I played one of them and Neo the Magic Swordsman for a long time. Neo was one of my favorite Old School cards, and by this time he wasn’t as big, and I actually did play a second White Magician later because 1900 DEF is pretty sweet. But in this deck, I like the trade-off that D.D. Warrior Lady gives me. The 1700 ATK is usually “good enough” and I really needed the Light monsters. I actually don’t find Asura Priest all that good in some matchups, but it is good against Goat Control, after all. Skilled White Magician is somebody I could play face-down, potentially have a tie or even a battle in my favor. Then I could turn him into attack and do some damage!

There’s only one Skilled Dark Magician in the list because I really wanted a 1900 beater but beatdown isn’t really what this deck is about. He deals with a lot, though, and I really liked this guy back in the day.

Night Assailant is very much like Old Vindictive Magician, but with an added effect if he’s discarded from the hand. You get to get a Flip effect monster back to your hand, except this card. At the time you could play two copies, and if I remember correctly, he was limited because you could get another Night Assailant back and keep looping them. It was sort of like a weird Sinister Serpent effect, a card I chose not to play in this particular Goat Format deck. There’s a reason I don’t, that I’ll get to in a minute. (It’s not his unfortunate recent errata, either.)

Magician of Faith is self-explanatory. You could play two back then, and sometimes, this deck does play two, because there’s a copy in the sideboard. There’s a reason why that you’ll see when we look at this deck’s sideboard.

Sangan gets you any monster with 1500 or less ATK in your deck. He was a popular target for Metamorphosis to pull out Dragoness the Wicked Knight.  He’s actually legal in today’s Yu-gi-oh with an errata that I feel doesn’t matter that much. Basically when you search something, “...you cannot activate cards, or the effects of cards, with that name for the rest of this turn. You can only use this effect of "Sangan" once per turn.” Honestly, that errata is relevant, but hardly makes it bad. But, good to keep in mind.

The last monster is Spirit Reaper. Honestly, I feel like he’s better than Sinister Serpent in this deck. He’s really hard to get rid of in defense position, and can occasionally discard cards from your opponent’s hand when he attacks. In Goat Control, Serpent is better because he gets you Thousand-Eyes Restrict with Metamorphosis. Also, his errata that banishes him from the Graveyard at the end of turn after end of turn makes him really meh. If Goat Format players prefer to use him with his original busted text, then I’d play him as a 41st card in this deck.

Spell Cards Breakdown

Onto the spells, I actually play a lot of good stuff kind of cards. These are mostly cards I actually played back in the day. I was mad that Monster Reborn was banned at this point, but I had all of these other cards already.

I actually had an ultimate rare Brain Control back in the day. Brain Control was so busted back then. Then they recently gave it an errata that you can only steal monsters that can be Normal Summoned, basically level 4 or lower monsters. Even with that restriction, though, paying 800 LP to steal an opponent’s monster is awesome, especially if you then tribute it. It’s pretty lousy in today’s game, but even with the errata it’s good in Goat Format.

Book of Moon is so good. Not only does it recycle your flip effect monsters, but it’s great to flip down your opponent’s attacking monsters. It’s also a great way to deal with Jinzo or Summoned Skull or other big stuff you may not be able to run over. I’m fine running one. I don’t think I’ve ever played more in my deck. Also, this kills Spirit Reaper as soon as he’s targeted. Book of Moon is just sweet.

Enemy Controller is good for two reasons: changing battle positions of your opponent’s monsters, and stealing monsters. You have to tribute a monster to steal your opponent’s monster, but grabbing an opposing BLS is pretty insane. Really, this card is just good, and I ran one most of the time.

Graceful Charity is busted good draw power. Yeah, you have to discard two cards, but most of the time, you had a reason to discard one card or another. You had Call of the Haunted and Premature Burial to bring dudes back. Tossing a Jinzo in the grave was always fun. Drawing three cards was worth the discards anyway.

Lightning Vortex was basically the Raigeki of the format. It destroyed all of your opponent’s face-up monsters. The drawback was that you had to discard. But most of the time, I’d just toss a Light or Dark monster, whichever I needed to summon BLS (or Chaos Sorcerer that I often played) and went to town. Pretty busted.

Heavy Storm is sweet. Blow up all of the spells and traps. Have a nice day.

Nobleman of Crossout is a card a lot of people played two of, because of flip-effect monsters, and all of the other monsters that people played face-down. Against certain decks I’d side out one copy, like Beatdown. But hitting a Cyber Jar, Gravekeeper’s Spy/Guard, Night Assailant, or even just a Magician of Faith is pretty sweet. And if it’s a flip effect monster, you get to banish the others from their deck with that name. This card made scoops happen for me back in the day, because I made them mad.

Pot of Greed: draw 2 cards. Simple as that. Everyone ever everywhere ran it.

Premature Burial is an equip spell that costs 800 LP to summon a monster from your Graveyard. You usually saved this for your Tribute monsters. This is my favorite way to bring out Jinzo or Airknight. Dark Ruler doesn’t work, because he can’t be summoned from the Graveyard. But this is a good card that usually brought something important back, like Sangan.

This isn’t Goat Control so why is there one copy of Scapegoat? It’s purely in there for stall purposes. I like it better than Swords of Revealing Light, honestly. You can’t tribute summon with them. The card’s actually better in today’s game, believe it or not. Really, Scapegoat just buys me time to answer things like Thousand-Eyes Restrict. Who’s going to steal a token?

Smashing Ground smashes all of the grounds. Really, smashing the thing with the highest defense is very relevant. That was an expensive short print common back in the day. It’s one of my favorite all-time cards. Against some decks it wasn’t as good, but that’s what you have a sideboard for, and I always played it game one.

Snatch Steal is busted. Even though you have to give your opponent a free 1000 LP every one of your opponent’s Standby phases. It’s still banned, and for good reason. You could steal one of your opponent’s Fusion Monsters, like Gatling Dragon or whatever, and bash them in the face with it. I usually saved it for a big monster, sort of like Enemy Controller.  


Trap Cards Breakdown

Onto the traps, I play nine, which is kind of a lot in a format with Jinzo everywhere. But I have so many ways to deal with Jinzo. These are all worth playing. One may surprise you but they’re all really strong,

‘Bottomless Trap Hole is what I saved for something big I couldn’t deal with. It’s awesome. It’s STILL good. Solemn Warning is better, but Bottomless is classic.

Call of the Haunted is great monster revival, but it also has that cute interaction with Jinzo. If you bring out Jinzo, the effect of Call of the Haunted is negated. So, if you or your opponent then plays Heavy Storm, your Jinzo stays.

Dust Tornado saw a lot of play because Mystical Space Typhoon was at one. But what’s cool about this card is that after you blow something up, you can set a spell or trap from your hand. That’s nifty, so you can set Call of the Haunted or something you can activate next turn.

I didn’t have Mirror Force back in the day, but this card swings the game in your favor so often you have to play it. This card was banned for awhile just because of how powerful it is. It’s so good that it STILL sees play in Modern Yu-Gi-Oh. You just played it. I used to hold this card in my hand until I REALLY needed it, too, once I had it later.

I had a promo Ring of Destruction back in the day, and this card won me a lot of games on its own. It’s a pretty symmetrical effect: target 1 monster your monster controls and destroy it, then deal damage equal to its ATK to both players. Trouble is, when they reprinted this card a few years ago, they added an errata to it so they could unban it. That errata said that the monster has to have ATK less than or equal to your opponent’s LP. Basically, they nerfed it a lot. Still, it’s actually still playable. Funny thing is, back in the day, I used to do exact damage with this card. But, honestly, it was pretty busted when you could just go: hey, this monster has more ATK than you have LP… bye-bye!

Two copies of Sakuretsu Armor was pretty standard back in the day, even if you had a Mirror Force. I think I ran three copies at one time, because this card was pretty easy to get. It made attacking sort of scary because you could always hit a Sakuretsu Armor. Great card that’s way too slow in today’s Yu-Gi-Oh.

Torrential Tribute was always a sweet card and at this time it was limited to one. You really only ever played Tribute when it benefited you. It also had a nice interaction with Gravekeeper’s Spy, because even after you blew everything up, the monster still Special Summoned… after everything else was gone. This was actually really important, because then you could just drop Jinzo, and yeah…

Yes, I play one main deck Trap Dustshoot. Sending a monster back to the deck from the hand is awesome. People used to play 3 in the sideboard, and I really never liked that. I used to play Mind Crush, too, but honestly, in this format, I think one Trap Dustshoot is better than Delinquent Duo because you get to see what your opponent has. That information tells me what I’m looking at, and sometimes it’s enough to know what I’m playing against. If I pull it game one, as long as my opponent has at least 4 cards, it’s pretty much always good. I always felt like siding into three copies would result in dead draws. That’s my experience. Oftentimes I’d side it out in game two or three. It always worked for me, honestly.


So that’s the deck. Those choices I made are based on my experience from playing in the formats immediately following Goat Format and just knowing what those cards in the Goat Control deck do. I’ll go over my strategy for the deck, because there is a certain way to pilot the deck. But first, the transformational sideboard… my favorite crap to do in Yu-Gi-Oh!

I may have been ahead of my time with the Transformational Sideboard. I actually would stick Exodia in my sideboard sometimes, too. I actually won games that way sometimes. Pretty hilarious. But in this format, even without Confiscation and The Forceful Sentry running around, I didn’t want to do the Exodia troll in Goat Control. It’s too cutthroat a format, honestly.

But I did transformational sideboards a lot, mostly because I love making people mad when they sideboard for a certain matchup, only to face a totally different matchup. So in this case, I switch into a Gravekeeper Monarch deck. I bet no one sees that coming. Then, when they go to pop Mask of Restrict and other stuff into the deck, I go back to the old strategy.


The Transformational Sideboard

Here’s how this works.

Cyber Jar is in my sideboard. That’s because I find Cyber Jar to be horrendous against Goat Control. It was awesome when I played because Metamorphosis was at one. But if I’m playing a deck where my monsters are consistently going to be better, Cyber Jar is awesome. I really just don’t want to give the Goat player more cards. It’s why I don’t play Morphing Jar, a card I played as soon as it was cheap enough to get financially when I played competitively. Why give your opponent free cards unless you know they’re going to get monsters strictly worse than yours?

Legendary Jujitsu Master was an awesome sideboard card back in the day. I played them, actually. They were great. They bounce any monster that attacks them to the hand. They made an awesome play against Goat Control’s bigger monsters. Mystic Swordsman Lv2 was awesome against face-down monsters, killing them without even flipping them. I had one of these back in the day. For some reason I never bothered to have two. My brother had an ultimate rare one.

So far, the board looks pretty normal. This is when it gets weird. I have a Mobius the Frost Monarch and a Zaborg the Thunder Monarch. Mobius is a boss, killing up to two spells and traps on the field.  Zaborg the Thunder Monarch killed a monster, as long as your opponent had one… otherwise he’d just kill one of yours or himself. It wasn’t optional. So why these guys? Yeah, they’re good. But they’re part of the puzzle.

We have an extra copy of Night Assailant and Magician of Faith. Ok, that’s interesting. I can loop Night Assailants through discards. The extra Magician gives me an extra Light monster and easier ways to get Spell cards back.

Then there’s another Gravekeeper’s Spy and Gravekeeper’s Guard. That’s right. There’s more ways to Tribute Monsters easily and this deck can stall even better.

Then, two copies of Necrovalley. You see where this is going. Suddenly, beatdown decks run into a wall. The graveyard gets shut down. It does shut out my BLS, but that’s worth the price. It also makes my Gravekeeper’s guys huge walls.

Then there’s a Magic Cylinder. Sometimes, this card is just better than Ring. I won a lot of games with Cylinder back in the day. But it’s so dead with Jinzo and I don’t like it as much in Goat Format. Not that it’s bad, mind you. I just like to pick my spots with it.

So, what’s great about a transformational sideboard is that I can go all out, because I love the Gravekeepers/Monarch mix. I’m usually going to board out Scapegoat in that case. Goats are really in my deck to stall. This deck is built for the long game, as we’ll see in a moment.


Deck Strategy

My strategy with Yu-Gi-Oh is the same as it is for me in Magic the Gathering: passive-aggressive. I never overextend myself. I let my opponent play into my hands. I have so many answers that work on offense and defense. They say defense doesn’t win games of Yu-Gi-Oh, but in my experience, a balance of offense and defense does.

I’ve always been the type to play face-down monsters and maybe one trap card and see what happens. When I get a similar response, I just wait things out. If I have answers, I’m just going to hold them. Sure, they could have a Morphing Jar, and that would suck. But that’s what I have Nobleman of Crossout for, and why I have two of them - facedown monsters. And if I do hit a flip effect monster, I get to see their Deck! Woo-hoo! If I’m playing against Goat Control I can even guess their hand to some degree.

When I first started playing, I was very aggressive. But whenever I’ve played aggressive decks, especially in Magic, I just burn out too quickly. Even when I played a swarm deck like Blackwings, I was pretty passive-aggressive, and that served me well. I have a lot of decent ATK monsters, some decent DEF monsters, and a bunch of monsters that blow stuff up or get stuff back. If I start too slow and fall behind, I can usually come back pretty quickly.

In Magic, this is what you call a “mid-range” deck. I’m not sure you can do that in today’s Yu-Gi-Oh with how fast things happen with all the special summoning. But in old school Yu-Gi-Oh, this strategy served me well. Heck, it worked into my E-Hero days at the end.


Why Don’t I Just Play Goat Control?

In Goat Format, most people play the top deck, like most people in Yu-Gi-Oh do - really any competitive card game. I hate doing that. That being said, I love Goat Control. But I wanted to do something different. This deck isn’t exactly anti-meta, but my monsters beat a lot of Goat’s monsters. I have Asura Priest to clear away goats. I have lots of ways to kill monsters I can’t otherwise beat. Nobleman of Crossout does minimal damage to my deck. It can ruin my Gravekeepers, but I can win without them anyway, even after boarding.

Also, this deck looks a lot like Goat Control. If I really wanted to, I could build a Transformational sideboard into Goat Control. Maybe not doing so makes me a bad player. I dare to be different, though. The Monarchs do a lot of work, and the added Gravekeeper pieces help me consistently have Tribute fodder.

The monster destruction package, for me, is really satisfying. People played some of these cards in various builds of Goat Control. Tribe Infecting Virus looks good against my deck, because I have so many Spellcasters. But not really. Most of my Spellcasters are role players.

The other thing is that this deck is not doing one thing. It does several things, and while that sounds bad, everything works together. Really, my deck’s win condition is winning a war of attrition. And dropping Black Luster Soldier, Envoy of the Beginning when I know you don’t have an answer. That, too.

The deck is designed to baffle you, really. If you don’t know what’s in my deck, you really won’t after I’m done sideboarding. If I know I’m off to a bad start, I’m gonna learn what you have without giving away much. You’ll sideboard based on what you’ve seen, and I can tune my deck with tech based on what I expect you’ll side in and out. I feel like sideboarding is really a huge part of Goat Format because that’s where the decks really differ the most.

That being said, I’m playing to basically sit back and let you run into my answers for stuff. I’m gonna be bluffing a lot, most likely. I love that mind game, and that’s what’s so awesome about this time in Yu-Gi-Oh! Then again, I think that’s still a big part of the game; the better player is usually still going to win. But, having the best meta deck certainly helps.

And, you’ll probably see me play a deck that transforms into Goat Control. Because I’m a troll like that...


A Last Bit of Advice on Goat Format

If you really want to be involved in Goat Format, you really want to have the main deck on hand. Still, it’s good to know what else was good in the meta. And, while Goat Control is actually an awesome mid-range type deck, I really want to see how my passive-aggressive Aggro Control does in the format.

If you build this deck, or something like it, let me know how you do!

by  Phoenix Desertsong, Old School Duelist

With Magic the Gathering, I’ve done a few simulated booster pack openings and they were a lot of fun. So I decided why not do it with Yu-Gi-Oh using the Yu-Gi-Oh Pack Simulator? At the time of this writing, it doesn’t have every Yu-Gi-Oh set, but it has a ton of them. We’ll first open a Legend of Blue-Eyes White Dragon pack, and see what we get. Then, we can see what value we may be able to get out of it.

Being the first English Yu-Gi-Oh set, it’s highly collectible. Even some of the commons are valuable!

Here we go:

• Meda Bat
• Fireyarou
• Basic Insect
• Terra the Terrible
• Dragoness the Wicked Knight (rare)
• Two-Mouth Darkruler
• Petit Angel
• King Fog
• Kumootoko

If only we could scale the packs and only open the heavier ones for foils…Then again, we actually have a good rare…

Dragoness the Wicked Knight is a $1 card for unlimited copies (as of 10/2019). 1st edition copies are pricier, though. A near-mint copy could command $8 or more, which is what we'd have here in this pack. While a 1200 ATK level 3 fusion monster doesn’t seem too exciting, she’s one of the first Yu-Gi-Oh cards ever printed. She’s never been reprinted either. And believe it or not, she DOES see play!

That’s right. Dragoness the Wicked Knight sees play because A) she’s an Instant Fusion target being a Level 4 or lower Fusion monster, B) she’s a Warrior, which is always a relevant tribe, and C) she’s Level 3. In this Gouki deck from 2018, she’s a key piece in summoning the Link monster Isolde, Two Tales of the Noble Knights and the Xyz monster M-X-Saber Invoker, among other things.

Also, she used to see play in the famous Goat Control deck of 2005. So, with Goat Format being its own cool little format, this card sees play in most extra decks in that format, since you can use Metamorphosis to tribute your Sangan and get his effect while getting a 1200 ATK Fusion into play.

The eight other commons are normal monsters worth about $0.10 each. Most likely, if you actually opened this pack, you probably paid $10 or more for it. But if you paid $7 or less, you made out with a useful rare. From this set, that’s never a bad thing!

How would you get the most value out of this pack? I’d find a trade partner who’s looking for this fusion monster at a fair price and get some solid deck-building pieces in return. This is a case of “trading down” where you can end up ahead. Of course, were this a 1st edition pack, I’d be holding onto it for my retirement. These cards in 1st edition get so pricey!

Hope you enjoyed this virtual pack opening! If there’s a set you’d like to see me open, let me know in the comments!

Many old school Yu-Gi-Oh players will say that 2003 to 2005 was the “golden age” of the competitive game. As I came into Yu-Gi-Oh around the time of Dark Beginning 1, the first major reprint set, I enjoyed the tailend of this “golden age.” The last “old school” set of Ancient Sanctuary had recently come out, along with the first ultimate rare set with Soul of the Duelist. I’d say those early days of Yu-Gi-Oh were my favorite, too. While the years since have had their ups and down, the game was a lot of fun back then.

Today, we’re going back to 2003, though. Around the release of Labyrinth of Nightmare - a freaking awesome set, by the way - the competitive game was actually based mostly in two archetypes, beatdown and burn. There were various permutations of both, but those were basically the best decks in the format. The competitive game would expand a bit in the next year or so, but the Labyrinth of Nightmare Advanced format is very nostalgic for we older Yu-Gi-Oh players.

One of the best Yu-Gi-Oh decks in 2003 was Fire Princess Burn. The Old School Expert on YouTube did we Old School Yu-Gi-Oh fans a favor by sharing a Fire Princess Burn deck list from 2003. Interestingly enough, a lot of this deck is still playable today. Then again, it’s way too slow for today’s format. Let’s take a look at this classic Yu-Gi-Oh burn deck!

Monsters

1 Cure Mermaid
1 Cyber Jar
3 Darklord Marie (Marie the Fallen One)
3 Fire Princess
1 Morphing Jar
3 Nimble Momonga
1 Sangan
2 UFO Turtle
1 Witch of the Black Forest

Spell Cards

1 Card Destruction
1 Dark Hole
2 Graceful Charity
2 Messenger of Peace
1 Monster Reborn
1 Painful Choice
1 Pot of Greed
1 Premature Burial
1 Raigeki
1 Swords of Revealing Light
1 Tribute to the Doomed


Trap Cards

1 Call of the Haunted
1 Ceasefire
3 Gravity Bind
1 Imperial Order
1 Magic Cylinder
1 Magic Jammer
1 Mirror Force
2 Solemn Wishes


Thanks to the Old School Expert for featuring these Yu-Gi-Oh decks on his YouTube channel! Here’s his video:

by Phoenix Desertsong

Solemn Judgment and Monster Reborn were staples in almost every Yu-Gi-Oh for many years. But there came a time when Konami decided that these cards were too powerful and too much of an auto-include to remain legal in tournament play. For years, these two cards weren't allowed in tournament play.

But in Feburary 2018, Solemn Judgment and Monster Reborn were removed from the Yu-Gi-Oh Forbidden List and moved to the Limited list. This means that you may now play one copy of each of these cards in any deck in tournament play – effective February 5th, 2018.

Plus, after July 15th, 2019, Solemn Judgment was unrestricted, meaning you could play up to three copies in a deck!

So should everyone go out and grab some copies of Solemn Judgment and Monster Reborn to slot into their decks?

Absolutely!

Solemn Judgment is an awesome counter trap card originally printed in Metal Raiders, but has been reprinted many times over the years. It allows you stop a summon or the activation a spell or trap card. The cost is half of your Life Points. While this seems like a hefty cost, later in the game when your life points are already low, this isn't a huge cost.

Once, many decks would play three copies of this card. One copy is perfectly fine to have as a catch-all counter. But, now that it's again unlimited, it will be interesting to see just how many people play three copies again. It's a great card for just about any Yu-Gi-Oh deck and a classic Yu-Gi-Oh card.

While Solemn Judgment was always a good card in competitive play, Monster Reborn is easily the more iconic Yu-Gi-Oh card of the two. Monster Reborn saw tons of play in the anime and what it does is extremely straightforward: special summon a monster from either player's graveyard. Yes, that's extremely powerful. But Konami decided that it was time to bring back this classic card to competitive play to see how it fares.

Both of these cards will be showing up all over the places. It will be interesting to see how these two cards fit into today's top Yu-Gi-Oh decks.

Kizan is very straightforward. If you control another Six Samurai monster other than Kizan, you can special summon Kizan from your hand. If you control two other Six Samurai monsters, he gains 300 ATK and DEF. He’s been a staple in Six Samurai decks since his release in Storm of Ragnarok.

With Spirit Warriors releasing new Secret Six Samurai monsters, I’m excited to see a classic Yu-Gi-Oh deck get some new blood!

But nowadays, Bestiari is unlimited. So why has no one seemed to notice that there’s a chance for Gladiator Beast decks to be competitive again in 2019 and beyond?

What made Bestiari so good? Gladiator Beasts have this crazy ability that allows them to swap out with other Gladiator Beasts from the deck at the end of the damage step of a combat that monster has been involved in. While there are bigger Beasts and other very useful Beasts, Bestiari was the primary engine of the deck. Not only can he destroy a Spell or Trap card on the field (face-down or face-up) when he’s tagged in from the deck, but he’s the necessary piece for a Contact Fusion into Gladiator Beast Gyzarus. Not only does he have 2400 ATK, but he destroys 2 cards on the field when he enters! Then, he can tag back out after combat and get you two other Gladiator Beasts!

Gladiator Beasts really were a cool archetype because there is actually a lot of important decision-making and strategy to playing the deck properly. But as new and quicker decks hit the scene (Blackwings FTK for example), Gladiator Beast decks sort of took a back seat. So, in the world of Xyz overlays and Pendulum monster insanity, could they still be competitive?

The last time a Gladiator Beast deck won a major tournament was 2014. Check out this list that won the Bulgaria National Championship in June 2014.


Main Deck (40 Cards)

Monsters

2x Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Bear
1x Coach Soldier Wolfbark
1x Gladiator Beast Bestiari
2x Gladiator Beast Darius
2x Gladiator Beast Equeste
2x Gladiator Beast Laquari
1x Thunder King Rai-Oh


Spells

1x Book of Moon
1x Dark Hole
3x Fire Formation - Tenki
3x Forbidden Lance
3x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Shrink


Traps

2x Black Horn of Heaven
1x Bottomless Trap Hole
1x Compulsory Evacuation Device
2x Dimensional Prison
3x Gladiator Beast War Chariot
2x Mirror Force
1x Needle Ceiling
1x Solemn Warning
1x Torrential Tribute
2x Vanity's Emptiness
1x Wiretap


Extra Deck (15 Cards)

Fusion

1x Chimeratech Fortress Dragon
1x Gladiator Beast Essedarii
2x Gladiator Beast Gyzarus
1x Gladiator Beast Heraklinos


Xyz

1x Abyss Dweller
2x Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Tiger King
1x Daigusto Emeral
1x Diamond Dire Wolf
1x Evilswarm Exciton Knight
1x Gagaga Cowboy
1x Gem-Knight Pearl
1x Maestroke the Symphony Djinn
1x Number 101: Silent Honor ARK


This deck isn’t even playable as constructed anymore, as the banned & restricted list has changed a bunch, I didn’t recall Brotherhood of  the Fire Fist - Bear joining the deck along with Fire Formation - Tenki. But I was pretty much gone from Duel Monsters at that point.

Using input from another top 8 list from a Lisbon, Portugal Regional tournament earlier that year, I’ve come up with this revised list


Main Deck (40 Cards)

Monsters

1x Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Bear
3x Gladiator Beast Bestiari
2x Gladiator Beast Darius
2x Gladiator Beast Equeste
3x Gladiator Beast Laquari
1x Gladiator Beast Retiari
2x Thunder King Rai-Oh


Spells

1x Book of Moon
2x Fire Formation - Tenki
3x Forbidden Lance
3x Gladiator Proving Ground
1x Mystical Space Typhoon
2x Pot of Duality
1x Raigeki / Dark Hole


Traps

1x Black Horn of Heaven
1x Bottomless Trap Hole
1x Compulsory Evacuation Device
2x Dimensional Prison
2x Fiendish Chain
3x Gladiator Beast War Chariot
1x Mirror Force
1x Solemn Warning
1x Torrential Tribute


Extra Deck (15 Cards)

Fusion Monsters

2x Gladiator Beast Essedarii
3x Gladiator Beast Gyzarus
1x Gladiator Beast Heraklinos


XYZ Monsters

1x Abyss Dweller
1x Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Tiger King
1x Bujintei Kagutsuchi
1x Diamond Dire Wolf
1x Gagaga Cowboy
1x Gem-Knight Pearl
1x Lightning Chidori
1x Maestroke the Symphony Djinn
1x Steelswarm Roach

Or really whatever XYZ Monsters you want really.

This revised deck-list is just a starting point, but right away, you can see it is considerably different than the last world-beating list that Gladiator Beasts enjoyed.

Let’s go through what makes this deck tick.

The Fire Fist package is cute but is actually a nice little addition to the deck. Gladiator Beast Darius and Gladiator Beast Laquari are Beast-Warriors, so Fire Formation - Tenki is a really nice card to have. The extra 100 ATK is something, but adding one of your Darius or Laquari to your hand is even better. The Tiger King is a useful Xyz monster to have around, too.


Having 3 copies of Bestiari means that we can run the three copies of Gyzarus in the Extra Deck. Really, what made this deck so blasted good is something you can do again.

Darius is really cool because he can Special Summon a Gladiator Beast from your graveyard when he enters the field from the deck! While the effect is negated, you can easily grab a dead Bestiari for a quick Gyzarus summon. Really it’s just a great way to recycle Gladiator Beasts that were destroyed back into the deck. With 3 Bestiari, Darius becomes more important than he has been in years.

Equeste is similar to Darius, except that the Beast goes to your hand, not the field. In some cases, this is even better.

Laquari is the big beater of the deck, as he becomes a 2100 ATK beater when he’s summoned from the deck. He’s also the primary piece of contact fusion summoning Heraklinos.

One Retiari has been a staple in Gladiator Beasts decks for a long time. His ability when summoned from the Deck is to remove 1 card from your opponent’s Graveyard. While this isn’t always relevant, it can mess up a lot of strategies. It’s the most expendable of the Gladiator Beasts, but having one is necessary so that you can have enough different Gladiator Beasts with different names in the deck.


Thunder King Rai-Oh was limited to a single copy for a time, but now he’s back to two copies allowed per deck. What makes him so good in Gladiator Beasts is that he shuts down players being able to add cards from their deck to their hand. While this seems really bad with Gladiator Proving Ground in the deck, Gladiator Beasts decks have been playing Rai-Oh for years due to his other ability: you can sacrifice him to negate a Special Summoning. So while you may have a dead Gladiator Proving Ground or Fire Formation - Tenki in hand sometimes with Rai-Oh on board, that ability to stop a special summon is too big not to play!

Onto the spells, Book of Moon is a staple. In Gladiator Beasts though, it’s even better as it can allow you to flip a monster into face-down defense position so you can survive a combat with a bigger guy. Gladiator Beasts are one of those unusual decks with which it’s sometimes advantageous to deal damage to yourself during combat. Being able to tag out is how this deck functions, after all.

We’ve already gone into Tenki, so let’s discuss another staple in Forbidden Lance. Having had the chance to play with Lance years ago, I’ll say it’s probably the most important combat trick in the deck. Having a monster lose 800 ATK is huge. But it can also save your creature from a Spell or Trap card, too. It’s one of the most versatile quick-play spells in Yu-Gi-Oh. Awesome card!

Gladiator Proving Ground is really bad with a face-up Rai-Oh on board, but the rest of the time, it gets any of your Gladiator Beasts to your hand.

Usually, Gladiator Beasts decks play 3 copies of Mystical Space Typhoon. But since we have 3 Bestiari and so many other important spells and traps, we had to cut down to 1. Two more copies could be put in the side deck for certain match-ups.

While Pot of Duality is no longer limited, two copies in Gladiator Beasts are enough. It’s such a Special Summon happy deck that Duality can cost you a turn. But the card selection Duality provides is worth running it. After all, you don’t have to tag out every turn. However, in today’s game, I could see replacing these with the two MST we cut. I’d have to playtest this build a ton in order to answer that question.

The trap cards are pretty much all classic Yu-Gi-Oh staples. Gladiator Beast War Chariot is the only one that needs special explanation. This card has always been powerful, but negating the activation of an Effect Monster’s effect is activated AND destroying that monster is very powerful. The only drawback? You have to have a face-up Gladiator Beast on the field. Seems fine and better than ever.


What About the Other Gladiator Beasts?

There are other Gladiator Beasts that used to see a lot of play, but aren’t in this deck. Let’s see if they still might belong, at least out of the Side Deck.

Gladiator Beast Hoplomus. A base DEF of 2100 is nothing to sneeze at, and when he’s summoned from the deck, it’s 2400 DEF. He’s basically just a wall, but there are still plenty of monsters that can’t beat 2400 DEF. Still, he’s not as good now as he was in the Gladiator Assault days.

Gladiator Beast Murmillo. This little fish has a powerful effect: destroy 1 face-up monster. With only 800 DEF and 400 ATK, and being Level 3, he’s just not the best main deck option anymore. Still, he blows a guy up, and that’s nothing to sneeze at.

Gladiator Beast Samnite. Being Level 3 is what hurts Samnite these days. He also brings a Gladiator Beast from your Deck to your hand, which while good, is just another bad combination with Rai-Oh. He requires the deck to be built differently than what we have right now.

Gladiator Beast Secutor. This little guy can actually summon TWO Gladiator Beast monsters. It’s a shame that he hasn’t seen play in years. But, with only 400 ATK and 300 DEF, he's really weak. The payoff can be worth it, though. Still, he may be worth a shot in place of Retiari in some match-ups.

The primary issue with these 4 guys is that none of them are Beast-Warriors. If we were to eliminate the Fire Formation Package and a Proving Ground, they may all fit. But would the deck be as good without the added card advantage? Maybe, maybe not. Only playtesting can tell us.


Can Gladiator Beasts Compete in 2018 and Beyond?

Since 2014, I have seen Gladiator Beasts decks occasionally win an odd tournament here and there. Nothing major, though. I really feel as bigger and more explosive archetypes have been released, Gladiator Beasts just sort of got left behind. But there’s still a lot of power in this deck.

Also, it’s possible that the Fire Formation package isn’t even necessary. Perhaps our old Gladiator Beast friends that we haven’t included - Hoplomus, Murmillo, Samnite, and Secutor, in particular - actually belong instead. My feeling is to include them in the side deck, along with other meta-busting cards and see what the best build shapes up to be.

While I won’t be building this deck anytime soon for myself, I feel like there are plenty of duelists out there who’d love to give the old Gladiator Beast toolbox a spin again. The deck is extremely inexpensive to build nowadays. Why not?

Did you ever play Gladiator Beasts at any point? Is this a deck you would ever build again, just to play it for fun? Let us know in the comments!


Here are some other Yu-Gi-Oh trading card game articles you may enjoy:

- Yu-Gi-Oh Blackwings Deck 2018 Profile
-  Is a Toon Deck Now Competitive with Toon Kingdom?
- GOAT FORMAT! - Intro to the Format and Original Aggro Control Deck
- Fire Princess Burn - Old School Yu-Gi-Oh! Deck Profile!
- The Legendary Fisherman - Old School Yu-Gi-Oh Deck Profile

Dragons of Legend 2 has lots of cool Yu-Gi-Oh cards, including the awesome Toon Kingdom, a much better version of the classic Toon World. With many players wanting to build Toon Kingdom decks, there are plenty of options to choose from when constructing your deck. Comic Hand, Mimicat, and Toon Briefcase are all cards that many Toon decks play, but there are others to consider, as well. Here are 3 Toon cards not to overlook from Dragons of Legend 2 when building your own Toon deck. While I’m not sure I’d put them in my main 40 cards, they are still worth considering.

A couple of these cards requires that you have Toon World (or Toon Kingdom, which counts as Toon World) in play when you play them. One only requires that you have a Toon monster in play (which often means you’ll have Toon World or Toon Kingdom in play anyway). Each has an effect that is definitely useful.

Let's check out that November 2018 Blackwing deck list and see the strategies and must have cards for a Blackwing deck in 2019.

Main Deck (40 Cards)

Monsters (26)

3x Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring
3x Blackwing - Auster the South Wind
1x Blackwing - Blizzard the Far North
3x Blackwing - Bora the Spear
1x Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind
3x Blackwing - Harmattan the Dust
1x Blackwing - Kris the Crack of Dawn
1x Blackwing - Oroshi the Squall
3x Blackwing - Simoon the Poison Wind
3x Blackwing - Steam the Cloak
3x Radian, the Multidimensional Kaiju
1x The Phantom Knights of Silent Boots

Spells (12)

3x Allure of Darkness
3x Black Whirlwind
2x Called by the Grave
1x Monster Reborn
3x Pot of Desires

Traps (2)

2x Phantom Knights' Fog Blade

The best Blackwing decks from the past couple of big tournaments used strategies nerfed by recent Forbidden and Limited list updates. But, with the release of White Dragon Abyss, the deck gained not only a new boss Synchro Monster in Full Armor Master, but also Blackwing - Simoon the Poison Wind and Blackwing - Auster the South Wind.

Simoon the Poison Wind is a Level 6 Blackwing, but if you control no monsters and he's in your hand, he can do something cool. You can banish 1 other "Blackwing" in your hand and put a "Black Whirlwind" from your Deck face-up in your Spell & Trap Zone. Then, you can either send Simoon to the graveyard or Normal Summon it without tributing. However, that Black Whirlwind must be sent to the Graveyard at the end of the turn and you take 1000 damage. This is worth playing, though, because you can get any Blackwing with less than 1600 ATK from your deck when he's summoned. He's a pretty cool new engine for the deck.

Auster the South Wind is a level 4 Blackwing tuner with only 1300 ATK and 0 DEF, but his effects are really good. He can't be special summoned, but when he's normal summoned, you can target one of your banished level 4 or lower Blackwing monsters and Special Summon it. That's prety powerful and has great synergy with Simoon and even Allure of Darkness! Also, when Auster is in the grave, you can banish him to get one of a couple effects. The first doesn't matter in our case, as it deals with Black-Winged Dragon. The second effect, though, places 1 Wedge counter on each of your opponent's monsters that doesn't have one. This is very relevant, thanks to Blackwing Full Armor Master, which we'll get to later.

Many older Blackwing monsters that were once staples in the deck such as Shura the Blue Flame and Zephyros the Elite  are no longer seeing play in this deck. But, one Blackwing from Breakers of Shadow from early 2016 still is, Harmattan the Dust. This level 2 Blackwing monster isn't a tuner, but he can be special summoned from your hand if you control a Blackwing other than Harmattan. You can only special summon one Harmattan per turn this way. But, the cool thing about Harmattan is that when he's normal or special summoned, you can target one other Blackwing monster you control and add its level to Harmattan's. This allows for some pretty cool Synchro shenanigans.

Kris the Crack of Dawn is a level 4 Blackwing with 1900 ATK that has the ability to be special summoned if you control another Blackwing monster other than another Kris. It also has the distinguishing ability to be unable to be destroyed by spell or trap cards once per turn. I play the full three copies because he's so easily Special Summoned and he's a nice beatstick.

There's also one Oroshi the Squall, a level one Tuner from Dragons of Legend.  Not only can you special summon him if you have another Blackwing on the field, but if you use him in a Synchro Summon, you can change the battle position of one monster on the field. Not bad!

One copy of Blizzard the Far North helps you to set up Synchro Summons - a third copy always ends up usually being extraneous and a second is just too slow in today's game.

There's one copy of Gale the Whirlwind, of course. This guy was once limited to a single copy because of how he once overran the Yu-Gi-Oh metagame. You really only need one in today's game with all of the other Blackwing tuners you have access to.

Bora the Spear is simple, and is easily Special Summoned as soon as you control another Blackwing. He also inflicts piercing battle damage on creatures in defense mode, something that makes a lot of difference with Kalut’s ability. He's been a mainstay of the deck from the very beginning.

Lastly for the Blackwings, there are three copies of Steam the Cloak, a pretty useful Synchro Monster that leaves behind a level 1 Tuner token when he leaves the battlefield.

Steam the Cloak also has another neat ability that you can use once per duel:

"If this card is in your Graveyard: You can Tribute 1 monster, Special Summon this card from the Graveyard. You can only use this effect of "Blackwing - Steam the Cloak" once per Duel. If this card Summoned this way is used as a Synchro Material Monster, all other Synchro Material Monsters must be "Blackwing" monsters."

There are plenty of Blackwing Synchro monsters in our extra deck, so running two is worth it. Also, if you don't use that ability, you can use Steam to make any Synchro monster you want, as well as the token. This is just a good Blackwing monster.

In addition to the Blackwings, there are three copies of Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring, just because it's one of the best cards in the 2019 meta!  What it does is pretty awesome!

"When a card or effect is activated that includes any of these effects (Quick Effect): You can discard this card; negate that effect.

● Add a card from the Deck to the hand.

● Special Summon from the Deck.

● Send a card from the Deck to the GY.

You can only use this effect of "Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring" once per turn."

There are also three copies of Radian, the Multidimension Kaiju. Radian has popped up in past Blackwing decks. What does he do?

You can Special Summon this card (from your hand) to your opponent's side of the field in Attack Position, by Tributing 1 monster they control. If your opponent controls a "Kaiju" monster, you can Special Summon this card (from your hand) in Attack Position. You can only control 1 "Kaiju" monster. Once per turn: You can remove 2 Kaiju Counters from anywhere on the field; Special Summon 1 "Radian Token" (Fiend-Type/DARK/Level 7/ATK 2800/DEF 0), but it cannot be used as a Synchro Material.

That's a lot of text! Basically, though, you can deal with a problem opponent's monster. Sure, you give your opponent a 2800 ATK monster, but then you can summon your own Kaiju if your opponent already has one. It's cute tech, really. The Kaiju counter ability we don't have to think about here.

The last monster in the deck is a single copy of The Phantom Knights of Silent Boots. He basically exists as a way to get a copy of the Phantom Knights' Fog Blade from your Deck to your Hand. Also, we run a copy of the Link Monster Phantom Knight of Rusty Bardiche in the Extra deck, so Special Summoning him is actually possible.

Onto the Spell and Trap cards!

The only two trap cards in the deck are two copies of Phantom Knights' Fog Blade. Here's what it does:

Activate this card by targeting 1 Effect Monster on the field; negate that face-up monster's effects, that face-up monster cannot attack, also monsters cannot target that face-up monster for attacks. When that monster leaves the field, destroy this card. You can banish this card from your GY, then target 1 "The Phantom Knights" monster in your GY; Special Summon it, but banish it when it leaves the field. You can only use this effect of "Phantom Knights' Fog Blade" once per turn.

Extra Deck (15 Cards)

Synchro
1x Assault Blackwing - Raikiri the Rain Shower
1x Assault Blackwing - Sohaya the Rain Storm
1x Black Rose Dragon
1x Black Rose Moonlight Dragon
1x Blackwing - Nothung the Starlight
2x Blackwing Full Armor Master
2x Blackwing Tamer - Obsidian Hawk Joe





Link
1x Borrelsword Dragon
1x Knightmare Unicorn
1x Linkuriboh
1x The Phantom Knights of Rusty Bardiche
2x Wee Witch's Apprentice

Blackwing Full Armor Master is a very powerful new level 10 Synchro Blackwing. He's really not that hard to summon in this deck, either. He has 3000 ATK and DEF and can't be affected by other cards' effects. Each time an opponent's monster activates an effect, you put a Wedge counter on it. Then, once per turn, you can target 1 monster your opponent controls with a Wedge Counter and take control of it. Then, once per turn, during your end phase, you can destroy all monsters on the field that have a Wedge Counter. Talk about a big finisher, something Blackwings never really had.

What's great about Full Armor Master is you can steal one of your opponent's monsters, and use it to attack or create a Synchro or Link Summon. Then, you nuke your opponent's monster zones at the end of the turn. That's just mean. Plus, not many things can beat him, either.

Raikiri the Rain Shower is definitely a strong Blackwing monster and one of the more powerful Blackwing Synchro monsters ever created. It can wipe out your opponent's side of the field in a hurry. Once per turn, Raikiri lets you destroy up to as many cards as you control other Blackwing monsters. Being able to become a Tuner is pretty much gravy.

Taking the spot that Armed Wing once occupied in the Extra Deck, Nothung the Starlight from Premium Gold: Return of the Bling actually does some pretty cool things. Not only does he deal 800 damage to your opponent upon being summoned, but he also causes one of your opponent’s monsters to lose 800 ATK and DEF! Also, when he’s face-up on the field, you get to Normal Summon an additional Blackwing monster each turn! This is another huge addition for Blackwings since 2015, and not sure how other players have overlooked him!

While not technically a Blackwing (he’s a Warrior), Blackwing Tamer - Obsidian Hawk Joe, also from Return of the Bling, is definitely a nice addition to the Blackwing Extra Deck. Interestingly enough, you still need a Blackwing tuner to summon him. Here’s what he does:

You can target 1 Level 5 or higher Winged Beast-Type monster in your Graveyard; Special Summon it. During either player's turn, when your opponent activates a card or effect that targets only this card, or when your opponent targets this card for an attack: You can target 1 other "Blackwing" monster you control that would be an appropriate target; that card/effect/attack now targets the new target. You can only use each effect of "Blackwing Tamer - Obsidian Hawk Joe" once per turn.

That’s a lot of text. Basically, once per turn, you can just get back one of your Winged Beast-type Synchro monsters into play (there aren’t any other Level 5 or higher Winged Beasts in this deck). If that wasn’t good enough, once per turn, you get to change an opponent’s attack target to another Blackwing you control. Wow.
 

Are Blackwings Still a Top 8 Deck?

While Blackwings didn’t Top 8 any major tournaments in 2016, they did make an appearance in 2017 and early 2018. There was also that top 3 finish in November 2018, and they have the tools to at least be competitive once again in 2019 and beyond.

Being my favorite archetype from my old playing days, it would be fun to see a Blackwing deck list like this make some waves going forward. Blackwings keep getting more support over the years, too. Does this mean Blackwings will be a Top 8 threat going forward? It's possible!

Blackwings may not be the fun "troll" deck that Toon Kingdom allows you to build, but Blackwings have the ability to pull out some very quick wins. It seems that Blackwings may once again have a chance to pull out more upset tournament victories in the future, especially  on the local game store level!

Updated 1/2/2019
 

Here are some other Yu-Gi-Oh trading card game articles you may enjoy:

- Is a Toon Deck Now Competitive with Toon Kingdom?
- Can a Gladiator Beast Deck Still Be Competitive in 2019?
- GOAT FORMAT! - Intro to the Format and Original Aggro Control Deck
- Fire Princess Burn - Old School Yu-Gi-Oh! Deck Profile!
- The Legendary Fisherman - Old School Yu-Gi-Oh Deck Profile