Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!

A Yu-Gi-Oh! card carries more printed information than most trading cards, and every field on it is used by the game. Reading one properly is also how you tell two copies of the same card apart, because the fields that matter to a collector — the set code, the edition and the rarity treatment — are the ones a player can ignore.

Quick answer

A card is one of three types: Monster, Spell or Trap. A monster prints a Name, an Attribute, one or more Types, a Level or Rank, ATK and DEF, and its effect text. Below the artwork sits the set code, which identifies the print run the copy came from. Two copies with the same name can differ in set code, edition and rarity while playing identically.

The three card types

Every card is a Monster, a Spell or a Trap. Monsters stay on the field and fight; Spells are played from the hand on your turn; Traps are set face-down and used later, often on the opponent’s turn. Spells and Traps are further divided by Spell Speed, which decides what can be used in response to what.

The monster frame, field by field

Name, at the top. Attribute — one of LIGHT, DARK, EARTH, WATER, FIRE, WIND or DIVINE. Type, such as Warrior, Dragon or Spellcaster, of which a card may carry more than one. Level, printed as stars from 1 to 12, or a Rank on an Xyz monster. ATK and DEF, the battle numbers — a Link monster prints neither. Then the effect text, and below the artwork the set code that identifies the print run.

Spells, Traps and Spell Speed

Spells and Traps are grouped by how quickly they can be used. A Normal Spell is slow, a Quick-Play Spell and a Normal Trap can be used in response to something else, and Counter Traps are the fastest. The rule matters because the game resolves effects in chains, and the chain is built out of Spell Speed.

Where two printings of the same card differ

Set code, edition and rarity treatment. The card’s name, text and stats are the same. That is why a collector checks the line under the artwork before anything else: it answers which product the card came from and whether it was part of the first run of that product.

Frequently asked questions

What do the numbers on a Yu-Gi-Oh! card mean?

The stars are the Level (or the Rank, on an Xyz monster). The two numbers in the lower corners are ATK and DEF. Link monsters print a Link Rating in place of both.

What are the seven monster Attributes?

LIGHT, DARK, EARTH, WATER, FIRE, WIND and DIVINE. Every monster prints one, and many effects refer to it.

What is the set code for?

It identifies the product and the print run a copy came from. Two copies of the same card from different products carry different set codes.

What is the difference between a Spell and a Trap?

Spells are played from the hand on your turn; Traps are set face-down first and used later, often on the opponent’s turn. They also sit at different Spell Speeds.

Why do two copies of the same card look different?

Different print runs use different rarity treatments, so the foil pattern, the frame and sometimes the name can look different while the game text is identical.

Sources

Sources and further reading

1. Konami — the official Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME rulebook and the For Beginners how-to-play series, which set out deck construction, the summoning methods and the turn structure.
2. Konami — the official Yu-Gi-Oh! Neuron card database, for card names, Attributes, Types and the set codes used on this site.
3. CardSpicy — the Yu-Gi-Oh! card index, which lists the printings we hold and links to the rest of the Yu-Gi-Oh! guides.

Game rules, product contents and card counts are quoted from the publisher’s own materials at the date stated and can change without notice. Prices quoted anywhere on this site are secondary-market observations and move quickly; nothing here is a valuation or an investment recommendation. Our own asking prices for the cards we hold are on each product page.

Yu-Gi-Oh! has the longest continuous print history of any game in this section, which is both the attraction and the problem. A collection that tries to hold everything ends up holding a bit of everything. The collectors who enjoy the result usually settled a small number of decisions first, and the decisions are the same ones whatever the budget.

Quick answer

A collection is easier to build if you fix five things before buying: what the collection is about, which era it covers, whether you are collecting a language or a print region, whether you want completeness or rarity, and how the cards will be stored. Where the cards come from — sealed product or singles — follows from those five.

Decide what the collection is about

There are three honest shapes for a Yu-Gi-Oh! collection. A character or archetype collection follows one group of cards. An era collection covers a period of sets. A complete collection tries to hold a set or a rarity band in full. Each of the three is workable; mixing them without deciding is what produces the boxes nobody looks at twice.

Pick an era or a character

The summoning methods give a natural way to date a collection. Fusion, Synchro, Xyz, Pendulum and Link each belong to a stretch of the game’s history, so “a Synchro-era collection” is a boundary that means something on the card. Read the set code under the artwork and it will place the card in that history for you.

Language and print region

The same card can exist in Japanese, Asian-English, North American English, European and Simplified Chinese printings. They are separate editions of the same card, not interchangeable copies, and a collection that names one language is easier to keep coherent than one that takes whatever comes. If you want a specific printing, decide that before you buy rather than after.

Completeness or rarity

A complete run of Commons and a handful of the rarer treatments are two different hobbies that need two different amounts of money and patience. Deciding which one you are doing stops you buying a card because it is unusual and then never finding the set it belongs to.

Storage and where the cards come from

Yu-Gi-Oh! cards are 63 × 88 mm, the standard trading-card size, so a standard sleeve and a standard rigid holder fit them with no Yu-Gi-Oh!-specific product needed. The second layer matters more than the first, and the two-layer order is worth settling before the collection is big enough to make it expensive to fix. For where the cards come from, sealed product answers a different question from singles: a box gives you a spread of a set, a single gives you the one card. Most collections end up using both.

Frequently asked questions

How do I choose what to collect in Yu-Gi-Oh!?

Pick one shape and stick to it: a character or archetype, an era of sets, or a complete run. Each is workable on its own and hard to combine.

Should I collect Japanese or English Yu-Gi-Oh! cards?

They are separate printings rather than interchangeable copies, so it is worth naming the language you want before you buy, not after.

Is it cheaper to buy boxes or singles?

They answer different questions: a box gives you a spread of a set and singles give you the card you are missing. Which is better depends on whether you are chasing completeness or a specific card.

What do Yu-Gi-Oh! cards need for storage?

A standard-size sleeve and, for anything valuable, a rigid holder. Yu-Gi-Oh! cards are 63 × 88 mm, the same as Pokémon cards, so no special product is needed.

Where should a first collection start?

With the five decisions, not with a purchase. Deciding the subject, the era, the language, the target and the storage first is what keeps a first collection from becoming a box of unrelated cards.

Sources

Sources and further reading

1. Konami — the official Yu-Gi-Oh! Neuron card database, for card names, Attributes, Types and the set codes used on this site.
2. Konami — the official Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME rulebook and the For Beginners how-to-play series, which set out deck construction, the summoning methods and the turn structure.
3. CardSpicy — the Yu-Gi-Oh! card index, which lists the printings we hold and links to the rest of the Yu-Gi-Oh! guides.

Game rules, product contents and card counts are quoted from the publisher’s own materials at the date stated and can change without notice. Prices quoted anywhere on this site are secondary-market observations and move quickly; nothing here is a valuation or an investment recommendation. Our own asking prices for the cards we hold are on each product page.

Yu-Gi-Oh! has been in print since 1999 and the rulebook has grown with it. A duel is still built on a frame that fits in a paragraph: two players, 8,000 Life Points each, a deck built before the first card is drawn, and a turn that runs through the same six phases every time. Everything else on this site assumes that frame, so it is the place to start.

Quick answer

A duel uses a Main Deck of 40 to 60 cards, an Extra Deck of up to 15 and a Side Deck of up to 15. Both players begin at 8,000 Life Points and draw five cards. Each turn runs through the Draw, Standby, Main 1, Battle, Main 2 and End phases in that order. A player loses when their Life Points reach zero, when they must draw and the deck is empty, or when a card says they have won by some other condition.

The deck, in three parts

The Main Deck holds 40 to 60 cards and is the one you draw from. It is where monsters, Spells and Traps live, and it is the only part of the deck with a minimum. The Extra Deck holds up to 15 cards and is kept face-down to one side: it is where Fusion, Synchro, Xyz and Link monsters wait until a card tells you to summon them. The Side Deck holds up to 15 cards kept outside the duel and swapped in between games of a match.

Pendulum monsters are the odd case. They sit in the Main Deck like any other monster, but they can also be placed in the Pendulum Zones on the field, where they act as scales and let you summon a whole group of monsters at once.

The field

Each player has five Main Monster Zones and five Spell & Trap Zones, plus two Extra Monster Zones shared between the players and a Field Spell Zone. Alongside those sit three places cards leave play for: the Graveyard, the banished pile, and the Extra Deck itself. Cards use the zones by name — an effect that says “one of your Monster Zones” means exactly that zone and no other.

The six phases of a turn

Draw Phase: draw one card. Standby Phase: effects that trigger “in the Standby Phase” resolve here. Main Phase 1: summon, set, play Spells and Traps, and use effects. Battle Phase: declare attacks. Main Phase 2: a second Main Phase, used after attacking. End Phase: the turn ends and hand-size limits apply.

The two Main Phases exist because attacking ends the first one. If a deck needs to set a Trap after it has attacked, or summon a monster that only works once the board is settled, the second Main Phase is where that happens.

How a duel ends

Most duels end when one player’s Life Points reach zero. The other two ways are running out of deck (a player who must draw from an empty deck loses) and a card with a printed win condition. Because a deck can lose without being attacked, a duel is not only a race — it is a race against the clock the deck imposes on itself.

Frequently asked questions

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

The Main Deck holds 40 to 60 cards, the Extra Deck up to 15 and the Side Deck up to 15. Only the Main Deck has both a minimum and a maximum.

How many Life Points do you start with?

8,000 each. Both players draw five cards before the first turn.

What is the Extra Deck for?

It holds Fusion, Synchro, Xyz and Link monsters, kept face-down until a card lets you summon one. It never goes into the Main Deck.

Can you win without attacking?

Yes. A player who must draw from an empty deck loses, and some cards print their own win condition, so a duel can end with the Life Points untouched.

Do you need the newest cards to play?

No. The older summoning methods are still legal and still used. What changes between sets is which decks are strong, not whether an old card may be played.

Sources

Sources and further reading

1. Konami — the official Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME rulebook and the For Beginners how-to-play series, which set out deck construction, the summoning methods and the turn structure.
2. Konami — the official Deck Construction Rules page, for the Main, Extra and Side Deck limits quoted here.
3. CardSpicy — the Yu-Gi-Oh! card index, which lists the printings we hold and links to the rest of the Yu-Gi-Oh! guides.

Game rules, product contents and card counts are quoted from the publisher’s own materials at the date stated and can change without notice. Prices quoted anywhere on this site are secondary-market observations and move quickly; nothing here is a valuation or an investment recommendation. Our own asking prices for the cards we hold are on each product page.

Quick answer

CardSpicy takes a card game’s structure from the publisher rather than from how a marketplace files it, and Konami publishes Yu-Gi-Oh! as two separate environments that share a rulebook and little else. The OCG and the TCG share the summoning methods, the card anatomy and the rarity ladder, but they do not share a card pool, and they do not share a list of what is legal — each keeps its own Forbidden & Limited List.

Whether a card exists, is legal, or counts as recent is a per-environment fact in Yu-Gi-Oh!, and that is why this split deserves a page of its own.

Most card games have one card pool and one set of rules, and regional differences are a matter of language and release timing. Yu-Gi-Oh! does not work that way. It is published as two environments that share a rulebook and little else.

The two environments

The OCG and the TCG are separate branches of the same game. They share the structure described in the Yu-Gi-Oh! card index — the summoning methods, the card anatomy, the rarity ladder — but they do not share a card pool, and they do not share a list of what is legal.

What that means in practice

Question	Why it has two answers
Is this card legal?	The OCG and the TCG keep separate Forbidden & Limited Lists, so the same name can be restricted in one environment and unrestricted in the other.
Does this card exist?	Some names are released in one environment before the other, and a few have never crossed over at all. A card’s existence is a per-environment fact.
Is this card recent?	The two environments do not receive releases on the same dates, so “new” differs between them.
Can I use it in a world-level event?	Events that draw from both environments generally require a card to have been released in both before a cut-off, so a card legal at home may not be eligible there.

Language is a different question again

It is tempting to treat language as a stand-in for environment, and it mostly is not. A card’s language tells you where it was printed for, and an environment tells you which pool of cards and which list apply. Keeping the two apart is what stops a language question from being answered with the wrong list.

The Simplified Chinese edition sits inside one of them

Konami publishes an official Simplified Chinese edition, and it belongs to the OCG rather than forming a third game. It is an official tournament format in mainland China rather than a translation overlay: the cards carry Simplified Chinese text and effects on the card face, and the publisher’s own card database is published in Simplified Chinese as well. The Simplified Chinese event environment has also been given its own Forbidden & Limited List alongside the wider OCG list.

Why an index has to care

Because a card is catalogued by release, and a release belongs to an environment. Two copies of the same name can carry different legal status, and a name can be a real card in one environment while being something you will never see in the other. The Forbidden & Limited List article covers what the list does with those names.

What this page does not claim

No prices, and no card counts. We have not yet run a checked pull of graded sales for Yu-Gi-Oh!, and the two-environment structure means a single global number would be misleading even if we had.

Frequently asked questions

What do OCG and TCG stand for?

They are the two environments of the Yu-Gi-Oh! card game. Each has its own card pool and its own Forbidden & Limited List, so a card can be legal in one and restricted or absent in the other.

Is the Simplified Chinese edition a separate game?

No. It is an official edition published by Konami and it belongs to the OCG. Its event environment has been given its own Forbidden & Limited List alongside the wider OCG list.

Can I use a card from one environment in the other?

Only if it exists in that environment’s card pool and is not restricted there. Existence and legality are both per-environment questions.

Why are the two lists different?

Because the two environments have different card pools and different play patterns, so they are balanced separately. A restriction in one is not automatically a restriction in the other.

Does language decide which list applies?

Language and environment are separate questions. Which environment a card belongs to is what decides the list, not the language of the printing.

Sources

Sources and further reading

1. Konami — the Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME official card database (Yu-Gi-Oh! Neuron): the card search, the set list and the Forbidden & Limited List. The database is published in Japanese, English and Simplified Chinese.
2. Konami — the official Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG rulebook: the parts printed on a card, deck construction by card name, and the current Forbidden & Limited List.
3. Card names, attributes, types and printed ATK/DEF values are taken from the publisher’s own database rather than from third-party price guides.
4. This page was compiled 2026-10-06. Where the publisher’s database does not define something, this page says nothing about it.

Card names, attributes, types and printed ATK/DEF values are quoted from Konami’s own card database at the date cited and are subject to change. This page is identification and structure, not valuation: we publish no price for Yu-Gi-Oh! cards, because we have not yet run a checked pull of graded sales for the game.

Related reading

• The Yu-Gi-Oh! card index — the eight summoning methods
• The Forbidden & Limited List, explained
• The cards collectors know first

Quick answer

CardSpicy takes a card’s legality from the game’s own rules body rather than from a price guide, and Yu-Gi-Oh!’s Forbidden & Limited List is published as exactly that. It carries four statuses counted in copies — Forbidden (0), Limited (1), Semi-Limited (2) and Unlimited (3) — and the count applies across the Main, Extra and Side Deck combined, not per pile.

The list restricts card names rather than objects, so every printing of a restricted name is affected equally — and a card’s place on it says nothing about what it is worth.

Yu-Gi-Oh! is unusual in that its most-discussed list is not a rarity chart and not a set list. It is a legality list, and it is published by the game’s own rules body rather than by a price guide.

Four statuses, counted in copies

Status	Copies allowed in a deck
Forbidden	0
Limited	1
Semi-Limited	2
Unlimited	3 (the default for any name not on the list)

The count is applied across the Main, Extra and Side Deck combined, so the limit is on the deck as a whole rather than on one pile of it.

It works on names, not on objects

This is the part that catches people out. The list restricts card names. Every printing of that name is affected equally, which means an alternate artwork of a forbidden card is exactly as unusable as the original. A player cannot solve a restriction by owning a different version of the same card, because there is no different card — in the rules there is only the name.

Why a card is on the list

The list is a balancing instrument. A name is restricted because of how it plays, not because it is old, rare or expensive. That means its presence on the list has nothing to do with its collectibility, and its collectibility has nothing to do with its presence — the two are separate questions that people regularly conflate when they look at a card whose status has changed.

Legality is a property of a date

The list is revised periodically, and names move on and off it. Since the physical card never changes, a collection can gain or lose playability without a single object being altered. That is why a card’s legal status should always be dated: “legal” is not a property of the card, it is a property of the card at a moment in a particular environment.

More than one list exists

Yu-Gi-Oh! does not run a single list for everyone. The OCG and the TCG keep separate lists, and the Simplified Chinese event environment has been given its own list as well; some other formats and the digital games carry their own. The OCG and TCG article covers why the game is split that way.

What this page does not claim

No prices, and no reproduction of the list itself. The list changes on the publisher’s schedule, and a copy of it here would go stale. Read it from Konami, and read it dated.

Frequently asked questions

How many copies of a forbidden card can I play?

None. A Forbidden card has a deck limit of zero across the Main, Extra and Side Deck combined.

Does the list restrict a printing or a card name?

A card name. Every printing of that name is affected equally, so an alternate artwork of a restricted card carries the same restriction as any other copy.

Why do two players in different countries use different lists?

Because the OCG and the TCG are separate environments with separate card pools, and each keeps its own Forbidden & Limited List. The Simplified Chinese event environment has also been given its own list.

Can a card come off the list?

Yes. The list is revised periodically, and names move on and off it. Since the physical card does not change, legality should always be quoted with a date.

Does a rare card get restricted more often?

No. The list is about how a card plays, not about how rare or old it is. Rarity and legality are separate questions.

Sources

Sources and further reading

1. Konami — the Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME official card database (Yu-Gi-Oh! Neuron): the card search, the set list and the Forbidden & Limited List. The database is published in Japanese, English and Simplified Chinese.
2. Konami — the official Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG rulebook: the parts printed on a card, deck construction by card name, and the current Forbidden & Limited List.
3. Card names, attributes, types and printed ATK/DEF values are taken from the publisher’s own database rather than from third-party price guides.
4. This page was compiled 2026-10-06. Where the publisher’s database does not define something, this page says nothing about it.

Card names, attributes, types and printed ATK/DEF values are quoted from Konami’s own card database at the date cited and are subject to change. This page is identification and structure, not valuation: we publish no price for Yu-Gi-Oh! cards, because we have not yet run a checked pull of graded sales for the game.

Related reading

• The Yu-Gi-Oh! card index — how the game is structured
• OCG and TCG: the two card pools, explained
• One name, many printings

Quick answer

CardSpicy identifies a card by its name the way the rules do rather than by its picture, and then treats the printing as the collector’s problem. In deck construction one name is one card — up to three copies across the Main, Extra and Side Deck combined, and a first printing, a reprint and an alternate artwork are all the same card to the rules. In a collection one name is many objects: each printing carries its own set code, its own rarity, and often its own artwork and language.

Two listings can both say “Blue-Eyes White Dragon” and be different things — search by set code when you want one specific printing.

Most card games make you identify a card by its number. Yu-Gi-Oh! makes you identify it by its name, and then makes the number the collector’s problem instead. The two rules sit side by side, and the gap between them is where most buying mistakes happen.

In the rules, one name is one card

Deck construction in Yu-Gi-Oh! is by card name: you may hold up to three copies of a name across your Main, Extra and Side Deck combined. The Forbidden & Limited List restricts names as well. So a first printing and a reprint of the same name are the same card, and an alternate artwork is the same card again. Nothing about the printing changes what the deck is allowed to do.

In a collection, one name is many objects

Each printing is its own object. It carries its own set code, its own rarity, and in many cases its own artwork and language. Two listings can both say “Blue-Eyes White Dragon” and be different things, and the same name can be found printed across a span of years at rarities that have nothing to do with each other.

What differs between two copies	What it tells you
Set code	Which product the copy came from. This is the field to search by if you want one specific printing rather than the name.
Rarity	The foil treatment and how many copies of that treatment were printed. A print decision, not a rules decision.
Artwork	The same name released with new art. Collectors call this an alternate artwork; the card does not change in play.
Language	Which edition of the game the copy belongs to. Copies of one name exist across the languages the game is printed in.
Edition marker	For many older English-language sets, the print run is marked as a first edition or as an unlimited print. This is a convention of the English-language game rather than of the card.

Alternate artwork is the collector’s version of the same card

An alternate artwork is exactly what it sounds like: the same name, the same card text in play, a different illustration. Because the identity of the card is the name, an alternate artwork cannot be a “better” card — only a different object. What it can be is scarcer, and scarcity is the whole reason the distinction exists.

How to search, and how to be searched

Search by set code, not by name, whenever you care about which copy you are getting. That is the field that separates one printing from another, and it is the field a graded label records as well. A listing that gives only a name has told you the card but not the object.

What this page does not claim

No prices, no quantity claims, and no list of which alternate artworks exist. We have not yet run a checked pull of graded sales for Yu-Gi-Oh!, and anything we could not read from Konami’s own database is left out. The Yu-Gi-Oh! card index carries the structural half of the story.

Frequently asked questions

Do alternate artworks change how a card works?

No. A card is identified in play by its name, and an alternate artwork carries the same name and the same text. The difference is the illustration and the rarity of the printing, not the card.

How many copies of a card can I use?

Up to three copies of a name across your Main, Extra and Side Deck combined, unless the name appears on the Forbidden & Limited List, which can reduce that number.

What is a set code for?

It identifies which product a copy came from. Because one name is printed across many sets, the set code is how you tell a first printing from a reprint and how you specify which copy you are buying or grading.

Why do some Yu-Gi-Oh! cards say first edition?

For many older English-language sets, the print run is marked as a first edition or as an unlimited print. It is a convention of the English-language game, and it tells you which run a copy came from.

Are two printings of the same name interchangeable in a deck?

Yes. Deck construction and the Forbidden & Limited List work on names, so any printing of a legal name counts the same. Printing differences matter when you are collecting, not when you are building.

Sources

Sources and further reading

1. Konami — the Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME official card database (Yu-Gi-Oh! Neuron): the card search, the set list and the Forbidden & Limited List. The database is published in Japanese, English and Simplified Chinese.
2. Konami — the official Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG rulebook: the parts printed on a card, deck construction by card name, and the current Forbidden & Limited List.
3. Card names, attributes, types and printed ATK/DEF values are taken from the publisher’s own database rather than from third-party price guides.
4. This page was compiled 2026-10-06. Where the publisher’s database does not define something, this page says nothing about it.

Card names, attributes, types and printed ATK/DEF values are quoted from Konami’s own card database at the date cited and are subject to change. This page is identification and structure, not valuation: we publish no price for Yu-Gi-Oh! cards, because we have not yet run a checked pull of graded sales for the game.

Related reading

• The Yu-Gi-Oh! card index — summoning methods and card structure
• The cards collectors know first: Blue-Eyes, Dark Magician and the God cards
• The Forbidden & Limited List, explained

Quick answer

CardSpicy takes a card’s identity from the card face rather than from a fan nickname, and Yu-Gi-Oh! is unusual in that a handful of individual cards are known by name rather than as members of a class. Blue-Eyes White Dragon (3000 / 2500) is the Normal Monster the first English booster set is named after, Dark Magician (2500 / 2100) is the series protagonist’s signature card, and Red-Eyes Black Dragon (2400 / 2000) is printed as its counterpart. Exodia the Forbidden One heads a five-card set that is an alternative win condition rather than a battle.

These are the names collectors look for first — and because the game is built from summoning mechanics rather than a cast, a deck built today can still use a mechanic introduced twenty years ago.

Yu-Gi-Oh! is not organised around a cast of characters the way Pokémon or Dragon Ball are. It is organised around summoning mechanics, and a deck built today can still use a mechanic introduced twenty years ago. That is why the Yu-Gi-Oh! card index here is built from card classes rather than from a roster of characters.

There is one exception. A small number of individual cards are known as cards, not as members of a class, and they are the names people look for first.

The names everyone knows

Card	Attribute	Type	Level	ATK / DEF	Why it is known
Blue-Eyes White Dragon	LIGHT	Dragon	8	3000 / 2500	A Normal Monster with no effect text, printed at the top of the original stat line, and the card the first English booster set is named after
Dark Magician	DARK	Spellcaster	7	2500 / 2100	A Normal Monster, and the signature card of the series protagonist
Red-Eyes Black Dragon	DARK	Dragon	7	2400 / 2000	A Normal Monster, printed as the counterpart to Blue-Eyes
Exodia the Forbidden One	DARK	Spellcaster	3	1000 / 1000	The head of a five-card set; holding all five pieces is an alternative win condition rather than a battle
Obelisk the Tormentor, Slifer the Sky Dragon, The Winged Dragon of Ra	DIVINE	Divine-Beast	10	varies by card	The three Egyptian God cards; their earliest promotional printings were not part of the tournament card pool

A Normal Monster is not a weak card

Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Dark Magician and Red-Eyes Black Dragon carry no effect text at all. The game calls them Normal Monsters. Their standing comes from their size and from their history, not from an ability printed on them — which is worth knowing, because the instinct when looking at a card is to look for text, and on these three there is none.

Why the God cards sit apart

The three Egyptian God cards are printed with the DIVINE attribute, which no other monster uses. They arrived through the story rather than through an ordinary set release, and the earliest printings were promotional and not legal in tournament play; playable versions followed later. So for these three the question “which printing is this?” matters more than it does for almost anything else in the game, because two copies carrying the same name can have different status.

The name is the card; the printing is the object

In play, Yu-Gi-Oh! identifies a card by its name. Deck construction runs on names — you may hold up to three copies of a name across your Main, Extra and Side Deck combined — and the Forbidden & Limited List restricts names too. Every printing of Blue-Eyes White Dragon is therefore the same card in the rules.

For a collector they are not the same object. One name exists across many sets, rarities, artworks and languages, and every copy carries a set code that says which product it came from. “I own Blue-Eyes White Dragon” is not a complete sentence; “I own this printing of Blue-Eyes White Dragon” is. The reprints and alternate artworks are the whole of that distinction.

What this page does not claim

No prices, and no count of how many printings exist. We have not yet run a checked pull of graded sales for Yu-Gi-Oh!, and a number we cannot re-count is worse than no number. Where a fact could not be checked against Konami’s own card database or rulebook, it is left out rather than estimated.

Frequently asked questions

Is Blue-Eyes White Dragon an effect monster?

No. Blue-Eyes White Dragon is a Normal Monster: it carries no effect text. Its standing comes from a 3000 ATK body and from its history, not from an ability printed on the card. The same is true of Dark Magician and Red-Eyes Black Dragon.

What are the three Egyptian God cards?

Obelisk the Tormentor, Slifer the Sky Dragon and The Winged Dragon of Ra. They are printed with the DIVINE attribute, which no other monster uses, and their earliest promotional printings were not legal for tournament play.

How do you win with Exodia?

By holding all five pieces of the Forbidden One in hand at the same time. It is an alternative win condition: no battle is needed. The five cards are the head plus the left and right arm and the left and right leg.

Does a different artwork change what the card is?

No. In play a card is identified by its name, and every printing of that name counts equally for deck construction and for the Forbidden & Limited List. Alternate artworks are collector’s distinctions, not rules distinctions.

Do you sell Yu-Gi-Oh! cards?

Not yet. Our product line is graded Pokémon cards at present, and this page is reference rather than an offer. When we list a card it appears on its own product page with its own asking price.

Sources

Sources and further reading

1. Konami — the Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME official card database (Yu-Gi-Oh! Neuron): the card search, the set list and the Forbidden & Limited List. The database is published in Japanese, English and Simplified Chinese.
2. Konami — the official Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG rulebook: the parts printed on a card, deck construction by card name, and the current Forbidden & Limited List.
3. Card names, attributes, types and printed ATK/DEF values are taken from the publisher’s own database rather than from third-party price guides.
4. This page was compiled 2026-10-06. Where the publisher’s database does not define something, this page says nothing about it.

Card names, attributes, types and printed ATK/DEF values are quoted from Konami’s own card database at the date cited and are subject to change. This page is identification and structure, not valuation: we publish no price for Yu-Gi-Oh! cards, because we have not yet run a checked pull of graded sales for the game.

Related reading

• The Yu-Gi-Oh! card index — the eight summoning methods, in order
• One name, many printings: reprints and alternate artworks
• OCG and TCG: why the game runs two separate card pools