LogFAQs > #961760019

hypnox posted...

Other games I could sorta see it in some cases. Pokemon it made since as there were Pokemon that was stronger than others. MTG it made booster drafts more interesting. But YuGiOh, the bad cards are just BS filler it seemed.

What you need to remember is that Yu Gi Oh wasn't always the way it was even when the anime got released. IIRC, in the 'original' game the Hitasume Giant was, actually, one of the most powerful monsters around. Plus waaaaay back in the original the game developers didn't really have a clear idea of how the game would be unfolding/played/etc. So a lot of cards were made that likely SEEMED balanced at the time but, in actuality, were flat-out terrible. I'm pretty sure a lot of the old school polymerization cards and what-not seemed like they'd be powerful at the time but now...

As for later on cards. Sometimes an archtype doesn't work out, some had lore behind them, and some exist just for fun. MTG's also gone on record as saying that they intentionally release 'bad' rares and the like just to both mess with the assumption that rare=good and because they want to see if someone finds a way to viably use the card.