Board 8 > My top 52 favorite Yu-Gi-Oh cards [ygo]

(+) Yeah! (+)

quick ranking topic i feel like doing

it's time to d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d

#52: Griggle
First TCG release: Magic Ruler (2002-09-16)



This card epitomizes the stupidity and lack of understanding about the game I had as a kid. Obviously playground rules where kids misunderstood, accidentally cheated or just knowingly made things up about their cards were common all over especially during the beginning of the games life. Magic Ruler was the first new set I was there for the release of since LOB and MRD had both been out by the time my obsession got underway. I had seen all the real-life versions of the iconic cards from the anime but this set was the first time my child brain was witnessing and getting mind-blown by the whoa that thing I saw on the tv is now something I can have for real realization. So Magic Ruler I already have a soft spot for and itll make several more appearances on the list. But in addition to that, Griggle I thought was just an AMAZING card (and from a single glance at the card text, you can instantly tell it was because my puny child mind didnt understand how the card actually worked).

At that point my entire understanding of the game boiled down to life points = good. And to be fair, I believe there was a significant portion of the playerbase who thought similarly hence why absolutely insane cards like Solemn Judgment werent being played as frequently as it should have been because of the perceived costliness. So life points became the most important facet of the game for me rather than thinking about them as a resource to manage. Cards like Mysterious Puppeteer and Dian Keto I saw as TOP PERCENTAGE because of the life point gain (notice how Mysterious Puppeteers condition to gain life points is ignored) and of course Ookazi and Tremendous Fire were as equally good since they basically did the opposite. So along comes a new set and heres this new card. Ignore every other part of its text. It says 3000 life points. Fucking 3000 life points. Thats like the same amount of attack points as a Blue-Eyes, THE MOST POWERFUL CARD IN ALL OF DUEL MONSTERS. Tremendous Fire and Dian Keto only listed 1000 life points in its text. Never before had there been any mention of any life point amount higher than that. Not only that, my fifth grade teacher actually got into the game (it started out as a motivational tool to get one classmate to start doing his homework; it resulted in the one kid only getting to played him like once near the end of the school year while every other kid regularly played against our teacher) and there was actual discussion about how this seemingly insane card worked (yeah but what does control shifting to your opponent really mean?) and for a short while there was a mutual understanding between the classroom playerbase (i.e. my teacher and pretty much every guy in the class) that when Griggle was face up on the field and your turn ended (thus shifting control of the field to your opponent, you would gain 3000 life points. Looking back, its so clear thats not what the card says that Im baffled how as a collective group we came to that understanding.

The other issue was that despite being aware of Magic Rulers release and the existence of Griggle, either my mom had not yet acquiesced to my begging to buy me some packs or I did not pull any copies from the few packs I already had gotten OR I had one but felt like having multiple was absolutely essential. Either way, I was losing out on 3000 fucking life points. Another slight note here was that I thought any card that required a cost of life was bad. Because why would I ever want to WILLINGLY decrease my own life points? All of this eventually culminated in the worst trade I have ever made in my history of trading cards where I finally received a Griggle (+Rush Recklessly) for an actually insane card (also on this list) that I desperately wish I had now. To make matters worse, after I got my shiny (although not really because it was a Common) new Griggle and tried to add 3000 life points to my total in a duel against my teacher, I was informed that actually yeah they all realized it actually DIDNT work that way so the card was actually useless.

So yeah I kind of have to accept Griggle as one of my favorites as a reminder to the old stupid times (maybe its a coping mechanism). I can just embrace that I was a stupid kid with stupid kid moments or let punk Oddish haunt me forever.

Question: What was the worst card trade you ever made?

I'm interested, partially because I've played a high amount of Yugioh in my life and struggle to come up with very many cards I'm attached to. I'm more likely to talk about archetypes or individually powerful cards. So I wonder what kind of cards you'll pick.

If I were to name the one that comes to mind the quickest as a favorite of mine, probably Stardust Dragon? Straightforward answer, I know.

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honestly even though i say '52 favorites' there's way less than that i would say i have a 'strong attachment' for. the rest would be under mere 'appreciation' or 'fondness'

the reasoning for some of the cards are pretty straightforward

i definitely remember the time I was trying to get back into the game and thinking Stardust Dragon was the most OP thing i saw

#51: Neo-Spacian Grand Mole
First TCG release: Strike of Neos (2007-02-28)



What an annoying little shit. I love it.

kateee posted...

Question: What was the worst card trade you ever made?

My dumbass traded a Jinzo for Gemini Elf.

Granted I was only playing casually, but always collecting, and Elf was one of the few LON cards I was missing at the time.

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really fun thread idea!

did you have multiple jinzos? for collector value thay trade makes sense to me...?
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Also I fell in to the trap of Life points=everything. Oh to be a kid again.

Also been on a bit of a Yu Gi Oh binge through the pandemic. Didn't realize how many OG cards had some of the most confusing text effects or redundant wording.

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at least in that case they were both Secrets

i'm going to be cringing when i reveal what I traded away for that Griggle

How many times have you touched your magic wand to DMG?

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Sorozone posted...

Also been on a bit of a Yu Gi Oh binge through the pandemic. Didn't realize how many OG cards had some of the most confusing text effects or redundant wording.

i haven't played since the ban list came out, but it is interesting how much more technical card text seems to be now
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Sorozone posted...

Also been on a bit of a Yu Gi Oh binge through the pandemic. Didn't realize how many OG cards had some of the most confusing text effects or redundant wording.

yeeeppp which is another reason why Pot of Greed is so legendary

although with confusing card text there's an overlapping area with erratas that actually just change the card effect which i hate so much

SeabassDebeste posted...

did you have multiple jinzos? for collector value thay trade makes sense to me...?

Pretty sure I had a Joey tin Jinzo too at the time.

I mean not the worst trade of all time or anything, but I didn't get another PSV Jinzo years later(which ultimately cost more money).

I never did any like crazy shit like a common for somethings stupidly rare in comparison. I mean I've done it the other way where the other guy gets ripped. Traded 2 starter deck monster reborns and somethrow away super's for a LOB Blues eyes, and 3 Exodia pieces

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i think the only time i remember ripping someone off was when i got a BLS from the neighbor girl for some commons

yikes moment

Though I suppose with everything that is currently going in the world of Yu-Gi-Oh was selling my collection(first 10 booster sets completed, with some Mint 9 and 10 cards(1st edition Jinzo, Chaos Emperor Dragon) 4 years too earlier was probably my worst trade. RIP.

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greengravy294 posted...

How many times have you touched your magic wand to DMG?

under normal boardposting conditions i would have no qualms about answering this question but i don't want to spoil the list

Sorozone posted...

Though I suppose with everything that is currently going in the world of Yu-Gi-Oh was selling my collection(first 10 booster sets completed, with some Mint 9 and 10 cards(1st edition Jinzo, Chaos Emperor Dragon) 4 years too earlier was probably my worst trade. RIP.

rip indeed

#50: Dark Elf
First TCG release: Metal Raiders (2002-06-26)



This isnt higher on the list because I dont have the same nostalgia for it because of my previously mentioned aversion to anything that cost life points. But its a card I have newfound appreciation from my time getting back into the hobby a little. With how seared into my brain the 1800 ATK beatdown era is, it was only after I went back and played with some of the older sets in custom formats that I realized hey this card is pretty pretty good.

Tag. I played a whole lot of Yugioh at various levels of competitiveness throughout my life. A list like this for me would probably end up being filled with only half a dozen archetypes from some of my favourite decks over the years.

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#49: Harpies Feather Duster
First TCG release: Stairway to Destined Duel Promo (2003-04-15)



This one is of almost mythical status to me because for the longest time I never saw one in real life. Heavy Storm and MST were around plenty but Feather Duster is on another level. Wild that I started getting back into YGO a few months after it came off the banlist. Not to mention I love the artwork for the SDD version; aesthetically wings and things I love in general and the colors are so vibrant with the Secret versions. It actually bothers me that the artwork for the TP version features a card more noticeably.

Tag

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#48: Tour Guide From the Underworld
First TCG release: Extreme Victory (2011-05-06)



Im not as familiar with the competitive history of this card as some of you may be. I was always a more casual player so DinoRabbit and the Sangan combo werent things I found out about until way way later. What I DID use this card for mostly was to insta-summon Number 49: Fortune Tune (LIFE POINTS) of all things in a terrible deck I made involving Spellbooks and Spell Absorption. Effects that Special Summon from the DECK are actually so good and it really makes you FEEEL like you're on a bus because of the SPEEED

tour guide/rescue rabbit meta sucked

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Ah, the phase where they figured the only way to make people play XYZ was to literally put on all the cards that you couldn't Synchro with them.

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#47: Solemn Wishes
First TCG release: Pharaohs Servant (2002-10-20)



Continuing the LIFE POINTS train, I of course thought this was one of the best cards of all time because you get +500 every time you DRAW, something that was GUARANTEED to happen every turn. think about it bro thats like 500000 life points over time its sooo good!!!111 Its a bit of an odd effect for a supposed trap but thats SOLEMN for you.

This LP gain love is great, but it basically confirms that one of my own favorite cards won't be appearing on the list lmao

Tag

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Reg posted...

This LP gain love is great, but it basically confirms that one of my own favorite cards won't be appearing on the list lmao

Lava Golem?

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Tag. Anyone who knows me knows I used to be very big into Yugioh.

Definitely have some childhood stories like that one though.

The big one I remember was Dragon Zombie and Armored Zombie couldn't be killed in defense mode because 0 DEF meant it basically had infinite defense and couldn't be destroyed.

Why? I have no idea but every kid in my neighborhood played them that way.

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Pokalicious posted...

Lava Golem?

Bad Reaction to Simochi

so my ideal combo deck as a kid was some mishmash of a LP gain/burn deck and one of my favorite 'combos' was Soul Release + Graverobber's Retribution lol. i probably got it off a lot more than you would think but yeah a 2-card unsearchable combo is not a valid strategy. but it would feel sooo good to get it off.

i did end up cutting them out this list though along with a lot of other LP gain cards like Nimble Momonga, Enchanted Javelin, Dancing Fairy, Gift of the Mystical Elf

kateee posted...

i'm going to be cringing when i reveal what I traded away for that Griggle

What was it?

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is it still a combo when sangan gets summoned if "its effects are negated"?
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There is almost no way to negate Sangans effect tho
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Pokalicious posted...

What was it?

feel free to guess before it comes up somewhere in the 30s

SeabassDebeste posted... is it still a combo when sangan gets summoned if "its effects are negated"?

iirc it's that its effects are negated when it's on the field, but Sangan's effect is activated when it's sent to the Graveyard so its effects are no longer negated at the timing of activation

#46: Saffira, Queen of Dragons
First TCG release: Duelist Alliance (2014-08-14)

vs.

Ok I have to admit, a big reason why I liked this card so much was because I actually didnt look closely at the artwork. Once I got back into the hobby and was looking through the new sets to see if there were anything that looked cool I was blown away when I came across this one. Or at least, the image that was on all these wiki sites. Two main factors that brought this one way further down in the rankings. First, from a distance, I thought it was wearing a helmet or headgear similar to Angemon and Angewomon from Digimon and that was cool as fuck. Second, the lighting of the cards make the wings so much brighter and enveloped in a white light that made it look way more angelic. It turns out that its actually a Salazzle-looking thing. But whatever. The wings are still great.

I played yugioh for like 6 months 15 years ago but I play a ton of Magic. Am I wrong that the first card giving you 3000 life points once.... still wouldn't be very good?

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masterplum posted...

I played yugioh for like 6 months 15 years ago but I play a ton of Magic. Am I wrong that the first card giving you 3000 life points once.... still wouldn't be very good?

Honestly, for like 2002 it wouldn't be terrible. But yeah. And obviously for the modern game, it's been powercreeped to hell, back, and hell again so it's atrocious even if it were free

masterplum posted...

I played yugioh for like 6 months 15 years ago but I play a ton of Magic. Am I wrong that the first card giving you 3000 life points once.... still wouldn't be very good?

I played weekly tournaments at locals up until a few years and with the more competitive decks and play generally life points are inconsequential. There are an infinite amount of ways to win on a single turn and many decks in the meta, at the time at least, were set up in a way that once they connect on their combo the game is essentially over, so yeah 3000LP gain isn't really great.

Obviously there are exceptions and mirror matches are a thing too.

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masterplum posted...

I played yugioh for like 6 months 15 years ago but I play a ton of Magic. Am I wrong that the first card giving you 3000 life points once.... still wouldn't be very good?

yeeeeeppp building your life points wasn't really ever a winning strategy because of the opportunity cost

but seeing big numbers just felt good

I hope you include my favorite card, Ultimate Baseball Kid.

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#45: Harpie Dancer
First TCG release: Legendary Collection 4: Joeys World (2013-10-11)



Unfortunately, I think this will give away some of the later cards on the list. I forget exactly what caused it but the first time I got back into the game since I was a kid was 2013. After finding out everything I had loved as a child was garbage I basically had to start looking for a new deck. Random cards just splashed together werent going to work anymore so I went looking for an archetype. They basically werent a thing outside of a few handful of cards the last time I had played so it was a new experience for me and I was pretty determined to look for an old-school archetype which left like Blue-Eyes, Dark Magician, Toons and Harpies or something like that and there was a clear winner there for me.

I looked up some decklists to figure out how to play the game again and saw the black and white monsters. Now I had seen them before but at that point I was still one of those I cant believe this is what ygo became smh people and was resistant to learning any new mechanics but I had an oldschool archetype to provide some level of familiarity so I just buckled down and spent the 20 minutes or so to initially learn about XYZ & Synchro Summoning. And yeah it was actually fun once I got the hang of it. The faster tempo they allowed for meant NONSTOP BALLS TO THE WALL ACTION which has always been part of the appeal of YGO over other TCGs for me (that and no set rotation). Would I have bothered to sit down and look that shit up if I was playing with cards I had no familiarity with? Probably not.

Anyway as for Dancer herself, I had been playing around with the Harpie deck for a while when she was announced. Similar to the Magic Ruler release, it was the first time I was actually anticipating a new product so I spent the money for the sealed product to get a playset. Ill always have more attachment to cards I ended up pulling myself even though buying the singles is just way more practical. So she has all that going for her but the best part was her role in the deck and synergy with Harpies Hunting Ground. It meant popping two backrow which sometimes included my own Hysteric Signs which was great for advantage. AND she was unaffected by Bottomless because of her lower attack. Not to mention, that short period where Divine Wind of Mist Valley was a thing was fun too.



Actually...she should probably be a little higher but whatever.

I just hope we see some Toon monsters here

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kateee posted...

there was a mutual understanding between the classroom playerbase (i.e. my teacher and pretty much every guy in the class) that when Griggle was face up on the field and your turn ended (thus shifting control of the field to your opponent, you would gain 3000 life points.

I actually had to look this up because this totally seems like what it actually does

The updated reading on this card changes things immensely (the original is way too vague wtf)


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ooh that does clear it up a lot

syntax baybeeeeeee

#44: Graverobber
First TCG release: Pharaohs Servant (2004-12-01)



The second card on the list so far to be of some anime significance (as far as I know since I never watched past Battle City finals). Theres definitely more of those on the way. Harpies Feather Duster also had some appearances but they werent exactly noteworthy. Graverobber had two big moments and they were turning points for everyones favorite third-rate duelist with a fourth-rate deck once against Bandit In America Keith and another time against Weevil. Also the robber looks cool and cute as hell.

So I was a huge Yugioh head back in the day when the original series was airing, stopped a little bit into GX, and now recently got back into the cards thanks to my boyfriend. I've had a lot to catch up on as Synchro, Xyz, Pendulum, and Link were not a thing when I was last playing! Pendulum seems so silly that I want to play it, so I've been collecting some Pendulum cards. The game really has shifted nowadays, turns can go on forever!

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kateee posted...

Question: What was the worst card trade you ever made?

Can't say I remember. I remember trading my Envoy of the End for like a dozen other cards, many of which I used frequently while... Envoy got banned for a very long time, so in retrospect that was a good trade. But all this was over a decade ago so I can't remember specifics. I haven't played Yu-Gi-Oh in forever

Also Wave Motion Cannon ftw
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kateee posted...

I forget exactly what caused it but the first time I got back into the game since I was a kid was 2013. After finding out everything I had loved as a child was garbage I basically had to start looking for a new deck. Random cards just splashed together werent going to work anymore so I went looking for an archetype. They basically werent a thing outside of a few handful of cards the last time I had played so it was a new experience for me and I was pretty determined to look for an old-school archetype which left like Blue-Eyes, Dark Magician, Toons and Harpies or something like that and there was a clear winner there for me.

What the... this is my story, like word for word, and I also happily settled on Harpies.

Am I you?

Ok, maybe I wasn't a kid when I stopped playing the first time, but there was a good 5-6 year period where I stopped playing, and when I decided to try again in 2013, everything had changed.

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i just remembered why i got back into it at that time and it was because of a friend. he ended up playing Dark Magician & later Spellbooks so pretty sure there's a lot of people in the same boat who came back in through old school support

2013 tho hmmmm