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

(+) Yeah! (+)

Poor Celtic Guardian.. the most jobbery of jobber monsters.
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Interceptomato is outstanding

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Change of Heart
Raigeki
Mystical Space Typhoon
Mirror Force
Trap Hole
Child's Play
Harpie's Pet Dragon
Red-Eyes Black Dragon
Dark Elf
Shield in the Right Hand, Sword in the Left Hand


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I do like that they understood the 'marketing' value of Celtic Guardian well enough to upgrade and make him completely obsolete with Obnoxious Celtic Guard.

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Jerry Beans man! He got used in the early early days of duel links because he was the highest atk level 4 or lower normal monster in the game for a while.

Also I had no idea ruddy rose dragon was a thing that's incredible.
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The flavor text for Jerry makes it that much better which makes me a bit sad about effect monsters not getting any

MZero posted...

Interceptomato is outstanding

One of the best random oneshot cards Yuma used in Zexal I agree
His pungame was off the charts
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kateee posted...

The flavor text for Jerry makes it that much better which makes me a bit sad about effect monsters not getting any

Yup. For a while, I favored normal monsters (Neo The Magic Swordsman was my first love, and I was sad to never see it in the anime) over effect ones for this reason even though the effect monsters were better.

That said, my favorite card is an effect monster (Patrician of Darkness - Played zombies for a while before quitting the game, and Patrician/Spirit Reaper was great for anything that couldn't crack it)

okay i sort of remember that when Patrician of Darkness came out, kids were saying that because of how its effect was worded you could choose to retarget attacks to your opponents' own monsters?

which made it broken in playground format but i was on my way out so i don't have a lot of memories of it

another great flavor text in context with the rest of the card. nice 1100 atk there buddy



i forgot about this one in my honorable mentions. and it's more that the card exists rather than me liking the card a lot

kateee posted...

i forgot about this one in my honorable mentions. and it's more that the card exists rather than me liking the card a lot

Pay 500 Life Points!? I can see why it didn't make the list

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i am the hoarder of life

kateee posted...

okay i sort of remember that when Patrician of Darkness came out, kids were saying that because of how its effect was worded you could choose to retarget attacks to your opponents' own monsters?

which made it broken in playground format but i was on my way out so i don't have a lot of memories of it

It definitely couldn't do that, but I can imagine that coming up in playground format for sure lmao

#10: Beast of Talwar
First TCG release: Pharaohs Servant (2002-10-20)



Im wondering if anyone else here remembers this card. Had no anime presence outside of one second of being seen in Kaibas suitcase and came out in the same set as a certain other effect monster that overshadowed it completely despite them both being 2400 ATK level 6s. Theres this group of monsters that came as foils in the sets but had next to no screentime in the anime so while theres probably some nostalgia factor for the kids who managed to pull them in their packs they dont have nearly the same appeal as the anime favorites. I would include Beast of Talwar in this grouping along with the likes of Tri-Horned Dragon, Serpent Night Dragon, Garnecia Elefantis, and Luster Dragon.

Anyway theres a pretty big reason this card is in my top 10 and thats because its the card I won in that bet duel involving Scapegoat. It was his recent pull in Pharaohs Servant and what can I say, it looked badass and it was an early enough time where you could fool yourself into thinking Defense mattered (this card has the highest combined ATK & DEF of any Lv.6 or lower vanilla). Did I ever use it in a deck? I honestly dont think so. But it calls out to my edgy side. Yeaaaaaaaa boiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii.

It looks like his wings swoop all the way down and become his swords

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siiick

although one potentially goofy thing i just noticed is that it looks like he's knowingly squeezing his whole body + wings into the frame of the card instead of spreading them out lmao

#9: Jinzo
First TCG release: Pharaohs Servant (2002-10-20)



Oh look its that certain other Pharaohs Servant card that was mentioned before. One of two Secret Rares in the set alongside Imperial Order, Jinzo was the other half of the NO duo that marked the first time that both of the incredibly rare wellSecret Rares were legitimately insane cards. Being a one tribute boss monster that did not have to worry about the likes of Trap Hole or Mirror Force changed the game seeing as how previously any of your big monsters that you invested resources into summoning could be simply removed if a Trap Hole was set or they could come along at any time with a Fissure or something. Alsoit was searchable with Witch of the Black Forest lol.

Not only was Jinzo competitively important but it had a decent amount of anime screentime as well from being one of the main monsters in the virtual world filler saga to being one of Joeys premiere cards that he won in Battle City, utilizing it several times (compared to Insect Queen and Legendary Fisherman who he only used once) to the point of it becoming a Joey card in my eyes. And this is a major point: it was probably one of Joeys only legitimately good cards. Seeing as his strategy most of the time boiled down to Graceful/Skull Dice and Time Wizard, it was such a cool development to see him with an actual good card.

I don't think I ever had a Secret Rare :( I had a Vampire Lord, but I think it was from the structure deck, not the set. The rarest card I have is probably Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning, which I traded for (no idea what lol).

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The first time I went to an actual tournament, I barely eked out a win the first duel against a chain burn player. Then I pulled Jinzo out of my sideboard. I summoned it, she read the card text in shock, and forfeited right then and there.

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Jinzo also looks like the resident sadomasochist in a perverted sex dungeon.

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Joey at least used the Fisherman again in the manga. But it was a level 4, so it was easier to summon there.

Jinzo is just infinitely more useful (but also a level 7 in the manga)
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Jinzo is one of the all-time greats. Always have a soft spot for it.

Funny how much Jinzo Lord sucks though.

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When I was in middle school some doofus thought it would be cool to look at my deck and collection and he thought he could get away with it. As in he fucking stole it. Sleeve and everything.

At the time though my Jinzo I had the bottom crimped so when I confronted him about in the hallway I told him to take the card out and look at the bottom. Bastard even said it was his until I I told him about the bottom. Dude became a ghost and apologized. Never talked to him again.

That's my schoolyard tale.

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JeffreyRaze posted...

The first time I went to an actual tournament, I barely eked out a win the first duel against a chain burn player. Then I pulled Jinzo out of my sideboard. I summoned it, she read the card text in shock, and forfeited right then and there.

How does anyone playing at a tournament not know what Jinzo is lol

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maaan fuck thieves

#8: Toon World
First TCG release: Magic Ruler (2002-09-16)



Ok so obviously in the Duelist Kingdom era, if you knew anything about the actual rules of how the game is played youll notice a lot of bullshit moments and its not like the bullshit stopped after but Duelist Kingdom had some of the craziest shit ever like how monster types would actually matter all of a sudden or dozens of made up monster effects that you dont have to reveal to your opponent. And to be fair, this was all before any official rules like tributing, direct attacks, etc. came up in the anime but Catapult Turtle, Pumpking, Labyrinth Wall & Shadow Ghoul, the Dark Magician becoming Dark Sage, my favorite Mammoth Graveyard + Living Arrow fusion to rot Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon from the inside, etc. Despite all this I dont actually think I thought of any of that as bullshit when I watched it. Like I knew that wasnt how the game worked because I read the rulebook and they were playing with different life points after all but it was all just hype in the moment stuff.

But when Toon World and the effects of Toon monsters came up I thought wait thats actually bullshit (in kid words). The monsters just could cartoon dodge out of everything and this was all never seen before stuff because this is the guy who CREATED THE GAME. Like what an insane flex of power (also cheating with the Millennium Eye). So this card immediately went to legendary status. Looking some dates up now and the first appearance of Toon World (Kaiba vs. Pegasus) first aired on May 2002 with the Yugi vs. Pegasus episodes airing around September. Now if youll notice, Magic Ruler also was released in September 2002 which meant that there was the glorious overlap period where you could see cards like Slot Machine and Toon World coming out for real at the same time you were seeing them on the show. Well none of that applied to me because I distinctly remember the packs I got were not 1st edition (or maybe Im remembering that too; memories arent entirely reliable after all). But when I finally got my hands on some Magic Ruler, guess what I pulled. Fucking GRIGGLE!

Okay but it was obviously Toon World. And the amount of fucking POWER I was feeling. I honestly couldnt say whether I felt better pulling this or the Base Set Charizard two years before. Im actually leaning towards this because of the context described above and when I was younger because I was a hardcore Blastoise kid and the excitement from Charizard was more that I knew it was the best card rather than an actual attachment to the Pokemon and also Pokemon was more of a game thing anyway. Anyway the Charizard got stolen at church a few days later after I was showing it off and I think I would have been significantly more destroyed had I liked it so much more.

So there I was showing off my Toon World at school and Im getting offers for trades all over the place and Im shutting them down right and left. Pew pew pew. You must be fucking crazy to think Im trading this for anything.

But then Pedro offers me a pencil box full of cards and begs for me to take the trade. And for some reason here I was actually considering it! I actually told him I would have to think about it because this was the most significant decision of my life up to that point in my life.

So yeha I eventually traded it away for that box. And Im starting to think thats where it all went wrong. I dont even remember like five cards I got in that deal. Stupid kid.

Toon monsters dodging out of the way felt like pokemon-anime levels of bull where you just tell your pokemon to dodge and most of the time it'll dodge, like dodging is an actual move you can teach it.

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Toon World has one of the best card effect texts ever. Out of context, without knowing about all the cards that rely on it, it's hilarious. You just pay life points to play it; that's it.

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Grand Kirby posted...

Out of context, without knowing about all the cards that rely on it, it's hilarious. You just pay life points to play it; that's it.

Reminds me of Star Trek: The Next Generation's infamous Barber Pole:



More relevantly: this is a great topic. Black Rose Dragon is my personal favorite, so I'm ecstatic it made the list.

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Raetsel_Lapin posted...

Reminds me of Star Trek: The Next Generation's infamous Barber Pole:

lmao. I love it. Imagine being a kid wishing to pull Worf or Picard and you get a fucking barber pole.


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kateee posted...

matter all of a sudden or dozens of made up monster effects that you dont have to reveal to your opponent.

I ATTACK THE MOON

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The Toon monsters dodging attacks was not always consistent either.
Blue Eyes Toon dodged the attack, but when Celtic Guardian tried it, he got blocked and destroyed instead.
Even though in both instances the two monsters were equally strong..
And dont get me started on how the card game bungled the Toons eventually, at least for the first phase.
(We have like 5 phases of toons now)
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Oh man Toon World. I totally agree that the hype in the moment sold it.

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This topic is just a delight.

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#7: Harpie Channeler
First TCG release: Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy (2013-05-17)



If you knew how Harpies played, this would have been an obvious choice to see coming. It is the star of your deck and starts all your combos. I remember the first time I started it looked like another one of those tldr cards because of the length of the text but once I played around with it, it was pretty straightforward: Simply discard one Harpie card (this also includes Hunting Ground) to Summon any other Harpie monster from deck. Because the text doesnt say Harpie Lady specifically you can get basically any of your other monsters on the field and play according to the game state at the time. The versatility this offers makes this card so valuable to open with or have at any time because you can play around and having a lot of options is just fun. Ive used this to go into Dracossack first turn so many times that Ive lost count and you definitely gain an attachment to a card when its such a valuable part of the deck you play.

#6: Blue-Eyes White Dragon
First TCG release: Legend of Blue Eyes White Dragon (2002-03-08)



You knew this was coming Pete.

Unquestionably the most well-known and popular monster in the game. Im sure everything I could say has already been said. I think a big part of the appeal for me anyway (in addition to being the strongest monster) was that there were only four of them in the world and one guy had three of them. Its a giant dragon with a lightning attack, 3000 fucking attack. And then they combine to make a three-headed version of itself? The cool factor just never stops. I think its a little interesting that the most popular monster of all time ended up being the signature monster of not the protagonist but the rich asshole whose introduction in the series was severely injuring an old man by playing a card game to take his super rare card with the sole purpose of destroying it.

I DID in fact have three Blue-Eyes but it was never all at once. I believe I had two starter decks at one point and got another of the cards in a trade but I had either lost it or had someone steal one of them which meant my dream of being like Kaiba was never fulfilled.

So an interesting discussion thats always been relevant is the different editions and which is THE definitive Blue-Eyes. Im basically repeating whats been said in other videos but as far as collectors interests go, there are the three main editions which have had their values shoot up over time (around $5000 to $20,000 depending on variables like being graded and editions): the version that was in the first booster set as an Ultra Rare (LOB), the version from the starter deck (SDK) and the promotion version from the Dark Duel Stories videogame (DDS). The LOB, SDK and DDS. In most cases, the version from the booster pack would just be the most valuable and sought out after because its the true rare version. Every kid had the SDK and DDS was similarly guaranteed. LOB was not. You could buy an entire box of packs and not get one. But theres something that does hold the LOB one back and its that it has different artwork. If the market value of these old cards is primarily driven by the nostalgia of now-adults who were kids who grew up watching the show and playing the game, how can it be that the definitive version of a card is one that not a lot of kids had? And more importantly for the casual nostalgic crowd, its not the same art that was so prominently featured in the anime (same with Dark Magician). So you have one version that was truly rare but does not feature the same art that everyone is nostalgic for (LOB) or you have the art but not the rarity (SDK). The DDS is a separate case where it does have the iconic art but its a different rarity and doesnt have quite the same nostalgic pull in addition to the aforementioned rarity issue (also theres no 1st edition like the other two). So yeah I think its pretty fascinating case. Ive always been partial to the LOB edition because of the rarity AND the art actually; when I first saw it as a kid, the different art made it stand out and if I could have one first edition of it to have, I would choose the LOB personally.

Question: Which version of Blue-Eyes is your favorite?

kateee posted...

Question: Which version of Blue-Eyes is your favorite?

The human lady version from the manga.


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That SDK baby

I remember going to the store to buy a Kaiba deck and they only had one, which had been opened and the cards taken. Truly devestating (I got one eventually tho)

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Kaiba is also the more iconic YGO character if you ask me..
Such an obsessive prick further enhanced by his voice actors and the ridiculousness of the anime.

Also the best Blue-Eyes art to me is the one with the stone tablet.
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i think strictly for characters Yugi (or rather, Yami/Pharaoh) still takes it

HEART OF THE CARDS

also that hair

Yugi's hair vs Kaiba's personality basically

Gotta give it to Yugi but Kaiba's case is solid.

I know everyone hates 4kids, but dub Kaiba is one of the best things they ever did:

https://youtu.be/V48OzHnTQ7o

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You have to watch dark side of dimensions. Kaibas best lines are in that movie

Dark Side of Dimensions was excellent, and yeah Kaiba was at his best there

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSBuho7DMes

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Grand Kirby posted...

I know everyone hates 4kids, but dub Kaiba is one of the best things they ever did:

i really have to wonder how much of it is the nostalgia speaking but some of the lines that are in the dub are soo good (both in YGO and Pokemon).

the most "hate" i've seen them get is for One Piece

there's some hilarious stuff too like changing rice balls in Pokemon to donuts

"If I had a dime for every time you used the word destiny, I'd be even richer."

4kids just did too much censoring for my tastes...
and oversimplified the game in some instances too
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invisible guns were good though

#5: Change of Heart
First TCG release: Starter Deck Yugi (2002-03-29); Metal Raiders (2002-06-26)



The last of the POWER 5 on the list and time has been kind to its legacy. Its really proved itself as (iirc) it has never been allowed again in official play after being placed on the forbidden list. Monster Reborn and Dark Hole have bounced around and even Raigeki has come off the list because its impact is just not as powerful as it once was. Change of Hearts (and Pots) power however, grows with the powercreep and will likely never again see the light of official play again. Its just so good. Unlike other cards that have similar effects (Brain Control cost of 800, has to be face up, Mind Control cannot attack or be tributed) it has no cost and no limitations. You can literally take any monster your opponent has and do whatever you want. Whatever.

Even if we were judging on art alone, it would still be up this high. The detail on both wings, the duality aspect, the heart, the way the background glows. It really makes me sad that Pot of Greed wasnt a foil along with it so they could stand side by side shining together.