How to Read a Yu-Gi-Oh! Card

The top: name, Attribute and Level

The name runs across the top left. Its lettering also hints at the rarity: plain black or white on a Common, foil on the higher rarities (more on that below).

The Attribute is the colored circle in the top right corner. Monsters are DARK, EARTH, FIRE, LIGHT, WATER or WIND, and a handful are DIVINE. Card effects often care about Attribute, so it matters more in play than it looks.

Under the name is how strong the monster is on the Level scale, and there are three ways a card shows it:

Pendulum Monsters add one more pair of numbers: a Pendulum Scale on each side of the separate Pendulum effect box that sits between the artwork and the monster's own text.

Under the artwork: set code and edition

The thin strip just below the artwork is the most useful part of the card for a collector. It carries two things:

The set code is what identifies a printing, and the edition mark is often what moves its price most. Some early English printings use a shorter form of the set code without the language letters, and Pendulum Monsters, whose Pendulum effect box takes up that strip, print it lower on the card. Recent sets, Beyond the Brave among them, print the edition mark on the bottom edge beside the passcode, as on the card in the diagram above. 1st Edition vs. Unlimited, explained →

The text box: type line, text and ATK/DEF

The type line opens the text box, in square brackets. It gives the monster's Type and its card kinds, like [Spellcaster/Effect] or [Warrior/Xyz/Effect]. Plenty of effects refer to a Type (Dragon, Spellcaster, Warrior and so on), so this line matters in play.

The card text follows. On an Effect Monster it's the effect; on a Normal Monster it's italic flavor text with no game effect. Fusion, Synchro, Xyz and Link Monsters usually list the materials needed to summon them on the first line.

ATK and DEF sit at the bottom right of the text box, like ATK/3000 DEF/2500. A Link Monster shows ATK and its Link Rating instead, like ATK/2300 LINK-3.

The bottom edge: passcode, copyright and hologram

The passcode names the card, while the set code names the printing. That's why TurnZero HQ's scanner reads the set code first and falls back to the passcode, and then the name, only when the set code can't be read. How the Yu-Gi-Oh! scanner works →

The hologram is worth checking on any card you buy loose. A genuine card's hologram shifts as you tilt it; a missing hologram, or a flat printed imitation of one, is one of the common signs of a counterfeit, though not the only one.

Rarity: read the foil, not a symbol

Unlike a Pokémon card, a Yu-Gi-Oh! card generally doesn't print a rarity symbol. Its rarity is in the foil treatment. The most common ones:

Many more exist, from Ultimate Rare to Starlight Rare, and sets keep adding new ones. Because rarity isn't part of the set code, some sets print the same card at more than one rarity under a single code, and those versions are priced separately.

Card versions

The card above is an Effect Monster. Spells, Traps and the Extra Deck monster types each move or replace part of that layout, and a higher rarity can change the art without changing the card. These six cards from Beyond the Brave are marked up for what's different about each.

Frequently Asked Questions