If you want to get into collecting YuGiOh cards, you have to know the market. If you can get your hands on the right cards, you can quickly make a lot of money. There are some YuGiOh cards currently on the market that are being sold north of $50,000. Think of this as a beginner’s Guide To Yu-Gi-Oh! Collecting.
Guide To Yu-Gi-Oh! Collecting: Intro
YuGiOh was created in 1996 by Kazuki Takahashi. Takahashi is a Japanese author/illustrator, and his franchise began as a feature in Jump magazine. YuGiOh followed in the footsteps of Pokemon and the massive success of the manga. Therefore, the YuGiOh team brought the game to life with real cards representing the monsters used in battle.
In the wake of the massive success of the trading card game, YuGiOh became a worldwide sensation. It spawned an animated series, a featured film, and a lot of merchandise. The card game and animated series came to the United States in 2001, and the rest is history. The YuGiOh trading cards have evolved into a multimillion-dollar market.
Yu-Gi-Oh! is a world with movies and shows (look for Yu-Gi-Oh! DVDs on Amazon)
The Role Of YuGiOh Cards In The Hobby
There are many roles that YuGiOh cards play in the hobby. Some are into collecting from a competitive standpoint. As previously mentioned, the first intended use for these cards was to be used in card fights.
Others collect due to the value of some of the cards. While many in the hobby through sports cards may think collecting cards like YuGiOh may be wrong, there is one significant advantage to collecting these cards that do not apply to sports cards. They have proven less volatile.
So, while there are occasional dips in the YuGiOh market, the monsters on the cards cannot have a career-ending injury, commit any crimes, turn into a bust, or become canceled. Therefore, investing in YuGiOh cards may prove safer than their sports equivalents.
Types of YuGiOh Cards
There are three major types of YuGiOh cards:
Booster Packs
There are two forms of booster packs:
- OCG booster packs: 5 cards. These are the more common packs. Pack rarity ratios currently have not been released for the OCG boosters.
- TCG booster packs. These cards are the more premium release. They contain a rare, seven commons, a ninth card that will be another common, or a foil card that is guaranteed to be ranked at super rare or higher. As of the Breakers of Shadow set, the ratios for the foil card are 1:6 chance of an ultra-rare card and a 1:12 chance of being a secret rare.
Duelist Packs
Duelist packs focus on characters or a season of the animated show. The Duelist packs began in 2006, and the series was rebranded as Legendary Duelist packs in 2017. Duelist packs are much cheaper than booster packs. However, they are more affordable for a reason. In an average duelist pack, they only contain five cards and one strategy card. In addition, a remarkable run of duelist packs has several ultimate rares.
Duelist packs are directly tied to the animated show (get them on eBay)
Promotional Cards
The final form of YuGiOh cards that we will be looking at is promotional cards. Some of these promotional cards are very rare. So, therefore, if you can get your hands on one, you are in for a big payday.
Some of the significant promotional card sets are the 2009 event token promotional cards. Some to look out for include:
- Dual Master’s Guide promotional cards
- Kids WB Duel of Destiny promotional cards
- TCG magazine promotional cards
- Make-A-Wish-Foundation promotional cards
- TCG manga promotional cards
- TCG master collection
- Mattel action figure promotional cards (series 1, 2, and 3)
- McDonald’s promotional cards (series 1 and 2)
- San Diego Comic-Con 2006 promotional cards
- TCG Special Edition promotional cards
- Summoned Skull Sample promotional cards
Here is a set of McDonald’s promotional cards (look for more promotional cards on eBay)
What Are The Top Releases?
There are three sets worth mentioning here.
Battle of Legends: Hero’s Revenge Set
One of the big cards you can get from this set is black luster soldier (soldier of chaos link monster). There are 24 packs in this box, and each five-card pack includes four ultra rares and one secret rare. One of the biggest draws to this box is that it only features foiled cards, and it comes at a relatively affordable price for the product you are getting.
Rising Rampage Box
The most significant pull from this box is Apollousa, Bow of the Goddess. A handful of other cards will put a big dent in the cost of the box if not cover it entirely. Each of these boxes comes with 24 packs of nine random cards.
Legendary Dueler: Immortal Destiny
This fabulous box in which you can pull an Evil Hero Malicious Bane. It is one of the most valuable cards in the series. There are 36 packs of five cards in this box.
Ways To Play
If you plan to collect YuGiOh cards in hopes of playing the game, it will significantly change what your collection will look like compared to someone who collects as an investment. There are two significant ways of playing:
Rush Duel
In this style of play, there are smaller fields with three Monster Zones and three Spell and Trap Zones. They are accompanied by the usual spots for the Main Deck, Extra Deck, Field Spell Zone, and Graveyard.
Rush Duels has no Standby Phase or Main Phase Two; this quickens the game’s pace. Rush duel also allows players to summon and set as many monsters as possible. The only limitation is on level five or higher monsters.
You start with four cards, then draw five. Players begin with 8,000 life points. Rush duel also added legend cards. However, players are only limited to one legend card in their deck at a time. One of the most significant additions that rush duel brought was a maximum summons. To have a max summon, you must play your legend monster along with their pairing cards.
Speed Duel
The rules to speed dueling are significantly less complex. There are four types of cards in speed dueling: monster cards, spell cards, trap cards, and skill cards. Each player starts with 4,000 life points in this style, and of course, the goal is to get the opposing players’ life points to zero.
Guide To Yu-Gi-Oh! Collecting
There are two ways you can collect YuGiOh cards, the first being buying boxes and filling out sets. The second way is to go out and buy individual cards that may go up in price.
Guide To Yu-Gi-Oh! Collecting: Tips
Depending on your budget, I would not recommend going for boxes right off of the bat. Sure, you could get lucky and pull a special card for your first rip. However, that is unlikely.
Instead, I would recommend studying the market. First, determine what cards seem to be valuable, trends up in value, and the reasons for that. After that, you can start by buying cards that you think will go up in price and either sell them or continue to hold onto them. Once you are entirely comfortable with the market and know what you are talking about, then and only then would I move onto boxes.
Guide To Yu-Gi-Oh! Collection Value
There is still a lot of value in YuGiOh, even if you are not mainly a fan of playing the card game. For example, in October 2020, a 2002 LOB Blue Eyes White Dragon (1st edition) PSA 10 sold for $85,100.
While the top cards do not sell anywhere near as much as the top sports cards, there is still a lot of value in YuGiOh cards.
Let’s look at a few examples:
| Card | Value |
Apoqliphort Towers | $2.65 |
| Chaos Emperor Dragon Envoy of The End | $65 |
| Dark Armed Dragon (1st ed) | $130 |
| Exodia, the Forbidden One | $5.35 |
| Dark Magician | $15,000 |
The Dark Magician card has a particularly high value (look for them on eBay)
Bottomline Of The Guide To Yu-Gi-Oh! Collecting
To wrap up, we are going to answer the ultimate question: “Is collecting YuGiOh cards worth it.” Of course, it is worth getting into, especially if you are into the show or card game. There are a lot of buyers in the market, and if you find the right card, you could make a tidy sum.
YuGiOh provides collectors with plenty of boxes that frequently result in breaking even or profiting for the buyer. However, as we all know, that is never guaranteed. Despite this, the YuGiOh market is an exciting market to look at, and it may be worth your time to look more into it and see if it is for you personally.
