How Yu-Gi-Oh! Fails as a Card Game Anime (2025)

If a live-action or animated series features merchandise from a real-life product, chances are they serve as little more than 22-minute advertisements that are too cheesy to take seriously. Admittedly, Yu-Gi-Oh!'s first anime series (not counting Season 0) does not fall under that category, since it is based on Kazuki Takahashi's manga from before the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game ever existed. This justifies why the early seasons seem to make up rules as they go along before the groundwork is fully laid out, as well as the unusual formats of the franchise's earliest video games — Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories, Yu-Gi-Oh! Dark Duel Stories, Yu-Gi-Oh! The Duelist of the Roses, and so on.

Unfortunately, Yu-Gi-Oh! still fails as a card game anime, since it does not properly convey the fun of collecting trading cards. It tends to focus on potentially life-altering and world-ending events that can only be overcome by a set of trading cards created by a flamboyant gentleman with long white hair and an obsession with cartoons. Granted, these can be decent plots to craft a card game around, but the writers might as well admit that their stories are more interesting than the card game itself.

The “Heart of the Cards” Is Called “Top-Decking” in Real Life

It Should Always Be a Last Resort

So many Duels in the anime are decided when the main protagonist is in a tight spot only to draw the exact card they need not to lose at the final moment. This makes for thrilling comebacks, but it becomes hard to take seriously if this is done to death. The dub, in particular, constantly emphasizes that the key to winning Duels is to "trust one's Deck" and to "believe in the Heart of the Cards", but that seldom works in real life. In fact, competitive Yu-Gi-Oh! players call this "Top-Decking", though terms like "sacking" and "luck-sacking" refer to Top-Decking in a derogatory manner.

The anime's famous debut of Exodia the Forbidden One is a prime example. Just as Yugi is about to be beaten down by three Blue-Eyes White Dragons, he boasts about how his grandfather's Deck has no pathetic cards and draws the final piece of Exodia to declare an instant victory. No reasonably intelligent player will use a random assortment of cards, like Gaia the Fierce Knight or Celtic Guardian, in an Exodia Deck. Real-life Exodia Decks are typically filled with cards that either allow the player to draw more cards or search out Forbidden One monsters. Interestingly, some Yu-Gi-Oh! games implement a Destiny Draw system which allows players to designate certain cards to draw when low on Life Points.

This is one competitive card game aspect the anime fails to mention: the win condition. This is a game state which players should strive to reach as soon as possible. A win condition can be anything from assembling a huge board of monsters that the opponent cannot defeat, declaring an instant victory with Exodia, having a variety of floodgates to keep the opponent from playing, and so on. Competitive players fill their Decks with cards that either expedite their win condition or hinder their opponent's means of reaching theirs. Admittedly, the Egyptian God cards are the closest thing to a win condition that the anime recognizes, but most Decks that include them aren't built around summoning them quickly.

The Duel with Strings, controlled by the nefarious Marik Ishtar, is a notable exception. Not only is Slifer the Sky Dragon portrayed as this unstoppable force while it stares Yugi down, but Strings' Deck is built to make it easier to summon and get the most out of its abilities when it does hit the board. Infinite Cards ensures that Slifer's ATK/DEF can grow astronomically high, Card of Safe Return lets Strings draw each time a monster is revived, and so on. Interestingly, Yugi doesn't win by some suddenly drawn card — he just turns Strings' combo against him and forces him to Deck Out. This kind of climax is what the anime should have had more of.

Life Points Are Made Out To Be the Most Important Resource

The Only Life Point That Matters Is the Last

Another problem with the anime's storytelling is that Life Points are seen as the defining factor in Duels, despite each player's moves being dictated by their available resources instead. Typically, the player with the most cards on their board and hand will end up the victor — this is why Maxx "C" was banned in the TCG for so long. In reality, the only Life Point that affects a Duel's outcome is the last one, plus some archetypes like Dinomorphia actively try to drop their player's Life Points as low as possible to utilize their effects. Then again, Johnson's insistence on letting Joey Duel alongside Yugi in exchange for starting with doubled Life Points is regarded as a stupid idea.

The emphasis on resources is another competitive card game aspect the anime fails to mention: the Side Deck. In the official Yu-Gi-Oh! tournaments, players are expected to play matches with a best two-out-of-three setting. Between Duels, players are allowed to swap out cards in their Deck with a Side Deck of 15 other cards. These can be used to plug up a Deck's weakness, counter the opponent's core strategy, or simply improve a Deck's consistency. This is a psychological aspect that is rarely depicted in any card game anime, yet it is a vital skill that real-life players must rely on to win. This concept of preparing for potential counters is a great way to show the main character's intelligence.

Additionally, rival characters like Seto Kaiba might actually win if they bother to prepare for their opponent's strategy ahead of time. For example, Yugi's "Heart of the Cards" can be treated as a "strategy" given how consistently it works for him. How can Kaiba stop Yugi from drawing his out and pulling off a comeback? A card that can manipulate the top of his Deck could work. Alsei, the Sylvan High Protector is the perfect counter — it can take one of Yugi's cards and put it on the top of his Deck, thus ensuring that he will draw that card no matter how much he "believes". Alsei can be Xyz Summoned with two Level 8 monsters, so a Blue-Eyes Deck can easily use it without losing consistency.

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Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters

Yu-Gi-Oh! follows the adventures of high school student Yugi, who has a magical secret that comes to life when he plays his favorite card game: 'Duel Monsters.

Genre

Adventure, Fantasy, Science Fiction

Language

English, Japanese

Number of Seasons

5

Debut Date

April 18, 2000

Studio

Gallop Co., Ltd.