Part 1: The Preparation + Types of Monsters
This blog is about the basics of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game. Here we mainly tell you what you need to play and explain some basics. In future blogs you will be able to learn much more about the card game!
1. The preparation
What do I actually need to get Yu-Gi-Oh! to play?
• Deck
• Cube
• Calculator / Neuron App or classic pen + paper
• Preferably a table with play mats on it (see picture)
• And, of course, an opponent!
2. The playing field
Here we explain how exactly the zones on the playing field (see picture) work!
Let's start at the bottom right. This is the deck zone. So the first thing you do is put the deck on top. The 5 zones next to it are called "magic and trap zones". There you can activate spell/trap cards, or place them face down. On the far left we have the "Extra Deck Zone". So if you have an extra deck, you can put it there. What exactly an Extra Deck is, and how it works, you can find out in this blog!
At the top right (above the deck zone) is the cemetery. That's where all the cards that have already been used, destroyed, sacrificed, etc. end up. Then we have the 5 main monster zones. There you can summon monsters or put them face down in the defensive position. On the left side (above the Extra Deck) is the Playing Field Magic Card Zone. Field spell cards can only be activated or set there! Finally, we would have the 2 extra monster zones at the top in the middle. One of them is yours, and the other is yours. Which of the two you use is up to you. There you are only allowed to summon monsters from the Extra Deck. Link monsters can ONLY be summoned to the Extra Monster Zone. Alternatively, you can also summon Link monsters into a Main Monster Zone if another Link shows monsters with a link arrow on them.
3. The Decks
Main Deck, Extra Deck & Side Deck
Your Main Deck must consist of a minimum of 40 cards, and a maximum of 60 cards! You can play each card up to 3 times, but there are also cards that are forbidden, limited to 1 or 2! The current list of banned and limited cards can be found on Konami's official website.
The Extra Deck is not mandatory, but highly recommended. This may consist of a maximum of 15 cards. The following monsters can be added to the Extra Deck:
• Fusion
• Synchro
• XYZ
• Link
Again, a maximum of 3 cards with the same name! Monsters from the Extra Deck can be summoned at any time during your Main Phase, as long as you meet the summoning requirements.
Then we have the side deck, which is also optional, but recommended. This may also consist of a maximum of 15 cards. And here, too, only a maximum of 3 cards with the same name, but the cards in the Main and Extra Deck are included. For example, if you already have 2x "Dark Mage" in your Main Deck, you may have a maximum of one more in the Side Deck.
The purpose of a side deck is to exchange cards from the main deck between duels. So if you have cards that seem useless against a certain deck, you can then replace them. You may even have just the right anti cards in the Side Deck! Attention: The number of cards in your Main Deck must not change! So you are not allowed to take e.g. 2 cards out of the main deck, and only put 1 from the side deck in! The cards must be replaced 1 to 1.
4. Monsterarten
In this picture you can see a normal monster. These have no effects.
Effektmonster
You can recognize them by their brownish color. Effect monsters are usually much better than normal monsters, as they have an effect in addition to their ATK and DEF. What exactly the effect does, how often you can use it, etc., is different for each card. However, the effect of a card is quite obvious and understandable in the effect box.
Ritualmonster
You can recognize them by the blue color. Ritual monsters can only be summoned with the corresponding ritual spell card. There are many ritual monsters that also have an effect. In this image, however, you can see a ritual monster with no effect.
Fusionsmonster
You can recognize them by their purple color. Fusion monsters are the combination of several monsters. In this case, for example, it is the mixture of 3 white dragons. Fusion monsters are summoned with a fusion card (usually fusion spell card), and for this you need the 3 fusion materials (in this case 3 white dragons) usually in your hand or on the field. However, there are also methods that can be used to extract the materials from the cemetery, deck, etc. can use. Also, most fusion monsters have powerful effects. In this example you can see one again without effects.
Synchromonster
You can recognize them by the white color. Synchro monsters must be summoned from the Extra Deck, where you put 1 receiver + 1 or more other monsters from the field to the graveyard. The combined level of these monsters must be exactly the same as the level of the Synchro Monster. So in this case it would be a level 8 synchro monster. This means, for example, that you have to place a level 4 monster receiver and another level 4 monster from the field to the graveyard in order to summon this synchro monster.
XYZ Monster
You can recognize them by the black color. XYZ monsters must be summoned from the Extra Deck. You can do this by overlaying 2 monsters on the field with the same level (in this case 2 level 4 monsters), and then summoning an XYZ monster that has the same rank as the monster level (in this case rank 4). The XYZ monster is then placed on top of the 2 other monsters. The 2 monsters are now the materials of the XYZ Monster. XYZ monsters usually have effects that they can only use by hanging out one of these materials (i.e. putting them in the graveyard).
Pendelmonster
You can recognize them by the fact that they are monsters in the upper half and spells in the lower half. Pendulum monsters can be summoned just like any other monster. However, you can also reveal them as a spell card in the outer spell/trap zone. There you can use their magic effect. But this has another strong advantage. Because if you have 2 pendulum monsters in your spell/trap zone (i.e. 1 on the far right and 1 on the far left), then you can perform a pendulum summon once per turn. Because pendulum monsters have a scale value.
All monsters in your hand that have a level that is between these two values can be specially summoned to the field at the same time. So if you have the scale values 4 and 10 (in which case we already have one with the scale value 4) on the field, you can special summon as many monsters of levels 5 to 9 as you like from your hand.
If a pendulum monster is placed from the playing field to the graveyard, it will be placed face up on the Extra Deck instead.
There are also Fusion, Synchro, and XYZ Pendulum Monsters. Of course, these belong in the Extra Deck.
Link Monster
You can recognize them by the blue color. Easily confused with ritual monsters. However, you can see the difference directly on the red arrows (see picture). Link monsters must be summoned from the Extra Deck, in which you place the same number of monsters as the number of red arrows of the link monster from the field to the graveyard. So in that case it would be 4 monsters. However, you can also put a link monster with 2 arrows from the field to the graveyard in this case, for example, which then counts as 2 monsters. That is, you could summon this monster by placing 2 Link 2 monsters from the field to the graveyard. Or 1 link, 3 monsters + any other monster.
Receiver Monster
Right next to the monster type is written "Receiver" (see arrow). As mentioned earlier, you'll need at least 1 monster of this type to perform a synchro summon!
Twin Monsters
Again, right next to the monster type, you can see that this is a "twin" monster. Twin monsters are treated as normal monsters until they are summoned again. Only then will their effects be unlocked.
➡️ Result
Be sure to check out Part 2 too! There we will show you the different spell and trap cards, and explain how they work!
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