So what does Pot of Greed do? Well, quite simply…you draw 2 cards from your deck. That’s it. But in a game where you can only draw 1 card per turn, Pot of Greed is a must have advantage to get more of an opportunity to get the cards from your deck that you need. This is a card that is a staple in almost everybody’s deck in the show, especially during the Battle City arc. Multiple times we see Yugi, Joey, Kaiba, Marik, and Marik’s Rare Hunters play this card and are able to make something happen with at least 1 of the cards they were able to draw. Clearly a must have card.

Pretty important card considering how the entire Waking the Dragons arc revolved around the serious consequences of this card. The Seal of Orichalcos is a Field Spell card, or a magic card that can effect multiple monsters on your side and sometimes even your opponent’s side with some other effects and sometimes costs. In this case, the main abilities of the Seal of Orichalcos were increasing the attack of your monsters by 500 and allowing you to summon monsters in your spell and trap zones, allowing them to not be attacked at all. It also had a tiny side effect of consuming the soul of the loser of the duel it was played in. This is best seen in Yami Yugi’s duel with Raphael; one of Yami Yugi’s few losses in the series came at the hand of being tempted by the power of the Seal of Orichalcos card and playing it, eventually resulting in him losing and Yugi sacrificing his soul to save Yami. A uniquely powerful magic card to say the least.

This card was used only once very early on in the series, and for good reason. With the ability to triple the attack of a monster with the dark attribute, things would have gotten out of hand if this card was played on monsters such as the Summoned Skull or the Dark Magician. The entire duel would have been over to how overpowered they would have become. As it was, the card was used by Kaiba in his first duel with Yugi on an incredibly weak monster, Sagi the Dark Clown. However, Sagi the Dark Clown grew powerful enough that Yugi had to use Gaia the Fierce Knight in order to overcome it, one of his strongest monsters in the Duelist Kingdom arc. It may have been used only once in the show, but its effect is not one to be overlooked.

Used solely for defense, the Magical Hats spell card consists of 4 hats that can conceal monsters and traps on the field, forcing the opponent to get lucky in order to destroy what’s hidden. Best known as one of Yugi’s staples during the Duelist Kingdom arc, Yugi gets out of jams multiples times by concealing his Dark Magician and placing his Spellbinding Circle trap under another hat, turning the tables on his opponent. It was this combo that allowed Yugi to destroy one of Ghost Kaiba’s Blue Eyes White Dragons as well as Joey’s Black Skull Dragon; had it not been for Magical Hats, Yugi would have lost both duels.

Pegasus’ deck of choice revolves around the effect of Toon World, a magic card that can not only serve as a safe haven for Pegasus’ Toon Monsters, but also turn other monsters into Toon Monsters as well. We only see this card used in 2 duels: Pegasus vs Kaiba, and Pegasus vs Yami Yugi. However, in both duels Toon World ended up dictating the match, and it was instrumental to Kaiba losing, as Kaiba had no method of being able to destroy it. It’s no wonder that Pegasus kept this card for himself.

Another staple magic card used by many duelists, Polymerization allows 2 monsters to be fused together to form a Fusion Monster. It is these types of monsters, such as Black Skull Dragon, Thousand Eyes restrict, and Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon, that reigned supreme for some time, and certainly commanded the duels they were used in. For example, Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon completely took over the duel when Kaiba summoned it, and Black Skull Dragon won both Yugi and Joey’s duel with the Paradox brothers as well as Yugi’s duel with Joey in order to face Pegasus. Polymerization also helped Yugi out in multiple duels up until that point, as summoning Gaia the Dragon Champion certainly played a part in some of his wins in Duelist Kingdom. Easily a key magic card in a duelist’s deck.

A magic card that can change the outcome of a duel if used at the right time. Shield and Sword switches the attack and defense of all the monsters currently on the field. Monsters that are powerhouse attackers with low defense are suddenly weak, while defense-minded monsters are now the strongest. Joey uses this card in order to win his duel with Bonz; with zombies having zero defense, Bonz suffers a direct blow to the rest of his life points upon Joey’s attack, thus losing the duel. Definitely one of the best magic cards In Joey’s deck.

At first glance, it would seem like this card can’t do much, as it can only copy monsters with an attack of 500 or less. However, infinite copies can be created. Infinite. It is this card that saves Yugi from suffering an outright loss to the 2nd most powerful monster we’ve seen in the series up to this point: the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon. Yugi uses this card in conjunction with Kuriboh in order to create the ultimate defense against Kaiba. Yugi also uses it again in his final match with Pegasus, neutralizing his Thousand Eyes Restrict and paving the way for Yugi’s Magician of Black Chaos to attack him and win the game. Only making a few appearances, Multiply certainly made them count.

The ultimate defensive magic card. Swords of Revealing Light prevent the opponent’s monsters from attacking for 3 turns, allowing the user to formulate a plan and prepare a counterattack of some sort. It certainly sets itself up to be a crucial card that can allow someone to win the duel. The most famous example of the use of this card allowed exactly like that: Yugi uses this card in his 1st duel with Kaiba to prevent 2 of Kaiba’s Blue Eyes White Dragons from attacking as well as drawing the last few pieces needed to summon Exodia. Yugi also used it in his duel with Panik, allowing him to summon Gaia the Dragon Champion and Catapult Turtle, both of which helped Yugi win the duel. All in all, a very good magic card to use.

How many times is this card used to bring back a monster you thought was gone for good? Monster Reborn, referred to in the show as Reborn the Monster, can be used to bring back either one of your monsters that’s been destroyed or one of your opponent’s monsters that’s been destroyed. A fair amount of duels are won in the series by someone using this card to summon a powerful monster to deliver a final blow. Yugi uses this card on Ghost Kaiba’s Blue Eyes White Dragon to win the duel as well as on Black Skull Dragon to win his duel against Joey in the Duelist Kingdom Finals. Kaiba uses this card on his Blue Eyes White Dragon to “win” his rematch with Yugi. It’s also used in terms of furthering the story; Yugi uses Reborn the Monster multiple times in his duel with Bakura to save Joey, and Kaiba uses this card as his final act before his loss to Pegasus. All in all, there are so many more uses of this card in the series, and it is certainly one of the strongest magic cards in the game.