History TabletopGame / YuGiOh

* VengefulGhost: Quite a large chunk of the [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Zombie Zombie]] type cards are made up of this kind of monster, especially ones from the older sets that had stronger ties to more dark and occultic themes than the modern game. These grim spirits could commonly be found on [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Souls_of_the_Forgotten monster,]] [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Vengeful_Bog_Spirit magic]] and even [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Dark_Spirit_of_the_Silent trap]] cards extremely regularly and although they're not quite as numerous nowadays they still seem to [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Number_48:_Shadow_Lich show up from time to time.]]

** Many cards say "you can only use this card's effect once per turn". However, if the card is removed from the field and played again, or flipped face-down and then back-up, that restriction is reset and you can use the effect again. Or, if you have multiple copies of the card, all of them can use their effect once each. This led to more modern cards specifying "you can only use the effect of <card's name> once per turn", to put a stop to this kind of explotation.

** Destiny HERO Diamond Dude lets you flip the top card of your deck once per turn: if it's a Normal Spell, you can send it to the Graveyard and on your next turn you can activate its effect. The key word there is "activate it's ''effect''." As [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Card_Tips:Destiny_HERO_-_Diamond_Dude this page]] lists, that means you don't need to meet activation requirements or pay activation costs to use the effect, leading to tons of abuse potential. Also, Diamond Dude's effect of letting you use the effect is a condition set once his effect resolves, so even if he leaves the field before your next turn, you can still use the effect of the discarded Spell.

** Trap card: Trap cards are red. They can't be immediately activated, but can be set (placed face-down) in the spell and trap zone, and activate in the opponent's turn to respond to the opponent's actions.

** Synchro: Synchro Monsters are summoned from the Extra Deck, and require sending a Tuner monster (a type of monster) and other non-Tuner monsters to the Graveyard, whose combined levels equal the Synchro monster's level.

** Pendulum: Pendulum Monsters act like both Spell Cards and Monster Cards, and can be either summoned normally or activated in the Pendulum Zones. If the player has Pendulum Monsters in both Pendulum Zones, the player can use Pendulum Summon once per turn, and summon any number of monsters with levels between the two pendulum monsters' pendulum scales from their hand. Pendulum Monsters are sent face up to the extra deck when they go to the Graveyard, and face up Pendulum Monsters can also be summoned during Pendulum Summoning if they fit the level requirement.

** Xyz: Xyz Monsters are summoned from the Extra Deck, and require overlaying two monsters with the same level to summon the Xyz Monster with the same rank as their level, which is then overlaid on top of these two monsters.

* MegaMicrobes: The game released a few of these guys early on in its run. There was the [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Giant_Germ Giant Germ]] that could [[AsteroidsMonster split into two]] when attacked, the dissolving [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Ameba Ameba]] blob that damaged the opponent if control of it switched and the [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Vile_Germs Vile Germs]] which were... [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers a low level equip spell card for Plant type monsters for some reason.]]

* TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers: Meta-example. The [[https://twitter.com/YuGiOh_OCG_INFO OCG Twitter]] likes to make posts asking people about their favorite cards of a particular variety, showing cards that fall under that category. While usually all but one of the cards fall under a single archetype (one that's usually meta relevant or at least respectably playable within the last year) the last one is completely unrelated to the other cards in any way other than it shares the category highlighted. Some examples:
** [[https://twitter.com/YuGiOh_OCG_INFO/status/886412573649899520 Trap Cards]], featuring the prolific Solemn counter trap card series; Solemn Wishes, which is related by name; Balance of Judgment, which features the same GrandpaGod as the counter trap cards; and......Fetters of Fenrir.
** [[https://twitter.com/YuGiOh_OCG_INFO/status/885461310393024514 Warrior-type monsters]], featuring Noble Knights, and Hayabusa Knight, an unrelated double attacker that predates all of them by over 10 years.

** Several cards, most famously Harpie Lady and her variants, say in their text "This card is always treated as Harpie Lady". This refers to purposes of deck construction too -- Harpie Lady, Harpie Lady #1, #2, #3, and Cyber Harpie, all count as the same card, so you can only have three total. In turn this has led to cards with effects reading like "This card's name is treated as <name> while it is on the field and/or in the Graveyard", bypassing the card limit rule so support cards for that specific monster are easier to use. The Harpies, Cyber Dragon, and the Frogs, all abuse this to the extreme.

* PressXToDie: If a there's an effect that can be activated by paying Life Points, and the player has exactly that many Life Points, they can choose to activate it, losing the game on the spot (though this can also occur with mandatory manteinance costs).

* BellyDancer:
** There's an old Ritual Monster named [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Performance_of_Sword Performance of Sword]], who not only dresses like a belly dancer, but appears to ''be'' one; this is further enforced by her Japanese name being "Dancing Soldier." The associated Ritual Spell Card for Performance of Sword is called [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Commencement_Dance Commencement Dance]], and also features a dancer dressed like this.
** Some Lunalight monsters also share this aesthetic, most prominently Cat Dancer.
** [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Magical_Musketeer_Starfire Magical Musketeer Starfire]] and [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Harpie_Dancer Harpie Dancer]] both fit the bill to a 'T', the latter at least in her original art.

* BeneloventGenie: Despite being DARK attribute Fiend type monsters the flavor texts for [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/La_Jinn_the_Mystical_Genie_of_the_Lamp La jinn the Mystical Genie of the Lamp]] and [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Lord_of_the_Lamp Lord of the Lamp]] heavily imply that they faithfully serve their master's commands without trickery or malice.

-->'''Lord of the Lamp:''' This spirit emerges from the mystic lamp and obeys the wishes of its summoner.

* GenieInABottle: Two early monsters [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/La_Jinn_the_Mystical_Genie_of_the_Lamp La Jinn the Mystical Genie of the Lamp]] and [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Lord_of_the_Lamp Lord of the Lamp]] were examples of this. Interestingly their lamps were also considered [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Ancient_Lamp monster]] [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Mystic_Lamp cards]] in their own right and given their own effects.