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Characters / Yu Gi Oh Card Game V To Z

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Characters from the Yu-Gi-Oh! card game, sorted alphabetically from V to Z.


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    Vaalmonica 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/unknownvalmonicamonster1.png
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/unknownvalmonicamonster2.png

Vaalmonica is an archetype of LIGHT Fiend and DARK Fairy monsters that can be divided into two parts: a duo of Level 4 Pendulum Monsters with 1200 ATK/2100 DEF, and a pair of Link-1 Link Monsters with 2500 ATK.

The Pendulum Monsters are able to quickly set up a Pendulum Scale, as each can place themselves from the hand into the Pendulum Zone, and its counterpart from the Deck, by discarding another card. While in the Pendulum Zone, their effects allow them to gain Resonance Counters by gaining Life Points or taking effect damage. Then, once one of them has at least 3 such counters, their Link Monsters are able to be Link Summoned with an Effect Monster if they possess the corresponding Type.


  • Attack! Attack! Attack!: The Link Monster Duralume can make up to three attacks each turn by removing three Resonance Counters from your field.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Despite looking like an angel, Angello gives the opposite advice as Dimonno, setting her charge down the wrong path. On top of that, her angelic wings are upside-down, hinting at how something is off about her.
  • Bizarre Instrument: The Field Spell, "Vaalmonica, the Agathokakological Voice", resembles the glass harmonica invented by Benjamin Franklin in the 18th century. Its ability to take control of an opponent's monster when 3 Resonance Counters are placed on the same card is likely a reference to the rumors of the day that playing it would drive both musician and audience mad over time.
  • Cast from Hit Points: The Normal Spells and Traps associated with the archetype can either heal or hurt you for 500 a pop as part of their effects.
  • Girlish Pigtails: Selettrice sports a pair of these, each with some truly impressive Ojou Ringlets.
  • Good Angel, Bad Angel: The Spell Card Scelta has Angello and Dimonno depicted this way, with poor Selettrice in the middle. Ironically, according to the concept art, Dimonno is the Good Angel and Angello is the Bad Angel. Dimonno gives good advice, while Angello gives wrong advice.
  • Not Evil, Just Misunderstood: According to her concept art, Dimonno blames her demonic looks on why no one seems to listen to her.
  • Power Copying: Both Angello and Dimonno can banish an in-theme Normal Spell or Trap from your Graveyard to apply their effects during the turn they're Summoned. As befits their appearance, Angello can copy the one that heals you, while Dimonno can inherit the one that damages you.
    • The Link Monster Zebufera can go one step further by applying the whole effect of any related Spell or Trap that's either banished or in your Graveyard.
  • Really Fond of Sleeping: In a sketch in her concept art, Angello can be seen taking a restful siesta.
  • Status Effects: Dimonno's Pendulum Effect drains 100 ATK from each enemy monster for every Resonance Counter on your field.
  • Summon Bigger Fish: Angello's Pendulum Effect can Link Summon a Vaalmonica monster when an enemy monster declares an attack.

    Valkyrie 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/valkyrie_brunnhilde.png

The Valkyrie cards, Walkure in the OCG, are a Fairy-type archetype that draws inspiration from The Ring of the Nibelung. The crux of the archetype is the Spell Card Ride of the Valkyries, which allows them to flood the board with monsters in order to OTK the opponent; should this fail, they also have a small number of monster control effects to slow the opponent's recovery. They were used by Zigfried von Schroeder in the original series, but made their TCG debut much later.


  • Amazon Brigade: As expected, all of the Valkyries are female.
  • Breaking Old Trends: They're the first instance of a previously anime-exclusive archetype first appearing in the TCG, instead of a Collector Pack in the OCG.
  • Canon Immigrant: Valkyrie Sigrun is a weird case of this trope being Double Subverted. She is the only member of the archetype who is not based of the Wagner play, yet exists in the broader Norse lore.
    • The TCG introduced five completely new monsters that weren't even alluded to in the anime.
  • Chainmail Bikini: Their armor doesn't cover a whole lot.
  • Combos:
    • The three basic Valkyries' effects combo into each other: Zweite destroys a monster, Erste banishes it to copy its ATK, and Dritte then gains ATK.
    • Zigfried's three Goddess combo is also present in full force, thanks to them gaining the ability to search each other. Once they're on the field, Skuld lets you reorganize the opponent's deck, Verdande forces them to set their top card, and Urd banishes it.
  • Gratuitous German: The Valkyrie all have German names. This also applies to the name of the archetype in the OCG.
  • Hat of Authority: The higher-leveled Valkyrie monsters wear more detailed helmets.
  • Knightly Sword and Shield: Brunhilde can protect your Valkyries from destruction in battle by sacrificing 1000 DEF. In the anime, this was represented by Brunhilde blocking an attack with her shield, which then breaks.
  • No-Sell: Goddess Urd's Verdict protects the Valkyries from being destroyed or targeted by the opponent's card effect.
  • Numerical Theme Naming: With the exception of Brunhilde, Erda and Sigrun, as well as their two Chariot Union monsters, all of the Valkyrie's names are derived from the names of numbers in German.
  • One-Hit Kill: Their specialty. Summon multiple Valkyries with Ride of the Valkyries, hit the opponent for massive damage, then if they're still alive, use Mischief of the Time Goddess to seal the deal.
  • Valkyries: Right there in the archetype name. The monsters take their names from several Valkyries in Norse myths.
  • Weak, but Skilled: The Valkyries have low ATK for monsters of their level with their strongest member, the level 9 Sigrun, having a mediocre 2200 ATK. However, their effects allow them to clear the gap by increasing their own ATK or outright removing the opponent's monsters before they have a chance to battle.
  • Zerg Rush: Each individual Valkyrie is fairly weak. But when Ride of the Valkyries dumps three or four of them on the board at once, watch out.

    Vampires 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vampirelord_ow.png

Vampire, naturally, represent vampires. They're Zombie monsters (with the exception of "Vampire Hunter") that can revive themselves from the GY on different conditions.

The "Vampire" playstyle can be separated in two categories. The older one centers around "bleeding" the opponent from resources by forcing them to send cards from their Deck to the Graveyard and triggering their own effects with that. The second, introduced in Dark Saviors, centers around gaining control of the opponent's monsters, paying Life Points to activate their potent effects, and using the opponent's monsters as Xyz material.

In the R manga and the GX anime, they are used by Tilla Mook and the Seven Star Assassin Camula, respectively. Seto Kaiba also had a "Vampire Lord" in his deck.


  • Alucard: "Vampire Scarlet Scourge" greatly resembles Adrian Fahrenheit Țepeș from Castlevania, that franchise's version of Alucard.
  • Ascended Extra: Vampires were once used by minor adversaries in the GX anime and the R manga (Camula in GX anime and Tilla Mook in the R manga) and otherwise were a very poor archetype with a handful of cards. In the era of ZeXal almost ten years later, they've gotten enough members and support Spell/Trap Cards, including a Field, to be a viable deck.
  • Bowdlerise: In the OCG Vampire Grace is holding a wine glass of red liquid, possibly either actual wine or blood. To avoid any potential references to alcohol, the TCG changes it to be a green color instead.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: One of their main gimmicks. The Vampire monsters introduced in Dark Saviors all share a common effect that allows them to resurrect any of the opponent's monsters they destroyed in battle, which can they later be used to summon their boss monster "Dhampir Vampire Sheridan".
  • Classical Movie Vampire: Most of male members look like they stepped out of a classical horror movie, with capes, appropiate dressing and hairstyles. Even some of the female members have era-appropiate dresses.
  • Dracula: "Vampire Lord" and "Vampire Voivode" are reinterpretations of the same, famous vampire.
  • Flourish Cape in Front of Face: "Vampire Scarlet Scourge" can be seen doing this pose in the artwork of "Vampire's Desire".
  • Glass Cannon: Besides a few monsters, all the Vampires have much lower defense than attack stats. Dragon, Duke, Bram, and Shadow Vampire are the most notable, with all four having at least 2000 ATK, but 0 DEF.
  • Good Wings, Evil Wings: Curse has a pair of devil wings rather than a cape.
  • Homage: There are a plethora of references to Castlevania, a vampire-focused franchise also owned by Konami:
    • One card features what's very clearly Castlevania, Dracula's castle, which got a dedicated card in the anime named "Infernalvania".
    • Vampire Scarlet Scourge resembles Alucard, as he was depicted in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, while Vampire Hunter looks like Leon Belmont.
    • "Vampire Genesis" somewhat resembles the monstrous forms that Dracula is depicted to take form in the final battles of most of the Castlevania videogame series.
  • Hypnotic Eyes: Referenced in the card "Overpowering Eye", which hypnotizes the opponent's monsters and allows a Zombie monster you control to attack directly.
  • Hunter of His Own Kind:
    • According to her concept art, Vampire Fascinator is a powerful femme fatale that preys on vampires. She forces them to suck her blood and then she sucks out their power. She even forces them to become her servants once they're weak enough.
    • While not literally a vampire, Vampire Hunter's effect targets DARK-types, yet he himself is also DARK-type.
  • Meaningful Name:
  • No Historical Figures Were Harmed: Vampire Grace's elegant and puffy outfit, holding of a glass that contains red liquid in the OCG, and facial design all combine to make it clear she's based on Elizabeth Báthory, a noblewoman mythically associated with being a Serial Killer that engaged in Blood Baths, to the point she was both depicted frequently as a vampire and became the inspiration for Carmilla.
  • Our Vampires Are Different: Subverted aesthetically, as they tend to appear as if they stepped straight out of a classical horror novel.
  • Power at a Price: One of the main gimmicks of the archetype. Many of the monsters require a payment in Life Points in order to use their powerful effects. Although "Vampire's Domain" and "Vampire Domination" allow the user to gain back the lifepoints.
  • Resurrective Immortality: Plenty of Vampire monsters possess some form of this, although limited to a specific kind of trigger or condition on field. The original "Vampire Lord" is able to resurrect itself the next Standby Phase if destroyed by a card effect.
  • Shout-Out: Vampire Vamp bears a strong resemblance to Inner Moka from Rosario + Vampire, a manga series whose plotlines resemble Yu-Gi-Oh's before the card game took over. Both series are published by Shueisha.
  • Undeathly Pallor: Most of the members share an inhumanly pale skin tone, or variations of blue.
  • Vampire Hunter: The aptly named Vampire Hunter, who visually takes inspiration from the Belmont family from Castlevania through his bulky build, art-style, and whip. His effect is to One-Hit Kill any DARK-Type monster, of which all Vampires are.
  • Vampiric Draining:
    • Not inflicted on the opponent's monsters, but rather their own user in order to pay the cost for their effects. "Vampire's Curse" effect in the manga even had the monster bite Tilla in order to resurrect itself.
    • "Vampire's Domain" allows the user to inflict this on the opponent, by restoring their own Life Points every time a "Vampire" monster deals battle damage.

    Vanity's 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vanitysfiend_tf04_jp_vg.jpg
Vanity's Fiend
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vanitysruler_tf04_jp_vg.jpg
Vanity's Ruler
Vanity's, simply Vanity in the OCG, is a series of cards that mostly focus on preventing Special Summons.

The monsters themselves can't be Special Summoned, and their ATK values make them difficult to destroy with monsters that can be Normal Summoned without tributes. This, coupled with their ability to prevent Special Summons, makes them difficult to deal with without appropriate Spell or Trap cards.

  • All-Encompassing Mantle: The Vanity's monsters have these, covering everything below the head, except of Vanity Fiend's arms. Vanity's Emptiness shows Fiend with his mantle open.
  • Bowdlerise: A very strange case with Vanity's Fiend getting his whole body removed save for the arms. This is especially noticable with Vanity's Emptiness.
  • Difficult, but Awesome: Vanity's Ruler is a two-Tribute monster that cannot be Special Summoned, but it locks only your opponent out of Special Summons. Getting it out on the first turn can be an ordeal, but doing so will severely cripple the opponent's plays.
  • Glass Cannon: Their ATK is what makes them notable. Their DEF? Not so much.
  • Kung-Fu Wizard: While not Spellcasters, their most notable trait is their combination of a crippling effect alongside high ATK. Other monsters exist that punish or prevent Special Summons, such as Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo and Jowgen the Spiritualist. However, their low ATK values make them easy to destroy in combat by monsters that can be Normal Summoned without tributes, allowing the opponent to get back to Special Summoning without issue. The Vanity's monsters, on the other hand, have ATK values that are much harder to beat with those same monsters. And the monsters with high enough ATK to beat them are likely ones that the opponent would typically Special Summon, which the Vanity's monsters prevent. And with their ATK, the Vanity's monsters will have an easy time destroying monsters that the opponent would need to perform a Tribute Summon.
  • Something about a Rose: The artwork of Vanity's Fiend and Vanity's Ruler have roses in the background, though they're black in the former's and white in the latter's.

    Vanquish Soul 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/stakeyoursoul.png
Vanquish Soul is an archetype of EARTH, DARK, and FIRE monsters that can reveal monsters of those Attributes in your hand to activate various effects—either one monster that matches its own Attribute for a basic ability, or multiple monsters of other Attributes for a more powerful one. Aesthetically, the archetype is based on a roster for a fictional fighting game.

  • Blob Monster: Pluton HG is a shapeshifting ooze with 0 ATK/DEF—but its effects can either grant it 3000 DEF for a turn by revealing a FIRE monster, or 3000 ATK by revealing a DARK and an EARTH monster.
  • Combat Stilettos: Jiaolong wears 6 centimeter heels into combat.
  • Combination Attack: The artwork for Vanquish Soul Trinity Burst shows Razen, Heavy Borger and Dr. Madlove all attacking in tandem, homaging the Marvel vs. Capcom series.
  • Demoted to Extra: Panthera doesn't get a concept art in Card Game Art Works at all, making only a cameo in Jiaolong's concept art to explain his gender. She demands that she receives a concept art next.
  • Game Over: The artwork in Continue pays tribute to a typical game over screen in fighting games by having the spotlight shone on a badly beaten Pluton HG. The 500 LP cost refers to the payment of a 500 yen coin to continue playing.
  • Gameplay and Story Integration: Being an archetype based on fighting games, the deck integrates some popular mechanics into the deck's design.
    • Their primary play style of entering and leaving the field as well as "assisting" each other is based on tag team fighters, particularly Marvel vs. Capcom and BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle.
    • Many fighting games, particularly in the arcades, would allow players to insert more quarters after a loss in order to keep playing. This is the basis of Vanquish Soul - Continue?
    • "Trinity Burst" is reminiscent of multi-character finishers such as those seen in Marvel Vs Capcom and BlazBlue.
    • The use of attributes in the hand to trigger their effects is somewhat reminiscent of button presses in order to perform a special move, with each character having a simple, defensive technique, and a more powerful, but difficult to perform attack.
  • I Call It "Vera": According to the concept art, Madlove names her mechanical arms “Mia”, “Koro”, “Pike”, and “Toto”.
  • An Ice Person: Despite having a Fire Attribute, Jiaolong's special move Snow Devil is a snow based attack. The alternate reading for this attack is Reverse Spiral Snow Storm.
  • Kick Chick: Judging by her artwork, Panthera specializes in kicking-based martial arts. This may be a nod to how Chun-Li fights in the Street Fighter series.
  • Little Bit Beastly: Panthera, natch.
  • Mad Scientist: Judging by her name and the oversized mechanical equipment she wears, Dr. Madlove is clearly a mad scientist. According to the concept artist, "she lost her sanity while pursuing love."
  • Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Dr. Madlove wears a suit of powered armor with multiple appendages.
  • No-Sell: Panthera and Razen can't be destroyed by battle or card effects, respectively, if they reveal only one monster of their Attribute in the hand to activate their effect. Caesar Valius goes one step further by rendering it immune to any enemy's activated effect.
  • Nonstandard Character Design: Caesar Valius was designed by the concept art designer to stand out, compared to the other designs.
    “I drew it in such a way that, while it keeps some Yu-Gi-Oh dragon-ness in its head and other parts, it also gives an impression of a last boss. Because there are lots of human characters among the ‘Vanquish Soul’, I figured Caesar Valius could be seen like a weirdo from its appearance. However, I enjoy drawing quirky characters.”
  • Playing with Fire: Razen is a Fire-Type Warrior because many fighting game protagonists tend to specialize in fire-based attacks. In the art of Dust Devil, he is seen delivering a fiery kick. According to the concept art designer, many characters in this archetype manifest their fighting spirit into firey energy crystals.
  • Power Crystal: The Vanquish Soul archetype has an energy cluster motif in their monsters, which they use to power up their abilities in combat. According to the concept art designer, these crystals are the manifestation of pure fighting spirit.
  • Power Dyes Your Hair: According to the concept art designer, the "power [of the Dragon Emperor] was too strong, and started turning [Jiaolong's] hair white. Eventually, all of it will turn white."
  • Punny Name: "Vanquish Soul" is abbreviated to "VS" in the Japanese card names - also standing for "Versus", alluding to the archetype's fighting game theming.
  • The Rival: Razen and Jiaolong are rivals in the Vanquish Soul storyline.
  • Signature Move: Razen, Jiaolong, and Caesar Valius have signature attacks in the form of Dust Devil, Snow Devil, and Calamity Caesar, respectively. Each card shows the respective monster unleashing their most powerful attacks.
  • Sinister Shades: Jiaolong dons shades in his artwork. With the way he smugly grins in Vanquish Soul Snow Devil, he could be up to no good.
  • SNK Boss: Invoked with Caesar Valius. He's the strongest among the Vanquish Souls, making him the boss monster, and he has a powerful signature attack in the form of Calamity Caesar, which destroys Rock of the Vanquisher in its artwork.
  • Sweet Tooth: Madlove's weapons have an ice-cream motif, hinting at her sublime love for the sweet treat.
  • Versus Character Splash: "Stake your Soul!" depicts a typical one, with a lightning bolt in the shape of a "VS" dividing the two fighters. The name of the card itself is a typical round introduction catchphrase for a fighting game.
  • Viewer Gender Confusion: This trope is addressed in-universe by Panthera, who confirms that Jiaolong is a guy.
  • Weapon Specialization: Razen uses a pair of Rocketonfa, supercharged mechanical tonfa, in combat. The energy clusters inside need to be constantly refrigerated. The concept art designer suggests that Razen earned them from an underground fighting ring.

    Vaylantz 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/386px_valiantsassemblemamonaka_ow.png
Game on.
Vaylantz are an archetype of Pendulum Monsters that can be split into two teams—one of robotic FIRE Machines, another of Japanese-themed WATER Spellcasters—each with a Scale 1 monster of Levels 2, 4, 6, and 8, and a Fusion Pendulum Monster of Level and Scale 10. Each of them is capable of moving all around the card zones on the field—from the Pendulum Zones to the Main Monster Zones, and even to adjacent Spell & Trap Zones.

In the lore, the Vaylantz are based on a fictional Toys-To-Life Game known as "VV - Vaylantz War", where players purchase collectable figurines that interact with an augmented reality tabletop to duke it out in strategy-based team combat. The characters in VV - Vaylantz War consist of two main factions: A group of Japanese-inspired warriors, who claim Vaylantz World - Shinra Bansho as their home turf, and a group of futuristic giant robots, who claim Vaylantz World - Konig Weissen as their home turf. There is also a third faction set to be revealed in a future expansion pack for VV - Vaylantz War, among of which Arktos XII - Chronochasm Vaylantz is a member.

  • Early-Bird Cameo: According to the third VBEX book, Arktos XII – Chronochasm Vaylantz is the boss monster of the third clan set to be released in an expansion pack of the fictional VV - Vaylantz War.
  • Fictional Video Game: The in-universe premise of the archetype looks eerily similar to Yu-Gi-Oh! itself, even down to the placement of the zones as seen on the Field Spells. If Vaylantz Wars – The Place of Beginning is any indication, each of the Vaylantz even have their own action figures as well! According to the lore, this game is called VV - Vaylantz War.
  • Gameplay and Story Integration: The way the Vaylantz Fusion monsters can be summoned matches their artwork.
    • Mamonaka the Vaylantz United is Hojo, Saion and Shinonome working together as a team and as such, requires three Vaylantz monsters as material, although it does not specifically require the aforementioned trio. And as noted above, one of Hojo's effects provide an in-theme way of summoning Mamonaka.
    • Vaylantz Genesis Grand Duke is an upgraded form of Vaylantz Dominator Duke. As such, while it can be fusion summoned using any two Vaylantz, it has an additional summoning method that requires tributing a non-Fusion Level 5 or higher Vaylantz monster in the same column as an Extra Monster Zone. Being a level 8 monster, Duke can be used for that effect.
  • Mechanically Unusual Fighter: The Main Deck Vaylantz have Pendulum Effects that let them Special Summon themselves from the Pendulum Zone to the corresponding Monster Zone, and monster effects that trigger whenever they are moved from one Monster Zone to the next. The Fields benefit the turn player, and not just their controller—but each of them can place their counterpart into the opponent's Field Zone, effectively granting you two Field Spells when it's your turn. Both of these contribute to the archetype having a sort of "tabletop gaming" feel to it—which, as seen by the artwork of the Fields, might be true in-universe as well.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Both "teams" in the archetype. One is a team of red (FIRE-Attribute) robots, the other of blue (WATER-Attribute) Japanese warriors.
  • Sixth Ranger: The archetype supports the Spell Card "Senet Switch" despite the Spell not being archetypal, as Senet Switch's effect to move your cards around is useful for activating the archetype's Monster Effects.
  • Super-Deformed: The action figures are depicted as chibi versions of the monsters inside a clear case.
  • Time Master: The third clan that will be released in an in-universe pack can manipulate time. In an early-bird cameo, their boss is released early to show off their power.
  • Theme Naming:
    • The WATER monsters each have a kanji character in their name that refers to a cardinal direction: Hojo has the a character for North in his name, Nazuki has the one for South, Saion the one for West and Shinonome the one for East.
    • The FIRE monsters take their name from various aristocratic titles.
  • Toys-To-Life Game: In-universe, the Vaylantz board game appears to be one of these crossed with a tabletop game, as Vaylantz Wakening - Solo Activation shows the playfield reacting to the action figure being placed on the table.

    Vendread 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vendreadnights_madu_en_vg_artwork.png
The Vendread are an archetype of DARK Zombie monsters that debuted in the TCG release of Code of the Duelist. They focus on Ritual Summoning their stronger monsters and giving them additional effects to make them even more powerful.

  • Anti-Hero: Much like his inspiration, Revendread Slayer displays such qualities, as his primary motivation for fighting is his hatred for the zombie horde rather than the safety of the civilians he's saving. He eventually becomes a more traditional hero as he becomes Avendread Savior.
  • Arch-Enemy: Scar of Vendread/Vendread Scavenger to Avendread Savior.
  • Attack Its Weakpoint: Slayer eventually overcomes Battlelord by ripping out his Vendread Core after the latter tried to absorb him into it.
  • Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Vendread Anima, an army of gigantic zombie angels with varying degrees of enormousness.
  • Back from the Dead: Not only because they're Zombies to a one, but also because the Ritual Spell "Revendread Origin" is one of only a handful of such cards that can Ritual Summon from the Graveyard. The Effect Monsters can also be Special Summoned from the Graveyard under the right conditions, though from there on out they're banished if they leave the field.
    • Vendread Reunion lets you resurrect Vendread monsters who are banished so you can use them to Ritual Summon a Vendread monster from your hand.
  • Badass Cape: In contrast to the scarves of the various Slayers, Vendread Battlelord has a raggedy black cape.
  • Body of Bodies: Vendread Chimera is a tumorous mass of bio matter consisting of, but not limited to, an elephant, a centipede, a lion, a wolf, a bat, and several birds...covered with teeth.
  • The Brute: Vendread Scavenger's primary contribution to the archetype is to compensate for its lack of ways to deal substantial battle damage to monsters immune to removal effects. By sacrificing a different Zombie monster, its Quick Effect lets it gain attack points equal to that monster's original attack points for one turn during either player's turn. To put that into perspective, the strongest Vendread monster it can tribute (Revendread Executor) would give it 3000 extra attack points. The strongest Zombie monster it can tribute (Number 22: Zombiestein) would give it 4500 extra attack points.
  • But Now I Must Go: Subverted. After finally ridding the city of all Vendreads, Revendread Slayer was finally ready to disappear with the endless night. However, the gratitude of the citizens he had saved by his actions reached out to him and kept him tethered to the mortal realm, preventing him from vanishing. He now watches over the city and protects it from further evil.
  • Cannibalism Superpower: Expressed in this archetype through various cards banishing Vendread monsters from the Graveyard for a wide variety of effects such as card negation, attack boosts, extra attacks on monsters, and destruction protection. Vendread Nightmare rewards Vendread ritual monsters with 1000 additional attack points once a turn if they successfully attack and destroy an opponent's monster.
  • Cue the Sun: Depicted on Vendread Daybreak, as Slayer's long fight against the horde comes to an end.
  • Death-Activated Superpower: All Vendread monsters can move resources around between the deck, the graveyard, and banishment when they or other Vendreads die.
  • Degraded Boss: After its defeat and his own emergence, Vendread Battlelord leads an army of zombies in Vendread Charge against the living which includes copies of the formerly unique Vendread Chimera.
  • Disc-One Final Boss: Battlelord and Chimera seem like Revendread Slayer's biggest threats at first. But even after defeating them, he still has to contend with the vast remnants of the outbreak including Vendread Anima as depicted on Vendread Nightmare.
  • Dub Name Change: Vendread Battlelord was called Vendead Bastard, but was renamed to the former due to how offensive its Japanese name was.
  • Evil Counterpart: Vendread Chimera has a similar destruction prevention effect to Revendread Origin's, but instead of banishing itself, it banishes one zombie monster from the Graveyard to use it.
    • Vendread Revolution to Revendread Evolution.
    • Vendread Nights to Vendread Nightmare and Vendread Daybreak.
    • Vendread Reorigin to Revendread Origin.
  • Evil Is Bigger: Revendread Slayer is ever dwarfed by the main bosses of the Vendreads.
  • Face–Monster Turn: Vendread Anima is created by the core coming into contact with Slayer's locket, learning of the source of his hate, and giving it form as a zombified perversion of his dead lover.
  • Feathered Fiend: Vendread Striges are zombified birds.
  • Gameplay and Story Integration: Vendread Battlelord's ability to negate Spells, Traps, or monster effects for a turn gives him an edge against Revendread Slayer as it can either prevent his rival from banishing a monster from the graveyard to boost his attack power or Revendread Origin from saving Slayer from destruction.
  • General Ripper: Vendread Battlelord activates its personal effect by banishing his "troops" from the Graveyard.
  • Glass Cannon: The Ritual Monsters of the archetype have substantial attack and potentially devastating effects, but lack any Defense points.
  • Happy Ending Override: Downplayed. Slayer's story ends with Vendread Daybreak that depicts his fight against the Vendread horde coming to an end before he reincarnates as Avendred Savior. Then comes Scar of the Vendread and Vendread Scavenger, which show that the Vendread haven't been fully exterminated and are ready to challenge Savior.
  • Hunter of His Own Kind: Revendread Slayer is a Vendread who hunts down other Vendread in order to avenge his lover.
  • Loophole Abuse: Revendread Executor's unique ability while it's on the field is to Draw Aggro by making it the only card your opponent can specifically target with effects. Ritual Summoning it with Vendread Core, however, makes it immune to being targeted at all, leaving your opponent unable to target any card on your field.
  • Me's a Crowd: It takes some doing, but you can potentially have all three versions of Revendread Slayer (Slayer, Savior, and Executor) on the field at the same time.
  • Our Zombies Are Different: While they are heavily inspired by the science zombies of the Survival Horror genre, there a number of hints that suggest that there's something outright mystical about this particular Zombie Apocalypse, starting with the over magic overtones of Ritual Summoning.
  • Phlebotinum Rebel: Originally just another Revenant, Revendread Slayer became one of these after remembering his old life.
  • The Power of Love: Revendread Origin, depicting a locket with a picture of Slayer and his late lover, can protect a Revendread Slayer from being destroyed by banishing itself from the GY. It does not afford the same protection to either Chimera or Battlelord.
  • Red Is Heroic: Revendread Slayer once had a rotted blue aura like the other Vendread creatures, but manifested blazing red eyes after remembering who he was and deciding to fight back against his fellow zombies.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Revendread Slayer started as another of the Vendread horde but spotting the locket that belonged to his dead lover inspired such immense grief that he overcomes the infestation and starts his crusade against the horde.
  • Scarf of Asskicking: Revendread Slayer starts out with a yellow one, then gets a red one, before settling on a blue one in his final form.
  • Shout-Out: Mostly to Resident Evil, but other franchises receive nods as well, like Spawn and The Thing.
  • Status Buff: The archetype's Effect Monsters grant an additional effect to any Vendread Ritual Monster summoned with them (though only from the field for the sake of balance).
  • Stripperiffic: Only the yellow parts (and the belts) of Revendread Slayer's "costume" are actual bits of clothing with the rest being his exposed flesh. Ditto for the light blue segments of Advendread Savior's.
  • Token Heroic Orc: Revendread Slayer is a Vendread who regained his memories of his human life and seeks to destroy all Vendreads.
  • Took a Level in Idealism: At the end of the archetype's Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel Solo Gate, Revendread Slayer was originally content with fading away in the sun after achieving his revenge, but decided to live and act as a protector for humanity after realizing that he inspired hope among the survivors.
  • Victor Gains Loser's Powers: Battlelord tries to do this against Revendread Slayer in Vendread Revolution only for his foe to get a Heroic Second Wind and do it to him in Revendread Evolution. When we see Slayer again as Revendread Executor, he's wearing Battlelord's torso.

    Venom 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vennominagathedeityofpoisonoussnakes_tf04_jp_vg.jpg
"Vennominaga the Deity of Poisonous Snakes"

Venom cards are all themed around snakes that have the ability to poison opposing monsters and reduce their ATK with Venom Swamp. Their boss monsters are "Vennominon the King of Poisonous Snakes" and "Vennominaga the Deity of Poisonous Snakes", both of which grow stronger for each Reptile monster in the GY. This archetype is used by Professor Cobra (Professor Thelonious Viper) in GX.

Technically related to this archetype is the Starving Venom archetype, a story-important Dragon archetype used by three characters from ARC-V. Since they're totally mismatched in terms of gameplay and lore, they have their own separate folder. Check "Four Dimensional Dragons" on the "E to F" tab for more info on them.


  • Bowdlerise: Vennominaga's chest is made darker to match her scales and to make her seem less revealing, while also bumping down her chest size in every card featuring her in the TCG.
  • Death World: Venom Swamp, which slowly kills all non-Venom monsters.
  • Human Sacrifice: Or Reptile Sacrifice as the case may be; Offerings to the Snake Deity. While it can be used on any Reptile-Type monster, it was specifically designed to bring out Vennominaga, since Rise of the Snake Deity can't be used when Vennominion is destroyed in battle.
  • Instant-Win Condition: You win if Vennominaga gets 3 Hyper-Venom counters on her, which she gets by doing battle damage. This card can be seen as an homage to the "Poisonous" ability or the "Infect" ability in Magic: The Gathering, which operates in a similar manner.
  • Loophole Abuse: Venom Swamp destroys any monster whose ATK is reduced to 0 by the Venom Counters. However, if a monster's base ATK is 0, it will never be destroyed this way. This lets one stack a large number of Venom Counters that most monsters won't normally survive, and can be exploited with Venom Burn for massive amounts of damage.
  • More Teeth than the Osmond Family: As expected from an archetype based on snakes, they all have very sharp teeth.
  • Nigh-Invulnerability: Vennominaga is immune to all Monster Effects, Spell Effects and Trap Effects. And even if you destroy her in battle, she can use her ability to revive herself. Keeping in Hindu and Buddhist traditions, this card's resurrection effect seems to be reminiscent of reincarnation: being reborn in another life after death.
  • Reptiles Are Abhorrent: The Venom monsters are all Reptile-Type monsters, and are very, very abhorrent; they're used by an Arc Villain from the anime and slowly drain their enemies of life by a vicious poison.
  • Resurrective Immortality: Both Vennominon and Vennominaga have this ability, allowing them to resurrect themselves every time they are destroyed in battle by banishing a Reptile monster from the owner's GY.
  • Snake People: Vennominaga and Vennominon take the form of humanoid torsos on top of snake bodies.
  • Swamps Are Evil: Venom Swamp is their key card, adding Venom Counters to monsters every turn and then destroying them when the venom weakens them enough.
  • Unblockable Attack: "Attack Pheromones" gives any Reptile monster you control this effect by changing a defense position target into attack position, as Dai Grepher found out for himself.
  • Weak, but Skilled: All of them have low ATK, but either make up for it with a special Effect that makes them stronger, or by being able to place Venom Counters on the opponents' monsters.

    Vernusylph 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/257px_vernusylphandtheflowerbuds_madu_en_vg_artwork.png
Gather around the dinner table.
The Vernusylph archetype is an archetype of EARTH Fairy monsters whose effects revolve around discarding themselves for their effects, sending EARTH monsters from the hand or Deck to the Graveyard and then Special Summoning EARTH monsters from the Graveyard back to the field. Although they exist as an independent archetype, they are primarily designed to be played as an engine in conjunction with other EARTH or EARTH Fairy cards to swarm the field and protect their allies.


  • Anthropomorphic Personification: Vera the Vernusylph Goddess is the embodiment of the Spring season itself. She even sleeps through the wintertime and wakes up when her fairies finish putting Spring in.
  • Anthropomorphic Transformation: Fairies hand out corollas to chosen animals, turning them anthropomorphic in the process.
  • Green Thumb: A required power for them in order to restore color and beauty back to Earth's forests, according to their lore.
  • Our Fairies Are Different: According to the lore, the Vernusylph archetype work tirelessly to make sure color returns to the forests and to bring a warm wind back as well. When the goddess awakes, spring returns.

    Virtual World 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/virtualworldkyubishenshen_madu_en_vg_artwork.png
The Virtual World can be divided into three categories: a group of WIND Psychics that include the archetype's Synchro Monsters, EARTH Wyrms that include its Xyz Monsters, and the Virtual World Gates that support them both. They were introduced as promotional cards, and later received direct support in Phantom Rage.

They focus on milling each other to Special Summon themselves from the hand or Graveyard. All of them have a Level or Rank that is a multiple of 3, with Virtual World Kyubi - Shenshen being the highest of them at 9.


  • Cyberspace: According to the lore, Virtual World takes place in a digital metropolis that exists in cyberspace. More specifically, the lore of Virtual World focuses on Kauwloon, its capital city and a place where special algorithms are used to examine the constant stream of information and signals in order to ensure smooth processing.
  • The Four Gods: The Virtual World Xyz monsters are based on them with Longlong being the Azure Dragon, Jaja the Black Tortoise, Fanfan the Vermillion Bird, and Huhu the White Tiger. This is made more evident with the Virtual World Gate cards which are named after the Four Gods and feature the corresponding Xyz monster in their artwork. According to the lore, the Four Gods examine signals to determine whether they are malicious or not. They're so fast at their job, they can perform 1 quintillion calculations per second.
  • Missing Main Character: Virtual World City - Kauwloon's artwork and effect implies there are 4 Gates, and the lore says each Gate has its own Xyz monster guardian, both based on The Four Gods as mentioned above. However, there was no sign of the Tiger of the four gods (or its corresponding Gate) during the theme's earlier release waves. It took until Cyberstorm Access for Virtual World Tiger - Huhu to be released - and we are still missing the West Gate.
  • Our Dragons Are Different: Half of the Virtual World monsters have the Wyrm type but out of them, only Longlong is an actual dragon with most of the other monsters being based on various other mythical beings.
  • Shock and Awe: The monsters are seen emitting some form of electricity in their artwork. According to the lore, this is because they emit energy in an electric light manner.

    Voiceless Voice / Skull Guardian 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_192_3.png
Lo and Skull Guardian, as shown in Barrier of the Voiceless Voice.

Voiceless Voice is a LIGHT Ritual archetype inspired by various Ritual Spells and Ritual Monsters printed throughout Yu-Gi-Oh!'s history, similar to the "Memento" archetype. They focus on Special Summoning and Ritual Summoning LIGHT Warrior or LIGHT Dragon Ritual Monsters and giving them boons for being present on the field.

They are related to and support the Skull Guardian archetype, which consists of the original Skull Guardian and its "Voiceless Voice" retrain, Skull Guardian, Protector of the Voiceless Voice.


  • Ascended Extra: The original Skull Guardian was a nondescript Ritual Monster from the beginning of Yu-Gi-Oh, whose most notable appearance was in one episode of Capsule Monsters. Fast-forward over 20 years later, and not only does it get a retrain, but an entire archetype, and even the monster in its Ritual Spell gets its own card.
  • Blade Below the Shoulder: The "Skull Guardian" monsters' arms turn into blades below the elbow.
  • Call-Back: The entire archetype owes its existence to Sprite's Blessing. It's mentioned in the text of Sauravis and its art is nearly the same as the art in Hymn of Light, Saffira's Ritual Spell, with the addition of several monsters, including Novox.
  • Creepy Good: Both "Skull Guardian" monsters are inhuman beings with blades for arms. Yet their LIGHT Attribute and alignment with the "Voiceless Voice" monsters clearly paint them as being good guys.
  • Draconic Humanoid: The "Voiceless Voice" Saffira and Sauravis monsters are humanoid, yet are still Dragon-types and have features of their Ritual counterparts.
  • Dub-Induced Plot Hole: The reason that neither of the "Skull Guardian" monsters have any obvious skulls in their designs, as the OCG name for the archetype is "Law Guardian."

    Volcanic 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/volcanicscattershot.jpg
You may fire when ready.
The Volcanic monsters are an archetype of Pyro monsters that resemble reptiles or dinosaurs, with some mechanical elements and a focus on inflicting effect damage. They are supported by the Blaze Accelerator (known as Blaze Cannon in the OCG) sub-archetype. In GX, Austin O'Brien (Axel Brodie) uses a Volcanic Burner deck.

  • Abnormal Ammo:
    • "Volcanic Shell" looks like a mortar shell or a bullet shell. Its Japanese name, "Volcanic Bullet", is even more fitting. Two "Volcanic Shell"s are featured in the artwork of "Blaze Accelerator" as ammo, hence the name. By using its effect in the Graveyard, a player is said to be "loading a shell."
    • Volcanic Rimfire is named after a type of small-arms cartridge often used for hunting.
    • Volcanic Scattershot refers to the term used to describe a type of shotgun, which is also used to refer to its extremely destructive ability. This card's Japanese name, "Volcanic Buckshot", is a type of ammunition used for shotguns.
  • Ambiguous Robots: Most of the monsters are reptilian, combined with military hardware.
  • Attack Reflector: When you take Battle Damage while "Volcanic Counter" is in your Graveyard, banish it. Then, if there is a FIRE monster other than "Volcanic Counter" in your Graveyard, inflict damage to your opponent equal to the amount of Battle Damage you took.
  • Boring Yet Practical: Volcanic Shell sees some usage as deck filler in decks that have that many open spaces, because it's efficient for maintaining card advantage. Need a monster to discard, a Fire-type for a Fusion, a Level 1 for whatever purpose? Use Shell for it, and then it replaces itself for 500 Life Points. And on the next turn you can do it again.
  • Card Cycling: Rather than discard Pyro monsters for removal, Blaze Accelerator Reload discards Volcanic cards for extra draw. Combined with Volcanic Shell's search ability you can accrue a fair bit of hand advantage over time.
  • Damage Over Time: While some individuals in the archetype do have decent stats, their linchpin cards Blaze Accelerator and Tri-Blaze Accelerator prevent the user from attacking in the same turn that their effects are activated, putting an emphasis on gradually burning away the opponent's Life Points and destroying their monsters rather than taking them down in battle. Their bigger monsters have effects that inflict damage in exchange for attacking to let you pressure the opponent's Life Points under these conditions.
  • Death of a Thousand Cuts: Burn damage dealt by Volcanic cards often comes in increments of 500, but there's a lot of them. Volcanic Emperor weaponizes this well, as it can inflict 500 damage to the opponent whenever they Special Summon — when matched against most modern Decks that like to Summon a lot to get to their usual end board, they will be punished heavily for trying to play normally.
  • Herd-Hitting Attack:
    • As its name suggests, Volcanic Scattershot is designed for blowing away packed fields, letting you send 2 more Scattershots to the Graveyard to destroy all the opponent's monsters if it's sent there by a Blaze Accelerator card.
    • If Volcanic Doomfire destroys a monster by battle, it destroys all monsters the opponent controls, inflicting 500 damage for each one destroyed this way. It even forces the opponent's monsters to attack it, so this can trigger on the opponent's turn.
  • Magma Man: Volcanic Hammerer, Volcanic Slicer, Volcanic Doomfire, and Volcanic Emperor. Their designs have exposed lava veins somewhere on their bodies and their backgrounds often show them in a Lethal Lava Land-like climate.
  • Mythology Gag: Volcanic Blaze Accelerator resembles Axel's Duel Disk, which could fire cards like bullets in the GX anime.
  • Poison Mushroom: "Volcanic Queen" is a monster with high ATK — but you summon her to the opponent's side of the field by Tributing one of their monsters. The trick is that she burns her controller each turn, so if you're playing a stalling-based deck with indestructible monsters, they're stuck with something they can't easily get rid of that damages them each turn. Plus, by Summoning her, you're Tributing away an opponent's Nigh-Invulnerable monster (or something with a troublesome interruption ability) for a monster that has no protection that you can shoot down.
  • Sentry Gun: Blaze Accelerator, Tri-Blaze Accelerator, Blaze Accelerator Reload, Volcanic Blaster, and Volcanic Blaze Accelerator. Blaze Accelerator and Tri-Blaze Accelerator destroy opposing monsters by using Pyro-Type monsters as "ammunition" by sending them from your hand to the Graveyard. While Reload doesn't destroy things on its own, it can still dump a Scattershot to the Graveyard to trigger its effect.
  • Volcanic Veins: Hammerer and Doomfire have them.

    War Rock 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/warrockordeal_madu_en_vg_artwork.png
The War Rock archetype consists of EARTH Warrior-Type monsters who specialize in swarming the field and building up ATK from battling the opponent's monsters.

  • Status Buff:
    • All of the main deck monsters’ effects involve them gaining 200 ATK whenever one of them battles an opposing monster.
    • War Rock Skyler gains 100 ATK for each monster your opponent controls.
  • Taking the Bullet: If a Warrior-Type monster you control would be destroyed by battle, you can prevent its destruction by sending War Rock Mountain to the graveyard instead.

    Watt 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wattrain_lod2_jp_vg_artwork.png

The Watt archetype, known as Elec in the OCG, is a series of bright, cartoonish electrical creatures with weak but agile attacks. They are LIGHT Thunder-Type monsters. They are used by Misaki from the DS game Yu-Gi-Oh World Championship 2011: Over the Nexus.


  • Armor-Piercing Attack/One-Hit Kill: Wattmole's effect, which is basically Wattmole seeing the unseen and destroying it in a flash.
  • Asian Fox Spirit: Wattfox, who was named Elekitsune in the OCG. It has an effect that can lock down an opponent's field when it dies. Basically, it has connected itself into the opponent's resources, so when it goes, the resources go with it.
  • Barrier Warrior: Wattkiwi is annoying because it prevents Watt monsters from being destroyed in battle if they are attacking. This effect is basically Wattkiwi giving the other Watt creatures protection in combat.
  • The Cameo: Wattaildragon appears in the artwork of "Ancient Rules", which is referenced in Wattaildragon's flavor text.
  • Cool Key: Wattkey. It allows Watt monsters to attack directly.
  • Cool Train: Wattrain is a colorful train that's conducted by Wattlemur. Just like trains are used to pick up passengers, its effect allows the player to 'pick up' Watt cards from the deck for every Thunder monster on the field. Its second effect allows them to Special Summon as many Watt monsters from the hand, like how trains drop passengers at their destination.
  • Dub Name Change: Elec (OCG) —> Watt (TCG).
  • Feathered Fiend: Wattkiwi and Wattpheasant are annoying because of their effects. Wattpheasant can send an opponent's monster to the Different Dimension until the end of the turn.
  • Flying Seafood Special: Wattberyx and Wattbetta both look like fish (not in type) and both have the effect of discarding cards from your opponent's hand. They are trying to make the opponent waste their resources more quickly.
  • Homage: Wattmole bears a strong appearance to Gurren-Lagann's Boota and its sunglasses are similar to those worn by Kamina from the same show.
  • Hybrid Monster: Watthydra is a hybrid of a hydra with crocodiles; it has multiple heads like a hydrai, but all of its heads are crocodile-shaped.
  • Mix-and-Match Critters: Wattchimera. It can send a card from an opponent's hand back into the deck. This effect is basically Wattchimera making the opponent's resources harder to access.
  • Ridiculously Cute Critter: Most of them are cute, cartoony animals with bright colors.
  • Shock and Awe: All of the Watt monsters exhibit electric powers in their card art, further reinforced by their Thunder card type.
  • Theme Naming: The OCG has the names be Elec + (Japanese word starting with ki)
  • Weak, but Skilled: They are not powerful, but they can attack the opponent directly or can attack twice or they have other useful effects.
  • Wolverine Claws: Wattmole's weapon are two of these, colored gold.

    The Weather 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/theweatherrainbowedcanvas_madu_en_vg_artwork.png
The Weather, or simply Weather in the OCG, are an archetype of Fairy monsters. The monsters, called the "Painters", focus on banishing themselves via the effects granted by their support cards, the "Canvases", in order to activate their effects, and can Special Summon themselves back to the field during the player's next Standby Phase.

  • All Your Powers Combined: Rainbow, the archetype's ace, seems to imply this.
  • An Ice Person: Snow uses a spray gun to create the snowflakes in snowstorms.
  • Color-Coded Emotions: As the Weather are based on the colors of the rainbow, they embody the emotions that come with them. For instance, Rain is a Shy Blue-Haired Girl.
  • Difficult, but Awesome: Rainbow requires three different Painters on the field just to Summon her, and the archetype as a whole has little in the way of quick and easy field presence. But if she's Summoned, and there are ample monsters for her to point to, then her effect can negate and destroy just about everything the opponent can muster. Their field spell, Forecast, allows the use of Weather Canvas Spells & Traps to summon her as if they were monsters, which helps immensely even if it doesn't completely solve their problem with field presence.
  • Dub Name Change: Or rather dub name removal. All of the Weather Painters have actual names in the OCG, but the translators ran into a bit of a snag when trying to convert an archetype name from three characters ("[weather kanji]天気) to well over twenty. As a result, the TCG Painters are only known by the weather they summon, because there's just not enough room on the card anymore.
  • Light 'em Up: Sun uses a paintbrush to create the bright rays of sunlight during a clear day.
  • Making a Splash: Rain uses a Water-based felt-tip pen to manipulate the rain.
  • Missing Main Character: For an archetype themed after the colors of the rainbow, the red Weather Painter and its corresponding cards are nowhere to be seen.
  • Our Fairies Are Different: They're artistic-types whose implements apparently allow them to manipulate different forms of weather.
  • One-Track-Minded Artist: Rainbow/Moonbow often doesn't know what she wants to draw, which causes her to create rainbow drawings even if she wants to make a group painting.
  • Rule of Three: All but one of the Painters is Level 3. Then, the Canvases grant various effects to any Painter that occupies the immediate Monster Zone in its column, as well as the zones adjacent, for a maximum of three affected monsters per card. Finally, Rainbow—a LINK–3 monster that requires three Painters as material—can do much the same to any Weathery monsters its Link Arrows point to. Basically, this happens a lot.
  • Shock and Awe: Thunder uses a yellow crayon to produce the zig-zag thunderbolts seen in thunderstorms.
  • Weak, but Skilled: The Painters have little protection to speak of (Aurora stops the Spells & Traps from being targeted or destroyed, but she's a Level 6 that's harder to get on the field than the other Painters), and their ATK is on the low side, making them easy to beat in a straight fight. However when set up correctly, they can be difficult to permanently remove since they banish themselves to activate their granted effects, meaning they can dodge most effects that target them and dodge destruction by battle or card effect. Also, since they banish themselves for cost, they can leave the field even if their effects are negated, and if their effects are only negated on the field, like with Skill Drain, their effects will work as normal once banished, making most forms of negation a waste of time.

    White 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/whiteaurabihamut_madu_en_vg_artwork.png
The White are a series of Fish monsters that have all-white bodies, used by Ren in the Arc-V manga. They focus on using complex tactics to gather Synchro Materials to Synchro Summon. Furthermore, "White" monsters have the ability to revive themselves as Tuner monsters upon destruction, allowing the user to keep Summoning stronger Synchro Monsters when their monsters are defeated.

  • Anti-Magic: White Howling banishes a Spell from the opponent's graveyard and negates the effects of all Spells on the opponent's field for a turn.
  • Back from the Dead: Their playstyle revolves around summoning their own monsters from the Graveyard so that they can be treated as tuners. The Synchro monsters take it one step further by being able to revive themselves with their own effects. White Aura Monokeros also has the ability to summon a Fish monster from the graveyard when it is synchro summoned.
  • Came Back Strong: If revived from the grave, White monsters have the ability to become tuner monsters, which allows the player to bring out stronger synchro.
  • Hydra Problem: The effects of White Aura Bihamut are meant to represent it having two heads and the ability to regrow one that has been defeated if the other is still on the field.
  • Moby Schtick: White Aura Whale, what could that be referencing?

    Wicked Gods 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thewickedavatar_madu_en_vg_artwork.png
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thewickeddreadroot_madu_en_vg_artwork.png
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thewickederaser_madu_en_vg_artwork.png
The Wicked Gods, also known as Jashin/Evil Gods in Japanese, are the Evil Counterparts to the Egyptian Gods in Yu-Gi-Oh! R. In this manga, these cards are revealed to have been designed by Pegasus in secret some time after creating the Egyptian God cards. He made the rudimentary designs for the three cards in an attempt to keep the Egyptian Gods in check, but feared their immense power, and never completed their production. After his death, they are completed by Yako Tenma, who focuses his deck around the Wicked Gods. The three Wicked Gods are The Wicked Avatar, The Wicked Dreadroot and The Wicked Eraser. Yako also gives Gekko and the revived Keith Howard a copy of The Wicked Dreadroot and The Wicked Eraser, respectively.

  • Anti-Magic: If The Wicked Avatar is successfully summoned, the opponent cannot activate Spell or Trap Cards for their next two turns.
  • Big Bad: The Wicked Avatar is the leader of the Wicked Gods, since it's The Winged Dragon of Ra's counterpart.
  • The Brute: Obelisk's counterpart The Wicked Dreadroot is not only a 4000 ATK beatstick, it halves the ATK and DEF of all other monsters on the field.
  • Ditto Fighter: In the manga, The Wicked Avatar copies the appearance of the strongest monster on the field, but it still looks like a black shadow.
  • The Dreaded: The Wicked Dreadroot is so terrifying that it halves the ATK of all Monsters on the field.
  • Evil Counterpart: To the Egyptian Gods.
    • The Wicked Avatar to The Winged Dragon of Ra. The Avatar resembles Ra's Sphere Mode.
    • The Wicked Dreadroot to Obelisk the Tormentor. Both have 4000 ATK and DEF and look similar.
    • The Wicked Eraser to Slifer the Sky Dragon. They also look similar.
  • Foil: Their effects contrast each of their Egyptian God counterparts.
    • The Wicked Avatar only has one effect to gain ATK while Ra has several. Avatar's ATK is one point higher than the strongest monster, and Ra used all but one of your Life Points for its effect, as well as gaining ATK by sacrificing monsters (including its Tributes) in the anime and manga (both were changed to 100 for the TCG/OCG). Overall, Ra needs monsters and Life Points sacrificed to be stronger, whereas Avatar needs monsters alive to be stronger.
    • The Wicked Dreadroot's effect affects all other monsters and instead lowers their ATK, while the effect of Obelisk Tributes the controller's own monsters to destroy the opponent's.
    • The Wicked Eraser's ATK is 1000 times the number of cards the opponent controls, contrasting Slifer having 1000 ATK times the number of cards in the owner's hand. In addition, the destruction effect of Slifer activates only when another monster is added to the opponent's field, and only targets a single monster, whereas the destruction effect of Eraser activates when it is destroyed and destroys all cards on the field.
  • God of Evil: All three of them are literally Evil Gods.
  • Infinity +1 Sword: The Wicked Avatar has always more ATK more than the strongest monster out (in the manga, it has 1 ATK; in the card game, 100), enabling it to win by Cherry Tapping.
  • No Name Given: Unlike the Egyptian Gods and the Sacred Beasts, their names are not really given names. They are just called Avatar, Dreadroot and Eraser, but spelled with a "The".
  • Sinister Geometry: The Wicked Avatar appears as a featureless black sphere.
  • Spell My Name with a "The": The English versions of them have all a "The".
  • Taking You with Me: If The Wicked Eraser is destroyed, all cards on the field are destroyed as well. The TCG/OCG version can also destroy itself during the Main Phase, while in the manga Eraser's effect can be activated when it's sent to the Graveyard by any means.

    Wind-Up 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zenmairch_madu_en_vg_artwork.png
Wind-Up cards, known as Mainspring (ゼンマイ Zenmai) in the OCG, are based on wind-up toys, emulating their function by having effects that can only be used once while the monster is on the field.

  • Badass Adorable: They look like cute toys but are capable of setting off a long combo of plays that end up in formidable boards.
  • Our Centaurs Are Different: Wind-Up Hunter is most likely based on a centaur because of its bipedal top half and its quadrupedal bottom half.
  • Cool Ship: Wind-Up Carrier Zenmaity resembles an aircraft carrier and is used to store the flying Wind-Up Mooks such as Wind-Up Bat.
  • Cool Tank: Wind-Up Zenmaines can be seen as a land war vehicle, probably a tank, seeing it's large bulking lower body similar to Granel.
  • Cool Plane: Wind-Up Zenmaister is an aerial war vehicle, seeing as there are jet wings coming off its shoulders.
  • Crazy-Prepared: Wind-Up Factory, Zenmaity, and Honeybee can provide you with single-use monsters to address any situation. You can toolbox Soldier to kill low-Level beatsticks, Juggler to break walls, Kitten to deal with Extra Deck monsters and defuse Flip Effects, Rat to produce Rank 3 Xyz Monsters, Rabbit for reuse and deflection, or Knight for defense.
  • Fusion Dance: Wind-Up Arsenal Zenmaioh is assembled from parts of Zenmaity, Zenmaines and Zenmaister. The art of Zenmailstrom illustrates its assembly.
  • Weak, but Skilled: A lot of the Wind-Up members have low base stats, but their powerful one-use effects and numerous ways to reset and loop them let them quickly flood the board. You can start with just one Wind-Up Magician and Wind-Up Shark in hand, and open up a series of plays to establish a fearsome setup.
  • Wind-Up Key: The central motif of the archetype. An actual wind-up toy is wound up (Summoning it), doing what the toy was made to do (activating the effect), then is completed (effect can only activate once). Returning to hand or flipping it face-down and back up signifies "winding-up" the monster.
  • Zerg Rush:
    • Some Wind-Up Decks swarm low-ATK monsters by looping Wind-Up Rat to produce multiple Zenmaity. This can be used alongside Wind-Up Magician to create OTKs. Looping with Rat, Zenmaity, and Hunter results in the ability to deplete the opponent's hand in one turn — an abused loop that got Zenmaity banned.
    • Another way to OTK is by using Zenmairch alongside Zenmailstrom, and utilizing Soldier and Knight. Having both Soldier and Knight on the field, along with activatable Zenmairch and Zenmailstrom on the field is needed, together with either another Knight or Soldier in the hand. The combination lands for at least 9000 damage, but 9400 with an activated Soldier.

    Windwitch 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/windwitchglassbell_lod2_jp_vg_artwork.png

The Windwitches are an archetype of WIND Spellcaster-Type monsters themed after wind, winter and bells. It is focused on Synchro and Fusion Summoning, swarming and Burn Damage. They also generally support WIND monsters. This archetype is used by Rin in ARC-V.


  • Amazon Brigade: All the humanoid members are female.
  • Blow You Away: Not only are they all WIND monsters, but they also represent the wind aspect of the Kachou Fuugetsu principle—with the Melodious archetype, the Lunalight archetype and the Lyrilusc archetype representing the other three aspects.
  • Cute Witch: Ice Bell is what you imagine of a Magical Girl.
  • Fusion Dance: Winter Bell + any Windwitch monster = Crystal Bell.
  • Lady of Black Magic: Crystal Bell, a Level 8 Spellcaster-Type with a feminine, elegant figure that can copy the effects of any monster in the graveyard once per turn.
  • An Ice Person: The Wind Witches are themed after winter and ice and they use cold wind to attack and to freeze burn the opponent.
  • Nigh-Invulnerable: Snow Bell prevents any WIND Synchro monster that was Synchro Summoned using it as Synchro Material from being destroyed by card effects.
  • Power Copying: Crystal Bell can copy the effects as well as the name of any monster in a graveyard once every turn.
  • Sculpted Physique: The Extra Deck Windwitch monsters resemble feminine abstract sculptures with a jet-like appearance.
  • Ship Tease: This archetype is partially designed to fit well with the Speedroids, the archetype used by Yugo. Rin is Yugo's Love Interest.

    Yo-kai Girls 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ghostogresnowrabbit_lod2_jp_vg_artwork.png

The Yo-kai Girls are a small series of Level 3 Tuner monsters with 0 ATK and 1800 DEF. Each of them is capable of disrupting the opponent's plays, by way of sending or discarding themselves from the hand to the Graveyard.


  • Bowdlerise: Zigzagged. In her OCG artwork, Ghost Sister & Spooky Dogwood is dressed as a Christian nun, complete with the typical black habit and veil. In order to avoid religious references, the TCG artwork has the veil edited out, leaving the white hem as a headband to make her appearance as a nun less obvious. Curiously, however, the TCG's translators left "Ghost Sister" in her name, which still alludes to her being a nun.
  • Cute Ghost Girl: They're adorable little ghostly girls themed after various spiritual concepts.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit, the first of the series to be released, has two main differences from the others: it is Psychic-type rather than Zombie-type, and its effect can be used from either the hand or field while the others must be discarded from the hand.
  • Elegant Gothic Lolita: Ghost Belle & Haunted Mansion sports the look to fit the "classic haunted house" motif.
  • Man of Kryptonite: Each of their effects is used to shut down a different area.
    • Ghost Ogre destroys cards that activate their effects on the field.
    • Ghost Reaper banishes cards from the opponent's Extra Deck.
    • Ash Blossom negates effects that search cards from the deck.
    • Ghost Belle negates effects that move cards out of the Graveyard.
    • Ghost Sister disincentivizes the opponent from Special Summoning monsters, by giving the controller LP each time the opponent does so.
    • Ghost Mourner negates the effects of a monster the opponent Special Summons and damages the opponent if it leaves the field that turn.
  • Name and Name: How the TCG names are structured, e.g. "Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit".
  • Odd Name Out: Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring is the only one whose TCG name does not incorporate the word "Ghost".
  • Power Nullifier: If discarded in response to a monster being Special Summoned, Ghost Mourner negates the Summoned monster's effects until the end of the turn.
  • Punny Name: Each of their OCG names has a double meaning. As they don't translate very well, their TCG names incorporate both meanings instead.
  • Zashiki-warashi: Ghost Belle & Haunted Mansion (Japanese name: Yashiki Warashi) is based on the zashiki-warashi, but with a Western haunted mansion and Elegant Gothic Lolita theme instead of a Japanese theme.

    Yosenju 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mayosenjudaibak_lod2_jp_vg_artwork.png
Yosenju are an archetype of WIND monsters based on various Yokai as well as other elements of Japanese mythology and folklore. They are focused in Pendulum Summoning, and most of the Yosenju have the effect that they return to the hand in the End Phase after they were Normal Summoned (few others will return after being Special Summoned), which makes it hard for the opponent to defeat them. They are used by Shingo Sawatari in the Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V anime.

  • Achilles' Heel: The Yosenju monsters are very similar to Spirit Monsters, with many of them returning to their owners hand. While Sawatari's "Yosen Lost Tornado" combo uses this effect to his advantage, it also leaves the field wide open for an upcoming attack, if they have no Spell or Trap Cards for protection.
  • BFS: Yosenju Misak has one. He also destroys any non-WIND monster he battles.
  • Dub Name Change: Averted for the archetype who keeps its name. Individual cards such as Mayosenju Daibak, on the other hand...
  • Glass Cannon: Yosenjus can mass Normal Summon monsters to deal major damage to the opponent when combined with their bounce effects, and they can also throw in a bit of Pendulum Summoning to bring out heavy hitters like Daibakaze. However, they return to the hand during the End Phase, giving the opponent a clear shot at your Life Points if you don't throw in something to stop them.
  • Hit-and-Run Tactics: Their main schtick: they're summoned on your turn, do a bunch of damage, and then return to the hand before the opponent can retaliate.
  • Katanas Are Just Better: Kama 2 has a katana and he's the strongest of the three brothers. He can also attack directly by halving the damage.
  • Mythology Gag: Yosenju Sabu's outfit is the same as the one Sawatari wore before his rematch against Yuya. Its second effect even allows Dizzying Winds of Yosen Village or Yosen Whirlwind to be directly placed on the field, which are the two cards Sawatari used to counter Yuya's Pendulum monsters in that duel.
  • Numerical Theme Naming: Kamaitachi (one), Kamanitachi (two) and Kamamitachi (three). In the TCG, they are just numbered.
  • Our Dragons Are Different: Mayosenju Hitotsumenomuraji has the appearance of a red eastern dragon. However it's a Beast-type monster.
  • Punny Name: Kamaitachi's name sounds exactly like the yokai Kamaitachi. Both "kama" stand for "sickle", but the difference between their names is the "itachi" part. The Yosenju's "itachi" stands for "one long sword" while the yokai's "itachi" stands for "weasel". Lost in Translation in the TCG.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Shinchu R (red) and Shinchu L (blue). They have even literally red and blue oni faces.
  • Sibling Team: Kama 1-3 are brothers.
  • Sinister Scythe: Kama 1 has a sickle. Guess why?
  • Wicked Weasel: Kamaitachi, Kamanitachi and Kamamitachi are weasel yokai, the Kamaitachi. Mayosenju Daibak is a very monstrous Kamaitachi.
  • Wind Is Green: Mayosenju Daibak is completely green/turquoise.
  • Yōkai: What most of their monsters are based on, notably the Kamaitachi. Before the TCG archetype name was revealed, fans translated the OCG name as "Hermit Yokai".
  • You Are Number 6: In the TCG, the Kamaitachi brothers are just numbered.
  • Zerg Rush: The Kama brothers all share the effect of letting you Normal Summon another Yosenju monster after they're successfully Normal Summoned. The general result is, of course, a pack of them all being summoned at the same time.

    Yubel 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yubel_tf04_jp_vg_1.jpg
Your not-so-typical Yandere spirit
Yubel is a major character in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX and has their own cards. At first employing themselves and their evolved forms when it was a separate character, Yubel's card would come into Jaden/Judai Yuki's possession after the latter merged with them and was used at times in the last season of GX.
  • Ambiguous Gender: At least when not taking the original Japanese version of them. Due to being hermaphroditic in design, Yubel is both male and female and has traits of both genders in their design (in the original versions that is), but is usually referred as a "her" (in the dub and by western fans) due to their Woman Scorned-like nature in season 3 and the fact that their male voice was not adapted besides using the voices of male characters she possessed. Their Bokukko character does not help at all.
  • Anthropomorphic Personification: Implied and likely not literal, but 'Terror Incarnate' speaks for itself. She has the power, though.
  • Attack Reflector/Combat Sadomasochist: The effect of Yubel ties in perfectly with the character's sadism and masochism: whatever 'pains' (i.e. Battle Damage) this card experiences, it reciprocates to the opponent in Life Point damage. It also reflects her nature as Judai's guardian, being unharmed by the attacks of the enemies that harm only them. Geist Grinder Golem and Nightmare Pain encourage this habit by playing to Yubel's own strengths.
  • Belly Mouth: Ultimate Nightmare has one along with a face to boot.
  • Bishounen Line: Yubel – Das Ewig Liebe Wächter, Yubel's fourth and most powerful form, sees them largely return to their more humanoid first form while retaining some features from 'The Ultimate Nightmare', such as the horns, more furred wings and one of the dragon heads now on their right arm.
  • Death Activated Super Power: "Yubel" will transform into its powered up forms if it dies.
  • Eldritch Abomination: Starts out fairly humanoid, if demonic in appearance, but turn gradually more twisted and monstruous as they progress through forms.
  • Evolutionary Levels/One-Winged Angel: The Yubel series is similar to the LV series such as Armed Dragon or Dark Mimic, with each successive form being stronger. The difference is that Yubel is the only LV-like series that evolves when they are destroyed.
  • Eyes Do Not Belong There: Ultimate Nightmare has a total of 16 eyes, counting the head on their chest, the dragon heads, the faces on the heads and the eyes on their knees.
  • Fusion Dance:
    • It combines with Elemental HERO Neos to form Neos Wiseman. As a result, this card represents Judai after he fused with Yubel because this card is the combination of Neos (which represents Judai) and Yubel, as of the last episode, his two ace cards. In the card game, Neos Wiseman is an Effect Monster that requires both cards as tributes. Elemental HERO Neos Kluger (an updated version of Wiseman) is a Fusion Monster, which again is formed of Elemental HERO Neos and Yubel. Like Yubel, Neos Kluger is capable of dealing burn damage in addition to battle, and summons another version of iteslf (The original Neos Wiseman) upon leaving the field.
    • Artwise, Yubel – Das Ewig Liebe Wächter seems to homage Elemental HERO Flame Wingman, given the draconic right hand. This form can be summoned with Super Polymerization, burning the opponent in accordance to Yubel's sadomasochistic tendencies.
  • Gratuitous German: When the card name is read in the original Japanese, it is actually written in bad German, not Japanese. Das Abscheulich Ritter for Terror Incarnate and Das Extremer Traurig Drachen for The Ultimate Nightmare. Elemental HERO Neos Kluger, a fusion of Yubel and Neos, has "Kluger" which roughly means "wiser" in German, which was translated to Neos Wiseman in the international releases. Das Ewig Liebe Wächter means The Eternal Love Guardian.
  • Loophole Abuse: To summon Terror Incarnate, the base Yubel only needs to be destroyed, which does not require it to be summoned properly, or even on the field. As such, destroying Yubel from your hand using Fire King, Nephthys, or True King cards will also trigger the effect (which was eagerly exploited by Duel Links players in particular due to Yubel's character version having a skill to return the bricky higher forms to your deck and search the base Yubel in their place).
  • Mythology Gag: The Yubel support introduced in Phantom Nightmare further connects Yubel to Judai Yuki.
    • Das Ewig Liebe Wächter has a Flame Wingman-like aesthetic.
    • Spirit of Yubel has a similar effect and mirrored artwork to Spirit of Neos.
    • Eternal Favorite can be searched out by previous Elemental HERO support as it contains Favorite.
  • Meaningful Name: Yubel's name is not Japanese in origin, and because her name is only ever spelled onscreen in katakana, the question isn't the spelling of her name so much as the name itself. "Yubel" could be the Japanese pronunciation of the German "Juwel" (pronounced "you-vehl"), meaning "jewel" or "gem," derived from the German "übel" (meaning "evil"), or a correct pronunciation of the Swedish "jubel," meaning "joyful." Nobody actually knows.
  • Multiple Head Case: As Terror Incarnate and Ultimate Nightmare, which is used to indicate how powerful they are in comparison to Yubel's regular form.
  • Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Yubel - Terror Incarnate and Yubel - The Ultimate Nightmare.
  • Stone Wall: The controller of any of Yubel's forms will not take any battle damage from battles involving them. If it's the only monster on your field and the opponent has no other ways to deal damage or negate Yubel's effects, they literally cannot touch your LP.
  • Thanatos Gambit: Terror Incarnate can only be summoned if Yubel is destroyed, by something other than her own monster effect (failing to tribute a monster for her). Ultimate Nightmare isn't so restrictive, simply needing Terror Incarnate to leave the field in any way but returning directly to the deck.
  • Third Eye: Yubel has a pronounced third eye. This is justified because Yubel is a (hermaphroditic in Japan only) demon.
  • Vine Tentacles: The artwork of Nightmare Pain shows Yubel attacking with thorny vines, connecting the monster further to the rose theming of love combined with pain.
  • Weak, but Skilled: All of their forms are have 0 ATK and DEF, but powerful effects.
  • Winged Humanoid: Yubel's first form is a winged humanoid with both female and male features to denote their hermaphrodite nature.

    Zombie World / Doomking Balerdroch / Red-Eyes Zombie Dragon 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zombiepowerstruggle.png
The eternal struggle continues.

Zombie World is a Field Spell that represents the realm of the undead, converting all monsters on the field and Graveyard into Zombies. It is torn by an endless power struggle between the two most powerful residents of the domain, Doomking Balerdroch and Red-Eyes Zombie Dragon.


  • And Then John Was a Zombie: Zombie World's unholy miasma turns everything it touches undead, represented by its effect to convert every monster on the field and in both Graveyards into Zombies. Tatsunecro (an undead Tatsunoko) and Glow-Up Bloom (an undead Glow-Up Bulb) are explicitly named as victims of this, though a number of other zombified counterparts of other monsters exist, with Zombie World implied to be responsible for their existence.
  • Back from the Dead:
    • Doomking Balerdroch can revive from the Graveyard in Defense Position during the Standby Phase if a Field Spell is in play.
    • Red-Eyes Zombie Dragon Lord can revive itself once per turn by banishing a Zombie from its controller's Graveyard.
  • Dracolich: Red-Eyes Zombie Dragon, pretty much Exactly What It Says on the Tin and one of the most powerful undead in the Zombie World. Doomking Balerdroch also appears vaguely draconic in appearance.
  • Eye Scream: In its artwork, Red-Eyes Zombie Dragon noticeably only has one eye and an empty socket; according to the lore, the missing eye was torn out by Balerdroch, who coveted it for being the source of Zombie Dragon's power.
  • Faux Flame: Red-Eyes Zombie Dragon and its upgraded forms all have ghostly blue flames swirling around them, representing Zombie World's zombifying miasma rather than actual fire.
  • Foil: Zombie Dragon and Balerdroch are naturally opposites in their effects, reflecting their status as bitter rivals; Zombie Dragon's various forms all have the ability to convert Zombies to their side, usually through battle, while Balerdroch focuses on suppressing their powers and crushing them without ever having to fight them head-on.
  • Forever War: Since they're both undead, Balerdroch and Zombie Dragon have been locked in conflict for ages, both unable to die even when they seemingly battle to the death. The balance of power only shifted when Balerdroch ripped out Zombie Dragon's eye.
  • Home Field Advantage: Doomking Balerdroch and all of Red-Eyes Zombie Dragon's forms are made to synergize with Zombie World's effect; turning the opponent's monsters into Zombies allows Balerdroch's effect to easily negate and banish their monsters, while allowing Red-Eyes Zombie Dragon and Red-Eyes Zombie Necro Dragon to steal monsters from their Graveyard.
  • Necromancer: All three of Red-Eyes Zombie Dragon's forms can revive Zombies from the Graveyard.
  • Power Nullifier: Balerdroch can negate the effects of Zombie monsters when they activate.
  • Took a Level in Badass: After its crippling defeat by Doomking Balerdroch and the loss of its eye, Red-Eyes Zombie Dragon absorbs Zombie World's miasma to recover and become the more powerful Red-Eyes Zombie Necro Dragon. It takes another level by turning into Red-Eyes Zombie Dragon Lord, which appears to be a combination of itself and Balerdroch, implying that Zombie Dragon gets its revenge and then some.
  • Unholy Ground: Zombie World, a realm so unholy that everything living it touches is turned into an undead.
  • Victor Gains Loser's Powers: Red-Eyes Zombie Dragon Lord is implied to be the result of Red-Eyes Zombie Necro Dragon defeating Doomking Balerdroch and taking his powers. It shares some of Balerdroch's features and gains the ability to revive itself from the Graveyard, which Balerdroch has and its previous forms did not.
  • Villain Forgot to Level Grind: Seems to be the case for Doomking Balerdroch. While he's initially stronger than Zombie Dragon (both in-game - Balerdroch starts with 2800 ATK while Zombie Dragon has 2400 in its first form - and in lore) and defeats it to take its eye, Zombie Dragon focuses on gaining more and more power for itself and transforming into a more powerful form before challenging Balerdroch again while Balerdroch never gets any stronger (reflected by him only having a single card), with their next encounter seemingly ending with Zombie Dragon overcoming Balerdroch and taking his power to become Red-Eyes Zombie Dragon Lord.

    Zushin, the Sleeping Giant 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zushinthesleepinggiant_lod2_jp_vg_artwork.png

Zushin, the Sleeping Giant is a card that first appeared in the Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds anime where he was an incredibly Common card that nobody had been able to summon him... until Team Taiyou did it. As can be gathered from that description, Zushin is the embodiment of Awesome, but Impractical: extremely difficult to summon, but equally powerful.


  • Awesome, but Impractical: The whole point of this card. Zushin is extremely powerful, on par with the Egyptian Gods, but is ridiculously difficult to summon since he requires keeping a Level 1 Normal Monster on the field until it has 10 Zushin Counters on it and in order to place 1 of those counters, you need to reveal Zushin from your hand which can only done once per turn. However, once he hits the field, he's pretty much invincible. His difficult Summoning condition is acknowledged in the anime as many characters write him off as a worthless common, and Team Taiyou Summoning him is met with enormous cheers from the audience.
  • Beyond the Impossible: Summoning Zushin is this, especially in the anime, where a Level 1 Normal Monster has to stay on the field for 10 rounds, which are 20 turns! The only reason Team Taiyo even manages to summon him is because they are three people dueling under the W.R.G.P. rules; if one of them loses, the next one carries over his field.
  • Brick Joke: After six years since its anime debut, Zushin gets finally printed in the OCG... as a Common card.
  • Gag Lips: Part of his Gonk design.
  • Gonk: For someone on par with the Egyptian Gods, he is pretty ugly.
  • Infinity +1 Sword: Zushin has always 1000 ATK more than the monster he battles.
  • The Juggernaut: Zushin is almost unstoppable once successfully summoned on the field.
  • Loophole Abuse:
    • You can only use Zushin's effect to place a Zushin Counter once per turn... for a given copy, meaning that if you have more than one, you can put up to three counter in one turn, thus drastically shortening the amount of turns needed for its summon.
    • You can also use cards like Monster Reincarnation to discard Zushin and then add him back to your hand, letting you use the effect more often in the same turn.
    • This is also one way to bring Zushin down. Due to the way simultaneous Trigger Effects are handled, it's possible to attack and destroy Zushin with cards such as Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon, a monster equipped with Moon Mirror Shield, or (if you somehow manage to summon him) another Zushin.
  • Magikarp Power: His summon requirement is basically this trope. A Level 1 Normal Monster that has to stay long enough on the field and has 10 Zushin counters can be tributed to summon this juggernaut.
  • Megaton Punch: "ZUSHIN PUNCH!"
  • Mythology Gag: Zushin was depicted as one of the most common cards in existence in the anime, with everyone in the audience at the W.R.G.P. possessing a copy. Its OCG rarity fits its anime trait, where it was released as a Common card. Averted in the TCG, where it's an Ultra Rare instead.
  • No-Sell: Zushin is immune to any kind of effect. The only ways to get rid of him is through battle (which is no easy feat given that he always has 1000 more ATK than the monster he's battling) or by Tributing him for Lava Golem, Volcanic Queen, or a Kaiju monster.
  • Stout Strength: He's got quite the beer belly on him, but that doesn't stop him from being awesome if he hits the field.
  • Walking Shirtless Scene: He generally doesn't wear a lot of clothes.

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