How Many Yu-Gi-Oh! Cards Are There?

Konami, the creator of the cards, has never come out with an official number, but the Yu-Gi-Oh! Fandom Wiki has catalogued that there are 12,456 in the Official Card Game and 11,145 in the Trading Card Game. The former is essentially a version played mostly in Japan and the latter is more well known worldwide.

All cards are split up into groups. A card is either a Monster card, a Trap card or a Spell card. Within these groups, there are other divisions (like Fusion Monsters, Continuous Traps and Field Spells), but everything falls into one of these three. 

In a standard duel, players are allowed one main deck, one side deck and one extra deck. The main deck is what players use to duel generally. The side deck is not required, but is a choice of many players against specific other players. The extra deck, formerly known as the Fusion Deck, is where Fusion, Synchro, Xyz and Link Monsters are kept.

The main deck must consist of at least 40 cards and no more than 60 cards. The side deck and extra deck can have no more than 15 cards in them.

When it comes to Monster cards, power can be defined in a few ways amongst Yu-Gi-Oh! fans. It can be a high number of attack points, or an impact in the anime series, or something that was so powerful in a tournament that it had to be banned. The Monster card with the most attack points is Don Thousand / Monster C, boasting a whopping 10,000 ATK points and 10,000 DEF points.

Of course, Exodia The Forbidden One also deserves a nod. Drawing all five cards and forming Exodia wins a player the game, which is an incredible feat. Also deserving the nod, for their history in the lore if nothing else, are Slifer The Sky Dragon, Obelisk The Tormentor and The Winged Dragon Of Ra, the Egyptian God cards.

In terms of tournaments, Chaos Emperor Dragon – Envoy Of The End was immensely powerful. If players were willing and able to sacrifice 1,000 life points, they were able to send all cards on the field and in their and their opponent’s hands to the graveyard, with each card doing 300 damage to the opponent. It was close to a one-turn kill, which got it banned.

Read more about the most powerful Yu-Gi-Oh! cards here.

Like many trading cards, Yu-Gi-Oh! cards have value largely due to their rarity, condition, and what edition they are. Among collectors, the most valuable card ever produced by far is the Tournament Black Luster Soldier. It was a reward at the first-ever Yu-Gi-Oh! tournament in 1999 and it was printed on stainless steel, truly making it one of its kind. Rumors say it has exchanged hands multiple times throughout the years, but there’s hardly any concrete information about that anywhere. Either way, it is estimated to be worth a whopping $2 million. In comparison, the other most valuable cards in the game fall just shy of the $100k mark.

Read more about the most valuable Yu-Gi-Oh! cards here.