TCG Exclusives
The most recent addition to this category, although certainly not the best, this archetype was introduced in Duelist Nexus, and even with recent support in Age of Overlord, this archetype will probably be left underground, where it resides
Tistina
Orange-Mouth Black Phoenix
Blue-Eyes White Dragon
Popular streamer and legendary duelist Joshua Schmidt brought this deck to YCS Bologna for fun, not knowing that it would be the strategy to give him his 4th YCS win
Bystial Runick
Released in Magic Ruler back in 2002, this common card stayed on the limited list for years, until it finally came back to 3 in 2024
Upstart Goblin
A powerful link-2 released in 2022 that seemed a little too generically good in hindsight. Maybe they should've added an archetypal restriction to it's special summon effect
Spright Elf
These pesky pirates are great at tagging themselves out for their powerful ships, made possible by their captain, Blackbeard
Plunder Patroll
Oddly Unequal
Evenly Matched
Piloted by Manav Dawar at YCS Columbus in 2018, this was the pure deck's first YCS top, but certainly not its last, as this "striking" strategy would claim over 10 more YCS victories
Sky Striker
Released in 2008's Crossroads of Chaos, this powerful floodgate made it so that you and your opponent can only control monsters that share the same attribute
Gozen Match
Another card in the archetype of "preventing your opponent from playing the game", this weapon was frequently paired with DPE to pop it during your opponent's turn
Artifact Scythe
Introduced in Power of The Elements, this "cosmic" archetype set out to do one thing: teach fish how to synchro summon
Ghoti
W.W. Pigeon
D.D. Crow
A purely anti-meta choice, Raymond Dai would bring this deck to YCS Niagara Falls in September of 2022 as a counter to the tier one meta threats of Spright and Tearlaments. Turns out, Dimension Shifter works great against decks that need their graveyards
Exosister
Soul Fusion is one of the most impactful Yugioh sets ever, releasing absolutely broken monsters like Thunder Dragon Colossus / Titan and Isolde at high rarities, but left this equally powerful card at common. Maybe because it didn't "wrestle" well within its own archetype
Dinowrestler Pankratops
Spawning a decades-long meme, this legendary card contains 3 of the most hard-to-understand words in the dictionary: "Draw Two Cards."
Pot of Greed
One of Yugioh's oddest decks from an aesthetic perspective, this strategy was created as a crossover inspired by two classic stories: The Wizard of Oz and Star Wars. Some cards include Farmgirl, Dark Destroyer, and Wickedwitch
Kozmo
Temporary Lengthiness
Infinite Impermanence
Brought to YCS Miami in 2012, Travis Smith piloted this tier-one meta threat and made it to the top. Playmakers of this strategy include Shark, Carrier Zenmaity, Magician, and one of the first generically good xyz monsters, Zenmaines
Wind-Up
This frequently played favorite in trap decks like Labrynth was first printed as a common in Rise of The Duelist. Turns out that sending cards from your extra deck to the graveyard is great, especially if they have effects that will trigger
Dogmatika Punishment
Maybe the effect of being able to foolish ANY CARD on a generic rank-4 xyz wasn't the best idea. Konami thought so, and it landed on the ban list in 2015, 3 years after its debut
Lavaval Chain
A tier-zero meta titan that just so happened to get its start in the TCG. Although not great at first, when the link-2 "Double Helix" was released, this archetype shot up to be one of Yugioh's most powerful decks ever
SPYRAL
Encrypt Listener
Decode Talker
One of the oddest YCS wins in history, this strategy was piloted by Marquis Henderson at YCS Atlanta at the beginning of 2012 and fell off the face of the earth afterward. That was until 2023 when it finally got new support in AGOV
T.G.
Released in 2014's Primal Origin, this common rank-7 xyz monster saw virtually zero play upon release, but with the introduction of link monsters, it became one of the game's most powerful playmakers overnight because of its token-generating effect
Number 72: Galaxy Tomahawk
Released in 2014's Dragons of Legend, this blatantly broken spell card gave you the ability to special summon any number of monsters from your graveyard. Just make sure to pay attention to your life points!
Soul Charge