This is written for all the parents out there whose child has been asking
them to buy them some Yu-Gi-Oh cards and have no idea what they are going
on about or whether or not you are getting them the right things!
Seriously, half the kids don't really know what they want themselves, or
how expensive some of them can be!
This is written for all the parents out there whose child has been asking
them to buy them some Yu-Gi-Oh cards and have no idea what they are going
on about or whether or not you are getting them the right things!
Seriously, half the kids don't really know what they want themselves, or
how expensive some of them can be! As an experienced tournament organiser
and a player myself, I have been asked many times about what to buy and
what is good, etc. So here are all the advices in one article, hopefully
it will help you out!
First of all, try to find out exactly what the card name is if they want a
specific card. Some of them can sound very strange, like blue eyes white
dragon, or winged kuriboh Lv9, you need to be very careful about the name.
Because a Red Eyes Darkness Dragon and a Red Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon
may sound very similar, but one is fairly useless when the other is a
fairly expensive but powerful card! If you know the exact name, just go
onto eBay, most of the times you will get a fairly good deal even on "buy
it now". If they are a bit vague, go to Yu-gi-oh Wikia, and look for it
there first. Golden rule, don't ever buy a card that sounded a bit like
what they are looking for, there are over 3000 cards, a lot of them have
really strange and similar names!
Another question usually would be they are trying to get a certain
Character's card. This is the time when Yu-Gi-Oh Wikia will save you. Look
for that Character's name, chances are the site will tell you what card
that person use. Then just pick the few key ones and go from there. Again,
DO NOT TRADE for them usually, because character cards are usually very
weak and are quite cheap to buy online, but the rarity is high, so people
may rip you off for it. So at the very least check how much your own cards
are worth, then how much those you wants are worth before going in to
trade with anyone.
To buy cards, there are various ways. You can get a structure / starter
deck, they are fixed, so all the cards would be listed at the back, and
you always get the same cards. Very good if you are starting fresh and
don't have many cards. Usual advice is to buy the newest one.
Booster packs. Comes out once every 3 months. About 100 cards per set.
With all the secret rare these days, you can buy about 10 boxes (240
packs) and still won't get every card. So best bet is to just buy a few
packs and hope to get some good cards then go trade for what you need.
Specific cards are usually best off trading or buying off eBay. The
pre-release event is always great to go to, you can buy the cards cheaper
than retail, and get special promo for it!
Collector tins. They are pretty good if you want to get cards from the
past few sets. They usually come with a really good promo card. Most
people buy these just for that. Also comes with a tin to put all the spare
cards in! Special editions. These are the best way to buy previous sets.
They come in box of three boosters, sometimes are the same price as three
boosters or even cheaper! They also come with a decent promo usually.
You can also get cards from Shonen jump magazines, Yu-Gi-Oh games, comic
books, special prizes etc. Onto rarity, Yu-Gi-Oh have quite a lot of
rarities by now. Each pack usually have 9 cards in it, the newer set would
have at least a rare and above. So you could open a pack with a rare and a
super rare card in it. In terms of how hard to get, it goes like: Common -
rare - super rare - ultra rare - ultimate rare - secret rare - ghost rare.
You also have parallel rare, which are special promo
Secret rare - they are actually harder to get then ghost rare because
there are about 4 -5 of them per set, and only one ghost rare per set. So
a specific one is harder to get. On eBay, they would list what the rarity
is for each of them. Be careful with promo cards, they can be secret rare
sometimes, and they are not worth as much as a secret rare from a booster
set. Because you can get some from say a comic book, which cost about œ8
to buy.
Normally speaking, a rare card can be from 50p to œ2. Super from about œ2
to œ8 (some can be as high as œ15 if they are very useful). Ultra rare are
around œ10 - 15. Ultimate rare about œ15 - 20. Secret rare can be from œ15
- 100+. Ghost rare are usually about œ25 ish. Parallel are usually promo,
so probably œ5 or so. If a certain card goes way beyond what I quoted,
chances are they are tier 1 cards, i.e. cards that the top tournament
players use. Unless you are very rich, they are usually not worth it.
Unless your child is doing really well in local tournaments, tier 1 cards
are wasted on them.
Having said all this, the best thing to do really is take them to local
tournaments. Go to Yu-Gi-Oh-card.com and you should be able to find the
tournament locator there. Konami is slowly getting it sorted for all the
regions. If it doesn't say there, just get a phone directory and call all
the toy stores nearby and just ask if they do Yu-Gi-Oh tournaments.
In general, Yu-Gi-Oh is a great game for kids. It is fairly easy to pick
up but have really deep strategies. It will help them with their
confidence as well as just cognitive skills, as you do have to think a lot
playing it. It teaches them about competition and fair play, basic
calculation, improve their memory, and best of all.... You can usually
leave them at the local store for a few hours!! Most stores would have
sufficient adult supervision providing you child is ok to take care of
themselves like going to the toilet and can buy themselves food and drink
etc. You can just go shopping or do whatever you like! Just sit with them
the first couple of times, they should be fine. To be honest, a lot of
dads ended up playing the game themselves even long after their kids have
stopped playing.
And to quote the head judge from the 2009 UK national championship: "This
Yu-Gi-Oh championship is ran at the National institute of sport, so
Yu-Gi-Oh is now officially a sport!" Yup, not sure how much exercise they
will get out of it, as long as don't try to play Yu-Gi-Oh whilst riding a
bike (cartoon reference), they should be just fine!
Jack Wong is a Level 2 Judge, former UK YuGiOh Champion and tournament
Organiser. His passion is to help others improve and enjoy YuGiOh! See his
latest YuGiOh guide for help in the game:
http://www.yugioh-guide.com.