The Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game began in 1999, and it was based on the Duel Monsters game that appeared in the manga series, created by Kazuki Takahashi. The card game was popular in Japan but did not gain as much attention in the West until the anime debuted in 2000. The original series consists of five seasons and 224 episodes, and it has since spawned seven spinoffs and three movies.
Yugi Muto is the main protagonist, and it is through his story that fans got to see a multitude of skilled duelists with specialized decks. Each deck contains a certain number of Monster Cards, and these monsters are the ones who do the actual fighting. The original series brought dozens of monsters to life, but there were certain monsters who were stronger than all the rest.
10 Wall Shadow's Effect Was overpowered
The trading card game has a lot of rules, but the original series decided to not follow those rules on several occasions. One example is Wall Shadow, a monster who can only be summoned by using the Magical Labyrinth Spell Card.
In the series, Wall Shadow was basically a Shadow Ghoul monster who fused with Labyrinth Wall, which is a monster that was somehow used as a Field Card. Wall Shadow was able to travel through the walls of the labyrinth, where it was able to surprise attack enemy monsters.
9 Dark Magician Always Helped Yugi
Dark Magician is a monster that most fans wish actually existed, and that is because they have seen how protective he can be. Yugi uses Dark Magician in most of his duels, and no matter the situation, it has always managed to help him in some way.
It may not have a special ability, but Dark Magician does come with 2500 ATK and 2100 DEF, which are pretty high and impressive stats, and during the original series, there were only a handful of monsters that were stronger.
8 Blue-Eyes White Dragon Was The Strongest Monster For A While
Blue-Eyes White Dragon is one of the series' most iconic monsters, and it also happens to be one of the most played cards in Kaiba's deck. This vicious dragon does not possess a special ability, but it does have 3000 ATK and 2500 DEF, which made it the strongest individual monster for quite some time.
As the original series went on, summoning a Blue-Eyes actually required multiple sacrifices, but at the very beginning, Kaiba was able to play them immediately from his hand, which made this monster even more imposing.
7 Gate Guardian Could Only Be Summoned By Sacrificing Three Specific Monsters
Yugi and Joey's duel with the Paradox Brothers was one of the many duels in the original series that defied all logic, but it did introduce fans to the monster known as Gate Guardian. With 3750 ATK, it was one of the only monsters that could destroy a Blue-Eyes without any sort of damage buff.
The problem with this monster is that it can only be summoned if the wielder has Sanga of the Thunder, Kazejin, and Suijin. Those three monsters have a combined ATK of 7500, which means that Gate Guardian is actually a lot weaker than it should be.
6 Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon Had Insane ATK Damage
Some of the best episodes of the Duelist Kingdom Arc focused on the duel between Yugi and Kaiba, and it was during this duel that Kaiba summoned the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon for the first time. This monster can only be summoned by fusing three Blue-Eyes together, which is why Kaiba is the only person who can ever summon it.
It is very common for duelists to fuse monsters together, and that is because the new monster tends to be much stronger, and if they're not, they usually have a pretty good special ability to make up for it. Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon may not have a special ability, but it does come with 4500 ATK points.
5 Relinquished Absorbed Enemy Monsters & Could Not Be Destroyed
Yugi had an incredibly difficult time dueling Pegasus, and Relinquished was the biggest obstacle aside from Pegasus' Millenium Eye. Relinquished is a Ritual Monster who has 0 ATK and 0 DEF points, but its special ability was extremely overpowered.
Relinquished was able to absorb enemy monsters, and it could not be destroyed as long as it had a monster in its body. The only way to defeat this version of Relinquished is to destroy the absorbed monsters, but doing so resulted in the monster's original owner taking Battle Damage.
4 By Sacrificing Two Monsters, Obelisk the Tormentor Can Destroy Every Monster On The Field
All of the Egyptian God Cards are powerful, and they all look amazing, but when it comes to the real game, they are all pretty useless. Obelisk the Tormentor is the only one of the three who has established ATK and DEF points, and they both happen to be 4000.
Obelisk can only be summoned by sacrificing three other monsters, and he can't be targeted or destroyed by any Spell or Trap Cards. His second special ability allows him to destroy every monster on the opponent's side of the field, and he then inflicts 4000 damage to their Life Points. This effect cannot be countered, and it can be used by simply sacrificing two monsters.
3 Slifer the Sky Dragon Gains ATK Points Based On The Owner's Hand & It Subtracts 2000 ATK From Enemy Monsters
Like Obelisk, Slifer the Sky Dragon requires three sacrifices, and it cannot be targeted by Spell, Trap, or Monster effects. This massive dragon's ATK and DEF points are entirely dependent on its owner because it gains 1000 points for every card in its owner's hand.
Slifer can have up to 6000 ATK, and if that wasn't problematic enough, it can also reduce the ATK of any newly summoned opposing monster by 2000 points. If that monster's ATK reaches 0, it is instantly destroyed and sent to the graveyard.
2 The Winged Dragon of Ra Was Immune To Destruction & Could Have Extremely High ATK Points
The Winged Dragon of Ra has the same summoning requirement and the same immunities as the other Egyptian Gods, but its unique effect makes it the strongest of the three. Ra's owner can use their Life Points to increase its ATK points, and if they sacrifice another monster, its ATK can also be added to Ra's.
Under the right circumstances, Ra can have well over 6000 ATK, and if its owner pays 1000 Life Points, Ra can enter Phoenix Mode. Ra cannot be destroyed while in this mode, and every card on the enemy's field is instantly destroyed.
1 Exodia Instantly Wins Any Duel
From the very first episode, it became quite clear that certain characters take this card game way too seriously. The first episode also happens to be the one and only time Yugi summoned Exodia, which is not all that surprising seeing as it is a very difficult monster to summon.
Exodia can only appear if a duelist manages to collect all five of the cards that make up its body. If this condition is met, the duelist automatically wins the duel, and the anime showcased this by having Exodia destroy three Blue-Eyes at once.
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