Characters / Yu Gi Oh Card Game G To I

Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Game character index
Storyline Cards/Characters: Duel Terminal | World Legacy | Abyss | Visas Starfrost | Diabellstar
Lore Cards/Characters: Atlantean | Dracoslayer | Endymion | S-Force | Six Samurai | Skull Servant
Other: Recurring Generic Monsters | HEROes | Numbers
A to B | C | D | E to F | G to I | J to L | M | N | O to R | S Part 1 | S Part 2 | T to U | V to Z

Characters from the Yu-Gi-Oh! card game, sorted alphabetically from G to I.

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G Golem

The G Golem are an archetype of EARTH Cyberse monsters that were played by Earth in Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS. Their playstyle revolve around using G Golem Crystal Heart to bring back their Link monsters from the GY each turn and increase their offensive capabilities while co-linked to them. In return, their other Link monsters protect it from attacks and effects.

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• Armor-Piercing Attack: An EARTH monster co-linked to Crystal Heart will receive the ability to deal piercing damage.
• Combat and Support: Crystal Heart is able to, once a turn, revive an EARTH Link monster from the GY with its secondary effect providing them with additional ATK and offensive abilities. In exchange, it has no offensive capabilities of its own, thus making the player rely on other monsters like Invalid Dolmen and Dignified Trilithon for combat purposes.
• Draw Aggro: Invalid Domen and Dignified Trilithon make it so that opposing monsters are forced to attack them if they are capable of attacking, preventing the opponent from targeting weaker monsters such as Crystal Heart.
• No-Sell:
  • Invalid Dolmen prevents the player's co-linked monsters from being affected by the activated effects of opposing monsters.
  • Gravity Balance can be banished from the GY to prevent a G Golem from being destroyed by battle or an opposing effect.
• Power Nullifier:
  • Invalid Dolmen being destroyed while co-linked will cause it to negate the effects of all cards the opponent currently controls.
  • Dignified Trilithon can negate the effect of any monster it battles in addition to lowering its ATK by 200 at the cost of sending an EARTH monster from the hand to the GY. It's also able to negate a card or effect that target a Link monster the player controls.
• Status Buff: Crystal Heart's second effect gives any EARTH monster co-linked to it an extra 600 ATK for each G Golem counter on it plus the ability to attack twice and to deal piercing damage.

Gadget

Go Go Gadgets!

The Gadgets are an archetype of Machine monsters. They can be divide into two groups, with the exception of Gadget Soldier.

The first group consist originally consisted of trio of EARTH monsters that search out a copy of one of the other two from the deck when summoned. Two more members were later added - Gold and Silver - followed by their Link Monster, Platinum. Lacking in power, those gadgets rely on cards like Stronghold the Moving Fortress for offense. They share a connection with the Ancient Gear archetype through "Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon" and Chimera (and later Ancient Gear Hydra and "Reactor Dragon"), and were later supported by a subset of "Boot-Up" monsters that can equip them to support and fuel their lines of play.

The second group of Gadget monsters are meant to act as support for the Morphtronic archetype. Their numbers are few and did not develop any further past their initial introduction.

Yugi Muto used Gadgets cards from the first group against his alter ego in the original series while Kaiba used Gadget Soldier during the Battle City arc. Lua/Leo used the second group in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds. Yuri, Tate and Yusaku Fujiki also play some "Gadget" monsters on their respective decks.

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• All Your Powers Combined: Metalhold the Mobile Fortified Fortress gains the ATK of all monsters equipped to it.
• Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: The first group of Gadgets are associated with the Ancient Gear archetype, through Gadjiltron Chimera and Gadjiltron Dragon, but aren't part of it. Ancient Gear Gadget, however, is a member of both archetypes, meant to better support Ancient Gear Hydra and Ancient Gear Reactor Dragon.
• Combat and Support: The Gadgets work as support for other cards, such as cards like Stronghold, the Ancient Gears, the Morphtronic or even other decks. Inverted with Gadget Hauler whose effect is more geared toward combat and requires Morphtronic cards to be discarded.
• Combination Attack: Several cards are depicted as incorporating the Gadgets into their mechanics to power themselves up. This is illustrated strongly by the "Boot-Up" cards that function by equipping Gadgets to themselves.
• Cute Machines: The first group of Gadget monsters are a series of adorable gear-themed monsters.
• The Dividual: "Tricolore Gadget" is all three of Red, Green and Yellow Gadget on one monster card. Their stats are also the average of all three of them.
• Mini-Mecha: Stronghold the Moving Fortress, Metalhold, Powerhold, and Boot-Up Soldier-Dread Dynamo, which are piloted by the Gadgets.
• Mythology Gag: The artwork for "Stronghold the Hidden Fortress" is based on the original manga artwork of "Stronghold the Moving Fortress".
• Transforming Mecha: Like the Morphtronics, Gadget Driver can switch between a robot and a screwdriver form.
• We Have Reserves: What made the initial trio of Gadgets so renowned was their ability to search each other out when Summoned. It doesn't sound like much, given their low stats, but when paired with all forms of removal spells to eliminate anything they can't beat in a fight, the Gadgets could wear down the opponent's resources while constantly having a good supply of monsters to tank and deliver hits. This highlighted the importance of card advantage in the game, and are perhaps the first few cards termed "floaters".

Gagaga / Onomat

Gagaga Cowboy

The Gagaga monsters are an archetype of DARK Spellcaster-Type monsters and EARTH Warrior-Type monsters used by Yuma in ZEXAL. Their effects rely on swarming the field to facilitate the free summoning of almost any Xyz Monster, since many of them can change their Levels.

They are related to several other archetypes with names styled as Japanese onomatopoeias, collectively termed Onomat. These are Gogogo, Dododo, and Zubaba.

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• Bilingual Bonus: All Gagaga monsters bear a crest of the Chinese character for "I, me" which can be pronounced as "wa" or "ga" in Japanese.
• Captain Ersatz: The Spellcaster-Type monsters bear a striking similarity in appearance to Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl respectively, monsters used by Yugi Muto; the two have 3 Levels and 1000 ATK less than their counterparts. Gagaga Child and Gagaga Sister are likewise similar to Miracle Flipper and Card Ejector, respectably, as the younger counterparts of their respective Magician and Girl. Gagaga Child and Miracle Flipper share the same Level and each pair share the same Type.
• Chained by Fashion: With the exception of Gagaga Sister, all the Spellcasters have some sort of chain on them.
• Clerk: Keeping the trope description in mind, Gagaga Clerk supports the Gagaga Archetype.
• Good Old Fisticuffs: Gagaga Cowboy doesn't only use his guns to attack, he uses his fists as well. The Spellcaster-Type Gagaga monsters, especially Magician, use physical attacks instead of magic to attack.
• The Gunslinger: Gagaga Cowboy: with his duel wielding Guns and his effects to either attack or burn the opponent, he is a Type C.
• Homage: Gagaga Cowboy looks similar to Jude the Dude from the MadWorld video game. Gagaga Magician and Gagaga Girl are this to Yugi Mutou's Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl.
• Improbable Weapon User: Gagaga Girl uses a cellphone as her weapon.
• Ms. Fanservice: Gagaga Girl is a Gagaga counterpart of Dark Magician Girl, the Ms. Fanservice of the franchise, and looks just like her in a darker colored outfit. The fans have certainly taken notice.
• Recurring Element: Gagaga Cowboy's effect is similar to the Morphtronic archetype, in that his effect depends on his battle position.
• The Trope Kid:
  • Gagaga Child. He appears to be the younger version of Gagaga Magician, as hinted by the orange visor and the same hat.
  • Gagaga Sister appears to be the younger version of Gagaga Girl, hinted by the blonde hair.
• Weak, but Skilled: Despite being weak in terms of ATK and DEF, their effects allow them to change their Level very easily so as to very rapidly Xyz Summon Xyz Monsters of any Rank.
• Written Sound Effect: Their name, "Gagaga" is from either the pronunciation for the Chinese character they use as a crest, which can be pronounced "ga" in Japanese, or the Japanese manga sound effect "ga" which is used for physical impacts, similar to the English "pow" used in comics. This could be because the "Gagaga" monsters use physical attacks in the anime and manga.

Gaia Knight (Gaia The Fierce Knight / Gaia the Dragon Champion) / Curse of Dragon

A trio of Gaia Knights.^note Clockwise from bottom-left: Gaia Knight, the Force of Earth; Gaia Drake, the Universal Force; and Gaia Dragon, the Thunder Charger.

^{Gaia The Fierce Knight}

^{Gaia the Dragon Champion}

^{Curse of Dragon}

Gaia Knight^note "Knight Gaia" (騎士ガイア, Kishi Gaia) in the OCG, is a series of monsters that contains the Gaia The Fierce Knight and Gaia the Dragon Champion archetypes (below), but is excluded from their support. Each of these archetypes began with a non-Effect Monster of the same name. Gaia Knight monsters that are not members of the Gaia The Fierce Knight archetype tend to be Extra Deck monsters released in the early stages of their respective Summoning mechanic. Each of these monsters has 2600 ATK, save for Gaia Drake, the Universal Force, which has 3500 ATK.

Gaia the Fierce Knight^note "Gaia the Dark Knight" (暗黒騎士ガイア, Ankoku Kishi Gaia) in the OCG, is an archetype of Warrior-Type monsters. Most Gaia The Fierce Knight monsters are Level 7 Warrior monsters with 2300 ATK and 2100 DEF like the original and also have an ability to Summon themselves from the hand without tributes.

Gaia the Dragon Champion^note "Gaia the Dragon Knight" (竜騎士ガイア, Ryūkishi Gaia) in the OCG, is an archetype of Dragon-Type Fusion Monsters. Each member of the series is a Level 7 WIND Dragon monster with 2600 ATK and 2100 DEF. Additionally, each member besides the original changes its name to Gaia the Dragon Champion while on the field, as most of the archetype's support cards only support monsters with that name.

Curse of Dragon is a series of Level 5 DARK Dragon-Type monsters with 2000 ATK and 1500 DEF. Much like the above archetypes, this series began with a Normal Monster of the same name. Additional members of the series are primarily designed to assist the Gaia the Dragon Champion archetype by having Fusion-related effects or retrieving Gaia the Dragon Champion support cards.

Gaia The Fierce Knight and Gaia Knight contain cards that support the Black Luster Soldier archetype, which can be found in its respective folder.

In Yu-Gi-Oh! OCG Structures, Shoma Yusa uses a Gaia Knight deck in his duel against Des.

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• Armored Dragons: Curse of Dragon, the Magical Knight Dragon is a Curse of Dragon monster wearing armor similar in design to Gaia's.
• Armor-Piercing Attack: Spiral Spear Strike allows the original Gaia the Fierce Knight, Swift Gaia the Fierce Knight, and Gaia the Dragon Champion to deal piercing damage (and only those three due to being printed long before Gaia received his own archetype). Dealing piercing damage with Gaia the Dragon Champion also lets you draw 2 cards and discard 1, and the later retrains of Dragon Champion have effects that treat their name as the original Dragon Champion while on the field almost specifically to synergize with this.
• Breaking Old Trends: Gaia the Fierce Knight Origin and Soldier Gaia the Fierce Knight were the first Gaia the Fierce Knight monsters to not be Level 7 monsters with 2300 ATK and 2100 DEF. Instead, Origin is Level 4 with 1600 ATK and 1200 DEF, and Soldier is Level 8 with 2600 ATK and 2100 DEF, making Soldier's ATK/DEF identical to that of a Gaia the Dragon Champion monster. Soldier further breaks the trends of Gaia Knight monsters being depicted mounted and wielding a lance, instead going into battle on-foot with a trident.
• Chain Lethality Enabler: Gaia the Magical Knight of Dragons gains 2600 ATK each time it destroys something by battle. Not only does this let Gaia hit harder on subsequent attacks, but it also enables its other effect to destroy a card on the field by giving up 2600 ATK; with exactly 2600 ATK to begin with, using this effect without destroying a monster by battle first leaves Gaia with 0 ATK and unable to do much of anything else.
• Cyborg: Gaia Knight, the Force of Earth and his horse are mechanical. His torso is attached to the top of the horse.
• Divergent Character Evolution: Originally Gaia wasn't really an archetype, more a series of monsters that supported different Extra Deck summoning methods and only shared the basic concept of Gaia on various steeds. Some time later, further support for the Black Luster Soldier archetype integrated Gaia into them, with several Gaia cards that were tailored to supporting Black Luster Soldier and its summoning. Even later, Gaia became a proper archetype in his own right with a focus on Fusion Summoning Gaia the Dragon Champion, and retrains and variants of Curse of Dragon or Gaia the Dragon Champion that synergize with each other.
• Dragon Rider: Several of the cards have Gaia riding dragons.
• Dual Wielding: With lances. Averted by Gaia, Knight in Blackest Night, and Gaia, Knight in Brightest Night.
• Fusion Dance:
  • Gaia the Dragon Champion: Gaia The Fierce Knight + Curse of Dragon. Visually, it's Gaia The Fierce Knight riding Curse of Dragon.
  • Sky Galloping Gaia the Dragon Champion: 1 "Gaia The Fierce Knight" monster + 1 Dragon monster. Visually, it's Charging Gaia The Fierce Knight riding Curse of Dragonfire.
  • Gaia the Magical Knight of Dragons: 1 "Gaia The Fierce Knight" monster + 1 Level 5 Dragon monster. Visually, it's Gaia the Magical Knight riding Curse of Dragon, the Cursed Dragon.
  • Curse of Dragon, the Magical Knight Dragon: 1 Warrior monster + 1 Level 5 or higher Dragon monster. Visually, it's a Curse of Dragon monster with armor similar to Gaia's.
  • Gaia Drake, the Universal Force: "Gaia Knight, the Force of Earth" + 1 non-Effect Synchro Monster. Likely a fusion of Gaia Knight and Naturia Leodrake, as Leodrake is one of the few monsters that could be used as the other Fusion Material, is a Beast where Gaia Knight is a Warrior and Gaia Drake is a Beast-Warrior, and has a similar name to Gaia Drake in the OCG (Gaodoreiku for Leodrake, Gaia Doreiku for Gaia Drake).
• Horse of a Different Color: Curse of Dragon for Gaia when he is Gaia the Dragon Champion.
• Jousting Lance: Gaia's primary weapons in most of his forms.
• Mythology Gag:
  • The connection between this archetype and the Black Luster Soldier cards stems from the original Gaia the Fierce Knight being one of the monsters used by Yugi to summon Black Luster Soldier for the first time during his duel against Mai.
  • Artillery Catapult Turtle being a Gaia support card is a reference to how Yugi used the original Catapult Turtle to throw Gaia the Dragon Champion at PaniK's Castle of Dark Illusions to destroy its flotation ring. Additionally, it's a Level 4 monster which is the level shown on Catapult Turtle's card in the manga.
  • Curse of Dragonfire can target and destroy a Field Spell on the field after a successful summon, referencing Curse of Dragon burning the forest stage in the manga (the anime has Yugi activate Burning Land right after summoning Curse of Dragon) during Yugi and Weevil's Duelist Kingdom duel.
• Recurring Extra: Whenever there's a new summoning mechanic introduced, there's going to be a Gaia monster for it.

Gandora

The Dragon of Destruction

Gandora is an archetype of Level 8 DARK Dragon-Type monsters with 0 ATK and DEF. The archetype consists of Gandora the Dragon of Destruction and its two retrains. Each Gandora monster has a field wipe effect that can destroy or banish all other monsters on the field (with two of them also applying the effect to spells and traps), which then increases its ATK (but not DEF). However, this effect is offset by another effect that has the player lose half their life points.

Yugi Muto occasionally used Gandora monsters after being separated from Yami Yugi. Most notably, he used Gandora the Dragon of Destruction to secure a win in a duel against Yami Bakura near the end of the original series.

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• Anti-Magic: In addition to getting rid of monsters with their field wipe ability, the original Gandora as well as Gigarays can also get rid of spells and traps.
• The Assimilator: Gandora monsters gain ATK by destroying or banishing other cards. The original Gandora gains 300 ATK for each card destroyed by its effect, while Gandora-X gains the highest original ATK of monsters it destroyed. Gigarays gains 300 ATK for each banished card, so it doesn't necessarily commit this trope, though the card's effect encourages it.
• Cast from Hit Points: A feature of all Gandora monsters is that they take half your life points. The original Gandora as well as Gigarays require the life points to activate their effects, while Gandora-X just takes the life points during each of your end phases.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Gandora monsters are DARK Dragons that specialize in destroying/banishing all other monsters, including their allies, but are still used by the original series protagonist Yugi Muto. Even better, the original Gandora played a crucial role in Yugi's beating Yami Bakura, the Big Bad of the finale.
• Deader than Dead: The original Gandora as well as Gigarays can banish cards rather than send them to the graveyard. And since Gigarays gains attack for each banished card, it encourages using it alongside other cards that banish.
• Energy Weapon: The signature attack of Gandora monsters, Boundless Gigarays, for which its third card, Gigarays Gandora the Dragon of Destruction, is named. The attack consists of lasers emitted by the red orbs all over Gandora's body that it uses to destroy everything around it.
• Friendly Fireproof: Averted. The field wipe of Gandora monsters will hit every other monster you control, as well as all monsters your opponent controls.
• Glass Cannon: Gandora monsters have 0 DEF. And while they have effects to raise their ATK above 0, none of them can boost their DEF.
• Herd-Hitting Attack: The signature ability of Gandora monsters can get rid of all other monsters on the field.
• Mutual Kill: Gandora-X with Seto Kaiba's Deep-Eyes White Dragon in Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side of Dimensions.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: The names "Dragon of Destruction" and "Dragon of Demolition" don't exactly give off feelings of peace and happiness.
• Person of Mass Destruction: Each Gandora monster is capable of wiping out all other creatures on the field by itself. The original Gandora as well as Gigarays can also wipe the backrow.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: The Gandora monsters look it, being almost entirely red and black, and being DARK monsters that destroy everything around them. However, see Dark Is Not Evil.
• Required Secondary Powers: None of the Gandora monsters have any sort of protection, so using one's field wipe ability will take out any others, unless they're being protected by something.
• When All You Have Is a Hammer…: Besides Gandora-X dealing some burn damage and Giga Rays banishing the graveyard, Gandora monsters really only have one strategy: Wipe the board, then directly attack the now-defenseless opponent to inflict massive damage with their boosted ATK.
• Xtreme Kool Letterz: The second Gandora monster, Gandora-X the Dragon of Demolition.

Gate Guardian / Labyrinth Wall

Elements of Thunder, Water, and Wind! Sanga, Suijin, Kazejin begin! Meld your powers in eternal light! Show these fools your unstoppable might!

Gate Guardian is a Guardian sub-archetype based off the signature monster of the Paradox Brothers from the original Yu-Gi-Oh! series and Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. Their playstyle involves bringing out three monsters known as Suijin, Kazejin, and Sanga of the Thunder to be tributed in order to summon Gate Guardian.

Over twenty years after their debut, they received new support and retrains that allow for easier summoning of Gate Guardian's components and a focus on Fusion Summoning via Contact Fusion. Alongside them is the Labyrinth Wall archetype, whose members in addition to helping gather materials for Fusion Summoning, can destroy opposing monsters so long as you control a Labyrinth Wall card.

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• Dub Name Change: With the exception of Sanga, Suijin and Kazejin are respectively called Suiga and Hyuga in the OCG.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Labyrinth Wall kept its designation as a monster card in the transition from the manga/anime to the OCG, without taking into account the multiple effects it had on its manga appearance, which made it more akin to a Field Spell card. It took until Maze of Memories for the card to get a proper Field Spell retrain, Labyrinth Wall Shadow.
• Fusion Dance:
  • The original Gate Guardian is this despite not being a Fusion Monster, consisting of Suijin, Kazejin, and Sanga of the Thunder. Its retrain Gate Guardians Combined meanwhile actually is a Fusion Monster and can be brought out in a way similar to its predecessor.
  • There are also Fusion Monsters between only two of the three components: Gate Guardian of Thunder and Wind (Sanga + Kazejin), Wind and Water (Kazejin + Suijin), and Water and Thunder (Suijin + Sanga), each with their own unique and powerful effects.
• Mythology Gag: Most of the support references the special rules that the Brothers had in place during their Tag Duel against Yugi and Joey. Plus, almost all of the monsters in the archtype that aren't part of the Guardian itself are retrains of otherwise-unrelated monsters the Brothers used during the duel.
  • Labyrinth Wall Shadow's effect restricting the attacks of low-leveled monsters reflects how in the same duel, monsters had to take steps into the maze created by Labyrinth Wall according to their level, leading to only high-leveled monsters being able to attack.
  • Shadow Ghoul of the Labyrinth and Labyrinth Wall Shadow share an effect that allows the owner to destroy an opponent's monster during the Battle Phase, reflecting how Wall Shadow was able to move freely between the maze and destroy Yugi and Joey's weaker monsters.
  • Labyrinth Heavy Tank's effect of being able to summon itself without Tributing is based on the appearance of "Labyrinth Tank" in the manga and anime, where it was Normal Summoned under the "basic" rules of Duel Monsters that allow players to Normal Summon any monster from their hand. Meanwhile, its effect where it can place Sanga of the Thunder, Kazejin, and Suijin in the Spell & Trap Zone as Continuous Spells references how the Paradox Brothers Set the aforementioned monsters on their field, all of which were sealed inside caskets and didn't count as monsters, enabling them to easily summon Gate Guardian.
  • Dark Guardian's alternate Summoning condition by shuffling Sanga of the Thunder, Kazejin and Suijin into the Deck is based on how he requires Gate Guardian to be in the Graveyard in order to be Summoned in the anime. His ability to become immune to everything but Trap effects meanwhile is a reference to episode 11 of GX where only Traps were used against him.
  • The Gate Guardian fusions are able to use their effects a number of times per turn reflecting their number of components (with the exception of Gate Guardian of Thunder and Wind), referencing how Gate Guardian was able to attack and defend its pieces individually, even if it was missing one. They can also summon one of their components when destroyed (or, in the case of Gate Guardians Combined, summon a lower-leveled Gate Guardian), similar to how the anime Gate Guardian had to be taken out one piece at a time.
  • Riryoku Guardian is a faithful recreation of the manga version of Riryoku, stealing half your opponent's LP, then adding it to the ATK of one of your monsters (in this case, Gate Guardian).
• Unskilled, but Strong: The original Gate Guardian has no effects, but is an even bigger beatstick than monsters like Blue-Eyes White Dragon at 3750 ATK and 3400 DEF.

Gearfried

Gearfried removing his iron armor.

Gearfried is a series of Warrior monsters, most of which have effects that interact with Equip Spells. In Yu-Gi-Oh! they're used by Katsuya Jonouchi/Joey Wheeler, who also dictates the story of how Gearfried became too powerful to control himself and sealed himself in iron armor to contain his strength. Yu-Gi-Oh! OCG Structures, Shoma Yusa uses a Gemini Warrior deck featuring Phoenix Warrior Gearfried as his ace for his second deck.

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• Anti-Magic:
  • Gearfried the Iron Knight destroys any Equip Card equipped to it.
  • Gearfried the Red-Eyes Iron Knight can destroy any Equip Card equipped to it. If it does, it then destroys a Spell/Trap card an opponent controls.
  • Phoenix Gearfried can send an Equip Card to the Gravyard to negate and destroy a Spell/Trap card that targets a monster. Immortal Phoenix Gearfried has a similar effect to negate monster effects, but doesn't require them to target a monster.
  • Gilti-Gearfried the Magical Steel Knight can negate any effect that targets it.
• Black Knight: Gearfried the Iron Knight is one literally, with his black armor.
• Characterization Marches On: In the anime, Jonouchi initially says that Gearfried is basically a robot or a golem, made of armor, which is why a parasite can't infect him. Later on, that's proven to very much not be the case.
• Equippable Ally: Immortal Phoenix Gearfried can equip any face-up monster to itself when it makes an attack, though it's not restricted to just allies.
• Fusion Dance: Gilti-Gearfried the Magical Steel Knight is a Fusion Monster.In Yu-Gi-Oh! R, it was the fusion of Gearfried the Iron Knight and Giltia the D. Knight.
• Handicapped Badass: Immortal Phoenix Gearfried is missing part of his left arm, which is replaced by a spike. It's more obvious in Yu-Gi-Oh! OCG Structures.
• I Am Not Left-Handed: Release Restraint, which has Gearfried the Iron Knight take off his armor, turning him into Gearfried the Swordmaster, a more powerful monster.
• The Leader: According to a US commercial for the Warriors' Strike Structure Deck, Phoenix Gearfried is the leader of the Gemini monsters. Which isn't hard to believe, with its effect to Special Summon Gemini monsters from the Graveyard.
• Magic Knight: Gilti-Gearfried the Magical Steel Knight, as hinted by its name. While still a Warrior that can attack multiple times in battle and boost its ATK, it can negate any effect that targets it to destroy any card on the field and its ATK boost is done by banishing a Spell from the Graveyard.
• Meaningful Name: Gearfried the Iron Knight is named after his suit of iron armor. Gilti-Gearfried the Magical Steel Knight is a more advanced form of Gearfried and is thus named after steel, a stronger metal that is produced from iron.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Gearfried having a Red-Eyes variant in Gearfried the Red-Eyes Iron Knight is a reference to Joey Wheeler from Yu-Gi-Oh!, who used both Gearfried the Iron Knight as well as Red-Eyes Black Dragon, and is typically associated with both cards.
  • Immortal Phoenix Gearfried has the same title as one of the forms of The Winged Dragon of Ra. In Yu-Gi-Oh!, Joey Wheeler nearly beat Yami Marik, who possessed Ra at the time, in a duel with Gearfried the Iron Knight.
  • Two of Gilti-Gearfried the Magical Steel Knight's abilities are references to cards that Joey used on it in Yu-Gi-Oh! R. Relentless Attacks to make it attack a second time in a row, and Extra Boost to increase its ATK by half its DEF.
• Necromancer:
  • Phoenix Gearfried can Special Summon Gemini monsters from the Graveyard when the opponent activates a Spell Card.
  • Gearfried the Red-Eyes Iron Knight, which can special summon Red-Eyes monsters from the graveyard.
• The Phoenix: Phoenix Gearfried and Immortal Phoenix Gearfried.
• Power Limiter: Jonouchi tells the story of "Gearfried the Swordmaster", in one of his duels. According to his story, the power of "Gearfried" was so great, that merely holding a weapon resulted in the widescale devastation of entire battlefield. Fearful of his own might, he sealed himself in a suit of iron armor to limit his power. This "devastation" effect can been seen in the ability of "Gearfried the Swordmaster" to instantly destroy a monster when equipped, and "limiting his power" can be seen as "Gearfried the Iron Knight" cannot be equipped with any Equip Card.
• Punny Name: Gilti-Gearfried the Magical Steel Knight is a pretty obvious Guilty Gear reference.
• Recurring Element: Equip cards. Nearly every Gearfried card has an effect that explicitly interacts with Equip cards. The two that don't, Lightray Gearfried and Gilti-Gearfried the Magical Steel Knight, can still benefit from them. Lightray has an effect that can be activated whenever a Spell/Trap Card is activated, which can be triggered by activating an Equip card of your own. While not usually useful since it means banishing a Warrior from your graveyard just to negate and destroy the card you activated, some Lightray cards benefit from banishing your own monsters. And Gilti-Gearfried can be targeted with an Equip card, negate the effect, then destroy any card on the field. If that Equip card was a Spell, it can then be banished from the Graveyard to boost Gilti-Gearfried's ATK.
• Single-Stroke Battle: Gearfried the Swordsmaster's effect, which destroys an opponent's monster when it's equipped with a Equip card.

Geargia

Get ready for Machines like you've never seen them before! ...Really cute and tiny!

Geargias are an archetype of super-deformed EARTH Machines. They rely on swarming the field and searching out each other from the deck.

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• Combining Mecha: The Gigant Carrier and Gear Gigant X can combine their gears to form the mighty Geargiagear XG.
• Homage:
  • Geargiganto X resembles the namesake of the series Gurren Lagann. Its chest resembles the "Kamina shades" on Gurren Lagann's chest and its chest and hip areas form a mouth-like shape together, reflecting how the Gunmen such as Gurren Lagann have a face on their front with a mouth. The head on top also looks similarly to a smaller version of the body, like the mini-mecha Lagann is to Gurren.
  • Given the fact the "X" in it's name is pronounced as "cross", this card also pays homage to the Digimon franchise, most notably the "Fusion" era, where the letter X in the name is constantly pronounced as "cross" instead of "eks"; further reference to that note is the fact that this card slightly resembles the Digimon Shoutmon X3, has a similar name and pose, not to mention it's a powerful fighter made out of seemingly harmless components (in this case, a bunch of gears with Geargia monsters).
  • Their boss monsters are also fairly similar to Sentai/Power Rangers Megazords.
• Powered Armor: Their card arts show a series of machines seemingly piloted by Geargiano and Geargiano Mk-II, so it may be that all the "Geargia" monsters are just those two commanding different machines into battle. Naturally, the Xyz monster Gear Gigant X, needing two Machine monsters to summon, shows both of them in the cockpit.
• The Professor: In order to stop Dr. Gearck's conquest of the entire world with the power of the evil gears called the "Warugiano", Professor Kurosu created the Gear Heroes known as the "Geargias"!!!
• Recurring Element: "Geargia" monsters resemble "Gadget" and "Wind-Up" monsters in appearance.
• Signature Team Transport: The Gigant Carrier is a transport vehicle that carries the Gearunits (Geargiaccelerator, Geargiattacker, Geargiarmor, and Geargiarsenal).
• Stone Wall: Geargiarmor has a hefty 1900 DEF, but only 1100 ATK.
• Zerg Rush: "Geargia" monsters focus heavily on searching out each other, swarming the field in the process and summoning their ace card, "Geargiganto X" and other Rank 3 and 4 Xyz Monsters. Each monster has a different effect to search out cards: "Geargiano" Special Summons any Level 4 or lower Machine-Type monster from the Graveyard by tributing itself, meaning that the card can be good to support other archetypes; "Geargiano MK-II" can do the same as "Geargiano", but only with Geargia monsters, however it can also Special Summon the monster from the Hand; "Geargiarmor" search any Geargia from the Deck each time time it is flipped face-up and is a solid wall with 1900 DEF; "Geargiaccel" helps to swarm the field, as it can Special Summon itself from your Hand and has the bonus effect of adding another Geargia from your Graveyard to your Hand when it goes to the Graveyard; "Geargiarsenal" can tribute itself to Special Summon any Geargia from your Deck and also gains 200 ATK for each Geargia you control, even itself.

Generaider

This is why you hear boss music.

The Generaider Bosses, known as Generaid in the OCG, are an archetype comprised mostly of Level 9 monsters with various Types and Attributes, themed as a Norse-mythology-based MMORPG boss raid. Their playstyle revolve around using their field spell, Generaider Boss Stage, to summon their Main Deck monsters straight from the deck if the opponent draws a card, even for the normal draw in the Draw Phase. On the opponent's turn, Boss Stage will fill its side of the field with temporary tokens if a Generaider is summoned from the Deck, intended as Tribute fodder for the Generaiders' Quick Effect disruptions. The effects of the Main Deck Generaider monsters additionally work with their own respective Type in addition to the Generaider archetype, allowing for some degree of external interactions.

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• A Boy and His X: Vala, Seidhr of the Generaider Bosses is depicted astride a younger Jormungandr.
• Anti-Magic:
  • Boss Room is an unusual example in that instead of negating a card or effect, it allows the player to discard a card to instead change the activated effect to one that makes both players draw a card.
  • By tributing two Generaiders and/or Spellcasters, Harr can negate the activation of a card or effect and destroy that card.
• Arch-Enemy: The Generaider bosses appear to be the antagonists of the Runick archetype, given how they are made out to be RPG raid bosses while the Runick cards are designed to resemble a first-person RPG a la The Elder Scrolls.
• Back from the Dead: Hela can Tribute a Zombie or Generaider to summon another Zombie or Generaider from the Graveyard in its stead. This ability is fitting for her as Hela is the Norse Goddess of Death and ruler of Helheim.
• Boss Battle: The entire theme of the Deck is structured around the idea of an RPG "raid", with the Level/Rank 9 Generaiders being the bosses in question to be battled—and befitting the uniqueness of any boss, each Generaider monster has a clause ensuring you can only control one of them at any given time. The Deck's Spell/Trap support is even named after staple terms of raiding, like Quest, Boss Room, and Loot.
• King Mook: Continuing the RPG theme, this may be why the Level 9 Generaiders can work with not only other Generaiders, but also any monster that shares their Type.
• Mook Maker: Their Field Spell, Generaider Boss Stage, lets you fill as much of your field as possible with Generaider Tokens, but they're destroyed when their turn ends. Their main purpose is to serve as tribute fodder for the effects of the Generaider Bosses.
• Necessary Drawback: A lot of Generaider effects, especially the ones released before Eternity Code, give your opponent a free draw when activated. The most obvious example of this is Frodi, Generaider Boss of Swords, who can destroy multiple opponent monsters, at the cost of giving your opponent 1 free draw for every monster it destroys. This cost is mitigated a little since a lot of good Generaider effects require having the opponent drawing cards to be activated, but is still ultimately a drawback that requires careful management to be minimized.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Harr, Generaider Boss of Storms has his face enshrouded in shadow save for his glowing red right eye. His missing left eye is later found installed on Runick Fountain, referencing the Nordic tale of Mímisbrunnr where Odin sacrificed his left eye in exchange for a drink from the well, gaining incredible wisdom.
• Status Buff: The archetype's ace monster—Jormungandr, Generaider Boss of Eternity—always has ATK/DEF that is 1000 times the number of materials attached to it. Its second effect can, once every turn, force each player to not only draw 1 card, but to attach 1 card from their hand or field to it as yet more material. And because it's a Quick Effect, it can be done during anyone's turn.
• Theme Naming:
  • Each of the Level 9 Generaiders is meant to represent one of the Nine Worlds of Norse Mythology.
  • Loptr, Shadow of the Generaider Bosses continues the references to Norse mythology, but is named after a god instead of a world ("Loptr" being another name for "Loki").
• Treacherous Quest Giver: Loptr, Shadow of the Generaider Bosses disguises himself as a masked magician and sends a Featureless Protagonist on a quest to defeat the nine Generaider Bosses by granting them the power to use mystical runes. At the end of the adventure, as the hero is about to claim their ultimate reward, Loptr unveils his true identity and reveals that the real purpose of the adventure was to break the seal on a great stone chest, with Loptr using its contents to transform into Laevateinn, Generaider Boss of Shadows.
• Was Once a Man: Vala is a younger form of Hela.

Ghostrick

Tender lumplings everywhere, Life's no fun without a good scare.

Ghostricks is an archetype of DARK monsters based on deformed Halloween monsters. They rely on flipping themselves and other cards face down and searching out other members from the deck. Their boss monster is the Xyz monster Ghostrick Angel of Mischief.

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• All Love Is Unrequited: The artwork for Ghostrick Break◊ shows that Ghostrick Yeti has a crush on Ghostrick Yuki-onna, who in turn seems to have a crush on Ghostrick Stein. Unfortunately, Yeti is shown being heartbroken by Yuki-onna showing her affections for Stein (she's seen blowing icy hearts on his back), and Stein seems to be either too dim or oblivious to notice Yuki-onna.
• All Your Powers Combined: Ghostrick Ghoul's effect lets you grant one Ghostrick monster the combined ATK of all face-up "Ghostrick" monsters, but only that monster can attack.
• Alucard: Ghostrick Alucard is based on Dracula. This is further supported as this monster's name is "Dracula" spelled backwards.
• The Big Guy: Stein and Mummy. Some of the highest ATK, and physically the largest out of the Ghostricks.
• Bowdlerize:
  • Ghostrick Succubus' name was changed to "Socuteboss" in the English TCG, while her artwork was changed to cover her cleavage, stomach, and upper thighs, turning it from lingerie into pajamas.
  • Ghostrick Datenshi/Spoiled Angel was potentially going to experience this, with her originally going to be changed to the incredibly lame "Dorklord". Fortunately, Konami apparently caught on to how weird the proposed name was going to be, and instead named her "Ghostrick Angel of Mischief".
• Creepy Doll: Ghostrick Doll is based on a Bisque Doll, a doll made mostly or entirely of bisque porcelain and characterized by their highly realistic features and skin-like texture. These dolls were at their most popular in the late 1800's, and are now considered highly valuable among collectors. In addition, due to their eerie wide-eyed stares and historical nature these dolls have recently become pop culture fixtures in horror movies– often related to the ghosts of young girls.
• Cute Monster Girl: All the female Ghostricks: Angel of Mischief, Socuteboss, Mary, Yuki-onna, Doll, Fairy, Witch and Nekomusume.
• Dark Is Not Evil: The reason they entered the Yu-Gi-Oh! fray was because fewer people believed in them and they were lonely, and they seem to be more interested in scaring people than fighting. Their tactics of bypassing their opponent's monsters using their Field Spell supports this.
• Deader than Dead: Skeleton banishes monsters from your opponent's deck face-down for every Ghostrick monster you control.
• The Dividual: The artwork of Ghostrick Festival has every Ghostrick monster up to Battle of Chaos. The festival they are celebrating is Halloween.
• Distaff Counterpart: Ghostrick Yeti might be considered as Ghostrick Yuki-onna's male counterpart as a Yeti is called Yuki-otoko in Japan.
• Expy: Angel of Mischief looks like a chibi Ultimate Madoka in black.
• Fairy Trickster:
  • Ghostrick Fairy is quite the trickster. Her effect allows her to turn monsters face-down, hinting at her mischieviousness.
  • Ghostrick Angel of Mischief. Her instant-win effect, although impractical, can be shocking if pulled off correctly.
• Fallen Angel: Ghostrick Angel of Mischief. She's the strongest of the Ghostrick, and she comes with an alternate win condition. Her Japanese name Datenshi (駄天使) is a pun to Datenshi (堕天使), which is the Japanese name for the Darklord archtype. Both of these names are pronounced identically. The former means Spoiled Angel, the latter means Fallen Angel.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: According to Alucard, Witch is a strong-minded girl, and can't be stopped when she gets angry.
• Hidden in Plain Sight: Ghostrick Skeleton's not an exhibit in the museum himself, but he nonchalantly slips around the other exhibits. Although it seems nobody really notices, since he looks like an ordinary skeleton anyway.
• Instant-Win Condition: Ghostrick Angel of Mischief, who wins you the duel if she's got ten Xyz Materials on her (once per turn you can add one Ghostrick card from your hand to her as an Xyz Material).
• The Klutz: According to Alucard, Kyonshee is in charge of setting up traps, but breaks the furniture at times which results in him getting scolded by Witch.
• Knight in Shining Armor: By day Ghostrick Dullahan masquerades as a suit of antique armor, but at night he shows his true colors as a veteran knight, acting as a leader figure for the other residents of the museum.
• Mirror Monster: Ghostrick Mary, who's based on the Bloody Mary urban legend.
• Not a Morning Person: According to Alucard, he would rather sleep all day than keep an eye on his fellow Ghostrick.
• Our Ghosts Are Different: Ghostrick Specter and Lantern. According to Alucard, "these two love to surprise people who wander into the mansion by suddenly jumping out from the shadows."
• Our Werewolves Are Different: Ghostrick Warwolf is a peculiar Ghostrick who usually lives as an ordinary human and only plays pranks on the nights he transforms into a werewolf. He’s always looking forward to the next night with a full moon.
• Our Zombies Are Different: Alucard, Ghoul, Jiangshi, and Stein are all Zombie-Type monsters, and look far less gruesome than some of the zombies of the game's past.
• Punny Name: Datenshi/Spoiled Angel (Datenshi/Fallen Angel), Warwolf (Werewolf) and Socuteboss (succubus).
• Regional Bonus: While this is usually the case for most TCG or OCG exclusive cards, Ghostricks were the only archtype to have support in TCG territories (Yeti and Ghoul) Korea (Break) and Japan (Angel of Mischief) that didn't appear in the other territories until the Extra Packs in the OCG (Specifically, Knights of Order) and their TCG counterpart, World Superstars were released.
• Sdrawkcab Name: Ghostrick Alucard. Alucard is an ananym of Dracula.
• Sirens Are Mermaids: Ghostrick Siren's design is based off the fusion of a siren and a mermaid, judging by her feathery wings, the talons around her waistline and fish-like lower half.
• Stone Wall: Their strongest attacker has 2000 ATK, and most of them are a lot lower. Because of this, the majority of their cards are focused on defense, blocking attacks and slowing the opponent down while their other cards build towards an alternate win condition.
• That Was Not a Dream: When it seems like Doll or Warwolf have been found out by someone, Socuteboss acts as backup by making them think the encounter was only a dream.
• The Trickster: Their effects revolve around flipping monsters face-down and protecting themselves as long as they are face-down. In effect, they act like pranksters or mischievous spirits: popping out and scaring people, then running away and hiding. Their Ghostrick or Treat trap card emphasizes this. The trick is having an opposing monster flipped face down and their effects negated. The treat is the opponent giving up 2000 lifepoints to avoid the trick.
• Weak, but Skilled: None of them are particularly strong. Even their "boss monster" only has 2000 ATK. They make up for it with amazing effects, ranging from searching for other Ghostrick monsters and supports, flipping monsters faceup or facedown, and even banishing cards from the opponent's deck.

Ghoti

Ghoti is an archetype of Fish Type WATER monsters focused on Synchro Summoning monsters during the opponent's turn to banish their cards, with Ghoti of the Deep Beyond serving as their boss monster.

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• Back from the Dead: Each Ghoti Tuner has an effect that Special Summons themselves after they were banished, with Paces and Shif coming back on each Standby-Phase and Zep Special Summoning itself if it's currently banished during the opponent's turn.
• Celestial Body: All of the Ghoti monsters share a visual theme to varying degrees that incorporate the night sky into their bodies.
• Luring in Prey: Psiics, Moonlight of the Ghoti is seen doing this with an unlucky Paces, using Kiif, Haze of the Ghoti as its lure.
• Meaningful Name: On the surface, one would pronounce the archetype like "goatee" and wonder what it has to do with the whole archetype. The origin of this name, however, hearkens to a letter between two writers in 1855 that creates a word that can be pronounced "fish" to show how unintuitive the English language is.
• Out-of-Turn Interaction: While the archetype as a whole specializes in this, Snopios, Shade of the Ghoti is able to Special Summon itself during either player's Main Phase by banishing 2 fish monsters from the hand and/or grave. Depending on what fish were banished, this could lead to a Synchro Summon before the user's turn even begins.
• Significant Anagram: Each of the members' names, except "Ghoti of the Deep Beyond", is an anagram for a fish-relevant term in various languages.
• Space Is an Ocean: All Ghoti monsters are based on various fish and sea creatures (such as the mythical sea serpent in the case of Ghoti of the Deep Beyond), all possessing a cosmic theme to their appearances, and the archetype's associated Field Spell, The Most Distant, Deepest Depths, looks an awful lot like space.
• Summon Bigger Fish: Quite literally in this case. The archetype's main strategy is Synchro Summoning Fish monsters during the opponent's turn to disrupt their plays.
• Status Buff: Shif is able to banish itself from the grave to increase a fish monster's attack by 500. This also has the benefit of setting Shif up to bring itself back for a Synchro Summon next turn.

Gimmick Puppets

WHAT ARE THESE STRINGS!? It's still DARK... SO DARK!

Gimmick Puppet is an archetype of mechanical toy-like monsters that are used by IV/Quattro in Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL. The monsters and associated cards are geared towards Summoning Level 8 monsters to Xyz Summon their ace monsters, Number 15: Gimmick Puppet Giant Grinder, Number 40: Gimmick Puppet of Strings, and Number 88: Gimmick Puppet of Leo.

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• Action Bomb: Number C88: Gimmick Puppet Disaster Leo's appearance greatly resembles a hand grenade, likely being a reference to it's effect where it gives its owner the win by "exploding" after detaching all its Xyz Materials and your opponent's life points are at 2000 or less.
• Back from the Dead: Many of their abilities revolve around summoning themselves from the GY to the extent that they have several cards built around destroying or discarding themselves from the hand or deck so that they can be special summoned as material for one of their Xyz boss monsters.
• Body Horror: Many of their monsters seemed to have been designed to look as freaky and disturbing as possible... especially their Xyz fodder cards Gimmick Puppet Nightmare and Gimmick Puppet Shadow Feeler.
• Body of Bodies: Several of their monsters appear to be masses of ball-jointed doll parts combined into a nightmarish amalgamation, such as Gigantes Doll, Chimera Doll, Des Troy, and Nightmare.
• Cephalothorax: The appearance of Gimmick Puppet Egg Head has a similar look to the character Humpty Dumpty, a character from the popular English nursery rhyme.
• Chest Blaster: When Number 15: Gimmick Puppet Giant Grinder uses its effect in the anime, it lifts up its arms and then shoots numerous puppet strings from its two palms at an opponent's monster. The monster is then dragged forward to this monster's chest, which opens up and places them into a grinder, before a cannon-like object protrudes from its chest to fire a red-colored energy blast at the opponent.
• Glass Cannon: Most of their top tier Xyz monsters have super powerful destruction abilities and very high ATK but often suffer from low DEF and lack of protection effects. Both Number 40: Gimmick Puppet of Strings and its beefed-up counterpart Number C40: Gimmick Puppet of Dark Strings in particular boast wickedly impressive offensive power and monster removal skills but only have 2000 DEF each to withstand possible retaliation. As a result they can easily be taken out if forced into defense mode by any half decent level 5 or 6 tribute monster or even an upper tier level 4 monster. They did eventually get cards like Bisque Doll (which only lasts until the end of your turn, and as such is primarily for ensuring your monsters land a good hit rather than protecting them from retaliation) and Condolence Puppet to help keep their boss monsters around a bit longer, though.
• Good Counterpart: Number 88: Gimmick Puppet of Leo's ability and appearance are the opposite of Number 15: Gimmick Puppet Giant Grinder and Number 40: Gimmick Puppet of Strings. While most Gimmick Puppets have somewhat disturbing and grotesque appearances, this card looks more righteous and benevolent. Also, unlike Giant Grinder and Strings, this card does not involve destroying monsters or inflicting effect damage. Instead, it revolves around winning through a peaceful method.
• Homage: Gimmick Puppet Nightmare resembles a low corpse count Legion, from the Konami series Castlevania.
• Irony: Note that in its sealed form, Number 15: Gimmick Puppet Giant Grinder represents the only thing it lacks while in its unsealed form: a heart. In fact, its chest is hollow, and it fills it with the monsters destroyed by its effect, as if it was trying to fill that void.
• King of Beasts:
  • Number 88: Gimmick Puppet of Leo being a lion sitting on a throne could mean it is the "king" of the Gimmick Puppets, just like the lion is said to be the king of the jungle.
  • Number C88: Gimmick Puppet Disaster Leo is a winged lion standing atop a pedestal, which like its regular form gives off the vibe of it being the Gimmick Puppets' king.
• Mind Control: Gigantes Doll's effect can be used by the controller to take control of up to two of the opponent's monsters.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: Gigantes Doll is comprised of parts from other Gimmick Puppet monsters.
• Mythology Gag: Servist Puppet shows Number 15: Gimmick Puppet Giant Grinder latching strings onto Tin Archduke and Antidote Nurse, a reference to a scene in the anime where Quattro used Giant Grinder's effect to destroy the latter two Xyz Monsters, winning the duel he had against Bronk Stone and Caswell Francis.
• No-Sell: Number C88: Gimmick Puppet Disaster Leo cannot be targeted with card effects by either player.
• Perverse Puppet: This is their main gimmick. Each of their members looks like a demonic entity fused itself with a child's toy to become the stuff of nightmares.
• Punny Name: Gimmick Puppet Des Troy's name itself appears to be a pun for the word "destroy", which is reflected by its effect.
• Selective Magnetism: Gimmick Puppet Magnet Doll's effect, which implies it uses its magnetism to special summon itself to the field.
• Sinister Scythe: Both Twilight Joker and Gigantes Doll can be seen wielding massive scary scythes in their artwork.
• Trojan Horse: Gimmick Puppet Des Troy is based on the Trojan Horse. Its effect easily reflects this fact as it brings out other Gimmick Puppets to the field, much like how the actual Trojan Horse brought the Greeks behind Troy's walls.
• Uncatty Resemblance: Gimmick Puppet Fantasix Makina and CXyz Gimmick Puppet Fanatix Makina bear a great resemblance to IV/Quattro.
• Why Am I Ticking?: Number 40: Gimmick Puppet of Strings's effect, which places string counters on everyone on the field, even his allies, and causes them to blow up at the end of the next turn. Ranking it up into Number C40: Gimmick Puppet of Dark Strings destroys them instantly.

Gizmek

Gizmek is a series of Machine-Type monsters with varying levels and Attributes based on creatures and figures from Japanese mythology. Their shared quirk is that their monsters have ATK equal to their DEF, with both values ending in 50.

This series was first introduced in Rising Rampage with their first member Gizmek Orochi, the Serpentron Sky Slasher, with one additional member being introduced in each of the next 5 sets. Dawn of Majesty introduced several more Gizmek cards, finally tying the whole series together.

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• Added Alliterative Appeal: All of the initial Gizmek monsters, barring Gizmek Yata, have alliterative titles in their English names.
• Back from the Dead: Gizmek Orochi can revive itself once per turn by banishing the top 8 cards of your Deck face-down.
• Beyond the Impossible: The Gizmeks all have ATK/DEF ending in multiples of 50. But until Gizmek Inaba was introduced, no monster in the game had ATK/DEF of only 50.

Gladiator Beasts

There's no pollice verso awaiting you in this deck.

Gladiator Beasts, known as Gladial Beast in the OCG, are an archetype of mostly Beast-Warrior-Type and Winged-Beast-Type monsters based on, of course, Roman gladiators. Their unified gimmick is that once they've battled, they can return to the deck to summon out another Gladiator Beast in their place, keeping the field changing and usually triggering some effect that activates when a Gladiator Beast is summoned by the effect of another Gladiator Beast. The strongest of them is Gladiator Beast Domitianus. Despite the archetype is introduced in the GX era, they didn't get their anime debut until 2016, where they are played by BB and Sanders in ARC-V.

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• Anti-Magic: Many of their support trap cards negate spells, traps and/or Monster effects. Alexander is immune to Spell cards, Bestiari and Octavius can destroy a spell or trap card, Heraklinos lets you discard cards to negate spell and trap cards and Domitianus can negate monster effects.
• Attack! Attack! Attack!: Gladiator Beasts need to attack something for a tag out. Now, this can work in one of two ways, you either destroy the enemy monster, or you can attack their defensive monsters, usually losing some LP in the way, but can get a tag out to something stronger, or something with an effect to destroy like Murmillo or Bestiari. Having said that, it's also one of their weaknesses. Like Jurrac, a Gladiator Beast deck that can't attack is effectively crippled. Unlike Jurrac, however, Gladiator Beasts have many ways around that problem.
  • Chaos Impact's latest support makes this trope extend to the opponent as well. Gladiator Naumachia's first effect forces every enemy monster to attack if able while you control a Gladiator Beast, and its second effect buffs a Beast's ATK by its own DEF. Then, Gladiator Beast Domitianus lets you choose which of your monsters the opponent attacks—which, given that Domitianus already has 3500 ATK, tends to be a quick decision if both cards are in your control.
• Bat Out of Hell: Nerokius.
• Bears Are Bad News: Andal.
• Cool Horse: Darius
• Double Tap: Dimacari's effect allows him to attack twice during the same Battle Phase.
• Fiendish Fish: Murmillo and Torax.
• Fusion Dance: The archetype's boss monsters are brought out via Contact Fusion.
  • Bestiari + 1 other Gladiator Beast = Gyzarus
  • Laquari + 2 other Gladiator Beasts = Heraklinos
  • Spartacus + 1 other Gladiator Beast = Gaiodiaz
  • Vespasius + 2 other Gladiator Beasts = Domitianus
  • Augustus + 2 other Gladiator Beasts = Andabata
• Gladiator Games: Their main theme. In fact, their home field is called Colosseum - Cage of the Gladiator Beasts
• Killer Gorilla: Essedarii
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: If a monster equipped with Gladiator Beast's Archfiend Shield would be destroyed, it is destroyed instead.
• The Marvelous Deer: Tamer Editor.
• Never Smile at a Crocodile: Retiari, Vespasius and Domitianus.
• Noble Bird of Prey: Bestiari, Gyzarus, Lanista, Octavius, Augustus and Dragases.
• No-Sell: Nerokius can't be destroyed by battle.
• Our Centaurs Are Different: Equeste and Saggitari.
• Panthera Awesome: Lacuari, Heraklinos, Alexander, Tygerius, Noxious, Samnite and Attorix.
• The Smurfette Principle: Attorix is the only female Gladiator Beast.
• Rhino Rampage: Hoplomus.
• Tag Team: They have the ability to tag-out by returning to the deck in exchange for a different Gladiator Beast. The second one that comes in ends up with a special ability it wouldn't have otherwise.
• Theme Naming: Their names are largely based on types of gladiators in the Roman Colosseum (such as Dimacari, Hoplomus, and Secutor), along with names of famous Roman figures (such as Octavius, Spartacus, and Tiberius).

Gold Pride

Gold Pride is an archetype of monsters whose effects largely revolve around swarming the field and the destruction of cards adjacent to them, with the requirement that your life points be lower than your opponent’s.

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• Animal Motifs: Lions for Leon. Both he and his Synchro evolution, Star Leon, have shoulder pads that look like a lion's head—and their shared emblem looks like one as well.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Downplayed. According to Captain Carrie's concept art, she has a "cheerful personality, but she has a cruel side when she overworks her subordinates".
• Bridal Carry: Captain Carrie is carried by Star Leon in Star Leon's artwork. She's shocked by this arrangement.
• Cast From HP: "The Crowd Goes Wild!" gives you the option to Special Summon a Gold Pride monster and deduct its original ATK from your Life Points.
• Cowboy: Leon's concept art explicitly calls his outfit cowboy style, calling attention to his rope, spurs and energy gun. His mechanical horse even gets a section dedicated to it in his concept art.
• Energy Weapon: Captain Carrie carries around a snail/spiral-shell laser gun, which she uses whenever she fights.
• Fish People: In her artwork, Captain Carrie is described as "Interspecies (fish + alien)". She's essentially a humanoid fish alien girl. Her key traits include anemone hair, a fish-fin/anemone-like coat, fin-shaped ears, a fish-like tail, and webbed feet.
• Jolly Roger: Carrie's emblem—a pair of crossed, heart-shaped fishbones—resembles one of these, in keeping with her nautical theme.
• Herd-Hitting Attack: Both Nytro Head and its Link evolution, Nytro Blaster, can target and destroy an enemy monster, along with anything in that monster's adjacent Monster Zones and Spell & Trap Zones.
• Hook Hand: Captain Carrie's hook hand is based on a brain coral and a snake eel, continuing her aquatic theming.
• Mook Maker: Nytro Head can Special Summon a Nytro Token to your opponent's field to use as fodder for its effect.
• Playing with Fire: Nytro Blaster is a being made out of fire. Nytro Head is the same being piloting a futuristic vehicle while holding back.
• Pirate Girl: Captain Carrie is based around this aesthetic. According to her concept art, she has a tendency of overworking her crew of fishmen aliens, who man her ship via manual labor. Said crew also assists her in the artwork for Chariot Carrie, Captain Carrie's Xyz form.
• Power Armor: Star Leon is described as a power armor for Leon created from his mechanical horse.
• Shout-Out: The archetype is loosely inspired by REDLINE.
• Sphere Factor: Roller Baller and Roller Baller's Fusion upgrade Pin Baller specialize in riding on spheres as their mode of transportation. Sadly, this doesn't cut the mustard in the Gold Pride races as Roller Baller has lost in the artwork of Better Luck Next Time!
• Status Buff:
  • If Captain Carrie is sent to the Graveyard, her effect can banish up to three Gold Pride cards from your Graveyard, and then make an Extra Deck Gold Pride monster 500 ATK stronger for each banished card.
  • Star Leon is able to gain ATK equal to an enemy monster's original ATK.

Gorgonic

Gorgonic Guardian.

The Gorgonic archetype consists of DARK Rock-Type monsters that focus mostly on Rank 3 Xyz Summoning. They're themed after gargoyles and other monstrous statues, their main form of offense being reducing enemy monsters' ATK to 0. They share similarities theme-wise an playability wise with the Reptillianne archetype. In ZEXAL, this archetype was used by Vector in his human past life.

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• Anti-Magic: Gorgonic Golem's second effect can seal temporarily an opponent's spell or trap card.
• Dark Is Evil: They are DARK monsters and used by human Vector and to a lesser extent Abyss when he dueled Shark through his sister.
• Gorgeous Gorgon: Averted. Unlike some of the cuter Reptillianne cards, Gorgonic Guardian is terrifyingly hideous. And its eyes have mismatched colors.
• Our Ghouls Are Different: Gorgonic Ghoul, the only Level 1 monster of this archetype. Its effect is to spam copies of itself.
• Snake People: Gorgonic Guardian is based off Gorgons / Medusa, Golem has a Cobra-themed helmet, Gargoyle is a rock snake.
• Snakes Are Sinister: Gorgonic Gargoyle is serpentine and creepy-looking.
• Taken for Granite: Gorgonic Guardian's effect in the anime shows it turning monsters to stone. Fitting for a Gorgon.

Gouki

Ikari no Gouki Liger!

The Gouki are a group of EARTH Warrior-Type monsters with 0 DEF focusing on swarm and beatdown tactics. Their Main Deck monsters are named after animals and various wrestling maneuvers, while their Link Monsters are all named after ogres. They are used by Go Onizuka in Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS.

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• Animal-Themed Superbeing: The main deck Gouki monsters are each themed after an animal.
• Glass Cannon: The Main Deck monsters, as previously stated, have 0 DEF.
• Go Through Me: Octostretch can discard itself to cut any one instance of battle or effect damage in half.
• Let's You and Him Fight: Destroy Ogre's effect allows the opponent to Special Summon up to 2 monsters from their Graveyard, and then for you to Special Summon the same number of non-Link Goukis from your Graveyard to any of your zones Destroy Ogre points to.
• Power Nullifier: The Master Ogre can return any Gouki monsters it points to back to the hand, and negate the effects of an equal number of the opponent's monsters.
• Status Buff: Thunder Ogre can gain 400 ATK if a monster that any of its three Link Markers point to is destroyed.
  • Jet Ogre can power up every Gouki monster on the field by 500 ATK for one turn if it's sent from there to the Graveyard. Being a LINK–2 monster, this can help with setting up for Summoning the archetype's bigger Link Monsters.
  • Twistcobra and Headbatt can each use their effects to strengthen a Gouki monster's ATK; Twistcobra allows the player to tribute a Gouki monster to have another one gain its ATK for the turn, while Headbatt can discard another Gouki monster to Special Summon itself from the hand and then to have a Gouki on the field gain 800 ATK.
• Status Infliction Attack:
  • The Great Ogre causes all monsters on the field to lose ATK equal to their original DEF. As each Gouki has 0 DEF (The Great Ogre, being a Link Monster, is automatically assumed to have no DEF at all) this almost always plays out in their favor—almost, as other Link Monsters on the field will not be affected by this effect for the same reasons.
  • Hugbear can cut an opposing monster's ATK in half if it's either Normal Summoned or Special Summoned by a Gouki card's effect.
• Theme Naming: The main deck Gouki monsters are named after wrestling moves.
• We Have Reserves: Sort of. The Main Deck Goukis can each add a different Gouki from your Deck to your hand if they're sent from the field to the GY. This allows the player to maintain hand advantage even while Summoning the archetype's otherwise resource-intensive Link Monsters.

Goyo

Mr. Steal yo' cards.

Goyos are a series of EARTH Warrior-Type monsters with the ability to take control of the monsters they destroy. They are used by Tetsu Ushio/Trudge in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds and by members of the Security in Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V.

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• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Goyo King and Emperor are the two strongest cards in the series at 2800 and 3300 ATK respectively and having the most potent capturing effects.
• Breath Weapon: In the anime, Goyo Emperor attacks with a fire breath since he doesn't use any weapons like the others.
• Defeat Means Friendship: As stated above, the Goyo monsters (barring Goyo Defender) have an effect that allows their user to take control of monsters they destroy in battle. However, this ability is depicted in the anime as holding the defeated monster captive. Goyo King takes it further by being able to choose to take control of either the opposing monsters he destroys or ones still on the field. Goyo Emperor goes even further than that by being able to take control of monsters the opponent Special Summons by tributing an EARTH Warrior-Type Synchro Monster and allows captured opposing monsters to take control of monsters they destroy, but has the rather risky drawback of returning all captured monsters to their owner when he leaves the field.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: Goyo Guardian can only be Synchro Summoned with an EARTH Tuner, yet Ushio was able to summon him in his third duel against Yusei using the DARK Tuner, Torapart. Zig-zagged in that Goyo Guardian initially was able to be summoned using a Tuner of any Attribute, until his Effect that got him put on the banlist in the early 5D's era led to him being errata'd in the OCG and TCG to specifically require one that was EARTH when he eventually got off.
• Kabuki Theatre: One half of their inspiration is taken from kabuki actors while the other is from Edo period Japanese police officers.
• Status Buff:
  • Goyo Defender gains 1000 ATK for each other EARTH Warrior-Type Synchro Monster you control if he's targeted for an attack.
  • Goyo Chaser gains 300 ATK for each other EARTH Warrior-Type Synchro Monster on the field.
  • Goyo King gains 400 ATK for each EARTH Warrior-Type Synchro Monster you control when he declares an attack on a monster.
• Weak, but Skilled: Goyo Defender may only be a Level 3 Synchro Monster with 1000 ATK and DEF and can't take control of destroyed monsters like the others, but his effects are quite useful as he can summon copies of himself from the Extra Deck and increase his ATK whenever he's attacked.

Gravekeeper's

Your graveyard is sacred. Don't go defiling it.

The Gravekeeper's are a series of DARK Spellcasters themed after Egyptian guards and priests. They have various effects that allow them to search out other members and swarm the field, and limit the opponent's field. Central to them is their Field Spell Necrovalley, which locks down all cards that would try to banish, revive or recycle cards in the Graveyard.

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• All Your Powers Combined: All three Egyptian Gods appear in Oracle's artwork, inscribed on the tablet behind this monster in this card's artwork, as well as glowing in their respective colors. Oracle's effects are variations of the signature effects of the Egyptian Gods. Saniwa is also the same Level as the Egyptian Gods.
• Ancient Egypt: Their main theme and homeland, Necrovalley, is based off this.
• Authority Equals Asskicking:
  • Gravekeeper's Visionary. He even powers up when his fellow Gravekeepers are in the Graveyard.
  • Also, Gravekeeper's Oracle, who even taps into the power of the Egyptian God Cards, as indicated by his artwork and effects.
• Back from the Dead: Gravekeeper's Chief's effect revives another Gravekeeper's monster from your Graveyard.
  • After being used as a Human Sacrifice, Gravekeeper's Assailant comes back in ghostly form as Night Assailant.
  • Gravekeeper's Headman can bring back a level 4 or lower Gravekeeper with his effect. It's also unaffected by Necrovalley.
• Cameo Cluster: The Gravekeeper's theme deck has collected a fair handful of Continuity Cameos from the original series cast whose originals were closely tied to the Ancient Egypt lore.
  • Several latter-day Gravekeeper's cards use modified designs of the Ishtar family, who featured in the Battle City arc. Gravekeeper's Descendant is Marik with short blonde hair, Gravekeeper's Priestess is Ishizu with a helmet and One-Way Visor, Gravekeeper's Recruiter is a completely bald Odion, and Gravekeeper's Visionary has Mr. Ishtar's beard beneath his Anubis mask.
  • "Legacy of the Valiant" introduced Gravekeeper's Heretic, an adaptation of Thief King Bakura, the Predecessor Villain from the Dawn of the Duel arc.
  • Gravekeeper's Headman, released in "Soul Fusion", boasts a turban that nods to Shadi, the wielder of the Millennium Scales.
  • Ishizu herself appears in Gravekeeper's Trap, and in the Speed Duel card game, Ishizu gets another dedicated card called Gravekeeper's Lot.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Despite being featured in a couple of cards when the Gravekeeper theme first kicked off, Cobraman Sakuzy and any references to him completely vanished from the card game in later expansions, most likely due to not being useful at all in any deck and being an ill-fit for the theme.
• Dark Is Not Evil: They may use the dark arts. However, they use them to protect the Pharaoh and his resting place.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: Gravekeeper's Nobleman. Had it not been for his English TCG name, you'd be confused as to what his true gender is.
• Highly Specific Counterplay: Gravekeeper's is a Metagame-conscious archetype built around subverting graveyard strategies, especially through use of Necrovalley, which prevents cards from leaving the graveyard and prevents them from having their type or attribute changed.
• Human Sacrifice: Gravekeeper's Assailant is shown being used as one in the artwork of Royal Tribute.
• Power Nullifier: Necrovalley passively negates any effects that would move cards out of the Graveyard or edit properties of cards in the Graveyard, and prevents players from banishing from the Graveyard.
• Obvious Rule Patch:
  • Necrovalley has gone through an extensive number of errata to clarify what can or can't happen under its effects.
  • Since Necrovalley stops cards from leaving either player's Graveyard, their support cards that retrieve their resources explicitly are written to be unaffected by Necrovalley.
• Recurring Element:
  • Gravekeeper's Priestess and the "Maiden of the Aqua" have a similar, yet different pseudo-field spell card effect. They also both have "priestess" in their Japanese names.
  • Gravekeeper's Recruiter is the Gravekeeper's counterpart of Witch of the Black Forest, Goblin Zombie, XX-Saber Darksoul, Botanical Girl, and Sangan.
• Samus Is a Girl: The artwork of Gravekeeper's Assailant gives no indications of gender, due to her figure-concealing cloak. However, the Assailant is revealed to be female in the anime. Furthermore, Assailant is shown being sacrificed in the artwork of Royal Tribute, which very distinctly depicts her as female; however, it took a while for the figure in Royal Tribute to be confirmed as Gravekeeper's Assailant.
• Shout-Out: The three Egyptian God Cards can be seen the artwork for Gravekeeper's Oracle's card, inscribed on the tablet behind him.
• Spell My Name With An S: The archetype is officially referred to as "Gravekeeper's" rather than simply "Gravekeeper," though most players usually just stick to the latter.
• Super-Toughness: Gravekeeper's Shaman, whose DEF increases based on the Gravekeepers in the graveyard.
• Token Evil Teammate: Gravekeeper's Heretic, probably, assuming he's even an ally of the others at all, seeing as he's a heretic, and he resembles Thief King Bakura from the anime.
• Turn Out Like His Father: Gravekeeper's Descendant is a Continuity Cameo of Marik Ishtar, and Gravekeeper's Visionary is one of his abusive father... but Gravekeeper's Oracle, the adult form of the Descendant, wears his bangs and beard in a similar style to Mr. Ishtar, which subtly implies the trope.
• Uniformity Exception: Many cards in the Gravekeeper's archetype have effects that involve interactions with either Necrovalley or other Gravekeeper's cards—Gravekeeper's Heretic, on the other hand, is completely immune to card effects (if Necrovalley is on the field), so it can't be so targeted by other Gravekeeper's cards.

Graydle

The boss monster, Graydle Dragon.

Graydles are an archetype of WATER Aqua-Type monsters whose effects revolve around destroying themselves to activate their effects and taking control of the opponent's monsters.

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• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The color of the three non-Tuner Graydles is the same as the type of card they need to be destroyed by in order to use their effect.
• Death-Activated Superpower: With the exception of Slime, all Graydles have an effect that activates when they are destroyed.
• Dub Name Change: The Italian name for Graydle is Reticulliano, which is based on the star Zeta Reticuli. Zeta Reticuli is known among ufologists because of the Barney and Betty Hill case.
• Fusion Dance: As shown by its artwork, Graydle Dragon is the combination of all four Graydles: Its head is that of Alligator, it has the arms and wings of Slime and Eagle respectively and Cobra serves as its tail. Despite this, it's a Synchro Monster instead of a Fusion Monster.
• The Greys: The Graydles' natural form. Graydle Slime is a slime-like Grey alien. They are also depicted like this in the artwork for Graydle Impact.
• Homage: The cards in this archetype follow the plot of The Thing (1982) event by event: In "Graydle Impact", an alien spaceship crash lands on a foreign planet. Its sole survivor is a blob-like monster that starts parasiting local creatures, assimilating them and assuming their form ("Graydle Parasite"). It gets discovered and is attacked ("Graydle Combat"), but parts of its body detach and morph into clones ("Graydle Split"). Finally, one of said clones mutates into a monstrous amalgamation of every previous host ("Graydle Dragon").
• Puppeteer Parasite: Fitting the archetype's "parasite" theme, the "possessed" Graydle monsters consist of equipping themselves to opponent monsters when destroyed by specific means and taking control of them.
• Transformation of the Possessed: Krocodilus is forcibly transformed into Graydle Crocodile in the artwork for Graydle Parasite.
• Two Beings, One Body: Graydle Dragon appears to be a physical amalgamation of body parts from other Graydle monsters, including the head of Graydle Alligator, the wings of Graydle Eagle and the arms and torso of Graydle Slime. It also has Graydle Cobra as a tail.

Guardians

Guardian Eatos

Guardians are just this side of Archfiend for being more of a recurring theme than an archetype, and even then, many Guardian monsters are just monsters that happen to have the word in their name.

The original archetype covered in this folder is a series of five monsters bound to an Equip Card bearing their name and could not be called unless that Equip Card was on the field. Their boss monsters are Guardian Eatos and Guardian Dreadscythe, and they were all used by Rafael in the Duel Monsters anime.

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• Anti-Magic: Kay'est's effect, which shows that she is a master of the arcane arts.
• Back from the Dead:
  • Tryce's effect, which is basically him sacrificing his life to bring back a fellow Guardian.
  • Elma's effect, because a Guardian's life is connected to their weapons.
• Bonus Feature Failure: Celestial Sword - Eatos is meant to be used with Guardian Eatos' effect where she can gain an additional ATK-boost with each banished monster. But due to the card's wording, using said effect will cause the Equip card to miss the timing, rendering the card unable to activate.
• Demonic Possession: Baou did this to Dai Grepher and turned him into Dark Lucius. This possession happened because Dai Grepher didn't realize that the weapon contained the true spirit of Baou.
• Good Wings, Evil Wings: Guardian Eatos has a pair of white angel wings, but when affected by The Seal of Orichalcos, they turn black. Guardian Dreadscythe gets evil-looking black wings by default.
• Guardian Entity: Guardian Eatos, as well as the other Guardian cards, were this for Rafael, at least after the storm that killed his family.
• Implacable Man: Dreadscythe is literally implacable, it cannot leave the field if you draw enough cards. It will just keep hacking and slashing.
• Irony: The anime version of Guardian Eatos could only use Celestial Sword - Eatos for its effect, and the real-life version of the Celestial Sword has an added ATK-boosting effect for Guardian Eatos if it is sent to the Graveyard. The problem: this effect misses the timing if it is used for Guardian Eatos's effect, meaning that doing so is relatively ineffective.
• Monster from Beyond the Veil: Guardian Dreadscythe can be Special Summoned if Guardian Eatos is destroyed, symbolizing her "resurrection" as a relentless, demonic killing machine.
• Our Demons Are Different: Guardian Dreadscythe, a darker, demonic version of Guardian Eatos wearing a mask. It's big, intimidating, almost impossible to defeat, and by the look in its eye, it takes pleasure in destroying its enemies...
• Power at a Price:
  • The arrows of Ceal's Shooting Star Bow can pierce through the enemies' line of defense and attack your opponent directly, but it reduces the user's ATK.
  • Tryce's set of Twin Swords of Flashing Light promotes the wielder's agility, at the expense of a bit of attacking strength.
• Sword Sparks: In case of literal spark, seen in the artwork of Tryce.
• Weapon-Based Characterization: In fact, most of them cannot be summoned properly without their weapons on the field.
  • Axes: Grarl's Gravity Axe. It has the power to control gravity, stunning the enemies to avoid them from changing their battle position.
  • Annoying Arrows: Ceal's Shooting Star Bow. The arrows are able to break through the enemies' defensive line to attack the leader directly.
  • BFS: Baou's Wicked-Breaking Flamberge. It disabled the victim's ability that activates upon death, disabling it to use abilities such as suicide explosions and stuff.
  • Boom Stick: Kay'est's Rod of Silence. It disables the enemies' magical powers that targets the wielder.
  • Dual Wielding: Tryce's Twin Swords of Flashing Light. It promotes agility, enabling the wielder to make additional attacks toward the enemies.
  • Sinister Scythe: Dreadscythe's Reaper Scythe. It gains more strength the more the wielder slays enemies in the battle, and can only be held by Dreadscythe herself.
  • Sword Almighty: Eatos' Celestial Sword. If the English name isn't enough, in Japan it is called Holy Sword of the Goddess.

Gun Dragon

Ask yourself one question: "Do I feel lucky?" Well, do you, punk?

Gun Dragons are a series of DARK Machine monsters with appearances based on dragons. Their gimmick is that they can flip coins, and if you get enough heads, you can destroy cards on the field. The strongest of them is the Fusion monster Gatling Dragon.

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• Arms and Armor Theme Naming: "Blowback Dragon", "Fusilier Dragon, the Dual-Mode Beast", "Twin-Barrel Dragon", "Barrel Dragon", and "Gatling Dragon" are a family of DARK/Machine monsters, who share names that consist of firearm-related terms and the word "dragon".
• Family-Friendly Firearms: "Barrel Dragon's" artwork is one of the more extreme edits that isn't just a complete redrawing. His three revolvers have been edited to look more like laser guns, effectively equipping him with a "laser discharge system". Special effects have been added to emphasize this point, resulting in the edit looking much brighter than the original. In the anime, the edit has probably been done to make it more suitable for children and this is the reason why the "russian roulette" process is completely omitted in episode 32. In addition, Barrel Dragon's Secret Art card was changed from Gun Cannon Shot to Proton Blast.
• Gatling Good: The appropriately-named Gatling Dragon, boasting an effect that lets it mow down multiple monsters if you get lucky with the coin toss.
• Luck-Based Mission: All of them bar Fusilier Dragon require multiple coin flips to use their effects: Twin-Barrel Dragon requires two heads to destroy a card, while Gatling Dragon and Desperado Barrel Dragon can destroy up to three monsters depending on the number of heads you get. While Blowback Dragon and Barrel Dragon require three flips to determine whether they destroy a card, it's functionally the same as tossing only one coin, as getting two heads on three coin tosses is still just a 50% chance.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: They're robot dragons with gun heads.
• Russian Roulette: Barrel Dragon's effect and appearance, in the original Japanese artwork, are meant to reference the game Russian roulette. In the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga, Katsuya Jonouchi explicitly makes the connection (fittingly, the one that played the card, Keith Howard, claims to have played "real" Russian roulette at least once, during his slump after losing to Pegasus J. Crawford.
• Revolvers Are Just Better: The Barrel Dragon is a giant mechanical dragon made from three enormous revolvers\that are loaded with three bullets each, and play Russian Roulette pointed at the enemy monsters.

Gunkan

Tasty & Deadly indeed.

Gunkan (軍貫, lit. "Suship") is an archetype of FIRE Aqua monsters themed from sushi and battleships. Their playstyle revolves around a Level 4 Normal Monster, "Gunkan Suship Shari", and Level 4/5 monsters whose effects can be activated if Gunkan Suship Shari is in the hand, on the field, or present as an Xyz Material beneath an Xyz Monster. Their boss monsters are a collection of Rank 4 and 5 Xyz monsters that can activate effects if they were summoned using their Main Deck counterparts.

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• Compassionate Critic: The vanilla text of Shari is essentially a food review parody. The critic who writes the review compliments the preparation and ingredients, and is even excited for the future ingredient. However, he docks points for the "noisy" seas and gives it 4 stars and hopes for future improvements.
• Cool Boat: There's nothing cooler than huge battleships themed after sushi sailing off to war.
• Edible Theme Naming: All the monster Gunkans are named after the different kinds of sushi rolls, and the spell and trap cards derived from terms from sushi shops.
• Foreshadowing: Gunkan Suship Shari's Flavor Text has the food critic mentioning that the owner told him that they plan to introduce EDO-FRONT red vinegar in the future. This was followed by the introduction of Gunkan Suship Shari Red, which is based on aka-shari, or sushi rice treated with red vinegar.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: "Gunkan Suship Catch-of-the-Day" mimics ordering at a sushi restaurant, with the player as the "chef" and the opponent the "customer". You reveal your Gunkan Xyz Monster as a "recommendation" in its main effect, but the opponent's choice of Gunkan monster that goes to your hand doesn't have to be on the Xyz Monster you recommended. Opponents who are unfamiliar with the archetype would generally go with the recommendation, but those who already know what they want can deviate from your recommendation. And you force the opponent to pay up for each order made (from their LP) if they destroy the spell.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: The vanilla text of Shari mentions about a red vinegar coming in the future. Sure enough, Shari Red would be released in a later booster pack.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: Gunkan Suship Shari Red is distinct for being the first monster in the game that possesses an effect that allows it to be treated as being another monster's name while in the Deck. This uniquely allows you to play it alongside the original Gunkan Suship Shari without running into the "3 names per deck" limit while allowing you to effectively have 6 cards in your deck that have the name "Gunkan Suship Shari". This also enables unique interactions with a select few cards, such as the card "Painful Decision" which mills a Normal Monster from your Deck to search a monster with the same name.
• Power Nullifier: Gunkan Suship Uni-class Super Dreadnought has a soft once-per-turn effect during your Main Phase or your opponent's Battle Phase to target and negate face-up cards your opponent controls up to the number of Gunkan Suship monsters you control that were Special Summoned from the Extra Deck. This negate is also permanent, unlike most negates in the game.
• Punny Name: "Sour Scheduling - Red Vinegar Vamoose" is named akazu no fumikiri in Japanese, which is a Japanese idiom that describes a railroad crossing so busy that it is impossible to pass. In this case the word akazu has been swapped out for a homonym that means "red vinegar", referencing the EDO-FRONT red vinegar mentioned in Gunkan Suship Shari's text.
• Visual Pun: The Gunkan are based on the "Gunkan" sushi, meaning "Warship". Their card art depicts them as huge sushi ships being assembled in ports, with the Gunkan Suships being actual battleships made out of sushi materials.
• World of Pun: This archetype's entire theme revolves around puns in both Japanese, English and the card game's mechanics.
  • Aside from the above name puns, various buffet lines that offer sushi would typically display samples of their product in "sushi boats", elaborate plates that are designed like various sea vessels.
  • The act of Xyz summoning involves stacking the materials and the summoned monster on top of each other, much like how sushi chefs would stack the various cuts of fish on top a mound of rice and seaweed.

Harpie

Generally what you want your field to look like when playing them.

The Harpies are an archetype of WIND, low-level Winged-Beast monsters taking the form of winged bird-women. They rely on overwhelming enemies with a combination of field control and swarm power. In the anime they are used by Mai Kujaku/Valentine, though the support that made them a viable deck theme would not come until years after the original anime ended.

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• Amazon Brigade: The Harpie Lady Sisters become this after Mai uses the Spell Card Elegant Egotist.
• The Artifact: All the Harpie Ladies are treated as "Harpie Lady" while on the field of in the Graveyard, so as to get support from cards that work with "Harpie Lady" and get over the rule that you can only have up to three copies of a card in a deck. This was one of the game's first attempts at making an archetype and wasn't too practical. Nevertheless, they retained this effect rather than simply getting their cards errata'd to support "Harpie" Winged-Beasts (although they did eventually get those as well).
• Badass Decay: invoked Harpie's Pet Baby Dragon is a lot stronger than the adult form due to a variety of effects its possesses.
• Black Bra and Panties: Harpie Dancer's outfit in her original artwork is basically this with a pair of matching leggings and not much else.
• Bowdlerise: The Japanese artwork for all the Harpies has straps over their breasts, which are rather large, and nothing else covering their torsos. The English art covers them up entirely. Oddly enough, the initial releases of the original Harpie Lady and Harpie Girl cards didn't cover them up at all; the edits were only introduced in later releases. Funnily enough, A Harpie Lady duel spirit is depicted as covered up in the Japanese version of episode 120 of ''Anime/YuGiOhGX''◊
  • This trope is averted with the steady re-release of Harpie cards uncensored in limited quantities.
• Combination Attack: Triangle Ecstasy Spark. In the anime they get Phoenix Formation and Sparrow Formation
• Cute Monster Girl: An entire archetype of Winged Humanoids with talons, claws, wings, and extremely shapely bodies with little covering them up.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Harpies were an archetype since before the concept of archetypes existed, with a number of cards focused specifically on supporting Harpie Lady. As such, they're one of the few archetypes whose members usually have a clause stating that their names are treated as one specific card, in order to let them benefit from that support.
• Harping on About Harpies: They share the bird-woman concept with mythology and the originals came in a set of three (as often seen in the myths).
• Homage: "Harpie's Pet Dragon" may be "The Dragon who never sleeps", that Medea summoned to protect the "Golden Fleece" in Greek Mythology. In the Myth of Jason and the Argonauts, Jason had to fight against the Harpies and this Dragon to obtain the Golden Fleece.
• Ms. Fanservice: Much like their owner in the anime. Once again — shapely bodies, little covering them up.
• Sensual Spandex: In the TCG, their very revealing outfits were originally bowdlerised into skin-tight bodysuits. Not that the new look leaves much more to the imagination.
• Spell My Name With An S: The mythical creatures they're based on are generally spelled as "harpy". The Viz release of the manga spells them that way anyway.
• Stone Wall: When Harpie's Pet Phantasmal Dragon is on the field, your opponent cannot target other Harpie monsters you control with an attack or card effect.
• Stripperiffic: In the OCG, where they are half naked.
• Vocal Evolution: The Harpie Ladies had screeching, echoing voices during Duelist Kingdom. In Legendary Heroes, Harpie Lady kept the screech but sounded like a woman. In GX, a Harpie Lady duel spirit sounds like a young girl.
• Zerg Rush: They can swarm the field surprisingly fast, but aside from Harpie Queen and the boosts from Harpie Lady 1, they aren't very strong. One of their Trap Cards, Hysteric Party, allows the summoning of five of them at once from the Graveyard.

Hazy Flame

What is something you can show, but can't see?

Hazy Flame, called Haze Beast in the OCG, are a series of FIRE monsters based on mythical creatures. They're all Level 6 and rely on swarming the field, fortunately having two support cards that allow them to be summoned from the hand without tribute. They combine to Xyz summon their strongest member, Hazy Flame Basiltrice, who grows stronger the more of them combine to summon it.

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• Anti-Magic: Of a sort. Most Hazy Flames share the effect that your opponent cannot target them with card effects, rendering a lot of cards unable to affect them.
• Basilisk and Cockatrice: Basilitrice is a Portmanteau of Basilisk and Cockatrice, and design-wise resembles a Fusion Dance of both.
• Big Damn Heroes: If your opponent controls a monster and you have no non-FIRE monsters on your side of the field or in your Graveyard, you can Special Summon Haze Beast Griffin (from your hand).
• Hellhound: Hazy Flame Cerbereus. You can Normal Summon this card without Tributing, but its original ATK becomes 1000. This face-up card cannot be targeted by your opponent's card effects. When this card is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard: You can add 1 "Haze" card from your Deck to your hand.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: Hazy Flame Mantikor, called Haze Beast Mecoleos in the OCG, takes inspiration from two mythological lion-based animal mixtures, the scorpion-tailed, bat-winged, human-faced, lion-bodied manticore, and the lion-headed, ant-bodied Myrmecoleon.
• Noble Bird of Prey: Hazy Flame Basilitrice. If you can manage to bust it out with 5 materials, you have a 3500-ATK monster that cannot be destroyed by card effects, cannot be targeted by your opponent, and can sacrifice its immunity to destruction to banish an opponent's monster. As described above there are loopholes to bring it down, but if your opponent isn't able to exploit one of them soon, it is going to create a lot of trouble.
• No-Sell: Basiltrice can't be destroyed by card effects with enough materials.
• Our Gryphons Are Different:
  • Hazy Flame Griffin named after the legendary creature Griffin.
  • Hazy Flame Hyppogrif is based on the hippogriff.
• Recurring Element: Hazy Flame Griffins's effect is a FIRE counterpart to Cyber Dragon's effect.
• Riddling Sphinx: Hazy Flame Spinx. In fact, her effect is reminiscent of the effect of "Ordeal of a Traveler".
• Status Buff: Once per turn: You can Tribute 1 FIRE monster you control; Haze Beast Hipogrifo gains 300 ATK.
• Theme Naming: The "Hazy Flame" monsters are named after mythological creatures.
• Vertebrate with Extra Limbs: Hazy Flame Peryton. The peryton is a fictional animal combining the physical features of a stag and a bird, presumably originating in Jorge Luis Borges' Book of Imaginary Beings, although he refers to a lost medieval manuscript as a source.
• Zerg Rush: The archetype focuses around rapid and easy Summoning of Level 6 monsters to bring out any Rank 6 Xyz Monster, especially "Hazy Flame Basilicock", who can be Xyz Summoned with up to 5 Level 6 FIRE monsters, with different effects based on the number of attached Xyz Materials. Their "Haze" support cards, have the common ability to Normal Summon "Hazy Flame" monsters with one less Tribute, and in their case, without any Tributes, thus creating even more consistence.

Helios

Helios Trice Megistus

The Helios series consists of a trio of LIGHT Pyro-Type monsters whose effects revolve around them recieving power boosts by piling up banished monsters and resurrecting themselves from the graveyard after being destroyed by battle. They are used by Daitokuji Sensei/Professor Lyman Banner in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

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• Actually Four Mooks: Helios Trice Megistus consists of three monsters.
• Back from the Dead: Helios Duo and Trice Megistus can be Special Summoned from the graveyard during the end phase if they are destroyed by battle. They also receive extra ATK and DEF every time they come back. Weirdly, this does not play well with their dedicated support card, "Macro Cosmos", which banishes all monsters that would be sent to the Graveyard, preventing them from coming back if they are removed while under the effects of their own Trap Card. In Speed Duel, Amnael's Skill "Setting Sun" fixes this issue by preventing "Helios" monsters from being banished.
• Came Back Strong: Their secondary gimmick is receiving ATK and DEF boosts upon reviving themselves from the Graveyard after being destroyed by battle, although only Duo and Trice are capable of it.
• The Face of the Sun: Technically. Although they don't have faces, all of the the Helios monsters have suns for heads.
• Magikarp Power: The series starts with Helios – The Primordial Sun as the weakest member, who can be tributed to Special Summon the stronger Level 6 Helios Duo Megistus, who can also be tributed to bring out the strongest Level 8 Helios Trice Megistus.
• Status Buff:
  • Helios – The Primordial Sun's ATK and DEF is equal to the number of banished monsters x 100.
  • Helios Duo Megistus' ATK and DEF is equal to the number of banished monsters x 200. It can also gain 300 ATK and DEF when Special Summoned during the end phase after being destroyed by battle and sent to the graveyard.
  • Helios Trice Megistus' ATK and DEF is equal to the number of banished monsters x 300. It can also gain 500 ATK and DEF when Special Summoned during the end phase after being destroyed by battle and sent to the graveyard.
• Super-Deformed: Inexplicably, while the original "Helios - The Primordial Sun" looks like a standard humanoid figure with a sun for a head, its more powerful counterparts "Helios Duo Megistus" and "Helios Trice Megistus" have puny chibi bodies and much bigger sun heads.

Herald

The Herald cards, also known as Declarer in the OCG, are an archetype of LIGHT Fairy-Type monsters focusing on negating card effects (with a shared cost of discarding a Fairy monster), and a secondary focus on Ritual Summoning. Their main deck members include three Level 2 colored Heralds, who are hand traps that can negate the activation of one specific type of card.

They have a few extra deck monsters with negations, but their key boss monsters are the two Ritual Monsters, Herald of Perfection and Ultimateness, who have non-once-per-turn all-negating effects, able to shut down all gameplay as long as they have enough discard fodder. Light Tsukiko uses a Timelord/Herald hybrid deck as her first deck in the Yu-Gi-Oh OCG Structure Manga.

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• Anti-Magic: They are focused on negating card effects.
• Colour-Coded for Your Convenience:
  • The Herald of Orange Light can negate effects of Effect Monsters.
  • The Herald of Green Light can negate effects of Spell Cards.
  • The Herald of Purple Light can negate effects of Trap Cards.
• Fusion Dance: Even though they are Ritual Monsters, the Ritual Heralds look like a combination of other Heralds.
  • Herald of Perfection is made of Herald of Green Light, Herald of Purple Light, and Herald of Orange Light.
  • Herald of Ultimateness is made of Herald of Pure Light (head and arms), Herald of Perfection (body), Herald of the Arc Light (waist and legs).
• Power Nullifier: All Heralds (except Herald of the Pure Light) have effects focusing on negating other effects.
• Stone Wall: Herald of Perfection and Herald of Ultimateness, which have high DEF and low ATK for Ritual Monsters of their level.

Heraldic

Heraldics are a series of Beast and Winged-Beast monsters that activate effects in the Graveyard to swarm the field and summon their boss monster, Number 8: Heraldic King Genom-Heritage, who can drain the powers of enemy Xyz monsters. They are used by Tron/Vetrix in ZEXAL.

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• Death-Activated Superpower: Number 18's effect allows you to mill from your deck any 2 Heraldic beasts whenever it is sent to the graveyard (even if it is by having it summon negated). Considering most Heraldic Beasts work the best in the graveyard, your opponent should think twice before attempting to get rid of your Number.
• Dub Name Change:
  • In a lesser case, Genome Heriter becomes Genom-Heritage.
  • God Medallion - Coat of Arms -> Heraldry Crest; likewise, Death Medallion - Chaos of Arms becomes Heraldry Crest of Horror.
  • Heraldic Progenitor - Plain-Coat -> Heraldry Patriarch
• Our Dragons Are Different: Heraldic Beast Aberconway appears to be based off of the "Heraldic Dragon", a creature with the body of a reptile covered in metal mail. It also has a sharp spike on the end of it's nose, a forked tongue, feet of an eagle and the wings of a bat. Within Heraldry, this creature represents power, wisdom and astuteness.
• Grand Theft Me: "Number 8: Heraldic King Genome Heriter"'s ability to steal everything about the monster and leave them with nothing is similar to Vetrix's ability to steal memories from people.
• Horn Attack: Heraldic Beast Eale. The Yale is a mythological creature in European Mythology. The yale (also "centicore", Latin "eale") is a mythical beast found in European mythology and heraldry. Most descriptions make it an antelope- or goat-like four-legged creature with large horns that it can swivel in any direction. The name might be derived from Hebrew "yael", meaning "mountain goat".
• King of Beasts: Heraldic Beast Leo is based off the Heraldic Lion which is a common charge in heraldry. It traditionally symbolises bravery, valour, strength, and royalty, since traditionally, it is regarded as the king of beasts.
• Meaningful Name: Number 8: Heraldic King Genome Heriter's name, Number and appearance has many references to DNA:
  • A genome is the DNA or RNA information encoded in every organism, referencing this card's ability to "inherit" another monster's name.
  • This card number could be a reference to the DNA itself as this molecule is formed by pairs (hence the 2) of 4 types of nucleotides. 2x4=8
  • This card's number may be a reference to the shape of DNA. The number 8 looks similar to the double helix shape DNA often takes.
  • Also its "hair" on its card artwork somewhat resembles a chromosome, which is the organized structure of the DNA.
• Multiple Head Case: Heraldic Beast Twin-Head Eagle is based on the Double-headed eagle, which is a common symbol in heraldry and vexillology. It is most commonly associated with the Byzantine Empire, the Holy Roman Empire and Russia. In Byzantine heraldry, the heads represent the dual sovereignty of the Emperor (secular and religious) and/or dominance of the Byzantine Emperors over both East and West. In the Holy Roman Empire's heraldry, it represented the Church and the State. Several Eastern European nations adopted it from the Byzantines and continue to use it as their national symbol to this day, the most prominent being Albania, Serbia and Russia.
• Noble Bird of Prey: Heraldic Beast Bernard's Falcon is based on the heraldic Falcon. In Heraldry, the falcon signifies someone who is hot or eager in the pursuit of an object much desired. It is frequently found in the coats of arms of nobility from the time when the falcon played an important social role in the sport of kings and nobles. It is found as a heraldic bearing as early as the reign of King Edward II of England. The falcon was also the badge of one of King Henry VIII's wives, Anne Boleyn, and was later adopted by her daughter Queen Elizabeth I.
• Taken for Granite: Heraldic Beast Basilisk appears to be based off of the "Basilisk", a serpent which was hatched by a cockerel from the egg of a toad or serpent. It was depicted as having features of a cockerel during the times of Medieval Europe. It is also similar in appearance to the "Cockatrice" a two-legged dragon with the head of a rooster. Both the Basilisk and the Cockatrice were said to be able to kill or turn to stone whomever they looked at, which this monster's effect mimics.
• There Can Only Be One: Number 18 Heraldic Progenitor Plain Coat's effect in a nutshell: should there be on the field more than one monster with the same name, Number 18 eliminates all the copies of that monster, leaving only 1 of them standing, also preventing other copycats from hitting the field while it still stands.
• Unicorn: Heraldic Beast Unicorn based of the Unicorn. In heraldry, it is often depicted as a horse with a goat's cloven hooves and beard, a lion's tail, and a slender, spiral horn on its forehead. Whether because it was an emblem of the Incarnation or of the fearsome animal passions of raw nature, the unicorn was not widely used in early heraldry, but became popular from the 15th century.
• Yin-Yang Clash: The number color of Number 69: God Medallion Coat of Arms may be also based off Taoism, the Yin and Yang
  • Number 69: God Medallion Coat of Arms is a LIGHT monster but is black-colored.
  • Also, there seems to be some sort of balance involved with Number 69: God Medallion Coat of Arms, as this card can negate effects but gain them too.
  • The card's number is also similar in shape to the Yin and Yang symbol, which represents the balance between Light and Darkness.
  • The card's number, 69, also hints to a sort of balance. The number 6 looks like the number 9 (and vice versa) when inverted.
  • Further supporting this could be a possible significance to this card's numeric value, it signifies the fact that the number 69 is the number 96 backwards, with the number corresponding to it "Number 96: Dark Mist". "Dark Mist" is a DARK monster whereas this card is a LIGHT monster.

Hieratic

Field, open!

Hieratics, called Hieroglyphic (聖刻 Seikoku) in the OCG, is an archetype of LIGHT Dragon-Type monsters. They rely on swarming the field with Dragon-Type Normal Monsters at the cost of the Summoned monster losing all of its ATK and DEF, and tributing their own monsters to use their effects. Their two key cards are the Hieratic Seals, Normal Monsters with 0 ATK and DEF meant to be the main targets of Hieratics to be called to the field for Xyz Summons, as their Xyz Monsters representing the Seals being released to realize their full power.

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• All Your Powers Combined: According to the English product page for Galactic Overlord, Hieratic Sun Dragon Overlord of Heliopolis represented the collective power of the Hieratic Dragons, which makes sense, considering that it is based on the Ennead, the group of deities that were the individual basis for the Hieratic Dragons.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Gebeb's card artwork depicts him standing astride a fissure in the ground, with rocks floating around him. This is a reference to the fact that he is named after Geb, the Egyptian god of the earth.
• Dub Name Change:
  • The archetype went from Hieroglyphic in the OCG to Hieratic in the TCG. This change may be due to the fact that hieratic script was used for priestly and ceremonial purposes, befitting an archetype named after Egyptian deities.
  • Hieratic Sun Dragon Overlord of Heliopolis was named "Hieroglyphic Divine Dragon - Ennead" in the OCG, directly referencing the Ennead. The TCG instead opted to name the monster after the city in which the Ennead were principally worshipped, turning this into a case of Lord Country as well.
• Egg MacGuffin: The Hieratic Seal monsters appear to either be the eggs or sealed forms of the Hieratic Dragon Xyz Monsters whose Ranks are equal to their Levels. The goal of the archetype, at least from a design and thematic standpoint, is to Special Summon them and then use them as Xyz Materials to Xyz Summon their respective dragons, thus hatching the eggs or unsealing the dragons themselves.
• Eye of Horus Means Egypt: The archetype uses a stylized version of this as a symbol, and its members have it on their armor.
• Lord Country: By its name, Hieratic Sun Dragon Overlord of Heliopolis invokes this trope for the city of Heliopolis, and is described as its defender. Furthermore, it was based on the Ennead, the collective group of nine deities worshipped there.
• Mythology Gag: Being based upon the Ancient Egyptian deities comprising the Ennead, the dragons themselves have imagery that reference said deities.
  • Gebeb's card artwork depicts him standing astride a fissure in the ground, with rocks floating around him, referencing the fact that he is named for Geb, the god of the earth.
  • Eset and Nebthet wear crowns shaped like the hieroglyphs typically depicted atop the heads of the goddesses they are named after, namely, a throne for Isis and a basket roofing a house or temple for Nephthys, respectively. Their near-identical appearances may reference the myth where Nephthys disguised herself as Isis to seduce Osiris, Isis' husband, prompting her husband Set to murder Osiris.
  • Asar wears a feathered crown like the one Osiris, the god he is named for, is typically depicted with. He is also green colored, and similarly, Osiris has green skin.
  • Sutekh's crown features square protrusions, which are shaped similarly to the squared-off jackal ears of his basis, the god Set.
  • The card artwork of Hieratic Seal of Convocation depicts what appears to be the egg or sealed form of Asar, along with Eset and Nebthet seemingly using their powers to awaken him. This is a reference to how Isis and Nephthys gathered up the remains of Osiris after his murder and dismemberment at the hands of Set, and used their powers to resurrect him.
• Our Dragons Are Different: They Hieratics are Dragons (with Dragon typing) with an Egyptian motif and are named after the Ennead. In other words, they are also deities. Also happens to Hieratic Dragon King of Atum - Atum comes from the Egyptian God Atem, just like the real name of the Pharaoh.
• Palette Swap: Eset and Nebthet are mirror images of each other, with the only differences being their card art backgrounds, the shapes of their crowns, and their color schemes (which are different shades of purple). This references the fact that the goddesses they are based on, Isis and Nephthys, respectively, were sisters.
• Power of the Sun: The English product page for Galactic Overlord describes Hieratic Sun Dragon Overlord of Heliopolis as the "ultimate power of the sun itself".
• Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: They are named for the Ennead, a group of nine deities in Egyptian mythology worshiped at Heliopolis. However, they go by the names that the Ancient Egyptians used to refer to the respective gods they are based on, rather than the more commonly known Greek derived names.
• Try to Fit That on a Business Card: Hieratic Sun Dragon Overlord of Heliopolis, as well as its egg or sealed form, Hieratic Seal of the Sun Dragon Overlord.
• Zerg Rush: They can quickly bring out multiple high-level Dragons, at the cost of those Dragons having no points to work with. Of course, that's why the Extra Deck is there.

Heroic

Heroes never die.

The Heroic monsters are a series of EARTH Warriors with swarming and battle effects, consisting of the Heroic Challenger main deck monsters and Heroic Champion extra deck Xyz boss monsters. They are used by Gauche/Nistro in ZEXAL, where their ace monster is Heroic Champion - Excalibur. In the card game however, they have an additional infamously powerful boss monster called Number 86: Heroic Champion - Rhongomyniad.

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• Anti-Magic: By detaching one material from it, Kusanagi can negate the activation of a trap card and destroy it as well as gain 500 ATK afterward.
• Arms and Armor Theme Naming: The Heroic Champions, like the Ice Barrier Dragons, are named after certain named weapons. Excalibur, Rhongomyniad, Kusanagi and Gandiva. Ther Heroic Challengers are also named after more generic weapons, but with another word that explains the monster's purpose.
• Death or Glory Attack: Claiomh Solais has the ability to double a monster's ATK at the start of the battle phase which, when combined with other ATK-increasing cards within the archetype, can result in a massive behemoth capable of wiping the opponent's LP in one fell swoop. However, to do so requires paying all but 500 of the player's LP during the main phase, making the player not only vulnerable to counterattacks if they fail to win the duel during the turn but also giving the opponent a chance to win the duel before you can even get to attack if they have cards that can inflict burn damage during your turn.
• Difficult, but Awesome: Rhongomyniad is designed to be this, as it requires the user to get several materials on board to be anything stronger than a 3000 ATK beater, which is more often than not impossible as it requires opening a near-perfect hand and your opponent opening no interruption. However, successfully doing so will almost single-handedly win you the game, as an unaffected monster that also blocks the opponent from Summoning makes it practically impossible for the opponent to fight back.
• Knight in Shining Armor: All of them, to the point where the Champion are named after the Weapons associated with Knights (albeit specific Named Weapons).
• Mythology Gag: Claiomh Solais requiring the player to lower their LP to 500 in order to activate its ATK-doubling effect is a reference to the anime versions of Heroic Champion - Excalibur and Heroic Chance, due to both requiring the player to have 500 LP or less in order to attack and activate its effect respectively.
• No-Sell:
  • While it has at least one material, Rhongomyniad cannot be destroyed by battle and if it has at least three, it becomes unaffected by the effects of other cards.
  • By sending itself from the hand to the GY, Swordshield prevents all Heroic monsters from being destroyed by battle and makes the player unable to take battle damage until the end of the turn.
• Sigil Spam: Their team symbol is a crimson Phoenix, which symbolizes the never-dying fighting spirit within this archetype's user Gauche.
• Victor Gains Loser's Powers: War Hammer can equip a monster it destroyed by battle to itself to gain their ATK, though he can only have one monster equipped to it this way at any time.

Horus

He lives up to his name.

Horus the Black Flame Dragon is an archetype of FIRE Dragon-Type LV monsters whose effects revolve around negating opposing Spell Cards. Included alongside them is Horus' Servant, a Beast-Warrior-Type monster who provides extra protection from card effects.

In 2023, the archetype was expanded into the general "Horus" archetype with the introduction of a new wave of support based on the four sons of Horus — Imsety, Hapy, Duamutef, and Qebehsenuef — a group of Level 8 monsters that can Special Summon themselves from the Graveyard if the user controls the Continuous Spell Card Pharaonic Sarcophagus and have effects that trigger when the user's cards are removed from the field by an opponent's card effect. Their boss monster is Horus the Black Flame Deity, a retrain of Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV8.

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• Anti-Magic:
  • Horus LV6 is completely unaffected by Spell Cards, and Horus LV8 can negate any Spell at your discretion.
  • Horus LV8 can negate and then destroy Spell Cards that are activated during either players' turn.
  • Horus' Servant prevents face-up Horus the Black Flame Dragon monsters from being targeted by opposing Spells, Traps, and card effects.
• Daddy's Girl: Gender-inverted. Both a son and the four grandsons version of it, the new Horus monsters synergize very well with Slifer AKA Osiris, Horus' father. who gets stronger the more cards you have in your hand.
• Evil Counterpart: Dark Horus is a Dark Counterpart of Horus LV8.
• Our Dragons Are Different: Horus looks more like a bird than a dragon.
• Papa Wolf: Horus the Black Flame Dety's effect of summoning himself in case another Horus monster leaves the field has shades of this, as it looks like he is about to beat whoever harms his sons.

Huge Revolution / Gi-ant Revolution

Bloody peasants!

^{Gi-ant Revolution}

The Huge Revolution series consists of three Normal monsters known respectively as Oppressed People, People Running About, and United Resistance. The three cards tell the story about how an oppressed kingdom of people rise up to overthrow their corrupt government with the Trap Card Huge Revolution being used to obliterate your opponent’s hand and field when all three monster cards are on your field. The series is mentioned in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX during the duel between Judai/Jaden Yuki and Tsugio Kanda/Bob Banter.

The series eventually got a Rush Duel counterpart in the form of the Gi-ant Revolution series, a parody version used by in Jango Arisugawa in Yu-Gi-Oh! SEVENS. They focus on swarming the field with Insect-Type monsters with 100 or less ATK and then making them stronger through Antbellion of the Rebellion.

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Tropes pertaining to the Huge Revolution series:

• Gameplay and Story Integration: Oppressed People has the lowest ATK at 400 and 2000 DEF, then People Running About has 600 ATK and DEF, and finally United Resistance at 1000 ATK and 400 DEF, symbolizing the people taking up arms and becoming a formidable force until they finally bring the corrupt rule down in Huge Revolution, represented by the destruction of your opponent's field and hand.
• Herd-Hitting Attack: Huge Revolution sends all cards in your opponent’s hand to the graveyard and destroys all cards they currently control.
• Stone Wall: Oppressed People has 2000 DEF, but only 400 ATK.
• Weak, but Skilled: The three monsters are rather weak on their own, but if you manage to get them all on the field at the same time and have Huge Revolution at the ready, you can absolutely decimate your opponent.

Tropes pertaining to the Gi-ant Revolution series:

• Affectionate Parody / Recycled In Space: It's the Huge Revolution series, but with giant ants.
• Herd-Hitting Attack: If your opponent's monster declares an attack while you control three face-up Insect-Type monsters that have 100 or less ATK, Gi-ant Revolution can destroy all face-up Level 8 or lower monsters your opponent controls.
• Status Buff: By paying 100 life points, Antbellion of the Rebellion can give all attack position Insect-Type monsters you currently control an additional 800 ATK for each monster you control until the end of the turn.

hunder

Fun for the whole family!^note From the top left: Pahunder, Mahunder, Sishunder, and Brohunder

-hunder, Thunder in the OCG, are a family of LIGHT Thunder-Type monsters that allow the player to Normal Summon more Thunder-Type monsters each turn, swarming the field. They are used by Thunder Spark in the ZEXAL manga.

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• Lost in Translation: The names in Japan were originally based on a pun involving their phonetic spelling. This pun used the first three letters of their names in relation to the Japanese honorifics: Oto-san, Oka-san, One-san, and Onii-san. Their English equivalents are Father, Mother, Sister and Brother respectively.
• Our Dragons Are Different: Number 91: Thunder Spark Dragon is a Dragon-Type monster and looks more like an eel.
• Shock and Awe: They're not only Thunder-Type, they're made of lightning.
• Theme Naming: This archetype is composed of Level 4 Thunder-Type monsters whose names are puns that indicate members of a family.
• Zerg Rush: This archetype's focus is to Normal Summon multiple Level 4 LIGHT Thunder-Type monsters in one turn to Xyz Summon Rank 4 monsters such as Number 91: Thunder Spark Dragon.

Ice

Ice Master. The cold never bothered her anyway.

Ice monsters, known as Snow in the OCG, are a series of Aqua-Type Monsters that distribute Ice Counters to enemy monsters, with effects that weaken or destroy them for having such counters on them. They're used in the manga by Asuka Tenjouin/Alexis Rhodes, and should not be confused with the White Night monsters she used while in the Society of Light in the anime, which have a similar aesthetic of ice-themed monsters but do not use Ice Counters, and most have not been released in real life.

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• Continuity Cameo: Ice Master bears a resemblence to Alexis Rhodes whilst under the control of Sartorius when she was in the Society of Light due to the white clothing and blond hair. Alexis also temporarily used a deck based around ice cards while she was being controlled and her manga deck includes this card.
• Harmless Freezing: Snowdust Dragon's effect, which indicates that it freezes its foes in blocks of ice.
• Kill It with Ice: Ice Master's effect, which destroys every monster on the field with Ice Counters at the cost of dying in the process. This means this spell is so powerful, her life force is spent trying to cast it.
• Lizard Folk: Snowdust Giant appears to be a humanoid/hybrid version of Snowdust Dragon.

Impcantation

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and caldron bubble.

Impcantation, known as Deviritual in the OCG, is an archetype of LIGHT and DARK monsters that focus on supporting Ritual Summoning by Special Summoning themselves and searching/recovering Ritual Spells and Monsters, and can be easily splashed into most Ritual-based archetypes as effective support cards. They are sentient versions of objects commonly used in real-life rituals.

The archetype consists of 4 Effect Monsters at Levels 3-6, and 2 Ritual Monsters at Levels 7 and 10. The Effect Monsters can summon themselves from the hand and another Impcantation from the deck by revealing a Ritual Spell or Monster, easily setting up the tributes for Rituals. They will also trigger an effect to search or recover a Ritual Spell/Monster when Summoned from the Deck.

The Ritual Monsters, rather than supporting Rituals more generally, instead have destruction and combat-related effects that work only with Impcantations, though they also have their own hand effects that can Special Summon Impcantations. The archetypal Ritual Spell, Impcantation Inception, can Ritual Summon any Ritual Monster, though it requires Impcantations as tributes.

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• Animate Inanimate Object: The Impcantation monsters are composed entirely of sentient objects.
• Assist Character: The main use of Impcantation cards is to slot them into other Ritual-based archetypes to ease the use of Ritual Summoning.
• Back from the Dead: Crealtar can reveal itself in the hand to Special Summon a number of Impcantation monsters from the Graveyard whose total Level is 10.
• Background Boss: Crealtar is a rare non-videogame example, being both the boss of the Impcantations and being in the background (or just "the background") of every Impcantation card.
• Bad Boss: Crealtar's artwork implies that it is one, with Crealtar itself looking rather menacing in the background, and the other Impcantations (save for Penciplume, which is absent) panicking.
• Beware the Silly Ones: Impcantations don't look serious or threatening in their artwork (bar perhaps Crealtar), being cartoonish Animate Inanimate Objects. But you won't be laughing at them for long when they manage to summon powerful Ritual Monsters like Blue-Eyes Chaos MAX Dragon.
• Cast from Hit Points: You can reveal Chalislime in your hand to Special Summon an Impcantation from your deck. But if you don't perform a Ritual Summon the same turn you do so, you lose 2500 Life Points.
• The Dividual: Each Impcantation monster except for Crealtar is composed of two sentient objects.
• Irony: Mandrake of folklore are said to scream when pulled out of the ground, hard enough to even cause death. In the artwork of Talismandra, the mandrake is covering its ears due to the talisman's scream.
• The Leader: Crealtar. Not only is it their boss monster, but its name and title of Impcantation Originator imply that it created the other Impcantations.
• Meaningful Name: Most of the Impcantation monsters' names are indicative of the objects they represent.
• Necessary Drawback: The non-Ritual Impcantations prevent their controller from Special Summoning from the Extra Deck when they're on the field, preventing their user from pulling Extra Deck shenanigans with the easily Special Summonable Impcantations.
• Non-Indicative Name: A few. Penciplume is clearly a fountain pen with a plume, not a pencil. And Candoll is a candle and its flame, with no doll in the art. In Japan, Penciplume is "Pensilver", explaining that one.
• Punny Name: The name of the archetype itself, in both the TCG and OCG, as well as each Impcantation monster is a combination of two words.
  • Impcantation: Imp and incantation.
  • Deviritual: Devil and ritual.
  • Penciplume: Pencil and plume.
  • Candoll: Candle and doll.
  • Bookstone: Book and stone.
  • Talismandra: Talisman and mandragora.
  • Chalislime: Chalice and slime.
  • Crealtar: Creator and altar.
• Ritual Magic: Well, they are a Ritual-based archetype. Though they also pull from the imagery of ancient rituals as well, using items like candles, spellbooks, and mandrakes.
• Weak, but Skilled: The non-Ritual Impcations all have 0 ATK/DEF. However, their strength comes from their ability to easily set up Ritual Summons. They don't need to be strong when they can summon Ritual Monsters like Blue-Eyes Chaos MAX Dragon to do the heavy-lifting for them.

Inca

The Inca boss monsters: Sun Dragon Inti and Moon Dragon Quilla

Inca monsters are a series of monsters based on ancient Inca mythology. Their strategy is to summon their synchro monsters Sun Dragon Inti and Moon Dragon Quilla and establish a loop where taking one will cause the other to revive. They were used by Rex Goodwin/Goodwin in the Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's anime.

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• Back from the Dead: This series's playstyle relies a lot on the Graveyard with the core combo taking advantage of Inti and Quilla's effects to revive the other when destroyed to set up a loop. Additionally, several other cards from this series have effects which bring back monsters from the Graveyard.
• Mayincatec: Averted; the series is more or less based solely on Inca mythology. The one exception is Fire Ant Ascator, which is based on a creature from Aztec mythology.
• Multiple Head Case: Sun Dragon Inti and Moon Dragon Quilla each have four heads and a fifth face on their "cores".
• Mythology Gag: Earthbound Greater Linewalker is one to Rex Goodwin. To wit, it physically resembles his muscular appearance as a Dark Signer, with a golden left hand to represent the fact that Rex grafted his brother Rudger's hand onto himself to gain the powers of a Signer. Furthermore, the card's name alludes to Rex's manga incarnation, who had the title of "Duel Priest". Greater Linewalker possesses a Summoning condition wherein the controller can Special Summon it if they have Synchro Monsters both on their field and in their Graveyard, a condition which the Inca series is adept at fulfilling as it relies on the controller having one dragon on the field with the other in the Graveyard.
• Shock and Awe: Apocatequil is based on the Incan god of lightning and true to its inspiration, is a Thunder-Type monster.
• Solar and Lunar: Sun Dragon Inti and Moon Dragon Quilla, based on Inti and Mama Quilla, the Incan god of the sun and goddess of the moon, respectively.
• Taking You with Me: If destroyed by battle, Inti will cause the attacking monster to be destroyed along with it while dealing half of its ATK to the opponent.

Infernity

Infernity Doom Dragon, the boss monster

Infernity monsters are a series of mostly DARK Fiend-Type monsters that rely on something that for most other decks is a sign of impending loss — an empty hand. Infernity monsters activate their effects on the field and in the Graveyard and can swarm the field with powerful monsters, but they can only use their effects if the player has no cards in their hand. This archetype is used by Kyosuke Kiryu/Kalin Kessler in 5D's who dubs the strategy "Handless Combo".

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• Captain Ersatz: Infernity Knight resembles Warsman from the Kinnikuman (Muscleman) series.
• Disability Superpower: Typically not having cards in your hand would be considered a bad thing, as it would require you to constantly draw the cards you need from the top of your deck with no backup plan, but Infernities benefit from this situation.
• Extra Eyes: Infernity Doom Dragon has a ludicrous number of eyes, but at least they're all on its head.
• Homage: The handless effect of the Infernity archetype is identical to the "Hellbent" effect of the "Rakdos" related cards from Magic: The Gathering. Additionally, the "Rakdos" cards use Red and Black mana, while Infernity monsters are DARK monsters and their artwork generally depicts them in some fiery location.
• My Hero, Zero: The other Infernity monsters can only use their effects if the player has zero cards in their hand.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: A portmanteau of "infernal" and "infinity," well living up to the name with their seemingly endless Graveyard combos.
• Our Dragons Are Different: Infernity Doom Dragon is a bizarre Mix-and-Match Critter resembling a cross between a moose, a Xenomorph, and a Dracolich. Not what most people think of when they hear "dragon."
• Russian Roulette: Infernity Randomizer has a damage effect that emulates this.
  "Once per turn, while you have no cards in your hand, you can draw 1 card and reveal it. For a Monster Card drawn with this effect, inflict damage to your opponent equal to the Level of that monster × 200. For a Spell or Trap Card, you take 500 damage."
• Shadow Archetype: Infernity Avenger seems to be this to Quickdraw Synchron. (In more ways than one; both are Tuner Monsters that look like cowboys, and Kiryu uses one, while Yusei uses the other.)
• Zerg Rush: This is the main strategy of an Infernity Deck. It's more of an example of the scale from this into a Boss Rush, which is a Zerg Rush consisting of the biggest monsters you could ever summon in one turn. To point, Infernity Beetle (a Level 2 monster) and Infernity Daemon/Archfiend (a Level 4 monster) together in the right combination can result in 5 and more Synchro Monsters, especially Trishula. This was such a devastating strategy that the succeeding banlist had to target the already expensive cards, making the key monsters R1.

Infinitrack

Moving infinite amounts of life points to 0

The Infinitrack archetype, known as Infinite Ignition in the OCG, is comprised of EARTH Machine monsters with a primary focus on Xyz summoning, supplemented with supportive Link monsters. The monsters themselves being heavy construction and terraforming vehicles all marked by glowing infinity symbols on their tracks. The low-level Infinitracks can target a friendly Machine monster and change both their own and the targeted monster's levels to the sum of their levels, while the high-level Infinitracks can special summon themselves by tributing another EARTH Machine monster. Infinitrack Xyz Monsters can special summon themselves from the Graveyard by tributing a Machine Link monster, which the Infinitracks have easy access to in the form of Infinitrack Goliath, a Link 1 Machine link monster.

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• Back from the Dead:
  • The Xyz monsters all have the ability to revive themselves by tributing a Link monster; the typical target is their Link 1 Monster, Goliath, who's easy to summon and can attach itself to the revived Xyz monsters when it leaves the field.
  • Their Link-3 monster, Megaclops, also can revive an Xyz monster from the graveyard, with the added bonus of attaching one of the opponent's cards to it as Xyz Material.
  • Trencher can revive low-level main deck Infinitrack monsters by banishing itself from the graveyard.
• Dishing Out Dirt: They're all a series of high level EARTH Machine cards equipped with powerful construction, mining and terraforming equipment that they can use to literally bury the competition in a mountain of dirt.
• Glass Cannon: They tend to focus mainly on pure destruction potential and high ATK scores while often suffering from very low DEF scores as a result, though a few of their monsters are a bit more balanced stats wise and even specialize in defending rather than attacking. See below.
• Meaningful Name: The Xyz monsters all have effects classified as Ignition ones which can be activated by detaching at least one of their materials with the goal of the archetype being to keep them supplied with materials so they can use those effects over and over.
• No-Sell: Infinitrack Fortress Megaclops can only be affected by the effects of Xyz monsters and can only be destroyed by them as well.
• Spin Attack: They have a useful support trap with this design that lets them destroy an opposing monster or spell/trap card at the cost of switching their own Infinitrack Zyx monster's battle position.
• Status Buff: By detaching one material, Mountain Smasher can permanently increase its ATK by 1000.
• Stone Wall: While most of their cards prioritize having a high ATK a handful of their lower level cards instead focus mainly on having a high DEF.
• This Is a Drill: As to be expected of monsters based on large heavy duty construction and mining machines they sometimes use drills as their attack weapons. Infinitrack Anchor Drill and Infinitrack Tunneller are probably the two most stand-out examples.
• Tron Lines: Infinitrack monsters have glowing blue lines on them.

Inzektor

Walking the path of Heaven, the deck who'll rule everything.

Inzektor is an archetype of DARK Insect-Type monsters that equip other Inzektors to themselves to increase their level, allowing Xyz Summons, or to de-equip themselves to use other effects. Their strongest members are Inzektor Giga-Weevil and Inzektor Giga-Mantis, and the Xyz Monsters Exa-Beetle and Exa-Stag.

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• Blade Below the Shoulder: Giga-Mantis sports a pair of very large ones.
• Combination Attack: Final Inzektion. Five Inzektors operate a large beam gun and fires it at their foes. Though it may not appear as it is, this could be the artwork of Hyper Kabuto's "Maximum Hyper Cyclone", one of its ultimate attacks where it collects and combines all the Zecters so that it can charge and fire.
• Equippable Ally: Their main gimmick is equipping themselves with other Inzektor monsters. Each Inzektor has two different effects: one when used as a monster, and another when used as an Equip card.
• Japanese Beetle Brothers: The Xyz Monsters of the archetype: Exa-Beetle and Exa-Stag.
• Shout-Out:
  • This archetype is one to Kamen Rider Kabuto and Kamen Rider Decade. It goes further than looks as the devices the Kabuto Riders transform with are called Zectors.
  • Exa-Stag and Exa-Beetle also resemble the mechas in Beetleborgs.
• The Smart Guy: Inzektor Firefly is operating the weapon in the artwork of Final Inzektion, while the other Inzektors are carrying it. This may be a reference to the low total ATK and DEF of Inzektor Firefly, suggesting that he does not have the strength to support the weapon, but instead has the technical knowledge to operate it. This is also insinuated by the artwork of Inzektor Firefly.
• The Smurfette Principle: Picofalena is the archetype's first and only female monster.
• Stone Wall: Giga-Weevil has an astounding 2600 DEF, but 0 ATK, and its effect allows you to turn another Inzektor into one.
• Weak, but Skilled: The Inzektors have pretty low stats but they have combos that can destroy your opponent's field and swarm at the same time and those combos can be done using only their monster effects.

Iron Chain

Iron Chain Coil and Snake, as shown in Poison Chain.

Iron Chain is an archetype of EARTH monsters who largely focus on milling the opponent's deck, weakening opposing monsters, and dealing burn damage. They are used by Warden Takasu/Armstrong in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds.

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• Back from the Dead: Once per turn, Iron Chain Repairman can Special Summon one Level 4 or lower Iron Chain monster other than himself from the graveyard, at the cost of Repairman being unable to attack the turn his effect is activated.
• Chain Pain: Expressed more in their related cards Poison Chain and Paralyzing Chain, which can mill the opponent and inflict damage when you mill respectively. While the archetype members do feature chains in their aesthetic, they are rarely depicted using those chains in combat.
• Death by a Thousand Cuts: A lot of their effects can inflict token amounts of effect damage, which can really rack up if allowed to accumulate. Armstrong used this feature alongside the Shock Collar that he puts on Yusei to torture his opponent into submission.
• Manipulating the Opponent's Deck: Their most favored strategy for achieving victory is through decking out the opponent.
  • When a monster equipped with Iron Chain Snake is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard, its controller sends cards equal to its Level from the top of their Deck to the Graveyard.
  • When Iron Chain Dragon inflicts Battle Damage to your opponent, you can send the top three cards of your opponent's Deck to the Graveyard.
  • During the End Phase of your turn, if you did not attack, Poison Chain can make your opponent send cards equal to the number of face-up Iron Chain monsters you control from the top of their Deck to the Graveyard.
• Nerf: The stat boost from Iron Chain Coil, in its original Japanese printing, lingers even if Coil left the field. International printings changed it so that it only lasts as long as Coil stays on the field.
• Status Buff:
  • As long as Iron Chain Coil is face-up on the field, another Iron Chain monster you control gains 300 ATK.
  • By banishing all Iron Chain monsters in your graveyard, Iron Chain Dragon gains 200 ATK for each one until the End Phase of your turn.

Itsu

The four members, as shown in A-Team: Trap Disposal Unit.^note from left to right: Koitsu, Doitsu, Soitsu and Aitsu

The Itsus are a group of four Fairy-Type monsters with different attributes known as Aitsu, Koitsu, Soitsu, and Doitsu. They are inspired by characters originating from the Konami game Sexy Parodius, an installment of the Gradius parody series Parodius. Their playstyle involves Koitsu and Doitsu equipping themselves to Aitsu and Soitsu respectively to give them huge ATK boosts and additional effects.

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• The Cameo:
  • The four of them appear collectively as the monster A-Team: Trap Disposal Unit, though they're classified as being Machine-Type instead of Fairy-Type.
  • They also appear in the card art of Fossil Excavation, Fossil Dig, and Gravity Collapse.
• Classical Elements Ensemble: Aitsu, Koitsu, Soitsu, and Doitsu are FIRE, WATER, WIND, and EARTH attribute monsters respectively.
• Equippable Ally: Koitsu and Doitsu are Union monsters who equip themselves to Aitsu and Soitsu respectively.
• Joke Character: They're all absurdly weak with their original ATK and DEF being no greater than 200. Aitsu and Koitsu are the worst ones since the former is Level 5 and needs one tribute to summon while the latter is Level 10 and needs two tributes to summon. However, alone they may be weak, but together is a different story...
• Lethal Joke Character: Their flavor text references the massive power they can gain when equipped with their respective Union monster... Even though that's still a ton of effort for a mere beatstick.
• Meaningful Name: The names "Koitsu", "Soitsu", "Aitsu" and "Doitsu" roughly means "This Guy", "That Guy", "That Other Guy" and "Which Guy?" in English respectively. Alternatively, their names may also be translated as "Eeney", "Meeney", "Miney" and "Moe".

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