The Yu-Gi-Oh! anime, originally released in 1998 by Toei Animation, was a milestone for otaku culture, as it united an animated universe with card games and fantasy! Within the anime the card game popular among the characters was called Dueling Monsters, and each card had a power, an ability, and a purpose in battle. But of all the cards featured in the anime, which are the strongest cards in Yu-Gi-Oh!
In real life the card game has the same name as the anime. Although the dynamics are the same, some of the cards that aren't as interesting or strong outside the fiction turn out to be extremely powerful in the anime, either because of rule changes or even a narrative trick. In our list we'll tell you which are the 10 strongest cards in Yu-Gi-Oh! considering its original anime! Let's do it!
10 - Magic Cylinder
We begin our list with a card classified as a "trap card": the Magic Cylinder. It was used several times throughout the original anime, mainly by Yugi in his duels. The power attached to this card allows its user to redirect an attack back at his enemy or a monster on the battlefield.
It's a good way to be able to turn the game around and surprise your opponent. A striking example of the use of one of Yu-Gi-Oh!'s strongest cards is in the fight against Marik, where Yugi redirected Slifer's attack towards the villain. This caused Marik to sacrifice one of his creatures that was in battle to protect himself. But other characters like Kaiba, Tristan, and even Tea have this "card up their sleeve" in their decks.
9 - Multiply
The Multiplier card is the first example in our list that has a very different function between the physical game to the game in the anime, being much more powerful in the fiction. The anime showed us its power during the Yugi vs Kaiba fight in the Duelist Kingdom. It was used by Yugi to create a barrier filled with Kuriboh to protect his life points.
A bonus to the barrier's performance is that it is regenerable, so Kaiba could not attack Yugi's life points. To get a sense of the power of this card, not even the Blue Eyed Supreme Dragon was able to perform an effective attack in this battle.
But when it comes to the game in real life, one of the strongest cards in Yu-Gi-Oh! becomes much weaker... To use the power of the activated card, the user needs to sacrifice a Kuriboh and then create his clones, allowing a protection for a few rounds. However, the barrier crumbles on its own after the time is exceeded.
8 - The Orichalcos Seal
During the Waking the Dragon arc, the magic card The Seal of Orichalcos was instrumental in getting enemy duelists defeated. They used its card to give their creatures more strength and power, but the price for this was that the loser of the duel would have his or her alb taken to the "dark realm".
This is a territorial magic card that serves to increase the attack of all its users' creatures by 500 points, which ranks it 8th among the strongest cards in Yu-Gi-Oh! In real life this is not a very relevant card, but in the anime it brought some challenges to the protagonist in relation to the villain of this arc, Dartz.
7 - Monster Reborn
One of the strongest cards in Yu-Gi-Oh! and one of the most iconic, too: Monster Reborn! It is certainly one of the most powerful cards from the classic anime, as its effect allows the life of one of its user's creatures to be restored (or even one of his opponent's), bringing it back from the graveyard.
This is a limited card, and there can be only one of it per deck due to its great activation power. It was used several times in the anime by both the protagonist - bringing back his beloved Black Mage from the graveyard - and Marik, who used it to recover his Winged Dragon of Ra. There is only one way to deal with this powerful card: have some trap card that can nullify its magical effects or that can banish the reborn magical creature back to the graveyard.
6 - Blue Eyed White Dragon
This card became extremely popular among fans of the classic anime because it was the main magic card in Kaiba's deck, and the Blue Eyed Dragon was one of Yu-Gi-Oh!
We're talking about one of the strongest cards in Yu-Gi-Oh! for the simple fact that this monster has more than 3000 points of attack and defense! Considering that the players had 4000 life points (initially, but as the episodes went by they raised it to 8000), you can understand the risk it generated in combat, right? It is worth remembering that Kaiba had not only one of these beings, but 3 White Dragons and, with the possibility of Polymerization, he fused them together to create the Blue Eyed Supreme Dragon, which totaled 4500 points of attack alone.
5 - Mirror Strength
This card is so powerful that it was banned from Yu-Gi-Oh! competitions for a good few years, since it is a trap card capable of destroying all your opponent's attack mode monsters as soon as he declares the offensive.
It is among the strongest cards in Yu-Gi-Oh! even though it has lost strength in real-life competitions. In the anime, it was a major highlight of Yugi's deck, and he obviously used it to turn the tables and score numerous victories on the battlefield.
4 - Obelisk the Tormentor
Of course one of the 3 Egyptian Gods in the series would be on our list of the strongest cards in Yu-Gi-Oh! Obelisk the Tormentor is the weakest of the 3, but it still manages to be extremely strong against most of the other cards! It is another magic card that was present in Kaiba's deck, but after he lost the Battle of the City against Yugi, the protagonist took hold under it.
It is a card with 4000 attack and defense, plus the bonus that it cannot be the target of any effects of magic cards or traps, which puts it in our fourth place. As if all this were not enough, it is possible to get an infinite attack: just sacrifice two of its user's creatures, and the duel can be ended in one go!
3 - Slifer the Dragon of Heaven
During the Battle of the City arc, Yugi obtained some new cards for his deck, and Slifer the Dragon of Heaven was the first Egyptian God he managed to acquire. This is one of the strongest cards in Yu-Gi-Oh! because it has no fixed attack or defense points, allowing its user to add 1000 points to each card the player has in his hand.
As an Egyptian God, it cannot be the target of any effects, be it magic cards or traps, and that's not even its only advantage: if an opponent summons a monster, it already appears with 2000 less attack points, and if the creature zeroes out, it is automatically destroyed! It was a great card in Yugi's hand, as he was able to gather more power for his Slifer and weaken his opponents at the same time.
2 - Winged Dragon of Ra
This is the most powerful Egyptian God in the series, and of course that puts him second among the strongest cards in Yu-Gi-Oh! He was part of Marik's deck during the Battle of the City, and is so powerful that he is able to defeat his opponents with a single attack. This is thanks to the fact that the effect of this card is for the player to sacrifice his life points until it reaches 1, to drastically increase the power of his Dragon.
As one of the 3 Egyptian Gods, he is also not the target of any trap or magic card effects, also being able to sacrifice creatures to generate more attack and defense power. It can also attack all opponent's monsters if its user pays 1000 points for it.
1 - Exodia
Finally we come to the strongest card in Yu-Gi-Oh! It is a card so memorable that it has been present in the work since its inception, as well as the conditions established to use it... This creature is divided into 5 parts - two arms, two legs, and a head - that when they appear together in the user's hand, a powerful power is awakened, automatically leading the player to victory!
Against the full Exodia it's useless, not even life points, strategy or traps, once fully summoned, game over. In the anime the ultimate power was already shown in the very first duel of Yugi vs Kaiba, but the protagonist ends up losing the cards afterwards because, you know, he couldn't continue with such appealing cards in his deck to win without effort.
The Strongest Card in Yu-Gi-Oh!
Now you know all the strongest cards in Yu-Gi-Oh!the anime classic that made young people in the early 2000s duel and collect powerful and magical monster cards! After learning that Exodia is the most powerful card of all, how about checking out our article about the Most Iconic Anime Characters?
To learn more about the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime and the magic cards, you can check out the following video:
