What is the rarest Yu Gi card?

As fans of any card game know,card games can get expensive very quickly. Keeping up with the best decks can often cost a player hundreds of dollars just for two or three cards. As expensive as it can be to play at a tournament level, it's even more expensive to collect rare cards.

The rarest cards in Yu-Gi-Oh! aren't just rare because Konami printed them in a higher rarity or from people who've kept their old Yu-Gi-Oh cards. The rarest cards come as tournament prizes, often for winning the world championship. They're not just rare because they're shiny; it's because only two or three copies of the card exist in the entire world.

Updated by Sage Ashford on November 11th, 2022: Yu-Gi-Oh! is a constantly changing card game in terms of the meta and the rarest cards of all. We've changed this list by adding even more rare cards that many Yu-Gi-Oh! fans can only dream of having.

15/15 Blood Mefist's Yu-Gi-Oh Championship Prize Edition Is Worth $8,500

Blood Mefist was one of the coolest cards introduced during the Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's era. A level 8 synchro monster, Blood Mefist was able to inflict damage based on every card the opponent controlled during each of the opponent's standby phases. Damage like that could add up quickly, and if that wasn't enough, the opponent took 300 damage each time they set a spell or trap. While setting cards aren't as common in the modern game, at the time, that was a powerful effect.

Unlike many of the other rare cards, this card has yet to be reprinted. Its original printing as the Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship prize card in 2011 is still the only way to get the card. The meta has long made this card irrelevant, but the Ultra Rare version of the card is still worth around $8,500.

14/15 Shrink's 2006 Shonen Jump Championship Version Is Worth $13,000

Shrink might not be a meta card any longer, but it's still a solid card from a practical perspective. A quickplay spell with the ability to half the ATK of any face-up monster on the field, it's a card that will work on most monsters and change things in battle within seconds. Not many monsters can survive having their attack halved, after all.

The card is easy enough to acquire given its age, but people who like to have the rarest version of a card will have to be willing to pay a steep price for this. In 2006, Shrink was the prize card for the Shonen Jump Championship. This version of the quick-play spell goes for around $13,000.

13/15 Meklord Astro Mekanikle Was The 2011 WCQ Qualifier Prize Card & Goes For $20,000

Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's introduced the Meklords, monsters that were meant to be anti-synchro in nature. Though Meklord Astro Mekanikle requires the player to send 3 Meklords to the grave, the effects are worth it for the right deck.

It can take an opponent's Synchro monster every turn and equip it every turn, and it gains ATK equal to all the monsters equipped to it. With Mekanikle's ATK already at 4,000, it doesn't take long for this card to get into the OTK range. While the card is easy enough to acquire, the rarest version of it is the World Championship Qualifier National prize card which goes for around $20,000.

12/15 Goyo Guardian's Duel Terminal Super Parallel Rare Is Worth $25,000

At one point, Goyo Guardian was a key card during the early Synchro era. It required an Earth Tuner, which limited it to certain decks, but it was still so powerful people couldn't afford to give it up.

By destroying an opponent's monster by battle, Goyo Guardian could special summon that monster to the player's side of the field. An impressive ability in a slower-paced game, Goyo Guardian could quickly become an issue if the opponent had no answer for it. Unsurprisingly, the rarest version of the card will cost a pretty penny, with some copies going up to $25,000.

11/15 Gold Sarcophagus' Shonen Jump Edition Costs Around $30,000

Gold Sarcophagus remains one of the best spell cards in Yu-Gi-Oh!, which is why it was limited on Konami's ban list for over a decade. The player could banish a card from their deck face-up, then during their 2nd standby phase after activation, add the card to their hand.

Since there's nothing stopping players from adding it to their hand sooner, Gold Sarcophagus remains limited. The Shonen Jump Championship 2007 prize card version of this card has seen massive jumps in price, starting at $8,000 in 2020 before jumping to $25,000 by early 2022.

10/15 E-Hero Pit Boss Is The 2013 World Championship Card & Goes For $50,000

If there's one archetype that's been overly supported in Yu-Gi-Oh!, it's the Elemental Heroes. They aren't the most annoying deck in the game, but it can be frustrating to see them get so many cards because Jaden Yuki used them. But to fit with the theme, they're generally all Fusion-focused, even the off-shoots like the Vision Heroes and Masked Heroes.

But for the 2013 World Championship, they created an Xyz monster for the group. Made up of three level 6 monsters, it has the usual match-ender effect with a twist. To activate its effect, Elemental Hero Pit Boss has to have a spellcaster monster attached, which is perhaps a reference to the ace monster of the original Yu-Gi-Oh! series, Dark Magician.

9/15 Stardust Divinity Is The 2010 World Championship Prize & Goes For $64,000

Stardust Divinity was the Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship prize card for 2010, complemented by Konami's choosing to make it a powerful Synchro monster. It can only be synchro summoned and comes with a hefty 3,000 ATK and Defense, making it one of the most powerful Stardust monsters from the early synchro era.

Like every card of its kind, Stardust Divinity is a match-ender, but people would have to really want it to summon it. The card requires one light Tuner and two or more non-tuner monsters, a steep cost for a level 10 card. This card is currently going for around $64,000.

8/15 Kaiser Eagle, The Heavens' Mandate Is The 2019 World Championship Prize & Is Worth $70,000

Kaiser Eagle was the Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship prize card for 2019, which made it the most recent prize card until the 2022 Worlds. A Link-5 monster that required three or more winged beast effect monsters, Kaiser Eagle would be a boon to any player running a Winged Beast deck — if the deck was legal.

The card Kaiser Eagle amassed a worth of $140,000 in 2021. Since then, the card's value has plummeted significantly and is now half the cost. Sitting at $70,000, now is the best chance to pick one up.

7/15 Des Volstgalph Was A Shonen Jump Championship Card That Goes For $95,000

Des Volstgalph has been printed a number of times, but the most rare version is the Ultra Rare Shonen Jump Championship card. Considering Konami doesn't do SJCs anymore, this card feels even more impossible to get a hold of.

The card was likely pretty impressive at the time, considering it could deal additional damage each time it sent an opponent's monster to the graveyard. It even gained attack with each resolved Normal or Quick-Play spell, a type of effect that would become more common later on. Most recently, this card could sell for over $95,000, a significant drop from when it sold for around $149,000 in May 2022.

6/15 Dark Magician's Duel Terminal Parallel Rare Is Worth Around $100,000

Known as "the ultimate wizard in terms of attack and defense," the original Dark Magician got Yugi out of many dangerous situations. The Duel Terminal Parallel Rare version of the card is perhaps the rarest version of them all, the gold standard for anyone looking to trick their Dark Magician deck out.

For years, the card was only worth around $500, but sometime in 2022, one of the copies went for around $100,000. Presumably, the relative impossibility of getting the card caused its rarity to spike.

5/15 Crush Card Virus Was The 2007 Shonen Jump Championship Card & Sells For $115,000

At one point, Crush Card Virus was one of Yu-Gi-Oh!'s most powerful cards. Much like in the anime, the card could render an opponent's deck useless. Even though the effect only lasted for three turns, that was often more than enough to turn the tide of the duel.

The original Shonen Jump Championship version of the card is one of the rarest cards on the planet. These days, it goes for around $115,000. Crush Card Virus has been errata'd into being a bad card, but that doesn't make this card any less valuable.

4/15 Tyr, The Vanquishing Warlord Was The 2008 World Championship Prize Card & Is Selling For Around $200,000

Tyr was created for the World Championship series in 2008. These cards tended to have the same effect, with the player being able to end the match by attacking the opponent with it directly and reducing their life points to zero.

This effect is somewhat game-breaking, so playing it in a tournament is illegal. However, the rarity makes Tyr one of the most sought-after cards in the game. Currently, the card goes for over $198,000, and its value has only gone up since its release.

3/15 Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon's Asia Championship Version Sold For $330,000

Officially, this is the most expensive Yu-Gi-Oh! card because it's a card someone's actually bought before. Kaiba's Blue-Eyes deck hosts filled with powerful monsters, but the most powerful of the time remains the fused Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon. The winner of the 2001 Yu-Gi-Oh! Asia Championship has received a special version of the card.

The reason Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon became the most expensive card was that this card sold for 45 million yen in 2018. Exchange rates varied from year to year. Currently, this meant the card sold for over $330,000 to a Japanese YouTuber named Yukkichi.

2/15 Tyler, The Great Warrior Is One Of A Kind

Tyler, The Great Warrior became a legendary Yu-Gi-Oh! card. Konami created it in response to a young man's Make-A-Wish request, giving him a custom card while he battled cancer. The card featured a Dragon Ball Z-esque character in the art, which earned it the name Super Saiyan Trunks in the community.

Tyler still holds the card today and doesn't have any intention of giving it up. Since no other version of the card exists and the holder doesn't wish to part with it, it's theoretically impossible to place a value on it. To its owner, it certainly must be priceless.

The very first Yu-Gi-Oh! tournament awarded Yugi Muto's legendary Black Luster Soldier monster. It wasn't just any version of the warrior monster, but one created on stainless steel. With only one in existence, the value is whatever someone is willing to pay for it.

In 2013, Kotaku stated the card was up for purchase at 998 million yen, which these days would be worth around $7.3 million. That doesn't necessarily mean someone will buy it for that price, but when a card truly is one of a kind, it's priceless.

NEXT: Yu-Gi-Oh! 10 Cards Worth Picking Up In Master Duel