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The 26 most expensive Yugioh cards and prices

Rare Yugioh cards like a first-edition Blue Eyes White Dragon can sell for major money – here’s the most valuable Yugioh cards in history.

Three of the most expensive Yugioh cards on a blue background

What is the most expensive Yugioh card? Since releasing in 1999, some rare YuGiOh cards have taken on such a reputation that they sell for tens of thousands of dollars at auction. This guide profiles the 26 most expensive Yugioh cards ever, and how much they sold for.

The most valuable Yugioh cards are a varied bunch. They aren’t necessarily simply the best Yugioh cards available; nor is this list stuffed with ultra-powerful cards from the top Yugioh decks and Yugioh Master Duel meta decks. Instead, many are mint condition copies of the most recognizable cards ever released or limited promotional cards that were handed out to tournament winners.

All of these valuations are based on confirmed Yugioh card prices that we have been able to verify. There are cards that have been offered at higher prices, like the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon from the 2001 Asian Championships, but these don’t have verified sales. We have made an exception to include the Stainless Steel Black Luster Soldier: this has never been sold, but it is such a renowned card that if it ever went to auction it would certainly become one of the most expensive Yugioh cards of all time.

Almost all of these wildly expensive collectibles are variants of regular cards with much more sensible prices: we’ve included links to TCGPlayer and eBay if you’d like to buy a more reasonably priced version of any of these cards.

Tyler the Great Warrior

Worth $311,211

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None available – there’s only one copy of this card.

Tyler the Great Warrior specifications:
Competition prize? One of a kind Make A Wish card
Printed / awarded 2005
Valuable because Totally unique
Highest sale $311,211
Reasons to buy
  • Utterly unique
  • A touching bit of Yugioh history
Reasons to avoid
  • Feels a bit tasteless to own

A one-of-a-kind Yugioh card, created by Tyler Gressle in 2005 as part of a Make-a-Wish request, Tyler the Great Warrior has the honor of being the rarest Yugioh card in existence, with only one copy around. Gressle designed the card in 2005, when he was 14, and battling against a rare form of liver cancer.

18 years later, he decided to sell the card. The final auction bid racked up a whopping $311,211 (£249,793.51), meaning yes, this is officially number one. We present to you: the rarest and most expensive Yugioh card ever, full stop.

This valuable card is a wonderful memento of the Make-a-Wish Foundation’s work, as well as Tyler’s own journey. However, while we don’t resent Tyler for selling the card, it feels a bit strange to know such a sentimental card is stowed away in a stranger’s private collection.

Alternate Artwork Gemini Elf T3-04

Worth $254,791

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Alternate Artwork Gemini Elf T3-04 specifications:
Competition prize? Asian championships 4th place prize
Printed / awarded 2001
Valuable because Unique prize from a historic competiiton
Highest sale $254,791
Reasons to buy
  • One of a kind
  • Linked to the father of Yugioh
Reasons to avoid
  • It’s Gemini Elf
  • It’s so bad

Gemini Elf was first printed in 1999. Its attack value of 1900 immediately made it the best level-four normal monster in the game, completely replacing Mechanicalchaser in the meta. Although it’s an unplayable card today, it was a landmark card in early Yugioh – which is probably why it was chosen to be the fourth prize card in the 2001 Asian Championships.

The Asian Championships was a tournament held in Japan and only open to players in the Asian nations that had access to the OCG – remember, this was a year before the Trading Card Game was released in North America and the rest of the world. All five prize cards featured alternate artwork, a first for the game.

As well as its high price, this Gemini Elf is one of the most valuable Yugioh cards for sentimental reasons. At the Asian Championships, they were also presented by Kazuki Takahashi, the creator of Yugioh himself!

On May 8 2024, trading card seller Vintage Card Japan announced via Twitter that it had sold the card privately for 40 million yen, roughly $254,791 by the exchange rate at the time. It’s still only a Gemini Elf, but it’s the most storied Gemini Elf ever printed.

Blue-Eyes White Dragon LOB 1st Edition

Worth $85,000

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Blue-Eyes White Dragon LOB 1st Edition specifications:
Competition prize? No
Printed / awarded 2002
Valuable because A perfect condition copy of the first ever printing of the legendary card
Highest sale $85,000
Reasons to buy
  • The original card in perfect condition
Reasons to avoid
  • Eye-wateringly expensive copy

Blue-Eyes White Dragon might be the most popular Yugioh card of all time, even if it isn’t the rarest. A heavyweight both in the early days of the trading card game and the original anime series, it’s still sought after today, especially if it’s an ultra-rare mint-condition copy, like this one.

Released in the Yugioh trading card game’s first expansion set, Legend of Blue-Eyes White Dragon (LOB), this first-edition PSA 10 Gem Mint condition card sold at auction in October 2020 for an astounding $85,000 (£65,000). That’s a whole lot of dough, but you’ll need three of them to summon the chunkier Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon.

Other copies of the card don’t go cheap, either. Back in June 2021, a Chinese court suspended an auction after bidding spiralled up to a wild $13.4 million / £10.1 million, as people clambered to get their hands on an ultra-rare Blue-Eyes White Dragon with a 20th-anniversary card frame.

Dark Magician LOB 1st Edition

Worth $85,000

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Dark Magician LOB 1st Edition specifications:
Competition prize? No
Printed / awarded 2002
Valuable because A mint copy of the Arkana variant from the first ever Yugioh set
Highest sale $85,000
Reasons to buy
  • A rare copy of an iconic card
Reasons to avoid
  • Not tournament relevant

Another staple of the Yugioh anime and trading card game, Dark Magician is best known as the favorite card of protagonist Yugi Muto. And with that fame comes expense, as a PSA 10 gem mint condition copy of the card, printed in the Legend of Blue-Eyes White Dragon set, was auctioned in June 2021 for $85,000 (£65,000).

Notably, this particularly valuable Yugioh card was the Arkana variant of Dark Magician. Functionally, it’s exactly the same card, but includes a different artwork with a crimson hue and was introduced in the anime as a rival to Yugi Muto’s version of the card.

Crush Card Virus Shonen Jump Championship 2007

Worth $50,000

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Crush Card Virus Shonen Jump Championship 2007 specifications:
Competition prize? Shonen Jump Championships
Printed / awarded 2007
Valuable because Only 42 copies of this variant have ever been printed
Highest sale $49,999.99
Reasons to buy
  • A once-busted card
Reasons to avoid
  • A newer printing nerfs it

Awarded as a prize card in the 2007 Shonen Jump Championships (a series of Yugioh trading card game tournaments that were later replaced by the Yugioh Championship Series), there aren’t many copies of this version of Crush Card Virus around. Originally, 40 copies of the rare Yugioh card were produced, before a further two were made for the SJC 2008 tournaments.

It’s the scarcity of this card that makes it so valuable to collectors, more so than its functionality or popularity. In June 2020, a PSA 10 gem mint copy sold for $49,999 (£40,058.70) on eBay. Not bad for a card that’s spent most of its life sitting on the Yugioh banlist (until Konami rewrote its rules).

Minerva, the Exalted Lightsworn 2015 prize card

Worth $34,800

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Minerva, the Exalted Lightsworn 2015 prize card specifications:
Competition prize? First prize for national events World championships
Printed / awarded 2015
Valuable because The ultimate version of a very fancy card
Highest sale $34,800
Reasons to buy
  • Minerva has never looked better
Reasons to avoid
  • No longer a tournament beater

An ultra-rare variant of Minerva, The Exalted Lightsworn was awarded as the first prize for national events in the 2015 Yugioh World Championship Series. The distinction between this version and the cards given out for second and third place is very subtle: the golden lettering is all that separates it from its kindred.

One such card with an excellent condition score of 9.5 sold via Heritage Auctions on November 6 2021 for $34,800, followed in March 2022 with a 9.0 condition card that moved for $31,200. While Minerva might not matter much in the meta these days, she’s earned her place among the most expensive Yugioh cards ever printed.

Cyber Dragon MF03-009 Yu Gi Oh GX toy promo

Worth $30,500

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Cyber Dragon MF03-009 Yu Gi Oh GX toy promo specifications:
Competition prize? Toy promo
Printed / awarded 2006
Valuable because Product was cancelled before it was widely distributed
Highest sale $30,500
Reasons to buy
  • Everyone loves Cyber Dragon
  • Incredible story behind the card
Reasons to avoid
  • Hard to estimate resale value

Back when the GX anime first aired on American TV, Konami partnered up with toy maker Mattel to release a range of action figures. Available only from Sears stores, each toy was a popular Yugioh summon, and the packs came with a limited edition version of that monster’s card. However, midway through the third series of toys, the accompanying ‘MF03’ series of cards was pulled from the product.

This meant that cards for monsters released towards the end of the run had particularly short supply, none more so than MF03-009 Cyber Dragon. For many years this promo card was practically a myth: although it was listed in official guides to published cards, there were no photos of it in the wild.

That was until 2020, when redditor loserchris (real name Kevin, no surname given) shared the news on the r/yugioh subreddit that he had found several MF03 series cards in his closet, saying “I don’t even remember where I got them”. The community was flabbergasted that an MF03-009 was finally found among them.

Kevin sold the Cyber Dragon via an auction on the YGOrganization Discord, and confirmed to Wargamer that he received a tidy $30,500 for the card.

Cyber-Stein Shonen Jump Championship 2004

Worth $30,100

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Cyber-Stein Shonen Jump Championship 2004 specifications:
Competition prize? Shonen Jump Championships
Printed / awarded 2004-2005
Valuable because Only 18 copies printed for the original tournaments
Highest sale $30,100
Reasons to buy
  • A stunning, unique copy
Reasons to avoid
  • Rare and hard to find

This copy of Cyber-Stein was originally awarded as a prize card at the Shonen Jump Championships between 2004 and 2005. Only 18 copies of the valuably Yugioh card were produced for the tournaments, although an extra two were printed for the tournaments in 2008, and 126 copies were made for a promotional event in 2009.

Regardless of its reprints, this is still a rare Yugioh card. A PSA 10 gem mint condition copy printed in the original 2004 auctioned in October 2020 for $30,100 (£22,800).

Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth Dark Duel Stories promo

Worth $30,000

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Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth Dark Duel Stories promo specifications:
Competition prize? No
Printed / awarded 2002
Valuable because At the time, the only gem mint copy of a rare promo card
Highest sale $29,999.99
Reasons to buy
  • Unspeakably rare
Reasons to avoid
  • Not an iconic card

This little insect doesn’t have much renown in the TCG community, but it managed to make a name for itself as a valuable Yugioh card in August 2021. A rare promo version of the card, released alongside the Dark Duels Stories Game Boy cartridge, that had been rated in PSA 10 gem mint condition sold on eBay for a whopping $29,999.99 (£22,700) on that date.

At the time of its listing, it was billed as the only gem mint copy of the promo card in the entire world, making it somewhat unique. Since then, however, trading card authenticator and grading company PSA has listed three other copies of the card.

The Seal of Orichalcos UDE event

Worth $26,400

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The Seal of Orichalcos UDE event specifications:
Competition prize? Created for UDE Duel the Master events, but not awarded as a prize
Printed / awarded 2005
Valuable because Apparently only 15 copies exist, and they were never intended to be distributed
Highest sale $26,400
Reasons to buy
  • A unique variant card
  • Fascinating backstory
Reasons to avoid
  • Not tournament legal
  • May steal your opponent’s soul

The Seal of Orichalcos has appeared in several Yugioh sets, but that wasn’t always the case. When it made its first appearance in season four of the Yugioh anime in 2005, it had no paper counterpart. Upper Deck Entertainment decided to make their own custom version of the card. This rare Yugioh card appeared only in UDE-organised “Duel the Master” side-events at tournaments: challenge games against a master player, usually a judge, wielding a stacked deck full of powerful cards.

The Seal of Orichalcos isn’t really a promo, since it wasn’t intended to make its way into the hands of players, and was never legal in any form of tournament play. This version of the card has an ominous final clause – if you lose against its owner, your soul is forfeit! Legend has it that only fifteen copies of the card were ever printed, suggesting it is one of the rarest cards in any TCG.

In 2017, Yu-Gi-Oh! collector Anthony Nguyen released a YouTube video revealing he’d acquired a copy of the legendary card. Once it became apparent that it was possible for collectors to get their hands on it, there were a spate of sales – with a 7-graded copy selling via Heritage Auctions for $26,400.

Blue-Eyes White Dragon Dark Duel Stories promo

Worth $25,100

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Blue-Eyes White Dragon Dark Duel Stories promo specifications:
Competition prize? No
Printed / awarded 2002
Valuable because A promo packed in with a Game Boy game, few good condition copies have survived
Highest sale $25,100
Reasons to buy
  • A rare copy with an interesting history
Reasons to avoid
  • No longer tournament-relevant

Another entry for the pallid serpent, this was one of six Prismatic Secret Rare cards released in promotion for the Yugioh Dark Duel Stories videogame. Two sets were created and were packaged inside the Gameboy game. One set contained ol’ Blue-Eyes, Exodia, and Dark Magician; the other had Acid Trap Hole, Seiyaryu, and Salamandra.

This PSA 10 gem mint condition copy sold at auction in February 2021 for the not-insignificant sum of $25,100 (£19,000). Although a fair few prismatic Blue-Eyes White Dragons made their way into the world as promo cards for the videogame, few have been kept in such great condition. Only these pristine few will rank among the most expensive Yugioh cards in history.

Chaos Emperor, the Dragon of Armageddon championship series 2018

Worth $18,000

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Chaos Emperor, the Dragon of Armageddon championship series 2018 specifications:
Competition prize? Yugioh Championship series
Printed / awarded 2018
Valuable because A super-scarce early printing of a powerhouse card
Highest sale $18,000
Reasons to buy
  • Unique monster effects
Reasons to avoid
  • Extreme foiling may blind you mid-match
  • So much rules text

Similar to Minerva, the Exalted Lightsworn, Chaos Emperor was a prize at the 2018 Yugioh Championship series. Championship winners were the first to get their hands on the powerful dragon, two years before its first public printing in Battles of Legend Armageddon.

While it requires a lot of reading, this expensive Yugioh card has some pretty explosive effects. Wipe out your opponent’s board and their life points with a unique monster effect, or play to either pendulum zone to retrieve another dragon from your graveyard. A copy of the ultra-rare first-place winner’s card with a PSA Mint 9 rating sold via Heritage auctions for $18,000 in November 2021.

Card of Sanctity Kids WB promo

Worth $17,000

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Card of Sanctity Kids WB promo specifications:
Competition prize? Kids WB contest
Printed / awarded 2004
Valuable because Only 100 copies awarded (to kids)
Highest sale $17,000
Reasons to buy
  • You can feel like a winner
Reasons to avoid
  • No pristine copies seem to exist
  • The anime did it better

This very valuable Yugioh card went for $17,000 in a 2024 sale on the auction site Goldin. A promo card from 2004, Card of Sanctity’s rarity is easy to explain. The card was given away by Kids WB as part of a promotion for the Yugioh anime. Instructions to enter a sweepstakes were given out in the episode Back to Battle City Part 3.

100 kids in the US won these special copies of Card of Sanctity, and promptly stuffed them into drawers, traded them away on the playground, bent them, tore them, or left them outside in the rain. The $17,000 copy we spotted only had a PSA 8 Near Mint grade, but that’s not exactly important when there are basically no higher-quality versions of the card available.

It’s worth noting that the real card is a lot worse functionally than it was in the anime, where it made each player draw up to six cards in their hand.

Doomcaliber Knight Shonen Jump Championship 2008

Worth $15,300

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Doomcaliber Knight Shonen Jump Championship 2008 specifications:
Competition prize? Shonen Jump Championship 2008
Printed / awarded 2008
Valuable because Only 68 copies ever produced
Highest sale $15,300
Reasons to buy
  • Cheaper copies make strong budget cards
Reasons to avoid
  • A PSA 10 copy has never been sold

Another rare Yugioh card given out at the Shonen Jump Championships, this copy of Doomcaliber Knight was handed to winners of the 2008 tournaments. Only 68 copies of the cards were ever produced, making it not only super scarce, but super coveted.

In March 2021, a PSA 7 near-mint copy of the card was auctioned for $15,300 (£12,258.21). This is one of very few cards on this list that isn’t graded PSA 10 – and since a copy that pristine has never been sold, it’s hard to know if they exist at all. The fact that copies sell for such high prices without a perfect grading goes to show how valuable the card is.

Morphing Jar Tournament Pack: Season 2 promo

Worth $15,000

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Morphing Jar Tournament Pack: Season 2 promo specifications:
Competition prize? Found in tournament participation booster packs
Printed / awarded 2002
Valuable because The single ultra-rare card in the little printed Second Season Tournament Pack
Highest sale $15,000
Reasons to buy
  • An iconic bit of lethal crockery
Reasons to avoid
  • Not tournament legal

Another promotional card, this copy of Morphing Jar was released in the second season Tournament Pack, a specially-compiled booster that was released at select tournament locations in late 2002. More than that, Morphing Jar was the pack’s single Ultra Rare, making it doubly golden – and a pretty valuable card on the secondary market.

In Early 2021, a PSA 10 gem mint condition copy of the card sold for just under $15,000 (£12,000). Still, we reckon the classic Pot of Greed is the best piece of crockery to ever make its way into Yugioh.

Corrected Art Dark Paladin 1st Edition

Worth $15,000

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Corrected Art Dark Paladin 1st Edition specifications:
Competition prize? No
Printed/ awarded 2004
Valuable because You had to mail a company a card and wait ages to receive a replacement
Highest sale $15,000
Reasons to buy
  • A storied Yugioh card
  • Dark Magician’s brawnier brother
Reasons to avoid
  • Maybe you liked the old art

Often, when a trading card gets misprinted, its recipient’s dismay turns to glee when they realize their misshapen playing piece is now an even more valuable Yugioh card. But in the case of Dark Paladin, it’s the ‘correction’ to that misprint that now holds immense value.

The first edition English printing of Dark Paladin from the 2003 Yugioh set Magician’s Force used the incorrect artwork. A version of the card that was intended to be exclusive to an upcoming boxed set.

Upper Deck Entertainment, the distributor for English-language Yugioh cards in the 2000s, corrected the mistake for later editions of the card. However, for some reason it also offered players with the misprinted card a chance to swap their 1st edition Dark Paladins for 1st edition Dark Paladins with the corrected art.

The offer was advertised on Upper Decks website, and in various magazines. But it seems like many fans either didn’t hear about it, didn’t bother to send off for the card, or thought the misprint would be more valuable in the long run. So few copies were put into circulation that now the corrected art version of the Dark Paladin is much rarer and more expensive.

The highest recent price we could find was a PSA-graded gem mint condition copy that sold for $15,000 on Fanatics Collect on May 11, 2021. Props go to the Reddit user AzulRyu who documented this bit of TCG history in exhaustive detail.

Dark Magician Girl 1st edition

Worth $13,200

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Dark Magician Girl 1st edition specifications:
Competition prize? No
Printed / awarded 2003
Valuable because Only printing that uses the same card art as in the Anime
Highest sale $13,200
Reasons to buy
  • The only version with the OG Anime art
Reasons to avoid
  • Not part of a competitive deck archetype

Dark Magician Girl was first printed in 2003, in the North-America only set Magician’s Force. Although she’s had a wider reprint since then, this was the only printing to feature the card art used in the Anime.

A gem mint first edition Dark Magician girl sold for $9,100 via eBay in November 2020, while another sold for $13,200 via PWCC marketplace in July 2022. The deck archetype this expensive Yugioh card belongs to no longer sees much success at tournaments, but its rarity and the iconic status of the card keep its value high.

German Pharaoh’s Tour prize Gold Sarcophagus

Worth $12,600

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German Pharaoh’s Tour prize Gold Sarcophagus specifications:
Competition prize? 2007 Pharoah’s Tour national winners prize
Printed / awarded 2007
Valuable because The only German-language copy of the card on sale
Highest sale $12,600
Reasons to buy
  • A regal prize for a tournament king
Reasons to avoid
  • Sprechen sie Deutsch?

Another championship prize card, Gold Sarcophagus was the prize for national winners in the 2007 Pharoah’s Tour series. The Ultra-Rare variant was awarded to first-place winners. When a PSA 8-graded German-language copy went up for auction in June 2022, it sold for $12,600 – probably because it was the only German-language copy of the card on the market at the time.

Red-Eyes Black Dragon LOB 1st Edition

Worth $10,600

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Red-Eyes Black Dragon LOB 1st Edition specifications:
Competition prize? No
Printed / awarded 2002
Valuable because PSA 10 Gem mint copy of a popular dragon from the first set
Highest sale $10,600
Reasons to buy
  • It’s the original edgy dragon
  • One of just ten ultra-rares in the first Yugioh set
Reasons to avoid
  • Not a serious competitive contender

Another favorite from Yugioh’s line of vivid drakes with notable eye colors, Red-Eyes Black Dragon doesn’t have the acclaim or market value of its esteemed Blue-eyed counterpart, but can certainly hold its own. One of ten Ultra Rares included in the first Yugioh set release, Legend of Blue-Eyes White Dragon, this card was a prize to find.

Twenty years later, that prize has only gone up in value. A PSA 10 gem mint condition copy of the first-edition card cards for $10,600 (£8,000) in January 2021. Yugioh players sure do like their dragons.

Number 89: Diablosis the Mind Hacker Championship 2017

Worth $10,500

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Number 89: Diablosis the Mind Hacker Championship 2017 specifications:
Competition prize? Yugioh Championship Series
Printed / awarded 2017
Valuable because Powerful ‘number’ card awarded as tournament promo
Highest sale $10,500
Reasons to buy
  • Valuable version of an ultra-collectible card
  • A terror of the 2022-2023 meta
Reasons to avoid
  • The card is banned
  • Very few championship cards exist

Number 89: Diablosis the Mindhacker was an exclusive card given to Yugioh Championship Series winners in 2017. The average duellist then had to wait four years for it to get a regular release in the 2021 set Brothers of Legend.

Most valuable Yugioh cards are rare but not powerful, but Diablosis is both. Its ability to banish cards from the opponent’s extra deck, graveyard, and the top of their deck made it a disrupting terror in recent times, forcing many players to warp their deck-building process in an effort to counter it.

Fortunately, the aggrieved fans’ prayers were answered when, in June 2023, the card was stuck onto the Yugioh banlist. It found its way to the Yugioh Master Duel banlist soon afterwards, in October.

Getting plenty of play will probably have boosted its market value at least a little, but ultimately it’s the low supply, inherent to any prize card, that has made Diablosis so expensive. According to Heritage Auctions, which oversaw the sale of a copy for $10,500 in September 2022, only nine PSA 10 copies are known to exist.

Gaia the Dragon Champion

Worth $9,900

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Gaia the Dragon Champion specifications:
Competition prize? No
Printed / awarded 2002
Valuable because Secret Rare from Yugioh’s earliest expansion
Highest sale $9,900
Reasons to buy
  • One of the earliest Fusion cards
  • Slightly cheaper than other early faves
Reasons to avoid
  • More prestigious dragons are available

One of only two Secret Rare cards released in the very first Yugioh set, Gaia the Dragon Champion depicts a terrifying fusion between Gaia the Fierce Knight and Curse of Dragon. Terrifying in appearance, that is; obviously with no abilities and okay stats, this warrior wouldn’t stand a chance in the modern TCG meta.

You might think being one of the two rarest cards in the earliest Yugioh set would be enough to explain Gaia’s high price, with a copy selling on Heritage Auctions for $9,9000 in 2021. However, the other Secret Rare card from the set, Tri-Horned Dragon, commands a pitiful price in comparison, of just a few hundred dollars.

Just like less rare, but far more expensive Legend of Blue Eyes cards such as Dark Magician and Blue-Eyes itself, It seems it’s prestige that accounts for the difference. Gaia the Dragon Champion is a far more popular card than Tri-Horned Dragon, appearing in the anime’s fifth episode, getting more reprints and appearing in more video games than its less appealing horny lizard friend.

Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon (Retro Pack 2)

Worth $9,000

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Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon (Retro Pack 2) specifications:
Competition prize? No
Printed/awarded 2009
Valuable because Rare card from hard-to-obtain set
Highest sale $9,000
Reasons to buy
  • Extremely collectible
  • Relatively cheap copies are available
Reasons to avoid
  • Not the most prestigious Blue-Eyes

Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon is one of nine Secret Rares from Retro Pack 2, with a bit of extra prestige thanks to the Blue-Eyes connection. The original limited edition printing of this card was given to kids who saw the 2004 movie, Yugioh: Pyramid of Light, in theaters. But it’s actually this unlimited reprint from a few years later (2009) that’s most expensive.

That’s because, even though it’s ‘just’ a reprint set, Retro Pack 2 had an extremely low print run and was very hard to get hold of in America. Boxes were released only in Europe, and now easily sell for over $5,000.

Less perfect copies of this exact card can be found online for $1000 – $2000, but the most staggering value we found was a PSA 10 Gem Mint specimen that sold via Fanatics Collect in February 2021 for $9,000.

There’s a funny bit of trivia about this card. You have to tribute Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, to summon Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon. But the former wasn’t released until almost two years after the latter’s first printing, meaning for a large stretch of time the Shining Dragon was completely unusable. D’oh!

Gladiator’s Assault Magic Formula

Worth $8,700

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Gladiator’s Assault Magic Formula specifications:
Competition prize? No
Printed / awarded 2007
Valuable because Gem mint copy of a little-printed card
Highest sale $8,700
Reasons to buy
  • A piece of competitive Yugioh history
Reasons to avoid
  • No longer relevant to Dark Magician decks

When Magic Formula was printed in the set Gladiator’s Assault 2007, it became a key part of Dark Magician decks, offering power boosts to either Dark Magician or Dark Magician Girl, and a handy life boost should it go to the graveyard. The problem for duellists was getting their hands on it.

Gladiator’s Assault was stuffed with secret rare cards and had a legendarily bad ratio of rare cards to commons and uncommons. Magic Formula was incredibly scarce, and copies from that first printing are still highly sought after: a gem mint Gladiator’s Assault Magic Formula sold for $8,700 on PWCC marketplace in July 2022.

Exodia Legend Of Blue Eyes White Dragon 1st Edition

Worth $8,000

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Exodia Legend Of Blue Eyes White Dragon 1st Edition specifications:
Competition prize? No
Printed / awarded 2002
Valuable because First edition printing, PSA 10 mint Gem
Highest sale $8,000
Reasons to buy
  • The ultimate Yugioh monster
Reasons to avoid
  • Limited in the Yugioh banlist
  • Not strong in tournament play

The notorious Exodia is just as prized on the collector’s market as it is by duelists in the Yugioh anime. It’s the ultimate monster, created by combining five Exodia cards into a single, unmatched entity: the Forbidden One. It’s so powerful, in fact, that it grants its summoner immediate victory. No wonder that sniveling Weevil Underwood threw all of Yugi’s Exodia cards off the boat in the first season.

This copy of Exodia is particularly prized, however, for being a first-edition version that was printed in the game’s original set from 2002, Legend of Blue-Eyes White Dragon. It sold for $8,000 (£6,050). As well as being graded at PSA 10 Mint Gem condition, all five cards that make up Exodia were released as Ultra Rares, making them difficult to find regardless of their age.

Attack of the Giant Card!! Cyber Dragon

Unconfirmed

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Attack of the Giant Card!! Cyber Dragon specifications:
Competition prize? Attack of the Giant Card!! Speed Duel tournament at Remote Duel Extravaganza, June 2022
Printed / awarded 2022
Valuable because It’s just so big!
Highest sale Estimated around $10,000
Reasons to buy
  • Big enough to use as a wall decoration
Reasons to avoid
  • Will not fit into regular card sleeves

In addition to being one of the most expensive Yugioh cards ever sold, the Attack of the Giant Card!! Cyber Dragon is also one of the biggest. ‘Attack of the Giant Card!!’ is an official tournament that rewards its winner with a Yugioh card that’s around a meter tall.

According to an eBay listing, this giant Cyber Dragon was awarded at the Remote Duel Extravaganza in June 2022 as part of the Attack of the Giant Card!! Speed Duel tournament. Though we don’t know the official offer accepted, the seller’s OG asking price was just under $10,000 (£9,000) – so the final price is somewhere in this eye-watering ballpark.

Stainless Steel Black Luster Soldier

Unconfirmed, but rumored to be worth millions

Today’s best deals
Stainless Steel Black Luster Soldier specifications:
Competition prize? Yugioh’s first-ever national tournament in 1999
Printed 1999
Valuable because One of a kind
Highest sale No confirmed sales
Reasons to buy
  • The most valuable Yugioh card ever
Reasons to avoid
  • It’s not for sale!

Believed to have been awarded in Yugioh’s first-ever national tournament in 1999, this curious card might be the most expensive Yugioh card of all time. Made of stainless steel, the unique one-of-a-kind Black Luster Soldier monster works differently to every other version of the card – since it’s a Normal Monster, not a Ritual Monster.

According to Kotaku, the card was listed for sale for around $10 million back in 2013, but there’s no indication it sold for that value. Elsewhere, a figure of $2 million is widely circulated, but this does not seem to have a verifiable source attached.

The above image is not the metal monster, but a paper duplicate of the card. 3,000 copies were released in June 2023 as a special promotion in Japan, to mark the 25th anniversary of the game.

For more costly trading cards, check out our guides to the most expensive MTG cards, the most valuable rare Pokemon cards, and the most expensive Lorcana cards in Disney’s new TCG.