The Best Yugioh Monsters in Every Archetype

Whether you’re building your first deck or your tenth deck, many duelists enjoy choosing a few strong monsters to build their deck around.

Doing this isn’t supposed to be easy, it’s supposed to be a challenge – one that can introduce you to all the different kinds of cards in Yu-Gi-Oh! while you find out what works together and what doesn’t.

This post in all about highlighting the best Yu-Gi-Oh! Monster card in each of the various Yu-Gi-Oh! Archetypes.

There are plenty of them, 23 in total, so any duelist has their work cut out for them.

This guide, at least, will give you an excellent basis to build your new type deck around; or, it will simply introduce you to a few hard-hitting Monster cards that you could use in the future.

Aqua: The Tripper Mercury

If you’re looking for a card that can hit your opponent hard and fast, then The Tripper Mercury is the Aqua attribute Monster card that you want in your deck.

Many duelists prefer Toadally Awesome as their Aqua card of choice, and though its powers are great, once it’s taken out of the equation, you’ll be wasting time getting it back from the Graveyard.

Instead, get yourself The Tripper Mercury and add it to your deck. This card can change each one of your opponent’s monsters to face-up attack position and reduce their ATK stats to 0.

Then, using The Tripper Mercury, you can attack twice! That’s 4000 life points sucked from your opponent straight away.

Beast: Gyaku-gire Panda

The more monsters your opponent has, the harder you can hit their life points – that is the beauty of the Gyaku-Gire Panda.

This card isn’t difficult to understand, and even new players could pick up this panda and know exactly what to do with him.

Gyaku-Gire Panda’s attack points are increased by 500 points for every monster on your opponent’s side of the field.

The attack points of this card start at 800, so it has the potential of becoming a card with 3300 attack points overall.

But that’s not all. When this card attacks with an attack point count that is higher than the defense points of the monster it’s attacking, the difference in points acts as battle damage; taking life points directly from your opponent.

Beast Warrior: Kaiser Vorse Raider

If you ever needed a reason to add a ridiculously overpowered card to your deck, you’ve found one. Kaiser Vorse Raider is a true warrior card.

If you can keep this card on the field, and keep battling with it, then the attack points that it can gain are quite numerous.

As long as you control no monsters on your own side of the field, you can Special Summon Kaiser Vorse Raider from your hand onto the field.

If Kaiser Vorse Raider destroys one of your opponent’s monsters, it gains 500 attack points. If Kaiser Vorse Raider is destroyed in battle, the card that destroyed it loses 500 attack points. It’s a win-win situation.

Cyberse: Firewall Dragon

The Cyberse archetype is full of Link monsters. New players may not recognize the intricacies of Link summoning and Link Monster cards, but not all is lost.

Thankfully, there are a couple of different Link decks (both a starter deck and a structure deck) that are available.

Of all of the Cyberse cards, the Firewall Dragon is among the most powerful. Once summoned, you can use Firewall Dragon’s Quick Effect to target monsters on the field or the Graveyard and return them to the hand.

You can only do this to monsters equal to the number of monsters that are linked to Firewall Dragon.

In addition, if this card destroys a monster on your opponent’s side of the field for its effect, you can Special Summon one monster from your hand.

Dinosaur: Ultimate Conductor Tyranno

The Dinosaur archetype has always struggled a little, there are few cards that can do any real damage to your opponent. They are a strategic play; Yu-Gi-Oh! is all about being able to strategize for any situation before your opponent can.

Dinosaur cards are usually low-level Monster cars with high(ish) attack points. Summoning effects are a key way to win.

One of the strongest Dinosaur cards you’ll come across is Ultimate Conductor Tyranno. When this card was released, Dino players gained a whole new way to create a winning deck.

This card has a couple of different effects, but the one you should be most aware of is this: If this card attacks a monster in defense position, you can do 1000 points of damage to your opponent’s life points.

Dragon: Blue-eyes White Dragon

The Blue-Eyes White Dragon has been around as long as Yu-Gi-Oh! has. This Monster card is featured heavily in the manga and the anime of the series – appearing solidly in Season one, Episode one within a few scenes.

Blue-Eyes White Dragon is the strongest Normal type Monster card in the game. There has never been another Normal type that has stronger attack and defense points.

At 3000 attack points, and 2500 defense points, Blue-Eyes is tough to beat on a normal day. But as a duelist, you’re allowed to have three of them in your deck.

This is a classic card, and though Blue-Eyes White Dragon doesn’t have any effects, it is the staple of any Dragon deck.

Fairy: Athena

Though Athena’s attack points may seem a little low for a level seven Monster card, her effect more than makes up for it.

For each Fairy type Monster that is summoned to the field, Athena can do 600 points of damage to your opponent’s life points.

This effect works no matter who is summoning a Fairy type, so it’s pretty easy to catch someone out; especially if you know they’re running a Fairy deck. Despite Athena’s 2600 attack points, this effect surely makes her a worthy card.

Of course, if you’re looking to plummet your opponent’s life points even faster, then just take a look at Athena’s second effect: Once per turn, you can send one face-up monster to the Graveyard, then Special Summon a Fairy type from your Graveyard in return. An onslaught of Fairy cards awaits; just keep Athena in play.

Fiend: Calcab, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss

Low attack and no defense are the first things many see when they look at this Fiend card. But Calcab, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss has a whole wealth of special effects, and you’d be foolish to push him out of your fiendish plans.

During play, if you control a Monster card that is not one of the “Burning Abyss” monsters, you must destroy Calcab. You can only use one of Calcab’s effects per turn. These two effects are as follows:

1. If you control no Spell or Trap cards, you can Special Summon Calcab from your hand.
2. If Calcab is sent to the Graveyard for any reason, you can return one Spell or Trap card on the field to the owner’s hand.

This card has been noted as one that is fun to play and fun to play against. It’s been around for a while and offers a lot of different ways to optimize its use in your deck. Players are still, after all this time, coming up with various strategies that can utilize Calcab in the best way.

Fish: White Aura Whale

White Aura Whale is one of the many Synchro cards available in the Yu-Gi-Oh! trading card game. Synchro monsters became popular a few years ago, but they are not the most recent way of playing. Yu-Gi-Oh! is an ever-developing game, after all.

That said, White Aura Whale is perhaps one of the strongest Fish Synchro Monster cards that a duelist can include in their ocean-based deck.

When this whale is summoned, you can immediately destroy all of the monsters on your opponent’s side of the field that are in attack position.

Not only that, but White Aura Whale can also make two attacks on monsters during the Battle Phase.

So, if your opponent does manage to recover, it won’t be for long. And with 2800 attack points, they’re going to have to do something pretty special to send White Aura Whale to the Graveyard.

Insect: Number 35: Ravenous Tarantula

You’ll need to start losing before you can win if you’re planning on playing this card. Number 35: Ravenous Tarantula requires two sacrifices that are both level ten before you can put it into play. The cost may seem high, but the risk is worth it.

Using Number 35: Ravenous Tarantula’s effect, all of the monsters that you have on your side of the field gain attack and defense points that are equal to the difference between your life points and your opponent’s life points.

While you’re preparing to summon this card, it would be ideal if you were hit a couple of times.

To make things even better, you have the chance to inflict 600 points of damage to your opponent every time they Special Summon a Monster card; as long as this Tarantula still has XYZ material attached to it.

You can also detach one of the XYZ cards to destroy all of your opponent’s face-up Monster cards that are weaker than this card.

Machine: Perfect Machine King

If you’re running a Machine type deck, then it’s crucial that you’re packing at least one Perfect Machine King.

This card is Normal Summoned, which means you just need to do some standard sacrificing to get its level eight self on the field.

Once you have Perfect Machine King in your hand, it’s time to start loading up your field with as many Machine archetype Monster cards as you can.

Each one will give Perfect Machine King a 500-point boost for its attack points once the card is in play.

This effect also takes your opponent’s cards into account.

Plant: Queen of Thorns

To effectively play the Queen of Thorns, you will need a deck that has a reliable number of Plant cards.

The Queen of Thorns is a wonderful Monster card that can win you a duel exceptionally quickly, as long as you don’t bring your own life points down while using her effect.

Each player that Normal Summons or Special Summons a Monster card from their hand must pay 1000 life points for each one.

The only exceptions are monsters from the Plant type. Keep your Queen in play, and you won’t need to surrender any time soon.

Psychic: Hyper Psychic Blaster

Another Synchro Monster card that you’ll need to prepare for. Hyper Psychic Blaster has 3000 attack points, and a solid defense of 2500 points.

To summon him, you’ll need one Tuner monster and at least one non-Tuner monster that is also a Psychic type.

If you attack a monster in defense position on your opponent’s side of the field, you can inflict piercing battle damage to your opponent’s life points.

Once you have attacked a defense position monster, if that monster’s defense is lower than the attack points of this card, you gain the difference in life points.

Pyro: Uria, Lord of Searing Flames

Uria, Lord of Searing Flames, one of the Sacred Beasts of the Yu-Gi-Oh! world. This card isn’t particularly easy to summon, but if you’re looking to trap your opponent, then you would do well to use it.

You can Special Summon Uria by sending three of your face-up Trap cards to the Graveyard.

We would recommend that you try to send Continuous Trap cards, to help with Uria’s special effect. Once summoned, Uria gains 1000 attack points for every Continuous Trap card in your Graveyard.

Reptile: Worm Zero

Worm Zero is a Reptile type Monster card with a fair amount of effects. If you can get this fantastic card on your side of the field, you will be able to reap many different benefits.

There is some debate as to how Worm Zero should be summoned, but using six Reptile monsters is the best way to get the maximum effect out of it.

You can access all of Worm Zero’s effects by using six monsters as fusion material, as well as gaining 500 attack points for each monster sacrificed.

Rock: Block Dragon

Despite its name, Block Dragon is a Rock type, rather than a Dragon type. This card must be Special Summoned, but once it is, any Rock monsters that you control cannot be destroyed outside of battle.

Once this card is destroyed, you can add three Rock monsters to your hand from your deck, as long as their numbers do not equal a level higher than eight.

Sea-serpent: Number 37: Hope Woven Dragon Spider Shark

When your opponent declares an attack, you can detach one of the XYZ material cards from this Spider Shark and cause all of your opponent’s monsters to lose 1000 attack points until the end of the turn.

When destroyed, this card allows you to summon any one monster from your Graveyard.

Spellcaster: Dark Magician

Like Blue-Eyes, the Dark Magician has been around since the start of Yu-Gi-Oh! A card that is Normal Summoned, and has no effects, but still has a solid set of fattack and defense numbers.

It’s a great support card for any Spellcaster deck!

Thunder: Mist Wurm

Annoying your opponent is one of the best things you can do while dueling. Some duels are lifeless, and a bit of fun goes a long way in a never-ending duel.

Though Mist Wurm is hard to summon, once you have it on the field, you can use its effect to return three of your opponent’s cards to their hand!

Warrior: Twin-sword Marauder

We’re a fan of hard and fast attacks here. With the Twin-Sword Marauder, you can attack twice if your first attack is aimed at a monster in defense position.

Not only that but if you do attack a monster in defense, then you can inflict piercing damage to your opponent at no extra cost.

Winged-beast: Number 49: Fortune Tune

Sometimes you need to strike, other times you’ll need to heal. With Fortune Tune, you gain 500 life points during each of your Standby Phases.

You can save this card from being destroyed by detaching and sacrificing one of its XYZ material cards instead.

Wyrm: Number 24: Dragulas the Vampiric Dragon

Without a doubt, Dragulas the Vampiric Dragon is one of the best cards around. If this card is ever destroyed, you can Special Summon it back onto the field in face-down defense position.

Once it’s flipped up again, you can send any card on the field to the Graveyard. It’s impossible to get rid of.

Zombie: Vampire Vamp

Last on our list, the Zombie type. A strange name, indeed, but Vampire Vamp allows you to continuously make it stronger by stealing the attack power of your opponent’s monsters every time another Vampire card is summoned.

If it ever gets destroyed, you can Special Summon this card back from the Graveyard, as long as it has at least one other card attached to it when it’s killed.

Check out our other Yugioh Guides

• Best Yugioh Starter Decks
• Best Yugioh Structure Decks
• Best Yugioh Booster Boxes
• Best God Cards in Yugioh
• Best Spirit Monsters in Yugioh