Archetype

An archetype is a group of cards that respect the following rules:

• All members of that group of cards must contain a common term (the name of the archetype) appearing in their members' Japanese card names or there must a line of text in a member's card effect that specifically states that the card belongs to a certain archetype (e.g. "Chimera the Flying Mythical Beast"). Cards with the same words in their English names are not necessarily part of the same archetype (e.g. "Element Valkyrie" is not a "Valkyrie" monster).
• Also, there must be at least one Support or Anti-support card relating to the archetype, that is, a card that references that term in their name, or mentions it in their effect using the phrases "contains archetype in its card name" or more in the latest cards "archetype monsters". Note that support cards must support the archetype, not only one member of the archetype.
• Although it isn't a general rule, members of the same archetype usually share a small number of Attributes or Types (or even both).

Examples of archetypes include "HERO", "Spellbook" and "Wind-Up".

Although membership in an archetype is dictated by the Japanese names of the cards, there are cases where the membership of a card in an archetype is unintentional. For example, "Thought Ruler Archfiend" is considered to be part of the "Sphere" archetype, as its Japanese name ("Mental Sphere Demon") contains the "スフィア", the text for "Sphere", despite this card bearing no relation to the other members of the archetype.

The concept of archetypes is often used in the manga and anime series to define a character's personality, look, state of mind or style of play. Most major players did not use archetypes early on due to a lack of archetypes, but as the game developed, Kaiba and Yugi's Decks grew around an archetype, and Decks based on archetypes such as Mai Valentine's and Maximillion Pegasus's Deck appeared. Starting with the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX series, virtually all main characters and most minor characters utilized Decks based around archetypes.

Groups of cards with similar names and/or artworks that are not supported by outside card effects are called a series.

Also see List of archetypes.