Archetype condition

"Axe of Despair" from Battle Pack 2: War of the Giants. The archetype condition is the first line of its card text.

An archetype condition is a condition that says a card is a member of an archetype even if the card's name does not include the archetype's name.

For monsters other than Normal Monsters, an archetype condition is always listed at the beginning of the card text (but after Materials, if any); Normal Monsters instead list it at the very bottom of the text box. (Previously, non-Normal non-Effect Monsters also placed it at the bottom of the text box, as seen with the various prints of "Black Skull Dragon".) On Japanese cards, they are simply written as a regular sentence as part of the main body; on non-Japanese cards, they are always in parentheses and on a separate line from the rest of the card text.

Because an archetype condition is a condition and not an effect, it is unaffected by cards such as "Skill Drain". It is also the only text that can be printed in the card text of a Normal Monster that can affect gameplay in any way (and is therefore not italicized). For a Pendulum Monster, it is the only monster effect text that can affect gameplay while the card is placed in a Pendulum Zone.

List of cards

Main article: List of cards with archetype conditions

History

Archetype membership is ordinarily determined by a card's name: an archetype's support (and anti-support) cards list a specific string in their effect, and a given card is a member of that archetype if its name includes that string. Because Yu-Gi-Oh! is originally a Japanese franchise, all such support is originally determined by Japanese names at time of card design. When cards are localized for non-Japanese regions, a suitable translation must be used to name the archetype, that name string must be used in the names of all archetype members, and no other cards must ever use that string in their names.

This system breaks down when archetypes are retroactively established: unrelated cards may be released whose names happen to contain a certain word or string, and then support cards are released much later that work on all old and new cards containing that string. That string is not considered an archetype until after support cards exist. However, in the meantime, the old cards may have already been localized without any common string in their names.

Predecessors

Initially, when English card texts referred to archetype members, they would write this as "a card that includes "[archetype]" in its card name"; in modern card texts, this is instead written as "a "[archetype]" card". This more long-winded text was a more literal translation of the Japanese text at the time.

The "Amazoness" archetype was the first to encounter a situation where a card that was a member of the archetype in Japanese did not include the appropriate string in their English name—"Amazoness Archer" was at the time named "Amazon Archer" (despite the first "Amazoness" support being released in the OCG prior to the English release of "Amazon Archer"). To compensate, all "Amazoness" support cards specified that they supported "Amazoness" cards as well as "Amazon Archer" individually by name. This approach would later be used for several other archetypes.

The "Archfiend" archetype was the next archetype to encounter this localization issue. However, due to the large number of cards affected, Upper Deck Entertainment took a different approach. "Archfiend" was treated as a special category of card, with support worded as "an Archfiend card", formatting the support more like modern archetype support, but without quotation marks around the archetype name. On their website, Upper Deck Entertainment has a page explaining what an Archfiend card was, including a list of all cards without "Archfiend" in their English name that are "Archfiend" cards.

"Archfiend" is a special category of card. Most Archfiends can be identified by their name. Any card with "Archfiend" in the card name, is an Archfiend.

In addition, several older cards are also considered to be "Archfiends." These cards include:

Axe of Despair
B. Skull Dragon
Beast of Talwar
Fiend Skull Dragon
Lesser Fiend
Shadow Tamer
Summoned Skull
Toon Summoned Skull

Other cases usually involved one or two outlier cards, so were handled the same way as "Amazon Archer"—with all support for that archetype specifically listing the outlier card's name. For example, "Manga Ryu-Ran", whose Japanese name was 「トゥーン・ドラゴン・エッガー」 ("Toon Dragon Egger"), is a "Toon" card, but the "Toon" archetype was not supported until the release of "Toon Table of Contents" 3 years after its first print; to resolve this, the original text of "Toon Table of Contents" specified "Add 1 card [...] that includes "Toon" in its card name, or is named "Manga Ryu-Ran". Similar cases occurred for "Phantom Beast Cross-Wing" and "Phantom Beast Thunder-Pegasus" needing to support "Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts" (due to its Japanese name containing "Phantom Beast"); and "Ojama Country" needing to support "Ojamuscle" (due to its Japanese name containing "Ojama").

One more unique case would appear prior to the creation of archetype conditions: "Rainbow Dragon" and "Rainbow Dark Dragon" both had 「究（きゅう）極（きょく）宝（ほう）玉（ぎょく）神（しん）」 ("Ultimate Gem God") in their Japanese names and together formed an archetype with support, but their translated names had no usable shared strings. However, since at the time the archetype consisted of only these two cards, all three support cards at the time ("Rainbow Gravity", "Rainbow Neos", and "Rainbow Path") just used the phrasing "Rainbow Dragon" or "Rainbow Dark Dragon" instead of the Japanese equivalent of 1 "Ultimate Gem God" monster.

In European languages other than English, there is one additional case that predates archetype conditions: "Arsenal Summoner" supports the "Guardian" archetype, but this must include "Guardian Angel Joan". Due to language differences around the translation of the term guardian angel, "Guardian Angel Joan" has the exact word "Guardian" in Japanese, Korean, English, Spanish, French, and German; but lacks it in Italian and Portuguese ("Joan Angelo Custode" does not have "Guardiano", and "Joan, o Anjo da Guarda" does not have "Guardião"). The effect of "Arsenal Summoner" would then have to handle this on top of the many archetype exclusions at the same time. To resolve this, Upper Deck Entertainment worded the effect in all non-English European languages as (translated) Add 1 GUARDIAN card from your Deck to your hand., with the text formatting implying that Guardian is acting as its own special category, similar to the previous situation with "Archfiend" cards.

Creation

When releasing "Chimera the Flying Mythical Beast" in areas outside of Japan, a new problem arose: "Chimera", like "Gazelle" from before, also had "Phantom Beast" in its Japanese name. Since "Chimera" had already prominently appeared in the anime under its localized name, its name could not be changed for marketing reasons, and it was impractical to reprint all existing "Phantom Beast" support to include "Chimera" as well. Archetype conditions were created to resolve this, with "Chimera" receiving the line (This monster is always treated as a "Phantom Beast" monster.)—after the widespread adoption of archetype conditions, this was later updated to (This card is always treated as a "Phantom Beast" card.), matching the now-standardized archetype condition text.

Several additional cards have since received archetype conditions for the same reason, including most cards mentioned above. In other cases, where an existing localized name is not well-known, cards have been renamed to include them under archetypes. For example, "Amazon Archer" had its English name changed to "Amazoness Archer" to include it in the "Amazoness" archetype, and "Oscillo Hero #2" had its English name changed to "Wattkid" to include it in the "Watt" archetype.

Uses outside localization

After the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game created archetype conditions, the Yu-Gi-Oh! Official Card Game took notice and began to adopt them in the original Japanese cards, when it was desirable to include a card in an archetype without having to include the particular archetype string in its Japanese name.

The first Japanese card to use an archetype condition was "Number 39: Utopia Beyond". "Utopia Beyond" originated in the anime with a name that included all of the components of the Japanese name of the "Utopia" archetype, but with other text interrupting the name, ordinarily preventing it from being an archetype member. Because it was desirable to make it a member of the "Utopia" archetype without changing its anime name, an archetype condition was used in Japanese. In European languages, its name was simply localized to include "Utopia", so the archetype condition was removed.

After its usage on "Utopia Beyond", archetype conditions became more common in Japanese. In Japanese, it is often used when releasing an anime- or manga-original card in the OCG to make it part of an archetype it is closely tied to, despite the archetype's name not appearing in its own. For example, the manga-original card "Contrast HERO Chaos" has a similar name in all released languages, but contains an archetype condition in all languages of the TCG and OCG stating that it is an "Elemental HERO" monster.

Cards with archetype conditions

In English and other European languages, but not Japanese

The first archetype conditions to be made all fall into this category.

English names	English archetype name	Japanese names	Japanese archetype name
A Deal with Dark Ruler Axe of Despair Black Skull Dragon Beast of Talwar Fiend Skull Dragon Lesser Fiend Shadow Tamer Summoned Skull Toon Summoned Skull	Archfiend	「デーモンとの駆（か）け引（ひ）き」 ("A Deal with a Daemon") 「デーモンの斧（おの）」 ("Daemon's Axe") 「ブラック・デーモンズ・ドラゴン」 ("Black Daemon's Dragon") 「タルワール・デーモン」 ("Talwar Daemon") 「デス・デーモン・ドラゴン」 ("Death Daemon Dragon") 「レッサー・デーモン」 ("Lesser Daemon") 「デーモン・テイマー」 ("Daemon Tamer") 「デーモンの召（しょう）喚（かん）」 ("Summoned Daemon") 「トゥーン・デーモン」 ("Toon Daemon")	「デーモン」 ("Daemon")
Blaze Cannon	Blaze Accelerator	「ゴッド・ブレイズ・キャノン」 ("God Blaze Cannon")	「ブレイズ・キャノン」 ("Blaze Cannon")
Celestial Sword - Eatos	Noble Arms	「女（め）神（がみ）の聖（せい）剣（けん）－エアトス」 ("Holy Sword of the Goddess - Eatos")	「聖（せい）剣（けん）」 ("Holy Sword")
Chimera the Flying Mythical Beast Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts	Phantom Beast	「有（ゆう）翼（よく）幻（げん）獣（じゅう）キマイラ」 ("Chimaera the Winged Phantom Beast") 「幻（げん）獣（じゅう）王（おう）ガゼル」 ("Phantom Beast King Gazelle")	「幻（げん）獣（じゅう）」
Manga Ryu-Ran	Toon	「トゥーン・ドラゴン・エッガー」 ("Toon Dragon Egger")	「トゥーン」
Ojamuscle	Ojama	「おジャマッスル」	「おジャマ」
Rainbow Dragon Rainbow Dark Dragon Rainbow Overdragon	Ultimate Crystal	「究（きゅう）極（きょく）宝（ほう）玉（ぎょく）神（しん） レインボー・ドラゴン」 ("Ultimate Gem God - Rainbow Dragon") 「究（きゅう）極（きょく）宝（ほう）玉（ぎょく）神（しん） レインボー・ダーク・ドラゴン」 ("Ultimate Gem God - Rainbow Dark Dragon") 「究（きゅう）極（きょく）宝（ほう）玉（ぎょく）神（しん） レインボー・オーバー・ドラゴン」 ("Ultimate Gem God - Rainbow Over Dragon")	「究（きゅう）極（きょく）宝（ほう）玉（ぎょく）神（しん）」 ("Ultimate Gem God")

The four cards in the Skull Archfiend series are also another unique case: While their English and other European language names all include "Archfiend", they have a condition stating that their name becomes "Summoned Skull" when on the field (in order to receive "Summoned Skull"-specific support). Due to this, they require another condition on top stating that they are all still treated as an "Archfiend" card. This second condition is not needed in Japanese and Korean.

In Italian only, "Un Accordo col Signore Oscuro" ("A Deal with Dark Ruler") was later renamed "Un Accordo con l'Arcidemone" , allowing its archetype condition to be removed. This was likely done because the old name became doubly problematic with the creation of the "Darklord" archetype ("Signore Oscuro" in Italian), which would have otherwise required adding an archetype-exclusion condition on top of the archetype condition.

In non-English European languages

English name	English archetype name	Affected language(s)	Affected name(s)	Affected archetype name
Archfiend Soldier	Archfiend	Portuguese	Soldado Arquidemônio	Arquidemônio
Cyber Raider	Cyber	Italian	Predone Cibernetico	Cyber
Dark Armed Dragon	Armed Dragon	Portuguese	Dragão Negro Armado	Dragão Armado
Dark Magician Girl the Dragon Knight	Dark Magician Girl	Italian	Giovane Maga Nera, il Cavaliere del Drago	Ragazza Maga Nera
Dharc the Dark Charmer Dharc the Dark Charmer, Gloomy	Charmer	German	Dharc, der finstere Zauberer Dharc, der finstere Zauberer in düster	Verzaubererin
Fabled Grimro	Fabled	Italian	La Favolosa Grimro	Il Favoloso
Gadget Soldier	Gadget	German Italian	Maschinensoldat Soldato Gadget	Apparat Congegno
Guardian Angel Joan	Guardian	Italian	Joan Angelo Custode	Guardiano
Lava Battleguard	Battleguard	French German Italian Spanish	Garde des Laves Lavakampfwächter Guardiano di Lava Guardián de Batalla de Lava	des Gardes Kampfwache Battagliasorvegliante Escolta de Batalla
Meklord Astro Dragon Asterisk	Meklord Astro	Italian	Astro Drago Meklord Asterisco	Astro Meklord
Photon Generator Unit	Photon	Italian Spanish	Unità Generatrice di Fotoni Unidad Generadora de Fotones	Fotonico Fotónico/a
Psychic Megacyber	Cyber	Portuguese	Megacyber Psíquico	Ciber
Ride of the Valkyries	Valkyrie	French Italian Portuguese Spanish	Chevauchée des Valkyries Cavalcata delle Valkyrie Cavalgada das Valquírias Cabalgata de las Valquirias	Valkyrie- Valkyria- Valquíria- Valquiria-
Rank-Up-Magic Limited Barian's Force	Rank-Up-Magic	German	Rangsteigerungsmagie Barians kleine Kraft	Rangsteigerungszauber
Sephylon, the Ultimate Timelord	Timelord	French German Spanish	Sephylon, le Seigneur Ultime du Temps Sephylon, der ultimative Zeitherrscher Sephylon, el Amo del Tiempo Definitivo	Seigneur du Temps Herr der Zeit Señor del Tiempo
Spiritual Beast Tamer Winda	Ritual Beast Tamer	French German Italian Portuguese Spanish	Winda, Dompteur Avatar Bête Spirituelle Geistungeheuer-Avatar-Zähmerin Winda Domatore Avatar Bestia Spirito Winda Domador Avatar da Besta Espiritual Winda Domador Avatar del Espíritu Bestia Winda	Dompteur Bête Spirituelle Geistungeheuer-Zähmer/in Domatore Bestia Spirito Domador da Besta Espiritual Domador del Espíritu Bestia
Swamp Battleguard	Battleguard	French German Italian Spanish	Garde des Marais Sumpfkampfwächter Guardiano delle Paludi Guardián de Batalla del Pantano	des Gardes Kampfwache Battagliasorvegliante Escolta de Batalla
Tri-Blaze Accelerator	Blaze Accelerator	French Italian	Accélérateur Tri-Flammes Acceleratore Tri-Fiammata	Accélérateur de Flammes Acceleratore Fiammata

• "Guardian Angel Joan" has a name matching issue in both Italian and Portuguese; however the only affected card ("Arsenal Summoner") has not been reprinted in Portuguese since the creation of archetype conditions, so "Joan" does not yet have an archetype condition in Portuguese.
• For unknown reasons, the Italian card database entry for "Dark Magician Girl the Dragon Knight" previously had an archetype condition, but this was removed from both the database and the physical card when it was reprinted, causing a theoretically unresolved issue (the latest Italian texts of "Dark Magician Girl the Dragon Knight" and "Dark Burning Attack" now conflict, where previously they did not).

Only in Japanese and Korean

After archetype conditions began to be used outside of localizations, they began to appear on Japanese cards as well. This list mostly consists of cards whose localizations could conveniently or coincidentally still include the archetype name.

English names	English archetype name	Japanese names	Japanese archetype name
Celtic Guard of Noble Arms	Celtic Guard	「エルフの聖（せい）剣（けん）士（し）」 ("Elf Holy Swordsman")	「エルフの剣（けん）士（し）」 ("Elf Swordsman")
Number 39: Utopia Beyond	Utopia	「Ｎｏ．（ナンバーズ）３９ 希（き）望（ぼう）皇（おう）ビヨンド・ザ・ホープ」 ("Numbers 39: King of Wishes, Beyond the Hope")	「希（き）望（ぼう）皇（おう）ホープ」 ("King of Wishes, Hope")
Superheavy Samurai Beast Kyubi Superheavy Samurai General Coral Superheavy Samurai General Jade Superheavy Samurai General Shanao Superheavy Samurai Monk Warrior Big Benkei Superheavy Samurai Ninja Sarutobi Superheavy Samurai Ogre Shutendoji Superheavy Samurai Overlord Masurao Superheavy Samurai Prodigy Wakaushi Superheavy Samurai Stealth Ninja Superheavy Samurai Steam Train King Superheavy Samurai Swordmaster Musashi Superheavy Samurai Warlord Susanowo	Superheavy Samurai	「超（ちょう）重（じゅう）魔（ま）獣（じゅう）キュウ－Ｂ（ビー）」 ("Superheavy Demon Beast Kyu-B") 「超（ちょう）重（じゅう）輝（き）将（しょう）サン－５（ゴ）」 ("Superheavy General San-5") 「超（ちょう）重（じゅう）輝（き）将（しょう）ヒス－Ｅ（イー）」 ("Superheavy General Hisu-E") 「超（ちょう）重（じゅう）神（しん）将（しょう）シャナ－Ｏ（オー）」 ("Superheavy Divine General Shana-O") 「超（ちょう）重（じゅう）僧（そう）兵（へい）ビッグベン－Ｋ（ケー）」 ("Superheavy Monk Warrior Big Ben-K") 「超（ちょう）重（じゅう）忍（にん）者（じゃ）サルト－Ｂ（ビー）」 ("Superheavy Ninja Saruto-B") 「超（ちょう）重（じゅう）神（しん）鬼（き）シュテンドウ－Ｇ（ジー）」 ("Superheavy God Oni Shutendo-G") 「超（ちょう）重（じゅう）天（てん）神（じん）マスラ－Ｏ（オー）」 ("Superheavy Heavenly God Masura-O") 「超（ちょう）重（じゅう）神（しん）童（どう）ワカ－Ｕ（ウ）４（シ）」 ("Superheavy Prodigy Waka-U4") 「超（ちょう）重（じゅう）忍（にん）者（じゃ）シノビ－Ａ（ア）・Ｃ（シー）」 ("Superheavy Ninja Shinobi-AC") 「超（ちょう）重（じゅう）蒸（じょう）鬼（き）テツドウ－Ｏ（オー）」 ("Superheavy Steam Oni Tetsudo-O") 「超（ちょう）重（じゅう）剣（けん）聖（せい）ムサ－Ｃ（シー）」 ("Superheavy Swordmaster Musa-C") 「超（ちょう）重（じゅう）荒（こう）神（じん）スサノ－Ｏ（オー）」 ("Superheavy Koujin Susano-O")	「超（ちょう）重（じゅう）武（む）者（しゃ）」
Raidraptor Replica	Raidraptor	「Ｒ・Ｒ・Ｒ（レイド・ラプターズ・レプリカ）」 ("Raid Raptors Replica")	「ＲＲ（レイド・ラプターズ）」 ("Raid Raptors")
Twilight Ninja Nichirin, the Chunin	Ninja	「黄（たそ）昏（がれ）の中（ちゅう）忍（にん）－ニチリン」 ("Twilight Chunin - Nichirin")	「忍（にん）者（じゃ）」

In all languages

This list consists of cards where archetype conditions are deliberately used outside of localization purposes, to give more flexibility to card designers when naming cards. These have since become the most common use of archetype conditions.

Card names	Archetype name(s)
Aileron Love Magus - Ciela Surgical Striker - H.A.M.P. War Magus - Aakas Wisdom Magus - Himmel	Sky Striker
Aussa the Earth Channeler Wynn the Wind Channeler	Charmer
Aussa the Earth Charmer, Immovable Dharc the Dark Charmer, Gloomy Eria the Water Charmer, Gentle Hiita the Fire Charmer, Ablaze Lyna the Light Charmer, Lustrous Wynn the Wind Charmer, Verdant	Familiar-Possessed
Black Fang Magician Double Iris Magician Purple Poison Magician White Wing Magician	Xyz Dragon Pendulum Dragon Fusion Dragon Synchro Dragon
Brilliant Rose	Gem-Knight
Burning Draw Fury of Fire Fusion of Fire Rising Fire	Salamangreat
Contrast HERO Chaos	Elemental HERO
Cybernetic Horizon	Cyberdark
Dragon Spirit of White	Blue-Eyes
Edge Imp Frightfuloid Toy Parade	Frightfur
Fire Fortress atop Liang Peak	Fire Formation
Fortune Chariot	Valkyrie
Gadget Box	Morphtronic
Gaia the Magical Knight	Gaia The Fierce Knight
Golden Rule	Crystal
Kuribah Kuribee Kuribeh Kuriboo	Kuriboh
Number F0: Utopic Draco Future	Utopic Future
Raider's Knight Raider's Unbreakable Mind Raider's Wing	The Phantom Knights and Raidraptor
Starving Venom Predapower Fusion Dragon	Predaplant
The Executor of the Underworld - Pluto	The Agent
U.A. Hyper Stadium U.A. Locker Room U.A. Man of the Match	F.A.
Ultimate Flagship Ursatron	Ursarctic and Drytron
Utopic Onomatopoeia	Dododo, Gagaga, Gogogo, and Zubaba
Zektrike Kou-ou	Inzektor

Text

Card

Language	Text	Translation
English	(This card is always treated as a(n) "[archetype]" card.)
French	(Cette carte est toujours traitée comme une carte "[archetype]".)	(This card is always treated as a(n) "[archetype]" card.)
German	(Diese Karte wird immer als „[archetype]“-Karte behandelt.) Formerly: (Diese Karte wird jederzeit als „[archetype]“-Karte behandelt.)
Italian	(Questa carta viene sempre considerata come una carta "[archetype]".) Formerly: (Questa carta è sempre considerata come una carta "[archetype]".)	(This card always gets considered as a(n) "[archetype]" card.) Formely: (This card is always considered as a(n) "[archetype]" card.)
Portuguese	(Este card é tratado como um card "[archetype]".) Formerly: (Este card deve ser sempre considerado como um card "Arquidemônio".)	(This card is treated as a(n) "[archetype]" card.) Formerly: (This card must always be considered as a(n) "[archetype]" card.)
Spanish	(Esta carta se trata siempre como una carta "[archetype]").	(This card is always treated as a(n) "[archetype]" card).
Japanese	このカード名（な）はルール上（じょう）「[archetype]」カードとしても扱（あつか）う。 Formerly: このカードはルール上（じょう）「[archetype]」カードとしても扱（あつか）う。 Formerly: このカードはルール上（じょう）、「[archetype]」と名（な）のついたカードとしても扱（あつか）う。	This card's name is also treated as a(n) "[archetype]" card as a rule. Formerly: This card is also treated as a(n) "[archetype]" card as a rule. Formerly: As a rule, this card is also treated as a card with "[archetype]" in its name.
Korean	이 카드는 룰 상 "[archetype]" 카드로도 취급한다. Formerly: 이 카드는 룰 상 "[archetype]" 카드로서도 취급한다.	This card is treated as a(n) "[archetype]" card as a rule.

Monster

This notation is deprecated, presumably to make it clear that the condition applies even if the card in question is not currently treated as a monster, e.g. by becoming an Equip Card.

Language	Text	Translation
English	(This monster is always treated as a(n) "[archetype]" monster.)
French	(Ce monstre est toujours traité comme un monstre "[archetype]".)	(This monster is always treated as a(n) "[archetype]" monster.)
German	(Dieses Monster wird immer als ein „[archetype]“-Monster behandelt.)
Italian	(Questo mostro viene sempre considerato come un mostro "[archetype]".)	(This monster gets always considered as a(n) "[archetype]" monster.)
Spanish	(Este monstruo se trata siempre como un monstruo "[archetype]").	(This monster is always treated as a(n) "[archetype]" monster).
Japanese	このカードはルール上（じょう）「[archetype]」モンスターとしても扱（あつか）う。	This card is treated as a(n) "[archetype]" monster as a rule.
Korean	이 카드는 룰 상 "[archetype]" 몬스터로도 취급한다.

See also

• Archetype-exclusion condition
• Name condition