Type line
 | The name of this article is unofficial, or it uses unofficial terminology. It may change at any time as official terms are found or created. |
Type line is an unofficial term for the line of monster properties (including the monster's Type) found on Monster Cards in the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game, Yu-Gi-Oh! Official Card Game, and Yu-Gi-Oh! Rush Duel.
In the TCG and OCG, the Type line is written as the first line of the card description box, printed above the card text. In Rush Duel, it is printed in a dedicated overlay in the top-right corner of the card description box.
Structure[edit]
Properties are listed on the Type line in the following order:
- Type
- Monster card type (Ritual/Fusion/Synchro/Xyz/Link/Maximum)
- Special Summon Monster (only used in the OCG)
- Ability
- Tuner
- Effect/Normal (Starter Deck: Link Strike onwards)
In some video games, Token Monsters list "Token" in their Type line. This is never applied to Token Cards printed in the TCG or OCG, however.
Before 2014, Japanese OCG Type lines use the interpunct ⟨ ・ ⟩ after the listed Type and the slash ⟨／⟩ after all other listed properties. After 2014, all Japanese OCG Type lines use the slash after all listed properties. The Traditional Chinese OCG used the former punctuation formatting for its entire print history.
Usage[edit]
All non-Token Monster Cards have a Type line.
Almost all Monster Cards have a Type. Boss Duel monsters lack Types, so have "Effect" as their entire Type line.
Tokens that represent specific Token Monsters that have fixed Types include that Type and (since the introduction of "Normal" as a Type line element) "Normal" on their Type line. In the TCG, Tokens that represent Token Monsters without fixed Types have "Normal" as their entire Type line; in the OCG, they lack a Type line entirely. Generic Token Cards that do not represent a specific Token Monster do not have a Type line.
Some non-game cards with a Monster Card frame include other text in the Type line—"Duelist ID Card" and "Duelist Name Card" place the text "Full Name" and "Duelist Name" in the Type line, respectively, as the area equivalent to the card description box is intended to be space for a Duelist to write their name. Other non-game cards (and joke Tokens) that use the Type line have fake Types (indicated as Types by the usage of 族 in Japanese)—"Charisma Token" is Charisma-Type and "Everyone's King" is Human-Type.
The Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's ending theme "-OZONE-" features several cards of characters, which have as their Type lines the character's name and age; for example, "Jack Atlas" has the Type line "[Jack Atlas/19 years old]" (【ジャック・アトラス・１９歳】).
