Archetype condition

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"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[edit]

History[edit]

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[edit]

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.[1]

"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 「きゅうきょくほうぎょくしん」 ("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[edit]

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[edit]

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.

Exceptions[edit]

The "Chaos" archetype, spanning hundreds of monsters across all eras, includes several monsters released during early years, such as "Kamionwizard" and "Morphing Jar #2". No card currently supports every Monster, Spell, or Trap Card belonging of the "Chaos" archetype. Explicit support for monster using the explicit text "Chaos" are currently always either "Chaos" Ritual Monsters or "Chaos" Synchro Monsters. Conversely, there are cards with the "Chaos" text string in the TCG that do not belong to this archetype, such as "Dark Magician of Chaos". None of these cards that would result in an archetype-exclusion condition are Ritual or Synchro monsters.

Additionally, all "Number C" and "CXyz" monsters belong to the "Chaos" archetype, and many already have the string "Chaos" in their TCG names (and repeated 「カオス」 in their Japanese names), are instead supported by their sub-archetype strings. No card supports the entire "Chaos" Xyz monsters by explicitly mentioning "Chaos" Xyz in their card texts.

As a result, there are currently no archetype condition or archetype-exclusion condition associated with "Chaos" monsters even if it would otherwise result in one.

Similarly, the "Magician" archetype, which includes "Time Wizard", but excludes "Dark Magician", only have support cards which specifically apply to "Magician" Pendulum Monsters and Continuous Spell Cards.

Cards with archetype conditions[edit]

All languages[edit]

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)
ALERT!
CONTAIN!
EMERGENCY!
EXTINGUISH!
REINFORCE!
RESCUE!
Rescue-ACE
Aileron
Pillar of the Future - Cyanos
Sage of Benevolence - Ciela
Sage of Strength - Akash
Sage of Wisdom - Himmel
Surgical Striker - H.A.M.P.
Sky Striker
Aussa the Earth Channeler
Hiita the Fire 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
Barian Untopia Barian's
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
Combination Maneuver - Engage Zero
Surgical Striker - S.P.E.C.T.R.A.
Sky Striker Ace
Contrast HERO Chaos Elemental HERO
Courageous Crimson Chevalier Bradamante Infernoble Knight
Cybernetic Horizon Cyberdark
Dark Guardian Gate Guardian
Dinomight Powerload, the Dracoslayer Dinomist
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
Galactikuriboh Galaxy
Golden Rule Crystal
Gravity Balance G Golem
Guiding Quem, the Virtuous Dogmatika and Despia
Ignis Phoenix, the Dracoslayer Igknight
Kuribah
Kuribee
Kuribeh
Kuriboo
Kuriboh
Majesty Pegasus, the Dracoslayer Majespecter
Number F0: Utopic Draco Future Utopic Future
Numbers Last Hope
Numeron Creation
Galaxy-Eyes
Raider's Knight
Raider's Unbreakable Mind
Raider's Wing
The Phantom Knights and Raidraptor
Ring Announcer Battlin' Boxing
Starving Venom Predapower Fusion Dragon Predaplant
Tellarknight Altairan
Tellarknight Lyran
Constellar
Tenchi Kaimei Ninjitsu Art
The Executor of the Underworld - Pluto The Agent
This Creepy Little Punk Infernity
U.A. Hyper Stadium
U.A. Locker Room
U.A. Man of the Match
F.A.
Ultimate Flagship Ursatron
Ultimate Bright Knight Ursatron Alpha
Ursarctic and Drytron
Utopic Onomatopoeia Dododo, Gagaga, Gogogo, and Zubaba
Winged Kuriboh LV6 Elemental HERO and Favorite
Zektrike Kou-ou Inzektor

TCG[edit]

All languages[edit]

These conditions are present in all print languages of the TCG.

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 「デーモンとのき」 ("A Deal with a Daemon")
「デーモンのおの」 ("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")
「デーモンのしょうかん」 ("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 がみせいけん-エアトス」 ("Holy Sword of the Goddess - Eatos") せいけん」 ("Holy Sword")
Chimera the Flying Mythical Beast
Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts
Phantom Beast ゆうよくげんじゅうキマイラ」 ("Chimaera the Winged Phantom Beast")
げんじゅうおうガゼル」 ("Phantom Beast King Gazelle")
げんじゅう
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 きゅうきょくほうぎょくしん レインボー・ドラゴン」 ("Ultimate Gem God - Rainbow Dragon")
きゅうきょくほうぎょくしん レインボー・ダーク・ドラゴン」 ("Ultimate Gem God - Rainbow Dark Dragon")
きゅうきょくほうぎょくしん レインボー・オーバー・ドラゴン」 ("Ultimate Gem God - Rainbow Over Dragon")
きゅうきょくほうぎょくしん」 ("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.

Non-English languages[edit]

These conditions only appear in certain non-English language prints of these cards.

English name English archetype name Affected language(s) Affected name(s) Affected archetype name
Cyber Raider Cyber Italian Predone Cibernetico Cyber
Dark Armed Dragon Armed Dragon Portuguese Dragão Negro Armado Dragão Armado
De-Synchro Synchro Italian De-Sincronizzazione Synchro
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
Goblin's Secret Remedy Goblin German
Spanish
Kobolds letzte Rettung
El Remedio Secreto del Trasgo
Goblin
Goblin
Guardian Angel Joan Guardian Italian
Portuguese
Joan Angelo Custode
Joan, o Anjo da Guarda
Guardiano
Guardião
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
Mustering of the Dark Scorpions Dark Scorpion Spanish Reunión de los Escorpiones Oscuros Escorpión Oscuro
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
Superheavy Samurai Soulbang Cannon
Superheavy Samurai Soulbeads
Superheavy Samurai Soulbreaker Armor
Superheavy Samurai Soulpiercer
Superheavy Samurai Soulshield Wall
Superheavy Samurai Soul Portuguese Canhão Samurai Superpesado Estrondo de Almas
Samurai Superpesado Colar das Almas
Armadura Samurai Superpesado Quebra Almas
Samurai Superpesado Perfurador de Almas
Muralha Samurai Superpesado Escudo da Alma
Samurai Superpesado Alma
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
White Aura Bihamut
White Aura Dolphin
White Aura Whale
White Aura German Weiße Aura Bihamut
Weißer Auradelfin
Weißer Aurawal
Weißaura
  • 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).

OCG[edit]

After archetype conditions began to be used outside of localizations, they began to appear in OCG 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 Affected language(s) Affected name(s) Affected archetype name(s)
Celtic Guard of Noble Arms Celtic Guard Japanese
Korean
エルフのせいけん
엘프의 성검사
エルフのけん
엘프 검사
Necroid Synchro
Salamangreat Zebroid X
roid Simplified Chinese 死灵同步
转生炎兽 类斑马X
机人
Number 39: Utopia Beyond Utopia Japanese
Korean
No.ナンバーズ39 ぼうおうビヨンド・ザ・ホープ
No.39 희망황 비욘드 더 호프
ぼうおうホープ
유토피아
Multiple "Superheavy Samurai" monsters Superheavy Samurai Japanese
Korean
超重
초중
超重武者
초중무사
Raidraptor Replica Raidraptor Japanese
Korean
R・R・Rレイド・ラプターズ・レプリカ
R ・ R ・ R레이드 랩터즈 레플리카
RRレイド・ラプターズ
RR레이드 랩터즈
Twilight Ninja Nichirin, the Chunin Ninja Japanese
Korean
たそがれちゅうにん-ニチリン
황혼의 중인-니치린
にんじゃ
첩자

Text[edit]

Card[edit]

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 このカードはルールじょう「[archetype]」カードとしてもあつかう。
Formerly: このカードはルールじょう「[archetype]」カードとしてもあつかう。
Formerly: このカードはルールじょう「[archetype]」のついたカードとしてもあつかう。
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]" 카드로도 취급한다.
This card is treated as a(n) "[archetype]" card as a rule.

Monster[edit]

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]".)
Spanish (Este monstruo se trata siempre como un monstruo "[archetype]").
Japanese このカードはルールじょう「[archetype]」モンスターとしてもあつかう。 This card is treated as a(n) "[archetype]" monster as a rule.
Korean 이 카드는 룰 상 "[archetype]" 몬스터로도 취급한다.
Simplified Chinese 此卡名在规则上也视为“[archetype]”卡。

References[edit]

  1. "What is an "Archfiend"?". Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game. Upper Deck Entertainment. Archived from the original on 26 February 2009.

See also[edit]