Staple Cards in Yugioh Tournament Decks

By Caleb Mclellan

What exactly are staple cards? A staple card is any yugioh card that is found across different tournament decks on any given theme. Sometimes, these rare yugioh staple cards fit across different themed decks. Staple cards are there for a reason, and that is because duelists understand the real power behind the card.
Let's say that you're building a dragon themed deck. A staple card would be a yugioh card called, Cyber Dragon. In case you're new to the game, Cyber Dragon's text says: "If there is a monster on your opponent's side of the field and there are no monsters on your side of the field, you can Special Summon this card from your hand." It's a level 5 with a solid attack and defense rating of 2100 and 1600, respectively. Experienced duelists instantly knew this card was really strong. The key to Cyber Dragon is its ability the balance the playing field, as long as it's in your hand. Lots of tournament viable decks pack monster removal in spades. Whenever your board is clear and your opponent has the advantage of at least 1 monster on his side of the field, you can special summon Cyber Dragon. This one fact translates into card advantage over your opponent. So if you're building a dragon deck, would you still build it without a Cyber Dragon?
Now that you understand the basic principle of a staple yugioh card, there are really powerful cards that can be used in any type of deck. Take Ring of Destruction for instance. Just as a refresher, Ring of Destruction's text says: "Destroy 1 face-up Monster Card and inflict Direct Damage equal to the destroyed card's ATK to the Life Points of both you and your opponent." When this card came out in the Pharaonic Guardian set, I knew that I had to get them into my tournament deck. As it turned out, the Ring of Destruction became one of the most powerful yugioh cards. So powerful, in fact, that it's currently banned in yugioh online. But let's examine why this became a staple card.
Ring of Destruction allowed you to do two things. The first is to destroy one face-up monster card. The second is to inflict direct damage equal to the destroyed card's attack rating. The direct damage, however, is dealt to both you and your opponent. That "drawback" is easily worked around by ensuring that your yugioh tournament is built around keeping your opponent's Life Points lower than yours. You can easily see that this rare yugioh card is a game-breaker and in most cases, a game-ender. It's monster removal and direct damage rolled into one. However, here are a few aspects of the card that's not apparent to most in the beginning:
1. The effect isn't conditional. This means that you can chain it to a ton of other yugioh cards.
2. You can use it against your opponent's monster when it attacks (but before the damage step).
3. You can use it own your own monster.
By analyzing the strength of each yugioh card, you will be able to identify which cards are staple cards. Although the above examples are banned in most tournaments, the key is to find these types of rare cards whenever a new set is released. Finding them and exploiting the power within will lead you to your next tournament victory. Good luck!