In Depth Guide for Yugioh Card Rarities:
In the game of Yugioh there are many different types of card rarities. Rarity is a sign of how hard it is to obtain a certain card. The rarity of a card can therefore have drastic effects on the price of a card. Consequently rarity is something you should definitely know about regardless of whether you are a player, collector or a parent looking out for your child’s trading.
Common (C): Common cards have no special features to them. So no holofoil, no fancy lettering, just your standard card.
Rare (R): Rare cards use a silver, black or gold holofoil for the card name letters. These are the second most common rarity.
Super Rare (SR): Super Rare cards have the card art printed in holofoil.
Ultra Rare (UR): Ultra Rare cards are a combination of Super and normal Rare cards, with holofoil lettering and holofoil. The difference here is that the name is commonly printed in gold foil instead of silver or black, however more recent releases such as LEGENDARY DUELISTS: SEASON 1 & 2 have also featured other colours such as blue, green and purple.
Ultimate Rare (UtR): These are similar to the Ultra Rares, except that both the art, borders, and card ‘buttons’ (depicting the card type and, with monsters, their level) are embossed in a relief effect. Due to the unique printing of these cards they appear both thinner and flimsier than normal cards and can therefore be damaged far easier. They are so fragile in fact, that European English Ultimate Rare’s can often be printed with some factory damage, what commonly happens is that the printing press will leave an minor imprint on the back of the card that can be seen when the card is unsleeved and on an angle.
Secret Rare (ScR): Secret Rares are the same as the Ultra Rare cards, except that the foil on the name is holographic silver, while the holofoil art is polarized, giving a cross-hatched look to it. The holographic effect travels from top right to bottom left.
Prismatic Secret Rare (PScR): These have Silver holographic letters and a prism holofoil background. The holographic effect travels from left to right or side to side.
Ghost Rare (GR): Ghost Rare is a new rarity introduced in the TCG version of Tactical Evolution. It appears to have a very shiny silver lettering, much like a Secret Rare, with some colors removed from the card image, and the entire card appears to be holographic. The overall effect of these changes is a pale, “Ghost-like” appearance to the card art, especially when scanned.
Starlight Rare (StR): Starlight Rare cards have the same horizontal holographic foil pattern as a Prismatic Secret Rare, but applied to the whole card rather than only the artwork, similar to the Platinum Secret Rare. They debuted in Rising Rampage and replaced Ghost Rares as the primary chase card of a set. For each main set there are 4 different starlight rares.
Collectors Rare (CR): It has the rainbow-colored reflective pattern of a Parallel Rare on Attribute, Level/Rank, Artwork, Lore Box Border and Card Border. But it takes the texturization of Ultimate Rare Cards and Combines it with the visuals present in Shatterfoil cards.
Gold Rare (GUR):
This rarity is exclusive to its own series of special sets called the Gold Series. These sets only include cards with gold foil over the card name, holographic gold foil artwork, artwork frame, text border, and card border. Many changes have been made to the design of gold rarity cards over the years, but they are still exclusive to their own sets:
● Ghost/Gold Rare (GGR): features the hologram-like artwork of a ghost rare card in place of the gold-foiled artwork. The borders are still Gold Rare like however.
● Gold Secret Rare (GScR): features the same gold foil patterns as a regular Gold Rare over the card border, card name, artwork, artwork frame,
Level/Rank stars (for monsters), and text box border, but also features the Secret Rare texture pattern wherever this foil appears.
● Premium Gold Rare (PGR): These feature thick golden outlines and frames which can be felt by touch, the level (stars) are also visibly risen. This effect is also applied to the card name and attribute kanji and the monster’s outline. The effect is as if every golden part has been written with actual metal poured in. The rest of the image looks just like an Ultra Rare card. But the whole card has a final layer that gives a golden glass shine finish.
Parallel Rare (PR): Parallel Rare cards have the same polarizing effect of a Secret Rare over the ENTIRE card. They come in a few flavors noted below.
● Parallel Common (PC) : A holographic coating covers the entire card. ● Super Parallel Rare (SPR): These have a holofoil background and a holographic coating covers the entire card.
● Ultra Parallel Rare (UPR): These have gold holofoil letters, a holofoil background and holographic coating covers the entire card.
Starfoil Rare (SFR): Starfoil Rare cards are similar to Parallel Rare cards and were introduced to TCG with Battle Pack: Epic Dawn. These cards have a star pattern.
Mosaic Rare (MSR): Mosaic Rare cards have a shiny pattern of squares over the entire card face. This is similar to Starfoil Rare cards, except that the patterns are squares instead of stars.
Shatterfoil Rare (SHR): Shatterfoil Rare are similar to Mosaic and Starfoil Rare cards but instead feature a shattered-glass style image, using the same technology seen in later Duel Terminal sets.
Other Rarities (Other): As can be expected a card doesn’t always fit into one of these categories. From time to time Konami makes rarities that they don’t list in the official card database, such as Platinum Rares. Other exceptions to the rule exist as well such as Ten Thousand Dragon which does have an official rarity but is the only one of its kind. If you would like more information in regards to any of the information discussed above feel free to contact us at contact@ygocentral.com
