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10 best Yu-Gi-Oh! spell cards

Tricks of the trading card game.

A hand holds a Yu-Gi-Oh! card facedown with two fingers stretched across its back. There are additional Yu-Gi-Oh! cards on the table.
Image credit: wachiwit/stock.adobe.com

Spell cards possess a crucial role in Yu-Gi-Oh!, often being utilised as quick support to boost the strength of your combos and key monsters and to turn the tide of battle.

As ever, there are always exceptions to the rule, but if trap cards are typically defensive in nature, the best Yu-Gi-Oh! spell cards are typically those which can change the state of play and can be used offensively to stop your opponent and turn the tide of battle.

Best Yu-Gi-Oh! spell cards

Defining the best spell cards in Yu-Gi-Oh! depends on your judgement criteria, but we’ve decided to make this list with an eye on the current metagame.

Rather than simply reciting a list of iconic spell cards from throughout the game’s history, this list offers a selection of the best Yu-Gi-Oh! spell cards that you may find useful in a duel and define the current competitive scene of the trading card game.


1. Lightning Storm

A versatile strike

Lightning Storm effectively combines Raigeki and Harpie’s Feather Duster in a single spell card, making it a highly potent pick. Image: Konami

The strength of this spell card comes from its versatility. Lightning Storm essentially offers both the effects of Raigeki and Harpie’s Feather Duster within a single card, with player choice and versatility at its core. Rather than running both of those aforementioned cards in your deck, taking up two vital spots in the process, you can simply run one copy of this card and gain the advantages of both at the same time.

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There are some downsides to this added versatility, of course. While you can choose which effect is activated, the card itself can only be used when you control no cards, making it most useful in the early game and a potential dead draw later on. However, this versatility alone is more than enough to overcome these concerns, especially if your opponent goes first and you can immediately clear their advantage with your very first card, setting you on the path for victory.


2. Terraforming

Make of this what you want

Terraforming lets players quickly retrieve field spell cards from their deck. Image: Konami

Field spell cards have only grown more important in the game of Yu-Gi-Oh! in recent years. Rule changes introduced in 2014 allowed for both players to control field spells at the same time and coincided with a greater number of archetypes like Trickster and Prank-Kids taking advantage of the mechanic. Therefore, quick and easy access to your field spells is now more important than ever.

What if there was a card that searched for that all-important field spell? That would be pretty good, wouldn’t it? While many archetypes have cards that allow them to search for archetype-specific field spells, Terraforming is the crucial generic version of the card that any deck can use for easy access to their field spell at zero cost.

Any card that can improve a deck’s consistency is a good thing, but to have one of those cards be generic and therefore able to be splashed into any deck? It may be an older card, but Terraforming is more powerful than ever before.


3. Forbidden Droplet

A powerful Forbidden Chalice replacement

Forbidden Droplet can be costly to obtain today, but it remains one of Yu-Gi-Oh!'s most powerful spell cards. Image: Konami

Sometimes when a Yu-Gi-Oh! card is too powerful or so popular, support or variants on the card will be produced down the line that honour the impact the card was able to have. Pot of Greed spawned an entire series of draw-power Pot cards, while anime favourites like Dark Magician spawned entire archetypes - as we discussed in our list of the best cards in Yu-Gi-Oh!.

Forbidden Chalice’s strength and ubiquity upon its release in 2009 has seen a number of alternative takes on the card produced further down the line, yet perhaps none of these cards are quite as powerful in the current meta as Forbidden Droplet.

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Forbidden Droplet’s true strength comes from its ability to negate the effect of multiple Effect monsters on the field simultaneously. By sending the equivalent number of cards from your hand and/or field to the graveyard, it’s possible to negate the effects of multiple of your opponent’s monsters at the same time and halve their attacks. If that wasn’t enough, it’s also difficult to prevent the spell card from activating successfully, as it cannot be negated by cards of the same type as those sent to the graveyard in order to activate its effect.

With such a powerful effect and little in the way of a low-rarity reprint, perhaps it’s no surprise that the card remains a pricey yet essential component of any competitive player’s deck.


4. Crossout Designator

A spell card standout

Its ability to shut down trap cards and other effects makes Crossout Designator one of the best Yu-Gi-Oh! spell cards in the current meta. Image: Konami

Similar to Forbidden Droplet, Crossout Designator has the honour of being one of the best Yu-Gi-Oh! spell cards in the current format by virtue of its versatility in countering both your opponent’s combos and any hand traps that could stop you from kickstarting combos of your own. Particularly useful if your opponent runs the same deck as you or as a counter to a pesky hand trap like Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring, this card is vital in current competitive play.

Designator’s effect allows you to declare the name of a card and, by banishing one copy of that card from your deck, you can negate the activated effect or effect of cards on the field with the same original name until the end of the term. If Ash Blossom threatens to ruin your momentum and you also run that card in your deck (a likely possibility considering its importance in the current game), Crossout Designator allows you to banish that copy to negate that effect.

In a game where a single well-timed negation can ruin your combo and potentially cost you the duel, there’s a reason this is one of the most important staple spell cards in Yu-Gi-Oh! today.


5. Called by the Grave

Shut down your opponent's effects

The spell card makes having a monster in your graveyard doubly bad, as it can be banished to negate any cards with the same name. Image: Konami

Called by the Grave is another powerful spell card whose negation potential can turn the tide of battle if used correctly. The effect of this card states that, by targeting one monster in your opponent’s graveyard, you can banish it and negate the effect of it and all other cards of the same name until the end of the next turn.

This card is even more powerful than it first appears when you consider its versatility and the strength offered by the card’s secondary ability to negate additional effects of cards with the same name until the end of the next turn. Not only can this negate hand traps when used in response to their activation due to the requirement of many, such as Effect Veiler, that they are discarded to the graveyard in order to activate, but decks that rely on the graveyard such as Tri-Brigade can be stopped nearly dead in their tracks if the right card is negated while in the graveyard.

This doesn’t even need to be activated in response to the activation of an effect in the graveyard! If your opponent summons a powerful monster to the field while another copy lies in the graveyard, activating Called by the Grave to negate and banish the graveyard copy will also negate the copy of the card currently on the field, making it a powerful counter and one of the most important spell cards in Yu-Gi-Oh! today.


6. Raigeki

A single spell that can clear the field thrice

Raigeki was already one of the best spell cards in Yu-Gi-Oh!, but its move to Unlimited earlier this year - allowing three copies to appear in a deck - makes it especially powerful. Image: Konami

We mentioned earlier in this list that Lightning Storm’s strength comes from the card’s versatility to choose between this card’s monster removal and back row removal, yet the requirement to control no cards is a difficult limitation to overcome in many circumstances. With this in mind, there are still instances where cards like Harpie’s Feather Duster and particularly Raigeki can have an impact in the current meta and be a preferred spell card choice for many duelists.

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While the existence of Lightning Storm reduces Raigeki to a tech card that can be side-decked insuring a match depending on the opponent, the strength of this spell card and its cost-free one-sided monster removal are still worth considering in the current meta. The ability to clear the field of an opponent’s boss monster with just a single card will always be useful, but against the right deck? It’s deadly, especially now that the card is unlimited to three copies per deck.


7. Super Polymerization

A Super version of a classic Yu-Gi-Oh! spell card

Polymerization boosts the original spell card by allowing you to use your opponent's monsters as Fusion materials. Image: Konami

Everyone’s heard of Polymerization, but this card is called Super for a reason. How good does summoning a powerful fusion monster and potentially getting rid of one of your opponent’s monsters at the same time sound to you?

Super Polymerization’s effect is simple, allowing you to Fusion summon using monsters from either side of the field as Fusion material. Provided that the monster your opponent controls can be used as material for a Fusion monster in your Extra Deck, this card can easily remove an opponent’s difficult-to-overcome monster while fueling your own board and allowing you to bring to the field an even more powerful monster than what you had before. Better still, neither player can counter this card’s activation with other card effects, making it impossible for your opponent to stop you from using their monsters as fodder for your master plan.

With Fusion Summons growing ever more important in the current metagame thanks to decks like Branded Despia, Super Polymerization’s potential in the current meta only grows larger as time passes.


8. Sky Striker Mobilize - Engage!

The jet engine of the Sky Strikers decks

Engage! lives up to its name by allowing you to search your deck for Sky Strikers cards, powering the popular archetype. Image: Konami

If there was a reason why Sky Strikers have been an ever-present force in the Yu-Gi-Oh! meta over the past year, a lot of that can come down to Sky Striker Mobilize - Engage! What makes it one of the best spell cards in the format isn’t just how crucial it is to one of the best decks you can play at the moment, but what successful activation of this card can do for your fortunes in a duel.

Reinforcement of the Army is an iconic generic spell card that allows the user to add any Level 4 or lower Warrior-type monster from your deck to your hand, and is only not currently one of the most powerful spell cards in the game due to no current meta decks being based around Warrior monsters.

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Engage! essentially acts as an archetype-specific version of this classic searcher that allows you to search for a Sky Striker card, not limited solely to monsters. If that wasn’t enough, typical Sky Striker decks run upwards of 20 spell cards - making it likely you can also activate the secondary effect of Engage! to draw an additional card from your deck.

With the archetype’s reliance on just two Main Deck monsters that will be turned into Link monsters to keep your Main Monster Zones clear, the condition that requires you control no monsters in your Main Zones is nearly irrelevant, making this a powerful combo-starter that improves the deck’s consistency even in its Limited state.


9. Branded Fusion

One of the most formidable spell cards in Yu-Gi-Oh!

Already a powerful presence, Branded Fusion has become an essential spell card in Yu-Gi-Oh!'s recent meta. Image: Konami

If the Branded Despia deck was already powerful prior to the recent release of the Albaz Strike structure deck, the inclusion of Branded Fusion in this set increases the strength of the Branded Despia deck even further and defines it as one of the most powerful Yu-Gi-Oh! decks and cards in the current game.

Branded Fusion’s strength comes from its ability to allow you to Fusion summon your most powerful monsters from your Extra Deck without even having the required Fusion materials in hand. The ability to Fusion summon using monsters from your deck as material is one thing, but with this deck having access to monsters like Albion the Branded Dragon, which allows you to Fusion summon one Level 8 or lower Fusion monster upon being Fusion summoned successfully, it’s possible to summon multiple powerful Fusion monsters in your opening hand without ceding card advantage by using up the cards in your hand or on the field.

Such a field on its own is a terrifying prospect for many opponents, even ignoring the potential to further combo off of this to bring even more powerful monsters like Mirrorjade the Iceblade Dragon, with few other spell cards viable in the current metagame able to provide this much advantage off of a single activation.


10. Rite of Aramesir

A lot of spell power for a low cost

This spell card can kickstart a game-winning combo by stopping your opponent and buying you time to summon. Image: Konami

This spell card’s strength comes from its ability to combo into a multi-negate board that you can use to slow your opponent down and allow your deck more time to build itself up to maximum strength. From just a single card, it is possible to build a field that offers multiple negates and the ability to bounce an opponent’s monster from the field to the hand.

By activating the card’s effect to summon an Adventurer Token to your field, you can activate a copy of Fateful Adventure from your deck. From this card’s effect it’s possible to search for, then Special summon, Wandering Gryphon Rider, whose effect allows you to negate a card or effect when an Adventurer Token is also on the field. If that wasn’t enough, you can then use Journey of Destiny’s effect to add Dracoback, the Rideable Dragon that can be used to bounce an opponent’s monster if equipped to a non-effect monster like your token. It can even be searched using Water Enchantress of the Temple.

The small number of cards required to make this combo work make it possible to run this single-card engine in multiple different decks as a way of bringing extra effect negation to your play to slow your opponent down. Very few cards can offer so much negation from just a single effect activation, making Rite of Aramesir easily one of the most powerful spell cards currently in Yu-Gi-Oh!

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Alicia Haddick avatar

Alicia Haddick

Contributor

Alicia is trapped, unable to escape the addiction of trying (and failing) to be good at Yu-Gi-Oh. Whenever they do take a break from getting their butt kicked, they like to spend time watching and talking about film, anime, games, musicals and Japanese idols.

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