The Most Iconic Card from Every Year in Yu-Gi-Oh!

[@ICHBinCOOLERalsJeman]

2003 skull servant 2006 king of the skull servants 2008 Lady in wight 2010 wight mare 2014 wight prince 2017 wight princes 2020 wight baking 2024 wight lord

[@LeAkisake]

this is the true list

[@siratera3368]

Based!

[@Ariso-hm4ec]

It's the most iconic card only from Yu-Gi-Oh, not TCG in general.

[@ivanfernandez5847]

It's the most popular, not the best.

[@Phasma]

Found MBT's alt account

[@Thatonegoose]

The fact odd eyes won 2014 but stardust didn’t win Is kinda weird, stardust was commonly played, and towers coined its own term in yugioh, odd-eyes is just kinda there

[@LightshaverConstellation]

Odd eyes winning is weird to me too as my off hand list for most iconic of that year is exciton, soul charge, artifact sanctum, shaddoll fusion or Dante. They all were relevant for longer in the year and better cards in their decks that year and all were still played by the end of that year as well.

[@ether2275]

Literally all the other cards he mentioned for the year are more iconic in my eyes.

[@monkeylemur]

Stardust was also meta for a ridiculously long amount of time, was so balanced that despite that it was never banned. It's definitely one of the best representation of the rare good design in YGO lol, compared to DAD which was unsearchable and a sacky blow out that had low longevity. Though if you gotta mention Towers, Brilliant Fusion could also be up there for retroactively making Garnet one of the most iconic cards of all time (but was released much earlier)

[@MysteryOrigin]

Cimo has a personal vendetta against dark armed dragon and stardust just happens to be released in the same year.

[@IgnitionArt]

@@monkeylemur Ngl Garnet actually might be the call, either that or Towers at least.

[@Aaronrules380]

Honestly think Stardust Dragon should have beat DAD for 2008. DAD's better competitively, but Stardust was no slouch in that manner, is the posterchild for Synchro summoning as a whole, and the ace monster of 5Ds protagonist. I feel like relatively the amount of the community to whom DAD was relevant is significantly smaller

[@michaelmon1337]

Respectfully disagree as someone who was around for the time. DAD was so iconic and coveted by every player at the time you have no idea

[@EcnomicSuicide]

@@michaelmon1337I’m a semi casual and stardust rings more bells than dark armed

[@charlesr951]

I think the key difference is that DAD released so early in the year. It impacted people throughout that whole time. Stardust didn't really see a lot of play until the next year as a side deck staple. Also I feel it's more relevant in retro play than it would have been at that time.

[@siinuxxblume5123]

@@michaelmon1337 It is more of a timing issue, DAD releases in January, becomes the best deck and just becomes stronger with TeleDAD. Overall for the entirety of the game stardust is more iconic though

[@ConductorElcrest]

@@charlesr951 You mean Extra Deck staple- There would be zero reason to place it in side.

[@Piversity]

2017 not being ash is crazy, its the face of modern yugioh

[@codyhanson1344]

but not the face of 2017 specifically

[@shootercade1299]

I have to agree with cimo on this one. Ash blossom is iconic but it wasn't as iconic as pre errata firewall for they YEAR of 2017

[@jamesaditya5254]

For Firewall it's the combination of being the protag's ace monster for the first half of Vrains on top of being super playable and even abusable in the competitive scene. It even got other cards banned thanks to its anime plot armor. If you see its anime appearances I think it's quite obvious that after the first season dropped, they tried to push away from Firewall being the main ace monster because its inevitability of receiving the ban. It appears a healthy amount in season 1, but only appears in a handful of season 2 episodes during climactic moments and not featured at all in season 3. I'm guessing Cyberse Clock Dragon is supposed to scratch that dragon-flavored itch but never really caught on so they went all in with the Code Talkers

[@Petsinwinter2]

@@codyhanson1344 nor was Maxx "C" in 2011

[@codyhanson1344]

@@Petsinwinter2 I agree

[@7thHourFilms]

The first 5 years were Dragons, Waifus and Machines. Only interrupted by a Trap Card before more Dragons. Never change Yu-Gi-Oh!

[@ibra8096]

I would argue halq was 2020 but I think saying dragoons is fair because of how many people were gassing it

[@StarXIbb]

Crush Card Virus was $1500 in 2007, which equals $2281 in 2024.

[@TehWhiteTiger]

That's scary but not as much as seeing how much inflation we've had in that time frame..

[@pidgeotroll]

2281/1500 is 1.52, and the 17th root of 1.52 is 1.025. That means it’s only been 2.5% annual inflation which is just about what’s considered healthy. The slight deflation and stalled growth of 07-09 basically cancels out with Covid inflation of 20-22.

[@franzhans4207]

​@@pidgeotroll Some consider that healthy sure. But others consider that an excuse. Maybe inflation should be below one percent per year.

[@pidgeotroll]

@@franzhans4207 I'm not an expert in monetary policy, but from a cursory read of the monetary policies of the largest central banks in the world, including the US Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, Bank of England, Bank of Japan, Bank of Canada, Reserve Bank of Australia, and Reserve Bank of New Zealand, the majority seem to favor the range 1-3% or around 2%. These countries have generally been successful so I would trust their experts know what they are saying.

[@weckar]

Inflation doesn't work like that...

[@bondsmatthew]

"Surely 2011 is Shi-En with Storm of Ragnarok" *video gets to 2011* "Oh fuck, Maxx C was Storm of Ragnarok, nevermind"

[@battlepower777]

This was literally me😂😂😂

[@sr.duarte9438]

Totally what I thought 😅

[@CD-Gaming]

Oh, shit, I forgot about Six Samurai! A guy at my locals was renowned for his deck building prowess and had two everyone feared: The Agents and Six Samurai! I nearly decked him out with a Custom Deck'n'all, so I can claim that! I did turn to him for advice, naturally, for when I built my own Six Samurai deck on World Championship 2011! It was a rather powerful and fun deck and easy to learn, I found, so I can see how it became such a threat, especially in his hands and more so from first hand experience facing it as well as playing it!

[@ObitachiTfO]

Tbh Shi En would be the better choice. No one cared about Maxx c back in the days. Shi En would fit far better for the video

[@thecardgame_mercenary]

It's difficult to Pick a blackwing... Kalut: DAMAGE STEP???

[@keyblademasterclark]

I'm honestly surprised cimo didn't pick kalut

[@joepiazza3756]

@@keyblademasterclark It's only iconic for his series.

[@keyblademasterclark]

@@joepiazza3756 and gage's nightmares

[@Eiji475]

It shouldn't have been any Blackwing it should've been Dark Strike Fighter

[@MrVariant]

I liked cutting atk in half with gale and then synchro summoning. The fact gale was a special summon with blackwings made it free monster removal that combos into a boss monster before albaz became a thing.

[@SAMIBASIL]

Exioda became a part of gamer lexicon .

[@jaeusa160]

You could realistically hand it to Exodia, Blue Eyes, or Dark Magician and make a case for each. I do think Blue Eyes wins, narrowly. After all, even if you think of Exodia... it was used to beat Blue Eyes in the first place. ;p

[@aReallyBigCoelacanth]

I know people who know blue-eyes, but never heard of exodia. Specifically non-ygo gamers.

[@Ippotsuko]

this is a hard argument, like it is true that "exodia" has just become synonymous with "instant win condition" in gamer lingo, but i do not believe everyone that has heard or said it in this way actually has seen or knows about the exodia card. while everyone who has heard of yugioh and even many who don't know about the blue eyes card.

[@AelyLoL]

my mom know blue eyes but not exodia. That's sure that blue eyes is the flagship of the game

[@jaeusa160]

@13:40 Man that promotional Seal of Orichalcos is so much more fun and interesting than the "real" version.

[@Sky_The_Dragon]

Definitely Blue-Eyes. The first card I ever owned, given to me by my teacher at school, the monster that sparked my love for the Yu-Gi-Oh series when I watched my first ever Yu-Gi-Oh episode, Yu-Gi-Oh SEVENS Episode 1. When I saw Otes summon Blue-Eyes, I was mesmerized. I fell in love, my teacher showed me how to play the game, and gave me my very own Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Just like Yugi's Grandpa, Blue-Eyes White Dragon means so much to me, which is why I play it even though its pretty bad (until the Structure Deck comes out). I don't care what anyone says, I've been playing Blue-Eyes for my entire Yu-Gi-Oh career, and I'm not gonna stop anytime soon. I keep the Blue-Eyes my teacher gave me in my deck box at all times, for good luck. When the structure deck comes out, I'll be ready to show everyone the true power of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, cause as you all know, "This legendary Dragon is a powerful engine of destruction. Virtually invincible, very few have faced this awesome creature and lived to tell the tale."

[@subarashifoundation]

2017 has to go to Zoodiacs. The entire year was Zoo format apart from the last couple of months when SPYRAL took over. Firewall wasn't fully relevant in FTK piles until 2018 when the broken links were released.

[@ianr.navahuber2195]

moments like this makes you question if we should rate the card's iconicity by when it became relevant, or by when it was first released

[@FafliXx]

@@ianr.navahuber2195 If Maxx C gets 2011, and Firewall gets 2017, then Ash should actually win 2017. And cards like I:P, Appo etc should win their years.

[@CD-Gaming]

Hey, it took me six years, but I finally managed to collect a playset of every single Zoodiac card last year, as Digimon Tamers being my favourite series, I'd previously created my own Custom Deck using the 12 Devas as a base! My avatar there is from my original line of gathering images for the proxy custom cards I made in the Card Creator thirteen years ago now... damn, where do the years go...?

[@Miss-Alexis]

I was going to make fun of you for including exclusively either anime cards from Duel Monsters, or competitive staples, but honestly you're probably right to do so. Anime cards from GX onward are really only iconic to Yugioh fans who watched that anime, which is significantly less than people who watched DM. The DM bias isn't just Cimo being nostalgia-blind; DM fans make up the majority of Yugioh fans who aren't competitive duelists. The one entry I take issue with is DAD over Stardust Dragon; it was a competitive staple AND an anime protagonist ace monster, it's very rare for a card to have that broad appeal. DAD was only relevant for competitive players, Stardust was relevant for everyone.

[@codyhanson1344]

DAD was as maximally relevant to competitive players as possible from release(in January) through the end of the end of the year and beyond. Stardust relevant to everyone who was around at the time, but didn't even begin its reign until September, and even then it was an ultra/ultimate, so unless you were buying packs by the booster box (which i believe was pretty abnormal for the average player) it wasn't necessarily even easy to get so it still might not have been relevant to everyone for the few months it was out.

[@shakeweller]

Its funny because DM was the worst yugioh anime by far from an adults pov. At least from GX onwards they dont cheat as much anymore

[@codyhanson1344]

@shakeweller from a card game standpoint, true. But from a story/plotline standpoint, I think the original holds up. No first season of any of the other anime I've seen so far hits the same from a plotline/emotional perspective as Duelist Kingdom, and that's not even considered the best arc of DM. Things did get a little sloppy in the final season, prior to the final Bakura Arc, but ultimately they did land the ending once they finally got around to it. That final duel still moves me to this day. Even the filler while they were waiting for the manga to finish was iconic (season 4), with moments like the most infamous orichalcos soul steals, and the berserker soul moment with weevil.

[@Jearil]

Some minor changes I'd make: 2012 Madolche Queen Tiaramisu 2014 Madolche Anjelly 2018 Madolche Fresh Sistart 2019 Madolche Petingcessoeur 2020 Madolche Salon 2024 Madolche Queen Tiarafraise (aka: Madolche Queen Tiaramitwo) Everything else is probably fine. Oh also everyone, It looks like Dzeef and MBT are doing one last round of roulette where they play the newly released secret packs. And one of those secret packs is almost all Madolche. Let's hope MBT plays it.

[@ibra8096]

Where's the be gone satan cross when you need it

[@viniciusalonso9784]

28:41 I would say poplar is a better card to represent 2024, as the card finally made snake-eyes tier 0, the card has so much, a starter, an extender, a searcher and can bring resources back to the field for more play, promethean is amazing and can do a lot in fire strategies, but if future decks aren’t fire type she doesn’t work with them (this is just my opinion)

[@sebastianl4135]

So much of this video is Dark Magician Girl and her Dragon Friends, but honestly pinning one card down as *the* card of that year is a difficult challenge, so… not a bad list.

[@loserofthegame2]

12:53 I graduated HS In 2013 and most days of my senior year I wore a double sided hard pack sleeve with the Seal of Orichalcos on one side and the blue back Obelisk on the other, on a chain like Seto Kaiba, Battle City and Waking the Dragons are my favorite arcs of DM

[@Pesslus]

Always love historical YuGiOh videos! ❤ Makes me feel so nostalgic for all these metas and years that I’ve played the game. And it educates me on each year/meta I wasn’t actively playing.

[@CraftinInTheTenkeep]

Could make an interesting series with this concept, maybe something similar to magical hats, with different guests arguing for different cards in various years

[@zaneaura84]

Nah I'd disagree with 2017 being a link. Zoodiac was the most dominant archetype in history so not choosing Ratpier is crazy

[@ryanager8029]

Yeah, but Firewall went on to define the entire era of the game, as opposed to a single strong year.

[@lonk2902]

@@ryanager8029 plus it is also iconic for the anime

[@soup2504]

Zoo isn’t the most dominant deck in history. In any regard

[@yunasatari4041]

100% tournament representation ​@@soup2504

[@vishmaster09]

Interesting fact, the reason ash is the 2nd most used card in master duel is because duelists hold it to stop maxx c from activating. Not to block an opponents search

[@traplover6357]

Surprised you picked the protag's ace monster Odd Eyes Pendulum Dragon for 2014 when Stardust wasnt picked for 2008 or Utopia for 2011.

[@johannkohlderhoff6190]

Yes, you can argue all of them are iconic, but this isn't consistent, especially since stardust was a meta stable for years. If you pick odd eyes over Dante or Construct you HAVE to pick Stardust over DAD

[@codyhanson1344]

@@johannkohlderhoff6190 That's not an equal comparison. DAD held it's own as the single most relevant card for the ENTIRE year and beyond. You couldn't even definitively name one for 2014 aside from Odd-Eyes. That being said, there could be one more relevant that Odd-Eyes for 2014, like maybe Towers, but it's still not as sound of a case as DAD over Stardust. DAD couldn't possibly be more relevant for its year than it was, aside from incidentally showing up in the anime.

[@shootercade1299]

Utopia or maxx c. Lmao

[@johannkohlderhoff6190]

@@codyhanson1344 It is not about meta relevance; it is about being “Most Iconic”. For people who played competitive in 2008 or watched history of Yugioh, sure DAD might be more iconic. But if you argue that DAD is more iconic than Stardust (who is like top 5 most known cards or something) then how the hell does Odd-eyes beat Dante, Shaddoll, or even Qli. BA with Dante was winning events for years and became Iconic. Also, I think it is most Iconic now and not in their respective year (Mistic mine didn’t do too much the year it came out for example)

[@zawarudogaming3961]

Imo for 2014 should be an entire of DUAE, it's just so many iconic cards from that set

[@DJStriker106]

I’m so happy that Sky Striker made it into this list. I love the deck so much and I’m glad it’s iconic enough to be even considered for this list.

[@seitairyu5419]

the video was probably made months ago ...he did describe engraver as "recently hit the shelves "

[@ParryDox]

I would have given 2014 to the Duel Terminal monsters. It's when we started seeing that they wanted their "lore" archetypes become the most powerful decks to play during the format, and ever since, we've had at least one "lore" deck as a tiered deck with recent years having the most powerful yet.

[@codyhanson1344]

Which exact one card though?

[@blackfrost_fan]

Did you a research or something to make the list? Cuz there's some weird picks in the video

[@Thee_Rage]

I wanna add one thing to the Tele-DAD era. Me and a buddy despised to sheer cost of that deck back in the day. So we devises a way to build the cheapest deck possible with the ability to shut down Tele-DAD. We both build a The Immortal Bushi deck, filled with cheap commons and cheap holo card and things to prevent Tele from setting up like Royal Oppression, Horn of Heaven, Solemn J, Bottomless, etc. Or if going second, things to get their threats off the field. Both of us ended up topping our regionals that format and mowed through numerous Tele-DAD decks. Those were the days.

[@MrSkullMerchant]

Respect 👊

[@skeletingking]

No Ash Blossom? No Drident? ODD-EYES?! SEAL OF ORICHALCHOS?!

[@trevizee806]

Baronne or dpe do deserve the spotlight for 2021 but for me sunseed genius loci is also a contender. First ever normal monster that is not a brick, will go on to win countless events across the most desperate of situations, even bringing home a ycs and a EU crown in full tear format. Truly an incredible legacy for a little vanilla.

[@I3agle3yeI]

No Stardust Dragon or Black Rose Dragon is wild bruh

[@victorneighbors8309]

Personal favorite and icon of early years - Black Luster Solder and his 3 iterations OG Ritual Version and Legendary Soldier reprin Envoy of the Beginning Black Luster Dragon - Dragon Masters All soo cool

[@Bralore125]

2:08 I would argue that Exodia is the most popular card ever. His name is used in other card games

[@codyhanson1344]

@@Bralore125 Blue-Eyes has the most influence on the Yu-Gi-Oh brand overall, and even people who don't play any card games knows blue-eyes if they know one card

[@brandoncastellano1858]

@@codyhanson1344for people that don’t know or play Yugioh, j always expect someone to mention blue eyes, exodia, or the god cards. Maybe dark magician or DMG. But it’s usually those.

[@That1Outlander]

Arguably thats also dark magician​@@codyhanson1344

[@onechippyboi]

The name and meaning of Exodia is actually used outside of the context of YGO more than any other card, and is the only thing from YGO that has ever escaped the sphere of YGO. Its almost as if it were it's own verb that meant, "achieve a specific instant win condition". It's similar to how people use "checkmate" outside of the context of chess to mean that you have cornered your opponent. There's something that is especially unique about what Exodia represents that we just didn't have words for until he was made. However, if we are just talking about what the odds are that someone at random chooses any given card, blue eyes is the most iconic card of the franchise and will get the most votes. Blue eyes is never referenced outside of YGO since there is really nothing all that unique about it.

[@rufuspilula247]

I'd honestly go with Stardust Dragon or Caius as the 2008 card. Almost none of the (casual) players I know knew DAD existed until it was limited a year or so later. It wasn't something seen at my locals or playgrounds due to how expensive it was. So you were most likely battling Stardust, Caius or some pre-2008 card at the time.

[@Yous0147]

I think this strongly depends on where you played. My locals was terrorized by DAD decks, and we weren't really a big scene in the slightest. I would say that Stardust is probably the more iconic card taking things as a whole, but if you only consider what impact a card had on the year then i'd easily say DAD from my view. What this shows is moreso a weakness with this format though, iconic cards coming late into the year won't be picked for the year or next, so something like a quarterly pick might be better.

[@rufuspilula247]

@@Yous0147 Competitively speaking I agree, but this is about iconic cards. And while DAD is iconic to the 1% of the players (the competitive players), the overwhelming majority of players playing on playgrounds and in locals (in my area at least) didn't encounter DAD until 2009-2010 (even the video games including it were released after Stardust). Stardust and Caius were much, much more popular. Even Judgment Dragon was more popular despite being equally rare from what I recall, but that's probably because it's a part of an archetype. Stardust being plastered on every single piece of merch at the time meant even many people who stopped following the game and anime learned about it. So it definitely deserves the spot for the most iconic 2008 card.

[@kerkertrandov459]

He prob lives in a poor country where people cant afford a $1000 deck. Which honestly isnt a lot considering u can just resell it anytime. So ure not buying new deck each time, ure selling ur old one to buy a new one.

[@prpl_moon]

It's just as you said, everyone has their own ideas of what makes a card/archetype iconic for every year, for me 2018 is undoubtedly orcust, hands down the best deck in the format and with the help of knightmare mermaid even one of the most versatile engines the game has ever seen, so iconic that they made an entire archetype around the "knightmare phoenix/cerberus into mermaid" in fiendsmith. The deck is just one of the best designs in the game in terms of recycling resources to win games by outresourcing your opponent and it still feels so unique to play to this day.

[@cethapplegate594]

First card to come to mind is Ash.

[@AndrewUdal]

I think 2024 would either be snake eye poplar or original sinful spoils as those are the real broken cards, Promethean is just an addition.

[@dm0ony291]

2020 : The Eldlich or Golden Land Archetype Not as popular i agree ( except for stun players ), but one of the most opressing strategies until Kashtira. Was very easy to play, a boss monster that could send any card to the GY that also had destruction immunity if summoned by its own effect. Utility trap cards that cycle each other once they are send to the GY and a continuous search spell. All of that on top being able to play under almost every floodgate meaning no matter what your opponent was playing you had a trap card for it, a fact that helped it remain a rogue strategy and a splashable package for alot of decks that wanted to slow the game for a long time.

[@KingGunderYah]

I remember when Yata devastated the tournaments. I came up with the original wave motion canon deck that took it down at tournaments. I feel pretty good about it to this day.

[@merryasemily]

For me the most iconic card of 2021 is Sunseed Genius Loci, the little normal monster that absolutely could. The Sunavalon card was one I had been yearning for release since 2018 when I really became interested in the Yugioh tcg so when Sunavalons came a close second to the Fossil Fusion archetype in a poll exclusive to the OCG, I held my breath thinking Sunavalons wouldn't release and yet... They did in Ghosts from the Past and the fact the printing was delayed by Covid... Truly a success story for the ages.

[@therranolleo468]

also shout out to Visas for "ruining" 2 years of meta play back to back with Tear and Kash; technically, it wasn't directly him but an alternate universe version of him for each world but that's semantics

[@balloon3174]

As a new YuGiOh player I had no idea that Cyber Dragon was such a staple for its time. It’s been my main deck since I started just because big robot dragon unga bunga damage cool, but it’s cool to see that even it was meta defining for a little while. Though I can really feel its age when I have to play against Centur-ion, Skake-Eye Ash, and Yubel for the hundredth time 😂

[@cd7677]

Bro didnt even mention the wacky machine combos with the fusions and OTKs

[@ALittleMessi]

Cyber dragon was the competitive version of blue eyes at the time

[@kerkertrandov459]

If u think snake eye and yubel are good, wait till u play vs ryzeal, u will retire ur cyber shits on the spot

[@vo1ce147]

25:34 tearament strongest, THANK YOU.

[@BehemothShadow]

This make me want a one off show where you pick 2 cards for every year of YGO

[@KagariKyoya]

Pre Dragon Ruler format is always had special place in my memories. The first time i ever play Yugioh and my first deck is Mythic Ruler

[@Shibanu_]

I was missing any mention of Exodia and also Stardust dragon from the list, yeah blackwing is like super iconic but no inidividual blackwing card is as iconic as stardust. Also Purrely i think deserved an honorable mention for 2023/2024. But otherwise cool video, i like these one off unique videos.

[@nicolaistuhlmuller8718]

They were mentioned as contenders for their years though. Stardust and Blackwing didn't come out in the same year, so they weren't really competing. Both Stardust and Exodia simply came out in the same year as another really iconic monster.

[@GunnarWahl]

it's funny, during DaD format, I was playing a plant deck that did pretty well against it. It's focus was on producing a couple negates with lonefire gigaplant titania. It was a strong deck. However I will say, my locals didn't have Crushcard among them, so you could argue with that not in the format, dad was quite beatable.

[@joanaguayoplanell4912]

I have a tie. My first booster pack included Crystal Abundance and Rainbow Ruins. Needless to say, having two cards with an essay written on them when the stantard for those types of card were Final Destiny and Otherworld the A zone made a big impact on me, and the rest is history.

[@ATrueHER0]

Such a cool video! I'm surprised Caius didn't get an honorable mention, but I agree DAD overshadows it as an icon.

[@ChIMeRaTeX]

For me, THAT Yugioh! card will always be Blue-Eyes White Dragon. My first contact with YGO was in 2003, a few weeks before I started school. Me and my mom went grocery shopping and at the checkout I saw these cool-looking card decks (starter deck Kaiba and Yugi) and I asked my mom to buy me one, she denied. But then, after my first day of school when I opened my school cone back at home I saw BOTH starter decks in there. Obviously, I didn't hesitate and opened them both to check them out, only to find TWO Blue-Eyes White Dragons in my starter deck Kaiba. Took me a few days to realize that this was not intended lol I was the king at school for having 2 of these bad boys lmao

[@felixbermudez3782]

As a casual yu gi oh enjoyer. I didn't hear about Dark Armed Dragon until the Cimo crossover videos. But even I knew about STAHDUST DRAGON

[@RegiRuler]

I think this video would have been legitimately interesting had it been based on a poll of some sort. As it stands, this feels like click farm content.

[@ivakichan5724]

Awesome videos, glad to see that most of those iconic cards rest in a place of my binder, albums, boxes or decks

[@crh1985]

@Cimoooooooo seeing you are using the US release the Original Yugioh anime ended on 6/10/06 and Yugioh GX started airing on 10/10/05

[@eyal28282]

Mine is Wakaushi, because even without Scarecrow, it does literally everything. The World turn skip Wagon is very close to the turn skip, but the only thing stopping you is the HOPT on alembertian to add a spell from Deck (because you're adding a Level 4 in Mannadium Primeheart in order to make Ancient Deepsea King)

[@RCPTMOE]

I personally would've put Construct over Odd-Eyes, as Odd-Eyes was neither a meta card despite being in a set full of new meta archetypes, but Arc V was also the least popular yugioh anime of all time (aside from the elementary school rush duel nonsense). Still though, I respect the recognition that it was the protagonist ace monster for a new show and mechanic, and that none of its competitors came from a solidified 'best deck' in the format because of the deck diversity of the time. But I can NOT respect putting DAD over Stardust. 5Ds was the epitome of iconic and Stardust was not only the introduction to a new mechanic, but also the first REALLY good card for that mechanic that was played in synchro focused decks for yeeeears to come. Firewall's BS loops aside, I would even say it was the most versatile and widely used anime protag's ace monster of all time, and that was from a show a lot of people claim is the best yugioh series ever made. DAD's price tag just for meta relevance can't compare, yes it was a tier zero format, but Stardust stuck around in the competitive scene waaaaay longer in addition to everything else. I think that's some of Cimo's trauma shining through since the card made him quit the game.

[@elquesohombre9931]

As widely used Promethean princess was, poplar is just too iconic idk man

[@charlesfort6602]

Agreed, we even started calling cards that summon themselves on add poplara

[@Dz73zxxx]

Man that Gorz shoutout in 2008 resurfaces my dream of Gorz retrain. My guy needs justice!

[@samoodustani5198]

honestly , it is stronger than me, I can't help put dislike the video ,because stardust dragon is one of my favorite monsters of all time ... THE GOAT

[@SilverAlex92]

My most iconic card and most favorite card is the one and only Dark Armed Dragon. The ace of my blackwings deck. I remember the first time I went to a semi big yugioh tournament, and I actually won a couple of rounds. Then, the game to decide if I made top 8 or not, I faced someone on Lightsworns. It was an amazing game with many back and forwards. He was on a stock list with some random Necro Gardnas thrown in for the self mill value, or so I thought. After several turns of us trading resources I finally get through his two Judgments dragons, drop my DAD, blow the remaining of his field, and hit him to 1k life... Im feelin like I got this on the pocket. He then draws for the turn, reveals that the card on his hand was a Dark Armed Dragon all along, and shows me his graveyard. Exactly 3 necro gardnas as the dark mosnters. Drops the DAD, blows my own Dark Armed Dragon and my set cards (including a mirror force) and swings in for lethal. Its probably one of the best TCG games I ever played in my life. I wished him luck, and he ended up getting second place overall. Im not sure if that was some personal tech he was one, or a known strategy to throw a DAD in the lightsworns deck, but oh man I'll never forget the emotional damage that was loosing to my own ace monster coming from a LIGHT atribute deck was too much.

[@xatuyou8045]

There was an emergency banlist in 2008, but it only hit dimension fusion and dark magician of chaos and semi-limited allure.

[@MrEntinen]

Funny story When I was at that headspace that I knew I was likely about to get into yugioh in the near future, I was really into forum mafia. Rules of mafia are not important, but what is that the game master would usually have a theme and give the players "roles" accordingly among the base mafia rules. As luck would have it there was a mafia game starting on the forum I used with the theme of Yugioh and I would almost certainly get paired with a yugioh card as my "role". I saw this as a good place to get a random inspiration of sorts and decided I would play whatever I was given as role in my to be deck. After all I was bound to that card by a random interference. The card I was to play from then on was... ...General Raiho of the Ice Barrier... I would later realize why the name of the theme was Yugioh Duel Terminal lol Needless to say trying to play General Raiho in tier 0 Legendary 6 samurai format was fun. Yes that was my start to yugioh. To this day Raiho has iconic meme status in my eyes

[@ibra8096]

Amazing video! I really missed these types of videos from you and glad you dropped another one after so long.

[@ปัณณธรประชากุล]

I would say that the most iconic card from 2004 is definitely Polymerization. Also Ash Blossom for 2017.

[@melindaphantom9450]

The interesting part of this list is that most years could have multiple choices, see every comment saying about Stardust, Odd Eyes and other character ace cards from the anime, like Stardust vs Dad in peculiar is very interesting, from a tcg standpoint Dark Armed Dragon is truly one of very few cards that nearly killed the game, warped the very meta and drove away people it rightfully deserves its iconic status due to it's infamy, Stardust on the other hand represents the good half of yugioh, it was the face of Synchros and the anime and stood apart as a truly awesome boss monster, all the signer dragons were stellar iconic designs but Stardust was the face of 5ds and Synchros, I didn't know what a Dark Armed Dragon was for a whole decade after it's release but 8 year old me and countless other kids knew and loved Stardust Dragon, and that in of itself is iconic. In 2014 yeah there were a bunch of powerful cool cards, I love El Shaddoll Construct and Dante is cool but I wouldn't cool them iconic, Apocaliphort Towers made towers a part of yugioh lexicanum with numerous more towers monster to come, and yeah Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon didnt do much himself, largely just used as a tutor but he had that anime protag ace status, admittedly for one of the less popular animes but it sure did represent Pendulums for all of there infamy and in a year of good but not necessarily truly iconic cards I think they all suck as choices, maybe if Arc-V was a more beloved anime. 2017 people say why not Zoodiacs, and I can see why but are they truly iconic, they weren't Dad level of meta warping, Drident isn't even top 3 iconic monsters of 2017 for me, Ash Blossom is the face of modern yugioh I'd except that but Firewall Dragon was an anime protag ace that warped the game and got banned, and that itself I think makes it more iconic than the best meta deck of 2017. Honestly its a shame Xyzs monsters were all one upped by more largely broken cards during the Zexal era, except Seal of Orichalcos but uh I can't think of anything else for that year thats truly iconic

[@Njzeo]

No mention of rescue rabbit is low key wild

[@RetroYGO]

i would change Promethian to Snake-Eye Ash, it feels as though everytime a deck does well its got that in it

[@xatuyou8045]

@@RetroYGO snake eye ash was released in 2023

[@RetroYGO]

@ ah ic it’s only cards that were released in the year of 2024 , fair fair I guess it would be poplar then

[@CraftinInTheTenkeep]

Great Video, although I feel like, iconic as DMG is, the card to define 2003 should probably have been a different magicians force card: Magical Scientist. Scientist FTK is probably the most recognisable ftk in yugioh and demonstrates a yugioh staple, degenerate combos achieved by abusing cards that lack a OPT restriction

[@kr555wizard]

So far i'm seeing people have some confusion on what the rating is based on, is it based on their relevance of the year, so a card that is not good now but was the icon of that year, their relevance in the modern day, where a card that was bad in its original year becoming better now, its competitive aspect, or its casual aspect/pop culture aspect. because at the moment the metric used for the cards doesn't seem consistent at the moment. Like bewd is there because of it being an icon in the anime, DAD and Chaos Emperor dragon due to their historic strength, maxx c because it became the most decisive card later on, but in its initial year wasn't good. I feel as though people would understand the list better if all the cards were using the same metric, or each aspect was given a point total so people could better understand why that card was chosen over another iconic card of the same year.

[@philipthrasher5250]

First holographic Yu-Gi-Oh! card. It was a party that I had at my dad’s house after getting out of the hospital from being hit by SUV. Opened up a pack of Yu-Gi-Oh! cards. My first pack to be exact. Twin, headed thunder, dragon. That’s the first Yu-Gi-Oh! Card that I think of.

[@gagepursifull7670]

Cool video. I’m mostly a magic player these days. In 2013 I played a Dark World deck. Does that hold up? Was it ever good?

[@Bob12649]

During a format called hat(hand artifact traptrix) it was fine but after modern innovations it is by far the best deck in that format. In modern yugioh it’s a solitaire combo deck unfun for both players

[@verethragnarok]

For me, Last Turn embodies Yu-Gi-Oh. A card that probably should never have been printed, with a weirdly complicated effect that required rulings to explain and verify how it works, that was eventually banned, with cool card art, that made people think about how to create a strategy around what is a bizarre idea when you think about it. Most importantly, I remember playing with someone who would always stack their deck so their most powerful monster was towards the top. I used Last Turn one time to clear it and force him to pull out one of the weak monsters he left buried in his deck. Never stood a chance. That is what Yu-Gi-Oh is all about. Beating cheaters with convoluted rules or cheating yourself :) At least that is what the anime taught me

[@heulg.darian2536]

Ok, really good vid but can we talk about how good the Master Duel music is and how it has upped the quality of so many yugitubers vids?

[@palams7861]

When finding a card to represent Blackwings, you could’ve showcased Dark Strike Fighter - The Unofficial Blackwing

[@kronusexodues7283]

An unironical honorary mention should go to Slime Toad. "except Frog the Jam" was printed on so many cards and yet you never saw this elusive Frog the Jam card in any deck ever, which made it only more mysterious. Who is Frog the Jam and why is he excluded from Frog Decks? These were the questions that ailed my young brain more than any other at the time.

[@Bralore125]

15:23 remember that duelest alliance was my first pack, pulled the odd eyes

[@PendulumBlade]

You lucky son of a runick player

[@Bralore125]

lol

[@gohan7926]

I LOVE WHEN CIMOOOOOOOO JUST MAKES ONE OFF STYLE VIDEO 😤😤🗣️🗣️💯💯

[@chefmatthewlafferty]

There was this one guy who would spam Trigate Wizard without knowing the proper way to activate its effects. Worse yet, he used Ra's Disciple to summon Trigate Wizard.

[@ChazzzyF]

I have a couple of things I'd do differently here, but my big one is that I think that 2020's entry should go to Fallen of Albaz. While Dragoon was a well-made piece of anime fanservice that saw play the year of its release and got some casual fans talking, Fallen of Albaz was the centerpiece of what is arguably the most beloved series of lore told through Yu-Gi-Oh cards, and the card itself has seen consistent play at the forefront and around the fringes of the meta ever since. The lore following Albaz's story would also go on to introduce many other new archetypes that have seen competitive relevancy like Tri-Brigade, Swordsoul and Spright. The Albaz lore is the high point for Yu-Gi-Oh's storytelling through card releases in a way that previous lore like Duel Terminal, concurrent lore like the Visas lore and future lore like the currently ongoing Diabellstar lore have not surpassed, and that is why I feel like Fallen of Albaz is the most iconic card of 2020 over Dragoon.

[@TheTaintedWisdom]

Cimoooooo: 4:02 Anyone playing against Dark World in Master Duel: "Wow... That sounds like such a nightmare... Good thing the game has 'improved' since then huh?..."

[@Fpl8646]

Dark Magician Girl…”Duelist will be jamming her until the end of time “

[@mattevans1643]

I started with Salamangreat when I came back to yugioh, and I do have to agree that Promethean Princess is probably the card of 2024. Snake eyes yeah yeah... Not to mention what it allows Salamngreat to do.

[@mysteriousmartel]

I feel like 2024 was summed up in SE Poplar, as it's name became a coined term for monsters that SS on add

[@kronusexodues7283]

In my opinion Exodia the Forbidden One, Pot of Greed and Blue Eyes white Dragon are easily the three most recognisable cards and I find it very hard to decide which of those 3 should take the 2002 spot. But at least from my personal experience, Exodia is even more known than Blue-Eyes among non-players and even found its way into the vocabulary of Magic the Gathering players and became a synonymous with "win condition" in pretty much all card games.

[@therranolleo468]

I expected a lot of these but Raye was a decent surprise, I guess being a top-tier waifu tax works wonders

[@YukiHeroYGO]

2005 is Cyber Dragon! *cries in Miracle Fusion*

[@AceTrainerLupi]

I think Cimo is just being modest. Due to Prog Series I would definitely put Kalut over the rest of Blackwings in 2009. Also, I think 2014 should be Towers. To this day we call unaffected monsters "towers".

[@arceus4114]

2024 is Mulcharmy Fuwalos tbh, it's Maxx "C" 2.0 basically and while a lot more fair, it has a similar impact.

[@dillonsturm5343]

I do feel like blue eyes is the most iconic now, but i feel like if you asked anyone within about 10 years of the anime release it would be exodia for that year

[@DenkiRay]

2:55 True... but not for the reasons I'm thinking.

[@Kasaaz]

When you think about how the Dark Magician's skeleton would have to work under all that... it would look so weird.

[@SourceOfBeing]

I'd have put Poplar as the 2024 card.

[@xatuyou8045]

I'd say the Yubel cards. GX Anime cards that managed to rise to the top of the metagame and win worlds.

[@shakeweller]

​@@xatuyou8045worlds is a meme event and was only mentioned because Cimo wants to milk DM biased nostalgia

[@HapsterHap]

@@xatuyou8045 snake eyes dominated three formats of the game for almost an entire year all because of poplar. I don’t think it’s even close. The engine itself is splashed into many many decks.

[@yuricahere]

Poplar pushed lv1 Fire decks into meta (SE, Fireking, r-ace) but promethean did that *and* pushed obscure fire decks into playability like infernoble, infernoid, salad, etc

[@HapsterHap]

@@yuricahere Infernoid and Infernoble are also decks that are relevant only because they have level 1 fires. Infernoid would be extremely mid if it didn’t.

[@beastyms]

You could have used Gale the whirlwind for Blackwings as it was used outside Blackwings for it's strong effect. Easily outing boss monsters such as Stardust Dragon.

[@YeahTheDuckweed]

this

[@bernardoabf]

The most iconic cards are in the honorable mentions lol Great video!

[@PandaShakes]

great vid, turns out my knowledge stopped at ‘07 so the history tour was great!

[@FIRE-LOTUS]

I definitely think Stardust Dragon and Ash Blossom definitely should have been the most ironic cards somewhere on this video.

[@laggalot1012]

Seems like an interesting thing to poll. Although probably also a tricky thing to poll, based on the sheer range of cards, and depending on the player base you ask. I'm inclined to agree with the folks in the comments arguing Stardust over DAD. But I get why you'd land on DAD. Personally and anecdotally speaking, though, as someone who put too many hours into the Nintendo DS Yugioh 5D's games, I have a tremendous fondness for many of the era's key Synchro monsters. 9:52 I'm gonna argue that Gale the Whirlwind should be it, as it in particular would find its way into so many decks, even outside of its archetype. DARK-attribute, level 3 Tuner, and a powerful, permanent, OPT stat-halving effect that let it effectively act as one-card solution to many dangerous monsters, like Stardust Dragon. Pleasantly surprised to see Blue-Eyes Alternative Dragon's impact on Duel Links being recognised. A lot of players brush the game aside without much thought, but those of us who have played it for a long time will know what an absolute icon Alternative Dragon is there, and how relentlessly inextinguishable it has made the deck on a meta-level ever since its first copy was handed out through a promotional campaign.

[@YeahTheDuckweed]

i hate it when cimo makes a video like this once in a blue moon because he never will again until at least the next presidential term rolls over but i wish he would because it's just so good. this is literally top-tier yu-gi-oh content and it's just never gonna be the standard for this channel ever in a million years

[@GGGBOLT]

I'm glad you did this Alex! I love when you go through Yu-Gi-Oh! History.

[@andrewpickett722]

Man, if only you hadnt released this, would have been a fun game with Raren and Cimo. Blue Eyes or Dark Magician? Watch their brain melt trying to guess the best from each year 🤣 id love the 3 of you in a video, have them guess which was banned, which was more popular, etc. Id love them to compete against eachother 🤣

[@andywilson4789]

Ash blossem really got robbed huh

[@BrownOrion-z1f]

there was one but an Ash blossom was thrown an negated it before it saw play.....😂

[@annaliseazura]

Thanks, the description of 2002 reminded me that I'm getting old