With 2025 finally behind us, let's revisit some of the big changes we saw throughout the year. We saw new products, archetypes rise and fall, and the return of everyone's favorite anime deck. Here are the different trends and takeaways of the year.

1. TCG Exclusive Archetypes Can Be Competitive

In 2025 we saw the rise of Mitsurugi which left a huge impact on the meta game. The first wave of cards released in Supreme Darkness showed potential, but the strategy really got its power and synergy after the second wave in Alliance Insight which introduced Ame No Habakiri No Mitsurugi. Since then, the deck has been a mainstay in competitive tournaments. While fully capable of winning on its own, the archetype also found success when paired with other strong archetypes such as Yummy, Orcust, and even K9. The biggest surprise about Mitsurugi is that it started as a TCG exclusive archetype, which historically haven't been the most competitive outside a few exceptions. It makes me wonder if this marks a turning point for TCG exclusives or if it's just an exception to the rule. Only time will tell if future TCG exclusive archetypes will match Mitsurugi's dominance.

2. Structure Decks are Amazing

It seems like a no-brainer to say that structure decks are some of Yu-Gi-Oh!'s best products. They provide an entry point for new players, give existing strategies new cards, and give you what you need to just pick up and play. It begs the question of why we went the whole calendar year of 2024 without any structure decks. The closest thing to it was the 2-Player Starter Set in January 2024 which was good for players picking up the game for the first time but not much more other than a copy of Divine Arsenal AA-ZEUS - Sky Thunder. Nevertheless, in 2025 we saw the return of structure decks come in a big way with the Blue-Eyes White Destiny structure deck. All the reasons we love structure decks were in the product plus a chance of getting a Starlight rarity of one of the new cards. The Chronicles Deck: The Fallen and the Virtuous also kicked off a new wave of structure decks with many similar traits and come with all foil cards. These are huge for the game and it's good to know that we've still got more Chronicles Decks coming down the pipeline to look forward to.

3. Rarities Can Be Tricky

Left: Quarter Century Secret Rare | Right: Starlight Rare

2025 saw the end of the Quarter Century Secret Rare cards duelists have been adding to their decks and binders for the past few years during the anniversary celebration. In their place, Starlight Rare cards returned to booster sets and were more likely to appear than in the format of their original debut. Some cards that were QCRs were reprinted as Starlights, which impacted the value of their QCR counterparts. It makes sense given that visually speaking, QCRs and Starlights are almost identical minus the stamp in the text box of QCRs. It puts collectors who want cards in the highest rarity in a weird position since a card could just be reprinted as a Starlight down the road. There's also the Rarity Collections to consider. While very fun to open, these sets are much more generous with QCRs/Starlights compared to normal booster boxes, which again affects the value. I'm curious to see how these high rarity cards will be handled moving forward with Rarity Collection V and beyond especially with Extended Art cards on their way.

4. Generic Omni-Negates are on the Decline

Ever since Snake-Eyes format, generic omni-negate cards have been less prolific due to cards either being banned or avenues to summon them have been restricted. Cards like Baronne de Fleur, Borreload Savage Dragon, and Apollousa, Bow of the Goddess were generic enough to run in many decks and were subsequently banned from the game. While there still are omni-negate monsters running around, they're a bit more restrictive in the type of decks that can play them or have certain drawbacks that balance out their power. Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon need Dark Magician for its Fusion summon. Azamina Ilia Silvia tributes itself in order to negate and is susceptible to Called by the Grave. Cosmic Blazar Dragon takes quite a bit of set up to summon. Newer monster cards released in 2025 that negate like Blue-Eyes Ultimate Spirit Dragon and Kewl Tune RS have drawbacks in that they can only negate face-up cards as an example. This trend of moving away from generic omni-negates to more specialized options is something I believe many of us would like to see continue in years to come.

5. Hand-Traps are Evolving

2025 saw more nontraditional Hand Traps introduced into the game to shake up card interactions. Firstly, we saw more Dominus cards released like Songs of the Dominators and Dominus Spiral. These cards have powerful effects but come with heavy restrictions making them interesting deck-building options. We also saw new monster hand effects that make "Turn 0" plays possible with K9-17 Izuna, Dracotail Faimena, and Hecahands Godos. These cards are great at keeping duelists on their toes since playing them at the right time can lead to a huge swing in momentum. While not quite the same "our turn" moments that Tearlaments Havnis made possible, these cards are definitely something to watch out for. Will we see more cards like these in 2026? We may see even further evolutions of Hand Traps as the year goes on but only time will tell.

Thanks for reading!