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Top 10 Worst Archetypes in Yugioh History

The introduction of archetypes to Yugioh was a welcome one, it allowed players to choose a pre-existing set of cards that work well together, instead of trying in vain to bundle unrelated cards into an effective strategy. Over the years, plenty of archetypes have made their way into Yugioh and the game is pretty much based around them now. There’s nothing too wrong with this unless you play competitively, you’ll have to use the best archetypes to be successful in a tournament.

With over a hundred archetypes currently in the game, there’s obviously a fair few who aren’t powerful in any way, shape of form. I’ve looked them up and decided on the top 10 worst archetypes in Yugioh history!

 


10. Digital Bugs

Digital Bug, one of the worst archetypes in Yugioh history

The Insect type can’t catch a break, they finally get a futuristic archetype yet the cards aren’t great at all. Digital Bugs certainly have the potential to be decent but they lack support quite severely. Their monster effects are only useful if they’re changed from attack position to defense position, which is way too slow to be anything other than boring and inefficient. Their XYZ monsters are too difficult to summon for their effects. Most other archetypes in the game can summon more powerful monsters much faster!

 


9. Crystal Beast

Crystal Beast, one of the worst archetypes in Yugioh history

Gone are the days of Crystal Beasts being a good archetype choice, this card set is still fun to play but they’ll rarely emerge victorious. Over time, the flaws of such weak Crystal Beast monsters have been exposed quite drastically, making them vulnerable to pretty much every strategy under the sun. I’m sure fans all over the world would use this archetype if it was modernised, Konami get on it!

 


8. Nordic/Aesir

Nordic/Aesir, one of the worst archetypes in Yugioh history

Lack of synergy ruins these archetypes, they’re both part of the same “set” which is why they get the same entry. They’re far too difficult to piece together and make work, the Aesir cards can be formidable but getting them on the field is too much work. For this reason, they’re outshined by almost every archetype released around the same time.

 


7. Roid

Roids, one of the worst archetypes in Yugioh history

To give them credit, Konami have actually re-visited the Roid archetype a few times, but each visit never does much to improve their state of affairs. Roids are funky and cool but lack competence when it comes to battles, your opponent will never tremble upon the sight of a Roid boss monster. Underwhelming but fun is the best way to put this archetype!

 


6. Duston

Duston, one of the worst archetypes in Yugioh history

An archetype based around “dust particles” actually sounds quite interesting, the end product is incapable of being good though. The Duston archetype is based around placing these low-level Duston monsters on either side of the field, as they have effects that are detrimental to the owner of the field they’re on. Problem is, these effects are a small bother rather than an actual way of winning. They have a big boss monster called Starduston but even that is hopeless.

 


5. Guardian

Guardian, one of the worst archetypes in Yugioh history

Guardian Dreadscythe is the only hope for this archetype but even that has ridiculous requirements to summon. Other than that monster, nearly all of the other Guardian monsters require specific cards to be on the field to be summoned. Not only are these requirements anything but silly, the monsters themselves offer next-to nothing in return, with pitiful effects and ATK/DEF stats.

 


4. Evil Hero

Evil Heroes, one of the worst archetypes in Yugioh history

It’s quite clear what Evil Heroes were supposed to be, something to counter the generic “good guys HERO monsters”. While they were great additions to the show, Evil Heroes aren’t worth using at all in real-life, nor have they ever been. For starters, barely any Evil Heroes were released, giving us few options when it comes to creating a deck. The cards we’re stuck with may have been useful at the time but as of 2017, they ain’t worth a second look..

 


3. Genex

Genex, one of the worst archetypes in Yugioh history

Arguably the most unique archetype in terms of available cards, Genex support is purely in the form of monsters,. They have no archetype specific spells or traps in their disposal. As you can imagine, this leads to a significant reduction in deck-making capabilities, as every other archetype has some form of support spells/traps. You’re assuming their monsters are so good, they don’t need support cards, right?! Nope..

Genex monsters do not synergise even a little bit, making a deck out of this archetype is a waste of time.

 


2. Arcana Force

Arcana Force, one of the worst archetypes in Yugioh history

Dear god I used to hate facing the Arcana Force archetype, you never knew how the duel would turn out. Around the time they were released, Arcana Force monsters were nothing more than a gimmick. Now though, they’re easily one of the worst archetypes in the entire game. Upon being summoned, each monster can have a powerful effect or a massively damaging effect, making them fairly OK with the right combos.

In today’s game, their “powerful effects” aren’t anything special, they’ll be horrifically bad regardless of how the coin flips go.

 


1. Neo-Spacian

Neo-Spacians, the worst archetype in Yugioh history

Neo-Spacian monsters are cute, enjoyable and fun but they’re also pretty pointless. The base monsters have meager effects with insanely low ATK/DEF stats. Neo-Spacian support spells/traps are bad and their only combos don’t result in anything worthwhile. Sure, they have some Neos boss monsters but they’re way too difficult to summon when you factor in their low effectiveness.

Due to all of these disadvantages, Neo-Spacians are the worst archetype in Yugioh. Only Neo-Spacian Grand Mole deserves a mention for how much of a troll it can be!

dudley riner

Wednesday 24th of March 2021

i don't see the date on this article but do you still feel the same way about evil heroes? Because i am a devout evil hero duelist and i would gladly duel you anytime anywhere and on any dueling platform you choose with them. great article and you make very good points about each one.

Reeer

Tuesday 23rd of July 2019

Evil heroes are getting more support in the future

Nicholas

Thursday 21st of March 2019

I also want to point out that Armageddon knight is limited so know getting cyber dark cannon and claw are harder to get into the graveyard for cyber dark dragon or darkness dragon to get a big power boost plus they both have no for of protection against card effects

Nicholas

Wednesday 20th of March 2019

One card that should be on here are the cyberdark archetypes for this reason.

Although Zane trues dale made the cards seem great, the cards are actually pretty shItty because let's start with the basic cards, cyber dark edge,horns, and keel required level 3 dragons to raise the attack points but the problem is that most level 3 dragons were to weak to give an impact to the cyber dark edge,keel, and horn plus the strong boss monster was a 1000 attack monster that required you either running pure monster decks for an attack boost or hoping your opponent uses a dragon deck. And even though claw and cannon were dravon type cyber dark monsters, and cyber darkness dragon, cyber darknees dragon is just 1000 attack points higher then cyberdark dragon and this time you can use machine monsters which your opponent will rarely run along side dragons except cyber dragons but that deck Wil whip your ass before you can play cyber darkness dragon. The only cards that do not suckered along really cyber dark edge,cannon,ckaw,and the new spell cyberdark inferno. So please just use cyber dragons as their at least a good deck

vrsh Lumpkin

Wednesday 28th of November 2018

format cards aitsu soitsu doitsu koitsu Baby Tiragon White Duston Yellow Duston House Duston Timidity Convulsion of Nature Arcana Force VII - The Chariot