Basic FAQ: Basics of Spell Cards

Spell Cards, called Magic Cards in the TCG until the release of Magician's Force, and still called such in the OCG are cards with green-coloured borders that have various effects to alter the play of the game. Often, a Spell Card has a single effect to provide a bonus to the user or a weakness to the opponent. All Spells are Spell Speed 1, with the exception of Quick-Play Spell Cards, which are Spell Speed 2. You may play as many Spell Cards as you would like per turn.

Unlike Trap Cards, Spell Cards have the advantage of being able to be played the turn they are drawn without having to Set them first. A Set Spell Card may be activated during the same turn it was Set as well (with the exception of Quick-Play Spell Cards).

Some very powerful Spell Cards have been Forbidden from Advanced Format tournament play, such as "Raigeki". In many cases, Konami has released new, less-powerful replacements for some of these cards. For instance, "Raigeki" has been replaced by the weaker "Lightning Vortex", which requires a discard and only destroys face-up monsters, or "Flash of the Forbidden Spell", which requires that all five of your opponent's monster card zones be filled with monsters as an activation condition (and whose card's title directly references the fact that "Raigeki" is banned).

Used properly, a single Spell Card can significantly alter the game in the user's favor, or even cause them to win the Duel. An example of a Spell Card that can win a Duel immediately is "Monster Reborn".

A Spell Card's Type is designated by a symbol to the right of the words "Spell Card". The various Spell Card Types are:

Normal Spell: No symbol.
Continuous Spell, symbolized with a lemniscate.
Equip Spell, symbolized with a simple crosshair.
Quick-Play Spell, symbolized with a lightning bolt.
Field Spell, symbolized with a compass rose.
Ritual Spell, symbolized with a flaming chalice.

Layout

Spell Cards differ from Monster Cards, with the most immediate difference being the green backing of the card. Let's examine the layout of a Spell Card, "Monster Reborn". This is one of the "classic" Spell Cards that is now used in almost every kind of Deck.


This part of the card contains only one significant change - the Attribute symbol is replaced by a Spell symbol due to the fact that Spell and Trap Cards do not have attributes.


The Card Type is located where the Level could be found on Monster Cards - below the name. This piece of text signifies that the card is a Spell Card. Spell and Trap cards have different types, which are indicated by an icon next to the "Spell Card" text (refer to the symbols above).


"Monster Reborn's" original japanese artwork (left) and edited international artwork (right).

The card artwork is also present here and shows the player a visual interpretation of the used card. Upon import to the TCG, Card Artworks can be changed due to a number of reasons. In Monster Reborn's case, its original artwork was that of an "Ankh" symbol but was remade in order to avoid religious connotations. The Ankh is currently used only on Japanese-language OCG cards (Korean Monster Reborn cards feature the TCG artwork).


Unlike the Monster card text box (which provides the Type of the card in question), Spell cards' text boxes serve only one purpose - providing the card effect.

Other Elements

All basic card elements can also be seen in Spells. These include the Edition text, Set Number, Card Number, Copyright text and the Eye of Anubis Hologram.

Example