Video Gamer is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Prices subject to change. Learn more
Effect monsters are the backbone of Yu-Gi-Oh! They have practically pushed normal monsters (often referred to as “vanillas”) out of the metagame outside of very specific archetypes that need a normal monster. Nowadays, almost every monster is an effect monster, as non-effect monsters tend to be unplayable in the modern game. They appear on monsters in both the Extra Deck and main deck, but for the sake of this list, we will look at the best effect monsters that are not featured in the Extra Deck. These are the 11 best effect monsters you can use in Yu-Gi-Oh!
11. Armageddon Knight
Armageddon Knight has one of the simplest effects on this entire list, and yet the card has been limited to one copy per deck since 2018. The effect to put a monster into the graveyard is amazing, especially in current Yu-Gi-Oh! where the graveyard acts more like a second hand. Even though you’re restricted to Dark monsters only, most Dark monsters have ways to utilize effects while in the graveyard.
Part of what makes Armageddon Knight so strong is that the effect is not once per turn. So if you have ways to normal or special summon Armageddon Knight you can keep using the effect with each one of its summons. Decks that use Armageddon Knight tend to be able to re-use the effect to extend combos with its abilities.
10. Cyber Dragon
Cyber Dragon has a whole archetype built around it, with the simple effect to special summon itself if you have no monsters and your opponent does. A free special summon is always going to be good, and why Cyber Dragon is so good going second. There are multiple Extra Deck monsters that can be created by using Cyber Dragon and monsters your opponent controls to get rid of potential problem creatures, allowing for some decks to splash Cyber Dragon just to do this.
Inside its own archetype, Cyber Dragon can easily be cheated out with a card like Machin Duplication that gets two copies of Cyber Dragon onto the battlefield. It has solid stats, and there are plenty of powerful Xyz monsters you can go into with Cyber Dragon, including Cyber Dragon Infinity.
The end of the Goat Format
Cyber Dragon is cited as what killed the popular retro format “Goat Format,” which only allows cards released from Legend Of Blue Eyes White Dragon to The Lost Millennium sets. When Cyber Dragon was released, it changed the game as it was the first strong special summon that had easy-to-accomplish summoning conditions and pushed Yu-Gi-Oh! toward the special summoning-focused game it is today.
9. The Winged Dragon Of Ra – Sphere Mode
In modern Yu-Gi-Oh!, many decks will create a large board of monsters with negates attached to them that can prevent you from playing the deck. Often, these monsters have protection from destruction or card effects to make them harder to remove. This is where The Winged Dragon Of Ra – Sphere Mode comes in and what makes it so good.
Most monsters do not have protection from being tributed, so that’s one of the main ways to remove them with ease. The Winged Dragon Of Ra – Sphere Mode gets rid of your opponent’s three best monsters and leaves you with nothing but a ball. This takes up your normal summon, but if your deck is special summoning a lot of creatures, this isn’t much of a downside, as you can just play your deck normally. Not every matchup will require you to tribute boss monsters, so The Winged Dragon Of Ra – Sphere Mode is best suited in the side deck rather than the main deck.
8. Lonefire Blossom
Lonefire Blossom is the face of many combo decks, often FTKs (first turn kill) that win before your opponent can even play a card. Lonefire Blossom lets you tribute any Plant monsters to special summon another Plant monster directly from your deck. Special summoning from the deck is the best effect in the game, especially one that is so unrestricted in the way that Lonefire’s Blossom is.
What boosts Lonefire Blossom to the top is the fact its effect is not a hard once per turn. This means that multiple copies of Lonefire Blossom can use the effect, or it can use the effect again if you tribute it and bring it back from the graveyard. The ability to loop itself and the effect is often how FTKs begin by bringing out the best Plant monsters from your deck.
7. Tour Guide From The Underworld
Tour Guide From The Underworld is one of the best normal summons in the entire game. The ability to special summon directly from the deck is excellent and is what makes it such a good combo starter. While you can’t use the monster’s effects, that’s only for as long as it’s on the battlefield. If you link it off, you can revive it and it will have its effects again.
The number of cards that Tour Guide From The Underworld can combo with is endless, with the most popular ones being ones that have graveyard effects. It can also be used to have a way to easily Xyz into a rank three monster. Most Fiend decks aren’t using their normal summon for their other monsters, making Tour Guide From The Underworld the main use of it since it generates so much value.
6. Kaiju Monsters
All of the Kaijus have effects they can do, but for the most part, these are irrelevant. What they are used for is their ability to special summon themselves on your opponent’s field by tributing a monster they control. Afterward, they are effectively vanilla monsters, as their effects are unusable outside of the actual “Kaiju” archetype.
Kaijus are perfect for getting rid of a problematic boss monster the opponent controls since the effect to tribute and special summon cannot be reacted to. The Kaijus have big stats, but have no other protection, making it easy for most decks to destroy it or better yet bounce them back to your hand. Since it doesn’t take up your normal summon, most decks can play Kaijus without worry, and are popular in going second decks.
5. Danger Cards
The “Danger” archetype is one that consists of monsters that can reveal themselves in the hand and force your opponent to pick a card for you to discard. If the Danger monster is discarded, it gets an effect and if it isn’t, you get to special summon it for free.
Danger monsters are a way to get a free monster onto the battlefield, and even if they get discarded through their effect, the effect that procs is just as strong (and in some cases still gets a body on your board). Danger shines in decks that want to be discarding cards or getting specific cards into the graveyard. This makes the gamble of losing a strong card even lower, as you will be happy with whatever winds up in the graveyard.
4. Droll And Lock Bird
It is not uncommon for top decks to constantly be adding cards from their deck into their hands. Droll And Lock Bird shuts that down at the small cost of discarding it from your hand. This helps to keep decks at bay that would otherwise spiral out of control with adding cards. Your opponent does get one search before being locked out from searching for more cards, but if their deck relies on searching, this can shut down their turn before it ever truly begins.
Droll And Lock Bird is often referred to as a “necessary evil” as it punishes the most oppressive decks that generate too much card advantage to fight back from. Droll And Lock Bird isn’t impressive in every format but is often the unsung hero in the metas where it’s commonly played.
3. Kashtira Fenrir
Kashtira Fenrir is one of the best special summons ever printed. So long as you don’t control a monster, you can summon it for free. This means it is often the first summon you make of the game. Once on the battlefield, it can punish your opponent for using a monster effect, as it banishes a card your opponent controls if you ever do that. In Kashtira decks, it is also a free search for any Kashtira card. Notably, it can add another copy of itself, so if your battlefield gets wiped, you can restart building it with another Kashtira Fenrir or worst case, a way to thin your deck.
Even without using its effect, Kashtira Fenrir has solid stats for a good body on the field. Kashtira Fenrir can be used for any Extra Deck monster and has a good level (seven) for that to boot. Free bodies on the field are always good in Yu-Gi-Oh! thanks to the dominance of Link monsters.
2. Nibiru, The Primal Being
Nibiru, The Primal Being is the ultimate punish to monster-based combos. If your opponent ever summons more than five monsters in a turn (something very common in Yu-Gi-Oh!), you can punish them by tributing their entire board away, leaving them with nothing but a Rock token. While this token does have the combined stats of all monsters that were tributed, it has no protection, so the most basic removal effects will take care of it so you don’t have to worry about attacking over it.
The one downside is that Nibiru, The Primal Being’s effect can be negated, so you need to use it before your opponent can set up negates. Nibiru, The Primal Being special summons itself to your field when you use the effect, giving you a free monster that can either be used as a solid attacker or as Extra Deck fodder, namely for Link monsters.
1. Ash Blossom And Joyous Springs
Widely considered to be one of, if not the best hand trap of all time, Ash Blossom And Joyous Springs is the best effect monster in Yu-Gi-Oh! It has multiple effects, all of which essentially boil down to preventing a card from being moved out of the deck. To use it, you just have to discard it, allowing you to shut down your opponent’s combo before it even begins. A well-timed Ash Blossom And Joyous Springs can be enough to force your opponent to pass their turn as soon as it finishes resolving.
The Other Ghost Girls
The “Ghost Girls” are a name given after the tuner monster hand traps of which Ash Blossom And Joyous Springs is a part of, and the rest follow that same naming convention. The other hand traps are Ghost Sister And Spooky Dogwood (gain life points for every special summon), Ghost Reaper And Winter Cherries (banishes all copies of an Extra Deck monster you reveal), Ghost Ogre And Snow Rabbit (destroy a monster whose effect has been activated), Ghost Mourner And Moonlit Chill (negates the effect of a special summoned monster), and Ghost Belle And Haunted Mansion (negates the effects that would move a card out of the graveyard to anywhere else).
In a pinch, Ash Blossom And Joyous Springs is also a tuner, and can be used with monsters that care about that. However, you are rarely going to actually be playing it, and always using it as a hand trap. Modern Yu-Gi-Oh! is all about getting cards directly from your deck, so Ash Blossom And Joyous Springs being able to shut that down is what makes it the best effect monster in Yu-Gi-Oh!
That is the 11 best effect monsters in Yu-Gi-Oh! Effect monsters are the cornerstone of every archetype, and it’s not uncommon for an entire deck to be made solely out of effect monsters. Although this list looked exclusively at main deck effect monsters, there are plenty of powerful ones to be found in the Extra Deck. The strongest effect monsters are the ones that can used by any deck (or close to it), and most decks that can be playing them, are playing them.
That’s as much as we have on the best Effect Monsters in Yu Gi Oh! You might also be interested in reading about the Yu Gi Oh! banlist from 2024, which should definitely inform your deckbuilding strategy.
