The 17 most expensive Yugioh cards and prices 2023

Chasing down rare Yugioh cards is a serious business. Like many TCGs, Yugioh is no longer a simple pastime enjoyed in playgrounds, but has morphed into a serious collector’s market, spanning the globe. Since releasing in 1999, some cards have taken on such a reputation they sell for tens of thousands of dollars at auction. This guide profiles the 16 most expensive Yugioh cards in 2023, and how much they sold for.

The most expensive Yugioh cards are a varied bunch. They aren’t necessarily simply the best Yugioh cards available; nor is this list stuffed with Yugioh Exodia cards, or ultra-powerful names from the Yugioh banlist or top Yugioh decks and Yugioh Master Duel meta decks.

Instead, many are mint condition copies of the most recognisable cards ever released, gaining their value and popularity through their place in the decks of the best Yugioh characters in the show. Others are promotional cards that were handed out to tournament winners and are valued for their scarcity.  If you fancy it, also check out the rare Pokémon cards and most expensive MTG cards of all time.

Most of these wildly expensive collectibles are variants of regular cards with much more sensible prices: we’ve included links to TCGPlayer if you’d like to buy a more reasonably costed version of any of these cards.

These are the world’s most expensive and rare Yugioh cards:

• Tyler, The Great Warrior – $311,211
• Blue-Eyes White Dragon LOB 1st Edition – $85,000
• Dark Magician LOB 1st Edition – $85,000
• Crush Card Virus Shonen Jump Championship 2007 – $50,000
• Minerva, the Exalted Lightsworn 2015 World Championship prize – $34,800
• Cyber-Stein Shonen Jump Championship 2004 – $30,100
• Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth Dark Duels Stories promo – $30,000
• The Seal of Orichalcos UDE edition – $26,400
• Blue-Eyes White Dragon Dark Duel Stories promo – $25,100
• Chaos Emperor, the Dragon of Armageddon World Championship series 2018 – $18,000
• Doomcaliber Knight Shonen Jump Championship 2008 – $15,300
• Morphing Jar Tournament Pack: Season 2 promo – $15,000
• Red-Eyes Black Dragon LOB 1st Edition – $10,600
• Dark Magician Girl – $9100
• Exodia LOB 1st Edition – $8000
• Attack of the Giant Card!! Cyber Dragon – Unconfirmed
• Stainless Steel Black Luster Soldier prize card – Unconfirmed

Tyler the Great Warrior – $311,211

A one-of-a-kind Yugioh card, created by Tyler Gressle in 2005 as part of a Make-a-Wish request, Tyler the Great Warrior has the honour of being the rarest Yugioh card in existence, with only one copy around. Gressle designed the card in 2005, when he was 14, and battling against a rare form of liver cancer.

18 years later, he decided to sell the card. The final auction bid racked up a whopping $311,211 (£249,793.51), meaning yes, this is officially number one. We present to you: the rarest and most expensive Yugioh card ever, full stop. 

Blue-Eyes White Dragon LOB 1st Edition – $85,000

Blue-Eyes White Dragon might be the most popular Yugioh card of all time. It’s certainly one of the most recognisable. A heavyweight both in the trading card game and the original anime series, it’s still sought after today, especially if it’s an ultra-rare mint-condition copy, like this one.

Released in the Yugioh trading card game’s first expansion set, Legend of Blue-Eyes White Dragon (LOB), this first-edition PSA 10 Gem Mint condition card sold at auction in October 2020 for an astounding $85,000 (£65,000). That’s a whole lot of dough, but you’ll need three of them to summon the chunkier Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon.

Other copies of the card don’t go cheap, either. Back in June 2021, a Chinese court suspended an auction after bidding spiralled up to a wild $13.4 million / £10.1 million, as people clambered to get their hands on an ultra-rare Blue-Eyes White Dragon with a 20th-anniversary card frame.

Dark Magician LOB 1st Edition – $85,000

Another staple of the Yugioh anime and trading card game, Dark Magician is best known as the favorite card of protagonist Yugi Muto. And with that fame comes expense, as a PSA 10 gem mint condition copy of the card, printed in the Legend of Blue-Eyes White Dragon set, was auctioned in June 2021 for $85,000 (£65,000).

Notably, this was the Arkana variant of Dark Magician. Functionally, it’s exactly the same card, but includes a different artwork with a crimson hue and was introduced in the anime as a rival to Yugi Muto’s version of the card.

Crush Card Virus Shonen Jump Championship 2007 – $50,000

Awarded as a prize card in the 2007 Shonen Jump Championships (a series of Yugioh trading card game tournaments that were later replaced by the Yugioh Championship Series), there aren’t many copies of this version of Crush Card Virus around. Originally, 40 copies were produced, before a further two were made for the SJC 2008 tournaments.

It’s the scarcity of this card that makes it so valuable to collectors, more so than its functionality or popularity. In June 2020, a PSA 10 gem mint copy sold for $49,999 (£40,058.70) on eBay. Not bad for a card that’s spent most of its life sitting on the Yugioh banlist.

Minerva, the Exalted Lightsworn 2015 World Championship prize – $34,800

An ultra-rare variant of Minerva, The Exalted Lightsworn was awarded as the first prize for nationals events in the 2015 Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship Series. The distinction between this version and the cards given out for second and third place are very subtle: the golden lettering is all that separates it from its kindred.

One such card with an excellent condition score of 9.5 sold via Heritage Auctions on November 6 2021 for $34,800, followed in Mach 2022 with a 9.0 condition card that moved for $31,200.

Cyber-Stein Shonen Jump Championship 2004 – $30,100

This copy of Cyber-Stein was originally awarded as a prize card at the Shonen Jump Championships between 2004 and 2005. Only 18 copies were produced for the tournaments, although an extra two were printed for the tournaments in 2008, and 126 copies were made for a promotional event in 2009.

Regardless of its reprints, this is still a rare card. A PSA 10 gem mint condition copy printed in the original 2004 auctioned in October 2020 for $30,100 (£22,800).

Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth Dark Duel Stories promo – $30,000

This little insect doesn’t have much renown in the Yugioh community, but managed to make a name for itself in August 2021. A rare promo version of the card, released alongside the Dark Duels Stories videogame, that had been rated in PSA 10 gem mint condition sold on eBay for a whopping $29,999.99 (£22,700).

At the time of its listing, it was billed as the only gem mint copy of the promo card in the entire world, making it somewhat unique. Since then, however, trading card authenticator and grading company PSA has listed three other copies of the card to exist.

The Seal of Orichalcos UDE event – $26,400

The Seal of Orichalcos has appeared in several Yu Gi Oh! sets but back in 2005, just after it had appeared in season four of the anime, there was no official card representing it. At the time, Upper Deck Entertainment decided to make their own custom version of the card. This appeared only in UDE-organised “Duel the Master” side-events: challenge games against a master player, usually a judge, wielding a stacked deck full of powerful cards.

The Seal of Orichalcos isn’t really a promo, since it wasn’t intended to make its way into the hands of players, and was never legal in any form of tournament play. This version of the card has an ominous final clause – if you lose against its owner, your soul is forfeit! Legend has it that only fifteen copies of the card were ever printed, suggesting it is one of the rarest cards in any TCG.

In 2017, Yu-Gi-Oh! collector Anthony Nguyen released a YouTube video revealing he’d acquired a copy of the legendary card. Once it became apparent that it was possible for collectors to get their hands on it, there were a spate of sales – with a 7-graded copy selling via Heritage Auctions for $26,400.

Blue-Eyes White Dragon Dark Duel Stories promo – $25,100

Another entry for the pallid serpent, this was one of six Prismatic Secret Rare cards released in promotion for the Yugioh Dark Duel Stories videogame. Two sets were created – one containing ol’ Blue-Eyes, Exodia, and Dark Magician; the other packing Acid Trap Hole, Seiyaryu, and Salamandra – and were packaged inside the Gameboy game.

This PSA 10 gem mint condition copy sold at auction in February 2021 for the not-insignificant sum of $25,100 (£19,000). Although a fair few prismatic Blue-Eyes White Dragons made their way into the world as promo cards for the videogame, few have been kept in such great condition.

Chaos Emperor, the Dragon of Armageddon championship series 2018 – $18,000

Similar to Minerva, the Exalted Lightsworn, Chaos Emperor was a prize at the 2018 YuGiOh! Championship series. Championship winners were the first to get their hands on the powerful dragon, two years before its first public printing in Battles of Legend Armageddon. A copy of the ultra-rare first place winner’s card with a PSA Mint 9 rating sold via Heritage auctions for $18,000 in November 2021.

Doomcaliber Knight Shonen Jump Championship 2008 – $15,300

Another prize card given out at the Shonen Jump Championships, this copy of Doomcaliber Knight was handed to winners of the 2008 tournaments. Only 68 copies of the cards were ever produced, making it not only super scarce, but super coveted.

In March 2021, a PSA 7 near-mint copy of the card was auctioned for $15,300 (£12,258.21). Interestingly, this is one of the only cards on this list that isn’t graded PSA 10. It just goes to show how valuable it is.

Morphing Jar Tournament Pack: Season 2 promo – $15,000

Another promotional card, this copy of Morphing Jar was released in the second season Tournament Pack, a specially-compiled booster that was released at select tournament locations in late 2002. More than that, Morphing Jar was the pack’s single Ultra Rare, making it doubly golden.

In Early 2021, a PSA 10 gem mint condition copy of the card sold for just under $15,000 (£12,000). Still, we reckon the classic Pot of Greed is the best piece of crockery to ever make its way into Yugioh.

Red-Eyes Black Dragon LOB 1st Edition – $10,600

Another favourite from Yugioh’s line of vivid drakes with notable eye colors, Red-Eyes Black Dragons, doesn’t have the acclaim or market value of its esteemed Blue-eyed counterpart, but can certainly hold its own. One of ten Ultra Rares included in the first Yugioh set release, Legend of Blue-Eyes White Dragon, this card was a prize to find.

Twenty years later, that prize has only gone up in value. A PSA 10 gem mint condition copy of the first-edition card cards for $10,600 (£8,000) in January 2021. Yugioh players sure do like their dragons.

Dark Magician Girl 1st edition – $9,100

Dark Magician Girl was first printed in 2003, in the North-America only set Magician’s Force. Although she’s had a wider reprint since then, this was the only printing to feature the same artwork as in the Anime. A gem mint first edition Dark Magician girl sold for $9,100 via eBay in November 2020. 

Exodia LOB 1st Edition – $8,000

The notorious Exodia is just as prized on the collector’s market as it is by duelists in the Yugioh anime. It’s the ultimate monster, created by combining five Exodia cards into a single, unmatched entity: the Forbidden One. It’s so powerful, in fact, that it grants its summoner immediate victory. No wonder that sniveling Weevil Underwood threw all of Yugi’s Exodia cards off the boat in the first season.

This copy of Exodia is particularly prized, however, for being a first-edition version that was printed in the game’s original set, Legend of Blue-Eyes White Dragon. It sold for $8,000 (£6,050) As well as being graded at PSA 10 Mint Gem condition, all five cards that make up Exodia were released as Ultra Rares, making them difficult to find regardless of their age. 

Attack of the Giant Card!! Cyber Dragon

In addition to being one of the most expensive Yugioh cards ever sold, the Attack of the Giant Card!! Cyber Dragon is also one of the biggest. ‘Attack of the Giant Card!!’ is an official tournament that rewards its winner with a Yugioh card that’s around a meter tall.

According to an eBay listing, this giant Cyber Dragon was awarded at the Remote Duel Extravaganza in June 2022 as part of the Attack of the Giant Card!! Speed Duel tournament. Though we don’t know the official offer accepted, the seller’s OG asking price was just under $10,000 (£9,000) – so the final price is somewhere in this eye-watering ballpark.

Stainless Steel Black Luster Soldier

Believed to have been awarded in Yugioh’s first ever national tournament in 1999, this curious card might be the most expensive Yugioh card of all time.

Made of stainless steel, the unique one of a kind Black Luster Soldier monster works differently to every other version of the card – since it’s a Normal Monster, not a Ritual Monster.

According to Kotaku, the card was listed for sale for around $10 million back in 2013, but there’s no indication it sold for that value. Elsewhere the figure $2 million is widely circulated, but this does not seem to have a verifiable source attached.

The above image is not the metal monster, but a paper duplicate of the card. 3000 copies were released in June 2023 as a special promotion in Japan, to mark the 25th anniversary of the game.

For more costly trading cards, check out our guides to the most expensive MTG cards and the priciest rare Pokemon cards.

Source: Wargamer