Duel Monsters Arena

Duel Monsters Arena is a Single Play mode in Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Arena first introduced on October 22, 2014. It is a variation of Virtual Arena mode with only 10 AI opponents (as opposed to Virtual Arena's unlimited, custom opponents), all of which hail from the Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters era.

These opponents consist of the following:
 * Yugi Muto
 * Yami Yugi
 * Seto Kaiba
 * Joey Wheeler
 * Mai Valentine
 * Gaia The Fierce Knight
 * Saggi the Dark Clown
 * Rocket Warrior
 * Pumpking the King of Ghosts
 * Insect Queen

This mode is temporary, and is set to expire after maintenance on November 5, 2014. However, players who defeat all 10 opponents at least once are eligible to receive a special partner afterwards.

Conditions
To Duel with one of these opponents, the player has to use a Deck (Main Deck, Extra Deck and Side Deck combined) consisting only of cards released during the ''Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters era, or newer cards that were used in the Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters anime or the Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist, Yu-Gi-Oh! Millennium World or Yu-Gi-Oh! R'' mangas. As such, this means that cards in all OCG products released up to the Japanese release of Flaming Eternity (that are TCG-legal) can be used, at a minimum. This also includes cards such as "Guardian Eatos", "Axe Dragonute", "Shattered Axe", etc.

In addition, Forbidden cards listed in the current TCG Forbidden & Limited lists that fall under these standards are treated as Limited, a benefit exploited by the AI opponents and a benefit that can be also be exploited by the player.

Duels are conducted with each player having 4000 Life Points, just like the anime and manga.

Trivia

 * This mode marks the advent of Saggi the Dark Clown, Rocket Warrior and Pumpking the King of Ghosts as characters in Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Arena.


 * "Detonate", "Final Ritual of the Ancients", "Lemuria, the Forgotten City", "Reshef the Dark Being" and "Winged Rhynos" are the exceptions to this mode's Deck conditions, for unknown reasons.
 * "Reshef the Dark Being" and its Ritual Spell Card are possibly because Reshef is the main antagonist in Yu-Gi-Oh! Reshef of Destruction (a video game set during the Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters era).
 * "Detonate" is possibly because it represents the explosive properties of "Kuriboh" affected by "Multiply" in the anime/manga, but this doesn't seem to account for the banned "Attack the Moon!", which is a unique attack of "Giant Soldier of Stone" in the anime/manga.


 * Buster Blader and Gaia The Fierce Knight were awarded as partners to applicable people the same day this mode was introduced (as rewards for a previous event). This was most likely in anticipation of this mode, since their Decklists comply with this mode's Deck conditions.


 * The partner Decks of Yugi Muto, Yami Yugi, Seto Kaiba, Joey Wheeler and Mai Valentine were all changed on the day this mode was released, their contents accommodating the Deck restrictions of this mode.