Joey Wheeler's Decks

Joey Wheeler's Deck has changed numerous times throughout the series. His strategies often involve luck, which is sometimes criticized by other characters. It usually consists of Warrior-Type monsters, possibly representing his strong fighting spirit, and later support for "".

Initially he tried filling his Deck with just powerful Monster Cards. His Deck becomes more balanced as he learns more about the game.

Duelist Kingdom
During Duelist Kingdom Joey's Deck comprised mainly of Warriors, Beast-Warriors or other tough-looking anthropomorphic animals.

Since the rules at this stage of the series excluded Tribute Summons, many of his monsters are above Level 4 and could be Summoned without Tributes.

In the anime on the boat trip to Duelist Kingdom, Joey acquired a few additions to his Deck. Yugi gave him the "" card and Joey traded with other people to get "", "", "" and "Kunai with Chain". During the tournament, Tristan Taylor gave him the card "" in the anime. Joey won the card "" off Rex Raptor by gambling the "Time Wizard" card.

Differences to OCG/TCG Cards

 * "Time Wizard" and "Copycat" were treated as Magic Cards. "Time Wizard's" effect consisted of a spinning roulette. There was a 2 in 3 chance of it stopping on a skull symbol. This would destroy all the controller's monsters and cause them to take damage equal to half the combined ATK of all monsters they controlled. There was a 1 in 3 chance of landing on one of the win symbols, which accelerated time by a thousand years. The result caused all monsters on the field to age, which usually weakened them. In "Baby Dragon's" case, it evolved into "Thousand Dragon". "Dark Magician" became weaker, but gained effects as "" when affected by "Time Wizard" while it was equipped with the.


 * "Flame Swordsman" and "Giltia the D. Knight" were Normal Monsters, although the international dub of the anime, changed the color of the cards to purple making it appear to be a Fusion Monsters to match its real life equivalent, but the card was still used like a Normal Monster.


 * "Thousand Dragon" was not a Fusion Monster. It was not a card, but "Baby Dragon" altered by the effect of "Time Wizard".


 * "Red-Eyes Black Metal Dragon" was not included in his Main Deck, but was actually "Red-Eyes Black Dragon" affected by "Metalmorph".

Vs. Duke Devlin
In the anime, Joey Dueled Duke Devlin using a Deck made from Booster Packs opened just before the Duel. Yugi objected that Joey shouldn't Duel using cards he's not used to. All the cards are from the Thousand Eyes Bible expansion of the actual card game.

Battle City
Many changes are made to Joey's Deck during the Battle City tournament.

With the rules changed to be closer to the OCG and TCG, Joey's Deck includes fewer high Level monsters as they must now be Tribute Summoned.

The number of tough Warriors and Beast-Warrior-Type monsters decreases and he includes a few cartoon-like warriors, while many more luck based cards are added, a trait that leads Esper Roba to dub it a Gamble Deck.

Due to the Ante rule, Joey loses his "", but wins a few more rare cards. Although Yugi manages to win back Joey's "Red-Eyes", Joey refuses to take it back and says he'll earn it when he becomes a better Duelist (in the English dub, he lends it to Yugi to help defeat Marik). In later arcs of the anime, he is shown to have it again, so it is assumed he defeated Yugi in the Duel following the tournament. However, in the manga Jonouchi does not use it again, except in Millennium World, where he wouldn't necessarily need the actual card.

{{Decklist|Battle City Deck (Anime) }}
 * normal monsters =
 * {{Anime|Alligator's Sword}}
 * {{Anime|Axe Raider}}
 * {{Anime|Baby Dragon}}
 * {{Anime|Battle Warrior}}
 * {{Anime|Flame Swordsman}}
 * {{Anime|Garoozis}}
 * {{Anime|Giltia the D. Knight}}
 * {{Anime|
 * {{Anime|Swordsman of Landstar}}
 * Tiny Guardian
 * effect monsters =
 * {{Anime|Gearfried the Iron Knight}}
 * {{Anime|Gilford the Lightning}}
 * {{Anime|Hayabusa Knight}}
 * {{Anime|Insect Queen}}
 * {{Anime|Jinzo}}
 * {{Anime|Panther Warrior}}
 * {{Anime|Parasite Paracide}}
 * {{Anime|Rocket Warrior}}
 * {{Anime|The Legendary Fisherman}}
 * {{Anime|Thousand Dragon}}
 * fusion monsters =
 * {{Anime|Alligator's Sword Dragon}}
 * magic =
 * Energy Drain
 * {{Anime|Fairy Box}}
 * {{Anime|Foolish Burial}}
 * {{Anime|Giant Trunade}}
 * {{Anime|Graceful Dice}}
 * {{Anime|Legendary Sword}}
 * {{Anime|Lightning Blade}}
 * {{Anime|Monster Reborn}}
 * {{Anime|Polymerization}} (alternate version in the dubs)
 * {{Anime|Pot of Greed}}
 * {{Anime|Question}}
 * {{Anime|Roulette Spider}}
 * {{Anime|Scapegoat}}
 * {{Anime|Shield & Sword}}
 * {{Anime|Skull Dice}}
 * {{Anime|Time Wizard}}
 * traps =
 * Chasm of Spikes
 * {{Anime|Gamble}}
 * {{Anime|Graverobber}}
 * {{Anime|Kunai with Chain}}
 * {{Anime|Magical Arm Shield}}
 * {{Anime|Nutrient Z}}

Possessed Deck
During the tournament, Joey gets possessed by Marik Ishtar and is forced to Duel Yugi. He runs a Burn Deck. Marik adds a number of Magic Cards to his Deck, which allow him to directly destroy monsters and inflict damage, although such cards were outlawed in the Battle City tournament.

Dream Deck
After losing to Yami Marik, Joey falls into a coma, in which he dreams about the tournament he entered in episode 2, using his original Deck based on Warrior-Type monsters. (In the dub, he dreams that he is participating in a different tournament.)

Virtual World
In Noah Kaiba's virtual world, Joey was made to construct a Deck to use in this world. He made one close to his Battle City Deck, but also included a number of "Harpie" cards as a tribute to Mai Valentine.

He used "" as his Deck Master, where it could distribute its ATK among Joey's other monsters.

He teamed up with Yugi to face the Big Five. Here Joey was able to combine "Flame Swordsman" with Yugi's Deck Master, "" to form "" and "" who became their shared Deck Master.

Waking the Dragons
Joey's Deck had evolved to incorporate even more luck cards, and runs a Red-Eyes/Warrior/Hermos Deck. He also has included cards that end the opponent's turns, as well as "Aura Armor" much to Valon's surprise. The main addition, however, is "Claw of Hermos" which can fuse with monster cards to become Equip Cards. He is also seen using his Red-Eyes Black Dragon again.

Grand Championship
In the Grand Championship Joey's Deck incorporates more support for low Level monsters, such as the "Landstar" monsters. He continues his luck cards as well as his more memorable cards like "Red-Eyes Black Dragon" and "Jinzo".

Dawn of the Duel
He has not been seen Dueling properly during this arc, but he used cards from previous arcs while he's in Ancient Egypt to protect himself and others from Zorc Necrophades.

Yu-Gi-Oh! R
Jonouchi's Deck is similar to his Battle City Deck, but has advanced slightly in each of his play-styles. He retains his rare and luck-based cards, having acquired more of both, and continues to occasionally use Fusion Monsters. The most notable addition to his Deck is the "Time Machine" card that he took from Bandit Keith after the Duelist Kingdom arc.

Dark Duel Stories
Joey's Deck from Yu-Gi-Oh! Dark Duel Stories is loosely based on his early Battle City Deck from the manga, featuring "Red-Eyes Black Dragon" as his signature card. Other monsters previously used by Joey include "Mountain Warrior", "Time Wizard" and "Swordsman of Landstar". Other than that, Joey's Deck was stacked with many weaker low-level monsters to reflect his low-level in the game.

World Championship Tournament 2004
Joey Wheeler is a Level 3 opponent in World Championship Tournament 2004. In order to unlock him, the player must defeat all of the Level 2 Duelists at least five times and have a "Jinzo" in their Trunk, but not in their Deck. If they can amass at least ten wins and maintain at least a 50% win ratio against Joey, the latter stipulation no longer applies.

Fitting his aggressive personality in the anime, Joey's Deck is full of high-ATK monsters, primarily Warriors and Beast-Warriors. Many of his Level 4 monsters have 2000 ATK or more, but suffer from various restrictions, such as changing to Defense Position after the Battle Phase or losing ATK for every monster destroyed. He also has some dangerous Effect Monsters, such as "Jinzo" and "Time Wizard", and he almost always activates the latter's effect successfully, making it difficult to keep monsters on the field.

He has generic Spells and only a few Traps, which mostly focus on strengthening his own monsters or getting rid of his opponent's monsters to give him a clear shot at their Life Points. If he gets the chance, he'll also use "Polymerization" to bring out one of three deadly Fusion Monsters: the 1700-ATK, potentially-Direct Attacking "Alligator's Sword Dragon", the 2400-ATK "Thousand Dragon", or his strongest monster, the 3200-ATK "Black Skull Dragon".

On the other hand, Joey's Deck has no Spell or Trap negation apart from Jinzo, and very little defense against monster Summons (other than his "Ring of Destruction" cards). He also tends to Summon "Time Wizard" in Attack Position to make use of its effect immediately, which leaves him vulnerable to taking a large amount of Battle Damage from a powerful monster.

The Dawn of Destiny
Joey's signature card is shown to be Red-Eyes B. Dragon.