Card text

The card text, also known as the card description, is the part of Monster, Spell, and Trap cards that details how a card affects gameplay, or lore about the monster. The card text is located in the Card Description box, which is located below the Type of monster (for monsters) or below the artwork (for Spells and Traps).

The card text of Normal Monsters only contains lore about the monster and is in italic to indicate that it has no effect on gameplay.

On all other cards, the card text contains the card effect as well as any costs, conditions, and materials. If a card lists materials, these will be listed first on their own line.

Errata
Card text often receives errata between printings. This is used for a variety of reasons, including to correct mistakes and mistranslations, correct archetype membership, and to improve clarity.

Card text standardization and clarification efforts
There have been two attempts to standardize and clarify the card text in the TCG.

The first was the Simplified Effect Text, which shortened several common phrases by taking out implied words or rephrasing the phrase altogether. The Simplified Effect Text has been used on all cards released since Power of the Duelist, until the introduction of the next text standardization.

The second was the Problem-Solving Card Text, which uses a highly consistent structure for all cards to minimize the need for card rulings. It has been used on all cards released in Booster Packs since Generation Force and all cards released in Starter Decks since Starter Deck: Dawn of the Xyz.