| Spell Card | |||
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| Japanese |
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| Japanese (ruby) |
まほうカード (マジックカード in the early OCG Series 3 and the anime) | ||
| Japanese (base text) |
魔法カード (symbol: 魔) | ||
| Japanese (romanized) |
Mahō Kādo (Majikku Kādo in the early OCG Series 3 and the anime) | ||
| Japanese (translated) |
Magic Card | ||
| English |
Spell Card (formerly Magic Card) | ||
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| Lists |
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Spell Cards (Japanese:
Unlike Trap Cards, Spell Cards have the advantage of being able to be played the turn they are drawn without having to Set them first. A Set Spell Card may be activated during the same turn it was Set as well (with the exception of Quick-Play Spell Cards).
Some very powerful Spell Cards have been Forbidden from Advanced Format tournament play, such as "Pot of Avarice". In many cases, Konami has released new, less-powerful replacements for some of these cards. For instance, "Pot of Avarice" has been replaced by the weaker "Pot of Dichotomy", which returns fewer monsters, whilst adding type restrictions to prevent genericness, and easy activation.
Used properly, a single Spell Card can significantly alter the game in the user's favor, or even cause them to win the Duel.
Types
A Spell Card's Type is designated by a symbol to the right of the words "Spell Card". The various Spell Card Types are:
- Normal Spells, which have no symbol on printed cards, but are sometimes given a capital N symbol in video games.
- Continuous Spells, which have a lemniscate (infinity) symbol.
- Equip Spells, which have a crosshair symbol.
- Quick-Play Spells, which have a lightning bolt symbol.
- Field Spells, which have a compass rose symbol.
- Ritual Spells, which have a flaming chalice symbol.
Example
Layout
The layout of Spell Cards is noticeably different from Monster Cards. Take the Spell Card "Monster Reborn" (above) for example. Although Forbidden now, it is a "classic" Spell Card and was used in almost every kind of Deck.
Border
The most noticeable difference between Spell Cards and Monster Cards is the border color. While most Monster Cards are yellow or orange, Spell Cards are blue-green.
Card name
This part of the card contains only one significant change - the Attribute symbol is replaced by a Spell symbol due to the fact that Spell (and Trap) Cards do not have attributes.
Card Type
The Card Type is located where the Level could be found on Monster Cards - below the name. This piece of text indicates that the card is a Spell Card. An icon next to the "Spell Card" text indicates the card's Type (refer to the symbols above).
Card artwork
Template:Double image The card artwork is also present here and shows the player a visual interpretation of the used card. Upon import to the TCG, artworks may be changed, for a number of reasons. In Monster Reborn's case, its original artwork was that of an "Ankh" symbol but was remade in order to avoid religious connotations. The Ankh is currently used only on Japanese-language OCG cards (Korean Monster Reborn cards feature the TCG artwork).
Card text box
Unlike the Monster Card text box (which provide the monster's Type, ATK and DEF), Spell cards' text boxes serve only one purpose - providing the card effect.
Other elements
All basic card elements can also be seen in Spells. These include the Edition text, Set Number, Card Number, copyright text and the Eye of Anubis Hologram.