Upcoming Yu-Gi-Oh Sets in 2023 [Complete List]
It’s time to summon your monsters and lay secret traps for your opponent – as we check out all upcoming Yu-Gi-Oh TCG sets in 2023!
Just as the world’s first CCG/TCG (collectible card game/trading card game) Magic: The Gathering is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, the Manga-derived Yu-Gi-Oh TCG also reaches an impressive milestone in 2023 – and celebrates its own 25th anniversary!
So yes, we’ve now been able to take part in the actual card game that Yugi, his friends and rivals play in the Yu-Gi-Oh manga and anime.
The release schedule – or at least what we know of it so far – is pretty packed, as you’d expect for an anniversary year!
What new Yu-Gi-Oh sets and cards can we expect to see in 2023 though?
Let’s find out, as we check out all of the upcoming Yu-Gi-Oh TCG sets!
1. Amazing Defenders – January 19th
OK, this is no longer upcoming – but as part of this year’s release schedule for the Yu-Gi-Oh TCG, we wanted to ensure we covered all bases!
Amazing Defenders is a 60-card mini-set that introduces new archetypes – including the Japanese entertainment-inspired Mikanko, the feline Purrely and even – perhaps oddly – the high tech emergency services of Rescue-ACE.
All three of these archetypes are well represented in Amazing Defenders, particularly given that it’s a set made up of just 60 cards, but there’s more here than just those new archetypes.
There’s also older cards reprinted here too, so if none of those new types are of interest, you’re likely to find something here to make use of.
Overall, there’s 10 Ultra Rare cards, 15 Super Rares and 35 Rare cards that make up the 60 card set – which means that all are worth checking out, if only for the set’s general rarity overall!
2. Photon Hypernova – February 9th
Another set that’s already available, Photon Hypernova is the latest core set release and the first of 2023.
A 100-card set, Photon Hypernova contains lots of cards that tie in to popular Yu-Gi-Oh themes, as well as new, more generic cards that are also sure to prove popular.
Given that Photo Hypernova has already hit store shelves, what can we expect to see in the set?
Well, fans of Kashtira Fenrir will be well served here, as it’s now possible to build an entire deck around the popular monster that was originally introduced in Darkwing Blast.
That’s just one example, however – as the list of members and support cards for existing archetypes is absolutely bewildering in Photon Hypernova.
To put it succinctly, there’s genuinely likely to be something here for most Yu-Gi-Oh players to make use of, regardless of their preferred archetypes or play style.
Additionally, somehow there’s even space to include an entirely new archetype: Gold Pride!
With 50 Common cards, 26 Super Rares, 14 Ultra Rares and 10 Secret Rares, long time Yu-Gi-Oh players are no doubt already discovering the joys of the excellent Photon Hypernova set!
3. Beware of Traptrix – February 23rd
The freshest new Structure Deck on the block, Beware of Traptrix is, like all other Structure Decks, pre-constructed and therefore non-random.
Which means we know exactly what we’re getting into when we pick up a Structure Deck – which, for the uninitiated, are decks which are based around specific themes.
They’re intended for use by more advanced players – unlike Starter Decks, which function as basic introductions to Yu-Gi-Oh mechanics using fixed, ready-to-play decks – usually as a basis to build a deck around, using cards collected in Booster Packs.
In the case of Beware of Traptrix, it’s a Structure Deck based around the ‘Traptrix’ theme.
Which means lots of Plant and Insect type monsters; the strategy being to use those monsters to set ‘Trap Hole’ traps in order to remove your opponent’s monsters from the game.
That’s right – not just from the board, but from the graveyard – and removed from the game!
Additionally, your monsters can also gather together and eat your opponent’s Life Points – making this an especially deadly Structure Deck overall.
With eight entirely new cards and a good selection of reprinted Insect and Plant cards, Beware of Traptrix is a superb Structure Deck that should prove to be pretty popular for players looking for an interesting new strategy with which to take on their opponents!
4. Maze of Memories – March 9th
With Maze of Memories being released imminently, there’s quite a bit of information out there about what cards are going to be included.
With 2023 being Yu-Gi-Oh’s 25th anniversary, Maze of Memories trades heavily on nostalgia and classic cards from just about every era of Yu-Gi-Oh.
Despite that, this 67-card set also finds space for new Gate Guardian cards.
A few cards set to feature are highly anticipated and long awaited reprints, such as Baronne de Fleur (one of the best Synchro cards ever) and Wind-Up Kitten – which makes a return to Yu-Gi-Oh after a whole decade out of print!
So Maze of Memories is looking like a great set – for lapsed players and new players equally, there’s sure to be something here for everyone, especially given the wide spread of cards from across the storied history of Yu-Gi-Oh!
5. Speed Duel GX: Duelists of Shadows – March 30th
A relatively new type of Yu-Gi-Oh game, Speed Duel is a format that is simplified and crafted specifically to be both straightforward for new players to learn and also, as the name implies, to play very quickly indeed.
So quickly, in fact, that a round of Speed Duel Yu-Gi-Oh will typically play out in around 10 minutes!
This upcoming Speed Duel set features eight (yes, eight!) pre-constructed decks – that’s enough for eight players to take part in Speed Duels and definitely more than enough for two players to have tons of variety in trying out different strategies and characters against each other.
Within this packed set, there’s decks based around the following characters: The Supreme King, the vampire Camula, Amazonian warrior Tania, Titan the Shadow Duelist, Amnael the Alchemist, the spectral Nightshroud, Duelist Adrian Gecko and Shadow Rider Kagemaru.
Additionally, extra Skill Cards are included in order to customise the decks and there are four more that can be used as part of building entirely new Speed Duel decks.
There’s 228 cards in this brilliant box set; 8 of which are Secret Rares – with three of those guaranteed to be Sacred Beasts: Uria, Lord of Searing Flames, Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder, and Raviel, Lord of Phantasms.
For anyone interested in getting involved in Yu-Gi-Oh in a friendlier, faster way to learn and play, this Speed Duel GX box provides a fantastic jumping on point – but it’s also a great set for players already involved in the addictive Speed Duelling format!
6. Legendary Collection: 25th Anniversary Edition – April 20th
Naturally, there’s a lot more to come this year to celebrate Yu-Gi-Oh’s first quarter century anniversary – including this box set that hearkens back to the very first Yu-Gi-Oh Legendary Collection!
This Anniversary Edition of the Legendary Collection box set contains six booster packs, six Ultra Rare cards and a bonus 7th card too, which introduces a brand new rarity especially created for the 2023 anniversary: The Quarter Century Secret Rare.
The six Ultra Rare cards included in the set feature reprints of some of the most-requested and sought after original Egyptian Gods from the first anime series.
The Quarter Century Secret Rare in each pack is a random version of one of the six Ultra Rares – so collecting all of those is likely to be quite the temptation for long term Yu-Gi-Oh players, even if it’ll end up being quite pricey to do so!
7. Cyberstorm Access – May 4th
Following on from Photon Hypernova, the next main booster set is Cyberstorm Access, due at the beginning of May (specifically on Star Wars day – may the fourth be with you; which is an admittedly tenuous, but good enough, excuse to direct you to our 10 best Star Wars board games of all time list!).
The star of the show in Cyberstorm Access is undoubtedly the new Link-6 evolution of Firewall Dragon, which – amongst other great features – has 3500 ATK!
Plenty of other new, powerful monsters are included too – and the set also features a new Synchro Summoning strategy, new cards for ‘tellarknights’ and much more.
Remember those three new archetypes introduced in Amazing Defenders? They all get expanded in Cyberstorm Access, with a new Purrely monster, further reinforcements for Rescue-ACE and a new Mikanko dancer too.
Finally, this 100-card set also features a new Gold Pride rider – building on the card unveiled in Photon Hypernova!
8. Wild Survivors – June 2nd
Yet another mini-set, Wild Survivors is a 60 card set which brings no less than three new strategies to Yu-Gi-Oh.
First up are new Dinosaurs that have evolved to use different types of Summoning; the set features Dinosaurs that use Fusion, Synchro and there’s an Xyz Monster Dinosaur too.
Ritual Summoning will cook your opponent’s monsters – and even summon more for you once you meet a Special Condition on the card used in the summoning!
Lastly are Fighter cards that battle with Attribute-based special attacks.
An all-rare set – featuring 35 Rares, 15 Super Rares and 10 Ultra Rares – Wild Survivors sounds like a crazy set that Yu-Gi-Oh players won’t want to miss out on!
9. Battles of Legend: Monstrous Revenge – June 21st
Such a new announcement that Konami have warned its name (and even contents) may change, Battles of Legend: Monstrous Revenge is the first Booster Set (not pack, obviously as that honour fell to the on Legendary Collection: 25th Anniversary Edition, featured earlier on this very list) to feature Quarter Century Secret Rares.
So new, in fact, that we’ve used an image of a previous Battles of Legend set above – Crystal Revenge – because it’s awesome, right?
This set will feature new cards as well as classic reprints, with more than 20 of the cards in the 102-card set (that’s 40 Secret Rares and 62 Ultra Rares) also being made available with alternate art as Quarter Century Secret Rare cards.
New cards such as Extox Hydra, Armed Neos and Assault Synchron will feature alongside iconic classics such as Dark Armed Dragon and Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss.
More details on this set – including, perhaps, a name change – will be forthcoming, but for now there seem to be more details out there on subsequent releases – as you’ll see!
10. 25th Anniversary Booster Set Reprints: Legend of Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Metal Raiders, Spell Rulers, Pharaoh’s Servant and Invasion of Chaos – July 13th
Heading into the second half of 2023, we have a reprint of the very first Booster Set ever released for Yu-Gi-Oh: Legend of Blue-Eyes White Dragon!
Sure to be an instant nostalgia hit for long term players and fans of the anime, remarkably there’s a lot more coming in July’s round of reprints.
Metal Raiders, Spell Rules and Pharaoh’s Servant and Invasion of Chaos – the second, third and fourth Booster Sets are also coming back to stores – with the 25th Anniversary providing the perfect excuse for these classic cards and sets to see the light of day again.
Lastly, we’re also going to see Invasion of Chaos reprinted too; for years, the cards in this set were only available as part of the Legendary Collection, but now players will be able to get hold of them in standard Booster Packs too.
There’s an awful lot of cards that will make their welcome return thanks to these reprints – and each set will feature both Secret Rares from the respective original set too.
So what lies beyond July for the rest of Yu-Gi-Oh’s 25th Anniversary year?At the time of writing, we simply don’t know!
With the July reprints giving players and collectors an awful lot to keep them busy, the schedule for the rest of 2023 may well be a bit less hectic – yet it wouldn’t be a surprise to see even more released to celebrate the phenomenal, quarter century milestone!
While you’re here and checking out Yu-Gi-Oh news, don’t forget that we here at Retro Dodo are big fans of Yu-Gi-Oh – and we’ve covered the best ways you can keep your card collection safe in our best Yu-Gi-Oh card sleeves list!
Also – and this may well change due to the new reprints that are incoming – we took a look at rare Yu-Gi-Oh cards. If you see any you own on there, you may well be sat on a small fortune!
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* This article was originally published here
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