Monsters
5.
Forbidden from 2004 to 2019, it was only able to return after a significant reduction in power. Iconic collectible cards are always popular, and Toon Chaos gave Chaos Emperor its first easily accessible printing. Despite this, it was almost entirely overlooked, receiving just one correct guess in the competition.
4.
Nibiru is no
3.
After reaching some high prices in February, the ultra rare reprint of Salamangreat Almiraj in Duel Overload really took the heat off the cost for this utility rank-1. This brought some big savings for control-oriented strategies, with many decks playing Almiraj alongside Pot of Extravagance.
2.
Rank 4s have some of the best toolbox options of any type of extra deck monster and Parallel eXceed is your ticket to ride. A one-card investment without needing a normal summon makes for a great extender. So far it hasn't seen much play outside of Salamangreat, but definitely one to watch.
1.
One of the best protections available for playing second, difficult to play around, and deadly alongside a Nibiru. Gamma was the most sold monster of the year, and you guys knew it! More than 70% of your comments included this versatile monster negator.
Spells
5.
Just as we did with the monsters, we have another iconic legacy card in the number five spot. Raigeki has less text than any other card in our Top 5s. It's one of the simplest cards ever printed, but who needs to be nuanced when you can destroy everything?
4.
The ultimate search card for chaos monster combo decks. It might look like a minus one in card advantage, but it pays back the discard cost with a free draw later in the turn. This card was definitely instrumental to Chaos Dragons becoming one of the top decks of the year.
3.
Upstart is still sitting at one on the Forbidden and Limited list, but that hasn't stopped it getting the number three spot in our spell card countdown. Secret Slayers saw the release of its first budget-friendly holo print.
2.
One of the best answers to a big opening turn from a combo deck, Dark Ruler No More has been breaking big boards for over a year now. This is the third card in our sales charts from the 2019 Gold Sarcophagus Tin, impressive for a set that wasn't even published this year!
1.
For four years now, Desires has cemented itself as the go-to draw two. Over that time there have been plenty of reprints, but Toon Chaos brought another rarity to the mix—my personal favorite too. You guys really saw this one coming. Not only was it the most guessed spell card, it even scored more votes than Almiraj in the competition that asked for Top 5 monsters!
Traps
5.
A hand trap that actually is a trap card? Infinite Impermanence is often the only trap card in many decks, so it's easy to see why it made the Top 5. It wasn't the most sold trap card of the year, but it was the one you guessed the most.
4.
Solemn Strike may not be a hand trap, but it can stop them. It also stops all of the other monster effects too, and at spell speel 3 there's nothing in most combo decks that can interact with it.
3.
The only continuous spell or trap to make our top charts. I guess there can be only one. Floodgate effects have proven themselves to be strong choices time and time again. There Can Be Only One is one of the strongest, functioning as removal on activation, then preventing further summons afterward.
2.
If you had to choose a trap card to be the most popular, then it would be wise to consider a trap card that lets you choose another trap card. The super rare reprint in Secret Slayers is in abundant supply, making it a top choice to sell loads of copies.
1.
Half your life points may seem like a hefty cost, but for a negation with such broad coverage it's a small price to pay. Unlike the other Top 5 lists, for the trap cards it was a vintage staple taking the number one spot.
Results
The guesses seemed to improve as the competition progressed. For the monsters there was an average of just 1.85 correct answers per comment, although this might have been much higher if there weren't so many people choosing spell cards! By the final round the average had risen to more than 2.3 correct answers per entry.
Nobody managed to guess all five cards correctly for any of the competitions. But very well done to anybody who got four, particularly on the spell round, where just two people achieved that feat.
I hope you all enjoyed playing along, and congratulations to our lottery winners. We'll back back next year with more Insight articles and competitions, so look out for more Yu-Gi-Oh! content in January. Until then stay safe, enjoy the holidays, and happy (remote) dueling!
Opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily Cardmarket.