How can you tell a Yu-Gi-Oh! card's rarity by looking at it?
Summary
For the five basic rarities, look at two places, the card name and the artwork. A Rare has a silver foil name and plain art, a Super Rare has plain name text and holographic art, and Ultra Rares and Secret Rares have foil on both. The official TCG site describes eleven rarities in all.
The five basic rarities
Commons have no foil anywhere. Rares carry an embossed silver foil name with no foil over the art. Super Rares flip that, with no foil on the name and a holographic finish on the art. Ultra Rares combine a gold or colorful foil name with holographic art, and the Pharaoh's Rare version adds Egyptian hieroglyphs over the art foil. Secret Rares have a rainbow foil name and a sparkling holographic finish on the art.
Six more on the official list
| Rarity | Name | Art and rest of card |
|---|---|---|
| Premium Gold Rare | (not described) | Gold foil across all borders and stars, holographic art |
| Ultimate Rare | Gold foil | Embossed foil accents on the art, border, and other parts |
| Prismatic Secret Rare | Rainbow foil | Vertical and horizontal foil finish |
| Collector's Rare | (not described) | Embossing over the whole card, rainbow holographic designs on the art |
| Starlight Rare | Rainbow foil | Rainbow foil across the art, all borders, and other parts |
| Ghost Rare | Rainbow foil | Three-dimensional hologram forms the art |
Quarter Century Secret Rare and Platinum Secret Rare do not appear on that page. The official card database lists each rarity of a printing on its own row, so Blue-Eyes White Dragon's English page runs to more than 70 rows.
Sources
- New to Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME (checked 2026-11-02)
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Database, Blue-Eyes White Dragon (checked 2026-11-02)
Details are as published on these pages on the date above and can change. Check the official page before you buy or submit.