The Yu-Gi-Oh 25th Anniversary Collection is more than just nostalgia

When most people of a certain vintage look back to childhood crazes, there is plenty to remember fondly - Pogs were fun for a bit, and Pokemon Cards were an absolute game-changer when they landed at a time when everyone was desperate for a Game Boy.

Yu-Gi-Oh may never have hit the heights of its compatriot, at least in the UK, but for me, it was always the cooler, edgier alternative to Ash Ketchum's adventures. Sadly, it was harder to get to actually play the card game (excellent PS1 game Forbidden Memories notwithstanding).

Now 33, you can imagine my excitement when Konami revealed the Yu-Gi-Oh 25th Anniversary Collection, bringing together some of the anime's most iconic cards in a new reprint bundle that features multiple boosters, too.

The Yu-Gi-Oh 25th Anniversary Collection takes me back

If you've been looking to unleash your inner Seto Kaiba, Yami Yugi, or Joey Wheeler, you'll find Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Dark Magician, and Red-Eyes Black Dragon included.

You'll also find Obelisk The Tormentor, Slifer the Sky Dragon, and Winged Dragon of Ra, meaning it's a hell of a bundle for those of you that haven't really dipped in since the anime.

• Read our Yu-Gi-Oh Master Duel review

While I'd have liked some 25th Anniversary preconstructed decks for the main characters, just as we got with the Speed Duel options a while back, there are plenty of precons to choose from at this point (although some have risen in value - any chance of a reprint, Konami?).

Aside from the six cards, there's one "Quarter Century" secret rare included. As luck would have it, I got a Red-Eyes Black Dragon in this style, which you can check out below.

There are also six boosters included, with one of each of the following included:

• Invasion of Chaos
• Metal Raiders
• Legend of Blue-Eyes White Dragon
• Spell Ruler
• Pharaoh's Servant
• Dark Crisis

Just from those, I ended up with enough cards to make a feasible deck, and while it's not a recipe I'd be particularly proud of using on Master Duel, it's a start.

Thankfully, Konami very kindly sent over a handful of boosters (no Dark Crisis, though), and their theming certainly makes more targeted deckbuilding a lot easier.

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Spell Ruler, for example, was the set that introduced ritual spells and Toon monsters, making it an ideal pickup for anyone looking for those specific cards, while Legend of Blue-Eyes White Dragon is very much the foundational bedrock of the franchise, with the likes of Mammoth Graveyard, Reaper of the Cards, Mystical Elf and more.

All of the boosters I opened for the purposes of this article featured some dupes among them, but given that's necessary for building a deck, I'm certainly not unhappy about it.

Should you play Yu-Gi-Oh in 2023?

The conundrum with jumping into Yu-Gi-Oh, even as a lapsed player, has always been the sheer amount of catching up to do. There are literally thousands of cards, all interacting with each other in vastly different ways, and while that remains true in 2023, the relative affordability of preconstructed decks, as well as these themed anniversary boosters, offer a much more defined pathway.

Given precons also come with a playmat, they really do feel geared towards just jumping in and duelling, and while the Yu-Gi-Oh 25th Anniversary Collection may feel like a collector's item first and foremost, it's hard to resist the itch to bust out your Dark Magician at the next party you're invited to... no? Just me, then.

All joking aside, there's also a pair of invaluable tools in Duel Links and Master Duel, both of which are excellent learning tools that double as endless competition.

Duel Links is a more truncated facsimile of the main game, while Master Duel is essentially a 1:1 recreation - warts and all. Both offer something for different players, but it'd be fair to say that after opening these boosters I'm itching to put my skills to the test.

As someone that used to shout, "It's time to D-D-Duel" at my parents' TV, maybe the push of nostalgia was all I needed.