Pokemon TCG vs Yugioh – Which One is Better?

Young adults today grew up with two major trading card games. Well…technically three. There’s also Magic the Gathering, but that’s a different story for a different time. The two TCGs that we grew up with were Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon. Of course, both games have Magic to thank for their existence, but as Magic is the granddaddy of all TCGs today, it is in a league of its own.

For those of us who watched (or still watch) the shows, Yu-Gi-Oh might at first seem a little more straightforward given the show literally shows you how to play the game. Pokemon, on the other hand, mimics a Pokemon battle. The concept is easy to grasp, but you have to delve into your rulebook to get a sense of how the mechanics work. Once you do, however, it’s a lot of fun. But which game is right for you?

Here are some pros and cons that will help us decide which TCG is supreme – Yu-Gi-Oh or Pokemon!

Pokemon Benefits from More Recognizable Characters

Sure, plenty of us grew up knowing what a Blue Eyes White Dragon was, or a Dark Magician. But people around the world know who Pikachu is, as well as the incredibly famous/legendary Charizard. Just look at the numbers. Pokemon is the highest grossing entertainment franchise of all time. That’s more than Star Wars, Mickey Mouse, or Mario, making Pikachu probably the single most recognize-able character in the world.

Yu-Gi-Oh is no lightweight, either. But it sits considerably further down the list at around 19 billion vs Pokemon’s 92 billion. Now whereas only a portion of this Pokemon fortune comes from the trading card game, Yu-Gi-Oh largely relies on what they make from their game – their entire show, in fact, is based around it. When it comes to overall card sales, the two appear to be largely neck in neck, with one gaining more popularity at any given time than the other. At the current moment, thanks to the Pokemon craze going on, Pokemon takes top billing over Yu-Gi-Oh, even beating out Magic: the Gathering as the best selling TCG overall.

Yu-Gi-Oh Only Has a Few Bankable Creatures

So why does any of this matter in regards to the TCG? Well, Pokemon has the advantage of incredibly recognize-able creatures at its disposal. And they do a good job of simply recycling those creatures regularly. Take the latest set of cards to be released. Evolving skies features Evie and its evolutions quite prominently. You can get new editions of fan favorites like Snorlax, Charizard, Rayquaza and beyond. All of this familiarity helps retain old and new fans, while also introducing them to newer Pokemon and strategies.

Yu-Gi-Oh, however, can’t pull this off. Not only because it wouldn’t work in their game mechanics, but they also simply don’t have enough recognize-able characters/mascots. They can only reprint Blue Eyes so many times. This is partly due to the fact that, unlike Pokemon and virtually every other TCG on the planet, Yu-Gi-Oh doesn’t have a rotation list. This means that there’s not really any reason to release updated versions of the same creature. People can just use their old one.

The Card Rotation Mechanic Makes it Easier to Jump On and Off Pokemon

Most trading card games have a rotation. This means that older sets get phased out (or become “illegal to play with”) as new sets are released. Immediately, this might bring to mind the fact that these TCG companies need to sell new cards in order to stay in business. But they don’t create a card rotation to make people buy more cards. Really the card rotation is simply acknowledging the reality that newer, more powerful cards coming out means older cards get outdated.

In regards to power creep, or the reality that overtime cards get more and more powerful, Yu-Gi-Oh has the same problem. What they don’t do, however, is openly acknowledge it. They don’t have a rotation list, meaning that in theory you could use your Man Eater Bug to counter your opponent’s Stardust Dragon.

While that might seem pretty cool at first, now that there are no rules around what cards can and can’t be played (other than the ban list), you now suddenly have thousands and thousands of cards you have to somehow choose from in order to figure out what deck/combo you want to use against your opponent.

While this isn’t really a challenge for hardened gamers, it is tough for newbies.

With Pokemon, you can pretty much just buy a recent league deck and the latest boosters and you should be good to go until a few rotations down the road when those cards aren’t viable anymore.

Yu-Gi-Oh is More Complicated by Default than Pokemon

One of the most common knocks against the Pokemon TCG is its simplicity. However, the most popular, non trading card games in the world (think Apples to Apples) are not challenging. Of course, Pokemon is vastly more complicated than Apples to Apples. And it has grown more complex over time. To me, Pokemon today is at a similar level of complexity as to where Yu-Gi-Oh was at more than a decade ago.

When Yu-Gi-Oh came out and for the first decade or so after it was released, I do think it was probably the superior game. You had your spells, your traps, and your mix of lower powered monsters and high powered life point killers. But getting those kinds of monsters onto the field took time and effort. And there were plenty of other “burn” decks for example that allowed you to pursue different sorts of strategies in order to find the one that fit your playing style the best.

Today, however, Yu-Gi-Oh is unrecognizable from what it was before. And while many of its ardent fans will say this is a good thing, there are also plenty of people that don’t want to deal with the vast complexity that Yu-Gi-Oh now presents.

Pokemon, however, has grown into higher degrees of complexity with grace. Trainer cards are now more varied, and new mechanics add interesting new ways to play the game. And, every so often, these new mechanics are rotated out to make way for new ones, meaning you don’t have to master everything in order to play it.

Yu-Gi-Oh Has Sped Up Massively Over the Years

Although I didn’t play a ton of Pokemon TCG as a kid, I did play way too much Yu-Gi-Oh. Playing Yu-Gi-Oh used to feel sort of like playing a really fun, faster paced version of chess with shiny, collectable cards. Strategies took a long time to come to fruition. It took time to summon your best monster, or to wear way your opponent’s life points with burn effects etc.

Today, however, this is not how Yu-Gi-Oh works. Turns are very long now, with many former players saying that engaging in Duels, as they are called in Yu-Gi-Oh, feels more like watching your opponent playing solitaire with how many combos are going on in a single turn.

As far as I can tell, however, Pokemon’s pace of play is not so different than it used to be. The overall mechanics feel largely the same, with welcome additions. Some of the newer rules might speed up the game, but largely it has remained well balanced and is recognize-able, at least for newcomers, compared to where it was at ten years ago.

Additionally, I as a Pokemon newbie am able to grab a starter deck, soup it up a little, and still compete on online play. In Yu-Gi-Oh, if I tried doing that I would get crushed miserably.

Pokemon Strikes the Right Balance Between Complexity and Simplicity

Ultimately to be successful, any game must be fun for newbies and casual players, and satisfying for more hardened/advanced gamers. Pokemon bridges this gap wonderfully. There are plenty of cards, combos, different playing styles and more to keep TCG enthusiasts and strategy lovers busy for a long time. Yu-Gi-Oh, however, has more and more pandered only to its hardest core fan base, with it requiring top level decks and pre made sets in order to even stand a chance of competing on a normal level.

This higher level of complexity undoubtedly helps Konami, the makers of Yu-Gi-Oh, retain their hard core fanbase. However, it does not encourage new players. Pokemon, however, manages to increase complexity for their hardcore fanbase while managing to draw in new fans and players through its accessibility.

The Verdict

Although it somewhat pains me to say it, given my former history and love for Yu-Gi-Oh, in 2021, Pokemon is the superior game. It is more fun, easier to play, and more social in nature than its main competitor, Yu-Gi-Oh. From a collector’s standpoint, Pokemon is also more viable, with plenty of older cards holding up their value even today, with the majority of cards in Yu-Gi-Oh only being valuable based on the current meta.