Top 10 Best Yu-Gi-Oh Structure Decks of All Time: Reviews and Complete Buying Guide

best yugioh structure decks

Structure decks are simply the most cost-effective way to start building new decks if you’re ready to upgrade of beef up your starter deck. These decks allow you to obtain reprints and other strong cards that you wouldn’t otherwise be able to acquire without spending a lot of money on boosters or booster boxes. Buying three of the same structure deck is usually recommended since they don’t come with enough cards to build a deck right out of the box.

It can be difficult to figure out which structure decks are worth buying right away since there are so many different decks to choose from. Each structure deck focuses on a different archetype and some of them simply outshine others and are worth buying three of.

In our comprehensive guide to the best Yu-Gi-Oh structure decks, we’ll show you the best decks on the market and give you some advice when it comes time to choose. Let’s get started.

IN A HURRY? HERE’S OUR TOP PICKS…

NameOur RatingPrice

Top Pick: Seto Kaiba 2016
5/5
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Emperor of Darkness4.5/5
Click for Price
Dinosmasher’s Fury4.5/5
Click for Price

10- Wave of Light

The first structure deck to start off our list is the Wave of Light Structure Deck. This is an awesome deck due to the sheer fact that you can purchase three of these and have a pretty decent counter-fairy deck type set up.

Counter-fairy’s benefit from activating counter trap cards. Eva is one of the newer cards that were added to the counter-fairy archetype and is very powerful.

Wave of Light Card List

Noteworthy Cards: Bountiful Artemis, Solemn Warning, Ties of the Brethren, Eva, Sacred Arch-Airknight Parshath, Power Angel Valkyria

What we like

  • Great cards for counter-fairy archetype

What we don’t like

  • Not as powerful as they used to be

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9- Cyberse Link

The Cyberse Link Structure Deck is an all around great deck to purchase for staple cards. There are tons of valuable reprints and other useful cards in this deck that it can be noteworthy to pick up three of these if you need a lot of the cards from this deck.

On top of all the useful generic cards, Tri-Gate Wizard comes with this set and is easily one of the best link monsters in the game.

Cyberse Link Card List

Noteworthy Cards: Tri-Gate Wizard, Kinka-byo, Glow-Up Bulb, Cosmic Cyclone, Dimensional Barrier, Storming Mirror Force

What we like

  • Tons of useful staple cards
  • Comes with Tri-Gate Wizard, one of the best link monsters in the game

What we don’t like

  • Not very good to make a complete deck out of

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8- Rise of the True Dragons

Rise of the True Dragons is another awesome deck that you can buy three of and you will instantly have a decent Felgrand deck. The Felgrand playstyle relies on Summoning Level 7 or 8 Dragon-Type monsters from the graveyard.

There are a few useful staple cards in this structure deck, but your main focus on buying this deck is to build a Felgrand type deck.

Rise of the True Dragons Card List

Noteworthy Cards: Divine Dragon Lord Felgrand, Return of the Dragon Lords, Arkbrave Dragon, Dragon Ravine, Foolish Burial, Trade-In

What we like

  • Buy three of these and you can have a decent Felgrand deck

What we don’t like

  • Not many useful generic cards

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7- Hero Strike

The Hero Strike Structure Deck introduced Dark Law and Shadow Mist. These two cards are game changers along with Mask Change II. This structure deck makes it extremely easy to special summon Masked Hero Monsters in any deck you want.

You will get a ton of HERO monsters and some useful support spell and trap cards with this deck, but nothing else too significant.

Hero Strike Card List

Noteworthy Cards: Masked HERO Dark Law, Masked HERO Divine Wind, Elemental HERO Shadow Mist, Masked HERO Koga, Contrast HERO Chaos

What we like

  • Lots of HERO Monsters
  • Allows decks to Special Summon Mask Monsters easily

What we don’t like

  • Not really a good stand alone deck

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6- Lair of Darkness

Lair of Darkness is another great structure deck. You can buy three of these to make a decent budget Lair of Darkness deck profile. This structure is mainly purchased for one card alone. Lair of Darkness.

Lair of Darkness is a field spell card that turns all monsters into Dark and allows you to tribute your opponents monsters and special summon torment tokens on your side.

This is an extremely powerful card, and with three of these decks, you will be able to reproduce a pretty decent deck.

Lair of Darkness Card List

Noteworthy Cards: Lair of Darkness, Darkest Diabolos, Lord of the Lair, Lilith, Lady of Lament, Grinning Grave Virus, Crush Card Virus, Deck Devastation Virus

What we like

  • Comes with the powerful Lair of Darkness field spell
  • If you buy three of these decks you can make a decent budget Lair of Darkness deck profile
  • Tons of useful virus cards

What we don’t like

  • Not many useful staple or generic cards for other decks other than virus’s

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5- Realm of Light

Realm of Light is the next structure deck on our list. This is an awesome structure deck since it makes the Lightsworn archetype a lot easier to obtain. Many of the original prints of the core cards of this deck type were very expensive.

This meant that only players that spent a lot of money on singles were able to play this type of deck. Most of this structure deck has reprints of those rare cards and expensive cards. If you are planning or wanting to build a Lightsworn deck, buying three of these will go a long way.

The staple card in this structure deck is Raiden, Hand of the Lightsworn. This card has seen a lot of play even outside of Lightsworn decks. All in all, this is the best way to build a Lightsworn deck. Without this structure deck, Lightsworns will still be as rare and expensive as they are today.

Realm of Light Card List

Noteworthy Cards: Michael, the Arch-Lightsworn, Raiden, Hand of the Lightsworn, Minerva, Lightsworn Maiden, Solar Recharge, Honest, Judgment Dragon, Breakthrough Skill, Foolish Burial

What we like

  • Buy three structure decks and have a Lightsworn deck
  • Raiden, Hand of the Lightsworn is useful in many other decks
  • Made the Lightsworn archetype more accessible

What we don’t like

  • Only a few generic staple cards

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4- Master of Pendulum

The Master of Pendulum Structure Deck is one of the best bangs for your buck. The amount of useful cards in this deck is astonishing. You get tons of different Pendulum cards, Odd-Eyes Absolute Dragon, Odd-Eyes Meteorburst Dragon, and a ton of other useful spell and trap cards.

This is a must have structure deck since it will enhance and supplement any Pendulum type deck out there with the sheer amount of strong and useful cards that come in this set.

Grabbing three copies of this structure deck makes this one of the best value to money spent decks out there.

Master of Pendulum Card List

Noteworthy Cards: Odd-Eyes Absolute Dragon, Odd-Eyes Meteorburst Dragon, Oafdragon Magician‎, Wisdom-Eye Magician, Pendulum Call, Performapal Skullcrobat Joker

What we like

  • Very strong cards to supplement other Pendulum type decks
  • Great value for your money spent

What we don’t like

  • This structure deck has a lot of cards on the “Forbidden” list

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3- Dinosmasher’s Fury

The first in our top three list is Dinosmasher’s Fury. At last. A structure deck that finally makes the Dino archetype good. Dinosmasher’s Fury changed the way everybody looked at the Dino archetype decks. Dino’s were pretty much a joke until this was structure deck was released.

The Dino Deck Profile focuses on banishing and sending cards to the graveyard to facilitate its plays. This type of game play gives this deck a lot of staying power on the field. This is an awesome deck to create if you are an advancing beginner, or trying to move away from a starter deck.

Purchasing three of these decks is a no-brainer as it provides many strong Dino cards as well as other support cards. Making a hybrid Dino deck is also an option for many players so they don’t fall victim to some of the counters that are out there for pure Dino decks.

Dinosmasher’s Fury Card List

Noteworthy Cards: Ultimate Conductor Tyranno, Souleating Oviraptor, Lost World, Miscellaneousaurus, Petiteranodon, Big Evolution Pill, Twin Twisters

What we like

  • Dino deck archetype has tons of staying power
  • Ultimate Conductor Tyranno is a beast of a card
  • Revived the Dino Archetype
  • Tons of other useful support cards

What we don’t like

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2- Emperor of Darkness

The number two spot on our list is the Emperor of Darkness Structure deck. This deck has caused a lot of rage in the TCg community when it was released. It contains a ton of very powerful and useful cards.

When this deck was first released, you could buy three of them and instantly have a deck that can go toe to toe with the strongest meta decks in the entire game.

As you may have guessed, many of these powerful cards have ended up being banned for competitive play which tapered down how powerful this deck was. Even with the bans, its still worth it to pick up three copies of this deck.

Emperor of Darkness Card List

Noteworthy Cards: Erebus the Underworld Monarch, Ehther the Heavenly Monarch, Pantheism of the Monarchs, Domain of the True Monarchs

What we like

  • Tons of useful cards
  • Can create a powerful Monarch deck if you get three of these structure decks
  • Used to go toe to toe with meta decks

What we don’t like

  • A lot of cards were banned from competitive play

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1- Seto Kaiba 2016

Now for the number one top pick on our list. The Seto Kaiba 2016 structure deck. This structure deck is a must buy three of. The reason you would buy this deck is to play an ABC deck.

There are tons of different varieties when it comes to ABC decks, but the overall effectiveness of these decks are astounding. Many of these decks can be used in competitive play which is what makes this structure deck the top pick on our list.

The other cards that come with this deck are not very significant, but if you are looking for core cards for an ABC archetype, then this is your best bet. ABC’s have been strong for awhile and have kind of gone under the radar from Konami which means they are going to be here for the long haul.

Seto Kaiba 2016 Card List

Noteworthy Cards: A-Assault Core, B-Buster Drake, C-Crush Wyvern, ABC-Dragon Buster, A-to-Z-Dragon Buster Cannon, Union Hangar

What we like

  • Comes with the legendary ABC cards
  • Core cards to make very powerful decks

What we don’t like

  • Only really useful for making an ABC deck

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What to Look for in a Yu-Gi-Oh Structure Deck

To find the best Yu-Gi-Oh structure deck for your needs, consider the following major aspects before finalizing a purchase.

Deck Archetypes

Each structure deck has a theme or archetype. Realm of Light favors a Lightsworn archetype while Dinosmasher’s Fury focuses on the Dino archetype.

Before buying a structure deck, make sure to do some research to see if the play style of that archetype is something you will like or have fun playing.

Staple Cards

Some decks have cards that are all very useful for any deck type. A good example of this is the Master of Pendulum structure deck. It primarily focuses on Pendulum type decks, but offers a variety of cards that are useful in most decks.

If you plan on building multiple styles of decks then it is a good idea to invest in structure decks that offer a wide variety of useful cards.

Core Deck Cards

Some structure decks are bought solely for core cards to play competitive decks. One example of this is the Seto Kaiba Structure deck. It doesn’t offer many other useful cards other than the core cards to be used in an ABC deck.

Best Yu-Gi-Oh Structure Deck Brands

Konami

Konami is a leader in the development, publishing, and manufcaturing of trading card games and electronics. They completely took over the Yu-Gi-Oh! card game scene on December 11, 2008 and has been innovating the game ever since.

Konami has been innovating and bringing new, fresh entertainment sources to their audience since the early 1960’s. They recently celebrated their 50th anniversary on March 21, 2019

FAQs

What Is a Structure Deck?

A structure deck is a deck full of powerful cards. Many of the cards come in singles which means you need to buy at least three if you plan on creating a deck out of them.

Many of the cards found in these decks are reprints of older cards that were very hard to obtain. Structure decks help make rare cards and certain deck archetypes more accessible for new players and veterans alike.

A good example is the Lightsworn deck archetype. The original prints of the Lightsworn cards were very rare and expensive. The Realm of Light Structure Deck has made this deck archetype much easier to obtain and play.

Which Structure Deck Is Best?

The best structure deck to purchase is the Seto Kaiba Structure Deck due to the sheer fact that you get the A, B, and C monsters.

These monsters are very powerful and are the core monsters used in the ABC deck types which can be very competitive decks.

What Is the Difference Between a Starter and Structure Deck?

A starter deck is a deck that is designed to be playable right out of the box for new players to learn how to play the game. A structure deck, on the other hand, consists of cards used to structure your own deck.

A structure deck usually isn’t playable right out of the box, and are mostly used to create and play decks that are a lot stronger than traditional starter decks.

Final Thoughts

The Seto Kaiba 2016 Structure deck is our top pick for the best structure deck. Although it doesn’t offer much in terms of useful cards, it does come with the core cards that every competitive ABC deck in order to be effective.

The runner up is the Emperor of Darkness Structure Deck. With three copies of this deck you can create a very powerful Monarch archetype deck that will blow away any starter or beginner deck out there.

Whichever Yu-Gi-Oh structure deck you choose, we hope this guide has been helpful in your purchasing decision. Thanks for reading!

Indoor Game Bunker

We are Indoor Game Bunker, a group dedicated to providing reviews, how to guides, and helpful information to those interested in a wide variety of games and hobbies.

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