Metal Raiders

About this set

Game

Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG

Released

2002 (North America)

Size

An early follow-up expansion

Featured here

2 cards

Metal Raiders followed Legend of Blue Eyes White Dragon within the same early period of the English game. It expanded the pool of cards available to the first wave of players.

The set includes Mirror Force, a Trap card that remains one of the most recognized in the game, and the first English print of Summoned Skull.

As an early expansion, it helps show how the game moved from a small card pool toward a large and layered system of strategies.

What to look for in this set

How to explore this set

Metal Raiders is the second stop on the English Yu-Gi-Oh! timeline, and the best way to use it is as a comparison with the first set. Where Legend of Blue Eyes White Dragon teaches you the basics, this expansion shows what a follow-up adds: more choices for the first wave of players, and the first hints of a deeper system.

Two featured cards make a tidy starting pair.

• Summoned Skull is a Level 6 Dark Fiend that needs only one tribute. Its first English print is here, not in the first set, so it corrects a common mix-up.
• Mirror Force is a Normal Trap. Open it for a lesson in setting a card face down and bluffing, which you can read about on the Spell and Trap cards page.

Read one monster and one Trap, then flip back to the first set to see the same layout rules at work: frame color, then Level, then rarity.

What changed after it

Metal Raiders sits within the same early period as Legend of Blue Eyes White Dragon, and the two are often read as a pair. They show the game moving from a small card pool toward a large, layered system of strategies.

From there the history opens up. The English game was handled by Upper Deck Entertainment in North America during the first years, and Konami took control beginning in late 2008, after a legal dispute that carried into 2009. New summoning types arrived in turn, Synchro, Xyz, Pendulum and Link, each tied to a new anime series. Recent products reprint classic cards in special finishes, so a card from this set may show up again with a different rarity.

Questions readers ask

Which set does Summoned Skull belong to?

Its first English print is in Metal Raiders. The first set does not contain it.

Why is a Trap card worth studying early?

It shows what makes Yu-Gi-Oh! different from many card games: a face-down card the opponent must guess about.

Should I start with this set or the first one?

Either works. Many readers open the first set for the basics, then come here. See the duel guide for how the pieces fit together on the mat.

Mechanics you will see

• Tribute Summoning Sacrificing monsters to bring out stronger ones.
• Spell & Trap Cards The non-monster cards that shape every duel.