Yu-Gi-Oh! Most Expensive Legacy of Destruction Cards

A new Yu-Gi-Oh! set is on shelves and ready to usurp the metagame. The new Tenpai archetype, while something that Yu-Gi-Oh hasn’t really seen before, has players hoping that the TCG metagame won’t just be Snake-Eye dominance anymore. While the opening weekend wasn’t too good for the archetype, from Yubel support to Lightsworn shenanigans, there are some interesting cards to be had in the new set. As a result, there are definitely some cards kicking up a fuss on the secondary market.

Here, we’ll go over the most expensive cards appearing in the new Legacy of Destruction set. Notably, we will not be including Quarter Century Rare cards in this list because they would just take over the entire list. They are also quite rare, meaning that they aren’t something you will commonly pull from a pack.

Let’s take a look!

Lightsworn Dragonling

Credit: Konami

Of all the new Lightsworn cards introduced in Legacy of Destruction, many agree that Lightsworn Dragonling is the most important one for the new strategy.

Lightsworn Dragonling does it all. As soon as a Lightsworn card is in your GY (which is not hard for a mill strategy), this card Special Summons itself, and tutors a Lightsworn card into your grave. Finally, Dragonling can find one of your boss monsters when it goes to the grave, allowing you to convert to your endgame immediately.

According to recent sales on TCGplayer, Lightsworn Dragonling generally sells for between $18 and $19. The card's price has dropped considerably since its release.

Token???

Bizarrely, the fourth most expensive card in Legacy of Destruction, excluding Quarter Century Rares, is a token. This Yugi Moto and Silent Magician token can simply be used to represent… uh, any token. So, there really aren’t any gameplay applications to this outside of it being a token replacement. It’s just a cool token with some cool art.

People seem to really like this token, as it is currently going for $20. TCGplayer has the card as a super rare rarity, as the picture is holographic.

Tenpai Dragon Paidra

The Tenpai archetype is the new kid on the block that players are hoping will add some diversity to a stale tier zero metagame. The archetype has performed incredibly well in Japan, capable of dealing 33,000 damage on turn two with just one card.

The deck accomplishes this by Quick Effect Synchro Summoning during combat, which is generally not a legal game action in Yu-gi-Oh! Tenpai Dragon Paidra is one of the cards that allows for Quick Effect Synchro Summoning, which essentially allows the card to attack and Synchro into another Monster afterward. Paidra also searches for a Sangen spell or trap card on entry, which is crucial for the combo sequences that this deck has to offer. Most, if not all, Tenpai decks play three of these, as they are a required part of many of your combos thanks to the spell searching and the Quick Synchro Effect.

Tenpai Dragon Paidra, according to TCGplayer, easily sells for over $20 but is currently dropping a bit in value. More recent copies of this card are selling for under $20, but the card is still sought after quite heavily for the many trying out the Tenpai deck.

Nightmare Apprentice

Credit: Konami

The Illusion archetype has not received as much hype as the new Tenpai one, but Nightmare Apprentice is a Secret Rare support card for the archetype that is capable of doing a lot of things. Special Summoning this card is quite effortless, and can get a card from your hand into the grave, which can be important for certain archetypes. Afterwards, the Apprentice can replace itself with an Illusion Monster. This flexibility does allow Apprentice to create partial Illusion Engines in other archetypes theoretically. For now, though, this card isn’t being used much. The high price of Nightmare Apprentice may be more related to its rarity and its appearance in the Anime. It appears that Yugi used this card.

Either way, Nightmare Apprentice, like many other cards on release, dropped significantly from its prerelease price, a pattern seen across card games. That said, the card is regaining some of its lost value, selling for $32 rather consistently.

Nightmare Throne

If you want to play the Yubel archetype, you absolutely need as many copies of this card that are going to be legal. Nightmare Throne is an absolute dream for anyone who wants to engage with this strategy. Not only do you get to find or destroy a Yubel Monster from anywhere when it enters, but Nightmare Throne also allows you to Special Summon Yubel Monsters when one of your others leaves the field via Card Effect. While this covers non-destructive interaction, if your Yubel does get destroyed, even by one of your effects, you’ll get to Special Summon two Yubel monsters!

Since this is absolutely necessary for the archetype, Nightmare Throne is going for quite a bit at the moment. Buying one of these will run you as much as $40, but $36 seems to be the general amount that most of recent sales support on TCGplayer.

Going Above

Of course, pulling a Quarter Century Rare will award a much larger payday over even hitting a Nightmare Throne. If you hit the holy grail of the set, a Quarter Century Nightmare Throne, $175 could be waiting for you! That said, you’re not even guaranteed to hit a Quarter Century Rare in an entire Booster Box, let alone one of the best ones.

Either way, if you’re looking to open some Legacy of Destruction, these are the cards you should be looking for.