When Yu-Gi-Oh first came out, one of the easier ways to beat your opponent was to equip spell cards.
If you have a strong enough equip card, even a Blue Eyes White Dragon wouldn’t be able to stop your hits.
But because there are so many play styles and themes now, a lot of players don’t even know what these cards can do.
But with equipment from over 20 years ago, which ones should you use now?
There are more than 250 choices in the game as a whole.
But I’ve done all the hard work here and made a list of the most useful and competitive equip spells.
18. Lucky Iron Axe
Nice and simple, it gives a small boost to ATK and gives a little comfort if it gets destroyed.
The Lucky Iron Axe is a general-purpose add card that can be used in any deck that needs it.
Because it can be used in so many ways, it’s a must-have.
You’ll probably have a few in your spare cards.
17. Mask of the Accursed
Another old card that makes people angry instead of making them feel nostalgic.
Mask of the Cursed was the worst thing that could happen to a player.
It stopped strong monsters in their tracks and did small amounts of damage every other turn.
It is still true today, especially in stall decks.
Taking your time to do small amounts of damage is a surprising good strategy, but your opponent will hate you for it.
16. Megamorph
Megamorph is a legendary card, and we’ve all used it at some point in our duels.
Before GX, it was an amazing card that gave you huge benefits if your life points were just a little lower than your opponent’s.
It still has a place in some decks in the modern game, and you should think about it if you need an equip card.
Just remember that the ATK boost turns into a drop if you use this card to do a lot of damage.
15. Butterfly Dagger Elma
Butterfly Dagger Elma is the first one on our list.
At first glance, this card doesn’t seem very good because it only makes your monster’s attack 300 stronger.
But the reason it’s so great is because of that small boost.
Since it can come back to your hand every time it is sent to the graveyard, it gives one of your monsters a constant 300 attack boost.
Since it only makes your monster’s attack 300 stronger, your opponent shouldn’t waste cards trying to get rid of it.
As of this writing, it is on both the TCG banlist and the OCG banlist. This is because this card can be used in some pretty crazy ways, and I don’t think it will ever be taken off the banned list.
But this card isn’t very good for standard games, so if you’re playing at home, you can choose to use it.
14. Ekibyo Drakmord
Even though Ekibyo Drakmord is a simple card, it does a lot of damage.
Once you equip Ekibyo Drakmord to a monster, that monster can’t attack and is killed two turns later.
You can put this on one of your opponent’s monster cards to make it useless.
After you kill the monster your opponent has, you can put this card back into your hand and use it again.
13. Disposable Learner Device
Near the end of a game, the Disposable Learner Device can become very strong.
On the other hand, it doesn’t help much at first.
You can increase the strength of a monster by 200 for each monster you have in your graveyard.
At the end of the game, you could have up to 15 enemies in the graveyard. This is a 3000 attack boost.
But at first, you might only have 5, which is still a +1000 attack boost, which is good but nothing to write home about.
12. Cursed Armaments
Cursed Armaments is a type of card that makes things bad for the monster it is attached to.
If you equip this card to one of your opponent’s monsters, that monster loses 600 attack for every monster you control.
With 5 monsters on the field, this means that the attack goes down by 3000.
This card isn’t put higher because you can only use it once and it only affects one monster.
11. Double-Edged Sword
There are a lot of cards that can make your attack stronger by 300, 500, or even 1000.
But Double-Edged Sword gives you a huge 2000 attack boost.
You take the same amount of battle damage as your opponent, which is bad, but you can use it with cards like Impenetrable Attack, which stop you from taking battle damage that turn.
This can keep you from getting hurt in battle and keep the equipped spell card from killing itself.
10. White Veil
As long as this card doesn’t get destroyed, it’s completely crazy.
White Veil makes it so that your opponent can’t use any spells or traps while the monster you have equipped is fighting.
But there’s more.
If the monster you have equipped kills another monster, your opponent’s spell and trap zone is totally destroyed.
The thing is, you also take 3000 damage if this card leaves the field, which is why it’s lower on this list.
So, in a game with 8000 life points, White Veil is a great choice if you still have life points left over.
9. Noble Arms Caliburn
There are a lot of good equip spell cards in the Noble Arms archetype. You can use them not only in a Noble Arms deck, but also in any warrior deck.
Noble Arms Caliburn gives the monster it is equipped to 500 attack, and each turn you can also gain 500 life points.
But if you are also using a Noble Arms deck, this card gives you an extra benefit.
Even if this card is sent to the graveyard, you can keep bringing it back as long as you have Noble Arms monsters on the field.
8. Supermagic Sword of Raptinus
Even though it is so strong, the Supermagic Sword of Raptinus is one of the more underrated items on this list.
During the battle phase, you can use the Supermagic Sword of Raptinus to change the fighting position of the equipped monster.
Depending on where the monster is, either card effects can’t target it or the fight can’t kill it.
To use this card well, put the monster you have equipped with it in defense position during your turn. Then, during the battle phase, change it back to attack position to keep card effects from hurting it.
During the fight phase of your opponent, you can switch your monster from attack position to defense position to keep it from being destroyed.
You can also do an extra standard summon with this card, which lets you make more combos during the second main phase.
7. Noble Arms of Destiny
This outfit spell is also made for warrior decks, just like Noble Arms Caliburn.
This card is different because once per turn, you can stop a fight or card effect from killing a monster you have equipped.
When strong monsters like Number S39: Utopia the Lightning are used together, your opponent will have a hard time.
But, like most Noble Arms equip spells, this card also lets you re-equip it to another monster every time it goes to the graveyard, as long as you control a Noble Arms monster.
6. Noble Arms Clarent
Nobel Arms Clarent is the last but not least of the Noble Arms line-up.
Clarent is great because it lets the monster it is equipped on directly hit for only 500 life points.
Again, with cards like Number S39: Utopia the Lightning, you can do 5000 points of damage in a single attack to your opponent.
You probably already knew this, but Clarent can also return to the field if you have Nobel Arms monsters.
This one has a lot going for it.
5. Archfiend’s Staff of Despair
The Staff of Despair of Archfiend is the next item on the list.
As one of the more recent equip cards, many players probably don’t even know it exists, but they’re missing out.
Once per turn, Archfiend’s Staff of Despair lets you reduce the attack of all monsters your opponent controls by half the attack of the attached monster until the end of the turn.
So, if you control a monster like the Borrelsword Savage Dragon, each turn you can reduce the attack of your opponent’s monster by 1500.
Even if this card leaves the field, this ability stays in place.
Plus, if this card is sent to the graveyard while it is attached to a monster, you can pay 1000 life points to get it back.
4. Mage Power
Mage Power is one of the oldest cards on this list, and for good reason, it has always been considered one of the best equip cards.
With Mage Power, for each spell and trap card you control, you can add 500 to a monster’s attack and defense.
Mage Power can boost a monster’s attack and defense by 3000 if it has up to 6 spell and trap zones (including the field spell).
Even though it’s old, Mage Power is easy and strong. Because of this, it is so high on this list.
3. United We Stand
Here’s another (possibly even better) item that works the same way as Mage Spell.
You can give each monster you control 800 more attack and defense for each monster you control.
With 6 monster zones, plus the extra monster zone, your monster’s attack could go up by 4800.
Flooding the field is not hard to do when you have characters like Zirtual World and Adamancipator.
So, you should be asking why more people aren’t using this card.
2. Power of the Guardians
Even though United We Stand was hard to beat, Power of the Guardians might be even tougher.
Power of the Guardians lets you add a spell counter to this equip spell for each attack that the attached monster is used in.
The monster’s attack and protection go up by 500 for each spell counter it has. But that’s not all.
If a fight or card effect is about to kill your equipped monster, you can just take off a spell counter instead.
This makes crazy moves possible.
For example, every time your opponent announces an attack on one of your monsters, you get a spell counter. This makes your attack stronger and reduces the damage done by the battle.
If your monster is about to be destroyed, you can just take away the spell number you just got, and you’ll be back where you started.
On the other hand, if you have monsters like the Chimeratech Rampage Dragon that can attack more than once per turn, you can get several spell counters in a single turn and increase your attack at a crazy rate.
1. Moon Mirror Shield
And finally, Moon Mirror Shield, the top card on my list.
With Moon Mirror Shield, it doesn’t matter how strong the attack or defense of your opponent’s monster is.
Moon Mirror Shield lets you kill any monster, even if it’s 1 million. Because it makes your monster’s attack instantly 100 points higher than the best stat of the opposing monster, whether that’s attack or defense.
With cards like Gren Maju Da Eiza that can have an attack and defense of 12,000 or even higher, Moon Mirror Shield lets even a monster with 0 attack kill it.
It’s hard to say if Moon Mirror Shield or Power of the Guardians should be the best.
But Moon Mirror Shield makes a monster pretty much unbeatable in battle, so I think it has the edge by a few hairs.
