If you play Yu-Gi-Oh a lot, you may have sometimes thought, “If I had one more turn, I would have won.”
Then you probably want a card that will help you out when you’re in trouble.
You can get out of problems with a lot of different cards.
For example, you can look for cards that increase your life points, lower your opponent’s life points, or destroy all of your opponent’s monsters.
But a card that Stop Attacks is probably the best way to stop your opponent.
And if you want some ideas, take a look at this list.
18. Clear Kuriboh
You can get rid of Clear on either turn to stop a monster effect that would do effect damage. This is a good defense, but it only works in certain situations.
Better yet, when an opponent hits you directly with Clear in your graveyard, you can banish him to draw a card, and if it’s a monster, you can special summon it and change the attack target to it.
With a little luck, this can really save you, but even if you draw a spell or trap, you still get an extra card to use on your next turn (if you live).
17. D.D. Esper Star Sparrow
Sparrow has a higher ATK than most cards today, but you’ll need to pay two tributes to standard summon him.
Still, he stops opponents from targeting or hitting your other monsters, and if they attack directly while he is in the graveyard, you can special summon him in defense position.
When he leaves the field, he is banished.
Sparrow’s defense is only 1500, so it’s likely he won’t make it through that fight. He’ll still block the hit, though, and thanks to his high level, he’s great for rituals.
16. Dragonox, the Empowered Warrior
Dragonox’s effect is activated by the pendulum scale, so she is a little more likely to be destroyed than the other cards in the game today.
But it’s a good effect for her to destroy herself to stop an attack (direct or not) and end the fight phase.
As a monster, Dragonox has average stats, but she lets you discard a card once per turn to special summon a warrior or spellcaster with 2000 or less ATK from your graveyard in face-down defense position.
This is a great way to revive flip effects.
15. Frozen Soul
Even though Frozen Soul is at the bottom of the list, it’s still a pretty good card that can fight with a lot of the other cards here.
When your life points are 2000 less than your opponent’s, you can use Frozen Soul.
If they do this, their next battle part will be skipped.
If your opponent tries to destroy it, you can even use this card during your turn.
But there’s one more thing you should know about this card: if your opponent doesn’t try to enter the fight phase, the effect stays in place until their next turn.
Taking this decision into account, this card actually looks pretty good.
14. Scrap-iron Scarecrow
The Scrap-Iron Scarecrow is another fan favorite, but if you’re on the defending side, it can be very annoying.
When your opponent announces an attack, you can use Scrap-Iron Scarecrow to stop it and then put it back on the table.
But remember that you have to wait until it’s your turn again before you can use it again.
Still, if you put down three copies, your opponent will have a hard time getting their strikes through.
But if your luck isn’t crazy enough to get you three copies right away, you can always play a card like “The Dark Door,” which limits your opponent to only one attack per turn.
13. Swords of Revealing Light
Swords of Revealing Light is a great choice for players who like to take their time.
But, like many other cards on this list, it is hard to deal with if you don’t have cards that can destroy spells.
When you use Swords of Revealing Light, all of your opponent’s set monsters are turned face-up, and your opponent can’t attack for three turns.
If you don’t do anything, the Swords of Revealing Light will stay on the field for 3 turns.
The fact that you can still attack your opponent while this is happening makes it even better.
12. Messenger of Peace
Messenger of Peace is a little different from the other cards on this list because it still lets some monsters fight.
When Messenger of Peace is used, neither player can use monsters with 1500 or more ATK to attack the other.
To keep this impact going, you must pay 100 life points each time you go into standby.
Monsters with less than 1500 attack aren’t much of a threat, and any monster with 1500 defense or more can easily take care of them.
Since this card also stops your own monsters from fighting, you can use it to wait until you’re done building up your field, or you can put it in a deck that does the same thing, like Final Countdown.
11. Cyber Valley
Cyber Valley is the first monster card on this list. Even though it’s pretty low on our list, it’s a pretty good card.
That said, the rest of the cards on this list are all really good from here on out.
Cyber Valley has three effects. When a monster your opponent controls tries to attack this card, you can get rid of it, end the battle phase, and draw a card.
Just because of that effect, Cyber Valley is good enough to put in your deck.
But if that’s not what you want, you can also get rid of this card and another monster you control to draw two cards or this card and another card from your hand to put a card from your graveyard on top of your deck.
10. Electromagnetic Turtle
Cyber Valley and Electromagnetic Turtle are a lot alike. Some people may wonder why I put Electromagnetic Turtle ahead of Cyber Valley.
But that’s for a good reason.
You can get rid of this card from your graveyard during your opponent’s battle phase and then end the battle phase.
You can only play this card once per fight, though.
The problem with Cyber Valley is that it is easy to get rid of by using a card effect to destroy it. Also, I wouldn’t think that more than one Cyber Valley would be used in a single battle.
Electromagnetic Turtle fixes both of these problems, since it can only be used once and activates in the graveyard.
9. Battle Fader
Battle Fader and the next two cards on this list are about the same in terms of how well they work, so use whichever one you have.
When your opponent announces a direct attack, you can use Battle Fader to special summon itself, ending the battle phase if it does.
But when this card leaves the field, it is thrown away.
Battle Fader is easy to use and works well because it has no effect on the opponent’s monsters. So it’s a little hard to argue against.
If you want to take this card to the next level, you can also use Recurring Nightmare and Imperial Iron Wall to repeat it over and over again.
8. Swift Scarecrow
Swift Scarecrow is almost the same as Battle Fader, but it is just a little bit better.
When your opponent announces a direct attack, you can throw this card away to end the battle phase and stop the attack.
This is better than Battle Fader because Battle Fader needs to be called first, which makes it easier to stop.
Swift Scarecrow just has to be thrown away.
Even though you’ll have one less monster to work with, this is probably the best thing to do if you want to be safe.
7. Speedroid Menko
So far, every card on this list can help you out of a tight spot.
But Speedroid Menko is the first card that can save you and maybe even turn the game around.
When your opponent announces a direct attack, you can special-summon this card from your hand into attack position.
Then, flip all of the monsters your opponent controls over so they are facing down.
If you do this, your opponent’s monsters won’t be able to attack.
This special also lets you call a level 4 monster for your next turn and puts your opponent’s monsters in defense position, which could make them weaker.
6. Threatening Roar
Threatening Roar is likely one of the Yu-Gi-Oh cards with the fewest number of words.
But you hear often that easy is best, and there’s a good reason for that.
When you use the Threatening Roar ability, your opponent can’t attack that turn.
This card doesn’t have much to say about it, except that it can help you slow down the game and stop your opponent from beating you in one turn.
5. Thunder of Ruler
Thunder of Ruler is an old card, but it can be used in a really cool way that not many people are aware of.
You can play this card during your opponent’s standby phase. That turn, there is no fight phase.
Before we move on, it’s important to remember that your opponent can only enter the second main phase if they joined the battle phase that turn.
So, if you combine the effect of this card with the effect of Timeater, you can skip your opponent’s entire turn.
Even though this list is all about stopping strikes, skipping your opponent’s turn is the best way to stop an attack.
4. Ordeal of a Traveller
The next card, “Ordeal of a Traveler,” is a nightmare for any person who has to face it.
When an opponent’s monster makes an attack while Ordeal of a Traveller is on the field, your opponent must choose a card at random from your hand and say whether it is a monster, spell, or trap.
If they get it wrong, the charging monster goes back to the hand. If they get it right, the attack goes on as usual.
Since there are three types of cards, your opponent has a 66% chance that each hit will send their monster back to their hand.
3. Drowning Mirror Force
If you play Yu-Gi-Oh a lot, you might be thinking where the Mirror Force cards are in this list.
Since Mirror Force cards would have made up half of this list, I chose to only include the best one.
When your opponent makes a straight attack, you can use Drowning Mirror Force. Once you do that, you can send all of your opponent’s monsters in attack position back to their deck.
With Drowning Mirror Force, you can get rid of all of your opponent’s cards and win the game on your next turn.
This card is very strong because it doesn’t target or kill your opponent’s monsters. This lets you avoid a lot of effects that monsters can have.
2. Scrubbed Raid
Scrubbed Raid is a lot like a lot of the other cards on this list, if you don’t count the fact that you can use it forever.
You can end each fight phase by sending a card you control to the graveyard.
This means that during your opponent’s turn, as long as you control a card, you can end their battle phase and stop them from fighting at all.
But it’s easy for your opponent’s card effects to destroy Scrubbed Raid.
So, if you want to get the most out of this card, you should pair it with Imperial Custom, which stops continuous traps from being destroyed.
1. Mystic Mine
Mystic Mine is without a doubt the most well-known and annoying card on this list.
Players who have dealt with it before surely know how frustrating it is.
Mystic Mine stops your opponent from using monster effects or announcing attacks with monsters if they control more monsters than you do.
The best way to use this is to trigger it after your opponent brings monsters onto their field and leave your own field empty.
Then you can also use Field Barrier to protect yourself even more.
Mystic Mine also works really well in stall decks like Final Countdown, where it’s hard to do anything without monster effects, because monster effects are so important.
