Yu-Gi-Oh! rarities explained, from Common to Starlight
How to tell each Yu-Gi-Oh! rarity by its foil, how many of each a core set holds, and the rates Konami gives for the rarer foils in Rarity Collection packs.
By the Rip.fan Editorial Team.
Published 7 min read
Yu-Gi-Oh! shows rarity through the foil treatment on each card. A Common has no foil, a Super Rare has foil artwork, an Ultra Rare adds a gold foil name and a Secret Rare a rainbow foil name. Those four make up Konami’s core booster sets, with Starlight versions of some cards on top. Special products add Ultimate Rares, Collector’s Rares and Platinum Secret Rares, while the Quarter Century Secret Rare ended in 2025.
How do you tell the rarities apart?
TCGplayer’s guide treats a card’s cosmetic effects as its rarity, and it splits them into the core set rarities and the rest.
| Rarity | What the foil looks like | Where it appears |
|---|---|---|
| Common | No foil on the name or the artwork | Half of Beyond the Brave: 50 of its 100 cards |
| Rare | A silver foil name and nothing else | Not among Beyond the Brave’s rarities |
| Super Rare | Foil artwork. Modern ones also foil the Level and Attribute icons | 26 of the 100 cards in Beyond the Brave |
| Ultra Rare | A Super Rare’s foil plus a gold foil name | 14 of the 100 cards in Beyond the Brave |
| Secret Rare | Rainbow foil on the Level and Attribute icons as well as the name and artwork | 10 of the 100 cards in Beyond the Brave |
| Starlight Rare | A horizontal, grid-like holo over most of the face, border included | 25 cards in each of Chaos Origins and Beyond the Brave, and in Rarity Collection V packs |
| Ultimate Rare | Gold name and foil artwork with a raised, embossed effect | Rarity Collection packs, in what Konami calls a prismatic style, with a 3D varnish, and a 2026 tournament pack |
| Collector’s Rare | A rainbow pattern on the Level, Attribute, art and border, over a slightly raised texture | Rarity Collection packs, also in the prismatic style |
| Platinum Secret Rare | The Secret Rare foil in platinum, on the Level and Attribute, the borders and the art | Rarity Collection packs since 2023 |
| Quarter Century Secret Rare | Sparkle and a watermark logo for the 25th anniversary, as Konami describes it | Retired after spring 2025 |
| Ghost Rare | A silvery-white name and a 3D holographic image | Not covered |
| Prismatic Secret Rare | The same grid pattern as a Starlight Rare, on the artwork only | Seen in the database on a 2022 tin printing |
Two of these descriptions have changed since 2021:
- Starlight Rare. Konami’s European press release of July 2, 2026 says Chaos Origins brought richer colors and a rainbow foil border in place of the gray outer border, so Starlight Rares from earlier sets have the gray border.
- Platinum Secret Rare. It was a Mega-Tin promo exclusive in 2014 and 2015. It came back in the 25th Anniversary Rarity Collection of November 3, 2023 and in Quarter Century Stampede in 2025, and it is in Rarity Collection V too.
Our glossary entry on the Quarter Century Secret Rare covers its history and the watermark to check.
What does a core booster set hold?
Beyond the Brave, launched October 9, 2026 at a suggested $4.49 a pack, holds 100 cards:
- 50 Commons
- 26 Super Rares
- 14 Ultra Rares
- 10 Secret Rares
- 5 cards that also come in extended art, both as Ultra Rares and as Starlight Rares
- A further 20 cards that also come as Starlight Rares
Chaos Origins, launched in July 2026, has exactly the same breakdown. Alliance Insight, from May 2025, held 101 cards: the same split of 50 Commons, 26 Super Rares, 14 Ultra Rares and 10 Secret Rares, plus one card that came only as a Quarter Century Secret Rare. No Starlight Rares are listed for it. Instead, 24 of its cards in the four main rarities also came as Quarter Century Secret Rares.
TCGplayer’s 2021 guide says each core pack holds at least a Super Rare plus eight Commons. Rarity Collection packs come with stated rates.
How do Rarity Collection packs work?
These are all-foil sets of popular cards, and most cards can come in several rarities. Rarity Collection V, launched April 17, 2026 at $5.99 for a 5-card pack, works position by position:
| Position in the pack | Base rarity | Konami’s stated rate for a rarer foil |
|---|---|---|
| Super Rare | Always Super Rare | None |
| First Ultra Rare | Ultra Rare | 1 in 6 is an Ultimate Rare or a Collector’s Rare instead |
| Second Ultra Rare | Ultra Rare | 1 in 6, as above |
| Secret Rare | Secret Rare | 1 in 4 is a Platinum Secret Rare or a Starlight Rare instead |
| Variant art card | Ultra Rare or Starlight Rare | Drawn from 68 variant art cards, 10 of them the first extended art cards Konami has printed for the TCG |
The rates in each position are independent, so one pack can hold more than one of the rarer foils, and they match those of the earlier Rarity Collection and Quarter Century sets.
The 25th Anniversary Rarity Collection II, from May 2024, shows how the formula has shifted. Its 9-card packs held two Secret Rares, each with a 1 in 4 rate of becoming a Platinum Secret Rare or a Quarter Century Secret Rare, and four Ultra Rares at the same 1 in 6 rate. In Rarity Collection V, the Secret Rare position upgrades to a Platinum Secret Rare or a Starlight Rare, where Rarity Collection II offered a Platinum Secret Rare or a Quarter Century Secret Rare.
A rate such as 1 in 6 describes those positions across many packs. It does not promise that any single pack or box holds a given foil.
Why does one card come in so many rarities?
Because rarity belongs to the printing, not the card. Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring shows how far that goes: as of October 11, 2026, it has 34 entries across 21 set codes, in 11 rarities. A selection, with each rarity’s code:
| Set code | Product | Rarity and code | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| MACR-EN036 | Maximum Crisis | Secret Rare (SE) | May 5, 2017 |
| MAGO-EN011 | Gold Series: Maximum Gold | Premium Gold Rare (PGR) | November 13, 2020 |
| MP22-EN257 | 2022 Tin of the Pharaoh’s Gods | Prismatic Secret Rare (PSE) | September 16, 2022 |
| RA01-EN008 | 25th Anniversary Rarity Collection | Seven rarities: SR, UR, SE, UL, PS, CR, QCSE | November 3, 2023 |
| RA04-EN025 | Quarter Century Stampede | The same seven | April 11, 2025 |
| RA05-EN091 | Rarity Collection 5 | Ultra Rare (UR) and Starlight Rare (STAR) | April 10, 2026 |
| UP01-EN003 | OTS Ultimate Tournament Pack 1 | Ultimate Rare (UL) | June 17, 2026 |
Three lessons come out of that list:
- One code can cover several rarities. RA01-EN008 exists in seven. The set code alone cannot tell you the rarity.
- The code may not spell the product. Quarter Century Stampede uses RA04 in its codes.
- Many entries are plain. Ten of the 34 are Commons, all from deck products.
Each of those printings sells on its own. Our guide to checking a Yu-Gi-Oh! card’s value shows how to price the exact one you hold.
How do you check a card’s rarity?
- Read the set code. TCGplayer’s guide to fakes, last updated in February 2023, places it in the middle section of the card, at the bottom right of the artwork.
- Look the card up in Konami’s database. Find the entry with your set code, and note every rarity listed for it.
- Match the foil. Compare your card with the table above: name, artwork, icons and border.
- Check the special marks. A Quarter Century Secret Rare needs its watermark, and a Starlight Rare from Chaos Origins onward needs the rainbow border.
- Be wary of a mismatch. A rarity not recorded for that set code deserves a second look, although the records occasionally miss one. Our guide to spotting fake Yu-Gi-Oh! cards covers the other checks, and the counterfeit card entry sums up the signs.
Once you know what you hold, our guide to storing trading cards covers how to keep it in shape. Pokémon marks rarity with printed symbols, as our guide to Pokémon rarity symbols shows, and the trading card hub collects our coverage of the other card games.
Frequently asked questions
When did the Collector's Rare first appear?
In Toon Chaos, in 2020. Its foil runs in no single direction, which gives it a pattern many collectors compare to fingerprints.
Are all Commons in a set equally easy to find?
No. Some sets have short print Commons, slightly harder to find than the rest, and Konami's card database does not mark them. Not every set has them.
Is a Platinum Rare the same as a Platinum Secret Rare?
No. A Platinum Rare foils almost the whole card outside the text box and has a Secret Rare-style name, and it was printed only in the Noble Knights of the Round Table Box Set.
What is a Parallel Rare?
A card of an ordinary rarity with a non-foil film bonded over its whole face, in a dotted, shatterfoil, starfoil or mosaic design. Star Packs use them, and the rarity underneath stays the same.
What is a 10000 Secret Rare?
A rarity printed only for Ten Thousand Dragon. At TCGplayer it is listed under its own rarity, while other one-off rarities are usually listed under the closest comparable one.