Spell Cards

Spell Cards (formerly known as Magic Cards until "Magician's Force") are green-colored cards that have various effects to alter the play of the game. Often, a Spell Card has a single effect to provide a bonus to the user or a weakness to the opponent. All Spells are Spell Speed 1 (with the exception of Quick-Play Spell Cards (Spell Speed 2). You may play as many Spell Cards as you would like per turn.

Although Spell Cards are often not as powerful as Trap Cards, they have the advantage that they may be played the turn they are drawn without having to Set them first. A Set Spell Card may be activated the turn it is Set as well (with the exception of Quick-Play Spell Cards).

In a typical Deck, Spell Cards occupy a little less than half of the total deck size (around 12-15 cards) and collectively with Trap Cards often have a 1:1 ratio to Monster Cards.

Some very powerful Spell Cards have been banned from tournament play, like "Raigeki". Konami has released new, less-powerful replacements for some of these cards. For instance, "Raigeki" has been replaced in Advanced Format by "Lightning Vortex", which requires a discard and only destroys face-up monsters, or "Flash of the Forbidden Spell" (whose card's title is indicative of a less-powerful replacement to "Raigeki"), which requires that all five of your opponent's monster card zones be filled with monsters in order to activate.

Used properly, a single Spell Card can significantly alter the game in the user's favour. It isn't uncommon for a player to win a Duel with the use of a single Spell Card. "Snatch Steal" is a common example of a Spell Card that is capable of winning a Duel.

The name Magic Card was likely changed to Spell Card to prevent confusion with the card game Magic: The Gathering, in addition to possible trademark disputes.