Brandon's Yu-gi-oh Top 10 list-Top 10 5-star or higher monsters For this top 10 list, I also include any 5-star or higher monster that can be special summoned (such as a fusion, ritual, or the chaos monsters). I received an insane amount of complaints that on my Top 10 cards needed for an effective list (posted on April 30 if interested in looking for yourself) that neither of the popular chaos monsters were not on that list, nor on the 10 honorable mentions. Trust me people, both of them will be on this list. Anyway, here are the top 10 5-star or higher monsters in yu-gi-oh. 10)Dark Magician-I know that this monster is very, very weak (2 tribute, 2500 att. 2100 def.), but this card has so many ways to get it out faster and has even better uses than it as an attacking monster (dark paladin, thousand knives, and more). Dark Magician decks is one of the rare creature type (spellcaster, warrior, etc.) theme decks that works in today's popular gameplay. Never use it alone. It only works well with the Dark Magician deck only, but is very powerful in that kind of deck. 9)Guardian Sphinx-If you play control, this is the card for you! Before Nobleman of Crossouts became hugly popular, this was one of the best tribute monsters. For one tribute, you get a 1700 attack, by 2400 defense, and whenever it get's flipped summoned, all of your opponent's monsters return to his/her hand. Plus you can reset it in face down defense mode at the same turn!! 2400 def. is excellent, since only a powerful tribute monster or a powerful equip magic can attack and destoy it. The downsides: 1) if your opponent attacks it while in defense mode, you won't get the effect (this is also good because it'll force your opponent to take life points so the sphinx won't be able to use it's effect next turn), 2) attack is kinda low. it'd be much better if it was 1900 or 2000. 3) easy bait for Nobleman or Crossout. 4) If you summon this in face-down defense mode, you're opponent will probably know what it is and what to do with it. Still it's a fun card to play with. 8)Fairy King Truesdale-The original japanese version states that this card's attack power is increased by 500 for each OTHER fairy monster on your side on the field, but because of poor translation, it gives itself a power boost. As of right now, this is a one tribute monster for a 2700 attack monster that's searchable with witch and can be even stronger in a fairy deck! Unless I had a fiend deck, I would take this monster over summoned skull as a powerful attack tribute monster. 7)Airknight Parshaft-This monster is one of the weakest tribute monsters in the game, but has one of the strongest effects in the game. For a 1900 attacker, you get a monster with a trample ability (the Magic the Gathering term for a monster with the Fairy Meteor Crush ability), and in addition, if it does any battle damage, you get to draw a card. Card advantage is huge in yu-gi-oh, and this card can help you get more cards easily. The 1900 attack for a tribute monster makes this card weak since nearly every deck has 1900 monsters that don't require a tribute, and the opponent can just simply put it in attack mode, and you can't kill it with this monster. However, this is a stellar card against a control deck because they mostly have weak monsters, so attacking them to draw cards would be easy. I recommend side decking one, just in case you fight against a pure control deck. 6)Dark Paladin-Nearly every fusion monster is weak in yu-gi-oh, but this is a rare exception. The condition of fusing dark magician and buster blader is very hard, but most people instead use dark magician and a fusion substitute (the main reason why the fusion substitues from the tournament packs are worth so much now) to get it out faster. For a fustion monster, you get a 2900 attack monster, and it still maintains buster blader's ability. Plus, by discarding a card from your hand, you can negate and destroy magic cards. That second ability will basically guarantee that dark paladin will be alive for awhile. Again, good only with Dark Magician decks, but pretty much a staple in them. 5)Dark Ruler Hades (Ha Des in English, sounds better and more accurate in japanese)-I believe that this card is pretty underrated. I hardly see this card being used, except in a fiend deck, but this card alone can be good in any deck! For one tribute you get a 2450 attack monster (kills Jinzo, main reason it's liked), and whenever a fiend monster (which includes itself) destory's an opponent's monster, it's effect is negated. Witch, Sangan, Tomato, Sinister Serpent, Shining Angel, Magician of Faith, Cyber Jar, Fiber Jar, and cards like like are all negated. The downside: It cannot be special summoned. This hurts the owner since it won't be coming back, but it also helps the owner since it prevents your opponent from monster reborning that monster. If it did not have this bad effect, this card would see much more use. This is a staple in fiend decks, and this is a very good card in pretty much any deck. Give it a try and see for yourself. 4)Dark Magician of Chaos-This card is easily the best 2-tribute monster in the game! It's a magician of faith on steroids! For 2 tributes (which is the major downside of the card), you get a 2800 attack 2600 defense monster, a magician of faith ability whenever it gets normal or special summoned, and the monster it destroyes is removed from the game!!! Very sweet, and well worth sacrificing two monsters to get out. The other downside: Once it's destroyed, it's removed from the game. Again, like Ha Des, you can't return it to your side of the field, but your opponent cannot do the same. Great card! Again, experiment with this card and see if you can permantly fit at least one of these in your deck. 3)Vampire Lord-In my opinion, this is my absolute favorite tribute monster, but sadly, it's no longer the best one out there. However, it doesn't mean that it's unplayable. No way! For one tribute, you get a 2000 attack 1500 defense (so it's searchable by Witch), and whenever it damages your opponent, you choose magic, trap, or monster, and your opponents puts one of the selected types of card to his/her graveyard. The best effect: if it is sent to the graveyard by your opponent's card effect, it comes back during your standby phase! It's almost unkillable. Only three things can permantly beat vampire lord; an attack, a flip effect, or tribute it. Plus, it can be special summoned to the field by Pyrimid Turtle's effect!! So sweet of a card, and every person i know that has one plays with it, because it's that great! 2)Jinzo-Ah yes, the most used tribute monster of all time! Jinzo; not much needs to be explained here. Almost everybody has one, and nearly everybody plays with it. For one tribute, you get a 2400 attack, 1500 defense (searchable by witch), and it negates all traps. This card is probably the main reason people do not use as many trap cards in their decks as they used to. The ability hurts you too, but a 2400 attack monster that stops most of your opponent's chances to change the game to his/her favor is just too sweet to pass by! Tie! 1)Chaos Emperor Dragon-Envoy of the End 1) Black Luster Soldier-Envoy of the Beginning People are opinionated between these two Chaos monsters about which one's better, but to me, i think they're pretty even. Both are valued about the same, are greatly used, are special summoned by a not-so-hard condition (remove one light and dark monster in your graveyard from the game), have attack and defense numbers as a Blue Eyes White Dragon, and each have their own amazing abilities! Chaos Emperor Dragon-Envoy of the End-It's ability allows you to pay 1000 life points to send every card from each players hand and field to the graveyard and deals direct damage to your opponent 300 times the number of cards sent to the graveyard by this effect. A great finishing move, and of course, there's the combo with yata to get a 1st turn kill. use painful choice for 3 dark monsters (one witch and one sangan) and any two light monsters, use monster reborn to get out one of the two monsters, special summone the dragon, use ability, fetch yata, and yata lock the opponent! That's probably the main reason this card is used. If it wasn't for the yata combo, the other chaos monster would be used more often. Either way, this card is sick! Black Luster Soldier-Envoy of the Beginning-The best attacking monster in the game! It has two amazing effects 1) you can remove a monster on the field from the game. If you do, this card cannot attack. This pretty much says that you are attacking the monster, removing the monster from the game, and the opponent doesn't get it's effect! 2) If this card destroys a monster, you can attack again! Gee, does a 3000 attack monster need to attack again?!?! If you can attack without having to worry about a monster effect, you can deal large amounts of damage, fast! Again, this card is sick! Honorable Mentions (not in any order): Summoned Skull, Freed the Matchless General, Dark Balter the Terrible, Dark Master Zorc, Great Maju Garzett, Shinato-King of a Higher Plane, Mystical Knight of Jackel, Machine King, Dark Necrofear, Blue Eyes White Dragon If you have any questions about this list, or if you think I overlooked and missed a card, e-mail me at sweetbran2003@yahoo.com Brandon