Yu-Gi-Oh Rarity Collection: All rarities explained & how to tell them apart

The Yu-Gi-Oh! Rarity Collection is about to hit shelves, bringing with it two new rarities for players to get their hands on. But what do they look like and how can you tell them apart?

Different rarity types have been a staple of trading card games since the beginning, with some of the most unusual ones fetching huge prices on the open market. The basic rarities, from rare to secret rare are relatively easy to tell apart, but the waters get murkier from there.

The release of the Rarity Collection is a pretty monumental one. The set features 79 cards, each of which is available in any of seven rarities. Additionally, two of these rarities have only been seen previously in set releases in Korea and Japan, meaning many players will be seeing them for the first time.

As a result, it’s more important than ever to be able to tell them apart, and our guide below should help you be able to do so.

Rarity Collection full rarities guide

Rarity Collection: Super Rares

Arguably one of the easiest card types to identify, the Super Rare has been featured in most sets over the last six years or more. The cards themselves feature fully holographic artwork, stars and type, though the name remains in basic black text.

Rarity Collection: Ultra Rares

The next rarity up is relatively similar, but it does have obvious identifying factors that help to differentiate it from the previous entry. As well as holographic artwork, stars and type, it also features an attractive gold lettering for the name.

Rarity Collection: Secret Rares

Secret Rares have long been held as one of the most visually appealing rarities. The lettering on the name is silver and the holographic art, lettering and stars remain, though in this case, they all have a pronounced diagonal pattern across the holo.

Rarity Collection: Quarter Century Secret Rares

These cards take everything great about the Secret Rare and dial it up to 11. More similar in appearance to the almost mythical Starlight Rare, it features a diagonal holo pattern across the entire card. One of the shiniest in the whole set, it also has a 25th Anniversary watermark in the text area at the bottom.

Rarity Collection: Platinum Secret Rares

This is where it starts to get a little tricky to tell what rarity has been pulled. Though very similar to the normal secret rare in appearance, the only difference is that Platinum Secret Rares feature the diagonal holo pattern on the border of both the artwork and text box. This look has been updated to differentiate it further from the Quarter Century Secret Rares.

Rarity Collection: “Prismatic” style Collector’s Rares

The Prismatic style Collector and Ultimate Rares are the most difficult to differentiate. In the case of the former, the entire card has a heavy holographic coating. The easiest way to know if you’ve got a Collector Rare on your hands is by checking the border and the name. The edge of the card features overlapping triangles as part of the holo pattern, while the text in the name is silver.

Rarity Collection: “Prismatic” style Ultimate Rare

The Prismatic style Ultimate Rare features an equally shiny, clean holo pattern across the card. The borders are all highly holographic, though without the distinctive triangle pattern of the Collector Rare. Equally, the name features gold lettering and the whole card is lacking the more “speckled” holo that the Collector offers.

With so many cards on offer, the guide above should help in determining what has been pulled and what the value is. For those more focused on playing, the set also features a ton of cards that work well in the current meta.