TCGeniusHow many cards are in a Yu-Gi-Oh! deck?
A Yu-Gi-Oh! Main Deck has 40 to 60 cards, with an optional Extra Deck of up to 15 cards and a Side Deck of up to 15. You can run up to 3 copies of a card, fewer if the ban list limits it.
What tournament players actually run
Most players stay at exactly 40 so they draw their best cards more often: 78 of the 152 recent TCG tournament lists we track (51%) have a 40-card Main Deck, and the average is 43.4 cards.
The rules in one table
| Part | Cards | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Main Deck | 40 to 60 | Monsters, Spells and Traps |
| Extra Deck | 0 to 15 | Fusion, Synchro, Xyz and Link Monsters |
| Side Deck | 0 to 15 | Swapped in between games of a match |
| Copies of one card | 3 | Across Main, Extra and Side combined |
Cards the ban list limits right now (TCG)
122 cards are Forbidden (0 copies), 95 are Limited (1 copy) and 8 are Semi-Limited (2 copies). See the full TCG list, or Master Duel, OCG and Genesys (Genesys uses a 100-point budget instead of a Forbidden list).
Related
How to play Yu-Gi-Oh!Yu-Gi-Oh! deck builderTCG ban listAll answers
Updated October 10, 2026 from TCGenius data. Numbers on this page are worked out from our database each time it changes.