Yu-Gi-Oh! The Sacred Cards

General Tips & Information

Game Mechanics

If you have played other Yu-Gi-Oh! games, then you will find out pretty quick that the gameplay in this version is VERY different. For example, there are attribute types that will allow a monster to completely destroy another monster no matter the ATK or DEF of the monster. I did not keep a record of these while I was playing. There are a few times I found it helpful to adjust my deck (like putting a bunch of light cards in to beat the fiend decks), but for the most part I just focused on the cards that would help me win and kept my types varied. I would recommend that if this is of interest to you or you are struggling with this happening to you then find a guide online that will help you understand the different types of cards and how to use them.

Another intersting mechanic is that you can literally do whatever you want at any point during your turn. So you can actually attack, then play another monster, then attack with that monster. This is not a normal rule, but a mechanic that is present in the game. So yeah, just keep these little quirks in mind as you play. I actually enjoyed the free form feel of the turns compared to the more rigid step-by-step process of other games.

Finally, the last big mechanical difference I would briefly like to touch is the deck point system. Basically you have a certain point threshhold for your deck and then each card has a point value. You have to have a 40 card deck no matter what and the total of the card points must be less than or equal to the threshhold. So if you are stuggling a little bit it might be good to grind an easy opponent to get a point limit increase and add better cards to your deck.

Passwords

Putting a password in unlocks the card in the shop. Putting the password in multiple times will allow you to buy more than one fo that card from the shop

Win Condition Achievements

I beat the game up until the achievement for beating Mai's secret admirer then started grinding out the specific win condition achievements (win by deck exhaustion, exodia, etc) by playing Tristan since he is very easy to beat. This also gave me a measley 5 point limit increase to my deck each time too though.

Here are the win condition achievements:

Petit Moth #278 PW: 58192742

Grinding Deck Points

The first spot that might be decent is to grind any of the ghouls. You can do this while you are working on the achievement:

If you beat one of the ghouls (say the one in the alley) and then they leave the screen, you can just go off screen and go back to the area and he will be there again. You can get a decent amount of domino to help you out at this point of the game too.

The next spot is right before you have to duel Ishizu and Kaiba. This is actually probably the best time to grind in the game sadly. If you beat Ishizu your deck will increase by 30 and you will get "about 50,000" domino. I grinded here up to about 3400 card space so I could play multiple 1800 and 1900 cards in my deck. You basically build a deck that beats Ishizu and then just let Kaiba destroy you quickly. Rinse and repeat for as long as you want. After you beat Kaiba you will be in the semi-finals of the tournament and it didn't seem to me like there were many (if any) good places to grind deck points. Some of the other duelists are hanging around still (like Mako) but if I recall correctly a win against him was only worth 10 deck points so you would have to duel him 3 times to get the same as beating Ishizu.

Ritual Summon Achievements

The game has several achievements that require you to summon a monster with a ritual card. Here are some general tips for ritual summoning and then each specific one you will have to do.

• You can put 3 of the ritual card into your deck
• The process for performing a ritual summon is like this:
  • Have X tribute monsters on the field already so you can sacrifice them
  • Set the ritual card face down
  • Summon the specific card(s) needed for the ritual
  • Sacrifice the X tribute monsters
  • Activate the ritual card
  • Achievement unlocked!

If you don't want the satisfaction of performing the actual ritual summon correctly, then you can just buy the produced card (in most cases) and summon that card and the achievement will still unlock.

Relinquished

• Required for Ritual
  • #783 Black Illusion Ritual (PW: 41426869)
  • #730 Dark-Eyes Illusionist (PW: 38247752)
• Card Produced
  • #731 Relinquished (PW: 64631466)

Millennium Shield

• Required for Ritual
  • #665 Curse of Millennium Shield (PW: 83094937)
  • #296 One-Eyed Shield Dragon (PW: 33064647)
• Card Produced
  • #362 Millennium Shield (PW: 32012841)

Yamadron

• Required for Ritual
  • #666 Yamadron Ritual (PW: 29089635)
  • #29 Mountain Warrior (PW: 04931562)
• Card Produced
  • #357 Yamadron (PW: 70345785)

Dokurorider

• Required for Ritual
  • #699 Revival of Dokurorider (PW: 31066283)
  • #146 Temple of Skulls (PW: 00732302)
• Card Produced
  • #719 Dokurorider (PW: 99721536)

Performance of Sword

• Required for Ritual
  • #676 Water Omotics (PW: 02483611)
  • #249 Commencement Dance (PW: 43417563)
• Card Produced
  • #701 Performance of Sword (PW: 04849037)

Hungry Burger

• Required for Ritual
  • #677 Hamburger Recipe (PW: 80811661)
  • #295 Bio Plant (PW: 07670542)
• Card Produced
  • #702 Hungry Burger (PW: 30243636)

Mask of Shine and Dark

• Required for Ritual
  • #693 Contract of Mask (PW: 02304453)
  • #102 Mask of Darkness (PW: 28933734)
• Card Produced
  • #720 Mask of Shine and Dark (PW: 00000000)

Psycho-Puppet

• Required for Ritual
  • #695 Puppet Ritual (PW: 05783166)
  • #166 Mysterious Puppeteer (PW: 07670542)
• Card Produced
  • #715 Psycho-Puppet (PW: 63459075)

Skull Guardian

• Required for Ritual
  • #679 Novox's Prayer (PW: 43694075)
  • #160 M-Warrior #1 (PW: 56342351)
• Card Produced
  • #704 Skull Guardian (PW: 03627449)

Fiend's Mirror

• Required for Ritual
  • #674 Beastly Mirror Ritual (PW: 81933259)
  • #595 Fiend Reflection #1 (PW: 68870276)
• Card Produced
  • #365 Fiend's Mirror (PW: 31890399)

Super War-Lion

• Required for Ritual
  • #673 War-Lion Ritual (PW: 54539105)
  • #403 Leogun (PW: 10538007)
• Card Produced
  • #356 Super War-Lion (PW: 33951077)

Fortress Whale

• Required for Ritual
  • #700 Fortress Whale's Oath (PW: 77454922)
  • #441 Mech Bass (PW: 50176820)
• Card Produced
  • #718 Fortress Whale (PW: 62337487)

Serpent Night Dragon

• Required for Ritual
  • #691 Revived Serpent Night Dragon (PW: 39411600)
  • #168 Darkfire Dragon (PW: 17881964)
• Card Produced
  • #706 Serpent Night Dragon (PW: 66516792)

Chakra

• Required for Ritual
  • #694 Resurrection of Chakra (PW: 39399168)
  • #269 Versago the Destroyer (PW: 50259460)
• Card Produced
  • #709 Chakra (PW: 65393205)

Javelin Beetle

• Required for Ritual
  • #696 Javelin Beetle Pact (PW: 41182875)
  • #052 Hercules Beetle (PW: 52584282)
• Card Produced
  • #717 Javelin Beetle (PW: 26932788)

Crab Turtle

• Required for Ritual
  • #692 Turtle Oath (PW: 76806714)
  • #449 30,000-Year White Turtle (PW: 11714098)
• Card Produced
  • #710 Crab Turtle (PW: 91782219)

Garma Sword

• Required for Ritual
  • #697 Garma Sword Oath (PW: 78577570)
  • #621 Succubus Knight (PW: 55291359)
• Card Produced
  • #716 Garma Sword (PW: 90844184)

Sengenjin

• Required for Ritual
  • #678 Revival of Sennen Genjin (PW: 16206366)
  • #003 Hitotsu-Me Giant (PW: 76184692)
• Card Produced
  • #703 Sengenjin (PW: 76232340)

Magician of Black Chaos

• Required for Ritual
  • #722 Dark Magic Ritual (PW: 76792184)
  • #035 Dark Magician (PW: 46986414)
• Card Produced
  • #721 Magician of Black Chaos (PW: 30208479)

Zera the Mant

• Required for Ritual
  • #671 Zera Ritual (PW: 81756897)
  • #377 Ryu-Kishin Powered (PW: 24611934)
• Card Produced
  • #360 Zera the Mant (PW: 69123138)

Tri-Horned Dragon

• Required for Ritual
  • #680 Curse of Tri-Horned Dragon (PW: 79699070)
  • #571 B. Dragon Jungle King (PW: 89832901)
• Card Produced
  • #705 Tri-Horned Dragon (PW: 39111158)

Cosmo Queen

• Required for Ritual
  • #698 Cosmo Queen's Prayer (PW: 04561679)
  • #638 Queen of Autumn Leaves (PW: 04179849)
• Card Produced
  • #708 Cosmo Queen (PW: 38999506)

Black Luster Soldier

• Required for Ritual
  • #670 Black Luster Ritual (PW: 55761792)
  • #038 Gaia The Fierce Knight (PW: 06368038)
• Card Produced
  • #364 Black Luster Soldier (PW: 05405694)

Gate Guardian

• Required for Ritual
  • #667 Gate Guardian Ritual (PW: 56483330)
  • #371 Sanga of the Thunder (PW: 25955164)
  • #372 Kazejin (PW: 62340868)
  • #373 Suijin (PW: 98434877)
• Card Produced
  • #374 Gate Guardian (PW: 25833572)

Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon

Just summoning this monster does not trigger the achievement. You must use the ritual card.

• Required for Ritual
  • #675 Ultimate Dragon (PW: 17928958)
  • #001/#887 Blue-Eyes White Dragon (PW: 89631139)
• Card Produced
  • #380/#866 Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon (PW: 23995346)