DM4 1350

As many have experienced in the Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collection, several of the early Yu-Gi-Oh! video games may not use the actual OCG rules, but runs with their own custom ruleset.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters 4: Battle of Great Duelists (DM4) has a special rule to determine the Level of a monster based on its ATK and DEF.

Level 1 – 4 monster (no tributes required) has ATK/DEF lesser or equal to 1350
Level 5, 6 monster (1 tribute required) has ATK/DEF between 1400 to 2000
Level 7, 8 monster (2 tributes required) has ATK/DEF between 2050 to 2750
Level 9 – 12 monster (3 tributes required) has ATK/DEF more or equal to 2800

Having the Level tied to the ATK/DEF greatly changes the power balance in DM4. Gemini Elf, a Level 4 ATK 1900 powerhouse in the OCG, is now a Level 6 monster in DM4, making it significantly weaker.

A Level 4 monster which requires no tribute to summon could only have ATK up to 1350. This makes ATK 1350 monsters the powerhouse in DM4, namely Leo Wizard, Behegon, Disk Magician, Tongyo and Clown Zombie. In particular, Leo Wizard benefited from the DM4 special rule as it has been dropped to a Level 4.

The Early Days Collection playmat features these five ATK 1350 monsters to celebrate their dominance in DM4.

Leo Wizard, the Dark Mage is a retrained version of Leo Wizard. Its Level has been reduced to 4 to reflect its Level in DM4, and also features an artwork that closer resembles its DM4 artwork.

Leo Wizard, the Dark Mage ① effect “Monsters whose original Level is 4 or lower with more than 1350 ATK and/or DEF require 1 Tribute to Normal Summon from the hand” is a callback to the DM4 special rule.

Leo Wizard, the Dark Mage ② effect “At the start of the Damage Step, if this card battles a LIGHT monster: You can destroy that monster” is another callback to the Alignment mechanic found in several old Yu-Gi-Oh! video games, including DM4.

When monsters with opposing Alignment battles, the monster with the superior element will destroy the monster with the inferior element. Black Magic Alignment beats White Magic Alignment is represented by DARK Attribute beats LIGHT Attribute in the card effect. The Dark Mage in Leo Wizard’s name is also a reference to the Black Magic Alignment.