OCG Card Legality and Format
Yu‑Gi‑Oh! OCG cards are a little complicated when it comes to legality in sanctioned tournaments. Not all OCG cards are allowed across the regions.
Yu‑Gi‑Oh! OCG cards printed in Japanese are the most widely accepted, and can be played in Japan, Asia and China Mainland for the standard OCG format events. Asia and China Mainland also have their own secondary format whereby only Asia English cards or Simplified Chinese cards can be played in the respective Asia English format or Simplified Chinese format events.
Yu‑Gi‑Oh! TCG cards printed in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish and Portuguese are not legal for use in Yu‑Gi‑Oh! OCG events.
Japan
OCG Format
Allowed:
- 遊戯王 オフィシャルカードゲーム (Japanese)
Not Allowed:
- 遊戯王 Trading Card Game (Asia English)
- 遊戲王 公式卡片遊戲 (Traditional Chinese)
- 游戏王 公式卡片游戏 (Simplified Chinese)
- 유희왕 오피셜 카드게임 (Korean)
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game (English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese)
The OCG format (also known as the Japanese format) is the standard format played in Japan, using the OCG Limit Regulation. All major tournaments such as the Japan Championship, Area Championship and Duelist King Cup are played with the Best-of-Three match system. Only the Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Series Japan (YCSJ) is played with the Best-of-One match system.
Asia
OCG Asia mainly refers to the regions that participate in the Asia WCQ (or previously known as the Asia Championship), and not the whole geographical Asia continent. These regions are Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.
OCG Format
Allowed:
- 遊戯王 オフィシャルカードゲーム (Japanese)
- 遊戯王 Trading Card Game (Asia English)
- 遊戲王 公式卡片遊戲 (Traditional Chinese)
Not Allowed:
- 游戏王 公式卡片游戏 (Simplified Chinese)
- 유희왕 오피셜 카드게임 (Korean)
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game (English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese)
The OCG format is the standard format played in Asia, using the same card pool and Limit Regulation as Japan. All major tournaments such as the Asia WCQ, Battle Nexus, Spring Duel Festival and Thai Festival Series are played with the Best-of-Three match system.
Asia English Format
Allowed:
- 遊戯王 Trading Card Game (Asia English)
Not Allowed:
- 遊戯王 オフィシャルカードゲーム (Japanese)
- 遊戲王 公式卡片遊戲 (Traditional Chinese)
- 游戏王 公式卡片游戏 (Simplified Chinese)
- 유희왕 오피셜 카드게임 (Korean)
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game (English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese)
The Asia English format is only available in Asia, using the Asia English card pool and the Asia English Forbidden / Limited Card Lists. All major tournaments such as the Challenger Cup and Battle Championship are played with the Best-of-Three match system.
Traditional Chinese Format
Allowed:
- 遊戲王 公式卡片遊戲 (Traditional Chinese)
Not Allowed:
- 遊戯王 オフィシャルカードゲーム (Japanese)
- 遊戯王 Trading Card Game (Asia English)
- 游戏王 公式卡片游戏 (Simplified Chinese)
- 유희왕 오피셜 카드게임 (Korean)
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game (English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese)
The Traditional Chinese format is only available in Hong Kong and Taiwan, using the Traditional Chinese card pool and the Traditional Chinese Forbidden / Limited Card Lists. Traditional Chinese products have ceased since 2016 and Traditional Chinese events have ceased since 2017.
China Mainland
OCG Format
Allowed:
- 遊戯王 オフィシャルカードゲーム (Japanese)
- 游戏王 公式卡片游戏 (Simplified Chinese)
Not Allowed:
- 遊戯王 Trading Card Game (Asia English)
- 遊戲王 公式卡片遊戲 (Traditional Chinese)
- 유희왕 오피셜 카드게임 (Korean)
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game (English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese)
The OCG format is the standard format played in China Mainland, using the same card pool and Limit Regulation as Japan. All major tournaments such as the China Mainland WCQ and China City Tournament (OCG format) are played with the Best-of-Three match system.
Simplified Chinese Format
Allowed:
- 游戏王 公式卡片游戏 (Simplified Chinese)
Not Allowed:
- 遊戯王 オフィシャルカードゲーム (Japanese)
- 遊戯王 Trading Card Game (Asia English)
- 遊戲王 公式卡片遊戲 (Traditional Chinese)
- 유희왕 오피셜 카드게임 (Korean)
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game (English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese)
The Simplified Chinese format is only available in China Mainland, using the Simplified Chinese card pool and the Simplified Chinese Limit Regulation. All major tournaments such as the Challenger Cup and China City Tournament (Simplified Chinese format) are played with the Best-of-Three match system.
Korea
Korean Format
Allowed:
- 유희왕 오피셜 카드게임 (Korean)
Not Allowed:
- 遊戯王 オフィシャルカードゲーム (Japanese)
- 遊戯王 Trading Card Game (Asia English)
- 遊戲王 公式卡片遊戲 (Traditional Chinese)
- 游戏王 公式卡片游戏 (Simplified Chinese)
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game (English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese)
The Korean format is only available in Korea, using the Korean card pool and the Korean Limit Regulation. All major tournaments such as the Korea WCQ and Korea Championship are played with the Best-of-Three match system.
Many Korean players enjoy playing the OCG (Japanese) format in unsanctioned tournaments. Outside of WCQ season, Korean players are more active in OCG format tournaments such as 1923CS and HSCS.
I’ve seen people say they can and it’s another reason why OCG is better so seeing this myth dispelled is quite nice.
I do know some OCG players like to collect TCG cards but of course that’s different.
Do people overseas actually care about which format is better? Weird. I’d worry about topping where I’m playing over arguing about what happens in other parts of the world.
We care because we want to see the bad tech and decklist you ocg guys play so we can just play it better in our better format 🙂
? I play in the TCG 😂. You got defensive and trooned out because I mentionned you got no tops. the TEAM YCS winners and the 2 last Snake-Eye lists all credited Jet Synchron which a tech that came from here.
Watch more Joshua Schmidt videos reacting to asian locals pie charts maybe you’ll break x-2 instead of x-3