Usually, as judges, we only have to deal with a new expansion every three months or so—the cards come out in one lump, we read the spoilers, look through a box or two, and are reasonably familiar with what has been added to the pool. But there are a lot more outlets for new cards these days. We’ve had new Duelist packs, new videogame promos, Championship packs, McDonald’s promos, Shonen Jump promos, new cards in Structure Decks—how’s a judge supposed to keep up!? All of these cards are legal for use as soon as they appear, so there’s not much lead-time to familiarize yourself with what you might see. If you want to stay on top of all these new cards, you’ll need to make use of a variety of sources to get the information you need. I figured a short overview of different sources might come in handy. So if you want to avoid the embarrassment of being confronted with a card you’ve never even heard of at a tournament, read on!

They come out on a lot of ways, so if you are aware of how they’re being released you can know to look out for them. News releases of promotions like the McDonald’s tie-in or upcoming Duelist packs and Structure Decks can be found on Upper Deck Entertainment’s site, and other Yu-Gi-Oh! sites like www.yugioh.com. You’ll also usually read about them in online forums and so forth, but be aware that not every rumor posted is true.

Announcements of upcoming or recently released cards are often sent out to everyone signed up for the judge email list. It will include the names of the cards, how they are released, and their effect text. This is the best source of information, but you should make an effort of your own to keep up with what is coming out. Don’t just sit and wait for a posting on the list: there are other reliable sources of information you can utilize.

The product page is where you’ll find the official information about the cards that Upper Deck has released. It’s not always updated immediately and it won’t include every promo card released, but for things like Duelist Packs, Special Editions and Structure Decks, it’s a good source. You’ll find checklists of the cards, but not pictures of each individual card. Stores might have some information up sooner, but the information listed on the UDE site has a higher likelihood of being completely accurate.

One thing I’ll mention that a lot of people don’t realize: video or computer game promos are not printed by Upper Deck Entertainment. These are printed and distributed by Konami. While they’re legal for play in UDE-sanctioned events, Upper Deck isn’t involved in their production, so you shouldn’t always expect announcements covering them to come from Upper Deck. They are sometimes mentioned in the judge list announcements of upcoming cards, and UDE will send out rulings on them, but the cards themselves aren’t an Upper Deck product. You can learn about upcoming game releases on Konami’s website, and the “features” part of each game description will tell you how many promos you will get with the game, but they don’t offer any names or text for the cards. It is a good source for what games are coming out and their names and platforms, though. Check on the site from time to time, to learn when a new game is coming out and what it’s called. That’ll help you find out what new promos are expected.

Knowing the name and what a card does is good, but you’ll want to recognize the picture as well. Lots of online stores post big, clear pictures of new cards, and they can be a great resource to learn to recognize a card by sight, as well as a chance to see the actual text as it is written on the card. In case you didn’t already know, I’ll just pass on that Metagame.com also has a card search feature—you may have noticed that card names in our articles are actually links, and by clicking the link you can pull up a picture of the card and a description of the text. You can also go straight to this search function by clicking on the “SEARCH” button located at the top of all the articles. Click that, then type in the name of the card you want to see in the pop-up window, and there you go. 

Keep in touch with the other judges! We’re much smarter in groups, you know. If there’s an area that you’re not as informed about, odds are good that you know another judge who is. For instance, if you’re not the kind of person constantly up on every video game release, then rely on those among your judging acquaintance who are. I don’t buy very many video games so I don’t spend much time reading gaming-oriented websites or magazines. But boy, do I know a lot of people who do! They’re happy to keep me filled in on upcoming Yu-Gi-Oh! game releases. No judge is an island.

The sources listed above can help get you started, but whatever sources you tap into, make sure they’re reliable. Random rumors on a forum shouldn’t be regarded as fact, and be wary of relying on “fanlated” text or card names to tell you what a card does. An amateur’s translation can be very different from the card’s actual text, and if you’re going to make rulings on a card, you need to know what it actually says, not just the general idea of the effect. Also, for the purposes of judging, you don’t need to know about the card three months before it came out (at that point, all you’ll really find is speculation). Right as it enters the card pool will do—when you can get a definitive look at what it is called and what it does.

Staying informed is part of the job. While not every card released outside of a set is going to see play, most judges know to be prepared for anything—trust me, players will surprise you! It sometimes seems like players expect us to memorize every card (and I daresay there are some judges out there who have), but most know better. Judges do need to make an effort to keep up, though, especially when cards are being released outside of the regular expansions. It looks like we’ll be experiencing plenty of them in the year to come, so keep watching for them!