Well then you’re probably looking for a card that’ll save you whenever you’re in a pinch. There are tons of cards that can save you when you’re in trouble. For example, you can look for cards that increase life points, decrease your opponent’s life points, or maybe destroy all your opponent’s monsters. But the easiest way to stop your opponent is probably with a card that stops attacks. And if you’re looking for suggestions, then check out this list.
15. Frozen Soul
Even though Frozen Soul is at the bottom of the list, it’s still quite a decent card that can compete with a lot of the other cards on this list. You can activate Frozen Soul when your life points are 2000 lower than your opponent’s. Doing so will skip their next battle phase. You can even activate this card during your turn in case your opponent tries to destroy it. However, one more thing you should know about this card is that your opponent needs to attempt to enter the battle phase, otherwise the effect is carried over to their next turn. Considering this ruling, this card actually seems pretty good.
14. Scrap-iron Scarecrow
Scrap-Iron Scarecrow is another fan favorite – but is also quite annoying to deal with if you’re on the attacking side. When your opponent declares an attack, you can activate Scrap-Iron Scarecrow to negate the attack and then set this card back down. But just remember that you have to wait another turn to use it again. Even so, with three copies set down, your opponent is definitely going to have a tough time getting their attacks through. But if your luck isn’t insane enough to draw 3 copies off the bat, you can always activate a card like The Dark Door that restricts your opponent to 1 attack per turn.
13. Swords of Revealing Light
For players who like to stall, Swords of Revealing Light is an amazing option. But like many cards on this list, it is a pain to deal with if you don’t have cards that can destroy spells. When you activate Swords of Revealing Light, all your opponent’s set monsters are flipped face-up, and your opponent cannot attack for three turns. Left alone, Swords of Revealing Light will remain on the field for the full 3 turns. What makes this even better is that even with this active, you can still attack your opponent.
12. Messenger of Peace
Unlike the rest of the cards on this list, Messenger of Peace works a little differently, since it still allows some monsters to attack. When Messenger of Peace is activated, neither player can attack using monsters with 1500 ATK or greater. However, during each of your standby phases, you must pay 100 life points to keep this effect active. Monsters less than 1500 attack aren’t much of a threat, and can be easily dealt with by any monster with 1500 defense or greater. Since this card prevents your own monsters from attacking as well, you can either use this to stall until you’ve finished building up your field, or use it in a stall deck like Final Countdown.
11. Cyber Valley
Cyber Valley is the first monster card on this list, but it’s surprisingly good even though it’s quite low in our ranking. That being said, from here on out, the rest of the cards on this list are all honestly really good. Cyber Valley has three effects: when this card is targeted for an attack by an opponent’s monster, you can banish this card, end the battle phase, and draw a card. That effect alone makes Cyber Valley good enough to take a spot in your deck. But if that’s not what you’re looking for, you can also banish this card and another monster you control to draw two cards, or banish this card and another card from your hand to place a card from your graveyard to the top of your deck.
10. Electromagnetic Turtle
Electromagnetic Turtle is extremely similar to Cyber Valley. And some people are probably wondering why I put Electromagnetic Turtle ahead of Cyber Valley. But there’s a good reason for that. During your opponent’s battle phase, you can banish this card from your graveyard and then end the battle phase. However, you can only use this card once per duel. The problem with Cyber Valley is that it can be countered easily by destroying it with a card effect. In addition, I wouldn’t really expect multiple copies of Cyber Valley to be used in a single duel. Electromagnetic Turtle solves those problems, as it activates in the graveyard and you can only use it a single time anyways.
9. Battle Fader
Battle Fader (along with the next two cards in this list) are pretty much equal to each other in terms of performance, so just use whatever you have available. When your opponent declares a direct attack, you can activate Battle Fader to special summon itself – and if it’s special summoned this way, end the battle phase. However, this card is banished when it leaves the field. Battle Fader is quite simple, and works quite well, since it doesn’t affect the opponent’s monsters in any way. So it’s a little difficult to counter. If you want to take this card to the next level, you can also activate Imperial Iron Wall and Recurring Nightmare to constantly recycle it.
8. Swift Scarecrow
Swift Scarecrow is nearly identical to Battle Fader, but pulls ahead by just a hair’s width. When your opponent declares a direct attack, you can discard this card to end the battle phase and negate the attack. The reason why this is better than Battle Fader is because Battle Fader is more easily negated, since it needs to be summoned first. Swift Scarecrow only needs to be discarded. While you’ll have one less monster on the field to work with, this is probably a sacrifice you should make if you want to be on the safe side.
7. Speedroid Menko
So far, all the cards on this list can save you when you’re in a pinch. But Speedroid Menko is the first card that can save you and potentially change the tide of the game. When your opponent declares a direct attack, you can special summon this card from your hand to attack position. Then turn all monsters your opponent controls to face-down defense position. Doing so will effectively prevent your opponent’s monsters from attacking. In addition, this special summons a level 4 monster for you to use next turn, as well as potentially weakens your opponent’s monsters by putting them into defense position.
6. Threatening Roar
Threatening Roar is probably one of the shortest Yu-Gi-Oh cards out there in terms of word count. But you often hear that simple is best – and for good reason. When you activate Threatening Roar, your opponent cannot declare an attack that turn. There isn’t much to say about this card except for the fact that it can come in handy when you’re trying to stall the game and stop your opponent from beating you in a single turn.
5. Thunder of Ruler
Thunder of Ruler is quite an old card, but there’s a really cool combo you can pull off with it that not many people know about. During your opponent’s standby phase, you can activate this card, and there’s no battle phase that turn. Before we move on, an important rule to remember is that your opponent can only enter the second main phase if they entered the battle phase that turn. As a result, if you combine this card with the effect of Timeater, you can completely skip your opponent’s turn. While this list is all about stopping attacks, what better way to stop an attack than to skip your opponent’s turn?
4. Ordeal of a Traveller
This next card, Ordeal of a Traveller, is quite literally a nightmare for any player who’s playing against it. When an opponent’s monster declares an attack while Ordeal of a Traveller is on the field, your opponent must randomly choose a card from your hand and call out the type of card it is (monster, spell, or trap). If they call it wrong, the attacking monster is returned to the hand – otherwise, the attack continues as normal. Since there are three types of cards, theoretically, your opponent has a 66% chance of returning their monster to their hand with each attack.
3. Drowning Mirror Force
If you’re an avid Yu-Gi-Oh player, you’re probably wondering where all the Mirror Force cards are in this ranking. Since half this list would have been Mirror Force cards, I decided to only include the best one. You can activate Drowning Mirror Force when your opponent declares a direct attack. Once you do, you can return all attack position monsters controlled by your opponent to their deck. With Drowning Mirror Force, you can clear your opponent’s board and deal the finishing blow on your next turn. This card is extremely powerful since it doesn’t target your opponent’s monsters or destroy them, which allows you to avoid a lot of monster effects.
2. Scrubbed Raid
Scrubbed Raid is a really similar card to a lot of the others on this list, but only if you ignore the fact that you can use it forever. Every battle phase, you can send a card you control to the graveyard to end the battle phase. This means that as long as you control a card during your opponent’s turn, you can end their battle phase, preventing them from attacking at all. But Scrubbed Raid can easily be destroyed by your opponent’s card effects. So if you want to get the full value out of this card, it would be a good idea to pair it with Imperial Custom, which prevents continuous traps from being destroyed.
1. Mystic Mine
Mystic Mine is definitely the most infamous and aggravating card on this list. Players who have faced it in the past probably know how much of a pain it is to deal with. When your opponent controls more monsters than you, Mystic Mine prevents them from using monster effects or declaring attacks with monsters. The best way to use this is to activate it after your opponent summons monsters to their field, and to leave your own field empty. Then you can also activate Field Barrier for some extra protection. Mystic Mine works amazingly well in stall decks like Final Countdown too, since it’s so difficult to do anything without monster effects.
