Even today these cards see a lot of competitive play, especially in formats where monsters with continuous effects are the ones with the higher-tiered play. True, they don’t work on Links but in a time where you can go first, activating these cards on their normal summon or chokepoint plays can shut down a surprising amount of Link strategies as they tend to revolve around their normal summon being able to be linked off. Fortunately for you, a lot of face-down monsters do not have that ability! The main draw of such cards as Loading... , Loading... & Loading... is that a monster face-down does not have an effect on the field, essentially a blank slate. They can be the roughest, toughest monster on the field but if they’re able to be flipped face-down, they’re as good as their DEF stat.

This card is a bit more of a recent revival in the metagame, people just kind of remembered that having “Loading... ” on both turns is really good! Even at the cost of one of your monsters… In a game that your GY is likely a place you want monsters anyways. It has a lot of use. Taking your opponent’s monster for your own needs, being able to remove it by using it for one of your own summoning conditions so it ends up in their GY, turning an XYZ monster to DEF mode as to not let them make “Loading... ”, just very versatile in decks that can afford to play it.

The original Spell/Trap destruction & its retrains, these still see their fair share of success and yes, even MST can see use in boards that need to side in backrow hate. Past MST, they’re all just sidegrades to how the original works - a cost for an added bonus (Even if the cost is pretty negligible by modern standards). If you need to stop a deck with a lot of Spell/Trap fixation, you know where all the hurricanes are for just those situations! One note I’d love to pay attention to is that MST has not only more Spell card retrains but also a monster: A generic (No specific materials) Rank 4 XYZ monster by the name of “Loading... ” which can act as MST on legs, a pretty powerful card even now and can be slotted in many, many decks as just a choice for the toolbox. Even if you can’t fill your deck with the Spells, there’s always your new favorite MST monster for just an extra deck slot.

Unbanned in recent years and seeing all the play in the world for it, Feather Duster coming back did exactly what you think it did: Let everyone abuse it as a backrow wipe and staple Side Deck option. There’s not really much to say about this other than it destroys all the opponent’s Spells & Traps, it’s really good, you should have one and the meta only agrees with this the more we see heavier backrow metas.

Still one of the most oppressive Trap cards in the game, just the ability to say no to anything is a real breath of fresh air. True, it is a Trap card in a game where Traps either say “Win the game” or it’s not worth running but in a deck that wants to run retro cards, this is still a great pick as that right denial can swing things in your favor. You may be put off by the idea of having to half your Life Points but this is modern Yu-gi-oh - You only need 1 LP to stay in the game and half your LP is better than potentially costing you all of it. On top of that, “Solemn” Trap cards have been printed up to this day, including the other “Warning” & “Strike” varieties that will cost only a set amount to activate but have more specific uses, usually to special summons. All see competitive use in one way or another so feel free to test out which Solemns work best for your strategy.

Now, this one is trickier. It’s a Trap card, it destroys all monster cards on the field, it can be a bit of a situational card to use just anywhere. But the good thing about this Trap is that it works very well in decks with these situations: Graveyard revival, destruction protection & recovering resources. What this means is that if you have a deck that can contend with the destruction effect - or even thrive from it - it can be a nasty piece of work to those not ready for such a tech card. Make sure to check what decks are more in-line with such a card.

Still an incredible card to this day, the ability to remove two of your opponent’s monsters for what is essentially a Blue-Eyes White Dragon is not to be underestimated. While this card is very good, the drawback is that you need to play it in a deck that either doesn’t require or is completely devoid of normal summons, which means the majority of them are off the table. Even so, this is a very powerful card if you find yourself in a deck that can abuse this old-school removal monster.

This is actually cheating, as this card came out in 2015 and is not as old as people would think it to be. Nevertheless, fans of the God Cards will likely get a kick out of the idea that one of the Egyptian Gods is playable… in a sense. Basically, Sphere Mode allows you to tribute three of your opponent’s monsters for the normal summon of this card to their field which is just unbelievable if you can pull it off. Again, you are losing your normal summon in order to do this so the decks you can use this with are going to be limited, but it’s still a card very much worth keeping for a format that allows for this kind of play. Unfortunate news though is that competitively, you will not be playing Ra proper with this, just Spheres. Still, if you want gods in a competitive decklist, this is the way to go.

Many monsters in the modern game either have protection from destruction, have an effect once destroyed or benefit from being in the GY. Saying this, a Spell card you can just use to threaten the field isn’t a card anyone is gonna object to. You get one for free when you start the game, it would be a shame not to use it and see how many monsters get popped from a well-placed lightning strike.

Again, this is cheating as this card came out in 2020, but this is a modern take on Loading... , in turn based on the previous card of Loading... . This is a common theme, where cards you knew come back with a new look & effect for a more modern setting. This card is a staple of any deck designed to go second, as it can threaten your opponent with either the Loading... effect of destroying all attack position monsters or destroying all Spells & Traps they control, at the stipulation that you control no face-up cards. What this can do is either make your opponent need to deal with this immediate issue, in which case they wasted a removal effect on it or they have no way of countering such an effect. Keep three of these if you plan on any deck going second.

In this day & age, you may think this card would be useless as you can revive monsters from the GY with ease and with in-archetype tools, to that you’d be right! But having Monster Reborn - a generic revival Spell - doesn’t mean you have a useless version of a deck’s revival, it just means you have another copy. Believe it or not, this card in modern play sees more use as an extender than to bring back a singular powerful monster, as reviving a card that can be used for more combo play isn't a bad way to end on more advantage. It’s limited at one for a reason and you get one free, it’s not bad at all for a deck.

Yes, the ability to take control of one of your opponent’s monsters for the turn is still very powerful today. It demands immediate removal if the opponent is fond of what you’re trying to take or you can use the monster to your own ends. Hey, in the time of link summons, you can easily use the monster as material for one of your own summons and that way the opponent doesn’t get access to their monster again after the turn is over. A powerful card that should be considered.

As I mentioned previously, it’s commonplace for older cards you love to get new variants based on them, this being one of the most famous examples. Pot of Greed is banned, so, in its place, we have many, many pots in its image that have variations on the effect and for all sorts of different decks. These three are the most popular by far but you never know if a Sky Striker deck wants to play Loading... or a Floowandereeze deck needs a Loading... , see what can fit in your deck and what works well for the card cost!

A newer version of a fan favorite from back in the day: Loading... , now in a new link form for easy summons. This should only be considered if you have the level 7 or higher monster to spare for the summon but if you can summon it, likely the opponent may not have an out to it. It can be immune to certain effects, be bigger than a lot of the monsters if damage is the biggest threat, banish cards to get around their GY effects, it’s a very handy thing for a deck that can use this as a toolbox. Only need one but that singular copy can potentially swing the game in your favor against just the right decks.

This one is more niche as it only can really be used in Spellcaster decks, but as an obvious reference to Loading... . And it lives up to its reputation. It can potentially get bigger as the game goes on, if it’s kept on the field or it can just be used for a quick destruction of the opponent’s card. Then if you want, you can link it away or use it as material for another summon if you wish to extend your plays. It’s a versatile card that while not the most used, it’s a toolbox option for decks that can consider it.

A card that can only be summoned at the cost of a level 1 monster, it’s usually a shock to other players that their poor choice of monster position would be their undoing. Loading... now lives generically in your extra deck as a Link-1 monster that - whatever monster it is directly pointing to - can be taken as an Equip Spell to which Anima gains that card’s ATK. There are many plays that can be done to abuse its effect such as taking a Lava Golem you gave the opponent, summoning an “Effect Veiler” that wasn’t discarded to then remove a positioned threat but at the end of the day, it’s another toolbox option for the decks that can afford to summon it.

It’s almost comical how tailor-made this card is for old-school players, to the point that to not have it would be puzzling. For reference, TTT is a normal Spell card that if the opponent has used a monster effect on your turn, you can activate it to gain one of these three effects: Draw 2 cards - “Loading... ”

Take control of one of your opponent’s monsters until the end of the turn - “Loading... ”

Return one card from the opponent’s hand to the deck - “Loading... ”

All three of these referenced cards were at the time of TTT’s release, banned cards from before 2005. Also yes, the activation requirement will be fulfilled if the opponent uses a monster hand trap, so Loading... , Loading... , Loading... , all sorts of these cards that may annoy you can be punished with an effect from the older days of the game. Again, it’s comical how this card is meant for the old-school players in modern. Unquestionably one of the first staples anyone should be crafting.

This is an oddity in the game, as the effects of Linkuriboh are largely not the reason you play this card, more-so the summoning condition. Any level 1 monster you need in the GY can be there, much like some popular Blue-Eyes & Red-Eyes combo plays as they have level 1 monsters that want to be in the GY more than not, as well as other decks you may come across with a similar need. What makes Linkuriboh suited for level 1 in particular is that it can bring itself back from the GY by sending a level 1 monster from your field to the GY, making the utility very repeatable. And in a pinch? It’s a form of battle negation. You’ll likely see this in a few competitive decks you’ll come across for this handy summon utility.

This card, quite simply, is a Continuous Trap that shuts down all effects of monsters on the field. As tempting as it may sound, it only sees limited utility in decks that already have ways to bypass the restrictions like Blue-Eyes, Dark Magician, Eldlich, Runick, decks inherently without much on-field monster effects. Be warned that effects can be activated but the effects themselves cannot be resolved while they are on the field, so there are shenanigans that can be played to out the Trap. A hated card by the community for this oppressive effect but it’s a card you may want to know about when bringing the game to a state you’re more familiar with.

These two cards make up a fantastic Dragon engine for all sorts of decks that can abuse these - well - easily abusable cards. Loading... is a level 1 monster with the ability that if sent from the field to the GY, you can add a “Red-Eyes” card from your deck to your hand. The most likely target for this & the card in question is Loading... , which states; You can Special Summon this monster by banishing a Dragon you control, you can also Special Summon a Dragon from your hand or GY. This is entirely generic and is often a good starter for a lot of Dragon decks, leading to potentially strong endboards. The reason I bring this up is because this can apply to many decks with the ‘Dragon’ typing, meaning you can take your Red-Eyes love with you to many different strategies! If you’ve been reading my other recommendations, you may also know that Loading... & Loading... can be summoned using a level 1 monster like Loading... , the references can just keep piling on if you learn these little synergies, which your deckbuilding should be aiming to improve at: Synergy.

For any fan of fusion, this will be one of the first cards you learn about when it comes to the wider metagame. What “Super Poly” allows you to do is, by discarding one card, fuse monsters from either side of the field. Only yours, only theirs, a mix of both, whatever is allowed for your planned fusion monster. If you’ve been away from the game for a while, you may ask yourself why you’d want this card when the opponent is likely not going to have specific materials that you want. Well, in that time, we’ve gained a fair amount of monsters that have shockingly generic requirements to summon. As an example:

• Loading... - Two Dark monsters on the field, except tokens.
• Loading... - Two monsters with the same type & attribute but different names.
• Loading... - A Fusion monster and a Dark monster.
• Loading... - Two monsters with the same attribute but different types.

You can probably get a feeling for why this card is so easily abused, considering nothing says you have to use your monsters for the fusion. This also extends to fusions in general! Dark Magician has fusions that need himself & a Dragon, a Spellcaster, a Warrior, the list goes on. Whilst good on its own, you’ll likely use this in another fusion strategy you have to clear the opponent’s pesky monsters.

Yes, this is that same Gearfried of Joey Wheeler’s deck from the anime, brought up with a new fiery look & a wonderful effect to boot. Keeping in mind that this is only really played as an optional tech in warrior decks, the effect is surprisingly potent to the decks that can afford to run it in combination with cards that can search it. The effect states that you can banish one Equip Spell from your field or GY to special summon this card from your hand. If this monster attacks then at the start of the Damage Step, you can equip one monster on the field to this monster to a maximum of one. If a monster effect is activated, you can send one equip card you control to the GY to negate and destroy it. So yeah, a very powerful effect that’s pretty good for the decks that allow you to pull it off. More niche than other cards on this list, it’s still worth noting how cards you thought were forgotten actually have their competitive success. You just have to look in the right places.

For all the Dark Magician fans out there, you’ll be happy to know a variety of the archetype’s cards have seen wide meta play… just not in Dark Magician. Loading... allows you to send a level 6 or higher Spellcaster monster from the deck to the GY to activate one of two effects: Special summon itself or send it to the GY to then summon a “Dark Magician” or “Dark Magician Girl” from your GY. The former of these effects has seen the vast majority of meta use, as there are plenty of powerful decks with a level 6 or higher Spellcaster they would LOVE to send directly to the GY, the summon acting as a free way to get more monsters on the field, a nice bonus. Once on the field, you can send up to two Spells/Traps from your hand or field to the GY to draw that many cards, a ‘mulligan’ in other words and possibly adding to your Spell/Trap GY effects. You may ask how Loading... comes into this, a Ritual monster you don’t play with a Ritual Spell. Very simply you can reveal it from your hand to add “Dark Magician” or a card that mentions it to your hand, like Loading... . This in essence acts as copies four, five & six of that card. Endymion, SPYRAL, Dogmatika, a lot of decks have the ability to abuse a free Loading... , summon & potential mulligan and have historically seen high meta play because of it.