Introduction
Tokens. They have become an integral aspect of Yugioh more and more over the years. Even to the point of Token generators being banned or limited when they enable Links too easily. Technically, you can use almost anything as a Token. You could use a scrap of paper to denote one. I think someone tried using food once, though that’s way too messy. Maybe you could use a crudely drawn MS Paint picture of a card. However, for the Jump Festa 2006 promotional cards, Konami finally introduced official Token cards. These had the art of the Sheep Tokens summoned off of ‘Scapegoat’. Token cards have a grey border and text which says they can be used as any Token. In time, more would be released. These would become the standard way players presented their Tokens on field.
All kinds of Token cards with varying artworks have been released across Yugioh history. Everyone’s decks could feature all sorts of different kinds. There has been an increasing number of ‘Named Tokens’ too. These ones are different from the unnamed ones in that these are for specific Tokens. For instance, the ‘Juraegg Token’ summoned by 'Lost World'. You could still use it as any Token. Though, you’d likely only use it for this specific instance, to avoid confusion. These ones have their own name rather than simply saying ‘Token’ as their name. You could maybe look at it like they are their own cards.
For your deck, what you want are the coolest Tokens. Which ones, if you placed down the card, would be the coolest flex? Which Tokens are more than just tokens and are big-time collectible pieces? What would look super cool with your deck? Maybe something that matches well. Here is a selection of some of the coolest Tokens introduced over the years and a little bit of detail behind them.
Top Cossy Tokens
The TKN4 set in the TCG is probably the most eclectic series of Tokens. TKN4 cards were given out at various tournaments and events from 2009 all the way to 2017. They don’t really work like one set. More like a series of smaller sets that happen to share a set code. These include things such as Judge Tokens, given to judges. Assembling a full set of TKN4 has been something collectors have struggled with, as it’s a very difficult undertaking.
Perhaps the hardest part is because of the Top Cossy Duelist Tokens. These are 004-007 in the set. Each one has a different color; Green, Blue, Red, and Purple, respectively. These were given to participants of certain tournaments during 20013-15. People could mail in information if they topped the events and be sent the cards. However, these cards have become incredibly hard to find. 
They initially made 650 copies of each card. 500 in the US, 50 in Canada, and 100 in Latin America. However, not all of these actually made it out to recipients. There were significant issues with handing out these cards and not all participants received them. For Blue and Green, it wasn’t too bad, comparatively. But, for Red and Purple, it was really bad, with very few actually making it out there. This left those two to be super obscure. Collectors have struggled to track them down.
For purchasing, Green and Blue are going to set you back over 100 each. For Red and Purple, you are looking at nearly approaching a thousand. The prices have also fluctuated pretty wildly, due to their scarcity. Often it’s difficult to find them available to purchase at all. They have been the bane of collectors’ existence. If you want to finish TKN4, picking up Judge Tokens is going to be difficult too, as that depends on what the judges decide to do with theirs. For the Cossy ones, this is going to be even harder. If you played a Top Cossy Duelist Token, it’s the ultimate flex as these are among the world’s rarest Yugioh Tokens. Thanks to the accomplished collector TVS for providing me with an image of the full set together.
TKN2 Ojama Tokens
That was TKN4, but let’s go back in time further to 2007. TKN2 is a set of three Tokens featuring the three Ojama Brothers. ‘Ojama Green, ‘Ojama Yellow’ and ‘Ojama Black’. These were made for the Toys “R” Us Throwdown tournaments, which were for under 12s. The first two event distributions went normally, with Green and Yellow being handed out in the initial tournaments. Today, you can probably snag one for less than 40. For 'Ojama Black', it’s a different story.
See, most of the tournaments where TKN2-EN003 was meant to be distributed ended up being canceled. Only a very small amount of the tournaments went ahead. That means the majority of Ojama Black Tokens were not officially handed out. This makes it far scarcer than the other two. It was even said, that Upper Deck then attempted to destroy the remaining copies that were not given out. However, luckily a few got snuck out and made their way into the wild. This means that finishing a TKN2 set is pretty hard as Ojama Black is exceedingly rare.
You can get other Ojama Tokens. There is a still relatively rare set of them in TKN4 too, from the 2014 Battle City tournaments. You can even get some Named Token versions in the OCG, from Token Pack Vol. 3. But if you want to be the best Ojama player in the world, it’s these ones you want to play. Some Egyptian God-themed patches also went out to the winners of the Toys “R” Us tournaments too, which are also very rare items.
OCG Cutout Tokens
Here are some more recent Token releases that are quite interesting. These ones aren’t as rare as the previous ones mentioned, but are still fun. These are from the OCG, in sets starting from Dawn of Majesty. These Tokens are serrated cut-out tokens on the Booster Boxes themselves. If you are okay with not keeping your box intact, you can tear these Tokens out and use them. There’s usually a couple per set. These are not made out of the normal card stock for a Yugioh. Rather, it’s the card used to make the box. The back for these are not normal Yugioh card backs either. Instead, it’s just a blank white back.
If you get any, you can have Tokens featuring all kinds of different cool monsters, including cover cards. Ones made include monsters such as ‘Firewall Dragon Singularity, ‘Master of Chaos’ and ‘Guardian Chimera’. Interestingly, for DAMA, there’s an error. Both the Tokens for ‘Shooting Majestic Star Dragon’ and ‘Antihuman Intelligence ME-PSY-YA’ have the same set code of DAMA-JPT01. One should say JPT02. Find those if you want to collect something with a little error.
V Jump 2013 Tokens
Speaking of serrated cut out Tokens, we have these. I’ve already talked about them in my article about OCG only cards we won’t get imported. Check that out for more details. To summarise, these came out back in 2013 in an issue of V Jump. They were inside a couple of the pages and you could take them out to use. This time, they have a special card back. We had a few Tokens based on different characters from 5Ds and ZeXal. There were some Named Tokens too. This included the only currently named instance of a ‘Fluff Token’. Of course, we also had the infamous ‘Charisma Token’. This one had the LAUGH Attribute and advice to not use it as a Token. However, I recommend being a rebel and using it as a Token. They can’t tell you what to do!
Token Pack Volumes
The OCG has been releasing many Tokens in recent years. Nothing exemplifies that like the Token Packs. These are sets starting with TK0 in the set code. With four “Volumes” released so far, each set has contained thirty different Tokens. Most of them feature various characters from different Yugioh anime. This means getting these could go really well with your deck. A Token featuring Pegasus and his ‘Relinquished’ would go very well as the Token in your ‘Relinquished’ deck. Plenty of good options to go with your deck. What’s cool with Tokens is that they don’t follow the TCG/OCG rules. You can freely import some to put with your TCG deck.
In addition, these characters' Tokens have some additional text on the bottom. The top contains the usual "can be used as any Token" text. The bottom gives us a bit of dialogue from the characters, giving some personality to these cards. Take this one of Pegasus and Relinquished previously mentioned. The dialogue says "The dreadfulness of illusion monsters is just beginning...".
UDE Sheep Tokens
Let’s end off with some very rare and unusual Tokens. These are Full Art versions of Sheep Tokens with different art. They even have art on both the front and back of the card. The back shows that the Red, Blue, and Pink ones form a joint image when connected. At first glance, they look like customs and nothing remotely official. I thought that too when someone first showed images of them to me. However, they actually are semi-official as they were distributed at official tournaments. It wasn’t by Konami but by Upper Deck Entertainment.
UDE’s Europe division made these to distribute at some tournaments in Germany in 2006. Supposedly, this tournament series was sponsored by Cardmaster Magazine in association with UDE. Blue and Red were given to participants, with Pink going to 3rd and 2nd place. Yellow went to the winner, making it the rarest. These are also some of the earliest Token cards made.
The details for these are not easy to find. I only found a little about them during my research. So, unfortunately, I’m not able to explain too much here regarding them. Some of these obscure Tokens do still exist out there. If you are able to find them, it would be an interesting addition to your collection. Certainly a niche bit of Yugioh history from the early eras.
Conclusion
These are just some of the many Tokens released over the years throughout Yugioh's history. I hope you can continue to get cool Tokens to add your binders and decks. There are all kinds of options for you. Whether you want to show your favorite anime characters or flex with a rare tournament Token. There are even cards representing Counters now too, sharing the same grey border. For a while, only the OCG had Counter cards. Now, though, the TCG has finally started bringing them in, such as the ‘Black Feather Counter’. It can add a lot of fun and personality to your deck when you play an interesting Token. Lots of people even make their own custom ones, often by altering cards. Tokens provide a great avenue to add some creativity to the proceedings during your matches.
