Top 10 Monsters in Joey Wheeler's Deck (Yu-Gi-Oh!)

After filling his deck with a new assortment of powerful monsters, Joey was more than ready to compete in Battle City. Among his newer beasts was the swift and ferocious Panther Warrior. With its mighty blade and walloping 2000 attack points, enemies best beware when this kitty is on the hunt. However, it has a special ability that might hinder its prowl a bit – Panther Warrior cannot attack without tributing another monster. Thankfully, Joey easily solves this problem with the help of his Scapegoat magic card –by feeding the Panther one of his sheep tokens, this agile Beast-Warrior is ready to pounce on anyone and anything in its path.

During the Waking the Dragons arc, Joey harnessed the power of one of the Legendary Dragons, the Claw of Hermos, which can fuse with some of his most iconic monsters and transform them into equipable weapons with sneaky surprises. These include, but are not limited to, a mighty blade that increases its wielders attack for every dragon in play, a hammer that banishes its opponent’s monsters for a random amount of turns, and even a cannon that obliterates all enemy creatures and takes a massive chunk out of their life points. If needed, he could also weaponize his opponent’s monsters or even let his best friend Yugi forge his OWN powerful tool to combat against Rafael.

Another one of Joey’s notable assets for Battle City was this scrappy little soldier – the Rocket Warrior. Much like Joey, this miniature combatant isn’t afraid to take on opponents that are tougher than it; thanks to its special ability while in invincible mode, it can’t take battle damage when it goes against a stronger opponent head-on. Inversely, the foe loses 500 attack points until the end of the turn after taking the full impact from the rocket. Honestly, the only real obstacle that Rocket Warrior has to face is someone redirecting the attack towards Joey instead –which, unfortunately, has happened once or twice.

Legend tells of a warrior so powerful that he sealed himself away in a suit of iron. Thus, he forged himself into one of Joey’s best monsters in the Battle City tournament – Gearfried the Iron Knight. Not only does this soldier pack a punch, but his special ability also makes him immune to enemy equip cards. If needed, Joey can also activate the Release Restraint magic card to unlock Gearfried’s full power as the legendary Gearfried the Swordmaster. On a more somber note, the Iron Knight could’ve been the warrior to help Joey defeat the evil Marik for good… if Joey wasn’t too exhausted and hurt to finish the duel –seriously, it’s infuriating how unfair that loss was.

Admittedly, at first glance, this scaly little tyke doesn’t seem very threatening with a lightweight attack and defense. But, much like Joey himself, Baby Dragon just needs a little experience to really unlock its full potential. If luck is on his side, Joey is able to use his Time Wizard to help his infant monster grow into the Thousand Dragon – with twice the firepower and a thousand years worth of wisdom and ferocity. Or, if that seems too risky, Joey can also fuse Baby Dragon with his Alligator’s Sword to form the Alligator’s Sword Dragon –which can avoid certain monsters and attack its opponent directly. For those who’ve heard that big things come in small packages, Baby Dragon is living proof of it.

Out of all of Joey’s warrior cards, very few can match the power of one of his ultimate fighting machines – Gilford the Lightning. Right off the bat, this combatant is a high-level brute at with a merciless 2800 attack points. Not only that but if he was summoned by tributing three monsters instead of just two, Gilford can completely obliterate all monsters on his opponent’s side of the field before even going into battle. This means that unless you have a magic or trap card handy, nothing will stand in the way of this soldier’s mighty blade as it takes a chunk of your life points.

One of Joey’s most noticeable dueling strategies is taking a risk with gambling –made evident with his rare Time Wizard monster. When in play, this clockwork magician activates a roulette spell with a 1-in-2 chance of landing on a time engine or a skull. If it lands on a skull, it and every monster on Joey’s side of the field is destroyed, and Joey takes half the overall damage. If the gamble ends well, however, every monster on the field is aged up by a thousand years –which can unlock his Baby Dragon’s untapped power as the Thousand Dragon and turn his opponent’s creatures into withering fossils. Fortunately, time is usually on Joey’s side thanks to his wizard.

In his first duel of Battle City, Joey defeats the phony psychic Espa Roba and wins his most powerful monster, Jinzo. Along with its Psycho Mantis-like appearance and hefty 2400 attack points, this ghoulish machine has the ability to negate and obliterate all traps on the field –which is especially handy against an opponent with “trap monster” cards. Out of all the prize monster cards Joey won during Battle City –the others being Insect Queen, The Legendary Fisherman, and Fortress Whale, Jinzo was the one he ended up using the most. This is no surprise since it had one of the most useful special abilities –and one of the most intimidating and awesome designs.

For the record, we know that in the real world, Flame Swordsman is a fusion monster. However, in the anime, it is treated as a normal monster card and one of Joey’s personal favorites. Armed with his fiery saber, this warrior takes to the field and cuts any opponent down to size –especially if given a flaming power boost. As the years went by, the Swordsman didn’t see as much action as he used to, but his loyalty remained stronger than ever -not unlike Joey’s loyalty to those he cares about. If that weren’t enough, Joey could also fuse his favorite warrior with Yugi’s iconic Dark Magician to create the devastating Dark Flare Knight –which can also bring out the mystical Mirage Knight.

Before we unveil Joey’s best beast, here are a few honorable mentions.

Goblin Attack Force

Copycat

Axe Raider

Swordsman of Landstar

Alligator’s Sword

After defeating Rex Raptor in Duelist Kingdom, Joey walked away with his most fearsome beast of all – the Red-Eyes Black Dragon. With a whopping 2400 attack points, this rare, deadly dragon is more than capable of blasting away any of its enemies. Its power only grows when morphed into the Red-Eyes Black Metal Dragon or when fused with Yugi’s Summoned Skull to form the Black Skull Dragon. Along with being an iconic beast, Red-Eyes is a perfect representation of Joey himself – an underdog compared to Yugi’s Dark Magician or Kaiba’s Blue-Eyes, but never backing away from a challenge and with a fearsome temper if you cross them. Even when Joey temporarily lost Red-Eyes, Yugi kept it safe as a symbol of the two’s friendship.