‘Yu-Gi-Oh’: Pot of Greed – Everything to Know About the Smiling Jar
Check out this explainer about one of the most iconic and heavily parodied cards in all of Yu-Gi-Oh: Pot of Greed.
Attention, Duelists! In its long history, several oh Yu-Gi-Oh‘s cards have become iconic. Even if you know next to nothing about the game, you’ve probably at least heard of Blue Eyes White Dragon and Dark Magician. However, one of the most iconic cards in the game is one of the most misunderstood. Depending on who you ask, Pot of Greed can have several crazy effects. But what does this grinning gentleman ACTUALLY do? Well, like most things in pop culture, it depends on the context.
Pot of Greed in the TCG
In the card game, Pot of Greed is a fairly simple card. It’s a standard Magic card (as opposed to Trap or Creature for the uninitiated) that allows a player to draw two cards from their deck. That’s it. It can’t be played as a response, it can’t be played from the graveyard, and it doesn’t DO anything else.
That isn’t to say this is a bad card. In fact, I’d say the complete opposite. The standard grip in Yu-Gi-Oh is five cards, so a two-card draw with no drawbacks is pretty huge. Plus, in any hand-based game, card draw is king. MTG, Yu-Gi-Oh, and even Lorcana wins usually go to players who can filter their answers the fastest. With PoG, you can find your boss monster, a nifty trap, or that final piece of Exodia, and dominate the game. Because of all that, Pot of Greed has been banned in Standard play since 2005.
Pot of Greed in the Anime
It’s no secret that the Yu-Gi-Oh anime plays fast and loose with the rules of the card game. High level monsters are summoned with no tribute, cards are played out of order, and some cards just have BLATANTLY wrong abilities (looking at you, Shadow of Eyes). However, few cards are as guilty as Pot of Greed.
Put simply, Pot of Greed seems to be a Pot of Need, since it’s whatever the player who’s supposed to win needs at the time. Sometimes it gives you cards; sometimes it stops attacks; sometimes it shuffles your deck; and sometimes it takes up a monster zone. This inconsistency led to many jokes about its power, utility, and even rarity. Can you summon Pot of Greed? When can you activate it? Does everyone have one, or is it super rare? What this card’s anime effect boiled down to was the same as a new form for Goku.
The “Greed” Series
Even though PoG has been banned, Konami cannot deny its usefulness or viability. Indeed, it is important to the health of the game to provide useful draw options. All that needed to change was a bit more drawback to using the card outright. Thus, the “Greed” series was born. Yu-Gi-Oh cards often have an overarching story behind the art and flavor text of the cards, and you can occasionally follow a story over multiple sets.
One such story is the tale of the Goblin of Greed, seen above. This wealthy Goblin Thief starts out with lots of money thanks to his magical jars and pots. However, he loses it all when the market crashes. Desperate to retain his wealth, he turns to petty crime, and is locked away in an Imperial prison.
In the TCG, several “Jar” cards in the theme of PoG rose up to take its place, but with drawbacks. Pot of Dichotomy, for example, requires you to shuffle 3 monster cards with different types from your graveyard into your deck. Then you must skip your battle phase after you draw your two cards. These restrictions lead to a healthier game state and more engaging interaction. You can find a full list of the Greed cards here.
Pot of Greed: The Memes
Because of the anime’s inconsistencies, Pot of Greed has become a bit of a joke in multiple circles. Most famous is probably LittleKuriboh’s “Yu-gi-Oh Abridged” series on YouTube. This series heavily parodies the idiosyncracies of the anime. You can watch the full series here.
Most of the Pot of Greed memes boil down to no one REALLY knowing what PoG does. Pot of Greed may be activated as a Trap, it may be summoned to a zone, or it may be used to contain an enemy monster. However it’s used, it’s hard to deny how iconic calling out the name is. You can walk into almost any FLGS and yell out, “I play Pot of Greed!” Nine times out of ten, someone will follow up with a joke.
