Match winner The Match winners are a series of monsters that allow the player to win the entire Match instead of just the Duel . With the exception of Pendulum Monster s without a Monster Effect , Match winners have a condition that causes its control ler to win the Match if it decreases the opponent ' s Life Points to 0 with a direct attack ( sometimes with additional requirements , such as having an Xyz Material of a certain Type ) . For Match winners that are Pendulum Monsters , their Pendulum Effect includes an Ignition Effect that allows them to banish 3 monsters of the same Type as it controlled by the player , then target a Pendulum Monster , which then causes its controller to win the Match if it decreases the opponent ' s Life Points to 0 with a direct attack that turn . All Match winners have a high Level / Rank , ATK ( with the exception of " Leonardo ' s Silver Skyship " ) , and DEF , and require the use of 3 monsters to be Summoned ( with the exception of Normal Pendulum Monsters ) , some or all of which must be of a specific Type . For example , the Main Deck Match winners all cannot be Special Summon ed ( except the Pendulum Monster s ) , and require 3 Tribute s of the same Type as themselves in order to be Tribute Summon ed ( except Pendulum Monsters without a Monster Effect ) . Design . Starting from 2013 , all Match winners have a design representative of the country or city which hosted the World Championship where the cards were originally distributed . The match winners for 2013 , " Grandopolis , The Eternal Golden City " and " E☆HERO Pit Boss " were based on , the host city for that year ' s World Championship . The match winners for 2014 , " The Twin Kings , Founders of the Empire " and " Leonardo ' s Silver Skyship " were references to , the host country for that year ' s World Championship , which was held in . The match winners for 2015 , " Kuzunoha , the Onmyojin " and " Sakyo , Swordmaster of the Far East " were references to , the host country for that year ' s World Championship , which was held in . The match winners for 2016 , " Juno , the Celestial Goddess " and " Shelga , the Tri - Warlord " were references to , the host state for that year ' s World Championship . The match winners for 2017 , " Iron Knight of Revolution " and " Sanctity of Dragon " , were references to , which was the original host country of that year ' s World Championship . Distribution . The first Match winner , " Victory Dragon " , was given away as a promotional card with " Shonen Jump Magazine " . It was quickly made Forbidden due to its ability to interfere with something outside of the current Duel , leading to many ruling hassles and declarations of unsportsmanlike conduct regarding players who would surrender right before " Victory Dragon " attacked , therefore losing only the Duel instead of the Match . All Match winners since the release of " Victory Dragon " have only been available as top prize cards or attendance cards at each year ' s World Championship , making them almost impossible to obtain with prices easily amounting in the thousands of dollars or more per card . All of them , barring " Victory Dragon " , have the Limitation Text : " This card cannot be used in a Duel " present on the lower left corner of the card , making them illegal in official tournaments . Two new Match winners debut at each World Championship , with a single Ultra Rare copy of one card being given to the champion and three Ultra Rare copies of the other being given to the 2nd , 3rd , and 4th place finishers . A Super Rare reprint of the previous year ' s top Match winner is also given out to all attendees . This reprint always has the word " REPLICA " printed on it , and is generally less expensive than the original version , although the price is still astronomically high compared to most other cards . Starting from 2013 , the previous year ' s Match winners have received reprints in the current year ' s " OCG " - exclusive " Extra Pack " as Extra Secret Rare cards ; the first to be released were the 2012 Match winners , " Legendary Dragon of White " and " Legendary Magician of Dark " , in the 2013 set " " . The Match winners " Legendary Dragon of White " and " Legendary Magician of Dark " were reprinted in " World Superstars " , marking the first time Match winners were printed in the " TCG " in a language other than English .