Card of the week — Injection Fairy Lily

Game: Yu-Gi-Oh!

First released: June 6, 2003

Level 3

Spellcaster

ATK 400

DEF 1500

If this card attacks or is attacked, during damage calculation (in either player’s turn): You can pay 2000 LP once per battle; this card gains 3000 ATK during that damage calculation only

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Injection Fairy Lily is an iconic card in the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise, and is often regarded as one of the female favourites for good reason.

Being so popular, she was in multiple games beyond the TCG, including Duel Monsters 7, Nightmare Troubadour, Yu-Gi-Oh Online, Ultimate Masters and GX Tag Force.

As for the anime, she's in Yu-Gi-Oh, GX, Zexal, Arc-V and the Pyramid of Light movie.

With her pretty pink hair, cheeky wink and suggestive position on top of an oversized needle (sometimes swapped for a rocket), it's no wonder so many people love her pin-up style.

Needle rocket riding Lily

The original design featured red crosses in the background, which were changed for hearts throughout Europe, and later adopted in Japan on the reprints. This was done for political reasons in Europe to avoid controversy. The hearts are much more aesthetically pleasing in our opinion anyway.

Injection Fairy Lily card variations

Aside from being a kawaii design with a sweet but scary attitude (as seen in the anime), Injection Fairy Lily was a solid card for a long time, despite getting banned briefly in certain formats for its power. Unfortunately, the power-creep in Yu-Gi-Oh has taken her out of regular play, but in goat format, she's a worthy addition to a deck.

She saw a lot of play, being a non-tribute monster that could eliminate many of the format’s problem cards back in the day. Her ability, at a cost of 2000 life points, boosted her attack to 3400. This could wipe out heavy hitters like Summoned Skull or the Blue-Eyes White-Dragon. Early game, this could be a scary monster to play, when the life points haven't been too depleted.

On top of that, her level made her a great option for getting around cards like Gravity Bind (which stops level 4 and above monsters from attacking), Level Limit (which turns all level 4 and above monsters to defence position), and Messenger of Peace (which blocked monster attacks of above 1500 from landing).

Even though Lily was played a lot, she's quite a rare card. When she was in the Legacy of Darkness set, the production quality had dipped. This meant that many of the cards in this set were miscut. Getting a quality Injection Fairy Lily which has been stored or sleeved well, as well as being properly aligned, is an expensive endeavour.

Lily was so popular that she was retrained as Counselor Lily. In Japanese medical terms, this is a promotion from a more hands-on role to an administrator. The effects are similar but instead the Counselor supports a Syncro Monster – fitting for her new position.

She also has cards with gorgeous art in rush duels.

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