Change of Heart

Change of Heart was originally released as a common spell card in the 2002 Starter Deck: Yugi, which served as a foundational entry point for the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game in Western markets. The card was designed to mimic the high-stakes, dramatic tactical shifts found in the anime series, allowing a player to take control of an opponent's monster for a single turn to shift the momentum of a duel.

The card's iconic illustration features a stylized, unsettling face with a shifting expression, intended to visually represent the psychological manipulation inherent in its game effect. While it became a staple of early competitive play due to its powerful board-clearing utility, it was eventually restricted and later banned in many formats for years due to the overwhelming advantage it granted players by bypassing defensive positioning.