Vanilla

Vanilla is a slang term used by players in various trading card games to refer to a creatures or cards that have "no abilities".

They are also referred to as either "vanilla creatures" or "vanilla cards".

Details
A typical vanilla card would be a creature such as Burning Mane.

Due to their lack of abilities they are often shunned and dismissed in many decks. However, due to their usual stable and balanced power to cost ratio (1 mana for 1000 power) they are often seen as decent creatures to evolve onto depending on their race(s).

While they might seem as "boring" or "useless" they can be useful to teach new players how to play Duel Masters without complications during creature attacks and are often featured in starter decks due to this fact not to confuse players that are new to the game.

Creatures such as Zagaan, Knight of Darkness can be be close to be considered as a vanilla creature due to its "Double breaker" ability that is seen as easy to understand and something basic that many higher power creatures have. It is often called a "french vanilla" (or even "Quasi-Vanilla") due to this, a card that is seemingly vanilla other than a small standard ability such as Double breaker or Shield Trigger (such as Amber Grass).

A few vanilla creatures even feature no flavor text (in the OCG) such as Skeleton Soldier, the Defiled or Alpaca Hammer. However, the opposite is also true on cards such as the Parlock line of cards or cards such as Rhapsody, Guard of Hope which feature more flavor text than other cards due to not being restricted by their effect text.

Although any of the creatures stay at a ratio of 1 mana for 1000 power, there are many exceptions such as Tulk, the Oracle (1 for 500), Lazerion, Light Attack Soldier (3 for 3500) and Dunas, Spirit Knight (3 for 4000).

DMR-07 introduced a new creature Vanilla Giant (named after this slang term) that is a Nature creature with 4 for 5000 power. The set also introduced card draw and cost reduction capabilities for when vanilla creatures are played, which is the first form of support given to them 11 years after Duel Masters began. Whether future support will be released in upcoming sets is currently unknown.

While most Vanilla creatures are between the mana costs of 1 to 4, some exist at 5 and 6 mana as well. The strongest Vanilla creature currently in the game is Raging Dragon Lord in the Fire Civilization which costs 7 mana and has 25000 power. In DMR-10, a vanilla creature, Cobra, Snake Man Show, is introduced with a power of 2013 to commemorate the 13 years of Duel Masters which sparks interest in vanilla decks among players.

Deck Types

 * Vanilla beatdown

List of Vanilla creatures
Light Civilization Water Civilization Darkness Civilization Fire Civilization Nature Civilization Zero Cards
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Rulings
This can include any card without effect text, this includes such things as multicolored cards that are put tapped into your mana zone. Due to this, cards such Gonta, the Warrior Savage are not considered to be true Vanilla creatures.

A creature such as Cute Whisper or Necrodragon Tsukuyomi are supported by cards that care for vanilla creatures, as "Soul" is not considered to be an ability.

A card such as Promephius Q is considered to be a vanilla creature, due to it featuring no text in its effect box. While a survivor creature often gets the abilities shared to it by other survivors, it is considered to be a vanilla creature in its hand or battle zone by itself.

A card is still be considered vanilla for just including Flavor Text, as it does not influence gameplay in any form and is not considered to be an ability.