There are five Civilizations in the Duel Masters game.

They are shown on the cards by the color of the cards:

• Yellow for the Light Civilization.
• Black for the Darkness Civilization.
• Red for the Fire Civilization.
• Green for the Nature Civilization.
• Blue for the Water Civilization.

Each card in the game has at least one civilization with the civilizations being very important when summoning creatures, casting spells, generating cross gears or fortifying fortresses.

To pay the cost of a Creature, Spell, Cross Gear, or Fortress, you must use at least 1 mana that is of the same civilization as the creature or spell you want to summon or cast.

Multicolored cards display a mixture of each of the 5 colors while Zero cards display a white background.

Light Civilization

The Light Civilization is distinguished by a yellow color frame and is represented by 3 circles composed of several smaller circles. Abilities unique to Light involve adding cards to the shield zone, tapping others' creatures while untapping its own, and getting spells from the mana zone, graveyard, or deck. Light is also known for having the best creatures with the Blocker ability, with the only restriction that they are unable to attack players.

Water Civilization

The Water Civilization is distinguished by a blue color frame and is represented by a cylinder with an electronic design. Abilities unique to water involve drawing cards, looking at cards in the shield zone, hand, and the opponent's deck, returning cards from the battle zone or mana zone to the hand, and unblockable creatures. Water is also known for having expensive creatures that have a low power, usually in exchange for a useful effect. They are the second best at blocking, having blockers that can attack both players and creatures, and blockers that cannot attack at all.

Darkness Civilization

The Darkness Civilization is distinguished by a black color frame and is represented by a color-coded black and white mask with horns. Abilities unique to darkness involve discarding cards from the hand, destroying other creatures, "slayer", and recovering creatures from the graveyard. Most Darkness creatures also have side effects, like self-destruction when it battles or wins a battle, in exchange for its high power. They are the third best at blocking, as they have few blockers and most have drawbacks with high power, or low power in exchange for an ability like "slayer".

Fire Civilization

The Fire Civilization is distinguished by a red color frame and is represented by the symbol of a gear. Abilities unique to Fire involve "speed attacker", power-limited destruction, mana and shield destruction, attacking untapped creatures, and the need to attack each turn if able. This Civilization contains no Blockers.

Nature Civilization

The Nature Civilization is distinguished by a green color frame and is represented by 2 overlapping zigzags. Abilities unique to Nature involve increasing cards in one's mana zone, power-limited unblockability, and getting creatures from one's deck. This Civilization contains no Blockers.

Multicolored Cards

Multicolored cards are distinguished by a rainbow colored frame and is represented by the multiple civilizations used on it. Multicolored cards are cards with 2 or more different civilizations.

Multicolored cards can be any type of card and similar to the single civilizations, also require at least one of both civilizations depicted on the card to be tapped. A multicolored Fire and Nature creature such as Gonta, the Warrior Savage requires at least 1 Fire Civilization mana and 1 Nature Civilization mana in order to be summoned.

Zero

Zero cards are distinguished by a white color frame and is represented by a white crystal-like 6 point star on its mana symbol.

They were introduced 11 years after the games release, in DMR-05 Episode 2: Golden Age.

Civilizations

Monocolored	Light (L) Water (W) Darkness (D) Fire (F) Nature (N)
Colorless	Zero
Multicolored	2 Color Allied: DF ● FN ● LN ● LW ● WD Enemy： DN ● LD ● WF ● LF ● WN 3 Color Allied: DFN ● LFN ● LWD ● LWN ● WDF Enemy: LDF ● LDN ● LWF ● WDN ● WFN 4 Color Light Water Darkness Fire 5 Color Light Water Darkness Fire Nature