28 April 2014

The difference between a top event with and without Dragons of Legend legal

The entire post in short: Dragon Rulers have been revived once more and both Kuribandit and Soul Charge are to blame.


"I'll be stealing ya wins, buddy!"

YCS Paris - Dragons of Legend NOT legal - Mermails win

Peter Gross once more proved to be one of the best European players. He directed his Mermail deck and proves that the deck is virtually untouched since the last banlist (seriously, why Gunde and not Sphere/Steus?).

The rest of the top 32 is as follows:

  • 13x Mermail (including Peter Gross' deck)
  • 1x Evilswarm (Aoued Benabdallah - 2nd Place)
  • 10x Geargia
  • 3x Bujin
  • 1 Prophecy
  • 1 Chain Burn
  • 1 Fire Kings
  • 1 Infernity
  • 1 Harpie

Not much to say about this anymore. This was the last YCS in this shape, since Dragons of Legend is legal from now on. And what will follow is somewhat illustrated at the latest ARG Championship Series.

ARGS Richmond - Dragons of Legend Legal - Kuribandit DRulers win

Without any surprise, Goblin Hoban won again. The worst best Yugioh Player (as he's somewhat referenced to) finally quit his Mermail deck to show us what power cards were in Dragons of Legend. And it's quite clear that the combination of Kuribandit and Soul Charge is deadly in the hands of skilled players (especially in Dragon Ruler decks).

The top 16 is as follows:

  • 4x Mythic Kuribandit DRuler
  • 2x Mermail
  • 2x Geargia
  • 2x Bujin
  • 2x Infernity
  • 1 Kuribandit Ghostrick
  • 1 Evilswarm
  • 1 Hieratic (Pure)

The full decklists can be checked on the ARG Website.

The new Dragon Rulers - Kuribandit DRulers

The most preferred combo is using Kuribandit's effect to excavate 5 cards, which are 4 monster cards (inluding 1 DRuler) and obtaining a Soul Charge. Get the Soul Charge to your hand and dump the rest.

Then, during the next turn, you can use Soul Charge to revive as many cards as you can.

If you didn't excavate Soul Charge, you can just use the DRulers effect to special summon themselves from the grave/hand. If you don't open with either of the two cards, the rest of the spell line-up is draw/dump power (Gold Sarc, Upstart Goblin, Card of Consonance, Trade-In, Dragon Shrine, etc), so it's hard to have an opening hand that sucks.

If you haven't guessed, this version of DRulers is all about dumping cards in the graveyard and reviving them with Soul Charge or by Monster effect (similar to Chaos Dragons), so that you have an overpowering line-up of dragons and Xyz (similar to Chaos Dragons). The trap line-up is small to non-existent (similar to Chaos Dragons) and it doesn't use any other protection cards (similar to Chaos Dragons).

Yes, you heard me correctly, the new version of Dragon Rulers is basically how Chaos Dragons worked when they were at their best. Dumping cards (Future Fusion), spamming the field with overpowering monsters (REDMD, DAD, Lightpulsar, BLS, Chaos Sorcerer), and constantly-reappearing boss monsters (the Lightpulsar-REDMD combo).

Any other Dragons-of-Legend cards?

Looking through the top 16, there were a few other cards (next to Soul Charge en Kuribandit) from Dragons of Legend that were played. Those were the following:

  • Wiretap. One of the best counter traps at this point. Negates the activation of a trap and sends it back to the deck. Both Geargia decks and Infernity decks are playing it.
  • There were also 3 people in the top 16 trying out the combo of Fire and Ice Hand, but that was only visible in the side decks.

That's it for now, V out.

24 April 2014

Cards to look forward to in the Duelist Advent Pt. 2 - Spells, traps and OCG Premiere Cards

Let's continue where I left off in my last post, with the spells and traps from the Duelist Advent, and the OCG World Premiere cards (you know, those ten cards we won't see until the end of this year or so).

Spell cards

  • Savage Feast Lv 5: You can special summon 2 Lv 5 warriors from your hand or grave. That's amazing, right? Right? Yeah, it would be if there were more interesting lv 5 warriors out there. But as it stands now, each archetype that could support it, only has 1 or two (mediocre) Lv 5 warriors (not counting synchro's), so the chance of you actually using this card to its full potential is small (unless more support comes out?).
  • Metaphization/Imagine Breaker: A great support card for the new Genryu type. Once per turn, you can tribute 1 dragon (cough*hieratics*cough) to special summon a Genryu type monster from your deck with the same level as the tributed monster. The number of Genryu monsters is very low right now, but expect more to be released in the following sets (you know, like Psychics in the 5Ds series).
  • Fountain of Magic: Read as: amazing side-card against Noble Knights, Crystal Beasts and Chain Burn. It's a quick-play (so chaining works wonders) that lets you draw as many cards as your opponent controls face-up spells and traps (including those that are waiting to be resolved) and then you can discard a number of cards equal to the face-ups that you control (including this one obviously). But in exchange you can no longer stop/destroy your opponent's backrow until his next end phase. So it does require skill to use.
  • The Monarch Storms forth: Amazing support for monarchs and basically any deck that uses high-level monsters (Agents, Chaos Dragons, etc). It's a better version of Soul Exchange, that doesn't cost you the battle phase; but costs you the use of your extra deck that turn. But trust me, in the turn you require this card, you're not longing to use that extra deck anyway.
  • Pop-pull-up: A field spell searcher. If your opponent has a field spell and you don't, activate one directly from your deck. Nice side-card if your deck relies heavily on field spells (Prophecy, Dark World, Gravekeeper, etc) and your opponent does as well.

Trap Cards

  • Battleguard Howling: If a warrior you control is targeted for an attack or for a monster card effect, you can burn the opponent equal to that monster's original attack (lol) and then bounce it back to the opponent's hand (even more lol). It's more restricted than Compulsory Evacuation Device, but it's soooo much better (and funny) when used.
  • Showdown: One of the best counter trap cards to come out in recent memory. Forget 7 Tools of the Bandit and Dark Bribe, this is more interesting. During the damage step, when a spell or trap card is activated (like Forbidden Lance or Fire Formation Tensen), or a monster effect is activated (like Blackwing Kalut, Honest, Bujin Crane, etc), you can negate the activation and destroy that card. This is a good counter towards Fire Fist decks, who use attack manipulation spells/traps; or decks that rely heavily on 1 monster with lots of support (Bujins).

OCG World Premiere cards

Still don't like it, but we're getting used to it by now (I guess). Let's see what the OCG got that we didn't.

  • Heroic support: Assault Halberd is amazing. It's a Cyber Dragon-style card that pierces. And when it does damage, you can search a Heroic Card (monster and support cards). Thousand Blade on the other hand encourages Challenger spamming (including more of itself!) that can special summon itself from the grave when you take damage. And Rhongomiant (the Xyz) is another Numbers Xyz that can take up to 5 Xyz Materials that is virtually indestructible if its got 3 or more Materials.
  • Star Serpah Support: Now this is interesting. I always thought the Star Seraphs were kind of under-represented and could be more interesting if only there were more. And look what happens? 3 new monsters (awh, no Xyz here?). And similar to the others, these monsters focus on getting more of them on the field.
  • Number Hunter: A card version of Kite (somewhat) that's anti-Xyz and Anti-Numbers in General. But with 1600 attack, that's its only feature (thus, situational).
  • Onomatopia: A field spell for the Onomatope-cards (Gagaga/gogogo/tralala/etcetera), but since it requires multiple incarnations of Utopia to be good, this won't be used.
  • Humhumming the Keyboard Djinn: How cool, another Djinn Xyz. When it's sepecial summoned, you can special summon another Djinn Xyz from the grave (even Queen Dragun Djinn), and attach up to 2 Xyz materials from your hand (even spells or traps, lol). And when you detach a material, a Djinn Xyz can attack your opponent directly. Makes you re-think about making a Djinn deck, right?
  • Marshalling Field: Read as: an easy way for machine decks to get high-level Xyz on the field and another attempt to make us use RUM-cards. Good card for machine lovers.

Appearing on your wishlist, but not in your hands for the next year...

My thoughts on the set

Similar to other series starter sets (e.g. Generation Force), this booster is not amazing. But it sets up nice start-support for the new archetypes that Konami will push in the coming year. If you want to play any of the included new archetypes, you better pick up this set. If you're not interested, pick out the few support cards that interest you and leave this set alone.

We'll see if Konami can make this set more interesting with the OCG imports and TCG WPC's, but I think it'll be one or two extra interesting cards at most.

That's it for now, V out.

Note: The used names are fan-interpretations of the translation. All names and effects are a subject to change when appearing in the TCG. Heck, they names are already being altered every few days on the wiki.

22 April 2014

Cards to look forward to in the Duelist Advent Pt. 1 - Monsters

As promised, an overview of the more interesting cards that can be used in many decks, from the latest set in the OCG: the Duelist Advent.

Regular Effect Monsters

  • Satellaknight Sham: If summoned, you can inflict 1000 damage to your opponent. BLAM! You're dead! Thank god it's effect is restricted to once per turn, or this card would be broken from the get-go. This Light Lv. 4 warrior is easy to search, spam and re-spam each turn. I think Chain Burn fans have already fallen in love with this one.
  • Artifact Chakram: Artifacts are interesting monsters overall. This one basically saves a backrow card if a spell/trap is targeted for destruction and special summons itself afterwards. Talk about rendering an MST useless. Oh, yes, and it has the usual Artifact effect (when destroyed in the backrow, special summon it).
  • Artifact Longinus: An other interesting Artifact. When a card effect activates that banishes a card you control, you can tribute this card from the field OR YOUR HAND to ensure none of your cards can be banished this turn. That's an amazing side-card you want when facing certain decks (*cough*Prophecy*cough*) that banishes a lot (*cough*Monarchs*cough*).
  • Bunborg 001: This is a nifty little tuner that can special summon itself from the grave when you special summon 2 (or more) machine monsters at the same time. And that's something that's easily achieved in machine decks, due to cards like Machine Duplication, Geargiagear, MPB Dracosack (yes the 2 tokens are machines, lol) and the new card from Dragons of Legend, Soul Charge.

Pendulum Monsters

From this point onward, effect monsters can have a pendulum scale, to be used for pendulum summons. Because those monsters have a double effect, I'll split them off from regular monsters. And since the number of Pendulum monsters is rather low at the moment, the effects are mediocre to "nice" at best.

  • Foucault's Spellstone Cannon: It's Pendulum scale is 2 and during the end phase of the turn you activate it, you can destroy a face-up spell or trap card (like a field spell or opponent's pendulum zone cards.
  • Entermate Tiptoad: This aqua card is easily recyclable and has a fun Pendulum effect (its regular effect is meh). When active in the Pendulum zone, once per turn, you can change the attack and defense of 1 face-up monster. Always interesting to get rid of annoyingly strong monsters. It's got a pendulum scale of 3. Its primary use will be frog decks, who'll keep their summons around Lv 3 anyway.
  • Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon: The central monster of this set and the key monster of Yuya, the new YGO protagonist. When active in your pendulum zone, you take no battle damage in a battle involving a pendulum monster (meh), but more importantly; you can destroy it to search for another Pendulum monster. It's a nice "starter" Pendulum monster that's also interesting to use in (Chaos) Dragon decks.

Right now, the number of (really) interesting pendulum cards is low, but considering it's the first set, that's somewhat expected. People still need to figure out how this is going to work in their respective decks (IF it' going to work in their deck) and that will take some time getting used to. I expect the following sets to have more (and more interesting) pendulum cards.

Ritual Monsters

Saphira the Dragon Princess: Here we have a Ritual monster that works amazingly in Hieratic decks. Use Advanced Ritual Art to send Labradorite Dragon/Wattaildragon to the grave and summon this princess. She's a nice 2500 beater with nice defense. And during the end phase of when she's summoned, or when a Light monster is sent from the hand/deck to the grave, you can use one of her three effects. And that is: A: Draw two cards, discard 1; B: discard 1 random card from your opponent's hand; C: Recycle 1 Light monster from your grave. Other options are using this card in a Lightsworn deck to constantly recycle Honest (lol), or using it in a Herald of Perfection deck to recycle fairies for Herald's effect. Interesting card, indeed.

Extra Deck monsters

The number of extra deck monsters is so small. 2 fusions, 2 synchro's and 2 Xyz. It's been ages since there were only so little extra deck monsters.

  • Gongfu, Cosmic Dragon of Brilliance: An interesting first Genryu synchro. When summoned, you can bounce cards on the field up to the number of different attributes of the Genryu monsters used in the synchro summon. Next to that, you can destroy 1 card you control (like Scrap Dragon) to revive a Lv 4 or lower monster from your grave (nice). The only downside is the low attack of this card.
  • Reincarnation Dragon Samsara: If this card is sent from the field to the grave due to your opponent (battle/effect), you can target any monster (safe this one) in any graveyard and special summon the target. It's a Lv 5 Dragon, so it's very easily summoned with Debris Dragon and a Lv 1 monster/token and it can so easily be revived by cards like Queen Dragun Djinn and Lightpulsar Dragon (for max abuse).
  • Stellaknight Deltatheros: Summoning this and keeping Xyz Material to it prevents your opponent from using cards like Torrential Tribute, Bottomless Trap Hole or Solemn Warning on any summon that follows it. Also, you can detach 1 material to pop one card on the field. Nice card, with a little extra twist when used in Tellaknight decks.

Afterword

That's it for now. Next time, I'll cover the more interesting spells, traps and ocg exclusives. Until then, V out.

Note: These are fan interpretations of the Japanese card names. Names and effects are a subject to (possible) change when they come out in the TCG.

17 April 2014

Massive Yugioh updates - Masked HERO Structure Deck, Baby Monarchs, new D.D. monsters and more

It's been one of those days where you wake up and spread your eyes wide open because of all the news updates. I'll try to recap whatever I found/noticed this morning.

The HERO structure deck supports masked HEROs

Considering all the variants in HERO cards, it wasn't quite clear what kind of Structure deck we could expect. But I guess most people kind of guessed what effect monster would be in here, right?

The first revelead 2 cards are the long-awaited Elemental HERO Shadow Mist and a new quick-play spell card named Form Change.

  • Shadow Mist: has two effects. The first one is "If this card is Special Summoned: You can add 1 "Change" Quick-Play Spell Card from your Deck to your hand (Mask Change or Form Change obviously)". The other is: "If this card is sent to the Graveyard: You can add 1 "HERO" monster from your Deck to your hand, except for "Elemental HERO Shadow Mist". You can only use 1 of these effects once per turn (to prevent abuse, since it's a good effect).
  • Form Change on the other end is similar to Mask Change, but while Mask Change required you to keep the current attribute, Form Change requires you to keep the same level instead; AND it sends the targeted fusion monster back to the extra deck instead of to the grave (interesting twist).
  • Chaos HERO Chaos and Masked HERO Kouga are also revealed to be new fusion cards in this structure deck, but without effect as of yet (more on that next month around this period).

Other revealed cards are Card Trooper, Honest, E-HERO Woodsman, Bubbleman and Gaia, Masked HERO Acid and Miracle Fusion.

It's not hard to predict, but people are quite excited about Shadow Mist... her second effect obviously. She doesn't miss timing and when sent to the grave by ANY means. And when sent, she searches any HERO (Tele-DAD abuse?). And believe me, with an attack of 1000, reviving her and sending her back to the grave is just as easy as constantly spamming Stratos. Thank god there's a once-per-turn clause, or otherwise this card would become limited/forbidden sooner than you think.


Stratos is gone for good (in TCG). Does this serve as a replacement?

Baby Monarchs, what the...?

Another big uproar is the announcement of baby Monarchs. Well, truth be told, they're not named monarchs (nor princes), but the effect and art of the first revealed card make it clear that they're related to the monarchs.

The first card to be revealed is named Essha, the Forst Vassal. The effect is: "If your opponent controls 2 or more cards in their Spell and Trap Card Zones, you can Special Summon this card (from your hand)."

The art is similar to Mobius and seems (in terms of effect) like the perfect setup to summon Mobius. This card will appear in the OCG Jump Victory Carnival 2014. no idea if more of the "baby monarchs" will follow, but they probably will (considering Konami's pushing the Monarchs lately).


"Perfect spam card?
I don't know what you're talking about?"

New V-Jump Card has new D.D. Monsters

A New V-Jump pack will appear in the OCG, with cards like Entermate Heitiger (Warrior Tiger), Entermate Jinrhino (Thunderhino), DDD Caesar the Conqueror, DD Proud Ogre and DD Proud Chevalier.

No effects as of yet, since they still have to appear in the anime. But more on that next month I guess?

Duelist Advent fully spoiled

The Duelist Advent (the next set after Primal Origins) is being released today in the OCG, so yesterday and last night all cards were slowly revealed. I won't go into detail at this moment, but I'll give you the usual "cards to look forward to" post next week's Monday or so.

OCG's Number Guide 3 promo card revealed

The promo card will be Number 99: Hope Dragun. And it gives people another reason to play a Utopia monster (any Utopia monster)

Because while you can use 3 Lv 10 monsters as Xyz Material, you can also discard any Rank-up Magic spell card to overlay a Utopia monster you control with this boss monster. Its two effects are:

① Once per turn: You can target 1 “Number” monster in your Graveyard; Special Summon that target in face-up Defense Position. Its effects are negated. ② When a monster effect targets this card: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; negate that activation, and if you do destroy it.

Don't expect this one soon in the TCG, the first Numbers Guide card became a Jump Promo and the second one is only being released this month in Dragons of Legend.

More cards (or card effects) revealed in Dragons of Legend

You know that series of cards in my post about Dragons of Legend that didn't have a card effect announced yet? Well, they all got their effect revealed... together with some new revealed cards!

  • Instant Fusion (anime card) became Flash Fusion (because of the obvious naming issues). It's a quick-play spell card that lets you fuse instantly, with the cost that the fusion monster is destroyed during the end phase (unless used as Xyz Material or for Masked HERO transformations.).
  • Shooting Star got its effect as predicted: while you control a stardust dragon: target 1 card, destroy the target.
  • Rising Sun Slash: Utopia can not be destroyed by effects (including its own, lol); each time a monster is attacked, it gains 500 attack (lol, whut), and you can detach it as an Xyz material (why would you do that, for crying out loud?). Good support card!
  • Blackwing – Steam the Cloaked is an "interesting" Blackwing tuner that creates a lv 1 token when sent to the graveyard and which can special summon itself by tributing a monster you control. Though the downside is that both effects can only be used once per duel.
  • Number C73: Abyss Supra requires 3 LV 6 monsters and does attack manipulation, similar to Abyss Splash. It does become interesting if Abyss Splash is an Xyz Material, since then it cannot be destroyed by card effects (wich makes it a menacing card). But that's not very likely to happen, right?
  • Final Fusion: If two fusion monsters battle it out, both monsters are destroyed and both players take the total attack as effect damage. Massive effect damage, but only usable in limited decks.
  • Wiretap: Now THIS is an interesting counter trap: When a Trap Card is activated: Negate that activation, and if you do, return that card to the owner’s Deck. No more allowing your opponent to draw a card (Dark Bribe) or paying 1000 lifepoints (7 Tools). You just send it back to the deck (LOL).
  • Mound of the Bound Creator: This is an interesting support card for God Card decks. It protects Lv. 10 and higher monsters from card effects (*cough*REDMD*cough*), causes extra effect damage if a Lv. 10 or higher monster destroys a monster (*cough*star*eater*cough*quasar*cough*) and when this card is destroyed by effect (not game mechanic, you sly weasels), you can add a Divine Beast from your deck to the hand. Amazing for God cards, but I have no idea what other monsters to use it for (*cough*bullshit*cough*).
  • Guardian Dreadscythe: You can only special summon it when Guardian Eatos is destroyed (like in the anime) or by its own effect. When summoned, you can instantly equip the Reaper Scythe from your deck to this card (lol, wut?). And if it's send from the field to the grave, you can send 1 card from your hand to the grave to special summon it once more. Downside: no further summons except this card (to prevent abuse with its special summon condition). But whether or not it will be used, will probably depend on the effect of the Reaper's Scythe.

And the newly revealed cards are:

  • Amulet Dragon: The Fusion between Dark Magician and the Eye of Timaeus. When summoned, you can banish any number of spell cards in either player's grave (*hint*prophecy*hint) to gain extra attack. And when it's destroyed, you can special summon any spellcaster from your grave. Very interesting card.
  • Rank-Up-Magic Admire Death Thousand: Hey, look. Vector's RUM card. And it's a funny card (though very situational). When both players have an Xyz with the same rank in their grave, you can special summon a Number C monster whose rank is 1 higher than the 2 Xyz in the graves. Special summon the Number C card and attach the two Xyz from the grave as Xyz Material. While similar to another nerfed Rank-up Card (you can't special summon other monsters), the fact that you can create a chaos monster out of thin air makes it a little better. If you use it (unlikely), the best bet to use this card is a Rank 5 C card (Utopia Ray V and Heraldry Crest of Horror), because it has the highest chance of success.
  • Shadow Impulse: Not from Jump, but from an article on the Konami blog last evening (you'd almost forget it with all the other reveals). When a Synchro you control is destroyed by any means and sent to the grave, you can special summon another synchro from your extra deck of the same Type (e.g. Dragons) and level, but with a different name. It is an easy way to sacrifice decent cards (like Scrap Dragon) to achieve harder-to-get but hella annoying synchro's (like Beelze, Dark End Dragon, Void Ogre Dragon or Infernity Doom Dragon) . Interesting trap card, I have to say.
  • Reaper's Scythe - Dreadscythe is announced in the card effect of Guardian Dreadscythe, but no effect as of yet.
  • And a certain poster announced that Express Train Trolley Olley will be in this set as well. No effects either, but the anime effect isn't great so... should we care?

"BOW BEFORE YOUR MASTER!"

Afterword

Wow, that was a lot to cover. Hope I got it all. Anyways, that's it for now, V out.

15 April 2014

Soul Charge - Oh god why...?

There are many anime cards that people want to see in reality, that's no secret.

But of all the anime cards, why did Konami made Soul Charge into a thing?

Soul Charge - The effect

Target any number of monsters in your Graveyard; Special Summon them, and if you do, you lose 1000 Life Points for each monster Special Summoned by this effect. You cannot conduct your Battle Phase the turn you activate this card. You can only activate 1 "Soul Charge" per turn.

Cost vs gain

So basically, you lose your battle phase, can potentially lose up to 5000 lifepoints and gain a field full of monsters which you can spam Xyz, synchro's or fusions with. And if you pre-counter this card with a Trap Stun, your opponent can only wipe his tears as you take full control of the field. Busted does not even start to describe this card.

But I can hear your argument that it costs a lot of lifepoints and when used incorrect, it'll backfire (torrential tribute). Also, the loss of a battle phase prevents you from doing much damage during the same turn.

But is it worth that cost if you take full control of the field?

The answer to that is: "HELL YEAH!". Control is everything in this game!

In one turn, Dragon Rulers can suddenly have a field with Dragosacks, Felgrand and/or Big Eye, all out of thin air. Gladiator Beasts can pay 3000 LP to go into instant Heraklinos. Agents can get a field with Hyperions and Archlord Kristya. Evilswarm can turn this one card into a field full of hate. Harpies can continue spamming cards like Phantasmal Dragon and Chidori; Lv. 4 decks will be able to go into annoying rank 4s like S.H.Ark, Exciton Knight, Papilloperative, etc; Chaos Dragons can revive BLS and Chaos Sorcerer and banish the living hell of your field; and god forbid what Wind-up decks could do with this card! The possibilities are nearly endless!

Seriously, top decking this card and paying 1000 or 2000 LP basically can help you win the match! People were bitching about Monster Reborn topdecks or Rekinding topdecks, but at least those had its limits. This card just costs a few lifepoints and does so much more damage.

Oh, and did I mention the many (burn) OTK decks that will simply worship this card?

My thoughts

I think my rants make it quite clear. This card is bad news for the game. Cards like this should not exist in general.

Soul Charge will make the set like hotcakes, but you also know that this card isn't going to remain legal for a year (because it's such a broken card). So don't spend TOO much on it, it might become forbidden sooner than you think.

But it makes me wonder why Konami released such a card? The set is already fairly popular with half of the cards revealed and would already sell more than Number Hunters ever did. Did they really need a second Sixth Sense to make this a highly wanted set?

A slightly frustrated V out.

9 April 2014

Dragons of Legend, card by card (update 11/04)

In a few weeks, Dragons of Legend will become a fact. It's a set with 50 world-premiere cards from the anime that finally become a reality, together with 1 reprint (#quasarwaitinggame). That makes a set of 51 cards, which the whole world looks at in quite some anticipation.

But the question is, will the set live up to the buildup? That's a valid question, considering Number Hunters didn't quite deliver either (it only had a handful of good new cards).

So far, 27 cards have been revealed, either with or without a card effect.

The THREE Legendary Dragons... or at least one of them

Big Eye-catcher from day one is the reveal that Legendary Knight Timaeus will get a print, together with The Eye of Timaeus, Dark Magician Girl the Dragon Knight and Legend of Heart. All of these cards were Yugi's cards during the first Yu-Gi-Oh card game anime, in the Legendary Dragons/Doma Story Arc.

And while Legendary Knight Timaeus and Legend of Heart don't have their effect out yet, the other two do.

Legend of Heart is a Fusion card that fuses a Dark Magician (Girl) with basically nothing (lol), to turn into a Dark-Magician related Fusion. That could be DMG the Dragon Knight, but also classic fusions like Dark Flare Knight (lol, as if) and Dark Paladin (okay, now THAT is interesting).

Dark Magician Girl the Dragon Knight is a fusion of DMG with any Dragon (which is nice). Since it's a dragon, this means it's also a Dragon's Mirror target (always interesting). And the effect is quite decent as well. Once per turn, you can send a card from your hand to the grave to target/destroy 1 face-up card. Oh yeah, you can use that effect during your opponent's turn as well (lol, now that IS funny).

What about Critias and Hermos?

But with the reveal of the Timaeus cards, people obviously wonder what the other two Legendary Dragons will look like in this card game. My thoughts... don't get your hopes up. We might not even see them.

Before you start raging, think about it. HOW is Konami going to apply these fusions? Fuse a Dragon with a Trap Card (Critias)? Seriously? Do you honestly think a card like Doom Virus Dragon (a fusion between Critias and Crush Card Virus) could become reality? Lol, as if...

Unless obviously Hermos will become an Equip Spell Search card and they turn Hermos' fusions into regular equip spells (though seriously nerfed, probably).

Other interesting cards from the first trading card anime

  • Kuribandit: The talk of the day yesterday, was this brand-new Kuriboh-variant. It's a lv 3 fiend (Tour Guide target) that can be tributed when normal summoned to excavate the top 5 cards and add 1 excavated spell or trap to your hand (while the rest is sent to the grave). Interesting card for chaos-themed decks as a replacement for Card Trooper.
  • Ra's Disciple: While the anime version of this card added more of the same card to the hand when summoned (which is lame), the new effect will special summon them from the hand or deck (that IS interesting, with the drawback that you can only tribute them for an Egyptian God (to prevent abuse).
  • The effects are still unclear for Guardian Dreadscythe and Berserker Soul.
  • Quick Note: I'll update this section when more cards/effects are revealed.

Cards from the other animes (GX, 5D's, Zexal)

Quick Note: I'll update this section when more cards/effects are revealed.

From GX:

  • Mathematician: Thé reveal of last night. Mathematician is an interesting mix of Card Trooper and Armageddon Knight. It's a Lv 3 Earth Spellcaster that allows you to dump a lv. 4 or lower monster from your deck to the grave. And when it's destroyed by battle, you can draw 1 card. Oh, the shenanigans you can pull in Plant decks with this card. This already became one of the most wanted cards from this set.
  • Final Fusion: This is a wildcard trap. It can be extremely deadly when two fusion based decks face off vs each other. But in any other deck it's virtually useless. When two fusion monsters battle, both players take the total attack as damage.
  • Sabatiel - The Philosopher's Stone: Basically, this card is a search card for fusion spell cards, but it only works if you got a Winged Kuriboh in the graveyard. Oh, it also has a secondary effect of attack boost, but it's so unlikely to happen in a real duel it's not even worth mentioning.
  • Until now, we only know the anime effects for cards like Instan Fusion (GX) and Mound of the Bound Creator. More info will follow when available.

From 5D's:

  • Shooting Star: It's unconfirmed, but the hints given to us, point that this card will be unchanged from the anime. The effect is simple. If you control a Stardust Dragon, you can target/destroy 1 card your opponent controls.
  • Blackwing - Hurricane the Tornado: A Friday update from Japan. While unconfirmed, the hint text suggests that it keeps its original effect. Which is: When this card is summoned, it can copy the attack of a synchro monster on the field. So basically, it's a Blackwing variant of Copycat. Well, it's handy because it's a tuner as well. So if it gets Veilered or F-Chained, you can synchro further with it.
  • Until now, we only know the anime effect for cards like Black Sonic, BW Steam the Cloaked, Gate Blocker and Wiretap. More info will follow when available.

From Zexal:

  • Number C106: Giant Hand Red: This is the Chaos variant of the current YCS winner card. This is one of the 9 OCG promo's that are included in this set.
  • Fire Hand and Ice Hand: Both are Gilag's cards and were used to make Giant Hand (how handy that they're all named Hands). Both cards are a new form of searchers, where they basically search each other when destroyed (either by battle or card effect) and sent to the graveyard. How's that for field presence?
  • Magic Hand and Prominence Hand: The two other cards from Gilag were announced on April 10. They're not as great as the previous two, but they work in sync with them (so maybe we can see some "handy" decks in the future. Magic hand causes a searched card to be sent to the grave instead and do some burn damage (fun side against Prophecies). Prominence Hand on the other hand can be special summoned if you control any of the other "Hand" effect monsters (easy Xyz).
  • Until now, we only know the anime effect for Number C5: Chaos Chimera Dragon, Number C73 Abyss Supra, Rank-up Magic Quick Chaos and Rising Sun Slash. More info will follow when available.

Unconfirmed, but hinted or plausible cards

The following cards are unconfirmed, but have a decent chance of being in here. Let me explain why:

  • Number 73: Abyss Splash: With the Chaos variant in here, it would be weird that the original would NOT be in here. It's a card from the OCG Shark Duelist Pack and has a high chance of being 1 of the 9 OCG imports.
  • Number 94: Crystal Zero: Less likely than Abyss Splash, but since it's a Legendary Number like Abyss Splash, it would certainly fit in here.
  • Number 106: Giant Hand: There's one reprint announced. And seriously, with all the Hand cards getting a print, the situation calls for a reprint of this YCS Prize card (and thus change the price).
  • Number 5: Des Chimera Dragon: Des Chimera Dragon is a weird card, considering that its chaos number appeared in the anime, while the master card has never been shown. But since the Chaos Number is in here, there's a decent chance that the real number 5 will be in here as well.
  • Shooting Quasar Dragon: Because #quasarwaitinggame. Well, it is possible, considering it's a Legendary Dragon. But realistically speaking, it's not that likely since Shueisha hasn't shown any signs of exchanging the license of this card to Konami (you know, the whole reprint of Jump cards thing).

Afterword

I'll keep this post updated when new information is released on the included cards.

Until next time, V out.

Updates

  • 10/04: Added Fire Hand and Ice Hand
  • 11/04: Added Magic Hand, Prominence Hand and BW - Hurricane the Tornado
  • 14/04: Added Philosopher's Stone