The OCG exclusives come to TCG-land - an overview

Once in a blue moon, I feel like writing a YGO-related article again. Today, with a Examn Japanese (2nd year of 5 or 6) just behind me, I feel like venting some energy.

Well, let's be honest, the venting of energy and the released article that the OCG exclusives will finally be coming to TCG in April (W00t!)

Say what?

Yesterday, Vexacus posted the following article: http://southernhobby.com/products/detail?p=29348

In short, on April 10th, the new Yu-Gi-Oh! World Superstars Booster will be released, containing 50 cards previously only accessible in Japan and Korea and 2 former World Championship Cards (Legendary Dragon of White and Legendary Magician of Dark). Each booster will have 5 cards (4 Super Rares and 1 prismatic Secret Rare), with a total of 18 Prismatic Rares and 34 Super Rares.

It caused a little discussion on what cards would be in there, but actually WHAT's in in there is as good as confirmed in my eyes (I'm like 90% sure).

What's in there?

In short, the following:

• The 5 Japanese exclusives from Legacy of the Valiant.
• The 5 Korean exlcusives from Legacy of the Valiant.
• The 10 Japanese exclusives from Primal Origins.
• The 5 Korean exclusives from Primal Origins.
• The 10 Japanese exclusives from the Duelist Advent.
• The 5 Korean exclusives from the Duelist Advent
• The 10 Japanese exclusives from The New Challengers
• Legendary Dragon of White and Legendary Magician of Dark

Together, this makes for a 52-card booster set.

Note: The Japanese exclusives from Secrets of Eternity and the Korean exclusives from The New Challengers have only recently been released in their respective areas and still need to be "exclusive" for them for a longer time.

Legal note: The other 10% I'm not sure of, is the situation where Konami becomes Lolkonami again and trolls us with ancient vanilla's or lame OCG promo cards.

But WHAT CARDS are going to be released?

Well, the following archetypes are going to get support:

• Chronomaly: 2 cards, Which includes the infamous Chronmaly Nebra Disk (which at one point became limited in the OCG because it made Chronomaly's OP).
• Heraldic Beasts: 3 cards, which makes the archetype actually playable.
• Yuma's Onomatopoeia & Utopia archetypes: 10 cards that you know you'll never play, unless it's in a fun deck.
• Galaxy Photon support: 4 cards, of which Galaxy Soldier and Tachyon Transmigration are good. The other two you may forget.
• Battlin' Boxer support: 3 cards. A decent monster, a great trap and a great Xyz monster that makes the archetype very much playable.
• Heroic Challenger support: 3 new cards, which are decent.
• Star Seraph Support: 3 new cards, which ridicule the already existing cards by their mere presence. These 3 cards are amazing.
• Music Djinn support: 1 new Djinn Xyz, named Humhumming. Not OP, but a decent addition if you want to play a full Djinn deck.
• HERO support: Elemental HERO Blazeman. Kinda nifty support for Masked HERO decks.
• Naturia Support: 1 card, but it's kinda "meh".
• Mecha Phantom Beast Support: Nice addition to an underplayed archetype, but not enough to make it competitive.
• Ghostrick Support: 2 new cards, a nice trap and a cool new Win condition Xyz.
• Numbers: More intended for the collectors: 5 different new Numbers cards to add to the collection (or six, if you count F0 as well).
• Lovecraftian Monster Support: A cool new Korean "archetype", which combines elder gods (like Wodan), with creatures straight from Lovecraftian fiction. All focus around Level and Rank 4 monsters and have some nifty effects. Most anticipated card is Elder God Wodan.
• Watt Support: Wattchic Fighter is weird: On one end it's completely based on Jojo's bizarre adventure (which is cool), on the other end, it's a psychic Watt card (which doesn't make sense), but does kind of give support to the archetype.
• Other random good cards: Guerillakite is a Lv 4 FIRE tuner that damages the opponent when sent to the grave and is a rekindling target. Earth Shattering is a cockblocker vs Mill decks. Flowbot is a Plant that works very well in Sylvan decks in order to prepare the deck to mill cards.

Is the set going to be worth it?

Wel, the first thought that went through my mind was: "OMG, this set is going to be amazing!", a deeper analysis showed that half of the cards are supporting less used archetypes, or are simply crap. Yes, at least 1 card in every pack is destined to be a Yuma card, be prepared for that.

But, similarly to other Hidden-arsenal-alike sets, there's going to be a few hunted cards that will be worth money. Dragons of Legends proved that, amongst many mediocre cards, there were 5 or so cards that were hunted beyond belief (especially the Hands).

The cards that are going to be hunted in this set will (probably) be the following!:

• Chronomaly Nebra Disk
• Number 36: Chronomaly Super Machinery Fort Hyuk
• Elder God Noden
• Star Seraph Scepter
• Star Seraph Sovereign
• Number 86: Heroic Champion - Rhongomiant
• Elemental HERO Blazeman

Afterword

Yes, obviously there will be a handful of cards that YOU like, but not the general public. So these are the "money" cards (though none will become too pricey, I guess). The rest will be worth pennies. Your choice if you want to pick up a box or not. Just telling you the facts.

Until next time, V out.

The other side of the Cardgame #5: V-Jump Promo's and a Red Hand

Well, we have a new Promotion pack, a new Starter deck and we have more than half of the cards revealed of the next set. Did we forget anything? Actually, yes. There are a few more promo cards coming up:

V-Jump Promo Card June 2013

The promo card attached to the V-Jump June Edition is:

Archfiend Commander: Part of the Archfiend Support that’s coming in Judgment of the Light. This card can be special summoned if you control an Archfiend (and then you blow up an archfiend in the same way Goka Blows up Fire monsters).

But its true colors shine if you tribute summon this card. If so, you can special summon a Lv. 6 Archfiend card (including itself) from the graveyard. Possible other targets are Summoned Skull, Toon Summoned Skull, Skull Archfiend of Lightning and Archfiend Zombie Skull... Wait, what? Aren't those cards all the same monster? The only card missing from this list is Prophecy Destroyer (they might as well have named him Prophecy Archfiend)!

Yeah, no surprise people claim it's just Summoned Skull in another jacket, even his stats are the same! But, you can also revive Archfiend of Gilfer and Beast of Talwar (amazing, isn't it?[/sarcasm]).

OCG Numbers Guide 2

On a regular base, there are guides appearing in the OCG. Last Numbers Guide contained Number 40: Gimmick Puppet of Strings.

This time around, the card will be Number C106: Lava Palm - Giant Hand Red (Get it? Hand-Red, hundred. it’s pun time once again). This card is the Chaos Version of Number 106: Giant Hand (another V-Jump Promo Card from a few months ago).

Due to the fact that it doesn't appear in the same "set" as Giant Hand, it just gets an effect if a Numbers card is attached to it, not just Giant Hand. The effect? This guy is a giant card effect negater. But due to the harsher summon restrictions, it kind of pales when compared to Bounzer, Laggia, Dolkka, Shi En and Lightray Gearfried. In other words: nice try, try again.

V-Jump Subscription Bonus:

Just like in the TCG, when you're subscribed to V-Jump in the OCG, you receive a few promo cards throughout the year. The nex ones in the OCG are the following:

• Rose Archer (from the 5D's Manga): This card is a hand trap that negates the activation of traps, as long as you control a plant monster (ooh, that last part wasn't really in the manga, was it?). Handy, but also kind of silly, since this card still won't be able to stop counter traps...
• Starship Spy Plane (Zexal manga): This card is a Machine that special summons itself when the opponent controls an XYZ monster. This card also bounces an opponent’s spell or trap card. This is a handy card, helpful in Offering Gadget Decks. Its wind attribute also allows for Chidori in Machine decks (not an obvious choice otherwise).
• Hell Centipede (5D's manga): Unconfirmed effect, but in the manga it’s a Lv 7 bug that can be normal summoned without tributes (if you don’t control monsters and your opponent does).
• Galaxy Dragun (Zexal manga): Unconfirmed effect, but in the manga it gains 1000 attack when the opponent controls a Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon, also negating its banish-effect. Other than that it’s a 2000-beater Light Dragon. Kind of a weird effect. This might change upon release, I guess...

Note: The last 2 cards have been confirmed to be printed, but are not out yet. Their effects / art may or will be altered upon release.

Afterword

So, that's it for now. all OCG cards that were revealed in the past few weeks have been noted in my blog. Today is also the release for Cosmo Blazer Special Edition, but I don't really care about it (bad SE-promo's).

I guess next cards-update will be in a few weeks, when more TCG cards of Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy will leek and when the full set of Judgment of the Light will be published. Until next time, V out.

"No I'm NOT Summoned Skull! Just look at the monster I can summon!
There's Summoned Skull, Toon Summoned Skull, Skull Arch... ah, f**k it."

The other side of the Card game #1: Promotion Pack 3

I’m going to use this new segment to talk about new OCG cards. Last week, a bunch of new cards came out, so it's time to review all of them, day by day.

Today, I'm talking about Promotion Pack 3.

The what-now?

During set periods of time, when the OCG-folks buy for 600 yen (or more) on certain Yugioh products, they get an extra pack of 2 cards from a 10-card cardpool. The previous packs (1 & 2) re-used the cards from the Jump Festa. With Promo Pack 3A & 3B, Konami added 5 new cards per pack.

Last month (February-March), the first half of this promotional pack came out. This A-part contained the younger versions of the Earth and Water Elemental Dragons, a Zexal Character token (Rio), Duckfighter and Interplanetarypurplythorny Beast.

And from this week onward, the OCG-folks can receive the B-part of this year's promo pack.

OCG Promotion Pack 3 Pt. 2

This B-part has the following new cards:

• Burner, Elemental Dragon of Fire and Lightning, Elemental Dragon of Wind: The younger versions of the Fire & Wind Elemental Dragons. They help summoning the big E-dragons. The 4-Dragon deck can now be completed with E-Dragons only! I’m curious on how these two new cards will influence the OCG meta, since the 4-Dragon Deck is already a noteworthy competitor (the only reason why not everybody is running it, is because it’s the most expensive OCG deck at the moment).
• Madolche Pyocolate: Pyo, as the (Japanese) sound that baby birds in their nest (of chocolate) make. Other than the cuteness of this card, it’s not worth remembering.
• Vivit Knight: A Constellar Card that isn't a Constellar Card. Most archetypes have one of these cards, it doesn't have the name of the archetype, but you feel it's part of it. In most cases, since that card doesn't share the archetype name, it's often not worth running. Though, due to recent support for Beast-Warriors, this one might be worth running. Vivit Knight can be searched with Tenki (which Constellar decks are already using) and it can protect a LIGHT Beast-Warrior by temporarily banishing it (Aldebaran, Kaus, but also Hyades and Omega) and then special summoning itself. Can be a nice way to save your monster when you run into a Bottomless Trap Hole or a Forbidden Lance.
• Similar to the A-Part, a Zexal Character token is available, this time: (Ko)Tori.
• The other 5 cards in this pack are cards from the last Jump Festa, like Collapserpent, Kamaitachi, Kujakujaku, Armor Kappa and Token Christmas.

Next up on review: The OCG Starter Deck 2013 and the Enhancement Pack.

"Will you follow ME through the rabbit hole, Alice?"

Guessing the OCG inclusions – Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy edition

In May, Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy will come out in the TCG, bringing us an army of WIND attribute monsters. The promo page on the 808blog told us that there will also be more Noble Knights (TCG World Premiere cards) and perhaps even a few monster correlated with Hidden Arsenal 7.

So without further ado (and this time before there’s an official product page), let’s start guessing which OCG promo’s could be in Lord of the Tachyongalaxy.

Note: Last time I got 5/10 right. Lolkonami remains lolkonami; they can put in whatever they want.

High probability of being in Lord of the Tachyongalaxy

Constellar Omega: Originally I thought we would see this card before Hidden Arsenal 7 came out, but Konami thus decided it will be printed in the set following the last HA-series. This is one of the cards hinted on the 808-blog, so it has a very high chance of being in this set.

Constellar Sombres & Evilswarm Kerykeion: Woops, not Cercyon, but Kerykeion (name changed). Both are linked with the Hidden Arsenal 7 archetypes. These two “brothers” will most probably be printed.

Number 69: Heraldry God, Coat of Arms: Should’ve been in the last set, honestly. Dunno Why It didn’t get printed then, becaue all of the Heraldic beasts were in the last two sets. This card needs to appear for the archetype to be playable.

Number 42: Starship Galaxy Tomahawk: This is a VJump promo and it fits soooooo well in this set, because it’s heavily linked with the Mecha Phantom Beasts. It’s a WIND machine that produces tokens! It’s also a Rank 7 monster, which the MPB’s are easily ranked in to (according to what I hear, haven’t played with them yet).

Harpie Dancer: Harpie support? This one will be involved, definitely. It would be a real shame if Konami would miss the current Harpie Hype that’s going on.

Medium Probability of being in Lord of the Tachyongalaxy

Reactan, the Elemental Dragon of Crags & Stream, Elemental Dragon of Cascades: The younger versions of the Incarnate Dragons which are introduced in this set. These younger "brothers" are quite new in the OCG, so it’s not entirely sure they would already be in this set. But it’s possible.

Duckfighter: From the same promo pack as the previous 2 mentioned cards. It’s a WIND Machine that works with tokens. Nuff said (but also, might be a little too soon).

Sonic Warrior: The last card of the Tag Force 6 promo cards that needs a TCG print. This one is WIND attribute, so it’s a good fit, right?

The Atmosphere: The last of the Sphere monsters that require a TCG print. They’re all WIND, so might be the right time, right?

Kujakujaku (Nine-Snakes Peacock): One of the cards of the Jump Festa Pack of 2012. I mention it, because it’s a WIND attribute monster and fits in this set more than other sets would have a place for it.

Token Christmas: A trap that turns tokens into monsters! I know the timing for this card is totally off (Christmas, lol), but it works with the Mecha Phantom Beasts, so yeah, it’s possible.

Low probability of being in Lord of the Tachyongalaxy

Shuttleroid: The last of the Roid cards to be printed in the TCG. Was originally part of the group of cards that were in Premium Pack 2, but never got a print over here? I have no idea why. And even though it’s a WIND attribute and could be in the set, the absence of this card in both Premium Pack 2 and Legendary Collection 2 makes me wonder if we’ll ever see this card.

All cards of the last V-Jump pack: I’m talking about Fire Fist – Chicken, Fire King Beast Yaksha and the three Enthousiastic monsters. Kevin Tewart mentioned recently that it might take longer to get these cards into a TCG print. So possible, but quite unlikely.

Skullbird: I hope this card will NOT be in here. But considering Crimson Sunbird was in the last set, it’s not entirely impossible. This fusion monster has all its materials released in old boosters and Skullbird is a WIND attribute monster. So it has the same conditions as Crimson Sunbird.

Burner, Elemental Dragon of Calderas and Lightning, Elemental Dragon of Cyclones: Still need to appear in March in the OCG, so less likely to be seen here, but not entirely impossible either.

My 10-card pick:

The previous mentioned cards are the ones that have a decent chance of being in Lord of the Tachyongalaxy. If there are any other cards in the set, which are not mentioned in this list, then those cards are a pure random Konami decision (look at Cosmo Blazer, it doesn't get more random than that).

But if I would have to pick 10 cards, I’d pick:

1. Constellar Omega
2. Constellar Sombres
3. Evilswarm Kerykeion
4. Number 42: Starship Galaxy Tomahawk
5. Harpie Dancer
6. Number 69: Heraldry God, Coat of Arms
7. Sonic Warrior
8. Kujakujaku
9. The Atmosphere
10. Token Christmass

We’ll see how much I get correct this time around.

V out.

Guessing the OCG promo inclusions – Cosmo Blazer edition

Originally, I intended to post this before the product page of Cosmo Blazer came up, but then I got sick last week and Konami was faster than I thought... but enough excuses.

It’s December. In a month, Cosmo Blazer will get its sneak peek in TCG land and since last week, the product page is up. So, it’s time to do some random guesses as what the OCG promo cards (cards 90-99) could be that are integrated in the set (lol).

The product page revealed 3 cards already, of the Fire Fist archetype (I thought they had a high probability of being in the set anyway), so there are 7 cards left.

Since Konami has a tendency to release some random cards in that card pool, guessing only gives me a 60-70% accuracy. But still, it’s fun guessing.

High probability of being in Cosmo Blazer:

• Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Horse Prince, Spirit and Lion Emperor: I originally put them on the “high probability list” and Konami placed them immediately on the product page, confirming my guess. My original reasoning: These three cards are part of the Fire Fist Archetype (these three started it). So there would be no reason for Konami NOT to put them in the set
• Ignition Beast Volcanon: I notice this card is on the Wiki page of Cosmo Blazer, but I can’t spot it on the product page. Anyways, it’s FIRE attribute, so it has a decent chance of being in this set. And it fits Konami’s description of a card of the era before XYZ summoning.
• Number 69: Heraldry deity, Coat of Arms: Key monster of the Heraldic Beast Archetype. Since the last Heraldic Beasts are in this set, it would make sense if this card is in the set (presumably as secret rare).
• Constellar Omega: Somewhere in February or March Hidden Arsenal 7 will be released (at least I hope so). As with previous Hidden Arsenals, there will be a card in the booster set before its release, linked to the archetypes in that Hidden Arsenal. Constellar Omega fits that bill 100%.

Medium probability of being in Cosmo Blazer:

• Constellar Sombres & Evilswarm Cercyon: Like Constellar Omega, these two are also linked with the archetypes of Hidden Arsenal 7, so it has a good chance of being part of Cosmo Blazer. But they’re the a few of the latest promo cards in OCG, so I wouldn't be surprised if they’re in the following set (Lord of the Tachyongalaxy) instead. But still, it’s possible.
• Crimson Blader: Oh, I would so LOVE it if this card would be in this set (I like it). It’s a FIRE attribute, so it goes along with Cosmo Blazer. It also fits the description of cards from the previous era on the product page of Cosmo Blazer. Cross your fingers that this card will be in there.
• Mono Synchron & Steam Synchron: Advanced Dark & Neo Space were part of the Duelist Edition reprint sets in the OCG and were secret rares in Return of the Duelist. Mono Synchron & Steam Synchron are also part of the Duelist Edition reprint set, so I kind of expect these two cards to get a TCG print soon somewhere. Konami might hold these cards until Legendary Collection 4, but who knows?

Low probability of being in Cosmo Blazer:

• All cards of the last V-Jump pack: I’m talking about Fire Fist – Chicken, Fire King Beast Yaksha and the three Enthousiastic monsters. All of them are FIRE, all of them are linked to the fire archetypes that will appear… but all of them appeared on the last Jump Alpha poll to decide the next Jump Promo Card. In other words, Konami does NOT have the rights to publish them yet. So, there’s a big chance these cards will not appear in the set, sadly enough
• Haze Beast Hippogriffo: At first, I thought this card would be a sure hit in this set, but the revelation that this card is going to be in the upcoming OCG structure deck changed my mind. There’s a near 100% chance this will be in the TCG version of the structure deck and thus not in Cosmo Blazer.
• Alpaca, the Holy Beast of the Forest: Together with Hippogriffo the last cards from the Jump Festa 2012 card packs to be released in TCG, so it has a (low) chance of being in this set. I kind of expected this card in Return of the Duelist, together with the other “Beast of the Forest” cards. But yeah, Konami likes to be unpredictable, huh.
• Power Tool Mecha Dragon & Ancient Fairy Dragon (manga): Two new cards of the latest Premium Pack in Japan. They’re the manga interpretations of Power Tool Dragon & Ancient Fairy Dragon. These two cards will not be printed in the Zexal Tin in March, so they’ll have another release, somewhere else. Cosmo Blazer may be a little too soon, though. They’ll probably appear in Lord of the Tachyongalaxy instead.

My 10 card picks

The previous mentioned cards are the ones that have a chance of being in Cosmo Blazer. If there are any other cards in the set not mentioned in this list, then those are a pure random Konami decision (like how Magician’s ape and Electromagnetic Bagworm were totally random in Abyss Rising).

If I would have to pick 10 cards, I’d pick:

1. Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Lion Emperor (already confirmed)
2. Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Spirit (already confirmed)
3. Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Horse Prince (already confirmed)
4. Number 69: God Medallion, Coat of Arms
5. Constellar Omega
6. Constellar Sombres
7. Evilswarm Cercyon
8. Crimson Blader
9. Explosive Beast Volcannon
10. Alpaca, Holy Beast of the Forest

TCG Exclusives?

Harder than guessing the OCG promo’s would be the TCG world premiere cards. Safe for the Sneak peek card, nobody has ever heard or seen those cards (except Konami employees and the card artists). Guessing would be silly, so just wait and see.

When the set comes out, we’ll see how right (or wrong) I am.

From tomorrow, the armageddon starts (lol), so expect lots of fire...

Until then, V out.