The meta is shifting for the good, the bad, and… why is Stun back?
With Duelist’s Advance finally releasing to the TCG, this set has shaken up the game to where Vanquish Soul is competent again, Stun becomes a new threat with the Morganite cards, and many tech choices have returned to deck building. So let’s dive in and see what has happened this week.
Let’s get it out of the way and talk about Stun first with Time-Tearing Morganite. This card has shot up with the rise of Morganite Stun and Duelist’s Advance, just released last Friday. This has been a super anticipated deck for the player base as a somewhat “cheap” rogue deck. What Time-Tearing does is grant you the following 3 effects for the rest of the Duel: (1) you cannot activate monster effects in the hand, (2) you draw 2 cards instead of 1 for your normal draw during your Draw Phases, and (3) You can conduct 2 Normal Summons or Sets per turn, not just 1. This card is a keystone for the deck, as the extra Normal Summons let you place monsters like Archlord Kristya, Vanity’s Fiend, and Vanity’s Ruler. Being able to summon these high-level floodgate monsters is key for the deck, and only time will tell if any of these will get hit in the future.
With 2 prints from Cyberstorm Access and 25th Anniversary Tin: Dueling Mirrors, this card’s price has gone up more over time and will continue to do so until its next reprint, whenever it will happen.
Iron Thunder is another card that Morganite Stun can play, as with the new Guilt-Gripping Morganite, which, along with the same hand drawback as Time-Tearing Morganite, also lets you Normal Summon Level 5 or higher monsters without any Tributes, and you no longer need to pay any LP to activate Spell/Trap Cards. Iron Thunder is one of many Counter Traps that other decks will play as well because of the utility that the full column destruction provides. This can be great to get ahead in the game if the opponent plays into the card with their Spells/Traps while avoiding an Infinite Impermanence column. This card can instantly turn the tides in a duel, and it is definitely a card to pick up if you need another option to run along with Solemn Judgment.
This card’s quantity on the market is becoming critically low with the hype of Morganite Stun as many players prepare for their national event in Costa Rica and Indianapolis. It’s only a matter of time to see how many different styles of the desktop come from here.
Juraishin, the Cursed Thunder God’s price has been picking up slowly with the hype of the brand-new P.U.N.K. cards from Battles of Legend: Monster Mayhem, and this monster isn’t a card to mess around with. Each time your opponent activates a card or effect, you gain 300 LP after it resolves. Then, during your opponent’s turn, you can pay 1500 LP and Tribute Juraishin to either destroy all monsters your opponent controls or all their Spell/Traps instead. By having both a Raigeki and Harpie’s Feather Duster-like effect, this card is great at giving you the type of interruption you need to stop your opponent from finishing their combos, like the monster-heavy Maliss or the backrow-heavy Labrynth. This card came out at the correct time, right before Monster Mayhem, for players to pick it up before the new support was released later.
Being from Alliance Insight, this card is a wonderful pickup for the future if Decks ever need a 3100 ATK Beatstick to play along with Psychic End Punisher. Let’s hope that after the Forbidden and Limited list, P.U.N.K. shifts into a higher tier for the meta.
Bystial Magnamhut and Bystial Saronir are in the spotlight again with the meta shifting for this new format. By targeting and banishing LIGHT or DARK monsters in the GYs, you can Special Summon Bystials from your hand. Both of these monsters are useful in their own right, either with adding any Dragon monster from your Deck or GY to your hand during the End Phase with Magnamhut’s effect or sending any Branded Spell/Trap or Bystial monster from your Deck to the GY with Saronir’s. They have stood the test of time since their release in Darkwing Blast just over two and a half years ago, with both Bystial Druiswurm and Magnamhut seeing limits over the course of that time.
They are still great in this meta as a way to counteract cards like Eclipse Twins, Maliss monsters that already used their effects, Tributed Mitsurugi Ritual Monsters, or even to combat the opponent’s own Bystial monsters. They will be a group of cards that will always be useful if it’s just for Branded or run in other decks for the current meta. Even with most of the Level 6 Bystial Dragons having 2 prints, all of them have a major part to play in the current game and will be prevalent until the meta goes against them.
Only being in Darkwing Blast and the 2023 Mega Tins as a Super Rare and Secret Rare for both of the mentioned Bystials, time will tell when and where a reprint for these sought-after cards will be.
With Vanquish Soul returning to the meta, Kurikara Divincarnate has been selling on the market. As a great board breaker and a FIRE monster, this card combos extremely well with the strategy the deck carries. By tributing the opponent’s monsters that activated their effects, you can Special Summon Kurikara Divincarnate from your hand, and doing so makes it gain 1500 ATK for each monster tributed. On top of this, during the End Phase, you can target 1 monster in your opponent’s GY and Special Summon it to your field. This removes certain threats and can give you an advantage against other decks in the current meta.
This card has only 3 prints from Power of the Elements, OTS Pack 23, and Battles of Legend: Terminal Revenge; the price of this card has been rising for all copies. Who knows if this will receive another reprint for this useful tech.
Fantastical Dragon Phantazmay is in the hot seat once again because of the shift back to Vanquish Soul in the meta. With VS Link Summoning Rock of the Vanquisher, you can Special Summon Phantazmay from your hand and draw cards equal to the number of Link Monsters they control +1, then you shuffle back cards from your hand into the Deck equal to the number of Link Monsters they control. So in this case, you can draw 2 cards and then place 1 card back into the deck to fix your hand in a sense. Along with this, once per turn, if a card or effect is activated that targets a monster(s) you control, you can discard 1 card to negate the activation and destroy that card. As such, your combos can go through Infinite Impermanence or Ryzeal Detonator a tad more easily.
With many reprints over the past 6 years, Phantazmay has garnered a reputation as a solid Hand fixer and protector, with a few of its versions going up as the meta changes.
Finally, let’s end this article with one of the best Link Monsters that has ever graced the game, S:P Little Knight. This Link-2 monster has never left the Extra Decks of duelists with the vast utility this card has had over the past year and a half. By using a Fusion, Synchro, Xyz, or Link Monster as a Link Material for S:P, you can banish 1 card on the field or in the GY, which can be useful either as a combo piece with Infernal Flame Banshee to Special Summon the Flame Banshee back for additional Link Material or as a piece of removal that can be used to remove specific cards your opponent has that are causing you problems, like Branded Regained, to even an Xyz Summoned Super Starslayer TY-PHON – Sky Crisis. In addition, when your opponent activates a card or effect, you can temporarily banish 1 monster you control along with another monster on the field to cause some form of interruption to the opponent’s combo or to an effect that would target a monster you control.
Even with multiple reprints from the 2024 Mega Tins and Rarity Collection 3, this card’s demand kept the price stable for another timeless Link Monster that will be a staple forever.
This past week on the market has been interesting to watch with how many last-minute cards players are picking up for their decks just in time for the next season of competitive play from players playing casually at their local Tournament Stores or Game Stores. The 2026 season of Yu-Gi-Oh! is going to be insane, and let’s hope the new format will be favored by the players.
Edited and co-written by Angryjon
