Floodgates Flood the Market [MW]

How many locks and stun cards can you count in this format?

This past week has been full of surprises all around, from upcoming techs to cards that “blew the player base away” that were seen coming a mile away. From Jurrac Fire King returning from the ashes to another Artifact monster causing mass issues, let’s dive into some of the things that have been going on.

First up, Fire King Jurrac has been running around in both the TCG and Genesys formats, and it has finally caused Jurrac Astero to rise up in price. Even though Jurrac Meteor was covered last week, Astero is another key piece in the combo to drop Jurrac Meteor multiple times during the opponent’s turn. Jurrac Astero allows you to banish 2 Jurrac monsters from your GY, including itself, to Special Summon Jurrac Meteor from your Extra Deck, which in turn destroys all cards on the field, then lets you Special Summon a Tuner from your GY if you wish. It was only a matter of time until players went after Jurrac Astero, as many are testing around to see what else this engine can fit into, while Fire King complements the engine’s playstyle.

Even though it was newly released in Battles of Legend: Monster Mayhem, the listings are low for this card, and only time will tell when it will repopulate the market again.

Ultimate Slayer has caught the eyes of the player base, as it’s still a great way to remove Extra Deck Monsters off the field. This has been widely used for Genesys, as it costs 0 points to have it in your deck. By sending a Fusion, Synchro, Xyz, or Link Monster from your Extra Deck to the GY, you can shuffle a monster your opponent controls with the same type into the Deck, and the greatest upside is that your opponent cannot activate monster effects in response to Ultimate Slayer, and you can activate multiples of this powerful card in the same turn. This can send specific cards to the GY for added value too. Garura, Wings of Resonant Life, gives you an additional draw; Herald of the Arc Light lets you add any Ritual Monster or Ritual Spell from your Deck to your hand; Mereologic Aggregator can target and negate a card that is face-up on the field; and Tri-Brigade Ferrijit the Barren Blossom lets you draw 1 card and place a card from your hand at the bottom of the Deck.

Overall, it is a well-rounded card in both the TCG and Genesys formats and could be a staple in many Side Decks going into the future.

I guess we all saw this coming, but both Artifact Dagda and Artifact Mjollnir have seen a spike in play as K9 Decks are shifting to the combo with Imperial Princess Quinquery to Special Summon Artifact Mjollnir from the GY to the opponent’s field. Artifact Dagda was one of many Link Monsters created in the Link VRAINS Pack series that was released in the OCG, to later be imported into Duel Overload for the TCG. This series of packs was known to boost previous themes that needed a Link Monster to work, and it worked way too well, causing plenty of these Link Monsters from Link VRAINS Pack 1 and 3 to be Forbidden in both the OCG and TCG. Artifact Dagda is a special Link Monster, as when an effect of another card on the field is activated, you can quickly set 1 Artifact monster from your Deck to your Spell/Trap Zone as a Spell, but it is destroyed during the End Phase. Why is this important? It can Set Artifact Mjollnir from your Deck for you to destroy during your turn to allow Imperial Princess Quinquery to Special Summon it.

Onto Artifact Mjollnir now. This problem card is the new “innovation” in many decks; as with Imperial Princess Quinquery, you can Special Summon it to the opponent’s field, and your opponent then activates its mandatory effect: “If this card is Special Summoned during your opponent’s turn: Target 1 “Artifact” monster in your GY; Special Summon it in Defense Position, also you cannot Special Summon monsters until the end of the next turn, except “Artifact” monsters.” This locks your opponent into Artifact monsters until the end of the next turn, akin to how Branded was using the Gimmick Puppet Nightmare lock with Albion the Sanctifire Dragon.

At the current state of the game, many hope that Artifact Mjollnir receives a ban and follows Gimmick Puppet Nightmare and Jowgen the Spiritualist before it.

With the announcement of Spenta, the Magistus Seal coming to Burst Protocol for the TCG, Magistus Chorozo has gone up as its total listings disappeared off the market. The materials for Chorozo are extremely easy to fulfill in the Deck, being 1 Fusion, Synchro, Xyz, or Link Monster and 1 Spellcaster. You can either Fusion Summon it or Special Summon it from the Extra Deck by sending the correct Fusion Material Monster Cards you control instead. Being an overall well-rounded card for the Magistus Engine, Chorozo, being a Fusion, Spellcaster, and Tuner, checks every box of what Magistus needs. Being a Tuner helps you Synchro Summon Zoroa, the Magistus Conflagrant Calamity, in order to stop your opponent from activating the effects of monsters with the same card type (Fusion, Synchro, Xyz, or Link) as a Magistus Monster Card in your Spell/Trap Zone. Chorozo, of course, also helps out as material for the Fusion Summon of Zoroa, the Magistus Verethragna that can help you negate a monster effect by sending 1 Magistus monster to the GY, and then you can destroy 1 card on the field.

The excitement for Spenta, the Magistus Seal, is a long time coming, but it was worth the wait for the many wanting to use the Magistus cards in many of their decks.

Lastly, we will dive into a rediscovered tech that some of the pros have been talking about to start off. The card we are looking at is The Despair Uranus. This Legendary Planet monster has been in talks to run in any Rank 4 Deck that doesn’t use the Normal Summon, like Mitsurugi, so they can have access to any Continuous Spell or Continuous Trap in the game. When you Tribute Summon this card while you control no Spells/Traps, you can make your opponent declare either Continuous Spell or Continuous Trap, and you get to Set 1 card of the declared type from your Deck. This 2900 ATK beatstick also gains an additional 300 ATK for each face-up Spell/Trap card you control, and while you control it, face-up cards in your Spell & Trap Zone cannot be destroyed by card effects, which makes it even crazier as it protects floodgates that can destroy themselves via an activated effect.

What are some of the best Continuous Spell or Continuous Traps you can utilize for this card? Well, for starters, you have Dimensional Fissure. While Dimensional Fissure is on the field, all monsters are banished instead of being sent to the GY. This card has been seeing major play in Mitsurugi Decks, as if they are Tributed, you still get their effects, as they don’t care if they get banished. The Mitsurugi Ritual Monsters are able to search for any Mitsurugi card when Tributed, then they Special Summon themselves from the banishment, provided they were Summoned properly, to give you additional advantage. 

Another powerful floodgate card is Deck Lockdown, as while it’s active, neither player can Special Summon from the Main Deck or add cards from the Deck to the hand, except for drawing them. But after the 2nd Standby Phase, it destroys itself, which is absolutely fine, as most of the time you only need 1 turn, sadly even in today’s game. If going against a Deck like Mitsurugi, they cannot summon from their Deck with Ame no Habakiri no Mitsurugi or Mitsurugi Ritual, and they can’t search at all, while other decks can play around it to do their plays.

Another tech against Mitsurugi that you can use is Mask of Restrict, as it prevents the tributing of cards. Ritual and Tribute Summon, along with tributing for effects, are taken care of with this single card, as it hinders Mitsurugi massively because they tribute cards for most of their effects. Being an older card that hasn’t seen a reprint from Structure Deck: Zombie Horde, the price has been going up over time, and now with The Despair Uranus and Mitsurugi at the helm of the format, it has been going up over time.

With The Despair Uranus returning, it shows the power behind any Continuous Spell or Continuous Trap that can lock the opponent out of the game. Many options that players have been picking up for this tech have made quantities of cards become lower, and it’ll be some time as it catches on more.

Yu-Gi-Oh! has evolved once again into who can floodgate the opponent first, so let’s all hope Konami reacts fast enough to help and fix the future of the game. Hopefully, they release a quicker Forbidden & Limited list, as many players are commenting and voicing their thoughts on this issue the game currently has.

Edited and co-written by Angryjon