Join our Discord to discuss this article with fellow Duelists

Become a Patron to support us for 12 years of all-volunteer work

A disturbance is felt within the market.

As Magnificent Monsters had the creator openings over the past few days, many players are disappointed by the reprints from the set, but it is only half of the picture since we await the reveals for Magnificent Maestro in November. Players have been voicing their complaints and opinions on what cards needed a reprint badly and other cards that deserved rarity upgrades for the upcoming meta over the next few months. Let’s look at some of these cards and dive into this week’s Market Watch.

Needed Reprints for the Upcoming Meta

One of the main cards players are picking up for the advent of Toons is Gordian Slicer, as it’s one of the best board breakers against the Deck. This card targets face-up cards on the field and returns them to the hand, at the cost of either banishing 1 card from your hand face-down or banishing 6 cards from your Extra Deck face-down, per each target. So if a target is removed from the field before this card’s resolution, you only have to pay the cost for what targets are left. It has been used against Toons to return both Mind Scan (YGOrganization Translation) and Toon World the Perfect World (YGOrganization Translation), from the opponent’s field to their hand, and the greatest upside of all is that this card’s activation and effect cannot be negated, so the opponent calling this card with Mind Scan won’t even work.

One card to look for throughout the mounds of bulk is Psi-Blocker, because it has some devastating plays within the Toon strategy. It has recently been added to the Side Decks of Toon Players as they’ve found ways to send it to the GY thanks to Zenna’s Deceiving Doll Maidens, and then you revive it with the effects of Cross-Sheep, Sakra Vendirage, and Number 60: Dugares the Timeless. Within a recent RoadoftheKing article, they covered this combo as it ends the board with Psi-Blocker declaring 1 card name and all copies of that declared card and their effects cannot be used until the end of the opponent’s turn. This combo allows you to activate this very effect 3 times. In addition to this, you can use Mind Scan (YGOrganization Translation) to declare 1 card name and negate the activated effects of all copies of that declared card until the end of the turn. Your post-combo board will also consist of Comic Cat (YGOrganization Translation), who can Tribute an opponent’s monster; Toon Terror, which can negate a Spell/Trap or Monster Effect; and Firewall Dragon, which can return 2 monsters from the field and/or GY to the hand.

For all the Dark Magician and Shining Sarcophagus fans, they have been waiting for a reprint of Dark Magician Girl the Magician’s Apprentice, to be released for so long as the price just keeps climbing. With the new Dark Magician support arriving in Magnificent Monsters, many players thought it would be reprinted with the new cards, but we might have to wait a couple more months for a new reprint. As a great Level 6 DARK Spellcaster, this Dark Magician Girl retrain can Special Summon herself from your hand by discarding a card, and if she is Normal or Special Summoned, you can add 1 Shining Sarcophagus from your Deck to your hand, which lets you access your full engine. Along with this, she gains an additional 300 ATK for each monster that mentions Shining Sarcophagus in the GYs. This references the original Dark Magician Girl, who gained 300 ATK for each Dark Magician or Magician of Black Chaos in the GYs.

Speedroid Dominobutterfly has exploded off the market because of its one and only print, as it’s an option you can run in the Speedroid Deck for additional recovery. While in the Pendulum Zone, you can discard 1 WIND monster to target and add 1 banished WIND monster to your hand, and you can set it up with Speedroid Colonel Clackers if you don’t mind having 2 Scale 8s for a bit on your field. Even though it’s a Level 2 Tuner, which can be useful, after you Special Summon it from the Extra Deck, it is banished, which is more of a one-time-use monster than anything and could also become a brick in your Deck. At the end of the day, many Speedroid players and their community have said that this card isn’t that good and isn’t worth looking into much. Maybe there will be a day it’ll have its uses again, but as of right now, the Deck has other issues it needs handled first.

Finally, a card that players have used to go against Synchro Monsters for ages is appearing once again in the meta, thanks to its searchability via Pharaonic Advent. We have the Continuous Trap, Discord. While face-up on the field, neither player can Synchro Summon, and it sends itself to the GY during your 3rd End Phase after its activation. Mainly, we’ve seen it being used as a Side Deck tech against Kewl Tune, while any Deck that can Synchro Summon a copy of The Three Champions of Swordsoul can search for Pharaonic Advent, and if they have an additional Fiend, Reptile, or Fairy monster on the field, they can Tribute it to search for any Continuous Trap in the game.

Maybe these cards will see a reprint really soon, and if not, there is no telling how long these cards will take to see a fresh coat of paint and a new rarity.

Common and Rare Cards That Deserve An Upgrade

Another great tech, along with Gordian Slicer to combat Toons, happens to be Spiritualism. This Normal Spell Card has seen play over the years against Imperial Order and even Mystic Mine, all because this card’s effect and activation cannot be negated as well. This card targets 1 Spell/Trap your opponent controls and returns it to their hand, which can shut off Mind Scan (YGOrganization Translation), which is extremely useful, and with it not being able to be negated, it’s a perfect counter to other Spells and Traps too. With it only ever being a Common and Rare over the years, this card heavily deserves a foil upgrade after the 22 years it has been released to the TCG.

With the new Adamancipator support coming soon in Beyond the Brave, some players have been eyeing copies of Protector of the Sanctuary, but the highest it’s ever been was as a Rare years ago. Seeing its last print in both Champion Pack Game Five as a Common and, years prior, in Dark Revelation Volume 2 as a Rare, it would look fantastic in a foil upgrade. This card has been seen plenty of times over the years, as while it is on the field, your opponent cannot draw cards, except during the Draw Phase, which shuts them off from the additional draws of Mulcharmy monsters and would be useful against Raise Moon and their constant drawing effects in the future. And with this being a Rock monster, Adamancipator can access it if they excavate it from their effects.

Even though this card isn’t worth that much on the market, I still want to cover Heraldic Beast Leo. Last year, we saw new waves of support for both Heraldic Beast and Onomat, and players have been constantly asking for a rarity upgrade to Heraldic Beast Leo since it’s insanely hard to come by, as its last print was nearly 14 years ago. This card is essential for the engine, as when it’s sent to the GY, you add any Heraldic Beast monster from your Deck to your hand, which leads to a copy of Heraldic Beast Gryphon or Heraldic Beast Stad Whale.

One of the most asked-for cards to receive a higher rarity than a Common is Last Will. Being a staple in the early days of the game, if a monster is sent from your field to the GY, you can Special Summon any monster from your Deck with 1500 or less ATK. This was seen consistently in almost every Deck until its banning on the February 2007 Forbidden & Limited list, which served a purpose to Special Summon cards like Sangan, Witch of the Black Forest, or Sinister Serpent if needed. Being locked into only Common can be frustrating when nearly every other card comes in something higher and in a foil rarity.

Hopefully, some of these cards get to be reprinted this November and have plenty of players excited for them. This weekend is also the World Championship for Yu-Gi-Oh! that is taking place in Japan. To all players, we wish you all good luck, and may the best duelist become the next champion of Yu-Gi-Oh!

Edited and co-written by Angryjon