Chaos Dawns Closer Before The New Year [MW]

Chaos and Darkness will reign across the market soon enough.

After looking at the market for nearly a year now, some things still boggle my mind and make me think of why the prices have gone up. 

Kozmo Dark Destroyer was recently pointed out, as its Secret Rare version has been rising over the past few months due to talk of the Deck in Genesys Format. Despite having two cheaper prints of this card from Premium Gold: Infinite Gold and Maximum Gold, the original print of the card from Dimension of Chaos is something to look out for. Being one of the best monsters for the Deck, this card cannot be targeted by your opponent’s card effects, and when it’s Normal or Special Summoned, you can target 1 monster on the field and destroy it. Another great part of this card is if it is destroyed by battle or card effect and sent to the GY, you can banish it from your GY to Special Summon a Level 7 or lower Kozmo monster from your Deck. This is a part of the whole gimmick of Kozmo, where the destroyed ships can Special Summon the next ship or pilot in line, so you have extra protection from destruction or battles. Even back in 2015, this Deck was scary because if you had a Kozmo Farmgirl paired with a Kozmo Dark Destroyer on the field, you could easily OTK the opponent. As with Kozmo Farmgirl, she can search for an additional copy of Dark Destroyer at the cost of 500 LP, then attack with the current Dark Destroyer on the field, then tag out the Farmgirl on the field to Special Summon the new Dark Destroyer from the hand. This triggers Dark Destroyer to destroy the other Dark Destroyer you control, triggering its effect to Special Summon a copy of Kozmo Forerunner from the Deck, dealing a total of 10300 points of damage.

With only a few prints to its name, Players are once again having Kozmo on their mind for alternate formats; hopefully, in the future, we see a new wave of Kozmo support and new reprints for many of its cards.

Black Salvo is another rising star currently, as players are going back to play Salvo DAD Decks in the SJC Edison Format. This card is handy for decks, being a Level 3 Tuner monster and all, and when it is Normal Summoned, you can target 1 Level 4 DARK Machine monster in your GY and Special Summon it in Defense Position, but its effects are negated. This was mainly used to Special Summon a copy of Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive in order to Synchro Summon a Level 7 Synchro Monster, mainly Black Rose Dragon (to destroy all cards on the field) or Ancient Fairy Dragon (to Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower monster from your hand). However, if you control Cyber Dragon, you can send all Machine monsters on the field to the GY to Special Summon a copy of Chimeratech Fortress Dragon with a minimum of 3000 ATK. Another card that you could Synchro Summon when it was Legal and unerrata’d was Dark Strike Fighter the year prior, before its banning at the time, to help close out the game if you managed to get a copy of Dekoichi in the GY to maximize your damage output.

Even with the last print of this card being from Legendary Collection 5D’s, the listings for this card have become limited on the NA market with a total of 49 listings, while on the EU market, it has well over 200 listings, making it cheaper across the pond. Hopefully soon, there will be an accessible reprint for the players, especially with a retrain of Dark Strike Fighter on the horizon.

The next pair of cards are unrelated but have one thing in common, and that is being cards with a single print. Jinzo – Layered happens to be the first of the two cards. This Rank 6 Xyz was printed in Dragons of Legend: The Complete Series as a Secret Rare, and it takes 2 Level 6 Monsters to Xyz Summon it. This card has uses in specific decks, as it can detach 1 material to take control of 1 face-up monster your opponent controls until the End Phase, and if a Trap is on the field, you can Tribute 1 monster to destroy 1 face-up card on the field. Both effects of this card are useful, as it has a form of removal and can take control of a monster, which can be crucial, as we’ve seen in the past, especially with Triple Tactics Talents taking a Primal Being Token, or if you control a Continuous Trap Card to help push through the opponent’s board.

Now for the other card, it’s an old-school Fusion Monster from the earliest days of the game, and that being Soul Hunter. As a Common from Astral Pack 7, this card and many old non-Effect Fusion Monsters haven’t seen a reprint, causing their prices to increase. But this Level 6 DARK Fiend Monster has seen play from Unchained when Sharvara was limited, with players picking it up for an unknown reason. Maybe for a Hecahands tech. But whatever is going on with this card again, hopefully it shows up soon in a future topping list. Oddly enough, being a Level 6, this card can be used as a material for Jinzo – Layered if you want to run Ready Fusion in your lists for this idea.

Hopefully in the future, we see a new wave of Jinzo support, but also a reprint of the remaining non-Effect Fusion Monsters in Ultra Rare like they did years ago in Ghosts from the Past: The 2nd Haunting.

White Forest-mania has hit Genesys Format, with Droll & Lock Bird being adjusted to 25 points from its original 5, and this has caused cards like Elzette of the White Forest’s price to rise again. As one of the main cards for the Deck, Elzette can Special Summon herself by sending 1 Spell/Trap from your hand or field to the GY, then she adds 1 White Forest monster from your Deck to your hand, which can be great since it can search for cards like Elzette, Azamina of the White Forest, or Rucia of the White Forest for cards that are free extenders. The upside to her is on the opponent’s turn, when a LIGHT Spellcaster Tuner is Special Summoned to your field, she can add herself back to the hand for follow-up plays on your next turn. 

Only time will tell when White Forest will receive more points as plenty of players explore the new Genesys Format, and hopefully some amazing techs will come about just from it over the next month.

Finally, with many speculations for the next cover card for Chaos Origins, the original Black Luster Soldier has been on my sights, as a few of them have had recent sales. The first and original Chaos monster would be a brilliant idea for the Cover Pack Theme, as the last time we saw a full wave of support was back in Breaker of Shadows in 2016, Raging Tempest in 2017, Ghost from the Past in 2021, and the most recent Ritual Monster retrain, Black Luster Soldier – Legendary Swordsman, from Maze of Memories in 2023. The Chaos Soldier rises every once in a while due to nostalgia and hype for new support, so hopefully soon in the future. Being a Non-Effect Ritual Monster, there isn’t much to go on for this, but if you use Evening Twilight Knight and Beginning Knight, it will gain additional effects. Those being able to target and banish 1 monster your opponent controls and banish 1 random card face-down from your opponent’s hand until the end of your opponent’s next End Phase, from Evening Twilight and Target and banish 1 monster your opponent controls, and when this card destroys a monster by battle and sends it to the GY, you can activate this effect to make a second attack in a row from Beginning Knight.

Hopefully we see either an Over-Frame Artwork of a new Black Luster Soldier or a full support wave for the theme itself. 

With only one week left of the year, it’s crazy to think that this is the 52nd article for these Market Watches, and I cannot thank everyone enough for reading them and giving them a chance. And a special thanks to my proofreader and editor for dealing with my poor grammar over the year, so hopefully, next year will be greater!

Edited and co-written by Angryjon