MW: A New Age of Engines and Techs Dawns Closer

With the powers of dark magic, vanquish souls and the underworld, the future of the game looks devious.

So much has happened this past week, from new Dark Magician support that changes the whole game to Masked HERO cards that change their game plans and, finally, brand-new D/D/D support starting off the Doom of Dimension reveals. Let’s take a look at everything going on in the market this week.

With Crossout Designator and Called by the Grave both being limited, many players have decided to go around to see what other options we have to combat hand traps, and many went to Sales Ban, while others have opted to test out D.D. Designator. Both have their upsides and downsides, where most decks can play Sales Ban while others have to be careful on how they use D.D. Designator. With Sales Ban, you can declare 1 card name, and for the rest of that turn, your opponent cannot activate cards or the effects of cards with that original name, and those same restrictions are applied to you for the rest of the duel. This can help against powerhouse hand traps like Nibiru, the Primal Being, or Dominus Impulse, but with the downside in mind, it is wise to decide whether or not to run hand traps you plan to declare with this card.

D.D. Designator, like Sales Ban, is another Normal Spell that lets you declare a card name, but this time, you look at your opponent’s hand and banish 1 card from it with that declared name. If they do not have such a card in their hand, you have to banish 1 card from your hand at random. Being able to gain full knowledge of your opponent’s hand is a really powerful thing in Yu-Gi-Oh! as you can now play around certain hand traps or negators the opponent has in their hand. While banishing 1 random card from your hand could hurt many decks, this could be a major opportunity for some Maliss players, all because their monsters like being banished, as this activates their effects, most of which involve special summoning themselves, or, like Maliss <P> March Hare, adding back any Maliss monster that was banished.

Now let’s tamper with dark magic, as Dark Magical Circle has been getting bought up from the new Tactical-Try Pack support for the Dark Magician Deck. When you activate Circle, you look at the top 3 cards of your deck, then you reveal and add 1 Dark Magician or a Spell/Trap that mentions it, like the new Timaeus Spell, The Gaze of Timaeus (YGOrganization Translation), or other powerful cards like Secrets of Dark Magic, Eternal Soul, or even Soul Servant. But that is not all for Circle, because if you Normal or Special Summon a Dark Magician, you can target 1 card your opponent controls and banish it, making Circle a very powerful type of interruption, especially if it is combined with Eternal Soul.

Along with this, we received a new Dark Magician Fusion Monster called Dark Magician of Destruction (YGOrganization Translation), and this single card has allowed many decks to splash a small Dark Magician engine, as all it costs to Special Summon this card is banishing a Level 6 or higher DARK Spellcaster. Many players instantly thought of Diabellstar the Black Witch and WANTED: Seeker of the Sinful Spoils, as it is a consistent engine that can bridge into decks like White Forest and Azamina. 

Other players, in the meantime, have decided to look at Ready Fusion from Dawn of Majesty, a retrain of Instant Fusion. By paying 1000 LP, you can Special Summon 1 Level 6 or lower non-Effect Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck, and one such card you can Summon with this card is Sanwitch… a Level 6… DARK… Spellcaster. This is another way to utilize Dark Magician of Destruction (YGOrganization Translation) since the size of the engine is smaller; the side with Diabellstar and WANTED is much more consistent considering how much power the White Forest Azamina Deck holds.

Even when Yu-Gi-Oh! gets a brand-new splashable engine, many players will find ways to utilize it for its full power or see if it will be worth running, but this one will take some time to see if there will be any more ways to utilize this new Dark Magician engine.

With players adjusting to the new format, some Tombkeeper (Odion) players have been testing out Quantum Cat as a way to meet Harpie’s Feather Storm’s requirement, as it can make itself a WIND Winged Beast. This tech could be used as a Plan B if your turn gets stopped prematurely since Silhouhatte Rabbit can get to Quantum Cat easily, whereas Triple Tactics Thrust can also grab Harpie’s Feather Storm straight from the deck if your opponent activates a monster effect at any point in your turn. This can turn the tides in any duel, as once activated, Harpie’s Feather Storm can fully stop your opponent on their turn so you can make a push to end the game. Quantum Cat can also be utilized in other ways, as its ability to turn itself into any Type and Attribute you so desire could come in handy with specific Link Monsters.

This is a niche tech overall, but it is one that can pop up every so often with many players trying to fit Feather Storm into their decks to stun the opponent so they can win the game easily.

Xtra HERO Infernal Devicer has been showing an uptick of sales once again with the new Masked HERO support in the Tactical-Try Pack. It allows you to reveal a HERO Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck to add up to 2 Fusion Materials listed on it, but after you activate this effect, you are locked into HERO monsters for the entire turn, which isn’t a downside in the Omni-HERO Deck. The main use of this card is to add Elemental HERO Neos to the hand by revealing Elemental HERO Shining Neos Wingman and then to later fuse it away with another Elemental HERO monster like Elemental HERO Stratos or Elemental HERO Shadow Mist into Elemental HERO Flame Wingman – Infernal Rage to then search for Favorite Contact.

With HEROes getting more support, Konami changed the game plan of the Omni-HERO Deck through their combos and fixed some issues the Deck has because the new inclusion of Masked HERO Dusk Crow and Masked HERO Furnace (YGOrganization Translation) gives the Deck fewer ways to brick.

Brand new D/D Support has landed from a different dimension, and one of the main cards has been seeing a spike for how powerful it is. D/D/D Abyss King Gilgamesh is one of the best Link-2s any Deck can ask for, as it places 2 D/D Pendulum Monsters from your Deck with different names into your Pendulum Zones with the small downside of you taking 1000 damage. This is great for D/D as it completes your Pendulum Scales, letting you Pendulum Summon with little to no hassle. Gilgamesh fixed D/D when it came out in Duel Overload, and the new support from Doom of Dimensions has made this Link-2 more crucial, so you can Link up into the new Link-3 D/D/D Sky King Zeus Ragnarok (YGOrganization Translation), who allows you an additional Pendulum Summon for D/D monsters by targeting and destroying 1 D/D or Dark Contract card you control.

Since this card was only printed in Duel Overload, it has very limited copies, as many are snagging their copies to try out the new D/D support.

For this next part, Vanquish Soul is mentioned a lot and will be shortened to VS.

Once again, we are taking a look at VS, as with the new Duelist’s Advance support and the new K9 theme, it has been boosted to one of the top decks in OCG. Rock of the Vanquisher, Vanquish Soul Heavy Borger, Vanquish Soul Dr. Mad Love, and Vanquish Soul Razen have spiked massively in their prices, with Vanquish Soul Jiaolong also going back up in price again. While we have covered Rock of the Vanquisher and Vanquish Soul Jiaolong, let us take a look at Jiaolong again, Heavy Borger, Dr. Mad Love, and Razen this week.

With the new support for VS, Heavy Borger, Dr. Mad Love, and Razen are all run at 3 copies along with the new VS monster, Vanquish Soul Holy Sue (YGOrganization Translation). Let’s quickly break down each of the above monsters, starting with Vanquish Soul Holy Sue (YGOrganization Translation), as this new addition to VS helps the deck, as she is a new EARTH monster and can reveal 1 other VS monster in your hand to Special Summon herself from your hand. As for her Quick Effect inputs, you can take control of the monster your opponent controls with the lowest ATK for a turn by revealing an EARTH and DARK monster, or Special Summon 1 non-Psychic VS monster from your Deck instead by revealing a FIRE and DARK monster. Holy Sue pairs extremely well with Jiaolong since if you reveal a card(s) in your hand to activate a VS effect, you can Special Summon Vanquish Soul Jiaolong from your hand. With Jiaolong’s Quick Effect button combinations, you can either switch the battle position of a monster on the field by revealing 1 FIRE monster, but with 2 FIRE monsters, you can add 1 other VS card from your deck to your hand instead for more consistency.

Next up is Vanquish Soul Heavy Borger with its ability to help your non-Machine VS monsters play around targeting effects like Effect Veiler and Infinite Impermanence. This is all thanks to its first effect, which is a Quick Effect. By targeting a non-Machine VS monster, you can return it to the hand in order to Special Summon Borger from your hand. While its inputs are weaker than Sue’s or Jiaolong’s, they are far from bad. By revealing a DARK monster, you get to draw a card. However, if you instead reveal an EARTH and FIRE monster, you get to inflict 1500 damage to your opponent, which could end Duels, either by reducing your LP to 0 or just low enough when time is called.

While Heavy Borger is used effectively to make certain hand traps weaker, it’s also used to protect Vanquish Soul Dr. Mad Love, as the doctor can add a VS Spell/Trap from your Deck to your hand when they’re Normal or Special Summoned. As for Mad Love’s Quick Effect button combinations, you can make 1 monster your opponent controls lose 500 ATK/DEF by revealing a DARK monster or return the 1 monster on the field with the lowest DEF to the hand by revealing a DARK and EARTH monster instead. This effect can be extremely useful to interrupt the opponent on their turn or be used on your turn to push for game.

Finally, let’s look at Vanquish Soul Razen. On Summon, it can add a non-Warrior VS monster from your Deck to your hand, which is great as it can fetch every other monster in the archetype for what you need. When it comes to Razen’s Quick Effect inputs, you can either reveal 1 FIRE monster to make Razen unable to be destroyed by card effect for that turn or reveal a FIRE and DARK monster to destroy all other monsters in Razen’s column, which is excellent against Decks that rely on using the Extra Monster Zone.

Overall, this past week has been crazy for Yu-Gi-Oh!, from huge impacts from Duelist’s Advance’s release to the first reveals of Doom of Dimensions and even seeing the new Dark Magician and Masked HERO support change the game. I am rather hopeful for the future of Yu-Gi-Oh!

Edited and co-written by Angryjon