[MW] Could Phantom Revenge Menace The Future Meta?

The crazy ride of Phantom Revenge just begun.

As everything is cooling down with the current game, many things have been happening on the market as OCG has released Phantom Revenge for their format. Let’s take a look at some cards and techs that have been popping up over the weekend because of this set’s release and many other cards that have seen movement by other factors. Also sorry to the Enneacraft players, nothing for you this week.

The first stop: let’s look at Red Nova as Killer Tune (Note: all Killer Tune cards in this article are YGOrganization translations) has incorporated it for their combos. With Killer Tune Cue being able to Special Summon any Tuner from your hand, Deck, or GY, at the cost of locking you out from Summoning non-Tuners for the rest of that turn, it allows you to Special Summon Red Nova from anywhere. You can then use both Cue and Red Nova to Synchro Summon into Killer Tune Track Maker, and then Red Nova will trigger its effect to Special Summon any FIRE Fiend Tuner, and that being Killer Tune Reco, which will allow you to add any non-Level 3 Killer Tune monster from your Deck to your hand.

While the Deck is streamlined with plays and its build, “the best monster of 2017” makes an appearance against this Deck as a Super Polymerization “target,” and that “best monster” is the Sea Monster of Theseus. As it requires 2 Tuners as material, this Fusion Monster can be summoned at any time against any Killer Tune players if it’s needed. Even then, you can opt to run Ready Fusion for this card, as it is a non-Effect monster and is also a free Tuner for Synchro plays if needed.

It’s great seeing older cards come back into discussion and see play again, especially if the card was made for the Deck and being used for its intended purposes.

On the Hecahands side of things, while looking at lists, many were playing Dhampir Vampire Sheridan. This powerful Rank 6 monster from Dark Saviors can be extremely useful for the Deck as if you Xyz Summon it, any monsters with a Level you can use that are owned by your opponent can be treated as Level 6 monsters. With Dhampir, you can, once per turn, detach 1 material from it to target any card your opponent controls and send it to the GY. This triggers its other effect, where if a Monster Card(s) is sent to the opponent’s GY by a card effect or destroyed by battle, you can Special Summon 1 of the monsters to your field in Defense Position. That makes this card a Pseudo-Goyo Guardian-like monster that also isn’t hard once per turn at all. This can come up more than many think to take more resources from your opponent to Special Summon your Hecahands Jawza (YGOrganization Translation) with one of your Illusion monsters and the monster you Summoned from Dhampir. If you’re going against Yummy or Killer Tune, and you manage to Special Summon any of their Level 2 Tuners, it allows you to gain access to Herald of the Arc Light or plenty of other Synchro Monsters that the Deck can utilize.

Another tech that has been popping up for Hecahands is a Runick version that has been seeing play, as it helps control the board. Runick Tip happens to be the main card everyone is going after since it can search for any Runick card from your Deck to your hand while also banishing the top card of your opponent’s deck. And like every Runick Quick-Play Spell, you can instead Special Summon 1 Runick monster from your Extra Deck to your Extra Monster Zone. Runick complements the Deck in a way where it gives you extra defensive options and more interruptions that your opponent has to push through, while allowing you to gain additional draws thanks to Runick Fountain.

As players explore the ways to play Hecahands, it’s clear that this Deck has turned out to be a strong control deck that can face the likes of Yummy and many other Decks in this format.

Condemned Witch has taken a spotlight in some Magnifistorm lists, as its Normal Summon effect can add any Forbidden Quick-Play Spell card from your Deck to your hand, letting you gain additional counter pieces like Forbidden Droplet, Lance, or Chalice. You can also use those added cards to discard fodder for Magnifistorming Sight Trance’s (YGOrganization Translation) “draw 2 cards” effect. The other part of Condemned Witch is that during your opponent’s Main Phase, you can quickly Tribute it to Special Summon 1 Level 4 Fairy monster from your Deck, allowing you to Summon either Barrier Statue of the Heavens, to stop the Special Summoning of non-LIGHT monsters, or Aurora Paragon to stop Special Summoning in general. It’s nice seeing Condemned Witch see play in a Deck that is based around Mystical Space Typhoon and Quick-Play Spell Cards. Only time will tell if a new card for the Forbidden series will be revealed in the future.

With this card having 3 total prints, its Gold Rare and Common prints are easily obtainable for the player base to pick up, while the original print from Soul Fusion has been creeping up in price with many sales over the past couple weeks.

While many are focusing on the future December 2025 format, let’s roll it back with the current game, and we start off with Chimeratech Megafleet Dragon. During the Duelist Cup, where Crystron was first released, many were playing a copy of this card to play around Cyber Dragon Infinity and a monster in the Extra Monster Zone, since Megafleet requires any Cyber Dragon monster. This made players careful about setting up their end boards, and now with K9 Crystron seeing lots of play, we see this being used now in the current game. A few players have been having this card slotted in their Extra Deck as their flex spot so they can deal with the negation effect of Cyber Dragon Infinity and break the board faster.

With all of its prints being holographic, many have been targeting the Battles of Legend: Armageddon print, as its Secret Rare is the highest rarity for this card, while the 3 other Ultra Rare prints it has are easy to pick up by the player base.

El Shaddoll Anoyatyllis has been on my list of cards to cover for a little because of the presence of the 2015 Crossed Souls format. The original print has been going up in price as players are blinging out their Deck and it hasn’t seen a new upgrade since its original print in Crossed Souls itself. This card stops both players from Special Summoning any monster from the hand or GY with Spell/Trap effects. This is great against Nekroz as they want to Ritual Summon from the hand or GY. Then if this card is sent to the GY, like a majority of the Shaddoll Fusion monsters, it can target and add any Shaddoll Spell/Trap from the GY to your hand.

Even though this card has 2 printings from CROS and the Shaddoll Showdown SD, and with the price of this card finally leveling out, it might be safe to say this card has finally hit the highest mark it can go for the time being.

Finally, this fan-favorite Link-2 monster has been on my radar for a bit, as Sky Striker Ace – Azalea hasn’t dropped below the $10 mark since its release in Battles of Legend: Monstrous Revenge. Despite being a probable Short Print from the set, this card has seen plenty of play over the past 2 years this card has been released. By requiring 2 LIGHT and/or DARK monsters as Link Material, this card can target any card on the field and destroy it, but if you have 3 or fewer Spells in your GY, Azalea sends herself to the GY. In addition, at the start of the Damage Step, if Azalea battles an opponent’s monster, you can banish 1 Spell from your GY to destroy that monster, which can be useful to remove possible threats during Main Phase 2 or to clear what is left on your opponent’s board.

With its only print from Monstrous Revenge, players have been hoping this card would see a reprint in a different rarity, or one that is easy to obtain, but we can only hope that we see a reprint soon, as the TCG is still missing a few Sky Striker cards from the Manga and VJMP promos.

This weekend has shown how much can change with only a few cards. There are plenty of cards that I wish to cover in the future, but only so much can be covered at a time. This weekend also has the World Championship taking place in Paris, France, as the best 28 duelists will be dueling it out to see who will be crowned the King of Games. My prediction is that the TCG will win once again, for the 3rd year in a row, for the Main OCG/TCG event, and we might see Yummy take the event by storm, or maybe Dracotail will slip in and be the underdog of the event.

Edited and co-written by Angryjon