During this past weekend, we got to witness the best of the best duel it out at YCS Orlando, Florida. This event showed the true power of Maliss and Ryzeal Decks, using engines from Bystial to Fiendsmith.
That said, let’s take a look at the techs players used for this event.
First up on our plate is Metaltronus. This card was one of the main features from the YCS with many players running it as it is a main out to the Ryzeal endboards. Players would opt-in running 1 copy of Ryzeal Detonator for Metaltronus as it targets 1 face-up non-Token monster your opponent controls, then it allows you to Special Summon 1 monster from your hand, Deck, or Extra Deck that shares 2 or more of the target’s Type, Attribute and/or ATK. Then, it negates the target’s effect and if you Summon a monster with the same name, you can banish both those monsters face-down. The upside of this is that the opponent’s Ryzeal Detonator cannot respond to it so it cannot destroy itself to resummon it with an attached Eclipse Twins, since this also makes their Ryzeal Cross not able to use its effect to negate a monster effect later going into your turn and shut off your opponent from the multiple interruptions from the Ryzeal Detonator itself. On the Maliss side, you can use Mereologic Aggregator as the Summon target against the Maliss Link Monsters after they are Summoned back from their effects so the opponent loses out on a free Link-3 for further Link Summons.
Because of the influx of use from this event, Metaltronus is currently sitting around $4.50-6 a copy, a powerful staple to come from Legacy of Destruction from 2024.
As many of the Crystron Decks from this event sadly didn’t make it into the Top 64, plenty were scattered around the event making Day 2. One of the nice pieces many opted to play was to side in a copy of Dark Strike Fighter as a way to win during Game 2 or 3 if time was edging close to the end of the match. Dark Strike Fighter has seen play over time from the early 5D’s days in the Crimson Crisis format to close out the game, then its swift ban on the following list years ago, and finally, being legal at 3 nowadays, albeit with an errata. Now as an option to burn the opponent for damage before time is called, nothing really changes with older cards.
Even if this card has less than 100 total listings on TCGplayer, both copies from its Super Rare copy from Crimson Crisis and its Common version from Legendary Collection 5D’s are both sitting around $2-3 as it awaits a new reprint for the card.
As players dueled, many set their Main and Side Deck up with copies of either Solemn Strike, Solemn Judgment, or even running both. These two Counter Traps wrapped entire formats in the past with how strong they are. With Solemn Strike, you can pay 1500 LP to negate any monster effect, or the Special Summon of a monster. Meanwhile, Solemn Judgment can negate the Summon of any monster or Spell/Trap activation for the cost of half of your LP. These two cards work extremely well into the current format as it can shut off access to parts of your opponent’s plays or lines like stopping the Summon of Ryzeal Detonator or Maliss <Q> White Binder, and can end a turn in moments.
You can find copies of Solemn Strike for less than a quarter to $2, and any copy of Solemn Judgment can run from $1-3 easily. Both cards are extremely strong if used at the right time.
A great start of this weekend was Ultimate Slayer being able to take care of many problematic Link or Xyz Monsters throughout the event. This card allows you to target a monster your opponent controls by sending the same type of card from your Extra Deck to the GY, whether it is a Fusion, Synchro, Xyz, Pendulum, or Link Monster. Doing so allows you to shuffle that target into the Deck. Three of the best targets players sent off of Ultimate Slayer were Mereologic Aggregator to go against Ryzeal as well as Fiendsmith’s Requiem and Fiendsmith’s Sequence to go against Maliss.
For being such a strong Spell Card, each copy of Ultimate Slayer can run anywhere from $1.50 upwards to $3-4 for its 25th Anniversary Rarity Collection II printing, or $5-6 for its Power of the Elements Secret Rare Print.
As players test Ryzeal Mitsurugi, a few opted to run Daigusto Emeral as a way to recur monsters back into the Deck or Extra Deck to draw 1 card. Returning a monster that you’d like to use again has its bonuses in the grind game down the line like Sword Ryzeal or recycling an already used Ame no Murakumo no Mitsurugi again. With the addition of Eclipse Twins in certain combos, you can resummon back the Daigusto Emeral to use the effect again to draw another card by putting back more of your Mitsurugi package or certain Ryzeal cards you need for your follow up next turn after your 2nd turn. Even with this knowledge nowadays, Daigusto Emeral is still a great card to have for past formats like 2014’s HAT Format and in any Infernity Deck from that era.
While it has copies from Duel Overload and 2-Player Starter Set for less than 50 cents, other versions from Battle Pack 3: Monster League and Premium Gold: Infinite Gold have trailed anywhere from $1-2 a copy, to the Hidden Arsenal 7: Knight of the Stars Secret Rare being $8 and the Duel Terminal 7 DT Ultra Parallel Rare being upwards to $50. It just depends if you want something flashy and high rarity for your Deck or not.
Burial from a Different Dimension is a hidden trick that not many caught onto this past weekend with only 1 player using it as a tech card against Maliss. Targeting 3 banished cards in either banishment to return them to the GY is extremely strong against Maliss as they want to banish their cards to gain additional effects to extend into more of their plays. Your opponent must pay 300 LP for the Main Deck monsters and 900 LP for the Extra Deck monsters, so by returning them back to the GY, it is a really strong move to halt their plays if they are going 2nd. With this card being previously played in many metas throughout the game’s history, it is nice to see it peak the interest of players again.
Many of its copies are under $1 from products like Lost Sanctuary, Zombie Horde and Dinosmasher’s Fury Structure Decks or from Maze of Memories, its other versions are going up slowly. The The Secret Forces Super Rare is already hitting $1 a copy, and its Champion Pack 8 copy is $5. Where the price lies is the Duel Terminal 3 DT Super Rare nearing $20 a copy and the Duelist Pack 3: Jaden Yuki 2 Ultra Rare copy pushing above $15 for Light Played versions.
As Atlantean Mermail took a couple tops from the event, I wanted to highlight a card that hasn’t seen play in a little bit. We saw some play Barrier Statue of the Torrent as a way to stop the opponent from Special Summoning non-WATER monsters to the field, forcing them to use their Battle Phase or certain cards to try to get around this Continuous Effect. It’s seen play over the past years but hasn’t done much compared to its currently Forbidden Wind Counterpart Barrier Statue of the Stormwinds, which was used in Decks like Tri-Brigade or Floowandereeze. They are especially great in single Attribute decks because they can play around cards like Nibiru, the Primal Being or Psy-Framegear Gamma, unless you’re Barrier Statue of the Heavens since it locks into Light monsters.
Since it has 2 rarities of Common and Rare, they sit around 75 cents to $1.25 for the card being a 1-of tech in Decks like Atlantean Mermail and Sharks, if you need something to reinforce your board a little more.
When scanning through the Deck lists, I noticed one Fiendsmith Ryzeal duelist playing Crystron Quandax. With it being a generic Level 4 monster, you can make it with a Fiendsmith Lurrie and an Ash Blossom & Joyous Springs, or any Level 3 Tuner monster for that matter, if you get stopped in your combo. Even if you have a Fiendsmith Engraver on the field, you can use its effect to quickly Synchro Summon into a Chaos Angel for another bit of interruption. It being a Level 4 is also a bonus for your Ryzeal cards since Ext Ryzeal can get its search effect after being Summoned since you have to control no other face-up monsters that aren’t Level/Rank 4. It is a niche tech but it can bring on strong board states, especially with Chaos Angel.
Its Invasion: Vengeance Ultra Rare copy is standing around $1.50 while the Battle of Legend: Relentless Revenge Secret Rare has gone up to $2-2.50 total a copy.
While this card has been talked about a little, Gravekeeper’s Inscription has seen a little bit of play against Decks that are on the Fiendsmith Engine, or directly against Maliss. Being able to apply 1 of the following effects to stop your opponent from activating card effects in the GY, banishing cards from the GYs, or Special Summoning monsters from the GYs is extremely powerful. This is because it’s mostly what Fiendsmith does by using multiple effects in the GY to keep their plays going. This stops some common things, like Fabled Lurrie self-reviving after being discarded, Fiendsmith Engraver’s self-revival from the GY, and Fiendsmith’s Requiem’s effect to equip itself to a non-Link Fiend monster while it is in the GY in order to go into Necroquip Princess. Against Maliss, it is also strong as it stops Maliss <Q> White Binder from banishing cards from the GYs, or Maliss <C> GWC-06 from reviving a Maliss monster from the GY if there aren’t any banished Maliss monsters.
Currently with only 2 Secret Rare prints, one from Photon Hypernova and the other from 25th Anniversary Tin: Dueling Mirrors, each copy can run about $1-1.25. Even if the card is format dependent, it is always nice to have cards like this against certain Decks like Fiendsmith Maliss or if Tearlaments become a powerful Deck again.
Finally for this insight on tech cards, we will look at Sales Ban. Even if not many were on it, it came in handy for a couple of people who played Memento or Sky Striker Tenpai Dragon. By declaring a card name, it shuts you off from using that named card for the entire Duel, but that is fine as it also shuts off your opponent from activating cards or effects of cards with the same name during the turn you activate this card. This is great for calling cards like Nibiru, the Primal Being or Dominous Impulse so you can be free to combo into knowing these cards are stopped for the turn. It is a situational way to stop potent Hand Traps against your Deck if you need to go all out on your combo.
Either way, its Rare copy from 25th Anniversary Tin: Dueling Heroes Mega Tin Super Rare is nearly 20 cents whereas the Battle of Chaos Secret Rare passed $1.50 a copy. Potentially, we can see this card be played in more Decks from now into the future as the game starts to shift for the new meta in a couple weeks.
As YCS Orlando, Florida passes, let’s see where YCS Birmingham, England takes us this upcoming weekend! Any and all feedback is appreciated!