MW: Meta And Tech Choices On The Rise As Alliance Insight Releases

Well… I wonder how the game will shape out now.

As Alliance Insight will be legal this Friday, let’s take a turn and look through some cards that have market oddities. Many of these oddities happened this week from YCS Mexico City to the OCGs Spring Duel Festival, so let’s dive into this week and look at what has happened. I will state that this week’s article will be shorter than last week’s as things are going to change really soon.

To start with, some players have been testing out Fiendsmith’s Rextremende in their builds, as it is a massive boss monster that is unaffected by card effects, except Fiendsmith cards, while it is equipped with a Fiendsmith Equip Spell. Along with that, if it is Fusion Summoned, you can discard 1 card to send 1 LIGHT Fiend monster from your Deck or Extra Deck to the GY. This effect allows you to send cards like Fiendsmith’s Desirae from your Extra Deck to the GY for another form of removal or disruption. The reason some are trying out this card is you can send Fiendsmith Kyrie from your Deck to your GY by Lacrima the Crimson Tears’ effect, as Fiendsmith Kyrie can banish itself from the GY to let you Fusion Summon a Fusion Monster by using monsters from your hand or field and/or monsters in your Spell/Trap Zones that are equipped to a Fiendsmith monster as an Equip Spell. This way, you can use an already used Fiendsmith’s Desirae to turn it into a form of disruption along with its negate.

With Fiendsmith’s Rextremende being released in Supreme Darkness, some TCG players have been trying to make the card work in their Fiendsmith decks, as Fiendsmith’s Lacrima being Forbidden hurts this play a little.

Mulcharmy Purulia and Mulcharmy Meowls are once again on my radar as all copies have spiked again as they rotate around once more. Both of these cards have been added to players’ decklists so they can have all 3 Mulcharmy monsters in their deck. While Purulia is majorly being sided, Meowls has joined Fuwalos in the Main Deck to fight against the upcoming Maliss @Ignister threat that Alliance Insight holds. While Mulcharmy Fuwalos is still the go-to to be played in the Main Deck, some players decided to run 6 Mulcharmies total or max out to a full 9 Mulcharmies between the Main Deck and Side Deck.

Purulia being able to let you draw 1 card each time your opponent Normal or Special Summons a monster from their hand is great, along with Meowls allowing you to draw 1 card each time your opponent Special Summons a monster from their GY or banishment. The latter Mulcharmy can be especially brutal against Maliss and can do some damage as you hope they just pass their turn. Still, the Mulcharmies do have their shared End Phase drawback, which would randomly shuffle back cards in your hand, but this would come up only if they actually play into the card.

All three Mulcharmies go hand in hand with being constantly rotated in and out of the Side Deck for each format going forward, so let’s hope they all see a round of reprints soon.

After all this talk about Maliss @Ignister, Linguriboh has been picking up steam because of how vital it is to the deck now, with it being able to stop the effects of a Trap Card by tributing itself from your field. This is helpful to stop cards like Infinite Impermanence, Dominus Impulse, or Dominus Purge to help assist you through your combos. Being run either at 1 or 2 copies in every list shows the power that it has, so maybe Konami might target it to protect Maliss even more, unless we see something different after Nationals.

With only 2 printings, this card has been seeing a lot of purchases because of the Maliss hype to help against Hand Traps and other Trap Cards to keep their plays going.

Along with Linguriboh, Achichi @Ignister has seen some buyouts because it is one of the best original names from the @Ignister Deck from Ignition Assault to mix into the Maliss hybrid Deck. If Achichi is Normal or Special Summoned, it can add 1 Level 3 or lower @Ignister monster from your Deck to your hand, except another copy of itself. Then, while Achichi is in the GY, it can banish itself at the start of the Damage Step when your Cyberse monster battles, and by doing so, it destroys that Cyberse monster. Outside of this, it allows you to search Backup @Ignister to then use Achichi to Link Summon into Linguriboh to start off your plays.

With this card having two printings, players have been picking up the Secret Rare version from Ignition Assault to max out their Deck’s rarity, while the Ultra Rare from the 2021 Mega Tins of Ancient Battles has plenty of copies left on the market to have easier access to many players.

With possible new Fallen of Albaz support coming in Doom of Dimensions, as a result of Yu-Gi-Oh! CARD GAME THE CHRONICLES and its release schedule, many cards from the lore have been looked at and even bought out for their highest rarity. Lubellion the Searing Dragon is one of these many cards, as its Quarter Century Secret Rare cannot stay on the market as it’s always getting bought up for how useful it is in Branded itself and even with Dracotail too. If it is Fusion Summoned, you can discard a card to Fusion Summon any Level 8 or lower Fusion Monster by shuffling Fusion Materials mentioned on it from your field, GY, or banishment back into the Deck.

Even with this card having 2 accessible printings, players have been trying to keep the QCR off the market, which is a real oddity.

As we finally see the new support for Heraldic Beasts released in Alliance Insight, Heraldic Beast Leo from Cosmo Blazer has risen back up in price, as it has been over 10 years since its first print. This card is a mandatory card for the Heraldic Beast Deck and engine, as players are now testing Ryzeal Heraldic Beast once more to utilize cards like Evilswarm Oroborous to try the hand loop again. Even with the new support, Heraldic Beast is still good as a deck to play casually unless someone finds a way to try to make it a rogue contender. This card is being run at 2-3 copies in the deck, as when it is sent to the GY, it can add any other Heraldic Beast monster from your deck to your hand. This is particularly strong as you can add either Heraldic Beast Stad Whale or Heraldic Beast Gryphon, depending on what you need at the given time.

Still being locked to the Rare rarity, Heraldic Beast Leo is one of many cards that deserve a reprint so it can be more accessible to the player base.

Finally, to wrap this article up, let’s look at Clockwork Knight, as this card has been creeping up in price over the past weeks. This is because of the hype it has with Crystron, as the knight can lead any Normal Summonable Crystron non-Tuner monster into the deck’s full combo. Being able to Link away Crystron Smiger is great, as it can banish itself from the GY to let you search a Crystron Spell/Trap. By fetching Crystron Inclusion, you can start your plays, as when Inclusion is activated, it adds a Crystron card from your Deck to your hand, so it accesses any of the names you need at the moment from Crystron Sulfador, Tristaros or Sulfefnir.

Being only Ultra Rare, this card has held its value with how powerful it can be and also shows how Link-1s can be a vital part of every deck. 

This weekend is YCS Providence, Rhode Island, and players are preparing and testing their hearts out to become the best Duelist in the room. Let’s see how much the meta shifts with the introduction of Alliance Insight and how much power Maliss @Ignister holds for the event. My prediction for the winner still will be Maliss @Ignister, as it will be the deck to beat this weekend.

Edited and co-written by Angryjon