[MW] Surprising and Hidden Techs Returned To The Game

Well, I didn’t see these techs coming… also Fiendsmith… again…

During the past week, we’ve had multiple events, from regional qualifiers to the national level of events, and there have been so many techs seeing play. Let’s see what there is to look at this week and what players have been doing.

First off, from the Western Australia State Championship, Joshua Hole won with @Ignister Maliss with a surprising tech that we haven’t seen in a long time, and that tech is Mystical Refpanel. What is special about Mystical Refpanel, though? Well, when a Normal or Quick-Play Spell Card that affects 1 player is activated, this card’s effect makes it so the effect of that Spell is applied to the other player instead. Yes, this card cares about effects that affect players, and it is truly one-of-a-kind in that regard. Luckily, our very own Redshift from YGOrganization keeps a well-documented and updated list of cards that Refpanel can be used against. And in the current meta, the cards that you can use it against are rather short, with those cards being Triple Tactics Talent (first and third effect only) and Allure of Darkness. It is a super niche tech with the current format, but it could be an interesting card if (and a big if at that) they print more cards that care about cards and/or effects that affect 1 player.

This card as a tech can be niche, but in certain situations, it can be helpful to stop the opponent. With it being one of the most nostalgic cards from Yugi himself, many players await a reprint for this highly sought-after and collectible card.

Starring Knight is seeing a little play in decks like Voiceless Voice Ryzeal, as it can Special Summon any Light monster from your hand. This helps you summon monsters like Lo, the Prayers of the Voiceless Voice, Sauravis, Dragon Sage of the Voiceless Voice, Ext Ryzeal, and Ice Ryzeal. Along with this, if it is in your GY, you can target 1 Level 4 LIGHT Fairy monster you control to Special Summon Starring Knight itself and attach that targeted monster to it as material. This effect, however, won’t be used, as there are no Level 4 Fairy monsters in this version of the deck unless you are running the Melodious Voiceless Voice version of the Deck as there will be plenty of Level 4 Fairies to choose from. This card is useful to bridge between both the Voiceless Voice and Ryzeal engine and can help if you open both Lo, the Prayers of the Voiceless Voice, and Ice Ryzeal.

Coming in as a Common from Age of Overlord and an Ultra Rare from 25th Anniversary Tin: Dueling Mirrors, this card is rather easy to pick up, as the card has seen many sales over the past weeks as players keep finding new techs for the format.

For those Primite Blue-Eyes players, a handful of lists have been using Destined Rivals in their decks. This is because if you control either a Blue-Eyes White Dragon or Dark Magician, you negate the effects of all face-up monsters your opponent currently controls until the end of that turn. This can be extremely important since it shuts off current monster effects on the field, adding another form of disruption on top of the board you manage to build through both the Primite and Blue-Eyes engines. The bonus of this is that you can set it from your deck with True Light, set it from your GY with Blue-Eyes Tyrant Dragon when it battles, or just search for it with Wishes for Eyes of Blue.

With a total of two printings from the 2020 Tins of Lost Memories as an Ultra Rare and the Structure Deck: Blue-Eyes White Destiny as a Common, this card is easily accessible to all, as everyone should have the Common version lying in their bulk or collection.

PSY-Frames are back on the menu, with some players utilizing both Psy-Framegear Gamma and PSY-Framegear Delta. Everyone knows that Gamma negates monster effects, but Delta can negate the effects of any Spell Card. This is great against board breakers like Lightning Storm and Harpie’s Feather Duster or good against generic spells like Triple Tactics Thrust or Triple Tactics Talent. The monsters summoned off of any of the PSY-Framegear monsters get banished during the End Phase of the turn they were summoned, but if they were summoned during your own turn, you can utilize them for free Link Materials for a Link Summon.

Still being able to use cards like PSY-Framegear Gamma and PSY-Framegear Delta is great, as the types of negates are getting smaller and smaller with each passing Forbidden & Limited list, so some players are using all that they can use.

We are back once again talking about Fiendsmith cards because somehow… somehow they were missed in Battles of Legend: Monster Mayhem. Players were expecting reprints of both Fiendsmith’s Tract and Lacrima the Crimson Tears since they are still quite expensive for some, along with the new Fabled Support that is being released, which… also only reprinted Fabled Lurrie for the alternate artwork. These two cards have been in demand since their release, and not seeing a reprint for either one is a shame. Lacrima the Crimson Tears, is a very useful card for the Fiendsmith engine, as she is a LIGHT Fiend, can send any Fiendsmith card from the deck to the GY on Normal or Special Summon, and is already treated as a Fiendsmith card, being the perfect card for any deck that needs the Fiendsmith engine.

Meanwhile, Fiendsmith’s Tract is one of, if not the best, starters for Fiendsmith itself or other LIGHT Fiend Decks like Magical Musketeer or Fabled. Being able to search ANY LIGHT Fiend monster is great, as it gives consistency to Decks that need it, and it makes the Fiendsmith engine viable to run in a majority of Decks, as Fabled Lurrie is one of the easiest cards to add and discard from Tract itself. But this card not receiving a reprint has made its price stagnant since players are being wary with a possible new Forbidden & Limited list, and once again, Monster Mayhem didn’t reprint any of the core Fabled cards needed to build the deck, forcing players to get the cards from Hidden Arsenal: Chapter 1, which was released 3 years ago.

Alas, some players have to wait longer for a reprint, as we could possibly see these two cards being reprinted in the 2025 Mega Tins this year along with many other most-wanted cards.

Horus Crystron is on the list of decks to keep an eye out for, as they are now using Arms of Genex Return Zero by using Accel Synchron as their DARK Tuner. Arms of Genex can negate the activation of a monster effect and destroy it by banishing 1 monster from your GY with the same attribute as that monster. With this, you can banish cards like Mulcharmy Fuwalos or Droll & Lock Bird to negate your opponent’s copy, banish Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring to negate any FIRE monster, and if you sent a Nibiru, the Primal Being from your hand to the GY off the effect of King’s Sarcophagus, you can banish that to negate an opposing Nibiru or other LIGHT monsters. This negation effect isn’t once per turn either, as long as you have enough unique Attributes in your GY, as you can only banish 1 of each Attribute per turn. This card having 3100 ATK and 2950 DEF is also an issue for some decks that have a hard time attacking over large monsters if they cannot manage to out the card.

Even with one total printing from Battles of Legend: Terminal Revenge, this card is a sneaky boss monster that some decks can utilize to stop their opponent on specific attributes.

Finally, the last card I want to look at this week is King Tiger Wanghu as an interesting tech for Memento. Some players may remember this card receiving a reprint in OTS Tournament Pack 24 last year for the Chimera Deck that got support in both Duelist Nexus and Age of Overlord. While this card is face-up on the field, when a monster(s) with 1400 ATK or less is Normal or Special Summoned, they are immediately destroyed. This is extremely powerful against decks like Maliss, as Maliss <P> Dormouse, White Rabbit, and March Hare are under this 1400 ATK threshold. As for Mitsurugi Ryzeal, it’s great against Mitsurugi no Mikoto, Aramasa, and Saji along with Ext and Node Ryzeal, while nearly curb-stomping Blue-Eyes Decks as Maiden of White, Sage with Eyes of Blue, and Spirit with Eyes of Blue all have less than 1400 ATK.

This timeless floodgate is a card that has seen play over the years since its release, and it is still as strong as it was back in 2024 as a counter to Snake-Eye Decks. Only time will tell what the next deck will be that will play this card after Memento.

As this article releases, we have Battles of Legend: Monster Mayhem officially releasing in North America, as in Europe, Oceania, and South America, it has been delayed for some time until the issue of starlight clumping is fixed. But we will see how the upcoming national events in San Jose (Costa Rica), Indianapolis (Indiana), and Berlin (Germany) will go over the course of the next month.

Edited and co-written by Angryjon