[MW] Welcome To The New Year, With The Same Market!

2026 Just Started, But the Market Keeps Going

Well… it’s 2026 now, and many things have happened within the past week due to new techs and people preparing for the future. Recently, we’ve seen hype for Synchron, Hecahands, and Medius. And yet, this week is packed with so many changes, so let’s dive into it and see what the first week of 2026 has in store for us.

Hecahands has finally been released, and many players are testing around the Deck in both Advanced and Genesys. One of the techs they have been using is Dhampir Vampire Sheridan. Over this weekend, the Dark Saviors copies were bought up, and currently there are few listings for the North American market, while in the European market, there are plenty of listings left between DASA and MP19. Why is this being used? Well, for this card’s Xyz Summon, if you use a monster with a level that was owned by your opponent, it becomes Level 6 for the Xyz Summon. Once per turn, you can detach 1 material from Dhampir to target and send 1 card your opponent controls to the GY, and if a Monster Card(s) is sent from the field to the opponent’s GY by a card effect or battle, you can detach 1 material to Special Summon 1 of those monsters. This is extremely useful since it gives you additional material if you use Hecahands Tartaros or Hecahands Jauzah with Tartaros since if you use a monster you control that was owned by your opponent as a material, you can treat it as a Hecahands monster. But with Jauzah, you can Tribute 1 face-up monster you control that is owned by your opponent and 1 Illusion monster to Special Summon it.

With Dhampir not seeing a reprint over nearly the past 6 years, it is especially odd, given the Vampire support that was released in Battle of Chaos back in 2022. Hopefully, we see a new reprint of this card in the future.

Synchron also has hype coming through, with both Junk Berserker and Stardust Charge Warrior having multiple versions of this card snatched up. Both are great options to run in Synchron Decks. Junk Berserker can banish 1 Junk monster from your GY to target 1 monster your opponent controls and make it lose ATK equal to the banished monster’s. And when this card attacks a Defense Position monster, it destroys it at the start of the Damage Step. This is a versatile card because it can lower a monster’s ATK, making it easier to attack over it, while being able to clear out Defense Position monsters easily as well.

Meanwhile, Stardust Charge Warrior lets you draw 1 card when it’s Synchro Summoned. The other useful part about this card is it can attack all Special Summoned monsters your opponent controls, once each, so it can help clean up the opponent’s board if needed. Being a generic Level 6 Synchro is always good to have in any Synchro Deck as it can be used with an additional Tuner or Synchro Tuner monster to Synchro Summon more restrictive Synchro Monsters. Even though this card’s last print was from Maximum Gold, many are going after the Gold Secret Rare copy from Premium Gold: Infinite Gold, as it is the highest rarity.

With new Synchron, Junk, and Stardust cards releasing this year, it is worth noting that these very well may have a new reprint on the horizon to cross-promote or be within the same product, making it easier to access these older cards.

Another card that has been seeing more hype is Crowley, the Gifted Magistus from Battles of Legend: Monster Mayhem, as we approach closer to Burst Protocol. Many are excited to use these new Magistus cards in Decks like Dracotail, Pure Magistus, Mitsurugi, and Centur-Ion. Crowley has been seen being used as a 1-of to a 3-of depending on the deck. As if this card is used as a Fusion Material while face-up, you can treat it as Aleister the Invoker. Being similar to Snake-Eyes Poplar, when Crowley is added to your hand, except by drawing it, it can Special Summon itself, and you can then Fusion Summon 1 Magistus or Invoked Fusion Monster by using monsters from your hand or field. With this, you are able to Fusion Summon Invoked Caliga, Magistus Chorozo, or Zoroa, the Magistus Verethragna, depending on the situation or part of the combo you’re currently at.

Along with Crowley, Medius the Pure has been snatched up once again with the reveal of the new Power Patron Pendulum Monsters. The star of the show, Medius, can Special Summon any Power Patron monster from the Deck when Medius himself is Normal or Special Summoned, letting you access the Level 1s and the brand-new Level 10s that are coming out in Blazing Dominion. And while Medius is in your GY, you can shuffle 1 monster from your hand or face-up field into the Deck to special summon Medius, but it is banished when it leaves the field. With this enabling you to access the new Level 10 Power Patrons, they all share the effect of banishing the top 3 cards of your Deck face-down, to then destroy them and Special Summon the gods of their strategies. These are Nerva the Power Patron of Creation, from Power Patron Shadow Beast Nervedo (YGOrganization Translation), Jupiter the Power Patron of Destruction, from Power Patron Shadow Machine Zegredo (YGOrganization Translation); and Junora the Power Patron of Tuning (YGOrganization Translation), from Power Patron Shadow Spirit Junordo (YGOrganization Translation). All the while, they are giving you an extra advantage when they are sent to your Extra Deck face-up, from allowing you to Special Summon 1 Power Patron or Artmage monster from your Deck or face-up Extra Deck with Power Patron Shadow Beast Nervedo (YGOrganization Translation), adding 1 Power Patron or DoomZ Spell/Trap from your Deck to your hand with Power Patron Shadow Machine Zegredo (YGOrganization Translation), or adding 1 Power Patron or Elvennotes card from your face-up Extra Deck or GY to your hand with Power Patron Shadow Spirit Junordo (YGOrganization Translation). These new cards provide additional consistency to the Medius lore decks, and it’ll be interesting to see how these new cards play out in the future.

With new support for the lore finally being revealed, it’s no wonder why the card has gone up in price, since it is the main starter you want to see for the theme itself. But if there is a Mega Tin this year, we can hopefully see a reprint for this card in the near future.

Finally, I want to look at Predaplant Verte Anaconda, as it is currently Forbidden in both the OCG and TCG. Despite its current status, this card’s price has been rising up slowly over the months, especially with speculations and with the new Predaplant support being revealed in Blazing Dominion. It was a card that the player base was annoyed with but has now been outclassed by modern card design. It still can pop up, as we’ve seen from Master Duel. This card sends 1 Fusion or Polymerization Normal or Quick-Play Spell from the Deck to the GY to apply the effect of the sent card, but you cannot Special Summon for the rest of the turn. This was a great drawback to the card, even though many ended their turn Link Summoning into this card anyways. While this card can target 1 face-up monster on the field to change its Attribute to DARK for that turn, this effect rarely comes up. When it does, it is useful, especially if you send Super Polymerization to the GY to Fusion Summon Predaplant Dragostapelia or Predaplant Triphyoverutum, both of which require DARK monsters.

Even though there is new support for Predaplant, a few players have been wanting to see this card return off the Forbidden List to be legal again to see what they can do with the card in plenty of Decks and even Predaplant itself. Only time will tell if this old Link VRAINS Pack Link Monster returns off the list.

This week has been very interesting to watch what players have been going after, as I had to restrict myself from adding too many cards to the list, so next week we will continue where I left off from this list. We will also be taking suggestions on cards in the comments like always, so if you have an interesting card you want us to talk about, leave it in the comments below!

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Edited and co-written by Angryjon