Looking towards the future of Yu-Gi-Oh! is very interesting with new support for previous themes, as cards from previous years have players looking at them once again.
Today, starting with this article, we are going to try out a new format where price changes are now presented via attached images instead of written paragraphs. This way, it’ll be easier to digest them now. With that, let’s dive right into it.
With Maze of the Master soon to be legal, we have entered into a format ruled by Droll & Lock Bird. After your opponent adds a card(s) from their Main Deck to their hand, aside from drawing them during the Draw Phase, you can send this card from your own hand to the GY, and by doing so, neither player can add any more cards from their Decks to the hand for the rest of that turn. As a dominant floodgate card, it’s great against nearly every Deck that relies on searching key pieces to get their combos going. It is especially great against Decks like Ryzeal with the new additions of Seventh Ascension and Seventh Tachyon to their strategy.
Even though this card has many prints, the Ultimate Rare copy from OTS Tournament Pack 8 has seen a mass buyout. With this card’s most sought-after rarity getting bought up, it has many different reprints from Quarter Century Secret Rares down to Commons for easier accessibility.
Many Ryzeal Decks over the past month have been creative with their tech choices and have opted into running Ghost Reaper & Winter Cherries. This card is a wonderful Side Deck choice going into a format if you expect to have many matches against the same Deck. By revealing a Ryzeal Detonator or Ryzeal Duo Drive with this card’s effect, you can banish all your opponent’s copies from their Extra Deck. Banishing any of those cards in particular cuts them off from being able to extend through other hand traps or end on a 3 material Ryzeal Detonator. The cherry on top of all this is that Ghost Reaper & Winter Cherries can be activated any time your opponent controls more monsters than you do, which can be easy enough to meet. This card could also be useful against other expected Decks in the format by banishing cards like Maliss <Q> White Binder or Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon from Maliss and Blue-Eyes Decks to halt what they can do.
Like Droll & Lock Bird, Ghost Reaper & Winter Cherries has multiple accessible rarities, while the Quarter Century Secret Rare from Quarter Century Bonanza is harder to get since it only comes in that rarity. The Ultimate Rare from OTS Tournament Pack 20 is also hard to get too.
Next up on the list is Disablaster the Negation Fortress. This card was recently released in The Infinite Forbidden and has gained traction from the new K9 strategy from Deck Build Pack: Justice Hunters. This Pendulum Monster is great for the Deck as not only is it a free extender to put a Level 5 monster on board, but it also negates any card effect activated in this card’s column. With this, it is able to shut off specific continuous effects your opponent has in the columns of the Pendulum Zones. This card is pretty easy to set up too, since it can Special Summon itself from your hand to a column with no cards in it, albeit only once per turn this way.
It was recently picked up by players as a great way to negate certain cards in its column and be a free Level 5 to summon off of K9 – #66a Jökull (YGOrganization Translation) from the hand or K9 – #66b Lantern (YGOrganization Translation) from the GY. Only coming in as an Ultra Rare and Quarter Century Secret Rare, this card will have a home in the new Rank 5 Deck players are highly anticipating.
Another card many players have been picking up for K9 is Number 67: Pair-a-Dice Smasher. This card has always been picked up over the past years. It’s been out of memes, and people have joked that it would be good, but this time… it’s quite decent? As it takes 2 or more Level 5 monsters, it is easy for K9 to Xyz Summon this card. During your Main Phase 1, you detach 2 materials from this card to have both players roll a six-sided die twice. The player unfortunate enough to have the higher total gets locked out of monster effects and attack declarations until the end of the next turn. If you’re worried about this card backfiring on you, do not worry, as there’s a way to make this far less likely. If this card still has a material and any player rolls a die, you can treat 1 of the results as 7, guaranteeing that your opponent will have the higher roll 90% of the time.
Even though this card has only had 1 print from Battles of Legend: Relentless Revenge as a Secret Rare, many copies have flown off the market in the past few days because K9 is able to utilize it as a Number 16: Shock Master-like card to shut out your opponent’s monsters.
(If I had a nickel for every time an Xyz Monster locks your opponent from using monster effects, I’d have 6 nickels; it shouldn’t be that many, but it is.)
New Monarchs are on the horizon, so players have been looking at Delg the Dark Monarch from Starstrike Blast and Duelist League 17 as this card hasn’t seen a reprint in a long while. Being able to banish up to 2 cards from your opponent’s GY, and sending the same amount of cards from the top of your opponent’s Deck is amazing in today’s game. Eliminating specific cards your opponent needs to progress their turn can be crucial if they were to lose access to them. Banishing cards like Blue-Eyes White Dragon for Blue-Eyes or even getting rid of Fiendsmith cards can have a massive impact on the late game. Getting to search this card from your Deck off of Rebellion of the Monarchs (YGOrganization Translation) or Scheme of the Monarchs (YGOrganization Translation) could spell disaster for your opponent.
Hopefully, this card receives a recent reprint soon, as it is the only Monarch monster to not have one. It is a great option to tutor for, as you can use Tessera the Prime Squire (YGOrganization Translation) to progress your turn and allow you to summon another Squire when Tessera is sent to the GY.
A card that I missed last week for the topic of missing reprints in Maze of the Master was Savage Strike’s Trickstar Divaridis. Yes, this card somehow missed out on a reprint for that set and is locked to Ultra Rare rarity. Even though it is a Link-2 Link Monster, it needs 2 Level 3 or lower Trickstar monsters to Summon it, and you can only control 1 copy of this card. It is another card that inflicts 200 damage to your opponent when it is Link Summoned, and whenever your opponent Normal or Special Summons a monster. Now, the tick of 200 damage doesn’t seem much, but when you add in other cards like Trickstar Light Stage, which deals an additional 200 damage when a Trickstar monster you control inflicts battle or effect damage, this can add up fast in combination with cards like Trickstar Reincarnation and Trickstar Lycoris.
Even if this card has a single print, it is still open for a reprint in sets like Quarter Century Stampede or Battles of Legend: Monster Mayhem. Being a neat Link-2 for the Deck is great, so you can utilize it to go into your Link-3s like Trickstar Foxglove Witch or Trickstar Bella Madonna to get more Trickstar names in the GY.
Buster Whelp of the Destruction Swordsman was around $5 when it was first covered weeks ago, but now it has nearly tripled in price. Players have been having some success with the Buster Blader Blue-Eyes Deck in the current meta as Blue-Eyes sets its mark as one of the top 5 Decks of the current format. When Whelp is Normal Summoned, you can add a Destruction Sword card from your Deck to your hand, except for another Buster Whelp. This is great since it can search your Prologue of the Destruction Swordsman. By being a Level 4 or lower Dragon Monster, you can link away your Buster Whelp for Spirit with Eyes of Blue, which allows you to go into your Blue-Eyes line. On your opponent’s turn, you can activate your Set Prologue of the Destruction Swordsman, which sends 1 Buster Blader and 1 Destruction Sword Memories from your Deck to the GY to Special Summon 1 Buster Dragon from your Extra Deck. While Buster Dragon is on your field, all monsters your opponent controls become Dragons. Then on the resolution of Prologue of the Destruction Swordsman, you can use the GY effect of Destruction Sword Memories by banishing itself to Fusion Summon Buster Blader, the Dragon Destroyer Swordsman, by banishing both a Buster Blader and a Dragon monster. With that all done, you now have the Buster lock. While Buster Blader, the Dragon Destroyer Swordsman is on the field, All Dragon monsters your opponent controls are changed to Defense Position, also, Dragon monsters in your opponent’s possession cannot activate their effects. A deadly combo to watch out for as Blue-Eyes will gain more traction heading into a new format if Konami plans on hitting both Ryzeal and Maliss.
It’s still sad to say that Buster Whelp of the Destruction Swordsman still only has 1 print, and hopefully we get to see it shine in a future reprint set or an OTS Tournament Pack.
Finally, I think it is right to cover the last Bystial monster I haven’t covered yet, The Bystial Lubellion. This card is the head of the Bystial Engine as it can search any of your Bystial monsters and can also place your Branded Regained from your Deck to the field. With 2 Secret Rares and a Quarter Century Secret Rare print, this card is harder to obtain than the others and has been going up over the past few months. Decks have been using a full Bystial Package against decks like Maliss, after they used their banishing effect or even against Fiendsmith by banishing their pieces one by one. Lubellion is also great for other purposes as a simple Link Material, or an Xyz Material for a Rank 8 in Decks that utilize it with other Level 8 monsters or the Horus Engine.
Over the past few months, players have been hoping that all the Bystial monsters are going to be in Quarter Century Stampede, but we will have to wait and see what will happen for these highly sought-after hand trap and extender-like monsters.
I hope you all like the new article format today. Let’s see how much the game changes once Maze of the Master is released to the public.
Edited and co-written by Angryjon
