Yu-Gi-Oh Card Review: Flashing Carat Dragon - Stardust

Hello readers. I hope you enjoyed my LC03 opening. I was thinking about what to post for the last couple of days, but then suddenly this surfaced...

What you are looking at is the manga equivalent of Stardust Dragon, called Flashing Carat Dragon - Stardust. While it looks identical, not just the dragon itself but it's level, attribute, attack, defense and type, it  boasts a different effect. 

1 Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner monsters

Once per turn, during either player's turn: You can target 1 card on the field; that target cannot be destroyed this turn. While this card is face-up on the field, it's name is treated as "Stardust Dragon"

So how has this change in effect kept it worth reviewing? 

Well Stardust's ability to negate a card once a turn and come back in the end phase meant it was not a sitting duck after it had used it's effect. It could zip in and out of the playing field and stopped stuff like Zenmaines as well as another destruction card earlier in the turn. It's always proven itself to be a powerful tool that can seal games when timed correctly. 

But this card is different, it's not so much about quantity, it's about quality. You sometimes don't want your Stardust Dragon to be in the graveyard. You want it on the field to keep your life points safe. But Carat allows for it to select any card (Including itself) and stop it being destroyed. It means that if a card like, let's say, Dark Hole, activates: Stardust has to leave the field while Carat can just protect itself and any advance made that turn is useless since it can't be destroyed by battle either. In that scenario, Stardust is better when you have a field of 5 monsters, but if you actually managed that and didn't win last turn, then you pretty much deserve to lose your field.

Because of the way the game has become, it's not about amassing an army to beat your opponent to death. We have 2 Torrential Tribute, Mirror Force and Bottomless Trap Hole. All of these cards are played at their max numbers and overextending your field is just not going to happen. However being able to make a single 2500 beater that can't be destroyed will keep putting in work turn after turn.

And we haven't even started on the second effect. Because it's treated as Stardust Dragon, you can use Formula Synchron to make Shooting Star Dragon as well. You can also summon Stardust Xiaolong from your graveyard when it's summoned. It's not a huge deal, but it's better than nothing.

Seriously, I can't wait for this card to come out. While synchros are no where near played as much as they used to, many decks can make it and this card is absolutely brutal. If you've played against Constellar Omega on the Dueling Network recently, you'll understand how frustrating monsters like that can be.

Until next time, The TCG Lover out!

Shadow of the Six Samurai - Shien Card Review

(17/06/2012) NOTE: This card review was before we found out it only boosted to 2000 attack. This review is discussing it when it made the monster 3000 attack. I am aware that it drastically affects the playability of the card but I am not going to re-review it since a lot of what I have said below is still relevant. 


- TheTCGLover 



Good day to you my well informed and innovative readers. The battle pack scurry has died down a bit now (In the UK anyway. You guys get your boxes tomorrow). Now it's time to move on to the next interesting products that Konami is throwing in our direction (more specifically: our wallets) which is the next structure deck.

The Structure Deck: Samurai Warlords is an attempt to rekindle the power of the six samurai. It's designed to cater to the TCG competitive scene so it will have great reprints of playable cards, rather than crappy techs like Kunai with chain or Marauding Captain (I don't hate the card, but they keep throwing him in decks and it's got to stop). Some of the cards of the archetype were difficult to get hold of (like Kizan. The card is still like $10 which is ridiculous).

Anyway, to give them a new edge, they added a new boss monster to their arsenal called...

Shadow of the Six Samurai - Shien

 With 2500 attack, it rivals power with Legendary Six Samurai - Shi en, so there's no need to worry about which card is stronger. In case you did not know, this card is the exalted form of Kagemusha of the Six Samurai (They both have the same hair), which might account for it's 400 defence. It needs 2 level 4 Six Samurais to summon it, which is pretty easy. Lets take a look at it's effect:

 Once per turn, During either player's turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card to target 1 face-up "Six Samurai" monster you control with less than 3000 ATK; its original ATK becomes 3000 until the End Phase.

So yeah, you can detach one of it's materials, and one of your Six Samurais goes up to 3000. With that, you can run over your opponent's bigger monsters or if you control another Six Samurai, you can pump that and attack for up to 5500 damage right there, which is pretty nice.

But it's also usable on your opponent's turn. If they attack you, you can pump your monster and win the battle, therefore making your monsters invulnerable to battle unless you're going up against an Obelisk or something.

You can also consider the fact that Enishi and Kizan both gain extra attack while there are 2 other Samurais on the field with them, making them 3500 and 3300 attack under this effect, respectively. It even makes Kageki a 4500 powerhouse!

However, while this card increases the OTK potential of the deck, the deck's aggression was justified by having a good level of control through Shi en's negation effect and Musakani Magatama. This card is great when your opponent's backrow is empty but when it's not, it's got no real way to keep itself alive when your opponent uses Dark hole or Torrential Tribute. And when your opponent Fiendish Chains it, it's a sitting duck which is a -1 until you run something over.

The card is really something that the deck needed. Like Dino Rabbits, the deck needed outside help to get over the bigger monsters (Forbidden Lance mostly) but with this, you don't need to waste deck space for that, allowing for more versatility.

One more interesting point. The card can be summoned with Gateway of the Six by removing 6 counters. That's another way to potentially OTK for no cost whatsoever. Seriously Konami?

Anyway that's pretty much it for the card. The card is powerful, makes other cards powerful and is an extra 2 counters onto Gateway. What's not to love?

Until next time, TheTCGLover out!

Yu-Gi-Oh Card Review: Aspiring Emperor Hope/ Number 39: Utopia

Hello once again readers. After looking on the wiki (If you don't use it, why not?) and it seems like the next yu-gi-oh related item to be released by Konami is the 2011 starter deck. This deck is no ordinary starter deck, it marks the beginning of a new era in duel monsters: Exceed monsters. This starter deck comes with 3 Exceed monsters and a bunch of the new protagonist's monsters (Which are not very good).

The starter deck comes with Yuma's ace monster, Aspiring Emperor Hope or as it's called in the TCG, Number 39: Utopia (Which i will call it from now on)

Exceed monsters look so badass

This Exceed monster is a Rank 4 (I'm going to have to get used to saying rank) and to exceed summon it, you must overlay 2 level 4 monsters on your field. It's got the standard 2500 attack and 2000 defence like all of the previous protagonist's ace monsters had. It's a light attribute, so it works with Honest and other light support. It's effect is pretty good:

When a monster on the field declares an attack, you can remove 1 exceed material from this card (Which you have 2 upon summon) to negate the attack. When this card is attacked while it has no exceed materials on it, destroy it.

So its got a good effect and a bad one. With a possible 2 attack negations, that can be the difference between surviving a swarm and losing to it. However, i would never recommend using both negations unless its necessary since you can just get attacked by a weak monster and it destroys itself (Meklord's don't mind that though). This negation effect is comparable to something like Necro guardna and that card's limited on the banlist. While it might not be as versatile as guardna, its still good.

The best part of exceed monsters is how easy it is to bring them out. They don't ask for a specific monster, just its level. There are so many level 4 monsters that can bring out more level 4s and bring this card out:

• Gravekeeper's spy: It lets you special summon any gravekeeper from your deck with less than 1500 attack, so just grab another spy and exceed summon on your turn.
• Batteryman AAA: While this card sucks in general, it is a level 4 that lets you special summon another AAA from your hand or graveyard, so thats all good.
• Summoner monk: Ditch a spell and grab any level 4 from your deck then exceed summon, without having to wait a turn like spy.

But the best way to get a bunch of rank 4 exceed monsters on the field at once is with the Gadget + Ultimate offering combo. All you have to do is activate ultimate offering, summon a gadget and add a new one to your hand. There you can just pay 500 life points and summon the gadget you just added to your hand and then you can get another gadget from your deck. Repeat this process and you will now have 5 gadgets on the field for the cost of 2000 life points from ultimate offering. You can just overlay 2 of them and exceed summon Utopia and since you have 3 left on the field, you can exceed summon another utopia. Now that you have freed up 2 monster slots on your field, you can just summon 2 more gadgets and exceed another utopia. Overall it cost you 3000 life points, but now you have 3 Utopias on the field and a gadget. With those utopias you can negate up to 6 attacks!

Because of that malicious combo, you can expect Ultimate offering to be limited or even banned come september.

So thats it. Exceeds are going to hit this game with its versatile summoning conditions and hopefully, their effects will rival that of the first synchro monsters.

I shall be picking up a few starter decks for myself, and i suggest that you do too.

Yu-Gi-Oh Card Review: T.G. Hyper Librarian

Blogger is so stupid sometimes. I made a card review a couple of days ago about Meklord Astro Mekanikle. for some reason, its disappeared. And its not a decent enough card to make me want to review it again. (I apologize to anyone who has been waiting since wednesday for a new blog entry).
So i'll skip it and move along to the 3rd and most anticipated Nationals Prize Card, T.G. Hyper Librarian

Draw power at his fingertips.

This level 5 synchro monster has got a very nice 2400 attack and 1800 defence. That's really good on a level 5, since with that 2400 attack, it can go toe-to-toe with a monarch if it really needs to, but so can Magical Android so its not a huge deal. The 1800 defence means it's a decent defence if it so happens to be switched into defence. For some weird reason, it's a DARK attribute. That makes it chaos fodder but apart from that i would have preferred LIGHT so it would work with Honest. However, it does not require any specific non-tuners or tuners. You can just summon it with Junk synchron or Alien Ammonite or Legendary Six Samurai - Kageki and Kagemusha of the Six Samurai. There are so many ways to make a level 5 its not funny. But like all synchro monsters, big or small in level, it needs an effect to make the -1 (Using 2 monsters) upon summon worth it. This one does not disappoint:

While this card is face up, when a synchro monster is synchro summoned to the field, you must draw a card each time.

Wow. It's got one of those effects where you would read it the first time and think "That's not great", but 10 seconds later, you suddenly realise how many decks can abuse the hell out of this card. With synchro spamming being a big win condition in multiple decks, this card says "Please spam your extra deck and i'll reward you for it".

Not only does it reward you for doing it, you also draw whenever your opponent synchro summons. That means that if you spam the field with this card, your opponent will have to take down your front line to get to your life points and to do that, they will have to synchro summon. They can't get to you very easily if you have a 8 card hand on the beginning of every turn.

So what cards can you use with this card? Those are the synchro monsters that let you bring out more synchro monsters quicker, such as the Karakuri Synchros (They bring out a karakuri from your deck upon summon). Obviously, you can use the T.G. Archetype, which specialises in synchro summoning quickly, to get large amount's of draw. Another great card to use with Hyper Librarian is Formula synchron which will probably be the most abused combo out there. When Formula synchron is synchro summoned while Hyper Librarian is on your field, you can draw 2 cards then if you need to, you can synchro summon into black rose dragon on your opponent's turn for more advantage. Then you will have a light and dark in the graveyard for Chaos Sorcerer. With Hyper librarian, there are just too many decks that can take advantage of it's draw power.

Fortunately, most of the yu-gi-oh community is anticipating this card will be banned in september, giving it only a couple of months to reign terror in our game. However, i personally feel with Exceeds debuting around the same time, the synchro mechanic will slowly fizzle away. People may disagree with me on that, but no more tuners are going to be made either, so it just seems to me that this card joined the party a little past due. Therefore, i think Konami will put this card to 1, but im not 100% certain on that since you only need 1 Librarian on the field to gain advantage. It's a bit like heavy storm in the sense that when it's around, it completely reshapes the game and you have to play with that certain card in mind at all times. If you know your opponent has this card avaliable to him/her, you will have to synchro summon when it's not on the field, and play defensively when it is. There is no other synchro monster that does that.

Yu-Gi-Oh Card Review: Tour Guide From The Underworld

The past few days, a couple of the TCG exclusives for Extreme Victory have been surfacing, one of which was accidental, like this one.

I give you, Tour Guide From The Underworld

One of the best artworks i've seen in a while.

Konami told us about a month ago that they are getting ready for the new exceed summoning which debuts in the TCG in August. They wanted to give the players an easy way to get the requirements to exceed summon (Having two or more monsters of the same level on your field), and this card is proof.

Its got 1000 attack and 600 defence. Thats not really important though, because i doubt you will be using it for attacking.

When this card is normal summoned, you can special summon one level 3 fiend type from your hand or deck. Its effects are negated, and it cant be used as synchro material.

This means that you summon this card, special summon a level 3 fiend, and exceed into a rank 3 monster. Thats the jist of it anyway. However, this card can special summon quite a few interesting monsters, albeit their effects will be negated. The best card i can think of is sangan. You can simply exceed into a rank 3, remove sangan from the exceed monster, and search for any card you want. And it replaces the card you used in your hand in the first place.

This card can also fetch infernity Necromancer. While its effects are negated, its a 2000 wall which when sent to the graveyard, can be brought back with Infernity Launcher for many Shenanigans. Or if you really want to, you can special summon a second copy of tour guide.

But after researching all the possible targets this card can special summon, its actually quite limited. Since it can only special summon a level 3 fiend-type, many good cards dont fit into that catagory.

Well, at least you can attack with the monster you summoned, as well as Tour guide itself.

Yu-Gi-Oh Card Review: Spirit Reaper

Happy monday duelists. Over the weekend i played in my local tournament and did not do too well. In my Locals, the first match of the tournament is essential to come first, and i had a tough matchup. He was running Light beat/shining, blinged out with warnings and dualitys. I almost triumphed but a topdecked miracle fusion saved him.

After the match ended and the win was declared to the judge, the guy next to me said "Was your opponent using The Shining? Its not a legal card yet". Frankly, I felt cheated. I did win my other 3 matches of the tournament with ease (Lightsworns still got it, folks.)

Anyway, todays card is Spirit reaper

The definition of Evil in a single card.

This little beaut has 300 attack and 200 defence. That's pretty bad, but lets have a look at the effect.

This card cannot be destroyed in battle. If this card is targeted by a spell, trap or monster effect, it is destroyed (after the card has resolved, i'll talk more about this). Lastly, if you attack directly with this card, you randomly discard one card from your opponent's hand.

Spirit reaper has always been good. It has the potential to bring your opponents deck to a standstill. If your opponent has just used Pot of Duality and you can tell that he/she is planning to make a big swarm next turn, a well timed spirit reaper can save you from an OTK. But the best part of its effect is the discard.

With the ability to discard your opponent's cards from their hand with a poke, your opponent is put at an immense pressure to use precious removal to take it out. I'm talking about Mirror force or Dimensional prison, which is a card that your opponent would rather have used on a big beatstick, especially if you have this card and a high attack monster on the field. Your opponent can either kill your big monster and discard a card, or take out reaper and take a huge hit, and have to take it down next turn.

So here we have, a monster that does not want to leave the field and it can completely wreck your opponent's hand.

The downside is that it's destroyed when targeted. Most of the time, cards that target destroy anyway so it's not really a problem. Since spirit reaper's effect activates after the card has resolved, it is not destroyed when it has been flipped face down by Book of Moon. However, if you are planning on bringing it back from the graveyard with Limit reverse or Call of the Haunted, forget about it.

The reason why i'm really reviewing this card is because of its new Semi-Limited status. With 2 in your deck, your opponent will be hard pressed to get an attack through without plenty of monster removal. And combined with cards like Ultimate Offering and monster reborn, 2 spirit reapers attacking directly can deplete your opponent's resources instantly, and 600 damage is not too shabby at all.

I have an urge to make a new decklist on my channel utilising spirit reaper to its full potential. Maybe with Gadgets and 3 Smashing/Fissure to keep their field open. The possibilities are endless. Spirit Reaper format is now, duelists.

Yu-Gi-Oh Card Review: Malefic Cyber End Dragon

Hey people. For today i want to review a Malefic card. It's arguably the best malefic card made, definitely in my opinion anyway.

Bring on Malefic Cyber End Dragon!!!

Zane would be too good if he had this...

This 4000 attack beatstick follows suit with all of his evil friends. It cannot be normal summoned or set and it cannot be special summoned except by sending its good half (in this case, a normal cyber end dragon) from your extra deck to the graveyard. There can only be one Malefic on the field at once and other monsters you control cannot attack. Also, if there is no field spell on the field, destroy this card.

That's alot of nonsense on a card. But if you run field spells, you can now run a powerhouse that can be special summoned when you need it. 4000 attack is a rediculous amount of attack power. Combine it with limiter removal and that's game.

It's so powerful that you will rarely ever have a reason to put it into defence position. It's mighty attack allows it to be chained onto Deck Devastation Virus to wipe your opponent's hand clear of weak monsters. But why are Malefic monsters getting good?

Simply, its the power of the newly unlimited Skill Drain. It allows you to negate the effects of all the monsters on the field. For Malefic monsters, that means:

- You don't need a field spell on the field to keep it alive.
- You can summon multiple Malefic monsters at once, and you can summon yours in a mirror match if your opponent has a Malefic on the field
- Best of all, you can attack with all of your Malefic monsters, and all of your non-malefic monsters!

This card is the best because you have to send Cyber End Dragon from your Extra Deck to the Graveyard. That means that you dont need to put unnecessary monsters in your main deck to bring this beast out. It also has Attack points on par with Malefic Rainbow Dragon, but you need to run a Rainbow Dragon in your deck to use that.

I hope to see someone take a Malefic deck to the top in YCS Charlotte, because they really are a force to be reckoned with!

Yu-Gi-Oh Card Review: Vylon Disigma

Wow. It's almost been a week since i last posted. I apologise to all my readers who come on a daily basis, i had a busy weekend.

Anyway, in the distant future, we will have Exceed monsters. They are quite honestly, a walk in the park to summon on most occasions. I would go over how they are summoned, but just search exceed summon on google and you will get a clear explanation.

Today's Review is the only half-decent Exceed monster ive seen so far. Yuma's ace synchro is far from good, but this one is actually playable. Some say its the new Goyo Guardian, but thats far from the truth.

Introducing: Vylon Disigma

GoyoTastor!

This Fairy type is a Rank 4 and requires 3 level 4 monsters to summon it. That is incredibly easy to accomplish. I'm talking Wulf, Lightsworn beast, Batteryman AAA (Or as Kevin Tewart calls it, Batteryman Dance party), Or any level 4 machine type with less than 500 attack and machine duplication.

It's got 2500 attack, which seems standard for a beater these days. Machina fortress, Stardust dragon and Legendary Six Samurai - Shi en are good examples of why 2500 is the magical number. It's got 2100 defence, which isnt too bad if you need to go on the defensive. With this monsters effect, thats not a bad idea at all:

Once per turn, you can remove 1 of this card's exceed materials (You should have 3 under disigma when its summoned) to select one face-up attack position monster your opponent controls and equip it to this card. When this card battles, if the opposing monster has an attribute that matches the attribute of a monster equiped to Disigma, then you can destroy that monster at the start of the damage step.

Wow. This is Goyo Guardian and Catastor's Child, and He's proof that evolution really does pay off. Upon summon, this card is a -2 (you need 3 monsters to summon it, and 1 monster goes in their place) but every time you use its goyo effect, you +2 (You get a monster, they lose that monster). Thats impressive.

So if you nab their DARK monster and attack their DARK monster, their monster is immediately destroyed. So even if that mediocre 2500 attack can't get over their beatstick, the effect should take care of them.

While thats all good, there are 2 problems i can see with this card:
- The monsters are equipped: That does NOT mean the same as overlaid. The equipped monster will reside in your spell and trap card zone, so you cannot use them for the goyo effect. You cannot attack with those monsters or use their effects either. If you take their Shi en, you cannot negate spells and traps. But if you could, this card would be absolutely outright broken.
- You cant take their face down cards. Which is good, but that means cards like Ryko completely destroy it.

This card works really well against decks that rely on one attribute, like Blackwings, but not Six Samurai, which is a shame. But if you manage to nab 2-3 monsters of different attributes, then your opponent will find it hard to take Disigma down, and the monster reborn in their hand is sitting there with nothing to resurrect.

This card should be released in Hidden arsenal 6 (I think. By my logic, Hidden arsenal 5 will have Duel terminals 9 and 10, so Hidden arsenal 6 should have 11 and 12), which will probably come out around this time next year (SADFACE :( ). Nevermind eh? At least there is something to look forward to in all of this ZEXAL bull****.

Yu-Gi-Oh Card Review: Token Sundae

Its time for a fun review. Usually i review cards with the intention of raising their awareness or giving tips that the readers might not have noticed before. But todays card, Token Sundae, is purely because it made me LOL when i saw it.

Goblins eating Lamb tokens. Now I've seen everything...

This spell card has a simple effect, but one of those effects that make you think of all the possibilities with this card. You can destroy all your tokens and destroy cards on the field up to the number of tokens destroyed.

Now, tokens are summoned by many card effects. There are some metagame cards that use tokens, like Gorz the emissary of darkness or Dandylion, but i doubt you want to use those tokens for a card like this.

But there are other cards that summon many tokens. Cosmic compass, a monster from Storm of Ragnarok, lets you summon up to 4 tokens depending on the number of monsters your opponent controls. You can use Token Sundae and destroy up to 4 cards on your opponent's field (those monsters), and it only cost you 2 cards.

Other useful cards that summon tokens are Scapegoat (The very same ones in the artwork of this card!) and Phantom Skyblaster, which might see play depending on the rulings of exceed monsters.

But the card is situational. While you can have 20 monsters that summon tokens, sometimes you just wont have them on the field. There might be hope however: You can use 3 Token sundae, 3 Kuriboh, 2-3 Flute of summoning kuriboh and 3 detonate to have a consistent combo that lets you destroy many cards. Add some high attack monsters like Machine emporer wisel (which will be a secret rare in Extreme Victory) and you have a potent win condition that your opponent will have a hard time coming back from.

Yu-Gi-Oh Card Review: Dimensional Alchemist

Here's an obscure card for today. The banlist is today and Chaos Sorcerer is at 3. Many players are attempting to take them to tier one and beyond.

One of the key cards in that deck is Dimensional Alchemist.

He fetches your fader from beyond the grave.

This LIGHT fairy type monster has a sub-par 1300 attack and 200 defence. Those stats are really bad on a level 4. But its effect is why it works so well in chaos.

Once per turn, you can remove the top card from your deck from play and it gains 500 attack. When this card is destroyed. When its destroyed and sent to the graveyard, return one monster from your removed from play to your hand.

Its first effect means you now have a 1800 attack monster, which is something we can get over things with. While 1900 would have been much more delicious, 1800 will do. Its second effect is absolutely beautiful. This card will +0 most of the time, and there are so many cards that you can get back to your hand and abuse. Here's a list of my favourite:

• Battle fader - Save yourself from another direct attack
• Genex Ally Birdman - use it again and tribute for the caius you just bounced back to your hand
• Cyber Valley - Its versatile and all of its effects remove itself from play.
• Anything that your opponent removes - Bottomless Trap hole, Dimensional prison, Caius can all be countered with this card, but if Dimensional Alchemist is removed, it does not get its effect.

This card works so well in Chaos decks because firstly, Chaos sorcerer removes 2 monsters from your graveyard so you can get them back. Honest anyone?

Secondly, this card is a light monster itself, so run three of these and all the darks you would normally run in a chaos deck, and you have a pretty consistent deck.

If you play competitively, make sure you look out for Chaos decks this format!

What Konami has planned for us: 2011

Here is a statement released by Konami showcasing all the stuff they plan to release in the first half of 2011:


EL SEGUNDO, CA (February 10, 2011) – Fresh off a successful 2010 holiday season, Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. (Konami) is poised to further strengthen its position in 2011 with a series of new Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME (TCG) releases. Announced today, these products will be showcased in the Konami Booth #5423 (Hall 1) at the American International Toy Fair to be held at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City from February 13-16.

“The Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME has been a cornerstone of our business. We strive to continually add meaningful content to each of our new product releases. From the budding Duelist and the competitive level player to our hobby and mass market retail partners, we are confident that this year’s product line-up will satisfy everyone and position us for another very successful year,” said Yumi Hoashi, vice president, Card Business for Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.
Debuting in late February, Yu-Gi-Oh! 3D: Bonds Beyond Time portrays a sinister Duelist who is collecting the most powerful monsters from throughout history and can only be stopped if the heroes of all three Yu-Gi-Oh! animated series: Yugi, Jaden and Yusei join forces. To celebrate this second Yu-Gi-Oh! feature film, Yu-Gi-Oh! 3D: Bonds Beyond Time Movie Pack releases February 22. This special pack (MSRP $4.99), closely follows the movie theme and includes the warped and twisted “Malefic” monsters, used by the movie’s time-traveling villain. Each pack includes five random Secret Rare cards from the movie.

Coming in like a lion, on March 8, Structure Deck: Dragunity Legion unleashes its brand new monster theme combining Celtic Dragons with Winged Beasts from ancient Rome. Highly disciplined and militaristic, Dragunity Decks work because the bigger Dragunity monsters can wield the smaller ones as living weapons! Structure Deck: Dragunity Legion (MSRP $9.99) is a great platform for Duelists of any skill level to build a Dragunity Deck for themselves. The set also includes five brand-new cards unavailable anywhere else.

On the heels of this month’s (February) launch of the Storm of Ragnarok booster set, March 22 is the release of Storm of Ragnarok Special Edition. Eagerly anticipated by fans for its great value (MSRP: $9.99), this box offers a second chance for glory, with three booster packs of Storm of Ragnarok plus one of two Super Rare variant cards: Light and Darkness Dragon or Hand of the Six Samurai.

To kick-off the second quarter, the 2011 Duelist Pack Collection Tin will be available on April 5. These cool black-tinted mini-tins commemorate Yusei’s battles against the villainous Dark Signers on the Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s animated series. Duelists looking to collect some of Yusei’s favorite monsters, Spells, and Traps can recreate his game-winning strategies from TV with these collectible Tins. Each Tin (MSRP: $9.99) includes three packs of Duelist Pack: Yusei 3 and one pack of Duelist Revolution. Additionally, to represent The Forces of Darkness, each Tin also includes four Synchro Monsters used by Yusei’s adversaries, the Dark Signers. Three of these are Super Rare reprints of hard-to-find Synchro Monsters previously released. The fourth is a brand new, Secret Rare Synchro Monster, never before seen!

Just in time for Easter shoppers, a third mighty Dragon of the Ice Barrier will be unleashed with the introduction of Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier in Hidden Arsenal 4: Trishula’s Triumph on April 19. The all-foil set includes 60 brand-new monsters including the super-powered Dragon Trishula, who’s a great addition to any Deck. Hidden Arsenal 4 (MSRP: $3.99) also contains ten Dragunity monsters, including two Dragunity Synchro Monsters, making it a perfect match with Structure Deck: Dragunity Legion.

May is a Duelist’s fantasy as three new products hit store shelves, beginning with the pitting of the ultimate Synchro Monsters against the ultimate anti-Synchros in the Extreme Victory booster set (MSRP $3.99) May 10. Extreme Victory takes Synchro Monsters to their ultimate extreme, with the new T.G. (Tech Genus) monsters. T.G. Decks are specially designed to crank out Synchro Monsters at a fast and furious pace. And they can do it repeatedly. Duelists can also put the smackdown by utilizing Meklords, a vast army of extremely hungry Synchro-destroying machines. When they see a Synchro Monster, Meklords simply devour it and use its powers for themselves! This set also includes new cards for many popular championship Decks, including Gladiator Beasts, Blackwings, Six Samurai and more. It’s the set for Duelists who don’t just want a victory – they want an Extreme Victory!

With all those new cards, Duelists will want to protect and show off their bounty! The Yugi & Slifer Card Sleeves (MSRP $3.99) available May 24 will help them do just that. These new high-quality card sleeves celebrate the groundbreaking Battle City storyline, by pairing-up Yugi with his first Egyptian God Card: Slifer the Sky Dragon! Battle City remains one of the most popular Yu-Gi-Oh! storylines ever created, so fans old and new will want to grab these Egyptian God Card sleeves while they last.

Rounding out the month of May with a bang, and with a sneak peek of things to come, is the 2011 Starter Deck. With a new Yu-Gi-Oh! animated series on the horizon, which introduces an all new kind of monster, fans will be sure to hurry to stores on May 31 to get these revolutionary monsters that make their North American debut in the 2011 Starter Deck (and in advance of August’s booster set featuring the new monsters). Serving two roles, the 2011 Starter Deck is designed to teach new players the ins & outs of the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG and to teach current players about this brand new category of monsters (MSRP: $9.99)!

The last release of Q2 will help to positively position Duelists for awesome battles with Duelist Pack: Crow, the first 5D’s Duelist Pack to focus on the a character other than Yusei Fudo. Blackwing Decks have been one of the most popular Decks in North America for two years running, and available on June 6, Duelist Pack: Crow (MSRP: $1.99) is the best way for everyone to jump on board the Blackwing bandwagon! This 30-card set features reprints of 25 of Crow’s most powerful Blackwing monsters, Spells, and Traps and it also has five brand-new Blackwing cards. Even experienced Blackwing champions will want to get these new cards for their Deck!
Keeping the millions of Duelists entertained and engaged during the summer months will be easy, as Konami has two releases set for July. First is the introduction of Hidden Arsenal Special Edition on July 12 (MSRP: $9.99), which gives Duelists another chance at the first three Hidden Arsenal releases; jam packed into one epic product! Each Special Edition will also include one of two Variant Cards of a highly sought-after key card from the Hidden Arsenal monster themes. This is an ideal product for Duelists who haven’t checked out Hidden Arsenal boosters yet and want to give them a shot, or for those who missed these packs the first time around.


On July 26, let the heavens open and the celestial fury of the planets themselves be unleashed with Structure Deck: Lost Sanctuary (MSRP: $9.99). This Deck gives Duelists control over the embodiments of the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn – plus the Sun itself! This 40-card, ready-to-play Deck is for Duelists who already know how to play, but are looking for a springboard to build a Deck of their own. (And also appeals to anybody looking for some good, clean planet-tossing fun.)

For more information on Konami and Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME, please visit www.yugioh-card.com.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Review: Legendary Six Samurai - Kizan

Happy Valentines Day people! And what a better way to celebrate a day like today with a card review about samurais.

I was debating on either Enishi or Kizan, but i came to the conclusion that only a few people actually run Enishi, so thats pointless.

Here we have, The Legendary Six Samurai - Kizan!


This warrior type has 1800 attack and 500 defence. thats quite decent for a level 4 monster, but it gets better.

If you control another six samurai monster, other than a Kizan, you can special summon it from your hand. and while you control 2 or more other Six-Samurai monsters, this card gains 300 ATK and DEF.

So with 2 other six samurai on your field, thats a 2100 beater that you just special summoned. That is extremely impressive. With Gateway of the six, thats 2 more counters (which if you normal summoned a Six Samurai before, thats a total of 4 counters, which means a free search)

With 3 Kizans and 3 Grandmaster of the six samurai, you can just keep special summoning out the wazoo every turn (Incase you didn't notice, Kizan is Grandmaster when he was younger, just like Enishi is a younger Enishi - Shien's chancellor).

You can also use Kizan to synchro with Shien's squire (A level 1 tuner also released in Storm of Ragnarok) to make Legendary Six Samurai - Shi en.

Lets just put it this way. If you want to play six samurais and you want to be considored any good at this game, then you must max out on Kizan.

Which brings me to the price. Now that STOR has been officially released, Kizan's price has sharply risen from $30 (around £20) to $50 (around 30-35). Thats no surprise that it's worth this much.

So how do you beat it?

• Thunder King Rai-Oh: Legendary Six Samurai - Kizan is an inherent summon (Like Cyber Dragon)
• Solemn warning and Solemn Judgment: stops the summoning and they don't get any counters
• Black Horn of heaven: Same as Thunder King Rai-Oh but in trap form.
• Puppet plant: If they have not already swarmed the field and wiped you out, you can use puppet plant during your turn to take their kizan. But if i were you, i would use your puppet plant on Shi en to stop them negating your spells and traps with it.
• Negate their normal summon: Legendary Six Samurai - Kizan needs another Six Samurai on the field to special summon itself. Take out their normal summon and their Kizan/Grandmaster in their hand is a dead card.

Yu-Gi-Oh Card Review: Valkyrie of the Nordic Ascendant

Happy thursday readers!

Today, i want to review one of the nordics, since i haven't actually reviewed one yet. I was a bit undecisive but i finally chose Valkyrie of the Nordic Ascendant.


This little fairy tuner has 400 attack and 800 defence. It's a level 2 which makes 400 attack a little low, but it's effect is why you should run 2-3 in any nordic deck.

When you normal summon this card, if your opponent controls a monster and you have no other cards on the field, you can remove from play two nordic monsters from your hand to special summon two Einherjar tokens in defence position, which have 1000 attack and defence, and are level 4.

Now instantly, this effect should be screaming "Level 10" or more specifically "Odin" in your head right now. With Valkyrie at level 2, and the two tokens at level 4 each, thats level 10 in total. And now you have all you need to synchro summon Odin, Father of the Aesir. There is no easier way to summon him than this card.

Also, Valkyrie lets you remove from play any 2 nordic monsters for its effect. That could be Tanngrisnir of the nordic beasts and Svartalf of the nordic alfar, or whatever you want.

But, i think the best two cards you can remove from your hand are two other Valkyries. With burial from a different dimension, you can summon Odin, wait for it to get destroyed, use his effect to remove the Valkyrie you used for its synchro summon, and then activate burial.

Now you have 3 ascendant tuners in your graveyard, which means Odin can revive 3 more times. If you can pull that combo off, then your opponent is in deep trouble.

The only downside is that if you dont summon odin successfully, then you have just -2 yourself because of the effect of Valkyrie.

Time for a nordic decklist.

Yu-Gi-Oh Card Review: Maxx "C"

In storm of ragnarok, we got introduced to all the exclusives somewhat late in january. To be honest, the exclusives were not a disappointment. We can agree with cards like Chaos hunter, Vanadis of the nordic ascendant and Karakuri muso mdl 818 "Haipa", they are welcome additions into our game.

But personally, there is one that stands out the most, and thats Maxx "C".

Someone needs to clean their kitchen.

This little army of "C"s have united to become 500 attack and 200 defence. While that might not sound like much, you should never find a reason to summon it. For its amazing effect activates in the hand.

During either player's turn, you can discard this card. When you do, whenever your opponent summons a monster this turn after you have discarded, you draw 1 card. And to stop stacking, you cannot activate more than one each turn.

When i first read this card, i felt a little underwhelmed. I started thinking more and more if this card could be mained in most decks. but i took a step back and realised something:
Even If you get only one draw from it, you have replaced the discard.

This card is a +0 no matter what (unless you randomly discard it). But you should be activating this card against cards that special summon.

Im talking about:
- Debris dragon
- Lonefire Blossom
- Dandylion
- Frogs (Im looking at ronintoadin and fishborg blaster)
- Scrap chimera
- Level eater
- Dark armed dragon

Seriously, there is absolutely no reason why you shouldn't run this card. Most of the time, you might chain this to a card that special summons something, draw a card, and now your opponent has a tough decision to go into a synchro summon and let you +1, or leave it as it is.

But, this card can also be a dead draw, especially against gadget's, anti-meta decks and stun decks since they rarely special summon.

This card is incredibly versatile. Since you can activate it on either turn, it even works against their call of the haunted when you have just attacked. If you can get hold of one of these, or you pull one, KEEP IT. Like effect veiler, this card will get played more and more with age.

And that's that. Im seeing the price around $30 for now like some of the other exclusives, but it's so good its bound to go up.

And incase you didn't know, the "C" stands for cockroaches.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Review: Karakuri Steel Shogun mdl 00X "Bureido"

Its time for tuesday's review! (if i will actually do a review every tuesday from now on, i dont know) And recently i've been building Karakuri's and putting in all the new cards from Storm of Ragnarok. In this set, they got a card that can special summon when it destroys monsters in battle, a 4 star tuner and a better Reinforcement of the army.

We also got introduced to Burei's Dad. presenting to you today, and i hope i wont have to write this name out ever again:

Karakuri Steel Shogun mdl 00X "Bureido"!


This level 8 Machine synchro monster has 2 cool effects, and is similar to Burei. When this card is synchro summoned, you can special summon one Karakuri monster from your deck. And once a turn, when a karakuri monster switches position on your side of the field, you can draw a card.

Wow. That's amazing. it has the same special summoning effect like its son (or younger brother, IDK), which allows you to push for game or synchro some more. And with the release of Karakuri Muso mdl 818 "Haipa", you can summon Bureido, special summon haipa and dish out a total of 4900 damage. Add a Limiter removal into the mix, and thats more than your opponent can handle.

And i have not even started with the second effect. Since karakuris change positions, you will almost certain get to draw an extra card every turn.

Good cards to use for its second effect:
- Strategist: Special summon this card with Bureido and switch its position with its effect, bureido kicks in and lets you draw a card.
- Burei: His second effect lets you switch a monsters battle position on the field, switch one of your karakuris and draw a card.
- Haipa: After its attacked, it gets switched into its weaker defence position. but with bureido, you draw.
- Karakuri Cash Cache: It lets you search for a monster, then switches the selected monster's position. you can draw there too since the position change is the last part of the card's effect.

and all of the non-synchro karakuris get switched into defence position when they are attacked, so you will always get a draw on your opponent's turn.

But how do you get this card out? its a level 8 and it requires a tuner and one or more machine type non-tuners. With Storm of Ragnarok, We now have Kuikku and Saizan. With Saizan in the graveyard, you can summon kuikku, destroy an opponent's monster with it, special Saizan in defence mode, and synchro for Bureido in your main phase two.

Or if you dont want to do that, you can always just special summon a cyber dragon, summon a strategist and theres your 8.

Karakuri's, like scraps, have really come into their own with an intricate set of combos and with all this new support, they can go toe to toe with the Six Samurai next format.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Review: Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En

For my next review, i've once again looked at what i pulled/traded for at the sneak i went to, and decided to review it. I kept pulling the Six samurai commons, including a few Smoke Signals. But i dont plan on making a deck on them, so i gave them away. As i said in my Vylon Delta review, i entered twice and got 10 packs, and one of my last packs had this:
Legendary Six Samurai - Shi en

Allow me to break your deck...

Now before i even begin reviewing this card, i want to stress the space in between Shi and En in its name. Its there for reason and its still pronounced Shee-en regardless of the space.

Ok. This Level 5 DARK synchro monster has 2500 attack and 1400 defence. Which is a beefy offensive point for a monster of its level. It requires a Warrior-Type tuner and 1 or more Six Samurai non-tuners. That is probably the most specific summoning requirement i've ever seen on a synchro monster, next to something like Chaos Goddess (1 light tuner and 2 dark non tuners i believe). But the new six samurai can get Shi en out with ease.

It has two powerful effects: Once a turn, you can negate a spell/trap card and destroy it. Also, if it were to be destroyed, you can destroy another six samurai you control instead.

That is incredible. It has been created to be one of the most annoying monsters in existance. for your opponent to remove a monster, they will have to waste tonnes of resources. Konami really did not give this card a weakness unlike most cards. Your opponent will really be in trouble when this card hits the field.

The best way to get this card out is with Legendary Six Samurai - Kageki and Kagemusha of the Six Samurai. Normal summon Kageki and special summon Kagemusha with its effect and you now have all the materials needed to summon Shi en.

So why is this card called Shi en and not Shien? Well, to my knowledge, if you have 6 bushido counters on gateway of the six, then you can remove them to special summon one "shien" effect monster from your graveyard. Since this card is Shi en and not Shien, you cannot special summon it with Gateway's effect.

So how do you get past a card like this? Well, this card negates destruction by battle or effect, so thats not an option. Like many cards, caius the shadow monarch can take it out and dish 1000 damage since Shi en is a Dark attribute. If you have Solemn warning, you can use that when Shi en is summoned since it cannot negate counter traps. Or you can waste your hand and take it out with a smashing ground (after using another spell/trap that they have negated).

One card i do suggest using against Shi en is Goyo Guardian. If you can get their Shi en to your side of the field, then you can start using it against them and negating their spells and traps.

But when two Shi en hit the field, there is little you can do. We will have to wait and see how well Six samurai do in the coming weeks.

Like Vylon Delta, i pulled this card and i was being offered numbers around the 30 mark for it. I dont see this card going down in price so i wouldn't suggest selling it right now until people get desperate and start offering 40+ for it.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Review: Vylon Delta

A couple of days before the sneak, i reviewed Vylon Matter. Which is like a pot of avarice for equip spell decks. But apart from that, there was another Vylon card released as an OCG import (number 99 of the set). I entered twice and pulled it so i decided to review it.

Introducing, Vylon Delta:


This card is a level 7 LIGHT synchro monster and hits the field with 1700 attack and 2800 defence. Its effect is simple: During YOUR end phase, add one equip spell from your deck to your hand.

A synchro using 2 synchro materials is a -1 to you (-2 when the materials are sent, and a +1 when the synchro monster hits the field which equals a -1), but its effect means that before your opponent's turn, you will +0 at the very least. And its a good +0 since you will be getting an equip spell of your choice (rather than power tool's choice from 3).

And that effect might happen more than once with its resistant 2800 defence. With a defence like that and an attack like 1700, its probably better to keep defending with it rather than trying to attack. But if you do want to attack, then its a LIGHT, which makes it usable with Honest.

However, this card is overall a bad card. You need a tuner and a Light non-tuner to synchro into it. thats not too bad, but that stops it from being splashable. Its effect is rather lacking (for now until we get Vairons in a future hidden arsenal set) and players dont really use Equip spells as much as they used to. Also, even though its got a beefy defence, its got no built in protection so all your opponent needs to do it activate a smashing ground, and thats that.

So yeah, as i said before, i entered twice and pulled this card from my first pack. I read the effect and was disappointed, but a friend wanted it for his Loki, and i was just happy that someone actually wanted it.

Where would you see this card being played? With its non tuner requirement, i can only see this card being played in its own archetype and Watts, since they both utilise equip spells and are light. But with synchro decks nearing their end and most extra decks being 15 cards, there is just no space for this guy. Not now, not ever.

My realisation on the new Legendary Six Samurai.

Since november, we had been introduced into the Legendary Six Samurai. Everyone including your grandma know that they're going to be huge. But after scanning through the new cards, for the 4-5th time since they were released. My fears were beginning to decrease.

I'm not saying they suck. But like many archetypes that are released, they rely on a single card to break them. All konami has to do is limit that one card, and that's the end of their reign.

In this case, the broken card is Gateway of the Six.

I have been comparing the new six samurai to when blackwings were released. With whirlwind at 3 and Gale at 3, the deck could swarm the field quickly and keep a fairly sized hand. The same applies to the new six samurai. With Gateway, you can swarm the field, gain counters, and increase your hand. But just like blackwings, When whirlwind was limited and gale was limited, it severely hurt the deck.

The problem with the new six samurai is that if you open up with no Gateway of the six, you can use Grandmaster and Kizan and Enishi to swarm the field, but you will deplete your hand to 0 instantly and all it takes is a dark hole or a sided warrior elimination to take you out. Because of that, i think the deck is too reliant on gateway and cant fend for itself without it.

Another example is Infernities back in may last year. Their Infernity launcher was outright broken, and it was released as a super rare, so it was accesible by anyone with a few dollars. Its ability to swarm with infernity archfiend allowed you to keep synchroing to free up monster slots (Mist wurm was really easy to make with the deck and opened up the field to OTK).

So in conclusion: The deck is consistent. It can produce mass plusses and OTK fairly quickly. But if your starting 6 card hand does not have a Gateway, then you are stuck for what you can do. If you decide to summon a few things then draw Gateway, then it will be a dead draw.

Oh and also, i keep forgetting to mention their synchro monster, shi en. Its too F****** broken and stops your opponent from doing anything. Just make sure to side some Caius to take it down for good.

Yu-Gi-Oh ZEXAL: Looks to be a pile of s***.

Yup. I caught my first glimpse of ZEXAL the other day: the successor to 5D's. I have been watching 5D's (subbed) on youtube and even though the story is completely random and still goes on about "friendship and bonds means i win", its still entertaining to watch. I saw episode 145 the other day and Yusei was dueling Bruno (Antimony). Bruno uses Tech genus cards which debut in Extreme Victory, which is the set after Storm of Ragnarok and releases into the OCG on February 11th.

So with 5D's finishing on episode 150 (Thats about 4 weeks of Yugioh 5D's left, folks), a new Yu-Gi-Oh follows. Which is called ZEXAL.

I have not read too much into it. But i know the story follows a character called Yuma who duels some bully from his school. And some crazy event occurs with some being called Astral.

To be completely honest, 5D's was surprisingly good because the characters were not 15 year olds. They were older and it catered to the older viewers (I'm looking at you, GX). But ZEXAL? It just looks to be a pile of crap.

and what's with the name? Aparrently, the X in ZEXAL is not said, so its just "zeal".

I will only watch this to see the new cards, unless its just like GX but set in the future. *shudders*

Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Review: Card Trooper

Hey guys. I'd like to review a card that has been in our TCG for a long time. Not as long as the beginning of the game, but long enough to be limited to 1 for around 3 years.

Today's card is Card Trooper!

This little machine type has 400 ATK and 400 DEF points. People might look at those stats and say "Wow, that sucks. Bin that S***". But its effect takes care of that.

Once per turn, you can send the top three cards of your deck to the graveyard to give this card 500 ATK for every card sent, until this turn's end phase. And when its destroyed, Draw a card.

Bam. Its a beautiful effect. It has something for every player whether you play competitively or not. Sending three cards turns this card into a 1900 beater that can get over most things. But the beautiful part is the milling. You just milled three cards, which is what decks like lightsworn and to be honest, most metagame decks out there love to do. And unlike lightsworn monster, you dont have to mill if you dont want to.

Second is the draw effect. No matter how this card gets destroyed, you will draw a card. And its not an optional effect either, so the timing cannot be missed. In my book thats a +1, and a beautiful one at that.

Also, this card works well with many other cards, here a few to name a list:
- Wulf, Lightsworn beast: Mill it with Card Trooper's effect and deal up to 4000 direct damage.
- Debris dragon: Special summon it with Debris Dragon, and since the milling in the first effect is a cost, you can use it! But you wont gain any attack points, Not that anyone is complaining.
- Judgment dragon: Another lightsworn, but destroy all the cards on the field with his effect and Draw a card with card trooper.
- Hell, any card that destroys things: I'm talking about Torrential Tribute, Dark hole, Lightning Vortex, Limiter removal etc.


But why is this card at 1? Well. The card is amazing as it is, but its not enough to bring it to one on its own. The reason why this card is limited is because when this card was released, people began to see it's potential with Machine duplication and Limiter removal (Two cards that were fine before Card Trooper came along). So Konami did the right thing and limit this card.

And they're right: Would you really want to be up against 3 of these pumped up to 3800 atk each?

The downside to this card is that it's a machine. And with Cyber dragon in many decks and Chimeratech fortress dragon in their extra deck to boot, they will take your trooper with their cyber dragon and -1 you. As well as around 2000 of your life points.