Photon Shockwave World Premieres pt.1

The sneak peak for Photon Shockwave is days away and the full list of cards is finally out on the internet. Rarity distribution is actually very well done considering some of our last sets. Hardly any secret rares in the set are bad, Most of the Ultras are good and a lot of the Supers are necessary for their decks. This means that PSHW should be well worth the purchase. As with every set, we get 10 World Premiere cards that often dictate how exciting the set will be. Let's take a look at these TCG Exclusive cards:

PHSW-EN000 Alexandrite Dragon
LIGHT Dragon
LV4 2000/100
Many of the czar's lost jewels can be found in the scales of this priceless dragon. Its creator remains a mystery, along with how they acquired the imperial treasures. But whosoever finds this dragon has hit the jackpot… whether they know it or not.
The Sneak peak giveaway card, Alexandrite Dragon is incredibly simple, yet worth keeping an eye on. As a normal monster, with 2000 attack, it has the highest attack available for a level 4 normal monster. As a "vanilla" it can be used with any of the Normal support we have(Birthright, Symbols of Duty) as well as summoned by Rescue Rabbit. After those, we get to the attribute and type, Light/Dragon. It fits perfectly into Chaos Dragon decks and complements your Raiohs. You can use them as tribute material for the new Galaxy Eyes Photon Dragon or special any huge dragon from your deck with Dragonic Tactics. The amount of comboes you can do with such a simple card is huge. It may also be important to say that the next structure deck for the OCG "Dragonic Legion" is a Chaos Dragon deck. The chances of us getting it before Envoy Black Luster Soldier is banned are not very high, but if BLS stays unbanned in February, this deck may actually be a threat. Alexandrite won't be the highest priced TCG exclusive in the game, but it will certainly be sought after. If you can hold onto 3 for a few months, try to do so.

PHSW-EN081 Photon Sabre Tiger
LIGHT Beast
LV3 2000/300
When this card is Normal or Flip Summoned: You can add 1 “Photon Sabre Tiger” from your Deck to your hand. If you do not control another “Photon Sabre Tiger”, this card loses 800 ATK.
Photon Sabre Tiger can be called a Floater monster. Successfully summoning it gets a second copy to your hand, so you will not lose hand advantage. If you somehow manage to summon the next Tiger, both tigers will regain their original attack. The 800 attack loss is a continuous effect that remains active so long as the monster is on the field. This means you can Skill Drain your Tiger and bait out attacks.
Furthermore, it is a Beast monster, so you can play Horn of the Phantom Beast alongside it or summon it with Super Nimble Mega Hamster. Konami was nice enough to allow us to search for the next Tiger when you flip summon the first, making Hamster a viable engine. Photon decks are not overly powerful and require you to play cards from your hand if you expect to win(rather than from the grave or the deck). Their support cards further prove this "Marauding Captain" strategy with cards that special summon others from your hand, and Photon Veil which allows you to "Stack your hand" with light monsters at the cost of a -1. Fairly situational, and the boss and Xyz monsters can only go so far. Sabre Tiger is definitely a necessary card for the theme, but the theme is still a little lacking.

PHSW-EN082 Evolsaur Pelta
FIRE Dinosaur
LV4 1100 /2000
When this card is special summoned by the effect of an "Evoltile" monster, it gains 500 DEF. If this card was special summoned by the effect of an "Evoltile" monster, then it is destroyed by battle you can add 1 "Evoltile" monster from your deck to your hand.
Oh no! Another Vanadis! By that I mean, it is a TCG exclusive that could have made or broken its theme, and yet it became extremely watered down. The effect itself is pretty decent, your typical Key mouse effect that can get any Evoltile. However, it is watered down in 2 ways:
1) It has to be summoned by an Evoltile first.
2) After being summoned, it will grow to 2500DEK, making its second effect harder to achieve.
3) It only works when it is destroyed by battle. Looking at #1 and #2, this requires a bit too much time to set up.
A lot of Evol fans on the internet do not like Evolsaur Pelta. Outside of Creature Swap, you probably won't see Pelta's second effect used. So what role does Pelta fill? Stall. Your opponent has a field of Tengu and Thunderking and they attack into your Evoltile Westlo(the best card in the deck). Before, your only option was Evolsaur Cerato, which hits the field at 2100 attack. If you do not wish to summon Cerato, you now have the option of summoning Pelta at 2500DEF. It is also important to note that Weslo is level 3 and Cerato is level 4. Pelta is the only target that can get you an instant Xyz without spending additional cards in your hand. It has come to my attention that Pelta is level 4, not level 3. This makes him much, much less playable outside of stalling your opponent and Creature Swap.

PHSW-EN083 Wind-Up Rabbit
EARTH Beast-Warrior
LV3 1400/900
During either player's turn: You can target 1 “Wind-Up” monster you control; banish it until your next Standby Phase. This effect can only be activated once while this card is face-up on the field.
Effect you can use on either player's turn? Check.
Level 3 for Zenmainnes? Check.
Secret Rare? Check.
Wind-Up Rabbit is exactly what their theme needed, an effect that you can use at any time, and target more than just itself, opening up insane combos. Wind-ups already have competitive eyes on them thanks to their version of Black Whirlwind. Rabbit gives you the ability to activate Wind-Up Factory on your opponent's turn. You will probably eat a direct attack on your life points, but Rabbit is designed to make you "plus" as much as possible. Because it is level 3, the deck can make Leviair with Wind-up Hunter or Wind-up Dog. If you control 3 Windups (easily done with Magician), you can banish a Wind-up with Rabbit, then Overlay into Leviair to get the banished Wind-up back. Rabbit is a key component to the deck and will be highly sought after in 3's. Wind-up Magician makes owning 3 Rabbits a necessity, as you can summon them from the deck using Magician's effect.

PSHW-EN084 D-Boyz
DARK Fiend
LV1 100/1000
FLIP: You can Special Summon any number of “D-Boyz” from your Deck in face-up Attack Position, then you take 1000 damage for each monster Special Summoned by this effect.
I still don't know how I feel about this card. The game always needs more Dark/Fiend support, but this card is extremely painful. Using D-Boyz to mitigate damage is futile, as they are summoned in face-up attack position. At 100ATK, you will be paying 2000 lifepoints to take 200 less damage to your life. This means that the D-Boyz are used to set up plays, rather than extend your LP. You can use them to summon Caius, Obelisk, Archfiend Empress, Destiny-Hero Plasma and many other cards that you could have just offered tokens of some kind as tributes instead. As a Dark Fiend, you have a small amount of boss monsters can profit from a D-Boy outbreak. You can bait out attacks with leftover, face-up D-boyz to summon Darkness Neosphere. Once all 3 are in the grave, you can remove them to summon Dark Necrofear from your hand. Nothing too scary in this format. As level 1 monsters, PSHW introduces Rank 1 Xyz monsters to make up for your 2000 points of life you lost. Baby Tiragon can make a level 1 monster attack directly. Even the combo of making a Tragoedia level 1 to attack directly is very situational, as Tiragon needs 3 level 1 mosnters to summon. Number 83: Galaxy Queen is a bit less situational as she can actually help your other cards. She(usually) cannot be destroyed by battle, and neither will the other monsters you had face-up on the field. Aside from that...she makes your monsters pierce defense. The final verdict on D-Boyz becomes the question of "Why?" Perhaps, outside of level 1 decks, someone will find an awesome utility for the D-Boyz, but for now, we just don't know why Konami would want us to use them.

Next time, I'll talk about the other 5 World Premiere cards:
Latinum, Exarch of Dark World - Ultra Rare!
Evolzar Dolkka - Secret Rare!
Wind-Up Zenmaines - Also Secret!
Xyz Territory - Normal Rare!?
Dark Smog - Secret!

Perhaps the rarities of each can hint on how good the cards are.