So I just bought 20 packs of BP:ED, and wanted to give you guys a quick list of the Rares and Starfoils I got:
Rare:
Pot of Duality
Wind-Up Zenmaister x2
Creature Swap
Gachi Gachi Gantetsu x2
Call of the Haunted
Fox Fire
Grenosaurus x3
Graceful Charity
Number 17: Leviathan Dragon x2
Burden of the Mighty
Heavy Storm
Ancient Gear Golem
Gem-Knight Pearl x2
Soul Exchange
Raging Flame Sprite
Mad Dog Of Darkness
Ape Fighter
Goblin Attack Force
Giant Soldier of Stone
Cybernetic Magician
Stealth Bird
Night Assailant
Skilled White Magician
DUCKER Mobile Cannon
Dark Resonator
Mask of Darkness
Changing Destiny
Book of Moon
Blackwing - Zephyros the Elite
Alector, Sovereign of Birds
Scapegoat
Insect Knight
Premature Burial
Card Trooper
I think I never want to see another Grenosaurus again...
Monday, May 28, 2012
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
GAOV World Premieres Pt. 2
Galactic Overdrive, Overload, Overlord, Overcoal, or whatever you want to call it is here in full force. Whether you personally like the set or not is irrelevant, this product is moving and many retail stores in my area are already sold out (wasn't me!). The first six World Premiere cards (the monsters) have mixed reviews all over the internet. What is there to say about the remaining cards?
GAOV-EN086 Draconnection
Normal Spell
Okay Konami, we get it. Dragons are strong. Apparently, they are so strong that they need more support. And yet, they can't be given anything too ridiculous. There are also a TON of Dragons out there, so the support has to be as general as possible. The result? Draconnection; excellent card in theory, but not anything the players really want to use. There will always be a time where a player has a hand that is just not as good as it could have been. Draconnection basically removes 1 card from your hand, to stack 1 card in your opening hand. Stacking your hand in your favor(legally) is good. Removing cards in your hand, however, is not good. I would like to believe that some day, when a minus to your hand isn't the end of the game, Draconnection can see some play. It really isn't a bad card for the types of decks you can use it in. Our current meta just can't warrant a -1 with no change in tempo on either side of the board. Still, a very solid. very balanced card.
GAOV-EN087 Trial and Tribulation
Normal Spell
I have been waiting for a card like this for a very, very long time. Some people are already using it in Frog Monarch decks. I have seen a couple of others tech in a copy for Hieratic decks. I am a lover of Ritual Monsters, and experimenting with this thing leads to many possibilities. And that is exactly what this card is, even its name and effect suggests experimentation among the player base. At its playable worst, Trial and Tribulation gives you a card draw, effectively thinning your deck by 1. In something like Monarchs, that "37 card deck" can increased chances of drawing awesome cards like Battle Fader, Gorz and Trag. Any deck that can tribute via effect, or drop double tributes like LADD get to salvage 2 monsters from their graveyard. It doesn't have to be the monsters offreed for the tribute. In fact, if your Darklord Asmodeus or Zerato are destroyed by Solemn Warning, you can add it along with another good monster back to your hand. The third option for Tri&Tri is the big one that most of the internet is focusing on. I feel that limiting the destruction to face-up cards was a little unnecessary, but I will chalk that up to Konami's tier-crafting. Not many decks can even tribute 3 things in 1 turn, but more and more ideas are surfacing every day. Obelisk and Slifer/Osiris Hieratics Beastking Barbaros Poseidra (OCG) Steelswarm Hercules Ice Master Of course, nothing is as good as the mainstream decks already teching Tri&Tri With Poseidra and other cards being released in the future, time will tell just how good this card can really be.
GAOV-EN-088 Hieratic Seal From the Ashes
Continuous Trap
After spoiling us with Dark Smog, Konami teased us with yet another World Premiere Continuous card to make a particular theme even more threatening. Seal From the Ashes does not tribute your Hieratics for free in the same fashion that Dark Smog gives you "free" discards. Instead, Seal From the Ashes provides a means of getting bad draws out of your deck and deterring your opponent from stopping you. Most of all, it supports the other 3 Hieratic Normal chasers, Seal of the Dragon King, Seal of the Sun Dragon, and Sutekh. The first effect of Seal From the Ashes supports these cards by putting the Seal monsters in the graveyard. This prevents you from drawing them when you don't want to. In the grave, they are targets for not only Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon, but also Sutekh and any other Normals tech you would like to add to your deck. After that, it will allow you to return banished Dragons to the grave. This may not seem useful outside of Sutekh, but a lot of people have been trying Chain Disappearance against Hieratics, as it destroys most of their special summons. Finally, if your opponent decides to destroy Seal From, you get a Hieratic monster from the grave to the field for free. Your opponent doesn't even have to destroy it themselves! You can use Sun Dragon to destroy your own Seal, and even target the same Hieratic you tributed for Seal's special summon. The plays are too good to pass up.
GAOV-EN-088 Xyz Wrath
Continuous Trap
Remember the first few packs of the 5d's Universe? We can even look at all of the 5d's starter decks. Konami gave us as much generic Synchro material as possible. We had cards that reborned Synchros for free, cards that boosted their attack and cards that destroyed your opponent's cards. Did we use any of them in competitive duels? Not really. So what does Xyz Wrath do that is so different than all of the old Synchro support? To be hones, not much. As the game goes on, we are being presented with more and more easily summoned level 5+ monsters that AREN'T synchro monsters. In your Wind-up, Inzek, Geargia, Verz, etc deck, this technically makes Xyz Wrath a live card. At least in the extra deck; you can theoretically side Xyz wrath against any boss drop deck like Lightsworn Dragons, Hieratics, Six Sams, Frog Lancer, and many more decks. Of course, you could also side hundreds of other excellent choices that will stun those decks perhaps more effeciently that Xyz Wrath. The Xyz requirement isn't too difficult in this Meta. They even go so far as to put one of the easiest Xyz to summon, Evolzar Soldda in the art. We'll see if anyone actually tries to use this card, but don't expect it to skyrocket in price if someone does.
GAOV didn't present me with a lot of cards I had to have. Cardcar D, Tri&Tri, Photon Bounzer, and a few others make up the very best cards in the deck. Surprise~ They're secret rare! If you can get these cards, then please do so. You may not use them now, but many of the cards in GAOV are so good outside of this format that they can easily generate a mint's worth in the correct meta.
GAOV-EN086 Draconnection
Normal Spell
Okay Konami, we get it. Dragons are strong. Apparently, they are so strong that they need more support. And yet, they can't be given anything too ridiculous. There are also a TON of Dragons out there, so the support has to be as general as possible. The result? Draconnection; excellent card in theory, but not anything the players really want to use. There will always be a time where a player has a hand that is just not as good as it could have been. Draconnection basically removes 1 card from your hand, to stack 1 card in your opening hand. Stacking your hand in your favor(legally) is good. Removing cards in your hand, however, is not good. I would like to believe that some day, when a minus to your hand isn't the end of the game, Draconnection can see some play. It really isn't a bad card for the types of decks you can use it in. Our current meta just can't warrant a -1 with no change in tempo on either side of the board. Still, a very solid. very balanced card.
GAOV-EN087 Trial and Tribulation
Normal Spell
I have been waiting for a card like this for a very, very long time. Some people are already using it in Frog Monarch decks. I have seen a couple of others tech in a copy for Hieratic decks. I am a lover of Ritual Monsters, and experimenting with this thing leads to many possibilities. And that is exactly what this card is, even its name and effect suggests experimentation among the player base. At its playable worst, Trial and Tribulation gives you a card draw, effectively thinning your deck by 1. In something like Monarchs, that "37 card deck" can increased chances of drawing awesome cards like Battle Fader, Gorz and Trag. Any deck that can tribute via effect, or drop double tributes like LADD get to salvage 2 monsters from their graveyard. It doesn't have to be the monsters offreed for the tribute. In fact, if your Darklord Asmodeus or Zerato are destroyed by Solemn Warning, you can add it along with another good monster back to your hand. The third option for Tri&Tri is the big one that most of the internet is focusing on. I feel that limiting the destruction to face-up cards was a little unnecessary, but I will chalk that up to Konami's tier-crafting. Not many decks can even tribute 3 things in 1 turn, but more and more ideas are surfacing every day. Obelisk and Slifer/Osiris Hieratics Beastking Barbaros Poseidra (OCG) Steelswarm Hercules Ice Master Of course, nothing is as good as the mainstream decks already teching Tri&Tri With Poseidra and other cards being released in the future, time will tell just how good this card can really be.
GAOV-EN-088 Hieratic Seal From the Ashes
Continuous Trap
After spoiling us with Dark Smog, Konami teased us with yet another World Premiere Continuous card to make a particular theme even more threatening. Seal From the Ashes does not tribute your Hieratics for free in the same fashion that Dark Smog gives you "free" discards. Instead, Seal From the Ashes provides a means of getting bad draws out of your deck and deterring your opponent from stopping you. Most of all, it supports the other 3 Hieratic Normal chasers, Seal of the Dragon King, Seal of the Sun Dragon, and Sutekh. The first effect of Seal From the Ashes supports these cards by putting the Seal monsters in the graveyard. This prevents you from drawing them when you don't want to. In the grave, they are targets for not only Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon, but also Sutekh and any other Normals tech you would like to add to your deck. After that, it will allow you to return banished Dragons to the grave. This may not seem useful outside of Sutekh, but a lot of people have been trying Chain Disappearance against Hieratics, as it destroys most of their special summons. Finally, if your opponent decides to destroy Seal From, you get a Hieratic monster from the grave to the field for free. Your opponent doesn't even have to destroy it themselves! You can use Sun Dragon to destroy your own Seal, and even target the same Hieratic you tributed for Seal's special summon. The plays are too good to pass up.
GAOV-EN-088 Xyz Wrath
Continuous Trap
Remember the first few packs of the 5d's Universe? We can even look at all of the 5d's starter decks. Konami gave us as much generic Synchro material as possible. We had cards that reborned Synchros for free, cards that boosted their attack and cards that destroyed your opponent's cards. Did we use any of them in competitive duels? Not really. So what does Xyz Wrath do that is so different than all of the old Synchro support? To be hones, not much. As the game goes on, we are being presented with more and more easily summoned level 5+ monsters that AREN'T synchro monsters. In your Wind-up, Inzek, Geargia, Verz, etc deck, this technically makes Xyz Wrath a live card. At least in the extra deck; you can theoretically side Xyz wrath against any boss drop deck like Lightsworn Dragons, Hieratics, Six Sams, Frog Lancer, and many more decks. Of course, you could also side hundreds of other excellent choices that will stun those decks perhaps more effeciently that Xyz Wrath. The Xyz requirement isn't too difficult in this Meta. They even go so far as to put one of the easiest Xyz to summon, Evolzar Soldda in the art. We'll see if anyone actually tries to use this card, but don't expect it to skyrocket in price if someone does.
GAOV didn't present me with a lot of cards I had to have. Cardcar D, Tri&Tri, Photon Bounzer, and a few others make up the very best cards in the deck. Surprise~ They're secret rare! If you can get these cards, then please do so. You may not use them now, but many of the cards in GAOV are so good outside of this format that they can easily generate a mint's worth in the correct meta.
Friday, May 4, 2012
GAOV World Premieres
The Sneak peak for Galactic Overdrive has passed and I am sure it was a great success. Whether you admire your pulls or you think the card list was lackluster is irrelevant. The stage of the game we are in is all about new cards and fresh ideas. So many people say(somewhat untruthfully) that the surprise factor is back in Yugioh; and that fresh ideas and personalized builds is what wins games. For the most part,the world premiere cards of GAOV "try" to accommodate originality. Deciding if you want to use most of these is up to you.
GAOV-EN000 Noble Knight Artorigus Light? Check. Warrior for RotA? Check. Level 4 Normal for Rescue Rabbit and Advanced Ritual Art? Check. Awesome Art and Flavor text? Check. 1800/1800 stats? Wait what? Don't get me wrong, Noble Knight isn't a terrible card and fits nicely into his decks. There are many warrior variants, and Artorigus can be used in the newest one, Rabbit-Bushi-Xyz. Konami spoiled us with Alexandrite Dragon's 2000 ATK on a Normal, Light body. I will assume that Artorigus is balanced at 1800/1800 because he is a warrior monster and the sheer amount of warrior support that exists in the game. If you aren't interested in pure warrior decks, Artorigus and Rescue Rabbit also share a spot in another OCG deck: Sacred/Constellar. You can imagine Artorigus doing something in here similar to what Rabbit dide to Evolzar's, taking an already amazing boss and making him better. Constellar Omega can only be summoned with Light monsters and has an amazing quick effect. Of course, you can summon him with Alexandrite Dragon, but Artorigus gives you access to Blade Armor Ninja and even Heroic Champion Excalibur, the cover card of the next set. Perhaps more people will find ways to fit him into decks, such as Evocater Gemini and Lightray; for now, Rescue Rabbit has a new test subject.
GAOV-EN081 Ancient Dragon
Light Dragon
Level 4 1400/1300
This carded needed 2 things to make it great: 1) A reliable way to attack the opponent directly and 2) Somewhat meaningful results in the first boost. For example, in a Galaxy Eyes deck, you can use GA Photon Dragon to clear the field for Ancient Dragon's attacks. If Ancient boosted its attack by 600, it could have made another 2000 attack monster to sacrifice for another GA Photon Dragon. Instead, this guy only goes up to 1900 in the first strike, which is underwhelming. Konami had a chance to do something really cool with this card, but I am calling it a missed opportunity.
GAOV-EN082 Hieratic Seal of the Dragon King
Light Dragon Gemini
Level 6 0/0
This card is not to be dismissed simply because of the OCG version of the Hieratic deck. There are multiple new cards in GAOV for the TCG that encourage the use of this card over Luster Dragon #2 and Wattaildragon. In fact, many people are testing cards like Future Fusion and Feathrizer to throw Seal of the Dragon King into the graveyard as quickly as possible. Your reward for playing this? The ability to normal summon(gemini summon) into ANY Hieratic from any location, barring banished ones and more Dragon Kings. That could be:
Nebthet if you control more Hieratics and they still have cards.
Su if those cards are spells or traps.
Asar to further control the board.
If it could summon Sutekh, we would have a great variant of the Hieratic theme, but unfortunately, Sutekh is semi-nomi and can't be special summoned before his initial summoning procedure. Because of this, Seal of the Dragon King isn't really played in typical, swarming Hieratic decks because it simply isn't necessary. I can see the card becoming better if we get MORE cards to grab key Dragons(Sutekh) from the deck. And trust me, there are plenty of cards already that can do it.
GAOV-EN083 Evoltile Elginero
Fire Reptile
Level 2 0/0
Probably the last World Premiere card we will see for Evols; this new reptile continues with the tribute strategy that Najasho started. Instead of giving you "pluses", Elginero seeks to add consistency to the deck and fix a key issue with the ORCS version: Should I waste my Evo-Force/Enemy Controller now or continue holding it? You do maintain card advantage through Evo-Force. You lose 3 cards, Elginero, 1 Dinosaur and Evo-Force, and you gaing 1(1) card draw, 1(2) Evoltile to your hand, and 1(3) Evolsaur to the field, plus whatever effect your Saur has. It isn't much of a game winning monster, more so it gives you a turn to actually make a play. Running 3 is probably overkill in the Najasho deck, but there is almost no reason to run less than 1.
GAOV-EN084 Lightray Grepher
Light Warrior
Level 4 1700/1600
When I first saw this guy, before his effect was confirmed, I instantly fell in love. Seriously, Grepher for Light monsters and he is a World Premiere card? He's just asking to get cracked by the players. After his effect was confirmed, my hopes dwindled ever-so slighty. Then a Light(pun-intended) revealed itself to me(and other yugioh players) and Grepher seems to get better and better. Similar to his Dark counterpart, a wrong play with Lightray Grepher will destroy your hand and cause you to lose the duel. However, the plays that Grepher can supply in specific decks will create outs that were seemingly unheard of. I for one am testing him in my own Lightray variant, which I will post about at a later date. My version only runs 1 Grepher, but there are some Turbo Lightray decks on the internet that create Tele-DAD-like plays out of nowhere. Lucky for us, LR Grepher is a normal rare in the set, so we all get to do lots of testing with him.
GAOV-EN085 Tardy Orc
Dark Fiend
Level 4 2200/0
This is where the contempt lies with the players. Tardy Orc is made for a few things: 1) Deck Devastation Virus 2) Fiend support(Dark Necrofear, etc) 3) Dark support (Dark Eruption, Escape from the Dark Dimension, etc) 4) Skill Drain The part that makes it so undesirable is that (not only is it secret rare) it is a redundant card for the above "pros." Let's take a look at his closest cousin: Giant Orc. Giant Orc has the exact same stats. Same attack, same defense, same type and atrribute; one can even say they are the exact same monster in the art. As an "upgrade", Mr. Orc has achieved secret status from his new effect. He can attack every turn now, without Skill Drain, which is pretty cool, as long as you did not Normal Summon him that turn. There are some ways around this restriction. If you opponent conducts a Battle Phase on their turn, you can flip Ultimate Offering and summon him, possible stopping an attack. You can summon him with Summoner Monk, another dark monster. If you banish him for the plethora of new dark support (like Creeping Darkness), you can attack right away when you summon him with Escape from the Dark Dimension. Does this make the card cool? I would say so. Does it warrant his Secret rarity? Gotta say no on that. Next time, we'll go over the new spells and traps for GAOV. One of which I have been waiting for Konami to create for a long time.
GAOV-EN000 Noble Knight Artorigus Light? Check. Warrior for RotA? Check. Level 4 Normal for Rescue Rabbit and Advanced Ritual Art? Check. Awesome Art and Flavor text? Check. 1800/1800 stats? Wait what? Don't get me wrong, Noble Knight isn't a terrible card and fits nicely into his decks. There are many warrior variants, and Artorigus can be used in the newest one, Rabbit-Bushi-Xyz. Konami spoiled us with Alexandrite Dragon's 2000 ATK on a Normal, Light body. I will assume that Artorigus is balanced at 1800/1800 because he is a warrior monster and the sheer amount of warrior support that exists in the game. If you aren't interested in pure warrior decks, Artorigus and Rescue Rabbit also share a spot in another OCG deck: Sacred/Constellar. You can imagine Artorigus doing something in here similar to what Rabbit dide to Evolzar's, taking an already amazing boss and making him better. Constellar Omega can only be summoned with Light monsters and has an amazing quick effect. Of course, you can summon him with Alexandrite Dragon, but Artorigus gives you access to Blade Armor Ninja and even Heroic Champion Excalibur, the cover card of the next set. Perhaps more people will find ways to fit him into decks, such as Evocater Gemini and Lightray; for now, Rescue Rabbit has a new test subject.
GAOV-EN081 Ancient Dragon
Light Dragon
Level 4 1400/1300
This carded needed 2 things to make it great: 1) A reliable way to attack the opponent directly and 2) Somewhat meaningful results in the first boost. For example, in a Galaxy Eyes deck, you can use GA Photon Dragon to clear the field for Ancient Dragon's attacks. If Ancient boosted its attack by 600, it could have made another 2000 attack monster to sacrifice for another GA Photon Dragon. Instead, this guy only goes up to 1900 in the first strike, which is underwhelming. Konami had a chance to do something really cool with this card, but I am calling it a missed opportunity.
GAOV-EN082 Hieratic Seal of the Dragon King
Light Dragon Gemini
Level 6 0/0
This card is not to be dismissed simply because of the OCG version of the Hieratic deck. There are multiple new cards in GAOV for the TCG that encourage the use of this card over Luster Dragon #2 and Wattaildragon. In fact, many people are testing cards like Future Fusion and Feathrizer to throw Seal of the Dragon King into the graveyard as quickly as possible. Your reward for playing this? The ability to normal summon(gemini summon) into ANY Hieratic from any location, barring banished ones and more Dragon Kings. That could be:
Nebthet if you control more Hieratics and they still have cards.
Su if those cards are spells or traps.
Asar to further control the board.
If it could summon Sutekh, we would have a great variant of the Hieratic theme, but unfortunately, Sutekh is semi-nomi and can't be special summoned before his initial summoning procedure. Because of this, Seal of the Dragon King isn't really played in typical, swarming Hieratic decks because it simply isn't necessary. I can see the card becoming better if we get MORE cards to grab key Dragons(Sutekh) from the deck. And trust me, there are plenty of cards already that can do it.
GAOV-EN083 Evoltile Elginero
Fire Reptile
Level 2 0/0
Probably the last World Premiere card we will see for Evols; this new reptile continues with the tribute strategy that Najasho started. Instead of giving you "pluses", Elginero seeks to add consistency to the deck and fix a key issue with the ORCS version: Should I waste my Evo-Force/Enemy Controller now or continue holding it? You do maintain card advantage through Evo-Force. You lose 3 cards, Elginero, 1 Dinosaur and Evo-Force, and you gaing 1(1) card draw, 1(2) Evoltile to your hand, and 1(3) Evolsaur to the field, plus whatever effect your Saur has. It isn't much of a game winning monster, more so it gives you a turn to actually make a play. Running 3 is probably overkill in the Najasho deck, but there is almost no reason to run less than 1.
GAOV-EN084 Lightray Grepher
Light Warrior
Level 4 1700/1600
When I first saw this guy, before his effect was confirmed, I instantly fell in love. Seriously, Grepher for Light monsters and he is a World Premiere card? He's just asking to get cracked by the players. After his effect was confirmed, my hopes dwindled ever-so slighty. Then a Light(pun-intended) revealed itself to me(and other yugioh players) and Grepher seems to get better and better. Similar to his Dark counterpart, a wrong play with Lightray Grepher will destroy your hand and cause you to lose the duel. However, the plays that Grepher can supply in specific decks will create outs that were seemingly unheard of. I for one am testing him in my own Lightray variant, which I will post about at a later date. My version only runs 1 Grepher, but there are some Turbo Lightray decks on the internet that create Tele-DAD-like plays out of nowhere. Lucky for us, LR Grepher is a normal rare in the set, so we all get to do lots of testing with him.
GAOV-EN085 Tardy Orc
Dark Fiend
Level 4 2200/0
This is where the contempt lies with the players. Tardy Orc is made for a few things: 1) Deck Devastation Virus 2) Fiend support(Dark Necrofear, etc) 3) Dark support (Dark Eruption, Escape from the Dark Dimension, etc) 4) Skill Drain The part that makes it so undesirable is that (not only is it secret rare) it is a redundant card for the above "pros." Let's take a look at his closest cousin: Giant Orc. Giant Orc has the exact same stats. Same attack, same defense, same type and atrribute; one can even say they are the exact same monster in the art. As an "upgrade", Mr. Orc has achieved secret status from his new effect. He can attack every turn now, without Skill Drain, which is pretty cool, as long as you did not Normal Summon him that turn. There are some ways around this restriction. If you opponent conducts a Battle Phase on their turn, you can flip Ultimate Offering and summon him, possible stopping an attack. You can summon him with Summoner Monk, another dark monster. If you banish him for the plethora of new dark support (like Creeping Darkness), you can attack right away when you summon him with Escape from the Dark Dimension. Does this make the card cool? I would say so. Does it warrant his Secret rarity? Gotta say no on that. Next time, we'll go over the new spells and traps for GAOV. One of which I have been waiting for Konami to create for a long time.
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