Things That Make You Say "meh" - Gold Series 4 Preview

Since a few weeks ago, Konami has been gradually spoiling the list for the new Gold Series. At first, this set had potential. Could this be an answer to the poor duelist's problems? With reprints like Tytannial, Five-Headed Dragon, and Doomcaliber Knight, things were looking good. Now that we have a full list of gold cards, this just looks like a way for players to bling out their deck more.

Let's take a look at some cards that needed reprinted.

• Doomcaliber Knight: The money card of the set. This great anti-meta card only has 2 previous printings, and both were limited.
• Five-Headed Dragon: This card has only been printed once, and the only way to get it was to buy the otherwise pointless Dinosaur Structure deck.
• Gladiator Beast Gyzarus: With Gladiator Beasts seeing more play, this is a great move. Gyzarus is one of the deck's best cards, and it's only been printed once.
• Tytannial the Princess of Camellias: Plants have been a popular deck for quite some time, and while Tytannial isn't that expensive, it's nice to have a reprint.
• Obelisk the Tormentor: It's not a great card, but only being released with Shonen Jump means the rest of the TCG world outside of North America can't use it. I'm sure other countries would like better cards, like Elemental Hero Shining, Absolute Zero, or Malefic Stardust.

That's about it. I'm not saying those are the only good cards in the set, but those are the ones that needed the reprint the most. This next chunk of cards are ones that haven't been printed in a while, but aren't that hard to find or really that popular.

• Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning: The ruler of chaos and the 2004-2005 formats. We haven't seen this guy printed in a while, but that's probably because he's still banned. Maybe this means he'll finally come off the list.
• Celestia, Lightsworn Angel: This came out alongside Gyzarus and hasn't been reprinted since, but it's still only a few dollars, and Lightsworns aren't even good right now.
• Toon Table of Contents: This card is currently a $10 common, and also came as a super rare. It's nice to have a reprint, but the gold rarity isn't necessary.
• Summoner Monk: If this was still Cat-Synchro format, this would be just as sought after as DCK. Again, it needed a reprint, but there are so many other good (expensive) cards that could've been in this spot.
• Darklord Zerato: Older and rarer than Gyzarus and Celestia, but not as good. Even though this was one of the main cards in the Dark Armed Return deck that wrecked the meta years ago, it's just not good anymore.  

To finish off the article, we'll look at the cards that are just thereto be gold.

• Gravekeeper's Spy: If it wasn't for the recent reprint in Structure Deck Marik, this would be up top, but we already have several common versions, and a super rare. If they wanted to help holo-out Gravekeeper decks, why not make Descendant or Recruiter a gold rare?
• Royal Oppression: This almost made it into the list of cards that need reprinting, but we already have 2 rares and a common version. It's still a $6 card, and it's nice to have a holo version.
• Chaos Sorcerer: This just got printed as an ultra, but as a Turbo Pack holo, it's not so easy to get a hold of. This card has also been being used more often lately.
• Morphing Jar: Even though it was recently reprinted in DL form, the super and ultra rare versions of this card are very expensive. It's nice to have an easily obtainable holo, even if the card's not used very often.
• Trap Stun: It's nice to have a holo reprint, but this card is actually going down in popularity, and being replaced by Seven Tools of the Bandit.
• Spirit Reaper: Another card with an expensive holo version. Now being at 2, it's nice to see another holo version of this card.
• Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter: Being a $10 super and $5 common, this card did need a reprint. This card is used in so many decks right now, and it's a great pick for a gold rare.
• Pot of Avarice: This card already has 5 different incarnation, but the 3 holo versions are still highly ought after. With the gold version, this card now comes in Common, Rare, Super Rare, Ultra Rare, Ultimate Rare, and gold, giving Cyber Dragon a run for the most different rarities of a single card.

Cards aren't all that comes with this year's Gold Series. They come in this neat box!

Oh yea, almost forgot, these sweet-ass mats

The Triumphant Return of Online Dueling

And the return of me :) I've been out of the game for awhile, but the recently opened website, Dueling Network, has brought me back in full swing. Don't get me wrong, online dueling has been around since the beginning of the game. I remember playing on the Apprentice program, which was made for Magic: the Gathering, but was easily used for other games, like Pokemon, Dragonball Z, and of course, Yugioh.

Most players have been using programs like this (YVD and KCVDS included), which you had to download and update yourself, then look online for opponents. Routers make this a hassle, as you have to bypass your firewall and IP address. However, the "invention" of browser-based dueling outlets made things very convenient, and now we have one that is (mostly) stable and easy to use.

Online dueling is great for many reasons. Not only can you duel with a friend from a distance, but you can duel players from anywhere in the world. This lets you get practice against a variety of decks in your free time, and prepare yourself for any tournament you may go to. You can strengthen the way you play your own deck, or try out any other type of deck.

Dueling online isn't a sure fire way to make yourself "America's Next Top Duelist" (patent pending), as winning at this game requires more than just cards and knowledge. You need to be able to read your opponent and know how to bluff, which is nearly impossible when facing a computer screen. The best thing you can do is learn the ins and outs of your own deck while also learning what other decks can do and how to counter them, then use that experience against friends or players at local tournaments and work on your psychological game.

If you come across CrashLove37, hit me up for a game, and remember; Online experience+Real life experience=gg.

...that's a terrible way to end an article.......um......Peace Out, Bitches!

It's That Time Again :D

Yes, that special time that only comes twice a year. A time when your either full of elation or rage. Ban list time. Let's get started right away with a look at the newly banned cards.

• Goyo Guardian
• Cold Wave
• Mass Driver

Goyo has the highest ATK of any Synchro Monster under level 8. He's easy to summon and permanently steals your opponent's monsters when he destroys them in battle. It's a poorly designed card that's been limited for so long for a reason. Nowadays, you would usually just go for Brionac anyway, so it's not like Goyo was a huge problem.

Cold Wave is a huge nuisance card that is arguably more harmful than the banned Heavy Storm. Locking down your opponent's Spell/Traps for 2 turns is a game changing move, especially if followed by something like Black Rose Dragon or XX-Saber Hyunlei. Cold Wave can't be stopped by cards like Starlight Road or Stardust Dragon either, so if Heavy Storm is banned, this should be as well. The only reason for Mass Driver's existence is to otk, and no one likes being otk'd. Good riddance.

Now for the newly limited cards.

• Honest
• Dandylion
• Blackwing - Kalut the Moon Shadow
• Book of Moon
• Gateway of the Six

It looks like Konami has realized that damage step killers like Honest and Kalut are a bad idea. Two of the top decks in Japan right now are Blackwings and Agent Fairies so it's really no wonder these cards were cut to 1. Blackwings still have plenty of tricks, but this is going to hurt them. Dandylion at 1 really hurts Plant decks. Even if you only need 1 to keep reviving with Debris Dragon, it only takes 1 D.D. Crow to shut you down. Book has been all over the list since it's release and now we're back at 1. This card alone can shut down combos and Synchro Summons. It's also a great attack stopper that's not affected by Trap Stun.  Many decks will miss this card, especially X-Sabers. Gateway is the reason Six Samurai is the top deck right now, and with Shien's Dojo coming out, it can stay at 1 forever.

Or newly semi-limted cards are....

• Card Trooper
• Archlord Kristya
• Spirit Reaper
• Debris Dragon
• Royal Tribute
• Overload Fusion
• Megamorph
• Solemn Warning
• Icarus Attack

Trooper is something that should have gone to 2 a long time ago. Long gone are the days of Troop-Dupe-Scoop, and at 2, it's not worth running the otherwise dead card, Machine Duplication. Kristya is a huge free beater with a built in Oppression, and again, Agents are tearing up the OCG right now. Spirit Reaper is very surprising. It helps out slower decks wile hindering decks like X-Sabers that don't have much monster destruction. Debris at 2 isn't a huge hit to Plants since they can be recycled with Avarice, but this in combination with Dandylion at 1 is really bad for them.

Royal Tribute is a big part of what makes Gravekeeper's such a disruptive deck. I don't see this affecting them too badly, but it's nice to know you can only lose your hand twice per game now. Overload at 2 isn't as bad as it seems at first. Sure it's automatically a huge monster that can attack every monster your opponent has, but you're going to need to clear the field of all disruptions, and with only 2 MST and 1 Trunade, good luck with that. Megamorph at 2 is also surprising, especially with Demise at 3. Solemn Warning is a very debatable card. Some say it's balanced, while others say it needs to go to 1. I believe it's balanced. By paying a fourth of your life points, you get to negate 1 summon, which may have won your opponent the match. It's one of the best traps in the game right now, and it's good at 2. Icarus Attack was a big disruptor in Blackwings. With Kalut going to 1, did they really need to hit this?

Now for the cards that leave the list

• Chaos Sorcerer
• Demise, King of Armageddon
• Snipe Hunter
• Dewloren, Tiger King of the Ice Barrier
• Gold Sarcophagus
• Skill Drain
• Ultimate Offering

Sorcerer is an easily summoned card with a great effect. The last time this card was at 3, Chaos Return was the main deck. Now, it can easily be taken down by almost any Synchro Monster. Demise at 3 really doesn't change anything. Maybe the 2nd Megamorph will have people trying out the old Doom Dozer combo. Snipe Hunter never belonged on the list at all. Discard a card for a chance to destroy a card. Without Premature Burial, there was little reason for Dewloren to be at 1 anyway. Sarcophagus at 3 doesn't change anything. It's still a slow card. Skill Drain could make a comeback with this. If only Destiny Draw got bumped up, maybe we'd see a resurgence in that deck. And lastly, Ultimate Offering at 3 doesn't mean anything for anyone.

There's our next 6 months of Yugioh. Samurai and Blackwings get hurt while X-Sabers are left virtually untouched. We might see some chaos decks pop up, and maybe even Infernity will make a small comeback.

Deck Construction: Skulls

^That's a Misfits reference btw^

I recently acquired a playset of the new Skull Servant support card, Wightmare, and I think it's a great time to build the deck.

We'll start with the base of the deck, Skull Servant support!

• Skull Servant
• King of the Skull Servants
• The Lady in Wight
• Wightmare

I'll be using 3 of each of these cards. Max Skull Servant seems bad, but there are plenty of ways to dump them in here.

• Armageddon Knight
• Mezuki
• Sangan

Armageddon Knight can send a Skull Servant to the graveyard whenever it's summoned, and that's very important. We really don't want to draw those little guys. Mezuki is a decent ATK beater and acts as a Monster Reborn for your Zombies. Sangan simply searches any card in the deck except Mezuki and King of the Skull Servants.

Moving along to Spell Cards, these are the basic staples that will go in. 

• Monster Reborn
• Dark Hole
• Mystical Space Typhoon

Since this deck has decent potential to OTK, we'll add some enablers. Also since King is a level one monster, we can use an Equip Spell to let him attack directly. One for One lets us discard a useless monster from the hand to Special Summon a King from the deck. Allure is draw power for all the dark monsters, and RotA searches out Armageddon Knight. Gold Sarcophagus lets us search any component of the OTK. Foolish Burial works like Armageddon Knight, and Book of Life revives any of the Zombies we send to the graveyard. And finally, Burial from a Different Dimension puts back any Skull Servants that might have been removed with King's effect or Allure, along with a used Mezuki.

• Giant Trunade
• Cold Wave
• Foolish Burial
• Allure of Darkness
• Burial from a Different Dimension
• One for One
• Reinforcement of the Army
• Gold Sarcophagus
• Opti-Camouflage Armor
• Book of Life

Moving on to the Traps, we have some basic staples and that's about it.

• Mirror Force
• Torrential Tribute
• Solemn Judgment
• Bottomless Trap Hole
• Call of the Haunted

So, for the final deck list, we have
Monsters: 17
3x Armageddon Knight
3x Skull Servant
3x King of the Skull Servants
3x The Lady in Wight
3x Wightmare
1x Mezuki
1x Sangan

Spells: 17
1x Monster Reborn
1x Dark Hole
1x Giant Trunade
1x Cold Wave
1x Foolish Burial
1x Allure of Darkness
1x Burial from a Different Dimension
1x One for One
1x Reinforcement of the Army
2x Mystical Space Typhoon
2x Gold Sarcophagus
2x Opti-Camouflage Armor
2x Book of Life

Traps: 6
1x Mirror Force
1x Torrential Tribute
1x Solemn Judgment
1x Call of the Haunted
2x Bottomless Trap Hole


This is only one way to run the deck, maybe next time I'll build a faster version using milling cards like Magical Merchant.

[Deck Construction] Metabo Globster.dek

While typing my last article, I noticed a card from PTDN that I made fun of, but never really read until then. I decided to build a deck around this card and take advantage of the tokens it produces.

First, since the only way to get tokens is to tribute this card for a Dark monster, we'll throw in the best ones we have. Caius is an obvious choice, and Jinzo is a good way to get around the opponent's Solemn Warnings and other traps. Then, we need a way to abuse the Metabo Tokens. Plasma negates the effects of your opponent's monsters, and lets you turn one into an equip card.

• Metabo Globster x2
• Caius the Shadow Monarch x3
• Jinzo x1
• Destiny Hero - Plasma x2

Next, we need a way to get Metabo Globster from the deck. Mystic Tomato can Special Summon it straight to the field, and Sangan can add it to your hand. With Tomato bringing out Dark monsters, we'll throw in a few more good ones. Malicious is excellent for Synchro Summons, and is a Destiny Hero. Plaguespreader Zombie is the best Dark Tuner out there and can be easily used more than once.

• Mystic Tomato x2
• Sangan x1
• Destiny Hero - Malicious x2
• Plaguespreader Zombie x1

With all the Tokens and level 6 monsters here, we can add some more Tuners. Since we have 4 Destiny Hero monsters, we can use one of the best Fusion Monsters in the game, Absolute Zero, if we add some Water monsters, which makes Deep Sea Diva a great choice as a Tuner. Stratos is another Hero for Absolute Zero, and can search for Plasma or Malicious. Then, to round out the monsters, we'll add Gorz and Dark Armed Dragon.

• Deep Sea Diva x3
• Elemental Hero Stratos x1
• Gorz, Emissary of Darkness x1
• Dark Armed Dragon x1

Now for the Spells.  Monster Reborn and Dark Hole are obvious choices. Cold Wave will let our combos go off without interruption, and Book of Moon will help take care of enemy monsters.

• Monster Reborn x1
• Dark Hole x1
• Cold Wave x1
• Book of Moon x2

With all the Dark monsters and Destiny Heroes, we can safely use Allure of Darkness and Destiny Draw to speed up the deck. Miracle Fusion is the best way to summon Absolute Zero, and Future Fusion easily enables Miracle Fusion and sends Malicious to the graveyard.

• Allure of Darkness x1
• Destiny Draw x1
• Future Fusion x1
• Miracle Fusion x2

We're using a pretty basic trap line-up. The object is to keep your opponent's monsters at bay, and Trap Stun is used for the same reason as Cold Wave.

• Mirror Force x1
• Torrential Tribute x1
• Solemn Judgment x1
• Call of the Haunted x1
• Bottomless Trap Hole x2
• Dimensional Prison x2
• Trap Stun x2

The Extra Deck is set up for using Diva and Plague in every way imaginable in this deck.

• Elemental Hero Absolute Zero x2
• Armory Arm x1
• Ally of Justice Catastor x1
• Magical Android x1
• Goyo Guardian x1
• Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier x1
• Black Rose Dragon x1
• Stardust Dragon x2
• Dark End Dragon x1
• Red Dragon Archfiend x1
• Scrap Dragon x1
• Colossal Fighter x1
• Mist Wurm x1

This is the final deck list.

Monsters: 20
1x Gorz, Emissary of Darkness
1x Dark Armed Dragon
2x Destiny Hero - Plasma
3x Caius the Shadow Monarch
1x Jinzo
2x Destiny Hero - Malicious
2x Metabo Globster
2x Mystic Tomato
1x Elemental Hero Stratos
1x Sangan
1x Plaguespreader Zombie
3x Deep Sea Diva

Spells: 10
1x Monster Reborn
1x Dark Hole
1x Cold Wave
1x Destiny Draw
1x Allure of Darkness
2x Miracle Fusion
2x Book of Moon
1x Future Fusion

Traps: 10
1x Mirror Force
1x Torrential Tribute
1x Call of the Haunted
1x Solemn Judgment
2x Bottomless Trap Hole
2x Dimensional Prison
2x Trap Stun

Extra: 15
2x Elemental Hero Absolute Zero
1x Armory Arm
1x Ally of Justice Catastor
1x Magical Android
1x Goyo Guardian
1x Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
1x Black Rose Dragon
2x Stardust Dragon
1x Dark End Dragon
1x Red Dragon Archfiend
1x Colossal Fighter
1x Scrap Dragon
1x Mist Wurm

American Ingenuity: A Look Back at TCG Exclusives Part 2

Here we go with part 2 of our look at TCG exclusives. We'll covering from Crimson Crisis all the way through our newest booster, Starstrike Blast.

Crimson Crisis

• Colossal Fighter/Assault Mode
• Dark Voltanis
• Prime Material Falcon
• Bone Crusher
• Alien Kid
• Totem Dragon
• Royal Swamp Eel
• Submarine Frog
• Code A Ancient Ruins
• Synchro Change

We have a couple of nice support cards in here, but nothing too amazing. This set brought us the Assault Mode arch-type and Colossal Fighter does what they all do. He has 500 extra ATK and a simlar effect to Colossal Fighter. Colossal Fighter is a good monster on its own, and you'd be better off saving the Assault Mode Activate for Stardust Dragon. We get another Dark version of an old monster with Dark Voltanis. This card was way overhyped before its effect was confirmed and it turns out that it is just a lame version of Van'Dalgyon the Dark Dragon Lord. If a monster's effect would destroy your Spell or Trap cards, you can discard Prime Material Falcon to negate the effect and destroy the card. We have a more versatile card called Effect Veiler to do that for us. Bone Crushed acts as a Mystical Space Typhoon if revived with cards like Mezuki or Zombie Master, but there are better cards you'd want to Special Summon. The final bad card here is Synchro Change. A Normal Spell that lets you remove from play a face up Sychro Monster to Special Summon one of the same level from your Extra Deck and its effect is negated. Maybe if it were a Quickplay Spell or didn't have the effect negation, it would be a decent card.

Submarine Frog is a card that only goes in decks based around Wetlands. With Wetlands on the field, this little guy becomes a 2400 ATK beater with piercing. Alien Kid and Code A Ancient Ruins are nice additions to Alien decks based on A Coutners. The good exclusives in this set are Totem Dragon and Royal Swamp Eel. You can Special Summon Totem Dragon during your Standby Phase for no cost and it counts as a double tribute for Dragon monsters. This means you basically get a free Light and Darkness Dragon or Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon. Royal Swamp Eel is one of the main cards of the Fish OTK.

Raging Battle

• Battlestorm
• Koa'ki Meiru War Arms
• Immortal Ruler
• Hardened Armed Dragon
• Moja
• Beast Striker
• King of the Beasts
• Swallow's Nest
• Overwhelm
• Berserking

This is possibly has the worst set of exclusives we've had. The only thing worth mentioning is the 3 card Moja set. When Moja is destroyed by battle, you can add 1 level 4 or lower Beast monster (Beast Striker)  from your graveyard to your hand. With Beast Striker, you can discard a card to Special Summon Moja from your deck. Finally, you can tribute Moja to Special Summon King of the Beasts from  your hand or graveyard. A nice little combo, but not good enough for competitive play.






Ancient Prophecy

• XX-Saber Gardestrike
• XX-Saber Fulhelmknight
• Koa'ki Meiru Ghoulungulate
• Koa'ki Meiru Gravirose
• Psychic Emperor
• Card Guard
• Flamvell Commando
• Pseudo Space
• Greed Grado
• Revival of the Immortals

ANPR started the X-Saber craze with their boss monster, Faultroll, and the exclusives just made them even better. Back then Gardestrike was a big card. If you have 2 Sabers in your graveyard and no monsters on the field, you could Special Summon this guy, Normal Summon an X-Saber, and bring out Faultroll. Fulhelmknight is still a big player in Saber decks. It's a Warrior/Tuner than can Special Summon more Sabers from your graveyard. Gravirose is a Koa'ki Meiru with 1900 ATK that lets you send a level 3 or lower monster from your deck to the graveyard. This works great with cards like Dandylion and Tuners that can be Special Summoned from the grave.

The other Koa'ki Meiru monster, Ghoulungulate can keep your other Koa'ki Meiru alive. Psychic Emperor adds to your life points so you can pay for other Psychic monster effects. Card Guard does what the name implies. When he is summoned you can place a Guard Counter on a monster and remove the counter when the monster would be destroyed to keep it alive. Flamvell Commando can deal some burn damage, but doesn't add much else to the Flamvell decktype. Pseudo Space takes the effect of other Field Spells for a turn. I guess that's useful for monsters like Earthbound Immortals and Malefics. Greed Grado lets you draw 2 cards if you destroyed your opponent's Synchro Monster. Three words: Pot of Duality. Revival of the Immortals Special Summons an Earthbound Immortal from your graveyard, but it can't attack that turn, and when it does, your opponent takes no battle damage from it.

Stardust Overdrive

• Koa'ki Meiru Beetle
• Koa'ki Meiru Maximus
• Shire, Lightsworn Spirit
• Rinyan, Lightsworn Rogue
• Yellow Baboon, Archer of the Forest
• Gemini Scorpion
• Metabo-Shark
• Earthbound Revival
• Reptilianne Poison
• Gateway of the Six

Really, the only notable card here is Gateway of the Six. Just like the other exclusive Samurai cards, this gave the deck an immense boost. First off, whenever a Six Samurai is summoned, this card gets 2 counters on it. These counters can be used in a number of ways. Remove 2 counters to boost the ATK of one Six Samurai or Shien monster by 500. This helps weaker Samurai get over bigger threats. 4 counters lets you add a Six Samurai from your deck or graveyard to your hand. If you have a Grandmaster but no Samurai, this is a great way to get him out, or vice-versa. 6 Counters, and you can Special Summon 1 Shien effect monster from your graveyard. This isn't usually what the card is used for, but that could change when we get the new samurai support in Storm of Ragnarok.

Absolute Powerforce

• Greavekeeper's Priestess
• XX-Saber Emmersblade
• Alchemist of Black Spells
• Super-Nimble Mega Hamster 
• Cactus Bouncer
• Dragonic Guard
• The Dragon Dwelling in the Deep
• Djinn Disserere of Rituals
• Earthbound Linewalker
• Core Transport Unit

Emmersblade! This card gave X-Sabers an ever bigger boost. Now they have a recruiter that is also a level 3 Earth monster. This is still used in 3's in competitive decks. The TCG wouldn't get another huge X-Saber card like this until...the next set :) Super-Nimble Mega Hamster is the other great exclusive card we get here. It has a large 1800 DEF and when flipped, Special Summons a level 3 or lower Beast (Ryko) from your deck. This card is still used in Plant Synchro and some X-Saber decks.

Priestess is a Gravekeeper that acts as Necrovalley. We have a better card for that, called Necrovalley. She was likely included to compliment the new Gravekeeper cards this set. We get a good Gravekeeper exclusive a few sets after this one. The rest are a few random support cards. Alchemist can bring a Spell Counter to the field once per turn. Cactus Bouncer stops Special Summons if you control another Plant. If Plant decks didn't Special Summon so much, this would be great. If you can keep Dragonic Guard on the field long enough, you can Special Summon a big Dragon from your deck, but there are better ways to get out big monsters in Dragon decks. Dragon Dwelling in the Deep raises the ATK of Sea Serpent and Fish monsters. Djinn supports Ritual monsters, but not well enough. Linewalker keeps Earthbound Immortals on the field, even if there is no Field Spell, and Core Transport Unit lets you grab an Iron Core from your deck each turn.

The Shining Darkness

• XX-Saber Boggart Knight
• XX-Saber Darksoul
• Koa'ki Meiru Prototype
• Snyffus
• Nimble Sunfish
• Akz, the Pumer
• Saber Vault
• Core Overclock
• Wave-Motion Inferno
• Infernity Barrier

Boy, Konami loves X-Sabers, and Boggart Knight is a great addition to the family. He works like a Marauding Captain for Sabers, and he is an X-Saber, which means you meet the requirements for an instant Faultroll. The next card, however, is what makes Sabers so amazing. During the End Phase of the turn Darksoul is sent to the graveyard, you can add 1 X-Saber (Faultroll) from your deck to your hand. The best part is, you get to do this as many times as he was sent to the graveyard that turn. The other great support card here is Infernity Barrier. While you have no cards in your hand and an Infernity in attack position, you can negate the effect of ANYTHING. Infernities were bad enough with Infernity Launcher, but this made them all the better.

Prototype is a great card for Koa'ki Meiru decks, keeping your Koa'ki Meiru monsters on the field if you can't pay their cost, and summoning tokens. Snyffus can destroy face up cards by tributing Plant monsters. Nimble Sunfish helps Fish decks a bit, sending a Fish from your deck to your graveyard and Special Summoning another Sunfish when destroyed. To summon Akz, you must remove Beast monsters from your graveyard, then to activate one of his mediocre effects, you have to discard a Beast-Warrior. Saber Vault increases the ATK of X-Sabers, which isn't necessary, and Core Overclock does the same for Koa'ki Meiru monsters, and Wave-Motion Inferno for Infernity monsters.

Duelist Revolution

• Scrap Archfiend
• Amazoness Scout
• Naturia Pineapple
• Dark Desertapir
• Psychic Nightmare
• Guts of Steel
• Amazoness Heirloom
• Amazoness Shamanism
• Super Rush Recklessly

Scrap Archfiend is there for the Scrap monsters that can't be used as Synchro Material for anything else. The Amazoness cards aren't enough to make the deck any good. The only notable card here is Naturia Pineapple, which acts like a Treeborn Frog for Naturia decks.

Starstrike Blast

• Archfiend Empress
• Skull Meister
• Droll & Lock Bird
• Spellstone Sorcerer Karood
• Scrap Mind Reader
• Gravekeeper's Recruiter
• Psi-Blocker
• Koa'ki Meiru Wall 
• Karakuri Barrel mdl 96 “Shinkuro”
• Mischief of the Yokai

This set of exclusives changed the tournament scene completely with just one card. Gravekeeper's Recruiter is responsible for Gravekeepers taking the top 3 spots of the latest YCS tournament. When he's sent from your field to the graveyard in any way, you get to search for any Gravekeeper monster with less than 1500 DEF (Commandant). Koa'ki Meiru Wall is a great addition to Rock Stun decks. He can negate Spell cards by tributing himself. Psi-Blocker works like Prohibition, but you can change the card on each of your turns.

Well, that's it for our look at TCG exclusives. Of course, most of them aren't exclusive anymore, with the OCG getting packs full of these cards. If you have any comments on these cards, feel free to use the comments section.

American Ingenuity: A Look Back at TCG Exclusives Part 1

It was a pretty big deal back at the release of Strike of Neos when Upper Deck started giving us our own exclusive cards in the TCG. We were so far behind the OCG cardwise, it was nice to get something they didn't have (yet). Since Tactical Evolution, we've been getting about 10 exclusive cards per set, and they are usually full of new cards for undersupported deck types.

Strke of Neos

• Grandmaster of the Six Samurai

Our first exclusive card. At the time of its release, the super rare version of this card was going for $50, and the secret rare version, much more. Without this card, Six Samurai decks would not have been anything at all. This card, along with two other TCG exclusive Samurai cards, made Six Samurai decks a big contender.

 Force of the Breaker

• Volcanic Rocket

FOTB had a set of monsters that, when discarded, let you search your deck for a specific Field Spell card. It also introduced the Volcanic arch-type. Volcanics are based on the Continuous Spell Card, Blaze Accelerator. Volcanic Rocket acts as one of the aforementioned "Spell Searcher" monsters, and lets you search for Blaze Accelerator when it's summoned. A 1900 ATK monster that searches for the deck's back bone was a much needed addition to the Volcanic deck type.

Tactical Evolution

• Gemini Summoner
• Ocean's Keeper
• Thousand-Eyes Jellyfish
• Cranium Fish
• Abyssal Kingshark
• Mormolith
• Fossil Tusker
• Phantom Dragonray Bronto
• Il Blud
• Blazewing Butterfly

Here's where the support for unplayable deck types began, starting with Fish. It didn't make much difference, however, because aside from Abyssal Kingshark, none of the Fish support is playable. Ocean's Keeper deals piercing damage and when destroyed, lets you search for Thousand-Eyes Jellyfish or Cranium Fish. Cranium Fish can be Special Summoned by tributing Ocean's Keeper, and Thousand-Eyes Jellyfish can only be summoned that way. Their effects aren't great either, One lets you see your opponent's hand, and one destroys face down cards by discarding a water monster. Phantom Dragonray Bronto is a Gemini Monster, which means to get its effect, it must be summoned twice. An attack boost is not worth the trouble, especially since it has a "Goblin Attack Force effect" which switches it to defense position until the end of your next turn. As far as Fish go, Abyssal Kingshark is the star here. It's a 1700 ATK beater that can't be destroyed by non-targeting effects once per turn. That means cards like Bottomless Trap Hole, Smashing Ground, Mirror Force, and Dark Hole would be wasted on this card.

Now for the better exclusive cards. Mormolith is a card that can destroy all monsters on the field by tributing an earth monster, as long as the ATK of the tributed monster is higher than the DEF of the other monsters. It didn't see much play, but in the era of Monarchs decks, this card could wipe out all your opponents monarchs by tributing itself. Blazewing Butterfly was a big card for the new Gemini sub-type. If you could Gemini summon this monster, you could tribute it to Special Summon a Gemini monster from your graveyard and have that monster gain its effect. Being an Insect, this card would come in handy a few sets later. The best and most expensive monster to come from this set was Il Blud. Another Gemini monster, this card could Special Summon any Zombie from either player's graveyard. The Gemini factor wasn't a big deal, as Il Blud itself was a Zombie and could be Special Summoned in many ways. With this card and Card of Safe Return, Zombies were propelled to the top of the tournament scene.

Gladiator's Assault

• Gladiator Beast Octavius
• Gladiator Beast Torax
• Test Tiger
• Defensive Tactics
• Dragon Ice
• Tongue Twister
• Skreech
• Royal Firestorm Guards
• Veil of Darkness
• Security Orb

With a set based around the new Gladiator beast arch-type, of course we'd get some exclusive support. Not all of it was good, however. Octavius is a watered down Bestiari, which you need to discard a card every turn to keep on the field, Torax lets you draw a card when Special Summoned by the effect of a Gladiator Beast (but is useless after that), and Defensive Tactics is basically a Waboku that can only be activated when you control a Gladiator Beast. Although it goes to the bottom of your deck to be used again, there are other cards that do a better job of protecting your monsters. The best Gladiator Beast support here is Test Tiger. You can Special Summon it when you control a Gladiator Beast, and tribute it to shuffle a Gladiator Beast back into your deck and replace it with a new one and get the new monster's effect. This card, along with another Gladiator Beast and an Elemental Hero, would make Gladiator Beasts the top deck for many months.

Dragon Ice, Tongue Twister, and Skreech were the winners of the "Create a Card" contest, but their effects aren't very good at all. Veil of Darkness is like a Heart of the Underdog for Dark monsters, and Security Orb is a worse version of Enemy Controller. Volcanics decks got a boost with Royal Firestorm Guards, a card that, when summoned, acts as a Pot of Avarice for Pyro monsters and has a decent 1700 ATK.

Phantom Darkness

• Dark Grepher
• Darklord Zerato
• Darknight Parshath
• Deepsea Macrotrema
• Allure of Darkness
• Metabo Globster
• Golden Flying Fish
• Prime Material Dragon
• Lonefire Blossom
• Aztekipede, the Worm Warrior

This set included some of the best exclusive cards we've ever had. Dark Grepher, Darklord Zerato, and Allure of Darkness made a huge impact, and were essential components in the Dark Armed Return deck that ruled at the big tournaments. Lonefire Blossom is another great card that is still used today in one of the top decks. By tibuting a Plant monster (including itself), you can Special Summon ANY Plant monster from your deck. Back then, the main choice was Gigaplant, today it can be any of the great Plant monsters used in Quickdraw and Plant Synchro decks. Prime Material Dragon is a card that stopped Burn decks by turning damage into life points, and it can negate any effect that would destroy a monster. Before Stardust Dragon, this was the best way to go. This card was later used to counter Gladiator Beasts, and was used in certain Monarch decks.

Darknight Parshath expanded on the Parshath family, but didn't do much else. Deepsea Macrotrema and Golden Flying Fish attempted to give more to the Fish type, but only Golden Flying Fish had decent stats. A 1700 ATK monster that could destroy cards by tributing other Fish monsters. Metabo Globster lets you Special Summon 3 tokens when it's tributed for a Dark monster, but the tokens can't be tributed for a tribute summon. They could, however, be tributed for cards like Destiny Hero - Plasma. And finally, Aztekipede is like a smaller version of  Doom Dozer. Too bad Insects didn't have enough support to be competitive.

Light of Destruction

• Guardian of Order
• Aurkus, Lightsworn Druid
• Ehren, Lightsworn Monk
• Dark General Freed
• Magical Exemplar
• Maniacal Servant
• Nimble Musasabi
• Flame Spirit Ignis
• Super-Ancient Dinobeast
• Vanquishing Light

We'll start off with two great Lightsworn cards, Aurkus and Ehren. Aurkus protects all your Lightsworn monsters from being targeted by anything. He laughs in the face of Monarchs and D.D. Crow. Ehren sends any defense position monster she attacks back to the opponent's deck. This is a great way to get around monsters with DEF too high to destroy, or effects that activate when a monster is destroyed like Sangan or Mystic Tomato. Magical Exemplar is a nice addition to Spellcaster decks. She has a decent 1700 ATK and can Special Summon Spellcasters from you hand or graveyard. If Dinosaur decks were good, Super-Ancient Dinobeast would be a great card. With 2700 ATK and the ability to be tribute summoned by tributing only 1 Dinosaur monster, this card lets you draw everytime a Dinosaur is Special Summoned from your graveyard.

Guardian of Order is basically a big beater that can be Special Summoned if you contol more than one Light monster. Dark General Freed works alot like the Matchless General, but for Dark monsters. Maniacal Servent is an easy way to remove Dark monsters from your Graveyard, but there are much better reasons to do that than just to raise the DEF of a monster. Nimble Musasabi is like a reverse Momonga. It deals 500 damage when destroyed and Special Summons more Musasabi to your opponent's field. Ignis deals burn damage to your opponent, but not enough to matter, and Vanquishing Light works like a Saber Hole, except you have to tribute a Lightsworn monster to activate it.

The Duelist Genesis

• Avenging Knight Parshath
• Counselor Lily
• Herald of Orange Light
• Izanami
• Maiden of Macabre
• Hand of the Six Samurai
• Cyber Shark
• Grapple Blocker
• Telekinetic Charging Cell
• Charge of the Light Brigade

This set brought us Synchros, Tuners, and Psychics, as did the exclusive cards. Avenging Knight Parshath is a bad Syncrho monster which requires Light monsters to be used. Counselor Lily is a Tuner that gives a Synchro monster a mini Injection Fairy Lily effect. Herald of Orange Light works like the Purple and Green Heralds, but for monster effects, and it's also a Tuner. Izanami adds to the Spirit support included in this set. Maiden of Macabre is a Spellcaster that uses Spell Counters and gets stronger when it destroys a monster. Cyber Shark is a worse version of Cyber Dragon, and Grapple Blocker and Telekinetic Charging Cell add to the new Psychic type. Grapple Blocker isn't impressive, but Charging Cell makes it so you don't have to pay life points for the effects of your Psychic monsters.

The good exclusive cards in this set and support cards for Six Samurai and Lightsworn decks. Hand of the Six Samurai lets you tribute a Six Samurai monster to destroy a monster. With later exclusive Samurai support, this card and Grandmaster come together for a good combo. Charge of the Light Brigade is just what Lightsworn decks needed. By sending the top 3 cards of your deck to the graveyard, you can search your deck for one Level 4 or lower Lightsworn monster. This card was limited because Lightsworn decks were too good with 3 of these.

Crossroads of Chaos

•  Rose, Warrior of Revenge
• Seed of Flame
• Cactus Fighter
• Overdrive Teleporter
• Rai-Jin
• Rai-Mei
• Gladiator Beast Retiari
• Night's End Sorcerer
• Tempest Magician
• Treacherous Trap Hole

Rose, Warrior of Revenge was our first level 4 Tuner, and being a Warrior, it has a lot of support. Retiari was a welcome addition to the Gladiator Beast family, removing opponent's cards like Destiny Hero - Malicious and Plaguespreader Zombie from play. Night's End Sorcerer and Tempest Magician were a boost for Spellcaster decks and decks based around Spell Counters.

Overdrive Teleporter let you Special Summon 2 Psychic monsters for the cost of 2000 life points. That's pretty steep, but it made for easy Synchro Summons. Seed of Flame and Cactus Fighter added more support to the Plant type, but both monsters give your opponent tokens, and in a game of Synchros, that's not such a good idea. Rai-Jin and Rai-Mei are some very weak support cards for the Light attribute, and Treacherous Trap Hole can destroy 2 monsters, but only if you don't have any Trap cards in your graveyard. There are better ways to destroy multiple monsters, especially with Dark Hole now legal.

That's it for the first half of our look at TCG exclusive cards. Next time well look at the cards from Crimson Crisis to the new set Starstrike Blast.