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Not that I am counting of course, but I just realized that we just have 2 weeks to go to the release of the new core set for Yu-Gi-Oh! TGC, “Legacy of Destruction”. The new set releasing on the 25th of April will include as usual some new archetypes and supports for a lot of previously released ones but this time, it will also feature new versions of iconic (and quite old) cards that will have not only newer art but also updated effects to make them more relevant in the current gameplay. These releases are quite interesting as they seem to continue the efforts Konami did at the beginning of the year when they released a lot of iconic cards from the anime series in “Maze of Millennia”. Of course, there are a lot of positives in the new sets and we can look through what we know so far together.
Right out of the Booster Box – How the set looks like
Legacy of Destruction includes a total of 101 cards: 10 Secret Rares, 14 Ultra Rares, 26 Super Rares and 50 Commons. The 24 Secret and Ultra rare cards can also be pulled as Quarter Century Secret Rare and there is one card that can only be pulled as Quarter Century Secret Rare (the Quick Spell card, “Future Silence“). As usual, there will be 24 packs per box and 9 cards per booster pack of which 8 are common and 1 is foil (rare or above).
The set introduces the new Archetypes “Ragnaraika“, “Sangen“ and “Tenpai Dragon“ as well as the Shining Sarcophagus series. In addition, there will be new support for older archetypes including “Ancient Gear“, “Archfiend“, “Ashened”,“Centur-Ion“, “Diabellstar“, “Earthbound“, “Fishborg“, “Fusion“, “Gadget“, “Gandora“, “Goblin”, “Goblin Biker“, “Gold Pride“, “Lightsworn“, “Melodious“, “Melodious Maestra“, “Memento“, “Polymerization“, “Silent Magician“, “Silent Swordsman“, “Sinful Spoils“, “Snake-Eye“, “Voiceless Voice“, “Vaalmonica“ and “Yubel“ as well as the Trap Monster and Wight series.
What you should look for in Legacy of Destruction?
Basing on what we know at this stage and on the cards released for the OCG we can expect a few good things from this new set:
1) The new Shiny Sarcophagus series featuring new versions of some iconic cards used by Yugi and Athem in their final duel including for example, Silent Magician, Silent Swordsman, and the
Gadget trio. These cards are now all linked to “Shining Sarcophagus”, a Continuous Spell card that cannot be destroyed by monster effects and that allows the player to add 1 card that mentions "Shining Sarcophagus" from the Deck to their hand. Moreover, it also allows the player to discard any Spell card to send back to the Graveyard a monster that the opponent has Special Summoned from there.
Among the new cards linked to Shining Sarcophagus, players can look for “Gadget Trio”, a new Lv4 monster card that can allow the player to set the newer version of "Stronghold the Hidden Fortress" directly from their Deck once Gadget Trio destroyed. The Hidden Fortress, will then gain 1000 ATK for each "Shining Sarcophagus", and monster that mentions it in play and will allow the player to destroy one opponent's monster per turn just after they declared an attack.
The new Silent Magician Zero will also benefit from having Shiny Sarcophagus in play as the new card gains a level (and 500 ATK) every time the opponent draws a card or when Silent Magician uses its ability to negate a Spell Card or effect activation. Silent Swordsman Zero is now also very similar to Silent Magician although its ability triggers any time an effect target Shining Sarcophagus or a monster that mentions it.
If all these cards would not be enough to make a Shining Sarcophagus deck interesting, Konami has also released a new version of “Gandora-G the Dragon of Destruction”. The monster, also featured on art of the Booster packs and boxes, can be Special Summoned from the hand by controlling "Shining Sarcophagus" and can then banish all cards from the field by paying half of the player LP. As a result of this ability, Gandora will gain 300 ATK for every card banished and the player can Special Summon 1 Level 7 or lower monster that mentions "Shining Sarcophagus" from your Deck, and increase its Level by the number of cards destroyed by this effect.
Shining Sarcophagus seems overall an interesting tech but we will see which additional support it will get in July from the set “The Infinite Forbidden”.
2) Tenpai Dragon, on the other hand, is a new archetype that is currently among the most promising decks in the meta. The Archetype includes at the moment four main Fire Dragon Monsters: “Tenpai Dragon Chundra”, “Tenpai Dragon Fadra”, “Tenpai Dragon Paidra” and “Tenpai Dragon of Genroku” (that is expected to be released in July in The Infinite Forbidden set). The aim of the Archetype is to summon multiple Fire monsters using the Field Spell card “Sangen Summoning” to increase your army and protect it from all opponent's card effects. All your monsters can then Synchro Summon during the Battle Phase (Yes, you read it correctly) into increasingly bigger monsters like the Lv7 “Sangenpai Bident Dragion” and the Lv10 “Sangenpai Transcendent Dragion”.
Each of the monsters in this Archetypes has very interesting effects including the ability of the Synchro monsters to come back to the field if 3 or more attacks are declared in a turn. Considering this archetype can benefit from other Dragon or Fire Monster engines, there is a lot of potential in the set.
3) Another nice Archetype to look forward in this set is the new Ragnaraika Archetype, composed by Insect, Plant and Reptile monster. This new archetype can benefit from the Graveyard-based engine of the Snake “Ogdoatic” archetype (including the great Spell Card “Snake Rain”) as well as the Plant support from the “Sunavalon” archetype to bring out powerful Link Monsters while closing your opponent out of its Extra Deck. Most of the Link monsters of this Archetype have also the ability to prevent your opponent from activate effects providing a strong Control strategy to this deck.
4) Finally and not surprisingly, the new set includes new cards linked to the Lightsworn Archetype. As Yu-Gi-Oh! Fans may recall, there was a set called “Light of Destruction” that came out in 2008 just after Phantom Darkness which introduced Yubel archetype for the first time. Considering that
Legacy of Destruction follows Phantom Nightmare (which also features Yubel support) it makes absolutely sense to have some support for Lightsworn in this as well to make this set a bit of a successor of the 2008 set.
The new cards released in this set are actually pretty cool if you are looking to boost your Lightsworn deck. First, we have the new Lv4 effect Monster “Lightsworn Dragonling” that can be Special Summoned from the hand by having a "Lightsworn" monster in your GY. The value of this card, however lies on its other ability to add 1 Dragon monster with 3000 ATK/2600 DEF from the Deck to the player's hand if "Lightsworn Dragonling" is send to the Grave Yard. This can easily be achieved for example by the new “Weiss, Lightsworn Archfiend” that can be Special Summoned from the hand by placing 1 other "Lightsworn" card from the hand on the top of the player Deck and then sending the top 2 cards of the Deck to the Grave Yard.
Both these new cards fit perfectly the Archetype and are very good additions to the deck. Among the other great cards released in Legacy of Destruction we should surely count the new Fusion Monster “Enlightenment Dragon” that can banish all cards from the field and the Graveyard as well as the new Synchro Monster “Minerva, the Athenian Lightsworn” that offers protection to all your monsters from the opponent's card effects. That surely can be of great help to protect “against the wickedness and snares of the Darkness”.
Together with these three main highlights, I think we are going to see plenty of other interesting cards and support in the set including the new “Melodious” and “Fiend” cards as well as the new Ritual Monster “Saffira, Divine Dragon of the Voiceless Voice” just to name a few more cards I am really looking to see. Overall, Legacy of Destruction seems quite a nice set and I cannot wait to get it on the release day. Wish me luck for the pulls!