Yugi | Geekscape

The Yu-Gi-Oh Legendary Decks 2 Collection Breathes Life Into Old Favorites!

by Josh JacksonFebruary 8, 2017

It’s become an annual tradition for Yu-Gi-Oh players to expect some kind of grand collection when the end of the year starts to creep up on us. 2016 is no exception, following last year’s trend of releasing a series of theme decks all in one box. Sharing the spotlight with Joey and Kaiba this time around, Yugi and his two Battle City rivals return with decks blending new and old cards, many of which have become much harder to find through other means.

Starting with Joey, who had his own Joey’s World collection a few years ago, his deck naturally focuses on his Red Eyes Black Dragon. His featured cards include The Black Stone of Legend, a card that can be tributed to special summon a powerful Red Eyes monster from the deck. When in the Graveyard, it allows a Red-Eyes in the Graveyard to be shuffled back into the deck while the Stone itself goes back into your hand. Creating an easy way to continuously cycle Red-Eyes monsters in and out of your deck, it’s handy to have both in and out of the grave! Thesecond card, Return of the Red Eyes, is a continuous Trap Card that allows you to Special Summon a Normal Monster in your Graveyard while on the field. When destroyed, you can Special Summon a Red-Eyes monster from your Graveyard to the Field, providing a second way to filter in powerful monsters constantly. Lastly, Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon is an Xyz Monster from the Clash of Rebellions set that can’t be destroyed by card effects AND inflicts 500 damage every time your opponent activates a card or effect after it resolves as long as it has Xyz material attached. When material is removed, you can Special Summon one Normal Red-Eyes monster from the grave, making sure it always has backup in a fight.

The rest of Joey’s deck features many of the classic cards he used throughout the original series, including common variant favorites of Jinzo, Scapegoats, Baby Dragon and Kunai with Chain. Top that off with some powerful staple support cards such as Torrential Tribute and Mystical Space Typhoon, and you have a ready made Red-Eyes deck that can become even more powerful once cards from other booster sets are mixed in.

Next up is Kaiba, who’s trademark Blue-Eyes cards had a resurgence this year thanks to a plethora of new support cards, many of which are represented here. Maiden with Eyes of Blue kicks things off, with the popular card from the Saga of Blue-Eyes White Dragon structure deck bringing its tricks into this package. Don’t let its 0 attack and 0 defense fool you, because it’s used to bait players into attacking it in order to easily summon the powerful Blue-Eyes instantly. When attacked, the move is negated, leading to one of the dragons being Special Summoned from the Hand, Deck or Graveyard. When targeted by a card effect, the same effect comes into play, minus the negation. This can take place once per turn during either player’s turn, so one cycle can have the maximum of three Blue-Eyes White Dragon cards on the field at once! If your opponent isn’t taking your bait, you can always target your own Maiden too! The Melody of Awakening Dragons provides a second option to get your dragons out of your deck, allowing you to add up to two Dragon-Type monsters with 3000 or more attack and 2500 or less defense. This is a perfect set up for Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, the classic fusion monster that’s become a staple of Kaiba’s offense focused strategy. At 4500 attack and 3800 defense, good luck taking it down without a spell handy.

Like Joey, Kaiba’s deck is rounded out by new and old favorites, including the Synchro Monster, Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon, Protector with Eyes of Blue, Master with Eyes of Blue, Beacon of White, La-Jinn- Mystical Genie of the Lamp, Battle Ox, Burst Stream of Destruction and Enemy Controller to name a few. Naturally, it’s also packed with three Blue-Eyes White Dragon cards, each of which are common variants of the first three art styles used for the iconic monster.

But as always, Yugi is the star of the show, which is why he gets six featured cards, three of which are exclusive to this set! The first three are a trio most should be familiar with by now, with the classic designs for Slifer the Sky Dragon, Obelisk the Tormentor and The Winged Dragon of Ra sitting on top of the deck with their Ultra Rare variants. His exclusive cards revolve around Exodia, the all powerful god / meme that Yugi famously defeated Kaiba with in the first episode of the Duel Monsters anime. The Legendary Exodia Incarnate allows you to summon the monster as its own creature rather than the instant win device it has become known for when all of its body parts have been assembled. With 0 defense and fluctuating attack strength, it gains 1000 attack points for every “Forbidden One” card in your Graveyard. At the end of its user’s turn, it asks them to add one “Forbidden One” card from the grave to their hand, making Exodia weaker in the process. While it can’t be affected by card effects, destroying it in battle lets its user draw a card for every “Forbidden One” card in their hand, allowing them to cycle through their deck faster for that precious instant win, all while bringing cards back from the grave that might have been lost otherwise. Ties of the Brethren is a Spell Card that Special Summons two cards of the same attribute and type with different names to the field at the cost of 2000 Life Points, obviously meant to set up two Exodia pieces. Finally, the Obliterate!!! Continuous Trap Card allows you to discard a “Forbidden One” card from your hand or deck to send a monster on the field back to its user’s hand. When destroyed, you can add one “Forbidden One” card from the gave to your hand, but only one of the two effects can be used per turn.

To be honest, I’m struggling with finding the usefulness of these exclusive cards, mainly because their effects don’t seem worth the cost of losing your Exodia pieces, especially when they seem counter productive to other cards in the deck like Exodia Necross, which is destroyed if all pieces aren’t in the Graveyard. It seems like many of the stall and draw decks that currently exist would work much better to accomplish what these cards seem to set up. Outside of Exodia: The Forbidden One and its four limbs, Yugi’s deck also comes with cards used by both his normal form and Atem, including the Dark Magician, Dark Magician Girl, the Silent Magician series, Swords of Revealing Light, Magic Cylinder and Mirror Force. These should give players plenty to work with when building custom decks, especially to compliment the new magician cards that came out earlier in the year.

The decks aren’t all that come packed with these legendary decks, since three promos and three tokens are included in each set exclusively. Consisting of two Spell Cards and one Trap Card that are meant to power up the Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl, Dark Burning Attack destroys all face up monsters your opponent controls if you control the female variant. If you control both, Dark Burning Magic can act as a quick play spell, letting you destroy all cards on your opponent’s field during either of your turns. Mimicking the magician’s eternal loyalty for the Pharoh in the anime and manga, the Eternal Soul continuous trap card makes sure you always have a Dark Magician at your side. While on the field, Dark Magician can’t be affected by card effects from your opponent, while allowing you to either Special Summon a Dark Magician from your hand or Graveyard, or add Thousand Knives or Dark Magic Attack spells from your deck to your hand. The only drawback is if the trap is destroyed, all monsters on your side of the field go with it. Outside of these cards, tokens featuring the three heroes this set is built on round out this jam packed set, which I’m sure comes in handy for someone like Joey, who would want to line up four Kaiba tokens to have them get taken down during one of his notorious Scapegoat plays.

Overall, this is an excellent set for people who are mostly familiar with the old cards, but want some new ones mixed in to help them get re-acquainted with the game. While the Yugi set is confusing in the way its set up, the other two have excellent synergy, and the three promo cards that support the magicians more than make up for any shortcomings the Yugi deck has. While it pains me to say this as a Blue-Eyes fan, the Red-Eyes deck is the all star this time around, with some fantastic cards that not only play well, but are much harder to get outside of this set

My biggest concern however, is that we might be going to the nostalgia well a bit too often with these sets. Last year’s Legendary Decks had three Yugi decks, and many of the cards here were already released back then. When you add in the previously mentioned Joey’s World, the many Battle City re-releases, the movie cards that offered some reprints of classic monsters, the Duelist Packs featuring Yugi and Kaiba, and the theme decks featuring these characters, it’s starting to feel like we’re buying the same cards over and over again rather than being introduced to new ones. Now I might be biased since I love Kaiba, but this year felt like the perfect time to give him his own set with all of the brand new Blue-Eyes support that has released. Maybe next year?

Nonetheless, you can’t got wrong with over 150 cards of Yu-Gi-Oh goodness. At the retail price of $29.99, you’re getting more than what you paid for considering some of the rare cards that are in this set. What are your favorite cards from the box, and what do you want to see in the future? Let us know in the comments!

Power Up Your Old School Decks With The YuGiOh 2016 Mega Tins!

by Josh JacksonNovember 1, 2016

Much of this year in YuGiOh has revolved around nostalgia. Shining Victories and The Dark Illusion booster sets have firmly revived the Blue Eyes White Dragon and Dark Magician archtypes from the beginnings of the game, while older monsters from the 5D‘s and GX eras have gotten plenty of love over the last 12 months. Now that the year is wrapping up, it’s time for another set of Mega Tins to compile all the best cards over that period, for a more economical way to compile what otherwise would be an expensive deck to build. With Yugi and Kaiba at the forefront of the sets this year, this means we’ll have an even easier time finishing off our retro builds, with some brand new cards thrown in for good measure.

As with every annual tin, each one has its own set of guaranteed promo cards outside of the three 16 card Mega Packs. As you would guess, Yugi’s tin focuses on the cards that his deck was famous for, with some new ones thrown in to make them more competitive to the modern game. Aside from Ultra and Secret Rare variants the old school Dark Magician design and Yugi’s God Card, Slifer The Sky Dragon respectively, the sought after Ebon High Magician from The Dark Illusion and Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer, the highlight of the Breakers of Shadow set are the real stars, ensuring you can get your hands on these cornerstone cards. Ebon in particular brings Dark Magician to the realm of Xyz monsters, allowing you to play Quick Play Spells and Trap Cards from your hand as long as it has Xyz material to use, protecting them from being destroyed on the field. Throw in its ability to Special Summon a Spellcaster when its destroyed, and you get a card that can spell disaster for the opponent.

In addition to these monsters, the set has two original cards that can only be found in this tin. D/D/D Flame King Genghis is a Fusion Monster that can only be summoned when fusing two D/D monsters, but Genghis gives you an easy way to bring them back. As long as you Special Summon D/D monster, the Flame King can bring back a D/D monster from the Graveyard once per turn. The hard part when it comes to this combo might be to keep him alive, but if he is destroyed, you can add a Dark Contract card from the Graveyard to your Hand, giving you a bit of retribution. Dragonox, The Empowered Warrior, can also make the Graveyard your playground, with its ability to Special Summon one Spellcaster with 2000 or less attack in Face Down Defense Position. Its meager 1500 attack and defense makes it easy to kill, but as a Pendulum Monster, it can also be played as a Scale 7 Spell on either side of the Pendulum Zone. When placed there, Dragonox can be discarded to end the opponent’s battle phase when they declare an attack. So basically, Negate Attack in Monster form.

Over on Kaiba’s side of the field, the power obsessed CEO of Kaibacorp has his own upgrades since the last time we saw him. While we would never expect Obelisk The Tormentor or his trademark Blue Eyes White Dragon to be left behind in a set like this, his new Synchro Monster, Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon, is the highlight among the promo cards. As one of the top cards in the Shining Victories set, not only does it pack a punch attack wise at 2500, but once on the field via Synchro Summoning, it can negate the activation of effects in the Graveyard, which has become a popular tactic in recent versions of the game. Tributing it also lets you Special Summon any Light type Synchro Monster during either player’s turn, which can get you out of some serious jams if played right. The trick is knowing when to use it, since the monster is destroyed at the End Phase of the turn it was summoned.

Rounding out Kaiba’s promo cards are two original cards and an old favorite. Starting with Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit, a Secret Rare from the Crossed Souls set from 2015, this card is essentially a free Solemn card disguised as a monster. If it’s either on your field or IN YOUR HAND, you can destroy the card that was activated, allowing you to catch your opponent off guard. As far as the original entries, D/D/D King Gust Alexander is a Synchro card that has a similar effect to Yugi’s Genghis, but with more more flexibility and durability. With 2500 attack points, he can Special Summon a D/D Monster from the Graveyard when you Special Summon OR Normal Summon a D/D Monster. While he doesn’t have a secondary effect like Genghis’ Dark Contract ability, I’m liking Gust better since you can swarm much easier with his ability. Lastly, Aether, The Evil Empowering Dragon, is a Scale 4 Pendulum Monster with some nasty effects. By Special or Normal Summoning this level six monster, it allows you to flat out banish a monster on the field with no cost outside of what you used to summon it. Once in the Pendulum Zone, it allows you to destroy one card on the field once per turn by banishing an Empowered Warrior monster from your own Graveyard. Once it gets going, it looks like Aether would be a huge threat with the right support cards protecting it.

Rounding out the sets are the Mega Packs themselves, which each include three all star boosters. Containing highlights from the Crossed Souls, Clash of Rebellions, Dimension of Chaos and Breakers of Shadow sets, these cover a lot of ground. You’ll find plenty to love, such as the many Performapal cards, additional support for the Blackwing and Red Dragon Archfiend lines of monsters, and individual powerhouses such as the Odd Eyes Rebellion Dragon to name a few in the long list of viable cards. There’s no better way to catch up with the recent card releases than through this set. My personal pull highlights included Neptabyss, The Atlantean Prince, which single-handedly revived Atlantean and Mermail monsters earlier this year, and Jar of Avarice, which lets you recycle five Graveyard cards followed by a one card draw. If someone with luck as bad as mine can draw those, then there’s no reason why other pulls out there won’t be even better!

That about does it for the 2015-2016 YuGiOh season. What were your highs and lows, and what are your favorite cards from these sets? Sound off below and let us know!

Geekscape Games Reviews ‘Yu-Gi-Oh: Legacy Of The Duelist’

by Josh JacksonAugust 11, 2015

Platforms: PS4, Xbox One (Digital Only, Reviewed On Xbox One)

Genre: Trading Card Game

Price: $20.00

Publisher: Konami

Developer: Other Ocean Interactive

Available: Now

What used to be a franchise where multiple releases across nearly every platform every year was considered a sure thing, the world of Yu-Gi-Oh has really dialed it back in the video game department in recent years. For many, (including myself,) the games were always a great tool to gain access to hundreds of potential strategies to experiment with, while developing a firm grasp of new rules as the game evolved. With the recent release of Yu-Gi-Oh: Legacy Of The Duelist, the first game in the series for PS4 and Xbox One is a return to form for the long running series, serving as the most comprehensive game yet! Despite its card pool that reaches over a decade back and heaps of nostalgia however, a few head scratching snags keep it from being the Duelist Kingdom we were hoping for.

Pendulum Summoning is one of many summoning types in the game.

As mentioned, Yu-Gi-Oh: Legacy of the Duelist goes as far back as the beginning of the series, all the way up to cards that were released early this year. With over 6,600 cards in total,this is easily the most comprehensive console version released up to this point. If you don’t know the difference between a Blue Eyes White Dragon or a Galaxy Eyes Photon Dragon, if you think Xyz is a dragon cannon, or if the last time your dueled was when you were getting your game on with Jaden in GX, this is far from a problem. Thanks to the game’s campaign mode, (where the bulk of the single player content lies,) each of its four main stories contain about 25 duels, all of which cover the most important events through each anime series. Using text dialogue ripped straight from the show, jumping into each generation starts off with a comprehensive tutorial explaining the new mechanics that were debuted at the time. Even though it’s annoying that veterans can’t skip these, or that the first series has such a long explanation of the most basic mechanics, (I probably wouldn’t be playing if I didn’t know what a Normal Summon is,) its an invaluable tool for those who dropped out throughout the years and want to get caught up with the game a little bit at a time.

Story mode often serves as a game of patience, which in some ways, simulates the struggles each character faced on the show. These scenarios give the player a Story Deck that simulates the cards that were actually used in the episodes they’re drawn from, which can be a blessing and a curse. On one hand, though the decks do have a fair amount of cards they never used, (which is expected when episodes only featured about a dozen cards out of a 40 card deck,) but are mostly accurate, with each staple monster, spell and trap making an appearance. On the other hand, these decks SUCK by today’s standards, especially when starting with the early series. Their only saving grace, (often to our detriment,) is that single player throws ban lists out the window, so its not uncommon to be sent into a deck kicking rage after enduring multiple Dark Hole, Raigeki, and Swords Of Revealing Light cards. Luckily, your opponent’s deck is usually worse, but that luck runs out when it comes to Reverse Duels, unlockable battles where you take control of the losing character. Using their Story Decks makes it almost impossible to win, often having to rely on “the heart of the cards”, to sneak away with a victory. This is why the campaign giving you the option to use custom decks is a gift from Ra, because some of these duels would be almost impossible to beat otherwise. Then again, relying on them took away from the fun found in playing with cards you might never use on your own.

Winning unlocks new Booster Packs based on certain character, cards from the defeated Duelist’s deck, and points to buy new cards with. Lastly, if you want to face these protagonists of the past with a little more challenge, Duelist Challenges allow you to play against them with updated decks. Seeing Kaiba and Yugi using Synchro and Xyz summoning is a sight within itself, while keeping an already lengthy single player mode fresh. If all this content isn’t enough, some of the missing story duels are featured as DLC, many of which had no business being left out, (Jaden vs. Yugi anyone!?) Basically, if it wasn’t featured on U.S. TV, you’re going to have to pay extra for it.

Key moments from the anime play out with dialogue ripped from the show’s script.

Duels themselves take the form of a variety of phases per turn, with each card having different functions as each phase goes by. Without going too far into detail, each card falls into one of three types. Monsters are used to attack or defend against your opponent, (most of which come with secondary effects,) Spell Cards unleash effects that have the potential to turn a duel around in the user’s favor, and Trap Cards spring surprise effects on the opponent, usually putting a stop to their moves. Speaking of Traps, (and Quick Spells for that matter,) unless you’re brand new to the game, you might want to switch the default settings for Duel Notifications off. Unless of course, you want the game to ask you half a dozen times per turn if you want to use it. It’s all pretty straightforward presentation and game play wise, but the only real issue I came across was with how slow the game moves. Previous versions had ways to speed up turn animations or skip them outright, whereas Next Gen gaming doesn’t seem to have the option to do so. And while seeing signature cards come to life and attack using 3D models, these just drag the game out after you’ve seen them repeatedly with no way to pass them by.

Elemental Hero Neos makes his entrance. Oddly, Flame Wingman doesn’t get the same treatment.

As a real duelist, part of the reason some have had trouble getting into the game is those handful of players with bad attitudes. As we know, the Internet tends to make this attitude so much worse, which is why the acceptable Online Mode is best played with people you know. If you’re expecting to have fun, competitive matches with players around the world, you’ll surely be disappointed by the large amount of rage quitting that takes place. While I wouldn’t normally hold this against the game itself, the fact that it doesn’t give the remaining player the win, or even that it takes so long to make the win official, it gives quitters so much time to sneak away with their record clean. Since there’s no way to Mind Crush over Xbox Live or PSN, avoiding them or accepting this fact going in are your only solutions.

Online play is fun with friends. With strangers, prepare for rage quits.

With so many cards, even veteran duelists might feel a little overwhelmed with gathering the best cards for their deck building needs. Thankfully, the game is generous with its allocation, giving you a variety of ways to unlock them. Primarily, cards are purchased from the Booster Packs mentioned above using Duel Points, (or DP,) which are rewarded for playing and winning duels. Outside of the character packs, Battle Packs make their video game debut, which mirror their real life purpose of building decks right out of the pack. Featuring some of the best cards in the game, Battle Packs test your duel knowledge, forcing you to play a best three out of five series either against the CPU or other players with the same blind deck. Win or lose, you keep the cards for your own deck building needs. Character packs provide their reward immediately, with each set being loaded with cards from each generation. Sadly, with a new console generation comes some of its annoyances, since many of the very best and most up to date cards are locked behind DLC pay walls.

Yet, while having thousands of cards is definitely a great thing, Legacy Of The Duelist‘s biggest flaw is how poorly it handles card management. For one, there are far too few Character Packs, so each one is full of archetypes that the booster’s namesake never used. For example, if Pegasus had his own pack featuring Toons and Relinquished instead of them being forced into Kaiba’s packs, it would make it easier for Seto’s fans to gather up Blue Eyes cards rather than plod through a ton of cards they don’t want. This wouldn’t be a huge problem normally, but the game does a terrible job of filtering out repeats, leaving me opening packs with three of the same card at times. With each set containing hundreds of cards, it makes it almost impossible to get that one card you’re desperate to find without potential hours of pack grinding.

Oh, and the worst part? There is no in game card list telling you what’s in each pack. That’s right, absolutely none! The cards you buy don’t tell you where they came from, and there’s no list telling you if you’re missing anything. With so many cards available, this creates a huge problem for those who want to keep track of where to get more than one of the same card, or who wants to let their friends know where they can find their favorite cards. The only sign of relief is that beating the CPU duelists repeatedly will eventually reward you with their entire deck, but this answer is far from ideal. An online trading system, a card password system like what was used in the past, or a simple list would have gone a long way to improve this aspect of the game. Instead, it serves as its biggest flaw in an otherwise comprehensive title.

Does anyone know who drops a Dark Magician!?

Featuring over 6,600 cards spanning nearly 15 years of history, including the newest Pendulum Summon mechanic from the Arc-V era and the debut of Battle Packs, there’s plenty of reason for new and old duelists alike to be excited for Yu-Gi-Oh: Legacy of the Duelist. Best used as a tool to get back into the game, learn it for the first time, and test out a near limitless vault of cards before buying the cards for yourself, it serves its purpose well. A nostalgia filled campaign will keep you playing for hours while Duelist Challenges update the game for your favorites, but its poor online management, thoughtless card management system, slower pace and DLC locked content keep it from being the true king of games. Still, if you wanted an excuse to get your feet wet in the dueling arena, there isn’t a better way to learn the game than Legacy of the Duelist.

tl;dr:

+ Over 6,600 cards to use, featuring nearly limitless possibilities.

+ Comprehensive tutorials that explain the new mechanics from each generation in a progressive, easy to understand way.

+ A lengthy campaign mode skims every anime series thus far, using mostly authentic decks. Challenge Duels update these characters with modern cards, keeping your favorite characters relevant.

+ Battle Packs make their first video game appearance, creating an unpredictable way to play.

– Duels move slow, with unskippable animations for certain Monsters.

– Online is poorly handled, creating an environment where its easy to rage quit with no reward for the winner.

– Booster Packs contain far too many cards, making it hard to find your favorites. Having no card list to keep track of your finds make this so much worse, and the lack of a trading or password system means tons of grinding.

– Key cards and story duels locked behind a DLC paywall.

Verdict: Buy

Final Score: 3/5