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Baneful's Column
By Baneful
December 30, 2016

Rarity Shuffle
(Changing Rarities in Older Sets)

 

Okay, I'm flat out admitting that Baneful's Column is a nostalgia column and Pojo is a nostalgia site.  It's great.  People don't go a Rolling Stones concert to primarily hear their penultimate album.

 

In this entry, I go back in history and show an alternate reality of what the card rarities in each set should have looked like.  It's based on an idea some other reviewer on Pojo did at one point (forgot his name). 

 

In America, essential cards were bumped up to high rarities to gouge prices.  But in Japan, the rarity picks seemed completely random and perhaps too many good cards were commons. 

 

Generally, here are some guidelines I will try to abide by:

       Each rarity should have something good in it

       Iconic cards in the anime/lore should be higher rarity

       Staples should be lowered in rarity usually, since they're staples.

 

Below are a list of only the changes I would make.  Anything omitted is presumed to be the same rarity it always was.  (i.e. Lava Golem is not mentioned, so it stays a Secret Rare)

 

Legend of Blue-Eyes

 

Super Rare

       Dragon Capture Jar

       Reaper of the Cards

       Giant Soldier of Stone

       Stop Defense

       Gravedigger Ghoul

 

Normal Rare

       Swords of Revealing Light

       Trap Hole

       Man-Eater Bug

       Dark Hole

       Raigeki

 

Notes: Not too much I could do to save this horrible set.  I dare not put Karbonala Warrior as a holo, but at least more packs will have a worthwhile card in them. 

 

Metal Raiders

 

Ultra Rare:

       Kazejin

       Suijin

       Sanga of the Thunder

 

Super Rare:

       Magic Jammer

       Seven Tools of the Bandit

       Horn of Heaven

 

 

Normal Rare

       Soul Release

 

Common:

       Muka Muka

 

Notes: I made Gate Guardian even harder for the player to assemble, but I made the better trap cards in the set more accessible.  I also thought Soul Release should be a higher rarity.  I mulled swapping out bad rares like the elemental boosters for good commons, but couldn't think of that many.  Maybe Jirai Gumo, Stim Pack, Share the Pain, Ring of Magnetism?

 

MAGIC RULER

 

Ultra Rare

       Slot Machine ↑↑↑

       Labyrinth Wall ↑↑↑

       Hyozanryu ↑↑

 

Super Rare

       Mystical Space Typhoon

       The Forceful Sentry

 

Normal Rare

       Confiscation

       Painful Choice

       Axe of Despair ↓↓

 

Common:

       Hiro's Shadow Scout

       Ameba

 

Notes: At the expense of making some badass monsters holo, I got to lower rarities of staples so that a player at the time wouldn't have had to shell out hundreds of dollars for a competitive deck.  You need incentives at all rarities but making the only good spell/trap removal card an Ultra Rare is just mean.

 

PHARAOH'S SERVANT

 

Secret Rare

       Thousand-Eyes Restrict

       Buster Blader

 

Ultra Rare

       Jinzo

       Imperial Order

       Graverobber

       Magical Hats

       The Eye of Truth ↑↑↑

       Limiter Removal

 

Super Rare

       Goblin Attack Force

       Premature Burial

       Ceasefire

       Prohibition

       Morphing Jar #2

 

Normal Rare

       Nobleman of Crossout

       Dust Tornado

       Time Seal

       Cold Wave

       4-Starred Ladybug of Doom

       Burning Land

 

Common:

       Red-Moon Baby

       Skull Invitation

       Monster Recovery

       Dimensionhole

 

Notes: Spell/trap and monster removal cards should be Normal Rare so no deck would be without them.  Jinzo and Imperial as Ultras is what I stress the most here.  Ceasefire and GAF were good deck building additions, but they're not worth being ultra nor for their badassery nor their role in the anime.

 

LABYRINTH OF NIGHTMARE

 

Secret Rare

       Dark Necrofear

       Destiny Board

 

Ultra Rare

       Magic Cylinder

       Summoner of Illusion ↑↑↑

       Revival Jam

 

Super Rare

       torrential tribute

 

Normal Rare

       Gemini Elf ↓↓↓

       Offerings to the Doomed

       Bait Doll

       Collected Power

       Zombyra the Dark

       the Emperor's Holiday

       the Dark Door

       Fusion Gate

       Skull Lair

 

Common

       Spirit Messages "I", "N", "A" and "L" (4 cards)

       Spirit of the Breeze

       Jam Breeding Machine

       Infinite Cards

       Nuvia the Wicked

       Destruction Punch

 

Notes: Some of the worst Normal Rares I've seen.  1900 beater shouldn't be Secret.  I elevated some of the more interesting cards.

 

Legacy of Darkness

 

Secret Rare

       Dark Ruler Ha Des

       Tyrant Dragon

 

Ultra Rare

       Yata-Garasu

       Luster Dragon #2

       Ryu Senshi

       Dark Balter the terrible

       Fiend Skull Dragon

 

Super Rare

       Injection Fairy Lily ↓↓

       Marauding Captain

       Freed the Matchless General

       Creature Swap

       Super Rejuvenation ↑↑

       A Wingbeat of Giant Dragon ↑↑

       Fiend Comedian ↑↑

 

Normal Rare

       Spear Dragon

       Exiled Force

       Drop Off

       Disappear

       throwstone Unit

       Stamping Destruction

       Mysterious Guard

 

Common:

       Second Coin Toss

       Fusion Sword Murasame Blade

       After Genocide

       Fatal Abacus

       Array of Revealing Light

       the Dragon's Bead

       Lesser Fiend

 

Notes: Ha Des and tyrant Dragon seemed like better fitting boss monsters.  Yata and Injection were were gouged way too much.  I made great cards that every deck could've used as lower rarities, and I made more specialized cards (like Dragon support) at higher rarirty.  Crap rares begone.

 

PHARAONIC GUARDIAN

 

Secret

       Helpoemer


Ultra

       Ring of Destruction

       Dice Jar ↑↑↑

       Dark Dust Spirit ↑↑↑

 

Super Rare

       Metamorphosis ↑↑

       Trap Dustshoot ↑↑

 

Normal

       Raigeki Break

       Royal Tribute

       Des Lacooda

       Terraforming

 

Common

       Wandering Mummy

       Gora Turtle

       Dark Room of Nightmare ↓↓

       Dark Designator

       Winged Sage Falcos

       Great Dezard

       Fushioh Richie

 

Notes: Opposite to most cases, this set has a lot of good commons so I made some rarer.  Don Zaloog could've been a Super and Mirage could've been a Normal Rare, but there's just not enough good holos in this set to justify lowering anything.

 

Magician's Force

 

I will skip this one for several reasons.  First of all, there's not enough good cards in high rarities to lower (without leaving nothing to aspire to pull in high rarities).  I could simply move up the good commons (My Body as a Shield, Automonous Action Unit, Magical Merchant, Wave-Motion Cannon) for crap rares (Armor Exe, Crazy Beast, etc.) but it would only make the few good cards in this set harder to pull.

 

Dark Crisis

 

Secret Rare:

       Exodia Necross

 

Ultra Rare:

       Vampire Lord

       Mirage Knight

 

Super Rare:

       Interdimensional Matter Transporter

       Skill Drain

 

Normal Rare

       D.D. Warrior Lady

       Sakuretsu Armor

 

Common:

       Des Feral Imp

 

Notes: Not much I could do here.  I just lowered the rarities of the good cards, and added Sakuretsu to at least make 1 Normal Rare worth it.  Otherwise, there's not enough good cards in the set to alter much else.

 

Invasion of Chaos

 

Ultra Rare

       Big Burn

       Freed the Brave Wanderer

 

Super Rare

       Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell ↑↑

       Dimension Fusion

       Strike Ninja

 

Normal Rare:

       Gigantes

       Smashing Ground

       Chaos Sorcerer

       Zero Gravity

       Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands

 

Common

       Fuhma Shuriken

       Curse of Darkness

       Stray Lambs

       Lekunga

       Destruction Ring

       Orca Mega-Fortress of Darkness

 

Notes: Higher rarities in this set were generally well decided, except there was a dearth of good rares.  I lowered two Ultra Rares just to make it fair (my choices in their place are indeed questionable), but many of the good cards higher rarities I just couldn't see as low rares.

 

I won't even do Ancient Sanctuary and beyond because there aren't enough good cards in those sets to move up rarities.

 

 

 

 


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