Time to enter Battle City for the biggest Speed Dueling expansion yet. Hello Pojo Readers, Crunch$G back here with a rare Speed Duel article considering we don’t get many of these products anymore, but the Battle City Box is out for Speed Dueling and adds over 200 new cards to the pool and gives you some ideas for a draft tournament to use with one of these. It’s a massive product with 8 Speed Dueling Decks with a few having Extra Decks as well as a few extra cards you want to throw in maybe, alongside the God Cards now being legal to use in official Speed Duels. Oh yeah, and you got 20 Skills in here to try out with 16 being official new Skills to use. You got a lot of options in here and a lot of cards, so let’s see what this adds to the Speed Dueling format.
God Cards and Secret Rares
I think it’s fair to start off with the fact that the Egyptian Gods are finally in the Speed Dueling format officially. This means you can now use Slifer the Sky Dragon, The Winged Dragon of Ra, and Obelisk the Tormentor in a Speed Duel Deck if you wish. All 3 come in Secret Rare in this box and all 3 are guaranteed in the box. With that said, you also get 5 other Secret Rares that are random from a pool of 21 cards. Those 21 cards include Dark Magician, Buster Blader, Swift Gaia the Fierce Knight, Breaker the Magical Warrior, Metaverse, Dark Paladin, Valkyrion the Magna Warrior, Fire Formation – Tenki, Union Hangar, Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Masked Beast Des Gardius, Airknight Parshath, Nobleman of Crossout, Foolish Burial, Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen, Cosmic Cyclone, Lost Wind, Jinzo, Reinforcement of the Army, Red-Eyes Black Dragon, and Spell Canceler. Don’t worry if you don’t get 1 of the 21 Secret Rares you want that much since all of them are in the product as Commons.
20 Skills
Now there are 20 Skills to go through, so I’ll try and make them short for each one. 16 are brand new and 4 are reprinted from Sneak Peek events. Fury of Thunder is a helpful Skill for drawing cards when you have Slifer on the field and returns said Slifer to the Deck when it’s sent to the graveyard. It’s No Monster, It’s a God! is a Skill to let you discard any number of cards to get Obelisk the Tormentor from your Deck or graveyard to your hand. Hieratic Chant is a Skill that lets you discard your whole hand to add The Winged Dragon of Ra from your Deck or graveyard to the hand and then lets you perform a Tribute Summon that turn in addition to your Normal Summon/Set. It’s Jinzo! is a Skill to make Jinzo unaffected by the opponent’s Skill and while 
you control Jinzo you can look at an opponent’s Spell/Trap that’s set and if it is a Trap, you get a free draw. The Psychic Duelist is a Skill that by paying half your LP you can either target a Set card the opponent controls and declare a card type (Monster, Spell, Trap) where if the set card is the declared type, it cannot be activated that turn, or you can use the effect to randomly select a card in the opponent’s hand and declare a card type (Monster, Spell, Trap) where if the selected card is of the card type, you can burn the opponent for 500 damage. Guardians of the Tomb is a Skill that if a Monster is Special Summoned from the Spell/Trap Zone, you can draw a card and then set a Spell/Trap from 
your hand to the field. Union Combination is a Skill that lets you Fusion Summon a LIGHT Machine by using Monsters from your graveyard or field as material, but your opponent takes no battle damage for the rest of the turn. Spell of Mask is a Skill that either if a Ritual Summoned copy of The Masked Beast is destroyed by an opponent’s card effect, you can Special Summon a Masked Beast Des Gardius from your hand, Deck, or graveyard while ignoring summoning conditions or instead you could tribute a Masked Beast Des Gardius from your field to add a The Masked Beast and a Curse of the Masked Beast from your Deck and/or graveyard to your hand. Magician’s Act is a Skill that at the start of the Duel you can either add a Dark 
Magician from your Deck to your hand and then shuffle a card from your hand into the Deck or shuffle a Dark Magician from your hand into the Deck to draw a card and then during your Main Phase on any turn you can tribute a Monster whose original name is Dark Magician to draw 2 cards. Endless Traps is a Skill that if you have exactly 3 Traps in your graveyard, you can randomly add 1 Trap from your graveyard to your hand, randomly shuffle a Trap from your graveyard into your Deck, and randomly banish 1 Trap from your graveyard. No More Mrs. Nice Mai! is a Skill that once per turn, if your Monster inflicts battle damage to the opponent, you can destroy a Spell/Trap on the field. I’m Just 
Gonna Attack! is a Skill that can, during the Main Phase, boost your Monster’s ATK by 100 for the turn as well as, during the Battle Phase, negate the activation of an opponent’s Trap Card and Set it back. Rise of the Fallen is a Skill that can be activated during the Main Phase to Special Summon a Level 4 or lower Fairy from your graveyard and gain LP equal to the Monster’s original ATK. Beasts of Phantom is a Skill that, during your Main Phase, lets you discard a card to Fusion Summon a Chimera the Flying Mythical Beast by using monsters in your hand or on field as material, and during the End Phase of the turn you Fusion Summon a Chimera the Flying Mythical Beast you can add a Phantom Beast monster from your graveyard to your 
hand. Magnetic Attraction is a Skill that when a Level 4 or lower Magnet Warrior is Normal Summoned, you can add a Level 4 or lower Magnet Warrior with a different name from the Deck to the hand, and you can reveal 2 Magnet Warriors with different names from your hand to add a Valkyrion the Magna Warrior from your Deck to your hand. Power of Friendship is a Skill that prevents you from taking effect damage from the opponent on your turn. Fusion Party! is a Skill that, during the Main Phase, lets you Fusion Summon a monster using Monsters from your hand or field as material. Ritual Ceremony is a Skill that, during the Main Phase, can let you reveal a Ritual Monster in your hand to add a Ritual Spell from your Deck to your hand that can Ritual Summon the revealed card. Low Blow is a Skill that can make a Monster on the field lose 500 ATK/DEF for the turn. Finally, Digging for Gold is a Skill that can let you banish 3 cards from your graveyard to draw 1 card.
Dark Magician Deck
The first of 8 Decks in here is a Dark Magician themed Deck. Your only reprints in this Deck are Dark Magician, Buster Blader, and Polymerization while you see the Speed Duel debut of Aqua Madoor, Archfiend of Gilfer, Swift Gaia the Fierce Knight, Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer, Skilled White Magician, Breaker the Magical Warrior, Skilled Red Magician, Dark Magic Curtain, De-Fusion, Book of Moon, Emblem of the Dragon Destroyer, Destruction Swordsman Fusion, Fusion Recycling Plant, Magical Hats, Fairy Wind, Darklight, Metaverse, and Dark Paladin. A few takeaways from this Deck include a potential fun strategy to summon Dark Paladin alongside a good Fusion Spell for Buster Blader, some graveyard disruption with Kycoo, a nice backrow removal option in Breaker the Magical Warrior, Fusion disruption with De-Fusion, attack prevention with Book of Moon, Fusion support with Fusion Recycling Plant, more Spell/Trap removal and burn with Fairy Wind, and Field Spell accessibility with Metaverse.
Magnet Warrior Deck
The second Deck is a Magnet Warrior themed Deck. The lone reprint in here is Giant Soldier of Stone alongside the Speed Duel debut of Valkyrion the Magna Warrior, Alpha the Magnet Warrior, Beta the Magnet Warrior, Gamma the Magnet Warrior, Delta the Magnet Warrior, Destroyer Golem, The Rock Spirit, Granmarg the Rock Monarch, Absorbing Jar, Block Golem, Attack the Moon!, Magnetic Field, Zero Gravity, Mind Crush, Rock Bombardment, Sealing Ceremony of Mokuton, Unbreakable Spirit, Magnet Force, and Magnet Conversion. Some key takeaways here include the potential for a good Magnet Warrior Deck with all the support you get here, a free Special Summon with The Rock Spirit, a Monarch entering this format with Granmarg, Block Golem being good revival for Rocks, Zero Gravity becoming a good stall card, Mind Crush helping against the searching that’s entering this format, and Rock Bombardment for Deck thinning for Rocks alongside a little burn.
Mythical Beast Deck
Now we get to the Deck built around the Phantom Beasts and trying to summon Chimera the Flying Mythical Beast. Every card in this Deck makes its Speed Duel debut with Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts, Berfomet, Phantom Beast Cross-Wing, Phantom Beast Wild-Horn, Phantom Beast Thunder-Pegasus, Giant Rat, Bazoo the Soul-Eater, Manticore of Darkness, Enraged Battle Ox, Ghost Knight of Jackal, Behemoth the King of All Animals, Green Baboon, Defender of the Forest, Wild Nature’s Release, The Big March of Animals, Spiritual Forest, Fire Formation – Tenki, The Big Cattle Drive, Riryoku Field, Howl of the Wild, Horn of the Phantom Beast, and Chimera the Flying Mythical Beast. Takeaways from this Deck include a potentially strong beatdown strategy with all the Beast-Warrior support, including their searcher in Fire Formation – Tenki, Giant Rat being a good floater for the EARTH Attribute, Manticore of Darkness being an infinite revival with 2 potentially, and a recovery option for Beasts in Green Baboon.
XYZ Fusion Deck
Now we get to the Deck with probably the biggest Extra Deck, the XYZ Fusion Deck. This is another Deck with all its cards making their Speed Duel debut with X-Head Cannon, Y-Dragon Head, Z-Metal Tank, Heavy Mech Support Platform, Victory Viper XX03, DUCKER Mobile Cannon, Jade Knight, Falchionβ, Machina Gearframe, Machina Peacekeeper, Delta Tri, United We Stand, Frontline Base, Machine Assembly Line, Union Hangar, Solitary Sword of Poison, Formation Union, Rare Metalmorph, Roll Out!, Union Scramble, XY-Dragon Cannon, XYZ-Dragon Cannon, XZ-Tank Cannon, and YZ-Tank Dragon. The biggest takeaways here include a potentially good Union Deck with Fusion options, some solid support for Machines, a searcher for future Machina cards added with Machina Gearframe, and a strong Equip Spell in United We Stand.
Kaiba Beatdown Deck
The next Deck is super simple as it’s a Deck of Kaiba’s cards to create a pure beatdown option. The only reprint in this Deck is Blue-Eyes White Dragon while you get the Speed Duel debut of Saggi the Dark Clown, Swordstalker, La Jinn the Mystical Genie of the Lamp, Vorse Raider, Dark Blade, Maha Vailo, Zombyra the Dark, Spear Dragon, Kaiser Glider, Fiend’s Sanctuary, Soul Exchange, Shrink, Mage Power, Silent Doom, Acid Trap Hole, Negate Attack, Magic Drain, Final Attack Orders, and Inspiration. Key takeaways from this Deck include some high ATK options, a potential Equip Spell themed Deck around Maha Vailo, Fiend’s Sanctuary and Soul Exchange for tribute-fodder, Shrink to help your Monsters survive battles, Mage Power for another good Equip Spell, Silent Doom to revive your vanillas, Negate Attack for stalling tactics, and Magic Drain for some more Spell negation.
Masked Beast Deck
The 6th Deck in here is your Masked Beast themed Deck based around The Masked Beast and Masked Beast Des Gardius. The lone reprint is Melchid the Four-Face Beast as you got the Speed Duel debut of Masked Beast Des Gardius, Shining Abyss, Grand Tiki Elder, Beast of Talwar, Opticlops, Wall of Illusion, Night Assailant, Ritual Raven, The Masked Beast, Nobleman of Extermination, Mask of Brutality, The Mask of Remnants, Curse of the Masked Beast, Pre-Preparation of Rites, Widespread Ruin, Mask of Weakness, Bark of Dark Ruler, Soul Demolition, and Dark Smog. Key takeaways here include a fun potential strategy around Masked Beast Des Gardius with a potential addition of The Masked Beast, a stalling option with Wall of Illusion, another Man-Eater Bug that can be infinite discard fodder alongside a second copy with Night Assailant, Spell/Trap removal that can take cards out of the opponent’s Deck with Nobleman of Extermination, a massive consistency boost for Rituals with Pre-Preparation of Rites, a solid Battle-Trap in Widespread Ruin, and some graveyard disruption with Dark Smog.
Fairy Deck
The second to last Deck is a Deck based around mainly Fairy monsters. This Deck includes the Speed Duel debut of Keldo, Mudora, Zolga, Kelbek, Skelengel, Airknight Parshath, Moisture Creature, Guardian Angel Joan, Angel O7, Dimensional Alchemist, Bonze Alone, Nobleman of Crossout, Foolish Burial, Cestus of Dagla, Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen, Cosmic Cycle, Waboku, Rope of Life, Drop Off, and Lost Wind. Noteworthy things here include some okay Fairy monsters, a nice tribute option with Airknight Parshath, a massive Fairy boss in Guardian Angel Joan, banishing recurrence with Dimensional Alchemist, an out to Set Monsters with Nobleman of Crossout, graveyard setup from Deck with Foolish Burial, a way to summon strong Fairies with Valhalla, very generic Spell/Trap removal on either turn with Cosmic Cyclone, a big stall card with Waboku, hand destruction with Drop Off, and a way to weaken Special Summoned monsters with Lost Wind.
Jinzo Deck
The final Deck of the 8 is a Jinzo themed Deck with various Warriors as well. In here is the Speed Duel debut of Jinzo, The Fiend Megacyber, Freed the Matchless General, Mysterious Guard, Exiled Force, Swarm of Scarabs, Swarm of Locusts, Des Lacooda, Dark Scorpion – Gorg the Strong, Dark Scorpion – Meanae the Thorn, Amplifier, Lightning Blade, Creature Swap, Reinforcement of the Army, The Warrior Returning Alive, Hammer Shot, Hidden Armory, Draining Shield, Psychic Shockwave, and Battleguard Rage. Noteworthy cards here include Jinzo for his Trap negation, a free and easy Special Summon with The Fiend Megacyber, Monster removal in Exiled Force, a potentially interesting Flip-based strategy with Swarm of Scarabs, Swarm of Locusts, and Des Lacooda, a way to swap a weaker Monster for a stronger one with Creature Swap, searchability and recurrence for Warriors with Reinforcement of the Army and The Warrior Returning Alive, another Monster removal option in Hammer Shot, Equip Spell searching with Hidden Armory, more stalling with Draining Shield, and a way to get Jinzo from Deck with Psychic Shockwave.
Extra Cards
Now it’s time for the extra cards in here for you to throw into any of these Decks or any other Speed Duel Deck you might want to run. The lone reprint in here is Red-Eyes Black Dragon. For the cards making their Speed Duel debut you got strong vanillas in Dunames Dark Witch and Ally of Justice Clausolas, an interesting option to remove face-up Traps with Hannibal Necromancer, a way to banish every card on a Monster with good DEF with Banisher of the Light, a strong Harpie Lady with Cyber Harpie Lady, blanket Spell negation with Spell Canceler, a Monster to dodge effects in Strike Ninja, a coin-flip gamble for Monster removal with Blowback Dragon, a card that returns itself to hand when sent from hand to grave by the opponent with Regenerating Mummy, 
Trap lockdown during the Battle Phase with Pitch-Black Warwolf, another way to banish everything on a Monster with decent ATK with Banisher of the Radiance, a gamble to remove a Monster on summon with Twin-Barrel Dragon, a way to summon a Gaia the Fierce Knight Monster from Deck with Skilled Blue Magician, a Buster Blader alternative in Buster Blader, the Destroyer Swordsman, more Rituals with Performance Sword, Dokurorider, and Paladin of White Dragon alongside their Ritual Spells being Commencement Dance, Revival of Dokurorider, and White Dragon’s Ritual, an Equip Spell for Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl with Magic Formula, an option to potentially grab the top card of your Deck in Archfiend’s Oath, a way to clear yours and the opponent’s backrow with Storm, a way to revive Fiends with The Puppet Magic of Dark Ruler, a strong stall Trap to weaken the opponent’s Monsters with Mirror Wall, negation for backrow removal alongside a free Monster removal and burn in Judgment of Anubis, a way to remove all Continuous Spells with Spell Purification, and a bunch of Trap Monsters with Embodiment of Apophis, Machine King – 3000 B.C., Copy Knight, Swamp Mirrorer, and Quantum Cat.
In Conclusion
This might be the best expansion to the Speed Dueling format yet. 200 new cards does create a bunch of new options, especially with the Skills to make these Deck options actually viable. You got the potential for various new strategies in this one product alone alongside some great generic cards and some strong stall cards. You even got the Egyptian Gods in here for some fun strategies with them. This is the first Speed Dueling product in a while and it’s a good way to return to the format. The Secret Rare variant cards are icing on the cake as well, and this box alone gives you ideas for several different formats and tournaments to try with friends.
Now to address a big thing, and that’s how little we see Speed Dueling anymore. Konami hasn’t really pushed it that strongly during the pandemic and we don’t know how long it will continue once the pandemic is over. Rush Duels could be on the horizon and Konami could drop Speed Duels for the new Rush Duels, which while fun and interesting would kinda make Speed Dueling a disappointment considering it didn’t really take off all that well. I hope Speed Dueling continues after this and Konami gives it more of a chance, but they could always just leave it to Duel Links. Hopefully the future of Speed Dueling is bright, even if we do see Rush Duels come over here.
Thanks for Reading,
Crunch$G
