So how a-maze-ing is it really? Hello Pojo Readers, Crunch$G here to discuss the first TCG exclusive Collector’s Rare set since King’s Court back in 2021, and that is Maze of Memories. This is the set to help import the remaining cards from the OCG’s History Archive Collection, as all 20 remaining cards are in the set, but it also offers some exclusive support to Gate Guardian that was over 20 years in the making. This set also has several reprints, with cards like Baronne de Fleur being the main reprint advertised to sell the set. We also got an errata in this set for a previously banned card to return it off the list. There’s a lot of new cards and several key reprints, so let’s go over the set and see what there is to offer.
The Collector’s Rares
Before we get into all the new cards and what they do, we got a bunch of Collector’s Rares to mention. There’s not a lot of a focus on any archetype for Collector’s Rares, it’s a lot of 1-off choices to give to several strategies or staple cards. The new cards from the History Archive Collection to get a Collector’s Rare are Black Luster Solder – Legendary Swordsman, Duel Academy, Wake Up Your Elemental HERO, On Your Mark, Get Set, DUEL!, Accel Synchro Stardust Dragon, Number 39: Utopia Rising, and Firewall Dragon Darkfluid – Neo Tempest Terahertz. Now, while no new Gate Guardian card got a Collector’s Rare, you can at least get a Collector’s Rare of the classic Gate Guardian himself. Besides that, the other reprints to get Collector’s Rares are Photon Orbital, Guardian Chimera, Baronne de Fleur, Teardrop the Rikka Queen, Mekk-Knight Crusadia Avramax, Spellbook of Fate, and Solemn Judgment.
Mix of the Gate Guardians
We start with all the new Gate Guardian cards as we have a total of 10 brand new cards to support the strategy, or more make it an actual viable strategy. Labyrinth Heavy Tank is a Level 7 DARK Machine who can be Normal Summoned withtout tributing, cannot attack the turn it was Normal Summoned, and during your Main Phase you get to place a Kazejin, Suijin, or Sanga of the Thunder that’s banished or in your hand/Deck face-up in your Spell & Trap Zone as a Continuous Spell, then if you control a Labyrinth Wall card, you can destroy a monster the opponent controls. Shadow Ghoul of the Labyrinth is a Level 5 DARK Zombie who can be discarded from your hand to add a Labyrinth Wall card from
your Deck to your hand, and at the start of the Damage Step where your opponent’s monster battles and you control a Labyrinth Wall card, you can banish this card from the graveyard to destroy the opponent’s monster. Gate Guardians Combined is a Level 12 DARK Warrior Fusion that needs Kazejin, Suijin, and Sanga of the Thunder as Fusion Material, must be summoned from the Extra Deck by banishing the Fusion Materials from your hand, field, and/or graveyard, can negate a card or effect the opponent activates that targets a card(s) you control up to thrice per turn, and if this face-up Special Summoned card the owner controls leaves the field because of an opponent’s card, you can Special Summon a 
Level 11 or lower Gate Guardian monster from your Deck or Extra Deck, ignoring the summoning condititons. Gate Guardian of Thunder and Wind is a Level 9 LIGHT Thunder Fusion that needs Sanga of the Thunder and Kazejin as materials, must be summoned from the Extra Deck by banishing the Fusion Materials on your field, can let you add a Spell/Trap that mentions Kazejin, Suijin, and Sanga of the Thunder from your Deck to your hand during your Main Phase, and if this face-up Special Summoned card in its owner’s control leaves the field because of an opponent’s card, you can Special Summon a banished Sanga of the Thunder or Kazejin. Gate Guardian of Wind and Water is a
Level 9 WIND Spellcaster that needs Kazejin and Suijin to summon, must be summoned from the Extra Deck by banishing the Fusion Materials on your field, up to twice per turn can negate a Spell/Trap Card or effect on the field and destroy that card, and if this face-up Special Summoned card in its owner’s control leaves the field because of an opponent’s card, you can Special Summon a banished Kazejin or Suijin. Gate Guardian of Water and Thunder is a Level 9 WATER Aqua Fusion that needs Sujin and Sanga of the Thunder to summon, must be summoned from the Extra Deck by banishing the Fusion Materials on your field, has a once per chain Quick Effect you can use twice per turn to 
make an opponent’s monster ATK become 0, and if this face-up Special Summoned card in its owner’s control leaves the field because of an opponent’s card, you can Special Summon a banished Suijin or Sanga of the Thunder. Labyrinth Wall Shadow is a Field Spell that prevents monsters from attacking the turn they were summoned unless they are Level 5 or higher, once per turn in your Main Phase can let you place a Kazejin, Suijin, or Sanga of the Thunder that’s banished or in your hand/Deck face-up in your Spell & Trap Zone as a Continuous Spell, and at the start of the opponent’s Battle Phase can target a face-up monster the opponent controls with 1600 or less ATK and
destroy it. Double Attack! Wind and Thunder!! is a Quick-Play Spell where if you control a Gate Guardian monster, you can target and destroy a card on the field, also during your Main Phase you can banish this card from your graveyard to add a Kazejin, Suijin, or Sanga of the Thunder that’s banished or in your Deck to your hand. Riryoku Guardian is a Normal Spell where if you have less LP than your opponent, you can target a monster with Gate Guardian in its original name you control and half your opponent’s LP to give your monster ATK equal to the amount of LP your opponent lost, also you can banish this card from your graveyard to add a Kazejin, Suijin, or Sanga of the Thunder that’s banished or in your Deck to your hand. Finally, Prey of the Jirai Gumo is a Continuous Trap that can be Special Summoned as a Normal Monster (Insect/EARTH/Level 5/ATK 2100/DEF 100) to your Main Monster Zone in its same column (still being treated as a Trap), then you can destroy a monster the opponent control’s in this card’s column, also you can banish this card from your graveyard to add a Kazejin, Suijin, or Sanga of the Thunder that’s banished or in your Deck to your hand.
Memories of the Past
Now we look at the 20 other new cards in this set that were imported from the History Archive Collection. All 20 cards in this set are based off certain moments and locations in the anime, having effects relating to the moments they’re involved in. Black Luster Soldier – Legendary Swordsman is a Level 8 EARTH Warrior Ritual that can be Ritual Summoned with Chaos Form or Super Soldier Ritual, must be Ritual Summoned, during your Draw Phase before your draw can be revealed in the hand for you to give up your regular draw to instead add a Ritual Spell from your Deck to your hand, prevents the opponent from activating cards or effects during the Battle Phase, and when this attacking card that was
Ritual Summoned with a Normal Monster destroys an opponent’s monster in battle, you can shuffle all cards the opponent controls into the Deck. Red-Eyes Soul is a Level 7 DARK Dragon whose name becomes Red-Eyes Black Dragon while on the field or in the graveyard, can be sent from the hand or field to the graveyard when the opponent Special Summons a monster(s) to let you summon a Red-Eyes monster from your hand or Deck that isn’t another Red-Eyes Soul, also it has a Quick Effect you can use once a Duel to target a Red-Eyes Black Dragon you control to inflict damage to your opponent equal to that monster’s original ATK. Duel Academy is a Field Spell that gains effects based off the 
Types of monsters on the field with Warrior, Beast, or Pyro giving a once per turn effect if you activate a Trap Card to target and destroy a card the opponent controls; Dinosaur, Sea Serpent, or Thunder giving a once per turn effect if you activate a Spell Card to inflict 1000 damage to the opponent; and Machine, Fairy, or Fiend giving a once per turn effect if you activate a mosnter effect to target a face-up monster you control to give it 1000 ATK. Wake Up Your Elemental HERO is a Level 10 LIGHT Warrior Fusion that needs any Elemental HERO Fusion and any 1+ Warrior monster(s) as material, must be Fusion Summoned, gains 300 ATK for each material used for its summon, can make a number of attacks
each Battle Phase up to the number of Fusion Monsters used as material to summon this card, after damage calculation where this battles an opponent’s monster can destroy the opponent’s monster and inflict damage equal to that monster’s original ATK, and if this Fusion Summoned card is destroyed, you get to Special Summon a Warrior monster from your hand or Deck. Evolution End Burst is a Normal Spell that lets you add an Overload Fusion from your Deck to your hand, but you can only Special Summon monsters with Spell effects for the rest of the turn after this card resolves, also if you Fusion Summon a monster using Overload Fusion and 6 or more materials, the Fusion Summoned monster can 
make a number of attacks that Battle Phase up to the number of Fusion Materials used to summon that monster. On Your Mark, Get Set, DUEL! is a Continous Spell that on activation, if you control no other cards, can let you add a Synchron monster from your Deck to your hand, gains a Signal Counter once per turn during your Standby Phase, and can remove 2 Signal Counters from your field and be sent to the graveyard to let you draw 2 cards and then send a card from your hand to the graveyard. Time to Stand Up is a Normal Trap where if there is a Dragon Synchro on the field, you can Special Summon up to 2 monsters that are Resonator monster and/or Level 1 Dragons from your Deck,
also when a monster effect is activated while you control a Level 10 or higher DARK Dragon Synchro, you can banish this card from your graveyard to negate that effect and have a Synchro Monster you control gain 2000 ATK until the end of the next turn. This Creepy Little Punk is a Normal Spell that’s always treated as an Infernity card, can let you Special Summon an Infernity monster from your hand or graveyard on activation, and it can be Set from the graveyard if a face-up Infernity monster(s) you control is destroyed in battle or leaves the field because of an opponent’s card effect. Accel Synchro Stardust Dragon is a Level 8 WIND Dragon Synchro 
that needs any Tuner and non-Tuner(s) to summon, can let you Special Summon a Level 2 or lower Tuner from your graveyard on Synchro Summon, and during the Main Phase as a Quick Effect can be tributed to let you summon a Stardust Dragon from your Extra Deck (this is treated as a Synchro Summon), then immediately after that effect resolves you Synchro Summon using monsters you control as material, with monsters Synchro Summoned by this effect being unaffected by the opponent’s activated effects for the rest of the turn. Overlay Network is a Continous Spell that can either let you target a face-up monster you control to Special Summon a monster with the
same Level from your hand or graveyard in Defense Position, but its effects are negated and you can only summon Xyz Monsters from the Extra Deck the turn you use this effect, or you can use the other effect to target an Xyz Monster you control to add one of its materials to your hand. Number 39: Utopia Rising is a Rank 4 LIGHT Warrior Xyz that needs 2 Level 4 monsters to summon, upon Special Summon can let you Special Summon any Number monster besides another Utopia Rising from your graveyard in Defense Position and then you can detach all the materials from this card to attach them to the summoned monster, also if you Xyz Summon 
you can Special Summon this card from the graveyard, but it’s banished when it leaves the field. Barian Untopia is a Field Spell that’s always treated as a Barian’s card, has your Number monsters between 101 and 107 as well as CXyz and Number C monsters you control unable to be targeted or destroyed by the opponent’s card effects, also once a turn if you Special Summon an Xyz Monster using a Rank-Up-Magic Spell’s effect, you can target that Xyz Monster and a monster the opponent controls to attach the opponent’s monster to yours as material. Saga of the Dragon Emperor is a Quick-Play Spell that lets you target a Dragon you control to have its ATK become doubled, then if
your opponent controls a Dragon monster, the activation of the targeted monster’s effects cannot be negated for the rest of the turn, also during your Main Phase you can banish this card from your graveyard to Special Summon one of your Dragon Xyzs that’s banished or in your graveyard in Defense Position. Performapal Duelist Extraordinaire is a Level 4 Scale 8 LIGHT Spellcaster Pendulum with a Pendulum Effect once per turn at the start of thte Damage Step where if a monster battles another monster, you can return this card to your hand and banish a Spell from your Deck to prevent your monster from being destroyed in battle and any damage you take is halved, and a Monster Effect when this card inflicts battle damage to the opponent to let you add a Supreme King Dragon monster, Supreme King Gate monster, or Soul of the Supreme King from your Deck to your hand, also once per turn during your 
Standby Phase you get to make each player banish a Spell from their Deck, and once per turn when the opponent’s monster declares an attack to activate this effect for the attacked player where they can add a banished Spell to their hand and then discard it to negate that attack. Kahyoreigetsu is an Equip Spell that lets you Special Summon a Level 4 or lower Fairy, Spellcaster, Winged Beast, or Beast-Warrior and equip it to this card and then return all Dragon monsters on the field to the hand, also during the End Phase of the turn this card is in the graveyard because it was sent there face-up from the Spell & Trap Zone, you can add a Polymerization Spell, Fusion Spell, or
Fusion Parasite from your Deck to your hand. Battle Royal Mode – Joining is a Continuous Spell that can be activated by targeting an Effect Monster so that the first two times it would be destroyed by battle each turn, it is not, also when that monster is destroyed by battle, the player that destroyed it gains 2000 LP, and if the turn player’s opponent takes battle or effect damage, they can activate this effect the opponent can apply to Special Summon a Level 4 or lower monster from their hand or Deck, but lose 2000 LP. Soul of the Supreme King is a Normal Trap that lets you pay half your LP to Special Summon a Supreme King Z-ARC from 
your Extra Deck, ignoring the summoning conditions, but its effects are negated and it returns to the Extra Deck during the End Phase of the next turn, also when your opponent activates a Spell Card or effect you can banish this card from your graveyard and a Supreme King Z-ARC from your face-up Monster Zone to Special Summon up to 1 of each Pendulum Dragon, Xyz Dragon, Synchro Dragon, and Fusion Dragon monsters from your hand, Deck, Extra Deck, and/or graveyard. Firewall Dragon Darkfluid – Neo Tempest Terahertz is a Link-5 DARK Cyberse Link that needs 3+ Cyberse monsters to summon, has arrows pointing Up, Left, Right, Bottom-Left, and
Bottom-Right, negates any monster effects activated by the opponent during the Battle Phase, has a Quick Effect to send a Cyberse monster from your Deck or Extra Deck to the graveyard to have this monster gain the Attribute of the sent monster alongside a 2500 ATK boost, also this card can make a number of attacks on monsters each Battle Phase up to the number of different Attributes it has. Angel of Blue Tears is a Normal Spell that targets a face-up monster on the field to have it’s controller’s opponent take 200 damage for each card in their hand and negates the effects of the targeted monster for the turn, also you can banish this card 
from the graveyard if effect damage is inflicted to Set a Normal Trap from your hand or Deck, with it being able to be activated that turn if it was Set from the hand. Finally, Forge a New Future is a Continuous Trap where once per chain if a Link-4 monster is Link Summoned, you can place a Counter on this card (max. 3) and then apply the following effect based on the number of counters on this card with 1 letting you declare a card name to have the activated effects and effects on the field of cards with the same original name be negated that turn, 2 letting you Special Summon a Level 4 or lower monster from your graveyard, and 3 letting you send this card to the graveyard to Special Summon a Link-4 monster from your Extra Deck.
Ancient Fairy Dragon Returns (with a catch)
Now before we look at the regular reprints in this set, I’ll take a second to spotlight Ancient Fairy Dragon since there is a key feature to note here. As we noticed on the February F/L List, Ancient Fairy Dragon’s return to Limited status took effect on March 10th (the offical release date of this set). This is due to the fact that the card has received an errata in this set to change its effects to be more acceptable in the current game enviorment. Now, the abilitiy to summon a Level 4 or lower monster from your hand by giving up your Battle Phase remains the same, only now it is a hard once per turn instead of a soft once per turn, meaning you can’t use this effect with multiple copies in the same turn. The hard once per turn also applies to destroying a Field Spell to gain 1000 LP and search another, just now you must add a Field Spell with a different name from any destroyed Field Spell, making sure you have to use multiple different Field Spells to get the most value from this effect.
Noteworthy Reprints
Now we get into the list of reprints for this set. As previously mentioned, this set was advertised with Baronne de Fleur being the major selling point, and other cards were noticed on the box like Guardian Chimera, Wind-Up Kitten, Teardrop the Rikka Queen, Mekk-Knight Crusadia Avramax, and Spellbook of Fate. Besides all those cards and the errataed Ancient Fairy Dragon, we got reprints for Labyrinth Wall,
Kazejin, Suijin, Sanga of the Thunder, Gate Guardian, Superancient Deepsea King Coelacanth, Blackwing – Kalut the Moon Shadow, Blackwing – Elphin the Raven, Blackwing – Zephyros the Elite, Psi-Beast, Nimble Angler, Mekk-Knight Blue Sky, Mekk-Knight Yellow Star, Mekk-Knight Red Moon, Photon Orbital, Rikka Petal, Mudan the Rikka Fairy, Alsei, the Sylvan High Protector, Cost Down, Overload Fusion, Burial from a Different Dimension, Court of Justice, Super Soldier Ritual, Chaos Form, Rikka Glamour, Solemn Judgment, Royal Decree, Imperial Iron Wall, Treacherous Trap Hole, and Deep Dark Trap Hole.
In Conclusion
Overall I do think this is a solid set. There were some questionable choices, however. I do think making Wind-Up Kitten and 2 Rikka cards take up Ultra slots in this set was a weird choice. Also out of all the Photon cards to reprint and make a Collector’s Rare, I would of rather something like Number 90: Galaxy-Eyes Photon Lord or maybe even Number 38: Hope Harbringer Dragon Titanic Galaxy over Photon Orbital, but that’s fine. I also would of chose Spellbook of Judgment to be in here as a Collector’s Rare over Spellbok of Fate. The only card I feel should of been a Collector’s Rare that wasn’t was probably Ancient Fairy Dragon. With all that out of the way, all the new Gate Guardian support is super cool and the imported cards from the History Archive Collection are nice to finally have for competitive and casual players, alongside collectors. There are solid reprints in here like Baronne de Fleur, Guardian Chimera, Solemn Judgment, Mekk-Knight Crusadia Avramax, etc. Even the Wind-Up Kitten and Rikka stuff is good to reprint, even if the rarity choices feel like a miss. Also a few nice things that needed reprints like Kalut the Moon Shadow and Nimble Anger to name a few. Overall a solid set that will likely age well to similar success of sets like Toon Chaos and to a lesser extent currently King’s Court.
Thanks for reading,
Crunch$G
