Legendary Duelists: White Dragon Abyss – What You Should Know
Crunch$G
Legendary Duelists: White Dragon Abyss
I’m mostly curious as to which of these cards are getting added to Duel Links in the near future. Hello Pojo Readers, Crunch$G here with some more information you should know about a new Yu-Gi-Oh release. This time we will look at the third installment of the Legendary Duelists series, White Dragon Abyss. This time around, instead of just supported DM and GX archetypes, this set supports one archetype all the way up to Arc-V, meaning five different archetypes from each series that isn’t Vrains got supported. Today, I will take a look at some of that support that each archetype got and see if you are interested in any of said support.
Chaos With Eyes of Blue
First off, representing the Duel Monsters generation, Blue-Eyes got some more support in this set. First off is the new Ritual that has the same targeting and destruction protection as Chaos MAX Dragon, but if it was summoned with Blue-Eyes White Dragon, you can swap your opponent’s monsters battle positions when it attacks, change the monster’s ATK and DEF to 0, and deal piercing. This can work real well if you control it and Chaos MAX, which is easy with support in this set and the Impcantation monsters. They also got another Level 8 Blue-Eyes effect monster that can negate a monster’s effects that your opponent controls when it is summoned as well as when your opponent uses an effect it can go back into the deck to get the original Blue-Eyes White Dragon. They also got two new Spells, one of which searches for Blue-Eyes monsters or Spells/Traps that mention Blue-Eyes White Dragon or Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, and another spell that banishes everything in your hand, field, and GY face-down to summon up to 3 Blue-Eyes White Dragons from the deck. Finally, Blue-Eyes got a new Trap that gives a Blue-Eyes monster protection from effects and battle and can reset itself from the GY when you summon a Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Overall, Blue-Eyes got some pretty good support and a card that can be fun to pull off, but not that practical.
Cyber Evolution
Next up, representing the GX era is some more support for the Cyber Dragon archetype. First off, the main card they got is a new Fusion that gains protection from targeting and destruction effects while you have a Machine Fusion in the GY, replaces itself with a Cyber Dragon when your opponent gets rid of it, and banish itself from the GY to give the protection it had to Fusions you control. They also got a new Level 1 that can Special Summon itself by tributing a Machine, lets you Fusion Summon a Machine Fusion using monsters in your hand or field as material, and banish itself from the GY to search for Power Bond when your Fusion is destroyed in battle. Cyber Dragons also got two new Spells, one of which is a Quick-Play that lets you Fusion Summon a monster that lists Cyber Dragon as a requirement by shuffling into the deck cards you control or are banished, as well as a new Equip Spell that can be equipped to a Machine Fusion and it locks your opponent from using effects in the Battle Phase as well as letting you banish a Cyber Dragon to let your Fusion attack a monster again when it already destroyed a monster in battle. Finally, they got a new Trap that lets you tribute a Cyber Dragon to summon a Fusion from the Extra Deck that requires Cyber Dragon as material. This Cyber Dragon support seems aimed more towards Fusion variants, so if you like to focus on Fusion Summoning in Cyber Dragons, this support is for you.
Birds of a Feather Flock Together
For the 5D’s era that just recently entered Duel Links, we have some Blackwing support and I wonder what parts of this archetype will eventually enter the app. First off is the new boss Synchro that is unaffected by card effects, can place Wedge Counters on your opponent’s monsters that use their effects, can take control of a monster with a Wedge Counter during your turn, and can destroy all monsters with Wedge Counters during the End Phase. They also got a new Level 6 monster that while you control no monsters, you can banish a Blackwing from the hand to activate Black Whirlwind from the deck for a turn (unless you bounce it back with Zephros) and either Normal Summon the Level 6 without tributes (doesn’t take up the Normal Summon for the turn) or send it to the GY. Along with the Level 6, they got a Level 4 Tuner that can summon your banished Blackwings when Normal Summoned and can banish itself from the GY to give your opponent’s monsters Wedge Counters or give Black-Winged Dragon some Black Feather Counters. Speaking of Black-Winged Dragon, they also got a new Counter Trap that lets you send a Blackwing you control to the GY to negate a monster effect and then summon Black-Winged Dragon from the Extra Deck, also if you control a Blackwing Synchro you can activate it from the hand. Finally is a new Equip Spell that gives a Blackwing 500 ATK and DEF, can make your opponent discard a card when the Blackwing destroys a monster in battle, and can return to your hand when the equipped monster is used as Synchro Material. Me being a big Blackwing fan, I really love the new monsters this archetype got, and if you want, you can use the new Counter Trap and throw in a Black-Winged Dragon into the Extra Deck.
The Number Hunt Continues
For the Zexal era, we see some support for the Photon/Galaxy archetype. First off is their new Rank 4 that can summon a Photon from the hand when XYZ Summoned, gives your monsters with 2000+ ATK protection from targeting and destruction effects, and can detach a material during your opponent’s turn to summon a Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon that is banished or in the GY. They also got two new Level 4s, one of which you Special Summon itself from the hand while you control a Photon/Galaxy monster and in turn search for Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon as well as giving a monster that uses it as XYZ Material for an XYZ Summon to banish monsters it destroys in battle, the other Level 4 can equip itself from the hand or field to a Photon/Galaxy monster to give it a 500 ATK/DEF boost and battle protection and then you can send the equipped monster to the GY to search for any Photon/Galaxy Monster from your Deck. They also got a new Spell that at the cost of 1000 LP can steal an opponent’s XYZ monster if you control a Photon/Galaxy monster or if you control Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon, you can steal any monster instead. The final card is a Continuous Trap that lasts for 2 turns and can let you send a Photon/Galaxy monster to summon a Photon from the deck with a different name or search for a Photon card and if you send Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon, you can get both effects. Photon/Galaxy probably got the most good cards in this set considering all 5 of these cards are somewhat playable in the deck while being pretty good, which I’m glad because I love Photon/Galaxy as well and like the support they get in Soul Fusion as well.
Abyss Actors Take Center Stage
Finally, from the Arc-V era, we got support for the Abyss Actor archetype. First off is the Pendulum with a Scale of 0 and while in the scale can let you search an Abyss Actor card at the cost of 1000 LP and locking your Special Summons for the turn to Abyss Actor monsters and while it is a monster it’ll gain 100 ATK per Abyss Script in the GY, can Special Summon itself from the hand when an Abyss Actor is destroyed by battle, and can summon an Abyss Actor from the deck but bounce it to the hand during the End Phase when you activate an Abyss Script card. Along with a Scale 0 is a Scale 8 that while in the Pendulum Zone, you can Creature Swap an Abyss Actor monster you control for an opponent’s monster of your choice and while it is in the monster zone you take no damage from battles involving it, you can give it to your opponent during your Standby Phase and if it changes control to your opponent, you can destroy an Abyss Script you have set and get the effect it has. They of course got a new Abyss Script that lets you bounce an Abyss Actor monster to the hand to summon a different Abyss Actor from the Extra Deck face-up and when it is destroyed while set and you have an Abyss Actor face-up in the Extra Deck, you can set any number of Abyss Scripts from the deck. Their new Field Spell lets you reveal an Abyss Actor and Abyss Script to search for a different Abyss Script and while you control a Pendulum Summoned Abyss Actor, the first monster effect your opponent uses will change to instead destroying a set card you control, which you want them to do to destroy an Abyss Script and get a powerful effect. Finally is a new Trap that after an Abyss Script resolves, you can add Abyss Actor monsters from your Extra Deck to your hand and then summon Abyss Actors from the hand up to the number of cards added, but then you are locked into only Special Summoning Abyss Actor Pendulum Monsters for the turn after this Trap resolves. Though restrictive, Abyss Actors still got some decent support to make the deck a bit more consistent, they could really use a Link Monster though.
Noteworthy Reprints
Finally it is time to talk about the reprints in this set. First off, good news is that Chaos MAX Dragon got a reprint along with Chaos Form, bad news is that Chaos MAX takes up an Ultra Rare slot in this set instead of just making it something like a common or making it Ghost Rare like the OCG did. The Melody of Awakening Dragon is never going to be a bad reprint. Some of the Cyber Dragon Fusions like Cyber Twin, Cyber End, and Chimeratech Rampage Dragon got reprints along with Power Bond and Cyber Repair Plant. Black Whirlwind is a good common reprint. Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon and Galaxy Knight got reprints as Super Rares, Photon Dragon was gaining value as a holo but didn’t need to be rare, Galaxy Knight was only Ultra Rare in the 2013 Collectors Tins, so it is fine it got the Super Rare treatment. Photon Thrasher and Accellight are two good reprints as well. For Abyss Actors, most of the stuff gets its first reprints as common since they were only in Destiny Soldiers for the most part, some of the more noteworthy cards are Abyss Actor – Superstar and Abyss Script – Rise of the Abyss King. Sadly, Abyss Actor – Wild Hope did not get the reprint. Some of these reprints are ok, but there are some cards that could of made this set like Alternative White Dragon, and the rarities of Photon Dragon and Chaos MAX Dragon are a bit questionable, but ok reprints overall.
In Conclusion
The archetypes that got support in this set actually got some pretty solid support. The reprints are ok, though there are missed opportunities and some mistakes in the rarity department, but the new cards delivered and that is what mattered most. Now as a set, if you are interested in multiple of these archetypes, then getting packs might be worth it, especially since some of these cards in Legendary Duelists do gain value, but if there is only one archetype your are interested in, I say get singles since that’ll be cheaper. Abyss Actors will be cheap since they only got one Super Rare and the rest are Rares and Common, so if you are interested in two archetypes and one is Abyss Actors, singles are still the way to go, but I’m sure you are all aware that singles are normally better sometimes. This article was to give you an idea on if you like what is in this set, but I’ll say in my opinion, I like the cards in this set.
