Tis the season for Kuriboh reprints. Hello Pojo Readers, Crunch$G back here to talk about the 2019 Advent Calendar. Last year, we had one themed mostly around winter and Christmas and I basically mentioned how it was a cute Christmas gift and nothing more. This year, we have a different theme behind the Advent Calendar, though once again it’s just a cute Christmas gift, though it at least offers fan service to fans of a certain card from the original anime. Let’s see what Konami is going to build up to for Christmas this year in their Advent Calendar. Spoiler Alert: I hope you all like Kuribohs.
On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…
Kuriboh
I mean, when you know the theme of this product, you had to know the original Kuriboh was going to be in here. I’m sure you all know about Kuriboh already, but just in case I’ll remind you that it’s a Level 1 DARK Fiend with 300 ATK and 200 DEF and it can discard itself as a Quick Effect when you’re about to take battle damage to turn that damage to 0. It’s basically the original hand trap, the first of a kind that has grown in popularity over the years. It doesn’t hold up too well, there are better ways to prevent damage, but I mean… it’s Kuriboh, who doesn’t love Yugi’s Kuriboh in the anime?
On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…
Multiply
Cause if one Kuriboh wasn’t enough for you, how about a field full of Kuribohs? If that’s something you’re interested in, then Multiply is your card. It’s a Quick-Play Spell that tributes a Kuriboh to summon as many Kuriboh Tokens as possible in Defense Position with the same stat line as Kuriboh. Sure they can’t be used for a Tribute Summon, but over the years we’ve gained a ton of different summoning mechanics. Link Summoning probably loves this card the most, though it still isn’t worth just throwing this card and Kuriboh into any deck. A field full of Kuribohs does sound fun, though.
On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…
Kuriboh Token
Sadly we don’t get 5 different Kuriboh Token artworks, but at least we get one to go with our Multiply. There isn’t much to say here. It’s a token that can be proxied for any token possible, though it has the statline as if it was a Kuriboh Token, it doesn’t really matter. Most to all Tokens won’t have the statlines of whatever you end up using, which is why you could use anything as a Token. I think I remember seeing someone use an actual rubber duck as a Token. At least Konami was kind enough to give us a token, though.
On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…
Clear Kuriboh
If you don’t have enough of these from the 7000 reprints of the Movie Pack, you can get another one in the Advent Calendar this year. Clear Kuriboh is a Level 1 LIGHT Fairy with the Kuriboh statline, can discard itself as a Quick Effect to negate the activation of a monster effect that would deal damage, and can banish itself from the graveyard when the opponent declares a direct attack to let you draw a card, summon it if it’s a monster, and change the attack target to said monster. It’s a cute card in a Kuriboh deck, but that’s about it. I wouldn’t just throw it into any deck, even if it does sound cute to summon a Blue-Eyes White Dragon or something off this thing’s effect.
On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…
Winged Kuriboh LV9
Ah, I’ll never forget the LV mechanic, even though the Kuribohs didn’t work like the other LV monsters did. Winged Kuriboh LV9 is obviously a Level 9, it’s also a LIGHT Fairy with ? ATK and DEF, can Special Summon itself from the hand by activating the effect as a Chain Link 3 or higher, banishes any Spell activated, and gains 500 ATK and DEF for each Spell in the opponent’s graveyard. Two very counteractive effects, but it’s a cute card against Sky Strikers I guess, lol. There are still better ways to do that, though. Winged Kuriboh LV9 is a cute Kuriboh card, though not the best one.
On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…
Sabatiel – The Philosopher’s Stone
Oh man, I remember how absurdly broken this card was in the anime, pay half your Life Points to search literally anything. Too bad we can’t have nice things like that without them getting banned. Sabatiel instead lets you pay half your LP to search for any Polymerization or Fusion Spell if you have a Winged Kuriboh monster in your graveyard. It can also banish three of itself from the graveyard to make a monster you control gain ATK equal to the monster on the field with the highest ATK. Sadly, far from being as good as it was in the anime, though maybe not sadly since that’d probably be too broken, no matter what the cost. It’s a cute Kuriboh based card, though I doubt you’re playing Fusions with your Kuribohs… at least until we get some sort of Kuriboh Fusion.
On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…
Berserker Crush
All these Winged Kuriboh based cards and we’ve yet to get to the actual Winged Kuriboh. Berserker Crush is a Quick-Play Spell that banishes a monster in your graveyard to let a Winged Kuriboh gain ATK/DEF equal to the banished monster’s until the end of the turn. It sounds funny to banish a Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon to make Winged Kuriboh stronger than said Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, though that’s not exactly practical. If you do run a Kuriboh based deck, I doubt you’re playing a lot of strong monsters to use with this. Another funny card, but that’s about it.
On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…
Junkuriboh
Now we get to see Yusei’s Kuriboh in the manga. Junkuriboh is a Level 1 EARTH Machine with 300 ATK, 200 DEF, and it can discard itself as a Quick Effect to negate the activation of a card that would deal effect damage to you and destroy said card. Easily one of the better Kuriboh cards out there and one that has the most meta potential, depending on if we get a strong burn card. Junkuriboh is a nice card, though pretty niche. It’s at least cute like the other Kuribohs.
On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…
Kurivolt
Yay, free Rank 1s. Now we’ll look at one of Yuma’s Kuriboh cards, Kurivolt. A Level 1 LIGHT Thunder with the Kuriboh stats and it can detach a material from an Xyz Monster to summon a Kurivolt from the deck, and Kurivolt cannot be used as Synchro Material. I mean, it helps summon Rank 1 monsters like I said, but there are a million better ways to achieve that. Kurivolt is just another Kuriboh at best.
On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…
Rainbow Kuriboh
For some reason, Yuma of all people got two Kuriboh based monsters. Rainbow Kuriboh is a Level 1 LIGHT Fiend with 100 ATK and DEF and has two different effects. First off, when an opponent’s monster declares an attack, you can equip this card from the hand to that monster and said monster cannot attack. The second effect revives itself from the graveyard when you’re about to take a direct attack, but it’s banished when it leaves the field. A fairly solid stall card, it’s another one of the better Kuriboh monsters we have. Not one for every deck, still, but a good card in the right home nonetheless.
On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…
Linkuriboh
Ok, now this one is the actual best Kuriboh monster hands down. Playmaker’s Kuriboh, Linkuriboh is a Link-1 DARK Cyberse with 300 ATK, a downward arrow, and the requirement of any Level 1 monster. First off, it tributes itself to make an attacking monster have 0 ATK until the end of the turn and secondly it can tribute a Level 1 monster as a Quick Effect to revive itself from the graveyard. Still a great Link Monster to this day if you have Level 1 monsters in your deck, or ways to get to Level 1 Tokens. It’s a card I’d recommend anybody to have, though idk if you want to purchase this whole calendar just for this card.
On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…
Sphere Kuriboh
One of the best cards in Speed Dueling/Duel Links format, Sphere Kuriboh is another monster with all the same stats as Kuriboh, only it can discard itself from the hand when the opponent declares an attack to switch said monster to Defense Position and it can be banished from the graveyard as material for a Ritual Summon. If it could be used in Speed Duels, then I’m sure players would love to have it, but sadly that isn’t the case. I’m sure players would love to have another Kuriboh monster at least, just because it’s a Kuriboh.
On the thirteenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…
Relinkuriboh
Cause one Kuriboh from the BLS support wasn’t enough, Relinkuriboh also made the cut. Another Kuriboh with all the traits as the original Kuriboh minus the effect, it lets you draw a card when tributed and can banish itself from the graveyard to protect a monster from being destroyed in battle. Another pretty niche, yet pretty solid Kuriboh. This one I feel can fit in a Relinquished deck sorta since it is a Level 1, like Relinquished, and I believe that is what this Kuriboh is kinda based on. Another cute Kuriboh card, kinda like all of them basically.
On the fourteenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…
Kuribohrn
What do you get when Monster Reborn meets a Kuriboh? Well, Kuribohrn is a Level 1 LIGHT Fiend with the Kuriboh statline, can discard itself at the end of the Battle Phase to revive a monster destroyed in battle that turn, and it can banish itself from the graveyard when the opponent declares an attack to revive as many Kuriboh monsters in the graveyard as possible. Another way to fill the field with Kuribohs, only this time you can get a bit more variety. Kuribohrn is probably one of the best Kuribohs in a pure Kuriboh deck, but nothing much beyond that.
On the fifteenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…
Detonate
Well this escalated quickly, who knew making Kuribohs mad was a bad idea? Detonate is a Quick-Play Spell that destroys all your Kuribohs and Kuriboh Tokens to destroy up to an equal number of cards from the opponent. This is probably the easiest way a Kuriboh and Kuriboh Tokens will kill any monsters, since their stats are never going to be enough to handle that outside some of the weakest monsters in the game. Detonate is another cute Kuriboh card, but mostly for a Kuriboh based deck.
On the sixteenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…
Kuriphoton
I almost forgot Kite also had his own Kuriboh in the anime. Kuriphoton is a LIGHT Fiend with 300 ATK, 200 DEF, as a Quick Effect and at the cost of 2000 LP discards itself to prevent you from taking damage for the rest of the turn, and can discard a Photon monster that isn’t Kuriphoton to add itself from the graveyard to your hand. I mean, paying 2000 LP might not sound optimal to prevent you from taking some damage, but it would depend on how much damage it blocks. This feels like a Kuriboh monster you could pass on, but it’s still cute at least.
On the seventeenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…
Kuribon
Kinda odd for them to put Luna’s Kuriboh after all the ZEXAL ones, but I digress. Kuribon is a Level 1 LIGHT Fairy with 300 ATK, 200 DEF, and when attacked by the opponent’s monster, you’ll take no damage from that battle, your opponent gains LP equal to the attacking monster’s ATK, and Kuribon goes back to the hand. So outside Darklord Nurse Reficule and/or Bad Reaction to Simochi, I can’t imagine this being that great considering it can give your opponent a considerable amount of LP, though it might not matter if you can keep stalling it out for a win condition like Exodia or a deck out. Still, Kuribon is a Kuriboh that you could probably take a pass on as well, no matter how cute this one really is, cause it’s adorable.
On the eighteenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…
One for One
Wait, what? Where’s the Kuribohs? I get this card can summon most to all the Kuriboh monsters, but I kinda wish it was something with Kuriboh in the artwork. I guess they ran out of cards. One for One for those that don’t know is a Normal Spell that sends a monster from the hand to the graveyard to summon any Level 1 from the hand or deck. It’s still a great card to this day and I guess it’s nice for them to give it another Ultra Rare reprint in here. Maybe not worth getting this calendar if it’s the only thing you want, but I imagine people just buy singles of cards they want if they don’t want to get other bulk with it anyways, even though I wouldn’t consider Kuribohs really bulk.
On the nineteenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…
Kuribandit
Ok, back to the Kuribohs and… oh my this one is terrifying. Kuribandit is a Level 3 DARK Fiend with 1000 ATK, 700 DEF, and can tribute itself to excavate the top 5 cards of your deck to add any excavated Spell/Trap to the hand and the rest of the cards to the graveyard. It’s still a pretty solid card to this day. One I’m sure can find home in a few different decks. It just breaks the theme from the other Kuribohs since this one is absolutely terrifying to look at.
On the twentieth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…
The Flute of Summoning Kuriboh
Well you got to get to your Kuribohs somehow. The Flute of Summoning Kuriboh is a Quick-Play Spell that takes either a Kuriboh or Winged Kuriboh and can either add it to your hand or Special Summon it. I’m pretty sure you’re searching for Kuriboh and summoning Winged Kuriboh since that’s where both cards are best at respectively. I’m sure you’ll play this with your Kuribohs since I imagine you play both Kuriboh and Winged Kuriboh. Speaking of Winged Kuriboh, though…
On the twenty-first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…
Winged Kuriboh
We all knew it was coming eventually, and with Kuriboh at the beginning of this calendar, I guess it makes sense to put Winged Kuriboh near the end of the calendar. Winged Kuriboh is a Level 1 LIGHT Fairy with Kuriboh’s ATK and DEF, and when it’s destroyed, you take no damage for the rest of the turn. Easily better than having to pay 2000 for Kuriphoton, but you still got to summon it first. It isn’t that terrible still in a Kuriboh based deck and a decent stall card overall, plus I love the alternate art of it winking at us. So cute.
On the twenty-second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…
Transcendent Wings
Winged Kuriboh gets bigger and better wings. Transcendent Wings is a Quick-Play Spell that sends a Winged Kuriboh you control and 2 cards from your hand to the graveyard to Special Summon a Winged Kuriboh LV10 from your hand or deck. Four cards for one doesn’t sound that promising, but it does sound fun to summon Winged Kuriboh LV10, which I’m sure we know it’s coming next.
On the twenty-third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…
Winged Kuriboh LV10
Once again, you knew it was coming. Winged Kuriboh LV10 is not surprisingly a Level 10 LIGHT Fairy with 300 ATK, 200 DEF, must be summoned via Transcendent Wings, and during the opponent’s Battle Phase can tribute itself to to destroy all your opponent’s Attack Position monsters and deal damage equal to the combined ATK of said monsters. So this can win you the game if the opponent has enough monsters on board, most certainly worth the 4-for-1 cost in that case. Still, it’s more of a card you build a deck around to try to pull off and win the game more than it is something you just throw in any deck, especially since the opponent will likely get rid of this before they ever consider entering the Battle Phase, or they’ll just work around it, so you’d have to work around that as well.
On the twenty-fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…
Performapal Kuribohble
The final Kuriboh and one that’s actually a new card, Performapal Kuribohble is a Level 1 DARK Fiend with 300 ATK, 200 DEF, and when the opponent declares a direct attack, you can Special Summon this card from the hand, change the attack target to it, and if you would take damage then you would instead gain LP instead of lose them. Ok, another cute Kuriboh card that helps you not take damage and this one instead gives you LP. Fitting for this card to give you something since it’s the most Christmas like card in this calendar. Another cute Kuriboh card for a Kuriboh deck.
In Conclusion
Last year I said the Advent Calendar was just a cute Christmas gift and nothing more than that and this year’s is basically the same. This time around, at least it is a cute collectors item for Kuriboh lovers considering there’s basically two dozen Kuriboh related cards in this calendar. Just like last year, it’s $20, so it isn’t too expensive and I’m sure a lot of people would have fun having a Kuriboh every day until Christmas.
Thanks for Reading,
Crunch$G
