Yu-Gi-Oh Ghosts From the Past – What You Should Know
Crunch$G
You all really miss Ghost Rares? Now you get 5 of them in a single set. Hello Pojo Readers, Crunch$G here to tell you what you should know about the yearly Spring reprint set: Ghosts From the Past. This is a bigger set than previous years, as we got over 130 cards instead of the standard 100. We also had 5 Ghost Rares inserted in with the regular Ultra Rares as well, but those will be rare to find. This set mainly gives us support for several old archetypes as well as debuts 2 new archetypes and reprints many cards from the archetypes in this set and support for recently supported archetypes. It’s mainly a set to find all the cards you need from the Decks recently supported. Let’s go back through these old and new archetypes and see the support they received and how good this set overall is.
The Ghost Rares
Let’s start with what we mainly want from this set, the 5 Ghost Rares. Duel Monsters era fans of course got some Ghost Rares for them as we see Dark Magician finally get a Ghost Rare print alongside Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon to go with the old Blue-Eyes White Dragon print from Gold Series: Haunted Mine in its Ghost Gold rarity. Synchro players also got a nice Ghost Rare to prepare them for Legendary Duelists: Synchro Storm with Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon finally having a TCG Ghost Rare print. Anybody who likes Black Luster Soldier will be excited to see a reprint for Black Luster Soldier – Soldier of Chaos finally, only in Ghost Rare form. Finally, we see the return of Firewall Dragon with its errata in a brand new artwork in Ghost Rare form.
Archetype Assists
First off, before we get to the main batches of archetype support, we got some new cards for several different archetypes. These archetypes only received 1 or 2 cards each, but any support is appreciated. The archetypes supported include Vampires, Lavals, Hieratics, Shaddolls, Nekroz, Fairy Tails, Cipher, and Time Thief and I’ll go through each archetypes cards in that order. Vampire Voivode is a new Level 8 Zombie that upon Normal Summon can target 2 monsters in the opponent’s graveyard and Special Summon them to your field in Defense Position with their effects negated, plus it can negate the activated monster effect of an opponent’s monster with the same name as a monster in the grave, and Voivode can tribute 2 monsters while it is in the grave and the opponent Special Summons from the grave to revive himself. Laval Archer is a new Level 4 for Lavals that grants you an additional Normal Summon of a Laval monster after Archer was Normal Summoned and Archer can revive himself from the graveyard by targeting and destroying a FIRE monster you control, but Archer is banished when it leaves the field and you can only summon FIRE monsters for the rest of that turn. Lavalval Salamander is a new Level 7 Synchro that needs non-Tuner FIREs to summon, upon Synchro Summon can let you draw 2 and discard 2, but you instead have to shuffle your hand into the Deck if you can’t discard a FIRE monster, and Salamander can banish a FIRE monster from the graveyard to change opponent’s monsters to face-down Defense Position up to the number of Laval monsters you control. Hieratic Sky Dragon Overlord of Heliopolis is a generic Rank 8 that can detach a material to negate an effect and destroy a card that would target a card you control, in your graveyard, or that is banished. Hieratic Seal of Creation is a Normal Spell that lets you target a Dragon Xyz you control to summon a Hieratic Xyz with a different name by using the targeted monster and its Xyz Materials as material, and it can be banished from the graveyard to Special Summon a Hieratic monster from your grave in Defense Position. Nehshaddoll Genius is a Level 4 EARTH monster with a FLIP effect to target a Shaddoll monster you control and have it be unaffected by monster effects that aren’t its own for a turn, and if sent to the graveyard by a card effect can target a monster on the field to prevent either player from activating its effects that turn. Helshaddoll Hollow is a Level 9 FIRE with a FLIP effect to target an opponent’s monster and banishes it by sending a Shaddoll with the same Attribute from your Extra Deck to the graveyard and if it is sent to the graveyard by a card effect, you can send the top cards from your Deck to the graveyard equal to the number of monsters with different original Attributes of monsters on the field. Nekroz of Areadbhair is a Level 10 Ritual who can discard himself to tribute up to 2 Nekroz monsters from your hand or field to send an equal number of Nekroz cards from the Deck to the grave and while it is on the field, it can negate a monster effect and banish said monster by tributing a monster from your hand or field. Fairy Tail – Rochka is a new Level 4 LIGHT Spellcaster who on Normal Summon can let the opponent gain 500 LP, then makes them look at the top 3 cards of your Deck to choose a card to add to your hand while the rest are shuffled back, and once per battle while this card is battling before Damage Calcuation, you can send this card to the graveyard. Fairy Tail Tales is a Continuous Spell that lets you reveal a Spellcaster with 1850 ATK from your hand to immediately Normal Summon or Set it and the first time each turn you would take damage while you control a Spellcaster with 1850 original ATK, you don’t take damage. Galaxy-Eyes Cipher X Dragon is a generic Rank 10 who can also be Xyz Summoned by using a Cipher Dragon you control as material, can detach 2 materials to make your LIGHT monsters untargetable by the opponent until the end of their turn, and during your Standby Phase can return a Rank 9 or lower Dragon Xyz to your Extra Deck from the graveyard and then you can Xyz Summon that monster by using this card as material. Time Thief Adjuster is a Level 4 who can be Special Summoned from the hand when your Normal or Special Summon a Time Thief monster or on summon can send any Time Thief card from the Deck to the grave that isn’t another Adjuster, as you can only use 1 of this card’s effects a turn. Finally, Time Thief Double Barrel is a generic Rank 4 who when the opponent activates a monster effect, can detach up to 3 different card types from himself as material to apply the following effects based on the card type detached with Monster giving this a 400 ATK boost, Spell letting you take control of an opponent’s monster that turn at the cost of it being unable to attack or use its effects, and Trap letting you negating the effects of 1 face-up monster on the field for the turn. Besides the archetype support, we got retrains of classic 5D’s Synchro Monsters: Shooting Star Dragon and Red Nova Dragon. Shooting Star Dragon T.G. EX is a Level 10 Synchro that needs Synchro Tuners and Synchro non-Tuners to summon, can negate and destroy a monster that targets a card you control by banishing a Tuner from your graveyard, can negate an opponent’s attack, and can be Special Summoned from the graveyard during the opponent’s turn by tributing 2 Synchros you control. Also, Red Supernova Dragon is a Level 12 DARK Dragon Synchro that needs 3 Tuners and any non-Tuner Synchro or Synchros to summon, must first be Synchro Summoned, gains 500 ATK for each Tuner in your graveyard, cannot be destroyed by the opponent’s card effects, and when the opponent’s monster activates its effect or attacks, you can banish this card and all cards the opponent controls, with Red Supernova coming back during your next End Phase after this effect was activated.
Sunavalon Harvest
The first new archetype in this set is the Sunavalon/Sunvine archetype from the VRAINS anime. It is a Plant archetype focused on Link Summoning and preventing damage to summon more Plant Links from your Extra Deck. Sunseed Genius Loci is their first monster, which is just a Level 1 Normal Monster. Sunvine Maiden is another Level 1 who can negate an effect that targets a Plant that was Special Summoned from the Extra Deck and Special Summons herself from the hand, plus she prevents your Sunavalon and Sunvine Spells and Traps from being targeted by the opponent. Sunseed Shadow is a third Level 1 who can be Special Summoned from the hand if you control any Plant Normal Monster, plus it can be banished from the graveyard to target a Link-2 or lower Plant you control to Special Summon a monster with the same name from the Extra Deck, but its effects are negated and you can only summon Special Summon Plants for the rest of the turn. Sunseed Twin is a Level 2 who on Normal or Special Summon while you control a Sunavalon Link can revive a Level 4 or lower Plant Normal from your graveyard, and it can be banished from the graveyard alongside a Link Monster you control to Special Summon a Plant Link from the graveyard if you have 2 of the same named card in the grave as the monster you would summon. Sunavalon Dryas is a Link-1 with a downward arrow that needs any Level 4 or lower Plant to summon, can let you add a Sunvine Spell/Trap from Deck to hand if you used Sunseed Genius Loci to summon it, cannot be targeted for attacks, but doesn’t prevent the opponent from attacking directly, and once per turn when you take damage, you can gain LP equal to the damage you took and then summon a Sunvine from your Extra Deck. Sunavalon Dryades is a Link-2 with two downward arrows, needs any 2 Plants as material as long as you include a Sunavalon Link to summon, has the same effect as Dryas where it cannot be attacked but still lets the opponent direct attack and the same summoning effect to summon Sunvines from the Extra Deck, only it can do the latter part up to twice per turn now. Sunavalon Dryanome is a Link-3 with three downward arrows, needs 2+ Plants to summon, has the same effect where it cannot be attacked but still lets the opponent attack directly, can summon Sunvine Links up to three times per turn when you take damage while also letting you gain the LP back, and once per turn when a monster this card points to is targeted for an attack, you can negate that attack and move the monster to another one of your Main Monster Zones. Sunavalon Dryatrentiay is a Link-4 with three downward arrows and a single up arrow, needs 2+ Link Monsters to summon, upon Link Summon lets you add a Sunavalon Spell/Trap from your Deck to your hand, cannot be destroyed by the opponent’s card effects and cannot be attacked, but still lets the opponent attack directly, and once per turn can tribute a Link Monster it points to so it can destroy cards the opponent controls up to the tributed monster’s Link Rating. Sunvine Gardna is a Link-1 with an upward arrow, needs a Plant Normal Monster to summon, is destroyed if a Sunavalon Link leaves the field by a card effect, halves any damage you would take involving this card Linked to a Sunavalon Link, and ends the Battle Phase after this monster is destroyed in battle. Sunvine Healer is another Link-1 with an upward arrow and needs a Plant Normal to summon, destroys itself if a Sunavalon Link leaves the field by a card effect, upon Special Summon can target a Sunavalon Link you control to gain LP equal to the target’s Link Rating, and when a Plant Link inflicts battle damage to the opponent, you gain 600 LP. Sunvine Thrasher is a third Link-1, this time with a down arrow, still needs a Plant Normal to summon, destroys itself when a Sunavalon Link leaves the field by a card effect, upon Special Summon can target a Sunavalon Link you control to have this card gain ATK equal to the monster’s Link Rating times 800, and lets you Special Summon any monster this destroys in battle to your field in Defense Position to a zone a Link Monster points to with the summoned monster’s effects negated. Sunvine Shrine is a Continuous Spell that can only be activated by discarding a card while you control a Sunavalon Link, only lets you Special Summon Plants from the Extra Deck, can let you Special Summon a Level 4 or lower Plant Normal Monster from the grave once per turn, and can be sent to the graveyard during the opponent’s End Phase to set a Continuous Trap to your Spell and Trap Zone from the graveyard. Finally, Sunavalon Bloom is a Continuous Trap that negates the effects of all face-up monsters the opponent controls on activation if you control a Link-4 or higher Plant, and when your Plant Link battles, it gains ATK equal to the total ATK of all monsters it points to during Damage Calculation until the end of the turn.
Shine Bright in the Starry Night
The second new archetype in this set is the Starry Knight archetype, a group of Level 4 Fairies plus Spells and Traps focused on summoning Level 7 LIGHT Dragons from your hand. Starry Night, Starry Dragon is a Level 7 LIGHT Dragon who when summoned from the hand can target a card on the field and destroy it, can not be destroyed in battle with a DARK monster nor destroyed by a DARK monster’s effects, and at the start of the Damage Step, once per turn, if it battles an opponent’s monster, you can banish that opponent’s monster until the End Phase and then this card can attack once again in a row. Starry Knight Rayel upon Normal Summon can add a Starry Knight Spell/Trap from the Deck to your hand and can be banished from your graveyard to target a Starry Knight monster in your grave that isn’t another Rayel and Special Summon it. Starry Knight Astel can target a LIGHT monster you control as a Quick Effect and tribute it to summon a Level 7 LIGHT Dragon from your hand and can be banished from the graveyard to give a Level 7 LIGHT Dragon you control a 1000 ATK boost until the end of the opponent’s turn. Starry Knight Flamel can discard itself or send itself from the field to the grave when the opponent attacks to summon a Level 7 LIGHT Dragon from your hand and as a Quick Effect can be banished from the graveyard to return a Level 7 LIGHT Dragon you control or in your graveyard to your hand. Starry Knight Balefire is a Normal Spell that lets you add a Starry Knight monster or a Level 7 LIGHT Dragon from your Deck to your hand and then lets you Special Summon a Level 7 LIGHT Dragon from your hand if you control no monsters and the opponent controls a DARK monster. Starry Knight Sky is a Field Spell that lets you Normal Summon a Starry Knight or Level 7 LIGHT Dragon monster in addition to your Normal Summon or Set and lets you draw a card if a Level 7 LIGHT Dragon returns to your hand during your Main Phase. Starry Knight Ceremony is a Continuous Spell that lets you reveal a LIGHT Fairy in your hand to add a Level 7 LIGHT Dragon from your Deck to your hand and then return the revealed target to the bottom of your Deck and it can let you Special Summon a Level 7 LIGHT Dragon from your hand if the opponent activates a card or effect. Starry Knight Arrival is a Continuous Trap that can either let you Special Summon a Level 7 LIGHT Dragon from your hand or return a Level 7 LIGHT Dragon from your field to your hand. Finally, Starry Knight Blast is a Normal Trap that can negate and destroy an opponent’s activated card or effect by returning a Level 7 LIGHT Dragon to your hand.
Dragunity Legion
Finally for new cards, we get the Dragunity cards from the OCG’s Structure Deck that Konami inserted in here instead. Dragunity Arma Gram is a Level 10 WIND Dragon who can banish 2 Dragon and/or Winged Beasts from your graveyard to Special Summon this card from the hand or graveyard, can target a face-up monster to have its effects negated and lose 1000 ATK for each Equip Card you control for the turn, and can equip any monster you destroy in battle and send to the graveyard to this card. Dragunity Legatus is a Level 4 WIND Winged Beast who can be Special Summoned from the hand if you control a Dragunity monster or a Dragon Ravine and once per turn can target and destroy a Spell/Trap on the field if you control a Dragunity Monster in your Spell/Trap Zone. Dragunity Remus is a Level 2 WIND Dragon Tuner who can only be used to Synchro Summon a Dragunity Synchro, can discard himself to add a Dragon Ravine from your Deck to your hand and can be Special Summoned from your graveyard if you control a Dragunity monster, but it’s banished when it leaves the field and you can only summon Dragons from the Extra Deck for the rest of the turn. Dragunity Draft is a Continuous Spell that can let you add a Level 4 or lower Dragunity from the grave to your hand on activation and makes a Level 5 or higher Dragunity that attacks unaffected by your opponent’s cards until the end of the Damage Step. Dragunity Whirlwind is a Quick-Play Spell that if only your opponent controls a monster, you can Special Summon a Dragunity Tuner and a non-Tuner Winged Beast Dragunity from your Deck with their effects negated, then you immediately Synchro Summon a Dragon from the Extra Deck by using only Dragunity monsters you control, but for the rest of the turn after this resolves you can only summon Dragons from the Extra Deck. Dragunity Glow is a Normal Spell that lets you add a Level 5 or higher Dragunity from your Deck to your hand on activation and can banish itself from the graveyard to Special Summon a monster you control in your Spell/Trap Zone equipped to a Dragunity monster. Dragunity Oubliette is a Counter Trap that negates and destroys an opponent’s Spell/Trap Card activation and banishes that card, then you can have a Dragunity gain 100 ATK for each card banished if you control a Level 10 Dragunity Synchro. Finally, Dragunity Knight – Areadbhair is a Level 10 Dragon Synchro who needs a Dragunity Tuner, can negate an opponent’s monster effect and banish said monster by banishing a Dragunity from your graveyard, can banish an opponent’s monster this destroys in battle, and can destroy all Spells and Traps the opponent controls if this card is destroyed by an opponent’s card while in its owner’s control.
Noteworthy Reprints
Now it’s time for the 80+ reprints in this set, mainly for recently supported archetypes. Laval reprints include Laval Volcano Handmaiden, Lavalval Dragon, and Molten Conduction Field. Hieratic reprints include Hieratic Dragon of Eset, Hieratic Dragon of Tefnuit, Hieratic Dragon King of Atum, Hieratic Sun Dragon Overlord of Heliopolis, Hieratic Seal of the Heavenly Spheres, Hieratic Seal of Convocation, Hieratic Seal of Supremacy, Hieratic Seal of Banishment, Hieratic Seal of Reflection, and Hieratic Seal from the Ashes. You got some Galaxy/Photon related reprints with Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Blade Dragon and Photon Thrasher. The entire Time Thief archetype is reprinted in this set, so you can get Time Thief Winder, Bezel Ship, Regulator, Chronocorder, Redoer, Perpetua, Hack, Startup, Flyback, and Retrograde. You got some Level 7 LIGHT Dragons for Starry Knights with reprints for Seiyaryu, Hyozanryu, and Arkbrave Dragon. Some Dragunity related reprints with Dragunity Phalanx and Mist Valley Baby Roc. You got some nice EARTH Rock reprints with Gigantes and Tackle Crusader. A few Madolche reprints with Puddingcess, Petingcessoeur, Fresh Sistart, and Chateau in here. Some Monarch reprints with Thestalos the Mega Monarch and The Monarchs Erupt. Some Kozmo cards finally get reprints with Tincan, Dark Lady, and Kozmojo. You get most of the Metalfoes cards in here with Bismugear, Orichalc, Mithrilium, Steelen, Silverd, Goldriver, Volflame, Metalfoes Fusion, Counter, and Combination in here. Some Salamangreat foil upgrades with cards like Falco and Fowl alongisde other Cyberse upgrades with Backup Secretary, Update Jammer, and Splash Mage. Some reprints for Phantom Knight Decks with Dark Requiem Xyz Dragon and Phantom Knights’ Fog Blade. We got both Mask Change and Mask Change II in this set. Two Resonator Spells are reprinted with Resonator Call and Resonator Engine. Finally you got miscellaneous reprints for cards like Armed Dragon LV10, Evil Thorn, Mine Mole, Re-Cover, Raidraptor – Tribute Lanius, Danger! Thunderbird!, Dragon Knight Draco-Equiste, Meteor Black Comet Dragon, Buster Dragon, Artifact Durendal, Salvage, Geartown, Emergency Teleport, Ojama Country, Miracle Synchro Fusion, Xyz Burst, Orcustrated Return, Royal Prison, Evenly Matched, and Terror of Trishula.
In Conclusion
Overall, this set doesn’t live up to past Spring reprint sets. The new cards are nice, especially the support for Nekroz, Time Thief, and Dragunity, and its nice to see some attention to archetypes that weren’t supported in years like Lavals. I don’t feel like Starry Knight or Sunavalon are too great, but they’re pretty fun. The reprints are where the issues are. The only good staple reprint is Evenly Matched. The rest make for nice rarity upgrades and cards with low printings, but they don’t offer good value really. You also got those weird reprints for cards like Xyz Burst and some of the more lackluster Hieratic cards. The Ghost Rares are the main chase cards of the set, which isn’t too good considering how hard they’re going to be to pull. We needed better reprints than this, which I’d hope the Mega Tins and hopefully a Battles of Legend or Maximum Gold 2 would bring if they happen. This just doesn’t do it for reprints.
