CH.726 The Secret Forces and World Superstars
It's my birthday today. Yes we are celebrating. No, you aren’t invited. Not this time.
… okay, I’ll quickly recap it for all of those who’ve forgotten how they go.
It starts with breakfast in bed. Then there is a little celebration on HomeBase amongst those of us who live here, the gift giving, and then just whatever the birthday boy, or girl, wants to do.
And that is how mine started. Until Aulis appeared in the Factory and delivered me a ‘birthday gift’. Fissure information. The System Agents had located one in the eastern sea, outside of the usual areas they look over for presigns. It hasn't popped open yet, but it will soon. So we had to immediately head out to deal with it.
Also. World. Are you purposefully dropping big threats on our birthdays? First the immortal tree with Janina and now I get a fissure. But it is what it is. Fissures show up, we deal with them.
But since it was my birthday, the girls took care of as much as they could. I was just riding on Janina while she kept Exodia safe. Meanwhile the others took care of the few monsters that appeared.
And by the end of things, we had a closed fissure and I actually got my birthday gift from the System. A new set.
Except that I didn’t get one set. I got two.
The Secret Forces and World Superstars.
So I guess the rest of the day will be pack opening day.
So back on HomeBase, I took a seat in an armchair in our room, opened up Pack Opener in case the girls wanted to watch, and got to the packs.
Spoiler
THSF 1
Cardcar D; Preparation of Rites; Yosenju Shinchu R; Ritual Beast Steeds; Nekroz of Trishula
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And as all of you likely guessed, since I got two sets, these packs will only have 5 cards each. And no. Not everything is new.
Like Cardcar D and Preparation of Rites. Already had them.
Yosenju Shinchu R is fine. Attack redirectors are good, and it can also act as a scale 11 for Yosenju.
Ritual Beast Steeds is just a destruction card. Sadly they aren’t all that reliable.
And Nekroz of Trishula can either negate targeting effects or do the usual Trishula thing of banishing 1 from hand, field and GY.
Next pack.
Spoiler
THSF 2
Gishki Noellia; Spiritual Beast Cannahawk; Djinn Releaser of Rituals; Yosenju Shinchu L; Nekroz of Unicore
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Spiritual Beast Cannahawk is like Gold Sarcophagus, but only for Spiritual Beasts.
Yosenju Shinchu L protects Yosenju monsters from battle destruction by destroying itself. And as a monster it redirects targeting effects.
Nekroz of Unicore lets you add a Nekroz from GY to hand if you discard it. And if it is on the field, Extra Deck monsters can’t activate their effects.
Next pack.
Spoiler
THSF 3
Djinn Presider of Rituals; Spiritual Beast Apelio; Gishki Noellia; Yosenju Shinchu R; Nekroz Kaleidoscope
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Spiritual Beast Apelio can give Ritual Beasts a 500 attack boost. … that’s it. Yes I like attack boosts, but 500? Why not more?
Nekroz Kaleidoscope is really good. Being able to banish an extra deck card as a cost for a Ritual summon can really open up some options. Sure I don’t need it, but it is cool to have.
Next pack.
Spoiler
THSF 4
Yosen Training Grounds; Great Sorcerer of the Nekroz; Advanced Ritual Art; Spiritual Beast Cannahawk; Nekroz Kaleidoscope
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Yosen Training Grounds is fine, but again, 300 attack boost. The search is nice in TCG, but I have unlimited searching.
Great Sorcerer of the Nekroz searches for Nekroz Ritual monsters, or can mill a Nekroz monster.
Next pack.
Spoiler
THSF 5
Yosen Training Grounds; Soul Release; Yosenju Shinchu R; Djinn Presider of Rituals; Nekroz Mirror
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Nekroz Mirror is nice. Sure it is a pretty straight forward Ritual Spell, but those are often the best for me.
Next pack.
Spoiler
THSF 6
Ritual Cage; Exa, Enforcer of the Nekroz; Abyss Dweller; Royal Decree; Nekroz of Trishula
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Exa, Enforcer of the Nekroz has two great effects when used as a tribute/cost for other Nekroz cards. But being level 5, it can be a brick.
Next pack.
Spoiler
THSF 7
Djinn Releaser of Rituals; Armageddon Knight; Abyss Dweller; Gishki Vision; Yosenju Kama 3
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Yosenju Kama 3 is good if you have the other two Yosenju Kamas. Otherwise it isn’t all that great.
Next pack.
Spoiler
THSF 8
Advanced Ritual Art; Abyss Dweller; Divine Wind of Mist Valley; Djinn Disserere of Rituals; Ritual Beast Ulti-Pettlephin
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Ritual Beast Ulti-Pettlephin is just a defensive wall. That doesn’t make it bad, just not something I’ll be likely to use.
Next pack.
Spoiler
THSF 9
Yosen Training Grounds; Spiritual Beast Pettlephin; Ascending Soul; Armageddon Knight; Yosenju Kama 2
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Spiritual Beast Pettlephin can bounce your opponent’s stuff.
Yosenju Kama 2 is the same as 3. Good with the others, but just alright by itself.
Next pack.
Spoiler
THSF 10
Ritual Beast's Bond; Divine Wind of Mist Valley; Vanity's Emptiness; Yosenju Shinchu R; Ritual Beast Tamer Elder
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Ritual Beast's Bond is fine. It is like a pseudo Poly for Ritual Beasts, but I can just summon the proper materials instead.
And that was it for 10 packs of The Secret Forces. The Nekroz rituals are definitely the highlight of this set, and I’m pretty sure I didn’t even get them all. But I’ll get the rest next time.
Time for a set change. To World Superstars. Maybe it has some superstar cards.
Spoiler
WSUP 1
Marshalling Field; Heavy Knight of the Flame; Gagaga Samurai; Naturia Gaiastrio; Kabuki Dragon
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Marshalling Field is pretty much Dyson Sphere support. And I do like that monster. Even if it has no protection from card effects.
Heavy Knight of the Flame would be good if it wasn’t a Gemini. But since it is, it is too slow to be good. And even then, it wouldn’t be all that great for my general use.
Gagaga Samurai lets a Gagaga attack twice. And it can redirect attacks, but it will likely die if it does.
Naturia Gaiastrio negates cards that target 1 card.
And Kabuki Dragon can force monsters to change battle positions mid combat.
Next pack.
Spoiler
WSUP 2
Number 86: Heroic Champion - Rhongomyniad; Mecha Phantom Beast Jaculuslan; Heavy Knight of the Flame; Humpty Grumpty; Humhumming the Key Djinn
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Number 86: Heroic Champion - Rhongomyniad is nice, but considering how I’d use him, he isn’t nearly as OP as he is in the TCG. Limiting summons really isn’t the end all, be all.
Mecha Phantom Beast Jaculuslan is pretty good. Not only is it a mechanical jet dragon, it can pull cards from the opponent’s hand, protects all other Mecha Phantom Beasts, and lets you set a Quick-Play directly from your deck. Yeah. I think you know what is the OP part of this card.
Humpty Grumpty can have 2200 attack. But I’ll still never use it.
And Humhumming the Key Djinn I already had. Got it with Bahamut Shark.
Next pack.
Spoiler
WSUP 3
Numeral Hunter; Naturia Gaiastrio; Heavy Knight of the Flame; Kabuki Dragon; Heroic Challenger - Thousand Blades
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Numeral Hunter is a specific counter card, so not useful for me unless someone steals Number monsters from me. And if they do, they have bigger issues than me having access to Numeral Hunter.
And Heroic Challenger - Thousand Blades can summon Heroic monsters from the deck. So busted.
Next pack.
Spoiler
WSUP 4
Galaxy Soldier; Battlin' Boxer Shadow; Heraldic Beast Amphisbaena; Ghostrick Break; Spiritual Whisper
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Galaxy Soldier is great. Special summon + search is great.
Battlin' Boxer Shadow specials itself, but that’s all it does.
Heraldic Beast Amphisbaena needs too many discards. … okay, you generally don’t need the attack boost, so you’ll just have to discard 1 Heraldic Beast to special summon it.
Ghostrick Break specials 2 Ghostricks from the GY.
Spiritual Whisper searches for a Ritual monster or Ritual spell when Pendulum summoned.
Next pack.
Spoiler
WSUP 5
Marshalling Field; Heroic Challenger - Thousand Blades; Ghostrick Angel of Mischief; Flowerbot; Augmented Heraldry
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Ghostrick Angel of Mischief is busted. For my use. Since I can freely add Xyz material to Xyz monsters, as long as the material meets the summoning requirement, I can just shove 10 materials under Angel of Mischief and it will win every duel. Not that I’m sure what that means, as ‘winning the duel’ effects often depend on the card.
Flowerbot lets you draw a card, then you place 1 from hand to the top of the deck. Useful if you have something like The Seventh One in your hand.
Augmented Heraldry is a Field Spell for Heraldic Beasts. It is nice. Good protection, and you also get to search. But very limiting when it comes to deck building.
Next pack.
Spoiler
WSUP 6
Earthshattering Event; Naturia Gaiastrio; Wattsychic Fighter; Guerilla Kite; Gagaga Samurai
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Earthshattering Event just limits me more than anyone else.
Wattsychic Fighter can force your opponent to draw a bad card.
And Guerilla Kite just burns for 500 when sent to the GY.
Next pack.
Spoiler
WSUP 7
Galaxy Soldier; Heroic Challenger - Thousand Blades; P.M. Captor; Heroic Challenger - Assault Halberd; Humhumming the Key Djinn
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P.M. Captor is kind of a generic Zombie Pendulum. It is fine, just … nothing special.
Heroic Challenger - Assault Halberd specials itself, deals piercing damage and searches when it inflicts battle damage. So it is nice.
Next pack.
Spoiler
WSUP 8
Gagaga Sister; Heraldic Beast Amphisbaena; Humhumming the Key Djinn; Guerilla Kite; Flowerbot
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Gagaga Sister searches for a Gagaga Spell or Trap on normal summon. And it can make the level of itself and another Gagaga monster be the total of their current levels.
Next pack.
Spoiler
WSUP 9
Numeral Hunter; Gagaga Mancer; Heroic Challenger - Thousand Blades; Star Seraph Scale; Heraldic Beast Amphisbaena
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Gagaga Mancer can resurrect a Gagaga monster, but the drawback is being only able to summon Gagaga monsters.
Star Seraph Scale specials a Star Seraph from the hand if it is special summoned. And if you Xyz summon with it, while that Xyz monster is on the field, once per turn when you special summon, you get to draw a card.
Next, and last, pack.
Spoiler
WSUP 10
Gagaga Sister; Battlin' Boxer Shadow; Heroic Challenger - Assault Halberd; BOXer; Wattsychic Fighter
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BOXer gains a counter each time it destroys a monster by battle. And you can tribute it with 2 to special summon an Earth monster from the deck. So good enough.
But yeah. An interesting ‘birthday gift’ from the System. Now, I think the girls might want to do something with me. Based on the way they are looking at me. So I’m just closing Pack Opener and hoping I won’t be kept up too late.
I can always use the ‘it's my birthday, this is enough.’ card if they go too far.