A sneak peek at Dragons of Legend 2!
Dragons of Legend 1 was a great set, and not only brought us many anime cards, but also introduced great cards such as Mathematician and Wiretap. It comes at no surprise that Dragons of Legend 2 (released on 16/07/15) should be equally hyped, containing not only the other two Legendary Dragons, but also support for Red-Eyes and Toons! Fans of the anime will be thrilled to know that the support in this set for the show’s original archetypes is actually very strong, and Toons, surprisingly, look to be viable, as they have been given their own versions of powerful cards such as Snatch Steal and Monster Reborn. Currently, only a small portion of the set has actually been revealed, but if the rest of the set lives up to the cards currently known, it should be well worth picking up!
Toons
Toons are one of the oldest archetypes in the game, used by Pegasus in season one of the anime, but severely weakened for their actual release. Those who watched the show might remember how Yugi struggled in vain to land attacks on Pegasus’ comic characters, but failed when they were able to hide inside Toon World. This set only introduces one new Toon monster (Toon Ancient Gear Golem), but adds a better alternative to Toon World, which mimics the anime’s effect, and several good support cards.
Toon Kingdom is the new field spell, and counts as Toon World while on the field. When activated, you banish the top three cards of your deck (as opposed to Toon World’s cost of 1000 life points), and it has the ability to protect Toon monsters. When they would be destroyed by battle or a card effect, you can banish the top card of your deck face down instead. Toon monsters often have a restriction on attacking the turn they were summoned, which left them vulnerable to removal – this helps keep them around at the cost of randomly removing resources from the deck. The idea for the deck is to protect this, and allow it to protect your monsters. Running Field Barriers would be a sensible idea, as Toons new and old rely on having this spell up, and the monsters self-destruct upon its destruction. Forbidden Lance and the like are not important for the deck, as this fills their role better. One problem with the card is the self-mill, but teching in a copy of Necroface will help to prevent the problems, as well as granting a potentially huge attacker.
Comic Hand is another huge boost for Toons, allowing you to take control of an opponent’s monster (as long as you control Toon World), make it a Toon, and able to attack your opponent directly. This is potentially one of the strongest cards available to Toons, as it not only removes a threat, but lets you use it against the opponent. It targets, as it is an equip spell, and so cannot be used against certain monsters, and also can be easily destroyed either on its own, or by destroying Toon World. As such, one of the best uses for it is to treat it as Mind Control. If your opponent has an awkward card such as Beelze of the Diabolic Dragons, you can take control of it and tribute it for a high-levelled Toon summon. If used along spell and trap protection, this card can be used well over multiple turns.
Mimicat is perhaps the most versatile Toon card, serving as either Monster Reborn or as Graverobber. If you control Toon World and a Toon monster, then you can special summon a monster from your opponent’s graveyard or set one spell/trap onto your side of the field. This has no real cost, aside from the need to have the correct field. As such, Toon decks will run this at three, most likely, as it allows the opponent’s own threats to be turned against them. Notably, Diamond Dude Turbo will make great use of this card as an alternative to Monster Reborn, and allow them to use traps without sacrificing consistency. This is sure to be sought after by fans of either deck.
Toon Briefcase is an excellent stun card, and might be considered the monster equivalent of Wiretap. When your opponent summons a monster(s) when you control a Toon monster, you shuffle them back into the deck. This is absolutely great, and as it does not target or destroy, you can use it against most major threats. It shines, however, against Pendulum summons, as sending them back to the deck denies the opponent the ability to summon them again from the Extra Deck. It might be easy for the opponent simply to destroy your monsters first, but provided Toon Kingdom is protected, that should not be an issue. Finally, Toon Mask adds a good way for Toons to be special summoned from the deck, adding much needed speed to an otherwise slow and tribute-heavy deck.
Legendary Dragons
This set completes the trio of the Legendary Dragon Knights, adding both Critias and Hermos. The card Legend Of Heart now can be used at its full potential, granting players the ability to summon three 2800/1800 monsters and banish three face up spell or trap cards. While the deck is never going to be competitive, it is certainly going to be fun, and players might find success with decks focussing on one legendary dragon. The dragons were primarily used for their fusions, and the set will probably follow in the footsteps of Dragons of Legend by granting each Dragon two fusions. So far, only the Critias fusions have been revealed as being released in Dragons of Legend 2, but we almost certainly will get the Hermos versions.
Doom Virus Dragon is the Critias fusion with Crush Card Virus, and replicates the majority of its effect. With Crush Card Virus’ new errata, your opponent has the opportunity to destroy up to three monsters with 1500 or more attack in their deck when it is activated, allowing them to load the graveyard or, if they are playing Yang Zing, to summon three more monsters. However, Doom Virus Dragon does not have this downside, while still having the same effect. As Crush Card Virus is still limited, it is not viable to run Doom Virus outside of a Critias deck, but it can allow it to hold its own against decks like Necroz as they all have large attacks. Doom Virus, therefore, is a strong fusion for fans of the anime.
Mirror Force Dragon is the second fusion, and it is absurdly powerful when used well. During either player’s turn, when one of your monsters is targeted for an attack or by a card effect, it can destroy all cards the opponent controls. This also has no once per turn restriction (at least according to the current translations), and so it can be chained to cards such as Fiendish Chain or Breakthrough Skill. As such, this card is difficult to break through, and requires either a board wipe, a non-targeting effect, or a counter trap to prevent its ability. Mirror Force is a solid card to run in control-based decks anyway, so it looks as though Critias might well become the most viable of the Legendary Dragon Knights.
Red-Eyes
Red-Eyes get more support with the ritual monster Lord of the Red. He boasts two once per turn effects, which can be used during either player’s turn: the first is that, when an effect other than his own is activated, you can target a monster on the field and destroy it; the second is that, when an effect other than his own is activated, you can target a spell or trap on the field and destroy it. This can be a very powerful control card, and considering that you can activate it twice on your turn, it can easily refund its cost by destroying two of your opponent’s cards. The ritual spell, Red-Eyes Transmigration, allows the cost to be paid by banishing Red-Eyes monsters from the graveyard, which allows this monster to be summoned for the cost of one card. The hidden cost, however, is removing the monsters from the graveyard, which interferes with several of the new support cards such as Black Stone of Legend. I would recommend using this card in conjunction with Knight of Dark Dragon, using the (now limited) Preparation of Rites to aid searching either. Using Dark Dragon Ritual’s second effect, the deck can become quite consistent by searching the appropriate Red-Eyes spell or trap cards, which can also be used to search Red-Eyes Fusion and Red-Eyes Transmigration. Running too many ritual monsters in a non-dedicated deck makes it inconsistent, so players wishing to use Lord of the Red might prefer to focus on the ritual aspect of the deck rather than the fusion aspect.
In conclusion, the cards revealed so far for Dragons of Legend 2 are excellent support for their particular archetypes, and Toons will now be playable as a deck after twelve years of waiting. Look forward to the reveal of the generic support, because this set looks to be brilliant.
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