Yu-Gi-Oh! Clash Of Rebellions Coming Soon!

Yu-Gi-Oh! Clash of Rebellions is coming out on Thursday (06/08/15), and looks to be a really exciting set! It brings support for many pre-existing archetypes and introduces some brand new ones such as Kaiju. Our previous article talked about Aroma, Igknight and Red-Eyes in depth, so today we’ll examine the other cards revealed!

Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon

As Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon is the cover card for the set, it’s impossible to ignore this unique and potentially devastating card! This is the first Xyz Pendulum monster, and it can be devastating when used correctly. It, like other Pendulum monsters, goes to the Extra Deck when destroyed and, despite having a Rank, can be summoned as if it had a level. The effect it has when summoned using a Xyz monster as material is the impressive part – you can wipe their field of Level 7 or lower monsters, deal a huge amount of burn damage and then attack multiple times for game! This is evidently designed to be a finisher, and initially it looks difficult to pull off this effect. Using a Rank-Up Magic can achieve this easily, but there are a couple of cards in this set that provide a different method. It can enter the Pendulum Zone when destroyed, and its Pendulum effect allows you to restore the scale very easily. Even if destroyed, therefore, it allows you to gain back some of the resources you used to summon it.

The Xiang Magicians are the perfect tools to help summon Rebellion Dragon. Their Pendulum effects allow you to manipulate the monsters on your field so that Xyz monsters can be used for Xyz summons, and also can match the Level of another monster. This means that any Dragon type Xyz monster can be paired with an Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon to create Rebellion Dragon. The idea for the deck is to use your Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon to add Xiangsheng Magician to your hand, allowing you to summon the dragon back from the Extra deck when you need to. It is somewhat harder to access the Xiangke Magician from the deck, but given that Stargazer Magician can be searched easily, you do not need to go the whole game without a Pendulum scale. Therefore, you can stall relatively easily with Pendulum summoning until you are ready to use your finishing move. Some easy Dragon Xyz monsters to access are Gaia Dragon, the Thunder Charger (using any rank 5 or higher for an upgrade); Number 17: Leviathan Dragon (using two level 3 monsters) and Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon (two level 4 monsters), although there are many more. Further, any Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragons already face-up in the Pendulum zone can be used, making it viable to summon one to set up the next. Negating the summon of this unit when it hits the field will be high-priority, and it is likely that we will see many more Traptrix Trap Holes in Side Decks to help negate these sort of threats. Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon is just difficult enough to summon that it won’t be seen in every deck, but decks designed to summon it will be dangerous indeed.

Kozmo

If you ever felt that Yu-Gi-Oh! was lacking an Archetype that crossed the world of Wizard of Oz with Star Wars, then this set certainly will not disappoint you. Kozmo currently are a set of five cards which support each other nicely. There are two Psychic types which can banish themselves during either player’s turn to Special summon higher-levelled Kozmo monsters from the hand (4 or higher for Farmgirl, 5 or higher for Goodwitch). This is a quick-effect, and so is good to use when they are targeted for attacks or by card effects, as you can easily force them to waste their card or force a Replay. You then summon one of the two Machine type monsters, Sliprider or Forerunner. Sliprider is able to destroy a Spell or Trap card on the field when summoned, while Forerunner is immune to card effects. When these are sent to the Graveyard, you can banish them to summon lower-levelled Kozmo monsters from the deck. The idea, therefore, is to constantly maintain a field presence by cycling between these units. Their Field Spell, Kozmotown, makes them very consistent. You can add banished Kozmo monsters to your hand at the cost of some lifepoints, you can reveal Kozmo monsters in your hand and shuffle them into the deck to draw that many cards and, if it gets destroyed, it can search for any Kozmo card from the deck and add it to your hand. Using these cards with Soul Absorption to gain ridiculous amounts of life, or Necroface or Gren Maju Da Eiza for the recycling and huge attack power can be a good idea.

Kaiju

 Kaiju are a small series of cards, currently consisting of two monsters and a Field Spell. Both monsters can be Special Summoned to the opponent’s side of the field by tributing one of their monsters, but also can be Special Summoned to their owner’s side of the field if their opponent controls a Kaiju. The idea is to set up fights between the two Kaiju, using their Field Spell (Kyoutou Waterfront) to keep up the pressure. Kyoutou gains Kaiju Counters when cards are sent to the Graveyard from the field and allows the user to add a Kaiju from their deck to their hand when it has three or more counters. The counters can also be used to protect the card and fund the effects of Kaiju monsters. There are no-where near enough cards to fill a deck, although they are very useful in removing tough monsters like Beelze of the Diabolic Dragons from the field. Hopefully, they will see more support in future sets, as it seems really fun to have one-on-one Kaiju fights!

Gem-Knights

Gem-Knights receive some really nice support this set, not least with Gem-Knight Lady Brilliant Diamond. Her summoning condition is expensive, but she is actually very good if her effect can be used. She can turn any Gem-Knight on the field into a powerful Fusion monster – the maximum value is summoning Gem-Knight Master Diamond, but she should be considered as a ‘toolbox’ card, able to bring out whichever fusion is needed at that time. Absorb Fusion supports her extremely well. It is a Normal Spell which, at no cost, can search the deck for any Gem-Knight card and add it to your hand, and then has the optional effect of banishing cards from your hand or your side of the field to Fusion Summon a Gem-Knight from the Extra Deck. Gem-Knights tend to banish their cards relatively often, so this is not particularly out of the ordinary for the deck, but it does mean that it competes with Fragment Fusion and Master Diamond by removing their Graveyard resources. Absorb Fusion will be used by every deck for the fact that it is a tutor with an optional Fusion Summoning effect, lending it extreme flexibility in its use. Brilliant Fusion is great support for the deck as well. It can use Gem-Knight monsters from the deck as Fusion Materials, but has the downside that that monster’s attack and defence become 0. This can be negated by discarding a Spell Card, but in practice will never be used. You either summon a Gem-Knight which you need for its effect, or summon Lady Brilliant Diamond and use her own effect to send her to the Graveyard to replace herself. In this way, you can set up the Graveyard with four Gem-Knights to use for Fragment Fusions, while also having a permanent Fusion monster with no downsides. This is the sort of support that the deck really needed to help it be more viable, and these will definitely become staples in their decks.

Conclusion

This set looks to be a really nice mix of cards. There is a nice mix of archetypes for both casual and competitive play, along with some good support for older decks. Cards such as Wavering Eyes will be interesting tech choices, depending on how Pendulum-focussed the meta-game continues to be (especially since Igknights, currently considered destined to be a high-tier deck, come out in this set). All the new Archetypes have their own playstyle which makes them distinct from other decks – this is a refreshing set, and well worth a look!

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