Yu-Gi-Oh! Cosmo Blazer Sneak Peek
Written by Julio N. (aka PKMNmasterJuice of TeemTHE)
Introduction
With the lack of high level competitive play since YCS Seattle the introduction of the newest Yu-Gi-Oh! Set, Cosmo Blazer (CBLZ), surely brought out players to locals hosting the event. The weekend of January 19th-20th introduced new archetypes and support for existing ones. This set is also unique because it includes cards used by characters from Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s and Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL. The archetypes receiving notable support include the Prophecy/Spellbook, Mermails, Heraldic Beasts, Noble Knights, and Beast-Warrior decks in general. With the trend of the previous sets focusing on attributes; Cosmo Blazer follows and focuses on FIRE monsters. CBLZ flares up and introduces the Brotherhood of the Fire Fist and the Hazy Beast archetypes into the TCG.
Locations and what you receive
Any official Konami Tournament Store is eligible to hold a sneak peek (you can see a list of eligible stores here). Each entrant receives 5 packs of CBLZ as well as Ultra Rare promo Noble Arms – Caliburn! An entrant also has the chance to win a Cosmo Blazer sneak peek mat that is raffled off by the respective stores.
So what’s good in the set?
With the success of the Elemental Lords finding place in respective attribute based decks there was no doubt that Pyrorex The Elemental Lord is on a players’ radar. Pyrorex holds the same summoning condition as it’s brethren but includes an effect that can inflict half a monster’s ATK points to the opponent. Getting five FIRE monsters in the graveyard won’t be much a problem for Laval decks or any other variant that uses Rekindling or Volcanic Shell.
With XYZ monsters being the focus of the Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL anime, Cosmo Blazer welcomes a Rank 4, Diamond Dire Wolf, into many if not all players’ Extra Deck. It is a generic XYZ monster with an effect that is similar to that of Scrap Dragon. Although Diamond Dire Wolf will strengthen any Extra Deck, it will shine bright in decks that already include a high Beast, Beast-Warrior, or Winged Beast count. Prime examples include Blackwing, Fire Fist, Harpie, Madolche, Tech Genus, and Gladiator Beasts.
Having been introduced in the previous set, Abyss Rising, Mermails also got new cards to help them combat the meta. Mermail cards that people will be looking for include Mermail Abyssdine, Mermail Abyssleed, Mermail Abyssstrite, and Mermail Abyssteus.
With Mermail duelists looking for their support cards, others focused on the Brotherhood of the Fire Fist. Fire Fist cards that people will be looking for include Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Dragon, Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Bear, Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Gorilla, and Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Tiger King. The former cards are the main core of the main deck; while the latter card is their amazing XYZ monster.
Moving on from the topic of attributes more support is introduced for the Noble Knights, which are well known as being a TCG-exclusive archetype. This time around the Noble Knights received a boost with Noble Arms – Caliburn, Noble Knight Medraut, and Artorigus, King of the Noble Nights. Noble Arms – Caliburn is a nifty equip spell card that gives a 500 ATK point boost and most notably a 500 life point boost once per turn. Noble Knight Medraut is an interesting monster that helps add another monster to the main deck. The most expected addition is Artorigus, King of the Noble Knights, the archetype’s very own XYZ monster that makes use of all the Nobel Arms equip spell cards.
For Prophecy/Spellbook duelists, CBLZ includes Fool of Prophecy, Reaper of Prophecy, and Spellbook of the Master. Cosmo Blazer also includes a card, Mystical Fairy Elfuria, that may help support the upcoming WIND attribute cards in the next set, Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy (LTGY).
Impact on the Game
Duelists may have gotten an early preview of some of the powerful cards in CBLZ, but they will have to wait until January 25th to officially be allowed to use them competitively. The Brotherhood of the Fire Fist, Hazy Beast, and Noble Knights will get their chance at YCS Miami, which will take place the weekend of February 16-17th. Along with them, the addition of new Mermails might give the deck the push it needs to finally get a YCS win. All current decks like Wind-Up, Dark World, Agent, Inzektor, Dino-Rabbit, and machine variants will get their shot against these new and upgraded decks brought along from CBLZ. With Cosmo Blazer just around the corner, will the current YCS winning deck (Inzektor) be burned out by a new champion?
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