Countdown to Generation Force

If the new Starter Deck for YuGiOh! Zexal didn't get your interest levels up for Xyz Summons, then we're pretty sure Generation Force will. We're now only a week away from the first Sneak Peek of the new era, and a fortnight away from the booster's official release.

In our store, we were surprised to see that the first official tournament after the release of the new starter deck already had a few players finding a slot for an Xyz or two - seems they're going down well here at least. If the ones you've got so far haven't tempted you, then there's a few in the new set that might just convince you to find room in the extra deck - Tiras, Keeper of Genesis in particular is one to watch out for I think.

Pot of Duality in 2011 Wave 1 Tins

Wow. I don't think I've seen such a positive response from fans since ... well never really. With what's being universally welcomed by players, Konami have announced that both 2011 Wave 1 Collector's Tins (Wind-Up Zenmaister and Leviath Dragon) will contain a copy of Pot of Duality as one of the super rares. As if the main cards weren't tempting enough, we now have something that changes the game, by giving all players access to the most sought after card of the moment.

Some websites are already sold out to pre-order. Wow, once again. As if that wasn't enough, it's strongly rumoured that the Wave 2 tins will have something just as tasty to enjoy.

The Zexal Era Begins for the TCG

Deep breath, because it's time for a new era of YuGiOh! with the TCG release of the Dawn of the Xyz Starter Deck. First up, there's three new Xyz monsters to get your teeth into - No 39 - Utopia, Gachi Gachi Gantetsu and Grenosaurus plus support for them in the form of cards like Xyz Energy and Xyz Effect.

Perhaps though, it's a little strange to see such a retro feel to the deck - Luster Dragon #2, MST, Swords, Mirror Force, Dust Tornado and a number of others give the deck quite an old school feel. I can't wait for the first couple of Zexal boosters to hit the streets, and to see some builds with Xyz monsters starting to appear - gonna be fun.

Zexal's First Duelist Pack and Other News

Confirmed for release recently in Japan, for the OCG was the first Duelist Pack of the Zexal generation, featuring the main protagonist of the new show. Duelist Pack - Yuma Tsukumo will be released on October 15th 2011 - don't say we don't give you plenty of warning about these things. No cards confirmed yet, but we can expect lots of goodies from the new anime when it arrives.

Meanwhile in other news, the TCG spoiler for Generation Force is starting to take shape, with Sneak Peek events confirmed for the weekend of the 6th/7th August. This of course follows up from the big release of this week, the Dawn of the Xyz Starter Deck. Interesting Times

Full Spoiler for Gold Series 4 Revealed

With a few days until its official launch, the full spoiler for Gold Series 4 has now been revealed. Hmm. We're not entirely overjoyed, but then we're not too dissappointed either. I guess 'Meh'. Firstly there's a big re-issue for sought after Lightsworn stuff, which'll please a few people in certain quarters. Secondly, for the collectors, we've got a re-issue of some of the famous Toon cards, from Good Ol' Pegasus' personal collection, including Toon Dark Magician Girl. Bandit Keith fans like me will also be pleased to see Pendulum Machine.

For those of us in the UK (and indeed anywhere other than North America) who can't use Shonen Jump Cards in official events, Obelisk becomes legal with its inclusion - a few people I know are trying to work it in 'just because they can'. Gravekeeper's Spy, Royal Oppression and Doomcaliber Knight round off the highlights, but you can find the full Gold Series 4 spoiler here.

On a final note, we're really loving the first 'for sale' official game mats included with each box - a Yugi one featuring Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl and a Kaiba one with Ol' Blue Eyes and XYZ-Dragon Cannon. There's also a third available at certain key stores with Yugi and Kaiba themselves - so jealous we wont have that one in.

Xyz? So That Makes A Bit More Sense

Exceed seemed like a strange word. Xyz on the other hand - now that's a bit more YuGiOh! If you're reading our guides over the next few days, I'm working on changing all the uses of the word 'Exceed' over to 'Xyz', but it'll take me a while. For some reason, I'm even more interested in the new game mechanic now I'm going to be Xyz Summoning.

On the other hand, there's a name change I'm not so keen on. The intriguingly named Aspiring Emperor Hope has become plain old Number 39: Utopia. Still. It's one of the most interesting Xyz Monsters so far, so I can't complain too much.

All Gone A Bit Quiet

Hmm. Feels like ages since we've had a new YuGiOh! product announcement to tell you about. Nothing new has been announced in ages, product wise, but there has been a steady trickle of information of on the contents of forthcoming releases, so I'll give you a quick run through.

Of course next week for the TCG, there's Duelist Pack Crow - it's fairly big news for the Blackwing fans, but since it's likely to contain the same cards the OCG version did, it's fairly, well, old news. If you haven't been keeping up to date though, follow the hyperlink for the full OCG list. We're also starting to get, fragment by fragment, the card list for Gold Series 4: Pyramid Edition, but other than the funky playmat I'm not desperately excited so far.

Meanwhile in the OCG, we're starting to learn about more of the cards in the next booster - Photon Shockwave - now that's one I can get excited about as we start to see the Exceed mechanic take shape. There's also been more confirmed cards for the Devil's Gate structure deck. That's the one that instantly turns Dark World into something worth talking about (probably).

Duel Terminal 12 and Vylon Disigma

In all the excitement of the Extreme Victory sneak peek, I plain old forgot to talk about the latest addition to the OCG Duel Terminal stable - Exceed Startup. The full spoiler has now been revealed - as usual featuring 20 re-released cards and 30 new ones. Looking at the re-releases first of all, there are quite a few to please the fans - Dark Magician Girl, Penguin Soldier, Legendary Jujitsu Master to name a few.

The new 30 though, as usual are packed with cards we'll be talking about next year. Gem-Knights continue their march towards the mainstream, we've got Laval and Gishki too. The main card I wanted to mention though is Vylon Disigma, and the further Vylon additions. Disigma certainly looks like finally giving us a bit of a hint as to where the whole Exceed Summon business is going. It takes three level 4 monsters to Exceed Summon it (none too hard), however the effect is very tasty indeed and will have anyone that runs a deck with a single attribute quaking in their boots. Follow the link to see why :)

Don't hold your breath though - we are talking Hidden Arsenal 6 for an English release :)

Extreme Victory Sneak Peek Weekend Approaches

It'll be with a tear in our eye ;) that we break open the boxes for the final 5Ds Sneak Peek this weekend - 30th April/1st May. Extreme Victory is upon us and it looks like it'll be sending 5Ds off in pretty decent style.

First up - if you haven't been following all the breaking news, you wont know that Reborn Tengu is the Sneak Peek promo card. Turning the crystal ball on, it looks like we might not see quite how useful this card is until we start to see more from YuGiOh! Zexal in the summer time. It's probably one to acquire a playset of, and tuck them away somewhere in the meantime.

Archetype-wise, we have the eagerly anticipated Tech Genus from the anime making its first appearance. There's also Meklord heading our way. Both of them look pretty significant from early looks and with quite a few TCG exclusives still to be revealed, there's a good chance there's more to come too. You'll also find Karakuri, Scrap, Psychic, 6 Sam and plenty others too getting new cards. Gonna be fun.

If you want to find out more, there's always our main Extreme Victory guide page, and if you live near us in Scotland, you can sign up for our Sneak Peek here.

Turbo Pack 5 Spoiler List Revealed

Turbo Pack: Booster 5 has now appeared on the scene, and as usual has caused, erm, heated debate to put it politely. Colossal Fighter as the Ultimate - some love it, some don't. Miracle Fusion being loved by most. Laquari popular with those still clinging onto Glad Beast. Plenty to talk about - head over to our Turbo Pack Spoiler page for the full list and tell us what you think.

The Second Zexal Booster Announced

Well Generation Force hasn't even hit the streets of Japan yet, and here we are, already in possession of the name of the next one. It's called Photon Shockwave, it'll be the second Zexal booster, and it's due for Japanese OCG release on July 16th of this year. Now for the next bit, you folks talk amongst yourselves while I attempt to fill up the rest of this blog post, because that's pretty much the sum total of what we know about it so far. Oh, other than the cover card will be called Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon and I'd place a bet right now (if Ladbrokes would entertain me) that it's an Exceed Monster. As usual we have a (currently rather sparse looking) information page on Photon Shockwave, that'll grow as we find out more.

Gold Series 4 Announced

Having seen the success of the first three editions, it came as no big surprise to learn this week that Gold Series 4 has been confirmed for TCG release in June 2011. As usual, it'll be a reprint series of some of the most sought after cards in the game, and as before it'll only be available from independent hobby suppliers. What is new though is (apparently - the press release was a little vague) the inclusion of a game mat, which'll be the first time one has been available to buy at retail.

And so, the rumour mill begins - what'll be included this time up. Of course, everyone's first thoughts turn to Pot of Duality, although I'm betting 'not this time'. As the details emerge, you can find everything you need to know about Gold Series 4 here.

Exceed Summons

Ah, it only seems like yesterday that we were all discussing what impact an outlandish thing called a Synchro Summon might have on the game, and now here we are back doing it all again for Exceed Summons. The YuGiOh! Zexal series brings with it the brand new Exceed Summon, and with a deck built correctly, it looks to be even easier to do than Synchro.

The first few Exceed Monsters out of the blocks don't look like there's anything desperate to get excited about (see our last post), but there always is a 'but' isn't there. What we have no idea about yet is the support they're going to get. That's when we'll really find out how much impact they'll have. Anyway, if you haven't been following this so far, we've brought you a guide to everything we know about Exceed Summons so far, including how the new principal of Rank works.

The First Exceed Monsters Revealed

This week, I thought I'd give you a run through of the Exceed Monsters we've seen so far. At the time of writing, I've seen precisely five, although I must be honest and say I haven't had a look at the one from the Exceed Startup Duel Terminal yet. Of the other four, there's been one from the Generation Force booster and three from the Zexal OCG Starter Deck.

Starting (I guess logically) with the Starter Deck, the one I've been most interested in so far is Aspiring Emperor Hope. 2500 ATK and reasonably easy to summon with two level four monsters, the effect is a fairly handy one too, buying a bit of time to grab control of the field.

Gurensaurus sees a return of dinosaurs and it'll be interesting to see how that pans out. So far, we've only seen the card in a promo poster, with one or two key details of the card text obscured, but unless that missing bit of text causess a huge amount of damage to the opponent, I can't see any reason to get excited. Also, unless I'm missing something, there's nothing too special about the third one either - Gachigachi Gantetsu.

Moving on to Generation Force, we have Revise Dragon. It's the cover card from the booster and can quickly get up to 3K attack (although it can't attack directly once it's done that). Still for an easy cost of two level three monsters, I reckon this is quite handy. Good times :)

OCG Release Round Up

With the forthcoming launch of Zexal for the OCG, it's an exciting time for all YuGiOh! players wherever they are in the world. As promised last week, this is just a quick post today to keep you up to speed with forthcoming OCG Zexal releases, and all the stuff we know about them so far.

March 19th is the big date for the diaries - on that day, we get the brand new 2011 OCG Zexal Starter deck 2011, and finally get to solve all the mysteries around how Exceed Summoning works. Over on our guide page to the deck, we've got a guide to what we know so far about Exceed Summons, but there's still a huge number of questions around how it impacts other game mechanics, so we wait with bated breath.

We then need to contain our excitement for nearly a full month before we get the next two installments. First up, there's a new Duel Terminal - the name Exceed Startup tells us everything we need to know :) Then we have the first OCG booster for Zexal - Generation Force - out on the 16th April in Japan, and featuring loads of the cards already seen in the new Manga. Exciting times!

Raining New YuGiOh! Releases

It's been quite a week for new release announcements for YuGiOh! - you'd never guess it was New York Toy Fair would you? We'll take a quick run through the news though...

Hidden Arsenal 4 has - surprise, surprise - been confirmed, although earlier than everyone thought; it's coming in April and has a shiny-new title added on - it's Trishula's Triumph fact geeks.

Meanwhile there's decks galore - we already knew about Dragunity Legion, but the release of Lost Sanctuary in July for the TCG is fairly big news - amongst other things, it may include Solemn Judgement as a common. There's also been a new Starter Deck announced, and we'll bring you news on that as soon as we can too.

Finally, Crow's dusting off his Blackwings once more, as he gets his own duelist pack. Look out for the next post and news of the first Zexal cards being spotted in Japan. Stay tuned.

Five Words...

STORM OF RAGNAROK SNEAK PEEK

If you've been on Mars, you won't know that this weekend is the Sneak Peek for Storm of Ragnarok. For everyone else, we can almost smell the 6 Sams, and all the other stuff that turns the meta upside down and back to front. So what that the promo card - Vortex the Whirlwind - is late (or at least it is in the UK). We've just taken delivery of our Prize Playmats, and wow - they're nice.

If you live anywhere near the West Coast of Scotland, you can sign up for our Sneak Peek Event here. Wherever you're playing this weekend, enjoy and fingers crossed for good pulls. Oh, and if you're at a loose end, Sunday 2pm GMT, you can follow our Sneak Peek action on Twitter.

TCG Exclusives for Storm of Ragnarok

Eight of the TCG exclusives for Storm of Ragnarok have now been revealed, and it's an interesting bunch. Fairly predictably, there's some stuff to try to counter the power being handed to Six Samurai, but 6 Sam also get another trick. There's more Nordic goodies and even Scrap gets a look in.

Whilst Shien's Daredevil looks like being ignored by the 6 Sam fans (at least on our poll), the usefulness of Maxx "C" to counter the new Six Samurai is being vigorously debated.

Meanwhile, the most eagerly anticipated of the three Nordic cards seems to be Nordic Relic Megingjord - at least judging by the hefty pre-sell prices.

You can check out all the latest breaking Storm of Ragnarok here, including the full OCG list, and latest news on TCG exclusives and OCG imports.

New YuGiOh! Booster Announcement - Generation Force

A quick post this evening because we've had exciting news out of Japan today. The next booster has just been announced, and it's called Generation Force. It'll be the first YuGiOh! booster in the new Zexal generation, so it's a particularly interesting one. It's due out in Japan for the OCG in April, so presumably getting an English-Language TCG release late summer.

We've already heard about one new game mechanic in YuGiOh! Zexal called an Exceed Summon, where two monsters of the same level are used as material, but instead of being sent to the graveyard, are instead somehow stacked with the Exceed Monster. We're a bit confused, but sure it'll make sense in the end. Presumably there'll be Exceed Monsters abounding in Generation Force.

Anyway - to help you get up to speed, we have a full rundown of everything we've been able to find out about YuGiOh! Zexal - Generation Force here.

The Third Yusei Duelist Pack

We'll take a bit of a side-track from the relentless barrage of information about Storm of Ragnarok today, to briefly mention the forthcoming launch of Duelist Pack: Yusei Fudo 3. It's been a while since the two TCG exlcusive (Kaiba and Yugi) Duelist Packs last year, and we finally get to catch up with last year's OCG Duelist Packs. Whilst the second one, Crow, will probably raise more interest when it presumably appears later this year, there's a few things we're looking forward to about Yusei 3.

First up, Dragon Knight Draco-Equiste. US players will be saying "so what", but for the rest of us, who didn't get the tin of the same name last year, the card finally becomes relatively easy to get hold of. Of the two Ultra-Rares, Justice Bringer is the one to look out for. It's one of eight new cards in the set - as you'd expect we have a whole range of cards to make the life of a Synchro Summoner easier too. It wont go down as a classic release I don't think, but there's stuff in there that should at least interest everyone a little. Official release date is the 25th January.

Countdown on to Storm of Ragnarok

We're on countdown mode at the moment, to the Storm of Ragnarok booster release. With the Sneak Peek just three weeks away, we know everyone's desparately trying to look out all their old Six Samurai cards - the OCG tournament results of late tell us the new 6 Sam stuff is going to make a big impact in the TCG too.

The Legendary Six Samurai are, of course, only a small part of the story though - there's the Aesir, Nordic Beasts and a pile of new stuff for Blackwing, Karakuri, Scrap and Watt. All in all, it looks like being a pretty special old booster. Anyway, we'll be featuring some of the cards from it right here over the coming weeks, but in the meantime, we've featured more than a few of them already over on our main page about Storm of Ragnarok.

And finally, a quick plug, if you happen to be in the West of Scotland - here's the sign up page for our Storm of Ragnarok Sneak Peek event :)

New Structure Deck Announced - Dragunity Legion

Time for a new blog for 2011 - you can expect a weekly posting on this blog from me, all about the latest happenings in the world of the YuGiOh! Trading Card Game. There'll be new release news, featured cards, tournament reports from our own store and much more besides.

First up on the first post is a new archetype getting a big airing in spring. The Dragunity Legion Structure Deck has been announced recently with an early March release.

It's the English-Language TCG equivalent of last year's OCG Dragunity Drive Structure Deck, which features a number of cards from the popular Dragunity archetype, first seen in the Duel Terminals of Japan.

You can read more about Dragunity Legion here - we've gathered all the currently known information in one handy place for you.