YGO 30th Anniversary Fan Fest - May: Favorite Spell
"Duel Monsters is all about combining your Monster cards with your Magic cards to increase their strength. With no Magic in your deck, your Monsters will get creamed every time."
—Yugi Muto
Unless you're running a Superheavy Samurai deck, this quote rings true for Duelists in both the YGO anime and the real world. Spells are an integral staple for running virtually any kind of deck, from generic staples to those that support certain archetypes, Attributes, and Types. Whether it's boosting your own Monsters' ATK or shutting down your opponent's strategy, they are extremely useful in turning things around in your favor. Some have even made long-lasting impacts on the fandom in different ways, which is why I'll be going over some of my favorites based on which ones I used or which one I cherish for more sentimental reasons.
Normal: Ties That Bind
The card game is no stranger to making cards based on anything from the YGO franchise, but out of all of those cards, I've been quite partial to this one lately. For starters, it is named after the 340th chapter of the manga, aka the fourth-to-last chapter as it was during the Ceremonial Battle between Yugi and Atem. More importantly, you know that one Duel Art illustration that featured Yugi with his own iconic monsters? That served as the basis for this card's artwork as it's recreated by the Shining Sarcophagus counterparts. Whenever I see that wallpaper on the Master Duel shop, I am always reminded of that drawing Kazuki Takahashi did. Heck, on the 3rd anniversary of his death last year, I finally purchased it to commemorate his memory. The description for the wallpaper is also touching:
Although millennia have passed, they are still united by bonds forged through battle.
Even with no words exchanged, the deep meaning that Dueling holds for them is clear.
Even as Shining Sarcophagus versions, you can still get the sense of how close Yugi's monsters are with each other and him through Dueling. Funnily enough, Yugipedia embedded the Wiki pages for Yugi, Yami, and the Ceremonial Battle in the wallpaper description; I think that was done to both emphasize the two protagonists' own unbreakable bond and circle back to what this card is named after. I find that simultaneously touching and bittersweet. 🥲
Continuous: Gateway of the Six and Toon World
Six Samurai is an archetype I quite enjoyed playing in its Solo Mode gate; I even used a loaner deck modeled around it during last year's Theme Chronicle event. With an archetype as large as this containing support through other archetypes and series, I think this card is especially beneficial. Since this card gets 2 Bushido Counters per Normal/Special Summon instead of 1, it makes things faster to activate certain effects, usually adding Secret Six Samurai monsters to my hand for Special Summoning purposes or even ressurecting Great Shogun Shien from the Graveyard. Of course, there were times where a 500 ATK buff doesn't hurt as it can help increase the chances of inflicting battle damage. lol
Alright, cue the music. XD
Come on, I couldn't not choose this card. When this card was first introduced, it was an absolute menace, from turning regular monsters into their Toon counterparts to preventing them from being destroyed by regular means. AND IT HAD NO LIFE POINT COST TO ACTIVATE IT! Post-Duelist Kingdom, its effect became what it is today, with GX repurposing its original abilites from the anime into the improved Toon Kingdom Field Spell. Needless to say, you can guess I chose this card because of the memories it brought, including the iconic theme music. lol
Equip: Black Pendant
Out of all the Equip Spells, I have been particularly fond of this one. It's mainly because it was one of the first YGO cards I pulled when I got Legendary Collection 4: Joey's World for Christmas back in 2013. That, and I like the design of it. It's also great for giving the equipped monster a 500 ATK boost, especially when said monster is Maha Vailo, its retrained counterpart, or even one from the Mikanko archetype as they have their own benefits for using Equip Spells.
Quick-Play: Ultimate Fusion and Berserker Soul
This one was rather harder than the others in this post because there are a decent chunk of Quick-Play Spells I like. After spending a few hours going over the list of Quick-Play Spells and thinking it over, I decided to go with this one as the first of my two picks. When I used the Blue-Eyes loaner deck for most of the Solo Mode Gates, a major strategy I used was using this card to Fusion Summon Blue-Eyes Tyrant Dragon; after that, I typically destroyed a face-up card on the CPU's field since the loaner has one copy of Blue-Eyes White Dragon. If I were to run my own Blue-Eyes deck, I know this would easily be included.
Okay, if I'm gonna be talking about this card, then I gotta do this correctly.
That's more like it. ^^
Come on, you knew I couldn't not choose this one. lmao If your name is Weevil Underwood, then you deserved nothing but karma in the form of this card. Contextually speaking, even though Yami was not in a good headspace after Yugi's sacrifice, there was still a possibility that he planned to use this Quick-Play Spell to draw Monster cards until he won and stop right there. That was tossed right out the window due to Weevil's despicable excuse of a joke by pretending the Gokibore card he tore was Yugi's soul card. The raw, visceral emotions took Yami over as he drew Monster after Monster after Monster, only to be stopped by Téa by the time he was about to discard his eighth Monster card: Dark Magician Girl. That entire scene has since been cemented as one of the most unforgettable moments in not just season 4, but in the entire series as well. Hell, prior to the March 20, 2015 ruling changes on victory conditions, Duelists could actually pull off similar circumstances and keep excavating Monster cards despite winning, especially in the Tag Force series! Even after the ruling changes, it still remains one of the most iconic Spell cards to date. So iconic that it can be easily recognized by three words: DORŌ! MONSUTĀ KĀDO!
Field: The Seal of Orichalcos
Do I really need to explain this one again? XD While I'm at it, here are the themes for it.
…I'm sorry, is my season 4 bias showing again?
Ritual: Rise of the Salamangreat
Out of all the Ritual Spells, I think I'm gonna go with this one and for good reason. It was six days after my first year of college ended, and I was watching the premiere of ep. 52. It was that episode where Soulburner activated this card and Ritual Summoned Salamangreat Emerald Eagle; needless to say, I was blown away by it. So much so that I made sure not to tell @real-life-pine-tree about it because…
she likes Soulburner too as much as I do.
she is particularly fond of Ritual Summoning.
Plus, with Ritual Summoning returning in VRAINS thanks to Cyberse Magician, I definitely wanted her to be surprised by Soulburner's Ritual Summonn. It worked. ^^
“During the Main Phase: Fusion Summon 1 Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck that mentions ‘Blue-Eyes White Dragon’ or ‘Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon’ as material, by shuffling the Fusion Materials listed on it from your hand, field, and/or GY into the Deck, then, you can destroy face-up cards your opponent controls, up to the number of ‘Blue-Eyes White Dragon’ and ‘Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon’ used from the field as material. You can only activate 1 ‘Ultimate Fusion’ per turn.”
