The Hits and Misses of Cosmo Blazer

So now that we have all of the rarities of Cosmo Blazer confirmed, now is a good time to talk about what this set did right and what it did wrong. I’m going to give a brief list, and then talk about the details of each section with my opinions. Beware! You may very well disagree with a lot of what you’re about to see.

HITS

017 Heraldic Beast Leo – rare in both versions

049 Hazy Flame Basilisk – rare in both versions

053 Slacker Magician – super, then rare

059 Fire Formation – Tenki: rare, then common

093 Crimson Blader

Most people expected Heraldic Beast Leo and Fire Formation – Tenki to get their rarities bumped significantly, or at least to Super level. But for some reason that didn’t happen, and two of the most powerful cards in the set that help fuel new deck types are going to be easy to pick up as a result. Speaking of new deck types, the ace monster of the new Hazy Flame archetype also was unexpectedly released as a RARE! Excellent. Then we have Slacker Magician – the first Rank 1 Xyz Monster to only requite TWO Level 1 monsters instead of three, which was likely why Rank 1s never saw any play up to this point. Slacker is a defensive powerhouse, and a welcome addition to help slow down the game a tiny bit as a wall for decks that can summon her. She also has a nice pair of round thighs which I am very much interested in. Finally, we have Crimson Blader – or really, I should just say all of the OCG imports. Konami did a good job by not making any of these cards reach immense rarities – it’s pretty annoying when most of the surprise of a new set comes from the added cards, yet you’re unable to pull any of them.

Overall, obviously vendors and people with the capability to buy product in bulk are probably a little upset that some of these cards aren’t harder to pull, but a poor player like me can’t be much happier.

MISSES

034 Mermail Abyssleed – Super, then Secret

047 ZW – Leo Arms: Ultra in both versions. WHY

051 Diamond Dire Wolf – Super, then Secret

062 Spellbook of the Master – Common, then Secret

065 Quick Booster – super, then Ultra

081 Noble Knight Medraut

084 Bonfire Colossus

085 Mystic Fairy Elfuria

089 Kickfire

Alright, let’s talk about the misses. I’m going to bundle these into two groups, based on commonalities that they all share. First up are Mermail Abyssleed, Zexal Weapon – Leo Arms, Spellbook of the Master, Quick Booster, Bonfire Colossus, Mystical Fairy Elfuria, and Kickfire. What do these all have in common, you might ask? Easy! THEY DON’T DESERVE THE RARITIES THEY HAVE!

Now, this IS Yugioh we’re talking about – there are several examples of cards in each and every set who end up having prices that are unfitting, usually partly as a result of the rarity Konami assigns them. Therefore, for this “Misses” section I decided to gather only the most egregious examples Cosmo Blazer has to offer.

So, we need a little more reasoning for this first group but I’m going to keep it brief. How often will you have three Atlanteans to discard for Abyssleed, and how often will that happen at the exact same time that you have an Abyss-sphere in your Graveyard? Who can really summon the Rank 5 Lion Arms at the same time that you control Utopia against any competent opponent, and is it really worthwhile considering you could easily lose both to a single Dimensional Prison? Why is it that a Spellbook that copies other Spellbooks (and only when you control a Spellcaster and have ANOTHER Spellbook in your hand) considered broken enough to be a Secret when it is not even necessary to the decks it can be played in? Why is a choice between shuffling a Quick-Play back into your deck or waiting for your opponent to off a set Spell Card worthy of being Ultra? If you’ve read my Cosmo Blazer TCG Exclusive Review then you already know how I feel about the last three, so let’s move on.

The only cards that are left are Diamond Dire Wolf and Noble Knight Medraut. What do they have in common? Well, these cards are good - it’s just strange that they’re Secrets. Dire Wolf is technically usable in any deck that can summon Rank 4s, but he is greatly suited to decks with Beasts, Beast Warriors and Birds. Not to mention his somewhat low ATK and the fact that if you’re trying to use him generically, he will likely have to kill himself. As for Medraut, I’m disappointed that Konami made a deck that was sooo easy to put together before instantly costly by making its most important card a Secret. That was an unpleasant surprise and I’ll most likely now have to retire my ambitions to ever play that deck in real life.

So there we go guys – my summary of Cosmo Blazer and the rarities that took us all for a loop. I really enjoyed providing this type of analysis, and hopefully I won’t have to wait too long to do it all over again for LTGY. Thanks for reading, and bye!