Sunday, January 17, 2010

Crystal Ball: A look at Absolute Powerforce

Crystal Ball
Absolute Powerforce is the next set in the Yugioh TCG sceduled to be released in early February. Without taking into account some yet to be revealed broken TCG exclusives, Absolute Powerforce hasn't changed the metagame in the OCG greatly. But this doesn't mean there aren't several cards of interest in this upcoming set.

First of all is the much hyped support to the Gravekeepers archetype.
Gravekeepers are an archetype first released back in 2003 with Pharaonic Guardian. Though they have never seen much play in the competive scene with the exception of the ever popular Gravekeeper's Spy.

Our card is called Gravekeeper's Stele. (Please note the name is a loose translation and subject to change upon official release)

It simply reads "Select 2 "Gravekeeper's" monsters in your Graveyard and add them to your hand. This effect cannot be negated by the effect of "Necrovalley"." The possibilities for this card are quite incredible its a +1 in terms of card advantage and allows you to recycle fallen gravekeepers , get more discard fooder the ever popular Brionaic, Dragon of the Ice barrier or even our next card.



Another Gravekeeper that promises to make a splash this set is Gravekeeper's Highpriest. Gravekeeper's Highpriest effects reads like this "
You can Normal Summon this card by Tributing 1 "Gravekeeper's" monster. This card gains 200 ATK for each "Gravekeeper's" monster in your Graveyard. If this face-up card would be destroyed, you can discard "Gravekeeper's" monster instead." Some nice benefits of this card are its anti-destruction(though it can quickly deplete your hand) and its easy of summoning.





The and personal favorite from this set is... Battle Fader.

This little beauty weighs in at a hefty 0 attack and 0 defense

While that may seem a little on the light sight, its beautiful effect reads "When an opponent's monster declares a direct attack, you can Special Summon this card from your hand and end the Battle Phase. If you Special Summon this card with this effect, this card is removed from play when it is removed from the field." The combos with this cards are practically limitless. First of all this card can be used to set up a monarch play the previous turn removing from play or spinning (with Caius or Raiza respectively) the attacking monster on your turn. The main downside with Battlefader is that is removes itself after it's summoned using its effect. But this leads to combos in Chaos decks with Dimensional Alchemist.