Sunday 26 March 2017

Review: Starter Deck 2017

Starter Deck 2017 just hit the stores, and with it, the age of Link-Summoning officially begins. I had always wanted to do a product review of cards and accessories (if any), and this Starter Deck 2017 seems like a good place to start




Card List:


ST17-JP001 Bittron (Normal Parallel Rare)
ST17-JP002 Draconet (Normal Parallel Rare)
ST17-JP003 RAM Clouder (Super Rare)
ST17-JP004 Link Slayer (Ultra Rare)
ST17-JP005 Galaxy Serpent
ST17-JP006 Mystery Shell Dragon
ST17-JP007 Beast King Barbaros (Normal Parallel Rare)
ST17-JP008 Cyber Dragon
ST17-JP009 Photon Thrasher
ST17-JP010 Exarion Universe
ST17-JP011 Evilswarm Mandragora
ST17-JP012 Marauding Captain
ST17-JP013 Sangan
ST17-JP014 Kuribandit
ST17-JP015 Marshmallon
ST17-JP016 Cardcar D
ST17-JP017 Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter
ST17-JP018 Battle Fader
ST17-JP019 Swift Scarecrow
ST17-JP020 Effect Veiler
ST17-JP021 Cybanet Universe (Normal Parallel Rare)
ST17-JP022 Monster Reborn (Normal Parallel Rare)
ST17-JP023 Dark Hole
ST17-JP024 Mystical Space Typhoon
ST17-JP025 Book of Moon
ST17-JP026 Forbidden Lance
ST17-JP027 United We Stand
ST17-JP028 Pot of Avarice
ST17-JP029 Pot of Duality
ST17-JP030 Burden of the Mighty
ST17-JP031 Supply Squad
ST17-JP032 Terraforming
ST17-JP033 Call of the Haunted
ST17-JP034 Mirror Force (Normal Parallel Rare)
ST17-JP035 Torrential Tribute
ST17-JP036 Ring of Destruction
ST17-JP037 Bottomless Trap Hole
ST17-JP038 Compulsory Evacuation Device
ST17-JP039 Fiendish Chain
ST17-JP040 Dark Bribe
ST17-JP041 Decode Talker (Ultra Rare)
ST17-JP042 Honey Bot (Super Rare)
ST17-JP043 Link Spider (Super Rare)

With 43 cards, there are a total of 2 Ultra Rares, 3 Super Rares, 6 Normal Parallel Rares and 32 Commons.
Like all Starter Decks, an Official Rulebook is included to introduce new players to the game. This time, however, a Double-sided Playmat (as opposed to the usual single-sided one) is included in the product.

Analysis


Bittron (Normal Parallel Rare)
Draconet (Normal Parallel Rare)
RAM Clouder (Super Rare)
Lynxlayer (Ultra Rare)
  • NEW
    • Members of the new card Type - Cyverse, just like how Psychics were back then in the early days of 5D's. I am not a fan of introducing new archetypes, let alone card Types. I previously felt that Wyrm was created to prevent the Dragon-looking monsters from leveraging on the wide range of Dragon-Type support. However, I will leave it as it is now, and keep an open mind.
Galaxy Serpent
  • REPRINT
    • Previously only released once, as a common in Extra Pack - Knights of Order, this Vanilla tuner definitely deserves more love and attention. With the Gem-Knight engine, Brilliant Fusion can create a Level 7 Synchro monster due to this card. Ancient Fairy Dragon is a common choice as it thins the deck for field spells. Along with Galaxy Solider and a discard fodder, it can also achieve a similar outcome.
Mystery Shell Dragon
  • REPRINT
  • Previously released in Clash of Rebellion as a Rare, Mystery Shell Dragon has a reputable 2000ATK points for a normal monster. It is indeed a suitable powerhouse to educate new players that Normal monsters have a place in the game too.
Beast King Barbaros (Normal Parallel Rare)
  • REPRINT
  • Beast King Barbaros has been reprinted plenty times. Its field nuke ability may be hard to achieve, but as a card for new beginners, I think it is appropriate to teach them of how Level 5 and higher monsters can summon themselves onto the field without tributes, should the effect allow it. From a competitive perspective, Beast King Barbaros is a good card to have. Along with Mythic Water Dragon, it is basically a Rank 8 engine with just a Normal Summon. It is also a Trade-In target that you can include in your deck while not being a deadweight.
Cyber Dragon
Photon Thrasher
  • REPRINT
  • The play-starters - Cyber Dragon and Photon Thrasher both benefit from having an empty field, and thus I deem them as play-starters. They assist in accelerating plays for Rank 5 and Rank 4 decks, while having offensive stats to punish the opponent by brute force. 

ST17-JP010 Exarion Universe
  • REPRINT
  • An old card, Exarion Universe is a good example to explain a situation to new players whereby card effects may be detrimental to stats at times, and that trade-offs are an element to consider in the card game. In this case, we trade Attack Points for Piercing damage.
Evilswarm Mandragora
  • REPRINT
  • Play-starter. Same as Cyber Dragon and Photon Thrasher. Previously printed in Duel Terminal sers and only again in the Duelist Set, I say it is nice to see this card reprinted.
Marauding Captain
  • REPRINT
  • Seen plenty of times, I say Maruding Captain is a decent card to have in Starter Decks. It introduces the concept of a soft lock, when two copies are on the field, and also, it educates the player on field-swarming and special summons. Decent card to keep for competitive use.
Sangan
  • REPRINT
  • An errata-ed card that just got off the list recently, I say Sangan is worthy of a reprint. Even with its erratum it is still a good card to use for searching out Hand Traps. Not very useful, competitive-wise, for now.
Kuribandit
  • REPRINT
  • A nice deck thinner that can fit into Mill deck strategies. Definitely good to have.
Marshmallon
Cardcar D
  • REPRINT
  • Burn/Stall decks would love to have these. Brings about the concept of "Can't be destroyed by Battle" and also sacrificing the remainder of the turn for drawing more cards.
Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter
  • REPRINT
  • I always love Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter as it was one of my first few Side Deck cards. I felt that it is such a versatile answer to threats, that it is only a pity that the metagame is so fast-paced that it is outclassed by Hand Traps. Also, introducing the Flip-Effect monster concept.
Battle Fader
Swift Scarecrow
  •  REPRINT
  • Battle-ending creatures. Brings about the idea of dodging Battle Phases. Nice cards to have in OTK-oriented metas, and Burn/Stall deck players would love to have them.
Effect Veiler
  • REPRINT
  • Nice to see Effect Veiler being reprinted. Along with Sangan, players can learn to work around effects and form strategies. Effect Veiler is one of the first few hand traps that warped the metagame. It is also one of my favourite card, due to its Hand Trap negation effect, something your opponent may not expect at times.
Cybanet Universe
  • NEW
  • A new field spell for the Link theme. Let's wait and see how it will work out shall we?
Monster Reborn
Dark Hole
Mystical Space Typhoon
  • REPRINT
  • Staple. Reprinted plenty of times. Bread and butter of every Yu-Gi-Oh deck since the beggining, and cards that definitely pop into your mind when you engage in the deck building process.
Book of Moon
Forbidden Lance
  • REPRINT
  • Quick-play assests that can support the deck. I think the addition of these two cards is very interesting. I taught my sister how to play the game a few weeks back, and I used these cards as examples of 'good-to-have' cards if your deck can afford the space. I also think that such cards fair away from the Staple category simply because you must consider the metagame. Forbidden Lance is also quite pricey when it first got released, so I am personally pleased to see it reprinted again.
United We Stand
  • REPRINT
  • Equip-spell of the deck. Nothing fancy for the competitive aspect for now.
Pot of Avarice
Pot of Duality
  • REPRINT
  • Good 'Bread-and-butter of deck building" cards to have.
Burden of the Mighty
Supply Squad
  • REPRINT
  • Continuous Spells of the deck to introduce the concept of cards remaining on the field after activation. Good for new players, and Supply Squad's reprint only means it is more accessible to competitive players.
Terraforming
  • REPRINT
  • Until a better searcher is introduced, Terraforming will always be relevant to any decks that require a field spell to start their plays. It is basically a 4th-6th Field Spell card when you open it in your starting hand. Presents the idea of Deck Thinning to new players.
Call of the Haunted
Mirror Force
Torrential Tribute
Ring of Destruction
Bottomless Trap Hole
Compulsory Evacuation Device
Fiendish Chain
Dark Bribe
  • REPRINT
  • Plenty of the traps here stood the test of time and remained relevant since its introduction. Fiendish Chain and Dark Bribe may have came to the game later, but these two cards are definitely nice to have and keep, be it as a casual or competitive player. Dark Bribe is a card that has a wide range of targets to negate and Fiendish Chain stalls + negates. At the end of the day, these cards' effect speak for themselves. You will find a need for such cards, one time or another.
  • Powerful cards that introduces Yu-Gi-Oh's unique aspect - Trap cards.
Decode Talke
Honey Bot
Link Spider
  • NEW
  • Link-Summoning cards.  Let's hope I end up liking the concept.

Conclusion



The Starter Deck reprints plenty of staples which would definitely help in a player's journey as given the nature of staple cards, they will likely be revelevant for the next few formats, at the very least.

I feel that it is a really attractive product for returning players to purchase as you can stock up on your reserves and spare cards, adding assests to your arsenal. The reprints make the purchase of the Starter Deck worth your money, providing value to the product.

No matter how tempting, I myself did not purchase any due to the fact that I have most of the reprints. (Although I do only have two Dark Bribes. Hmmm...)

Disclaimer
Dueling "C" is not licensed nor paid by any stores, shops or even Konami themselves to advertise their product. This post and blog shall not be responsible for any losses for your sales in the Yugioh market.

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