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Yu-Gi-Oh!‘sPhoton Hypernova set brought with it a wide variety of support for existing archetypes and debuted some new, never-before-seen archetypes. In total, the set has 101 cards — 50 Commons, 26 Super Rares, 14 Ultra Rares, 10 Secret Rares, and 1 Starlight Rare-only card.
RELATED:Best Extra Deck Monsters From Photon Hypernova
Whether you’re a fan of the anime’s most iconic archetypes like Photon, Galaxy, Abyss Actors, and Kuriboh, or a player who wants to power up their Branded, Scareclaw, Kashtira, or Tearlament decks, Photon Hypernova certainly has something in store for you.
Galaxy Photon
The Galaxy Photon archetype receives the cover card,Number C62: Neo Galaxy-Eyes Prime Photon Dragon, and a plethora of different options for its three intertwined archetypes — Photon, Galaxy, and Galaxy-Eyes.The archetype revolves around Level 8 LIGHT/Dragon XYZ monsters that have big, beefy bodies, and it seems to continue that trend.
Neo Galaxy-Eyes Prime Photon Dragonis a Rank 8 XYZ monster that canalso be XYZ Summoned using a Number 62: Galaxy-Eyes Prime Photon Dragon you control. The card can be a menace for your opponent to get rid of as if it has Number 62 as an XYZ material, it also becomesunaffected by your opponent’s monster effectsandgains ATK equal to the combined Levels/Ranks of its attached materials x 100. You can then put its high ATK to use by discarding an XYZ material to attack three times on monsters during the turn you used the effect.
The other “Photon” cards of note includePhoton Emperor,which can Special Summon itself from your Graveyard in Defense Position if it was sent there from your hand or Deckas long as you have a “Photon” or “Galaxy” monster on your field or in your GY. Its second effect allows you toNormal Summon one additional LIGHT monsterduring your Main Phase during the turn you summoned Photon Emperor. This can allow you to create aRank 8 XYZ just by discarding this one card.
Despite new support, the deck won’t be a contender,butit does provide the deck with some fun new tools to use while among friends or in a casual setting.
Kashtira
The popular “Kashtira” archetype revolves around Special Summoning monsters from your hand and also face-down banishing cards your opponent controls. Face-down banishing is one of the most powerful abilities in Yu-Gi-Oh, asthere are not many monsters that can interact with cards that are banished face-down.
Kashtira Arise-Heartis the archetype’s new boss monster that has a whole host of powerful abilities —it’s just a matter of whether you’re able to summon it during a game. It banishes any card sent to the Graveyard while it’s face-up on the field, which can disrupt certain strategies that like to use their GY as a resource. It can alsoattach a banished card to itself once per Chain. Lastly, it canquick-effect banish a card face-downat the cost of three XYZ materials.
Kashtira also received great Main Deck support. Kashtira Riseheart banishes cards fromyour opponent’s Deck face-down,then, if you get the effect off, this card’sLevel becomes 7, allowing you to use it to XYZ summon your Arise-Heart or any other Rank 7 Monster in your Extra Deck. Its spells and traps add some much-needed utility to the archetype and are welcome additions.Kashtiratheosisallows you to summon 1 Kashtira monster with a different Attribute from the targeted monster you currently control, and on banishallows you to add a banished Kashtira card back to your hand.
Kashtira Big Bangcan forceyour opponent to banish monsters face-down until they control only 1. If Big Bang is banished, you can add a Kashtira monster attached to one of your Kashtira XYZ monsters to your hand, then Special Summon it.Use this after your opponent has used up all their negates to eradicate your opponent’s monsters and go in for the kill.
Lastly, Kashtira also receives two monsters that cross over into other archetypes.Scareclaw Kashtiracannegate the effects of a monster it battles until the end of the turn,whileTearlaments Kashtiracan send the top 3 cards of either player’s Deck to the GY when it is Normal/Special Summoned.It also has an ability where, If it is sent from the GY by a card effect, you can send 2 cards from the top of your Deck to the GY.
Gold Pride
Gold Pride is a new TCG-exclusive archetypethat revolves around Special Summoning monsters while your Life Points are lower than your opponent’s.
Of note are interesting cards likeNytro Head, which can Special Summon a Token to your opponent’s field during their Standby Phase,then destroy all cards in its adjacent Monster Zones and Spell & Trap Zones,Leon,which canQuick Effect Synchro a monster during either player’s turn using Gold Pride monsters you control, andCaptain Carrie,which canadd a Gold Pride Trap from your Deck to hand.
The archetype also has two Extra Deck monsters.Star Leoncan gain ATK equal to the original ATK of a face-up monster your opponent controls and, if your Life Points are lower than your opponent’s, you can destroy it. If you use this effect,Star Leon tags itself out in the End Phase and Special Summons its main deck counterpart from your Deck or GY.
There is alsoNytro Blaster,who cantarget and destroy 1 monster your opponent controls, then destroy all cards in its adjacent Monster Zones and Spell & Trap Zones if your LP is less than your opponent’s. If this effect is used, you will tag out intoNytro Headduring the End Phase.
Photon Hypernova provides Gold Pride with a nice start but ultimately fails to give it anything that would make it a viable archetype on its own.It will need to be splashed in with existing archetypes that lower your HP to ensure your Gold Pride cards are always active.
Branded
Another set, another wave of support for the vast Branded archetype and all the other “lore” archetypes. Branded, Bystial, Despia, Swordsoul, Dogmatika, Tri-Brigade, and Springansall receive at least one support card in Photon Hypernova.
While there’s nothing in here that is truly game-breaking at first glance,Bystial Branded will appreciate many of the new cards. This includes the Quick-Play Spell CardLight of the Branded,the Trap CardBranded Befallen,the new Main Deck monsterBystial Baldrake,and the two new Fusions:Granguignol the Dusk DragonandRindbrumm the Striking Dragon.
Chaos
A former top-tier threat gets some new support in Photon Hypernova. Will it be able to bring the deck back to its high-level prominence? Not likely, but it still adds some fun cards to make the deck a solid rogue option.
In the Main Deck, Chaos received multiple Tuners and non-Tuners to assist in easily Summoning its new Synchro boss monsters.Chaos Mirage Dragoncan Special Summon 1 banished LIGHT or DARK monster to your field, but its effects are negated, and it locks you into Synchro Summoning LIGHT or DARK monsters for the rest of the turn. If it is used as a Synchro Material,you can target and banish cards your opponent controls equal to the number of monsters used for the Synchro Summon.
Chaos Witch canSpecial Summon 2 Level 2 DARK Tokenswhen it is Tributed or canSpecial Summon 2 Level 2 LIGHT Tokenswhen it is banished from your hand or GY. Lastly, there’sCore of Chaos, which can Special Summon itself from your hand. thenSpecial Summons one of your banished Cores of Chaos. These new monsters make it easy to summon your two new Synchro Monsters.
Chaos Beastgains 1000 ATK if a card was banished this turn and can add one of your banished LIGHT or DARK monsters back to your hand. It can alsoSpecial Summon itself from your Graveyardby banishing 1 LIGHT and DARK monster from your hand and/or GY.
Unfortunately, while the deck has a clearly defined path to get to its new boss monsters,it lacks the ability to negate your opponent’s effects and doesn’t offer much outside of powerful monsters that have mediocre effects.
Abyss Actors
Abyss Actors receive some support that will give the archetype some combo potential, though they still lack a concrete finisher to put them over the top.
Abyss Actor - Super Producercan destroy a card you control and either place a copy of Abyss Playhouse - Fantastic Theater from your Deck into your Field Zoneor place an Abyss Actor Pendulum Monster from your Deck to a Pendulum Zone.
Abyss Actor - Liberty Dramatistcan Special Summon itself from your Pendulum Zone to your opponent’s side of the field, then can randomly Set one Abyss Script Spell to its owner’s field upon Summon.If it is destroyed, it can recycle an Abyss Script from Graveyard by shuffling it into the Deck.
Abyss Script - Dramatic Storycan pull an Abyss Actor from your Deck then you caneither place the targeted monster in your Pendulum Zone or destroy it. It also has an effect that triggers upon destruction while Set, where you canreturn up to 2 cards on the field to their owner’s hand as long as you have a face-up Pendulum Monster in your Extra Deck.
Last, Abyss Actors’ Dress Rehearsal,which adds an Abyss Actor card and an Abyss Script Spell from your Deck to your hand.
