It looks like Konami is poised to continue with the Trading Card Game (TCG) exclusive set-up, as more cards in the upcoming Alliance Insight expansion have been revealed to be strictly heading to the western market.
New Main Deck Monsters
Starting off, we have four new main deck monsters: Dawn Angel Kambi, Hrimnir the Divine Follower, Aspischool, and Replicard LAD.
Dawn Angel Kambi Level 1 LIGHT Fairy Effect Monster ATK/ 500 DEF/ 1800 If you control no monsters, or all monsters you control are Fairy monsters: You can Special Summon this card from your hand. You can Tribute any number of Fairy monsters, including this card; Special Summon 1 Fairy monster from your Deck whose Level equals the total Levels those monsters had on the field. You cannot Special Summon the turn you activate this effect, except Fairy monsters. You can only use each effect of “Dawn Angel Kambi” once per turn.
Together, Dawn Angel of Kambi and Hrimnir the Divine Follower provide new Fairy support, with Kambi being a very interesting combo starter should Konami release more viable targets down the line.
The ability to special summon itself onto an empty or Fairy-filled board is already a powerful effect in and of itself. Paired with the ability to special summon a suitable target from the deck by tributing an appropriate number of Fairies and you have the start of a highly consistent card.
Right now, there aren't many viable targets for Kambi to be played with. There’s the newly released Eva that could extend into two extra level 2 or lower Fairy bodies, but it’s a little hard to tell since we have no data to work on at the moment.
There is the possibility of using Kambi to float into some weird Mokey Mokey deck for a Primite engine, but that’s just us going looking for potential interaction and not thinking about actual viability.
Hrimnir the Divine Follower Level 9 LIGHT Fairy Effect Monster ATK/ 2200 DEF/ 2200 You can Tribute 3 Fairy monsters from your hand and/or field; Set 1 Continuous Spell from your Deck, but send it to the GY during your opponent's End Phase. If this card is sent to the GY by card effect: You can Special Summon this card, but banish it when it leaves the field. You can only use each effect of “Hrimnir the Divine Follower” once per turn.
As for Hrimnir the Divine Follower, while its self-recursion is good and its ability to bypass hand traps like Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring lends to its value, this monster card is a little hindered by its lack of acceptable targets worthy enough to tribute 3 Fairy bodies for.
Lacking any other capability except those listed above and Hrimnir the Divine Follower isn’t showing her best foot forward at the moment.
Aspischool Level 4 WATER Fish Effect Monster ATK/ 300 DEF/ 300 When this card is Normal Summoned: You can Special Summon 1 Level 6 or lower Fish monster from your hand in Defense Position, but banish it when it leaves the field. If this card is banished: You can Special Summon this card in Defense Position. You can only use this effect of “Aspischool” once per turn.
Rounding out the main deck monster line-up, we have Aspischool and Replicard LAD. Strangely enough, these too are both more support cards, but for two different archetypes.
For Aspischool, we can easily see this card being used in Ghoti decks as they not only share the Fish archetype but Ghoti monsters like to play around the banishment zone. Assuming getting another Fish monster into the hand isn’t too difficult, Aspischool can easily drag its fellow Fish ally onto the field.
Replicard LAD Level 7 DARK Cyberse Effect Monster ATK/ 2500 DEF/ 2500 You can banish 1 other Level 7 or higher monster from your hand; Special Summon this card from your hand. You can target 1 face-up monster you control; Special Summon 1 monster from your Deck with a different name that has 2 or more of the same Level, ATK, and/or DEF, but it cannot activate its effects this turn. You can only use each effect of “Replicard LAD” once per turn.
As for Replicard LAD, you’d think it would play with other Cyberse cards like Maliss or @Ignister, but strangely, this monster can work with the upcoming Regenesis archetype due to its 2,500 attack and defense statline.
While the Regenesis monsters would prefer to be in the graveyard, cards like Regenesis Birth and Regenesis Code that can bring back the banished monster used as payment for special summoning Replicard LAD.
New Extra Deck Monsters
The strange array of new support continues into the extra deck as we have Toxic Boxfish and Sakra Vendirage revealed.
Toxic Boxfish Level 4 WATER Fish Synchro Effect Monster ATK/ 1800 DEF/ 800 1 Tuner + 1+ non-Tuner monsters If this card is Synchro Summoned: You can target 1 card in either GY; banish it. If this card is banished: You can target 1 face-up card your opponent controls; negate its effects until the end of this turn. You can only use each effect of “Toxic Boxfish” once per turn.
Toxic Boxfish follows in the footsteps of Aspischool as more of a Fish and Ghoti support card. This seems clear from its shared attribute and archetype and its ability to banish a card from either player’s graveyard, which Ghoti also likes to do for its pieces.
On top of that strength, Toxic Boxfish can also potentially completely stifle an opponent's game plan, if banished at the right time. If the opponent doesn't have any form of engine redundancy, this mitigation could prove especially powerful.
Sakra Vendirage Rank 4 DARK Psychic Xyz Effect Monster ATK/ 2000 DEF/ 2500 2 Level 4 monsters You can detach 1 material from this card, then target 1 Level/Rank 4 Psychic monster in your GY, except “Sakra Vendirage”; Special Summon it. If a monster(s) is Special Summoned, while this card is in your Monster Zone (except during the Damage Step): You can target 1 other face-up monster on the field; that monster’s name becomes “Sakra Vendirage” until the End Phase. You can only use each effect of “Sakra Vendirage” once per turn.
Sakra Vendirage comes in as a confusing piece of Psychic support as a generic rank 4 XYZ summon that can bring back a body to extend a combo. It also has a very strange ability to change the name of another face-up monster on the field to Sakra Vendirage.
On the surface, this name change capability is pretty confusing. There are some rumblings that Sakra Vendirage can be used in conjunction with Number 18: Heraldry Patriarch, but competitive viability aside, it’s a little difficult to discern what Konami wants us to do with this particular piece of support.
The New Exclusive Back Rows
Finishing off the list of new reveals, we have Vingolf’s Blessing, Fish and Bids, and Tiki Peace. Starting off with Vingolf’s Blessing, we can see traces of the same design philosophy from Dawn Angel Kambi.
Vingolf’s Blessing Continuous Spell Card When this card is activated: You can send 1 LIGHT Fairy monster from your Deck to the GY. Fairy monsters you control gain 100 ATK for each Fairy monster in your field and GY. If this card is sent to the GY: You can target 1 Level 4 or lower Fairy monster in your GY; Special Summon it. You can only use this effect of “Vingolf’s Blessing” once per turn. You can only activate 1 “Vingolf’s Blessing” per turn.
Vingolf’s Blessing is just good generic Fairy support. Time and again, we’ve seen how the graveyard is now being used as an extension to a player’s hand and resources with all the cards with graveyard effects.
Vingolf’s Blessing doubles down on that value as not only being a renewable way to toss cards into the graveyard straight from the deck, but also as a way to float into a level 4 or lower Fairy monster should it be sent to the graveyard.
Fish and Bids Normal Spell Card At the start of your Main Phase 1: Banish 1 card from your hand; your opponent can banish 2 cards from their hand, if they do not, you apply this effect. ● Take 2 Fish monsters from your Deck and either banish both or send both to the GY, also you cannot Special Summon for the rest of this turn, except Fish monsters.
Fish and Bids continues with the Ghoti support pattern as the controlling players can banish a card in hand to send two cards straight from the deck to the graveyard or banishment zone.
Of course, this is predicated on the fact that the opponent doesn’t negate the effect somehow, either through their own cards or by using Fish and Bids' own effect of banishing two cards from hand.
Either way, the opponent will have to spend some form of resource lest they allow this effect to go through. To be frank, if Fish and Bids were generic-friendly, it could immediately raise eyebrows at how powerful this effect really is despite being constrained to the Fish archetype.
Tiki Peace Normal Trap Card Special Summon this card as an Effect Monster (Rock/EARTH/Level 4/ATK 1800/DEF 1800) with the following effect (this card is also still a Trap). ●(Quick Effect): You can pay 800 LP; Special Summon 1 Continuous Trap, except “Tiki Peace”, from your GY or banishment as a Normal Monster (Rock/EARTH/Level 4/ATK 1000/DEF 1000) and its name becomes “Tiki Peace” (even while face-down) (that card is NOT treated as a Trap). You can only use this effect of “Tiki Peace” once per turn.
Finally, we have Tiki Peace. This is a continuous trap that basically functions as a monster that can also be used to bring back another continuous trap card as another copy of itself.
We don’t even know where to begin with this particular card. Trap cards are already at a disadvantage in the competitive scene just because they normally need a turn to activate unless it has some way to be cheated out (e.g. Infinite Impermanence, Dominus Impulse, or Dominus Purge).
At this point in time, we’re unable to see how to effectively use Tiki Peace without a lot of hoops to jump through. Unfortunately, without a really good reason to run this card, Tikki Peace may end up being one of the many forgotten cards in the history of Yu-Gi-Oh!
That wraps up another reveal for Alliance Insight. While half of it was interesting, with the new Fairy and Fish/Ghoti support, the other half just left us a little mired in confusion and left wondering what Konami has coming up in the pipeline for them to print these cards in the first place.