On August 25th, Konami announced the release of the new secret pack, Fires of Infinity, a special celebratory bundle for the World Championship Series, and a rather modest update for the Master Duel Forbidden/Limited List.
Fires of Infinity
Konami has really emphasized the word ‘secret’ in the label of Secret Pack, as there was hardly any news or information leading up to the release of this particular card pack.
Despite its naming convention, most of the cards featured in this secret pack are related to Exodia. Otherwise, this pack offers the Millennium archetype's most recent upgrades and provides some interesting continuous trap support.
The Millennium Engine
It’s been a few months since the initial debut of the Millennium archetype to Master Duel. Despite the hit to Millenium Golem in a previous Forbidden/Limited List update, a lot of the members of the archetype can be found in this secret pack.
The Millennium archetype distinguished itself for its tendency to Special Summon monsters in exchange for life points.
Millennium Golem and Silvy of the White Forest can be used for easy access to Baronne de Fleur, a once per turn targeted destruction, and omni-negate at Quick Effect speed.
Two copies of Sengenjin Wakes from a Millennium can easily bring out Zombie Vampire, a 3,000 attack power monster that ignores the effects of special summoned monster cards unless they were special summoned from the graveyard. This monster can also steal cards from your opponent's extra deck with its second ability.
Even when not using a particular partner archetype, any two of the Millennium monsters have generic access to Snake-Eyes Doomed Dragon, another 3,000 attack power boss monster that can turn off almost any other monster upon summon by pushing the target into the backrow.
In the hands of a skilled pilot, the Millennium engine can be a very versatile canvas, almost as good as the Fiendsmith archetype, one of the game’s most adept negate engines.
Silhouhatte Rabbit
One of the other standout cards from this secret pack is Silhouhatte Rabbit. This card is a generic Continuous Trap card support that has a very easy-to-fulfill summoning requirement: 2 effect monsters.
From its Link summon, the controlling player can easily find a special one-off card like Angel Statue - Azurune, also available in this secret pack, or Apophis the Swamp Deity to set up interaction points the opponent will have to wade through. The element of surprise is lost when using Silhouhatte Rabbit. However, simply setting up redundant defense lines, especially when going first, can still pose a problem that the opponent must address.
Forbidden/Limited List Update
Rounding out this update is the long-awaited update to the Master Duel Forbidden/Limited list. Unfortunately, this was not the kind of update players were hoping to see but it was surprising nonetheless.
Block Dragon and Brilliant Fusion will be moving from Limited to Unlimited on the 9th of September. This change will massively improve the playability of the archetypes these cards support.
These two cards have been shackled for the longest time because of the potential toxic plays they could facilitate.
Brilliant Fusion with Gem-Knights could easily lean into Gem-Knight Seraphinite for a head start in card advantage due to the ability to have a second Normal summon for the turn. A player could also go into a semi-convoluted strategy of using Gem-Knight Lady Lapis Lazuli and Gem-Knight Master Diamond for the archetype’s famous one turn kill.
Block Dragon, on the other hand, was a simple one-card combo for Adamancipators, thanks to that archetype generating ridiculous amounts of value with this card.
In a format where Maliss and Ryzeal are reigning almost uncontested, we have to wonder if Konami is just proliferating an arms-race and trying to see what deck proves the most powerful after the smoke clears.
Celebratory WCS (World Championship Series) Bundle
In celebration of the World Championship Series being held this coming weekend, August 29th to 31st, Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel has a special bundle that players can buy for 2,000 Gems.
This bundle contains the following:
- An alternate art, Ultra Rare (UR), version of Breaker the Magical Warrior* (with a Royal Finish)
- 20 packs from Fires of Infinity
- Some Exodia-themed accessories (Protector and Icon)
- A Millennium Puzzle motif for the in-game coin
According to the official announcement, this bundle will be available until October 8th/9th, depending on your timezone.
*The same kind of art featured in the special promotional card available to spectators physically attending the event in Paris, France.
Master Duel Updates: New Selections Packs & Free Legacy Pack Tickets