It hasn’t even been that long since the announcement of Konami’s new K9 archetype and already the second-hand market is moving. It seems that players are already getting prepared for these cards to make their debut in the western market before too long.
Sudden Price Spike
Introducing Number 67: Pair-a-Dice Smasher. This Rank 5 XYZ monster card was first released back in the Battles of Legend: Relentless Revenge expansion circa 2018. For the past year, this card has been sitting at a paltry $1 to $2 average on the second-hand market.
Cue the announcement of the new K9 archetype included in the upcoming Justice Hunters expansion for the Official Card Game (OCG) this coming March 22nd. Practically overnight, this seemingly negligible card had skyrocketed to an 800% increase.
Already, copies are currently out of stock on sites like TCGplayer, but they are now commanding a $10 to $12 average; some copies even went further beyond and were sold at a $25 price point.
What is happening?
Thanks to third-party programs to help simulate Yu-Gi-Oh!, players have already been experimenting with this level 5-focused K9 archetype. Already, it is showing itself to be a very consistent engine with access to a lot of lines of play. As you may now expect, Pair-a-Dice Smasher is one of those lines of play.
The K9 archetype has the capability of easily getting out Level 5 monster materials onto the field. That said, two of their main deck monsters (K9 #66a Yokuru and K9 #66b Lantern) forbid their usage of becoming material for the summoning of an XYZ Light monster if their special ability is activated. It doesn’t stop this engine from doing some quick sleight of hand to get Smasher out though.
Cards like Overlay Booster and Disablaster the Negation Fortress can easily be used as a substitute partner for any of the level 5 K9 units the moment they hit the field. While these aren't always the best of first choices, Pair-a-Dice Smasher can literally stop an opponent dead in their tracks till the end of the next turn should its effect stick.
The K9 archetype already punishes any opponent heavily reliant on monster effects, especially if they’re activating from the hand. Pair-a-Dice Smasher just stops that from happening, no questions asked.
If its controlling player can manage to get 3 materials onto this XYZ monster, then Pair-a-Dice Smasher weighs the odds for its effect much more heavily in its controller's favor.
This is more than likely to happen given that K9 - #00 Lupus can easily special summon itself from the graveyard and can even immediately special summon an XYZ monster as a quick effect. Unlike Yokuru and Lantern, Lupus is not forbidden from being used to summon a Light attribute monster.
That said, this combination is not infallible. It takes a lot of commitment to fielding Smasher. So far, experiments have yielded better results when building a board to contain the likes of Utopic Draco Future, D/D/D Deviser King Deus Machinex, and Chronomaly Vimaman; all-around effect negations through the rank 5 XYZ plays available to the K9 archetype.
But when used as a silver bullet, Pair-a-Dice Smasher makes for quite the surprise. If the opponent lets Smasher play out without interruptions, they can see at least 1/3rd of their deck negated for a single turn. In modern Yu-Gi-Oh!, a single turn is all it takes for any duelist to win.