Once again, the results of a Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Series (YCS) stirs the waters of the second-hand market. Surfacing Big Jaws comes into the spotlight as its market price darts upward over the weekend.
The Catch
Surfacing Big Jaws is an Ultra Rare card found in the Rage of the Abyss expansion set released last year (2024).
For a couple of months, it swam around an average market price of about $2-3. Following the YCS held in Las Vegas Surfacing Big Jaws is now being caught at about an $8-9 average; with some sales already jumping to about $13-14.
Normally, this kind of market price isn’t something to worry about. That being said, Surfacing Big Jaws has seen no reprint and there has been no announcement of such from Konami. Thanks to being an ultra rare card, it's already difficult to find in the first place.
The Allure
Surfacing Big Jaws surprisingly found a spot in the top-performing decks at YCS Las Vegas. Unsurprisingly, it was alongside Ryzeal and its penchant for XYZ summoning that Surfacing Big Jaws locks its controlling player into as well.
With the release of Maze of the Masters, Seventh Tachyon became available. This opened a host of consistency and search plays to the Ryzeal archetype. They could use the said spell card to cherry-pick Surfacing Big Jaws from the deck which will activate its own effect to special summon itself.
Once Surfacing Big Jaws hits the field, it’ll continue the line of play by fetching out Drake Shark. From there, the controlling player is locked into XYZ summoning from the extra deck.
The rank 4 XYZ monster roster is diverse, not including the Ryzeal-specific XYZ monsters themselves. Depending on what’s in hand, the controlling player can easily sequence enough of a starting bulwark to punch through enemy disruption cards and pave the way for any more engine cards available.
With both sharks on the field, almost any generic rank 4 can be brought out. One of the most insidious plays the sharks can go into is XYZ summoning Bahamut Shark which specifically lists two level 4 water monsters as its summoning requirements.
Assuming Bahamut Shark sticks the landing, it can use its effect to drag out Toadally Awesome, another XYZ monster that can make use of Bahamut Shark’s presence.
Toadally Awesome can be used to negate the activation of the opponent’s spell or trap card and then technically steal it for the controlling player’s use. This makes the popular hand trap, Infinite Impermanence, just as much a viable victim, ripe for the taking.
Dangers Beneath the Waters
Ryzeal’s dominance has only shot up with the release of Maze of the Masters. While its competition in the form of Maliss or Blue-Eyes White Dragon are trying their best, it’s still tough to contend with Ryzeal’s versatility.
Over at the second-hand market, Surfacing Big Jaws is currently out of stock at TCGplayer. If this rising trend in its market price continues, however, it may easily start hitting $15-20 by the end of the month.
The kicker here is that, even at the competitive scene, a player doesn’t even need a full playset. You just need one copy of Surfacing Big Jaws and Drake Shark.
Currently, the latter is going for less than $1, most likely due to the fact it's a target rather than an enabler of plays. The former, meanwhile, can easily justify a high price just because you only need a single copy of it. What’s a $30 price tag if all you’re getting is a single copy? How about $40?
This line of thinking can easily be formulated in any player’s mind for any card if they deem it important enough. That single copy being the only necessary part of the engine is an enticing enough justification for any veteran deck builder.
Without any word from Konami for an update on their ban/forbidden list, Ryzeal’s dominance over the competitive scene and the rising cost of their tools will only continue forward and upward.