It’s that time of the year again as Konami has recently announced their annual Battle of Legends booster pack. This time subtitled Monster Mayhem, this set is scheduled for release this coming June 13th.
Chibi art styles, don't they look cute?
Advertised with three surprises, Konami has pulled back the curtain a little to show us alternative artwork of popular monster cards in Yu-Gi-Oh’s history; citing that 10 monsters will be given the “chibi” treatment.
So far, Konami has previewed a sample of the alternative art featuring Gorz the Emissary of Darkness and a Blue-Eyes White Dragon. The company has confirmed that all 10 monster cards given this alternative art treatment will not just be tokens but actually usable cards legal for play.
Emblazoned Ultra Rares
Dragonmaid, Orcust, and P.U.N.K. players, rejoice. Each pack in this 5 card booster will contain an Ultra Rare (UR) card from one of these archetypes. Each UR card will be decorated with a custom emblem representing their specific archetype in their text box.
According to the announcement, 51 cards will be given this new elegant design. It was also confirmed that 6 new cards, two for each of the archetypes, will be added to the set alongside the reprints.
The Return of Starlight Rares
Finally, Konami has announced the return of Starlight Rare cards. First debuting back in 2019 in the Rising Rampage core booster pack, this card rarity has only been given to 4 different cards in each core booster set before halting production some time in 2023.
Announced to have the same rate as finding a Quarter Century Secret Rare (QCSR) in recent times, Starlight Rare cards can command sums of $50 to $60 average for something like Lightning Storm or about a $250 average for a popular hand trap like Effect Veiler.
Collectors looking to add to their portfolio should note that it has been confirmed in the announcement that 25 from the 177 card pool (52 Secret Rares, 51 Emblazoned Ultra Rares, and 74 normal Ultra Rares) will be Starlight Rare cards.
Primite Lordly Lode Reprint(?)
Last but not the least, it looks like Konami has been paying attention to the current trend of the second-hand market. Outside of announcing new cards for older archetypes like Nekroz, Gem-Knight, D/D, and more, the 177 card set hinted to include a reprint of Primite Lordly Lode.
Primite Lordly Lode has been seeing a lot of recent movement in second-hand markets like TCGplayer.com. This mostly attributed to the advent and current popularity trend of the new Blue-Eyes White Destiny structure deck.
Secret Rare versions of Primite Lordly Lode are showing a current average market price of about $89 while the QCSR version is having an average asking price of about $165. Needless to say, this reprint is coming at a dire time. 5Ds Centric Dragon Sees 400% Price Spike