Alliance Insight has been out for almost two weeks now. During that time, we've already looked at how the second-hand market was handling these new additions. Now, it's time to see what the player base considers the best cards from the set.
As a general disclaimer, the cards on this list are not written in any particular order.
Backup @Ignister and Wizard @Ignister
We’re starting this list with a two-for-one special. The @Ignister duo of Wizard and Backup comes as a matched set.
These two not only synergize with each other and their original archetype but also the entirety of Maliss, one of the leading competitive archetypes in the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game (TCG).
Both @Ignister cards function as extenders for the Maliss engine. They can special summon themselves onto the board once a Cyberse monster from the extra deck has been summoned.
This is a remarkably easy-to-fulfill condition. The Maliss archetype already contains in-house monsters that can be used, such as Maliss Q Hearts Crypter, Maliss Q Red Ranson, or Maliss Q White Binder.
Even then, there’s still the plethora of generic Cyberse extra deck monsters that the @Ignister pair can use as a jumping off point.
Backup easily searches for any of the Maliss engine pieces or even Wizard, should the need call for it. Should Wizard be allowed to activate, it can guarantee two bodies onto the field for any extra deck summonings.
Usually, these two are played at three and one copies respectively. If you play against a Maliss deck today, you’d definitely find these two somewhere in the deck list.
Maliss P March Hare
Speaking of Maliss, Maliss P March Hare easily slips in to help fill in the gap left behind since the update to the TCG’s Forbidden/Limited list.
Being played at three copies, Malice P March Hare helps plug up the hole Maliss had when cards would end in the graveyard.
The Maliss main deck monsters all have the capability of coming back from the banish zone, but if they hit the graveyard, that recursion goes away. This necessitates a heavy reliance on another card to restart the cycle.
Malice P March Hare allows the archetype a more robust sequencing. Any lost card due to negation or destruction and then sent to the graveyard is easily circumvented with a March Hare follow-up.
Combined with the @Ignister package from earlier, the Maliss deck will continue to see play as a consistent and reliable deck for breaking through the toughest of board setups.
If you so happen to have a Maliss Link monster pointing to March Hare, then they can gain the benefit of being protected from targeted card effects.
Mitsurugi no Mikoto, Aramasa
We’re finally moving away from Maliss and the Cyberse monsters into Mitsurugi territory.
The other half of Mitsurugi no Mikoto, Saji, Aramasa allows for greater consistency because of its search function.
An in-archetype Reinforcement of the Army is already valuable, but getting it through the actions you’d normally go through over the course of play just makes it better.
Aramasa can easily be used to start a combo or become a part of one. With its ability to tribute itself in place of a Reptile ally, you could squeeze out another search on the opponent's turn.
Ame no Habakiri no Mitsurugi
Our final card for this list is another Mitsurugi card. Ame no Habakiri no Mitsurugi has rightfully earned its place on this list just by the merits of its first effect.
By just having Ame no Habakiri no Mitsurugi in hand, a player could transition into one of the smaller main deck Mitsurugi monsters:
- Mitsurugi no Mikoto, Saji,
- Mitsurugi no Mikoto, Kusanagi, or;
- Mitsurugi no Mikoto, Aramasa.
This can have an effect on deckbuilding as Saji, Aramasa, and Kusanagi don’t need more than a single copy. But this is dependent on the kind of deck being built. Pure Mitsurugi would definitely see more copies of the aforementioned trio.
If you’re building a Mitsurugi deck with another archetype (e.g., Ryzeal), then this keeps the Mitsurugi component small yet still consistent.