The Quarter Century Stampede for the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game (TCG) will be officially released to the wider world in just one week.
In the meantime, content creators over on social media platforms like YouTube and Instagram have been posting box or card pack opening videos, giving us a taste of what’s to come in this new expansion.
In the spirit of enthusiasm, we’d also like to join in and give our thoughts on some of the best cards to get in the Quarter Century Stampede. This list is by no means exhaustive nor in any ranking order, but it is a fun little read while we wait for the product to officially hit store shelves.
Dragon Master Magia
We’ll be starting off our list with this set’s ‘White Whale’. Probably the rarest card in the pool, Dragon Master Magia would make any collector salivate.
With three once per turn negate for each card type (monster, spell, and trap), a beefy statline, and a floating effect into another monster, this monster would either fetch a pretty astonishing high-price over at second-hand markets for its combined rarity and nostalgia value or make its way into the extra deck of intrepid fans of the original animated series.
All the Alternate Cards
This is a little bit of copout, but we decided to lump all of the alternate art cards into this one single category.
From nostalgia bait like Dark Magician and Blue-Eyes White Dragon to even more modern staples like Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring, these cards can give a player’s deck that little bit of extra flair for that serotonin rush we’re always chasing after.
For those lucky enough to get extra copies, there will always be collectors willing to pay a small finder’s fee to have their own copies of these stunning cards added to their binders or decks.
Destructive Daruma Karma Cannon
Trap-focused or Odion players may want to monitor this particular card to see if it would make a fine addition to their arsenal.
Making its initial debut back in Darkwing Blase (2022) and later in the 25th Anniversary Tin: Dueling Heroes Megapack (2023), Destructive Daruma Karma Cannon can easily sabotage the opponent’s board.
It does have the caveat of being a normal trap card, and getting this to stick would mean letting the opponent at least have a link monster on the board or something in the Extra Monster Zone (EMZ). But once you do activate this trap card, it’s basically an upgraded Book of Moon.
Karma Cannon can even bypass the anti-destruction protection of any remaining face-up monsters just because it comes with the keyword “send” on its text.
This is a little bit of a rogue tech choice, but being able to stop effects from activating from the field while nuking link plays can be quite the effective monkey-wrench.
Fiendsmith Engraver and Fiendsmith’s Desirae
These two need no further introduction. The Fiendsmith archetype has already solidified itself as a compact powerhouse of an engine that can easily be modded to boost the overall consistency and board presence of its partner archetype.
Given how important Fiendsmith Engraver is for the archetype’s engine and how Fiednsmith’s Desirae is an omni-negate packaged with recursion and targeted board removal, Quarter Century Stampede is as good a time as any to pick up some copies.
Crimson Dragon
Synchro and Blue-Eyes White Dragon players, rejoice. Debuting back in 2023 in Duelist Nexus before being reprinted in the 25th Anniversary Tin: Dueling Mirrors a year later, the Crimson Dragon is getting yet another reprint.
And to be honest, this could not come at a better time. With the current popularity of Blue-Eyes White Dragon thanks to its recent support, this versatile tool widens the possible lines of play Blue-Eyes White Dragon decks.
Seventh Ascension and Metaltronus
Sliding over a bit to the serious side of competitive Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG, it’s nice that Seventh Ascension and Metaltronus are getting much-needed reprints.
With how recently Seventh Tachyon had been put in the Official Card Game’s (OCG’s) Limited List, Seventh Ascension is now a much-needed consistency tool should the TCG follow the same pattern with its own Limited/Forbidden List update.
As for Metaltronus, it offers players a way to combat the ever-oppressive presence that is Ryzeal Detonator. At the same time, Metlatronus can also be used to get a body on the board for its controlling player, making this a very advantageous spell card to use.
Metaltronus also has the advantage of being a quick-play spell, so it can be used whether going first or second, further boosting its value in the competitive scene.
TY-PHON & AA-ZEUS
Probably a surprise to see on this kind of list, TY-PHON and ZEUS may be competitively viable, but they’re not exactly a “must include” in every deck.
However, given that TY-PHON was initially released back in 2023’s Age of Overlord and its only other reprint was a year later in the Dueling Mirrors 25th Anniversary Tin, this is a much-welcomed addition to the limited copies out in the wild.
As for ZEUS, this giant mechanical monster has seen a lot of reprints over the course of its history, but that still doesn’t detract from its competitive viability. If you don’t own a copy of ZEUS yet, now’s as good a time as any to pick one or both of these spacewalkers.
Also, with the K9 archetype already seeing some experimentation in the OCG, keen-eyed deck builders may see some very good synergy between these two XYZ monsters and this upcoming archetype.
Mulcharmy Fuwalos
Probably the complete opposite to TY-PHON and ZEUS, nobody would be surprised to see Mlucharmy Fuwalos on a list like this.
With Maxx C on the Forbidden List in the TCG and slowly becoming extinct over in the OCG, Fuwalos has become the roach’s unofficial successor as one of the most played handtraps in the game.
With 2024’s Rage of the Abyss being this card’s only source, if you’re having a hard time getting a hold of a full playset of this card, the Quarter Century Stampede set may be the opportunity you are looking to snag some copies of your own.
At the very least, the extra bulk coming in might lower the overall asking price for copies already on the second-hand market.
And that’s our list. Quarter Century Stampede will be released this April 11th. For those interested in the complete card list for this expansion, YGOrganization has composed quite an extensive list.