A Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG Wall of Text Review: STARTER DECK: XYZ SYMPHONY

Well, it is that time of year again, where those of us who play the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG get to see the new Starter Deck come out.  And boy, there are some rather nice things to come in this one, at least in my humble opinion as both a player of the game and a general fan of it.  Biggest thing to point out is this comes with 5 monsters for the Extra Deck, which I believe was a first for a preconstructed deck, and all of them are different to boot.

Rather odd to have that 39 cut out and a separate illustration underneath the top of the box, although I rather like it.   The general deck box format has kind of gotten monotonous.

So then, let us name off some of the fun things on this deck's list.

First off, Alexandrite Dragon being included was rather nice.  I was slightly concerned that they were going to replace that, since it was a TCG exclusive and they were introducing it to the OCG with this deck.  Outside of last years starter deck it has been a while since Spirit of the Harp was reprinted.  Behold the might of Frostosaurus, a one tribute 2600 ATK monster that only appeared in Strike of Neos as a Rare/Ultra Rare (the weird days of rarity then, also possibly an Ultimate Rare, as if there is an Ultra version in a booster set, there is an Ultimate).  After that the list of regulars for Yuma's deck is the same with the OCG, as well as that odd choice of Cyber Dragon, until we get to Penguin Soldier.  Now in the OCG that was Mysterious Guard, which only returned one unless you had another face up Warrior-type then it bounced another one.  Frankly Penguin Soldier is better, although Mysterious Guard was a 3 star monster, so without using a card or two in this deck you can't use it for the Xyz monsters that come with this.  The Sangan, Giant Rats, and Shinning Angels are all still the same, and rather decent fetch for this deck.
      Spell cards that didn't change are Blustering Winds (decent), Ego Boost (entertaining), Xyz Energy (decent), Star Changer (rather useful at times), Swords of Revealing Light (overall great card), Mystical Space Typhoon (another overall great card), and Fissure (useful at times), and Reinforcement of the Army (pretty much a must have for any deck with a lot of Warrior types).  What changed? Well we lost Lucky Iron Axe (which was in the last Starter Deck for us) for Gravity Axe - Grarl (which is just better) and we lost The A. Forces (as the deck might not have enough Warrior-types to warrant having that, and I hope they have that in the new Six Samurai deck instead) for Burden of the Mighty (which is just better).
      Traps didn't change at all.  Heartfelt Appeal is rather useful, but their might be better choices to have in a deck than that, same with Xyz Effect.  Raigeki Break, Trap Hole, Dust Tornado, Magic Cylinder, Call of the Haunted, Limit Reverse, and Seven Tools of the Bandit are all solid cards.  As for the one I glanced over, Draining Shield....well that was an awesome reprint choice for this deck.  Negating an attack and gaining Life from it is always a good thing.

      Now on the to big one, the Extra Deck cards.

What to say about Number 39 that hasn't been said before.... well rather like it overall and has a useful effect, so let's move on to the new stuff.

MeloMelody, TemTempo, and MuzuRhytm the Instrument Djinns, all have different attributes, effects, and are all Rank 3.  But they are also rather good, as they are all Anti-Xyz Xyz monsters whose effects all can be used once a turn on a fellow Djinn, ranging from doubling the attack of an attacking Djinn, giving another attack to a Djinn, and detaching an Xyz material from an opponent's monster to give Djinn's a 500 ATK point boost til end of turn are all rather useful, especially since it is an archetype that supports the group rather than the individual.  All three of these were used by the protagonist of ZeXal (Yuma) in the show at one point or another.

However this one has yet to appear in show.  Maestroke is a new Djinn, and Rank 4 as opposed to the others who are all Rank 3. It is rather odd for having 1800 ATK yet having 2300 DEF, but it comes with two effects.  Its first affect is simply to detach a material from it to have a face up attack position monster your opponent controls get forced into face down defense position, which is useful on a case by case basis.  Its second effect however is to stop a Djinn Xyz monster from getting destroyed by detaching a material from that monster, rather than Maestroke, which overall makes it rather useful if you decide to run tribal Djinn, or even just itself for its effect to set an attack position monster your opponent has.





Overall this is a rather nice buy to either get into the game or get some additional fun cards for any deck, and I rather recommend it.