Like it or hate it, the Duel Monsters franchise and media is extremely popular and Konami knows it. As a result, they certainly won’t be stopping the printing of nostalgia support any time soon. Every nook and cranny of the decrepit corpse of DM will be turned into cards one way or another.
While the primary focus of this effort seems to be beating the dead horse of Blue-Eyes and Dark Magician, we do get occasional nostalgia support outside of them. An example would be Giltia the D. Knight – Soul Spear and the two in the Legendary Monsters Pack! Because of this, it’s not unlikely for the cards we’ll be talking about to get something new in the future.
This article will take a look at one part of the DM Iceberg, the cards not supported yet. Get your Gate Guardians ready, it’s time to explore
Joey Wheeler’s Arsenal
Let’s start our DM talk with a fan favorite, Joey Wheeler. He’s always had quite a patchwork style of play and card choices, with luck and fighting spirit as his side.
Garoozis is an example of a classic monster that hasn’t had a retrain or any attention put to it. It showed up in quite a few episodes and was prominent in both Duelist Kingdom and Battle City.
While it hasn’t been a game-winner, it would be interesting to see it being retrained, whether shoved into Red-Eyes or not. Yeah, that last part is a bit of a running theme. Cards such as Gearfried the Red-Eyes Iron Knight or Red-Eyes Fang with Chain are examples of it.
Not only that, there’s definitely a couple of Joey cards in DM that haven’t been touched upon yet. Rocket Warrior, Panther Warrior, and Little-Winguard are pretty interesting in their own right. Rocket Hermos Cannon was introduced, but it doesn’t really tie into the original much.
A RW retrain that could also negate the effects of the monsters it battles would be a pretty sick idea. In addition, Panther Warrior might possibly turn its downside into a strength, being able to tribute the opponent’s monsters as it attacks.
I’m not sure what they would do with Little-Winguard, but funny position change gimmicks could lead to something fruitful. Axe Raider got a stronger RUSH version, so I guess it can chill for now.
Stars of the Land!
A fairly unpopular but left-field option that they could support is bringing the Landstar archetype into fruition! We’ve only ever had the original monster and the tuner retrain, but not much else. Not only are there a whole slew of Landstar monsters showing different eras, but they also have two funky spells. Updating the bunch and making them effect monsters would be a good start.
All of the normal monsters talk about some form of mysterious power, so that may be a selling point. Giving them access to competent backrow would be cool as well. Besides, who wouldn’t want to play these things? Their design is both adorable and blobby. Take a look at Landstar Forces for example.
This is the final frontier, the peak human condition, the pinnacle of what might’ve been. Let Konami know that the Landstar troops need to be printed! Or well, show interest in it. Have you seen how serious they all look? They’re out for blood, you know.
They could even perhaps expand the Landstar lore, what gave them their mysterious powers, what does the crest mean? Are there other members we’re missing? Defenders Intersect also shows us that the Landstars have a score to settle with Jerry Beans Man! Why are they locked into combat? We’ll never know until they tell us!
All jokes aside, they’re a funny bunch of cards that would be a delight to see in the actual game.
Yugi’s Suite
Archfiend of Gilfer is another underrated and iconic piece of Yugi’s arsenal, allowing him to clutch many victories thanks to its nifty GY effect. An example would be helping be its various exploits in Battle City! A souped up retrain would be interesting, perhaps either working in tandem with the OG or providing more effects than just stat reduction.
Seeing as they’re also obsessed with making anime moments into cards, Gilfer weakening The Masked Beast could be a callback to go for.
Other options to mention are Watapon, Beaver Warrior, and Big Shield Gardna.
When the Beasts are Phantom
Chimera, and by extension Gazelle / Beformet are a quirky bunch that pops up here and there throughout the series. With a slick design and ominous aura to them, it’s a shame they aren’t all that great. Modernizing the vanilla, Beformet and the fusion is something I’m sure many fans would love to see. Bonus points if they tie it into the severely underwhelming and lacking OG Phantom Beasts. Those things need a lot of help.
It’s a shame that the king of the Mythical Beasts of all things is a weak beater. Really says a lot about DM.
Kaiba’s Servants
Aside from Blue-Eyes White Dragon, La Jinn is without a doubt one of Kaiba’s more popular monsters around. Not only that, it’s had some very small ARC-V appearances with a shiny new lamp to go alongside it. It wouldn’t be odd to adapt this in a less awkward manner. Maybe even give La Jinn some backrow that’s related to wishes? Whatever direction they decide to take with it, we’ll just have to wait and see.
Other monsters that could get some mild spotlight are Hitotsu-Me-Giant, the Ryu-Kishins, and Peten / Saggi. The latter two being tributed by a virus card makes for a great anime moment. There’s even Ryu-Kishin Clown, a missing link to both themes.
Guardians of the Gate
Check out this glorious Reverse Secret GG in all of its glory! There’s a limited quantity of them available, and they’re both mysterious and expensive. A friend over at the r/yugioh discord happily lent this image!
We all know what we’re here for, this big piece of shining albeit useless cardboard from the DM era. Gate Guardian was and still is an epic idea done poorly. Fans have had over a decade and a half to come up with some ideas on how they’d go about it. Ranging from re-training the 4 big ones entirely, lumping in the Labyrinth Wall gang as supporters, or even making use of the resting coffin in the show. There is also the Dark Guardian thing that appeared in GX, but we don’t talk about that one.
Seeing as the three pieces that make up Gate Guardian are deities, it’s not fair that they have such a bad effect. The new versions could make up for this by having an on-hand effect that’s related to their attribute OR type, then an on-field effect to display their mastery over their element.
Lastly, they could either make the new Gate Guardian an Xyz monster or a Contact Fusion, depending on what type of flavor they’re willing to go with. Give them some protection and you’re good to go! Can also even take a page out of Great Magnus’ book and have the new pieces float when GG gets taken out of the picture.
Conclusion
The DM iceberg is so vast and there’s still so much potential that they could scrape through, we really don’t have time to talk about everything! Maybe in the future we can explore some of the side character’s stuff to adapt. I heard Luster Dragon fans were hyped to see the Rush retrains. Also, Jirai Gumo as a trap card, anyone?
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