Thread:Loconator3000/@comment-5688420-20200720123252/@comment-5688420-20200728075304

SecondOpinion wrote: ... Wanna know what the most broken cards in Kessenju were?

So, continuationing from what I said yesterday:

(💧 | 1) Gift of Knowledge Instant Spell

Draw two cards from your main deck.

Draw power cards that contain little-to-no cost have traditionally been some of the most overpowered cards in any given card game, and the Gift is no exception. For just one mana, you get to draw two cards from your deck, after which you can use these cards to set up even more broken plays. This is why most future draw power cards have some sort of drawback or limit.

(💧 | 4) Kyra, Trainee Mage of Time Creature • Blue Mage

🗡️ 300 / 🛡️ 300

When Kyra, Trainee Mage of Time enters the battlefied, each player expels all cards from their hand face down and draws five cards from their respective main decks. At the turn this was set to the graveyard, each player discards their hand to the graveyard and returns to their hand each card they expelled this way.


 * Barrier - This creature can be summoned from a Barrier through Barrier Trigger.

This cute little mage in training has an effect that essentially allows both of you to play with a new hand until she is destroyed. Unsatisfied with your current cards? Just whip Kyra out from your hand, and now you have five new cards to play with. Doesn't help at all that she can be summoned via Barrier.

(👁️ | 1) Deprivation

Instant Spell

Look at your opponent's hand, select 2 cards and discard them to the graveyard. You lose 200 VP afterwards.

The Realm of Dark has a handful of discard cards, but Deprivation has proven to be the strongest of them all. Severely undercosted in contrast to its flexibility, Depravation's "drawback" of losing 200 VP proved to be too little a cost compared to the card's flexibility, allowing you to take out any possible incoming threat by simply paying one black mana and a couple of life points.

(👁️ | 5) Forbidden Discoveries

Constant Spell

Skip your draw phase, then pay 100 VP to draw 1 card from your main deck.

At first glance, paying 100 VP to draw one card sounds pretty crappy. But in the right hands, Forbidden Discoveries basically allows players to draw to their heart's content, allowing you to get the cards you truly want, whenever you want. Not to mention, it allows for quick OTK setup and various other shenanigans. In many ways, this card was Kessenju's equivalent of MtG's infamous "Necropotence".

(🍃 | 1) Pure Offering Basic Spell

Add three Earth mana.

If Forbidden Discoveries was Kessenju's equivalent for "Necropotence", then Pure Offering is the game's answer to Black Lotus. The one-time 3-mana boost of this card is able to benefit just about every single deck that uses Earth cards, and is notorious for allowing players to pay for insanely powerful cards several turns in advance.

(🔥/☀️ | 7) Dragon of Glory and Demise Creature • Wyvern

🗡️ 600 / 🛡️ 500

Dragon of Glory and Demise gets +100 for every creature you have in your graveyard. You lose the game at the end of this turn.


 * Rapid - This creature can attack instantaneously at the turn that it is summoned.
 * Piercing - This creature deals piercing damage even when blocked.
 * Unbreakable - This creature cannot be destroyed through battle.

ACS originally created "DoGaD" as an "all or nothing" type creature that should only be taken out during a pinch. However, they seriously understimated the card's power. If getting a +100 attack boost for every card you have in your graveyard isn't enough, it also has the ability to attack upon summon and deal piercing damage AND is immune to destruction via battle. DoGaD was seen as the one card that killed Kessenju in North America, and is seen as the prime reason why Topps ended localization of the card game after just two sets following its release.