Review - The Best Reprints in the 25th Anniversary Tin: Dueling Heroes

From September 8th, 2023 onward, the 25th Anniversary Tin: Dueling Heroes, considered by many the best set in the year as it brings reprints of cards which are highly valued in the current metagame or reprints of cards in promising archetypes, will be legal.

As it is a set of reprints, cards which will be released in this set won't affect Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG's Advanced format, but they will affect players, as you can expect the prices of relevant cards and decks to drop, which will make the game a bit more accessible.

So, in this article, I'll analyze what I believe to be the main cards in the 25th Anniversary Tin: Dueling Heroes!

To start, we have Timaeus the United Dragon and Blue-Eyes Jet Dragon, which, despite not being relevant cards competitively, greatly appeal to the nostalgia factor as they strengthen the Yugi Muto and Seto Kaiba archetype strategies, which are the main characters in the classic Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters anime.

Illusion of Chaos is another card in the Dark Magician archetype, but, unlike the latter, it is relevant to competitive play as it has good generic effects and can be used as an engine in many decks.

Despite not being used in decks in the current metagame, this card has been well-explored in previous formats, mainly in strategies which used "Adventure Tokens", and it can return to the meta in a nearby future.

The D/D/D archetype is not present in the meta, but D/D/D Deviser King Deus Machinex is! Ever since the release of new support cards for Unchained, the deck has been very present in the meta, and a great part of its strength is due to the use of a little D/D/D engine in its extra deck.

With its rising popularity, the card's price rose in some regions and this reprint is very welcomed to make this deck even more accessible.

Floowandereeze was a very strong contender during the Tearlaments Tier 0 format earlier in the year, but, after the Barrier Statue of the Stormwinds ban and the beginning of the Kashtira format, the deck started to struggle. Despite being less popular, the deck is still viable competitively, and the Floowandereeze and the Advent of Adventure reprint will make it drastically cheaper.

Therion "King" Regulus was one of the most anticipated reprints due to its power and versatility, and because it is a generic main deck negate which can be used in any Machine type deck, or any deck which can use a Springans/Therion engine to search it.

Visas Starfrost is another reprint centered around the current format, once it is used in Mannadium, a deck which rose in popularity after the release of Duelist Nexus.

The expectation is that it will become even more popular after the release of the "Tin", which should make it cheaper.

The "Adventure Token" engine is getting reprinted for the second time this year, and, even though it was very present in last year's metagame, it is still one of the strongest engines in the game. Besides that, after the Duelist Nexus release, one of the decks that was tested thoroughly was Adventure Synchron, which uses the engine and can become more relevant after the next banlist.

Psychic End Punisher is another reprint which is here to make a specific deck cheaper, this time "P.U.N.K.", which was reprinted earlier this year, but still had this card at a very steep price.

Beyond the Pendulum is an essential card for any deck centered around Pendulum Summon and, now that it will get its first reprint, will go down in price, to the joy of fans of this strategy.

“Exosister” is another deck that struggled during the Tearlaments Tier 0 format, and went down in popularity after Kashtira entered the scene. However, the deck has a very interesting mechanic and has great potential for the future, in a format more centered around decks which take advantage of using the graveyard.

With the Exosister Mikailis and Exosister Pax reprints, the most expensive cards in the archetype right now, the deck will become more accessible and will more likely find more space after Kashtira leaves the format.

Very relevant since its release, Garura, Wings of Resonant Life is another really anticipated reprint. Besides being an excellent fusion for decks centered around that type of summon, “Garura” stands out as an excellent Super Polymerization "target".

“Bystial” is another strong engine to be reprinted in this "Tin", and, despite not being that useful against Kashtira, it still remains in the metagame as it affects other decks, besides being another good bet for the future.

The reprints which stand out are The Bystial Lubellion, which is the main “Bystial” in the archetype's strategy, and also Bystial Magnamhut, which is the more generic “Bystial”, capable of being used both as interaction and as a searcher for any Dragon type monster in the game.

Even though “Branded Despia” is missing from the format nowadays, Blazing Cartesia, the Virtuous's reprint is very welcomed as it presents the possibility of making it cheaper, making this deck more accessible. As much as it isn't a part of the peak competitive scene, this deck tends to appear in top cuts when the main techs aren't very efficient against it.

Kashtira Fenrir is possibly the most relevant card in the set. Besides being an essential piece in "Kashtira", it can be used as a tech in many other decks due to its generic effects. Furthermore, the entire first wave of "Kashtira" cards will be reprinted, which will give more people the opportunity of getting the deck.

“Labrynth” is another meta deck to be reprinted in this “Tin”, with the spotlight going to Lady Labrynth of the Silver Castle and Lovely Labrynth of the Silver Castle, which are sure to make the deck cheaper. Besides the cards in the archetype itself, Destructive Daruma Karma Cannon, which is also used thoroughly in the deck, will also be reprinted in this set.

Another archetype which was reprinted in this "Tin" is "Runick", which, despite being abandoned whenever the format changes its approach regarding boardbreakers, favoring a higher use of handtraps, has been surrounding the meta throughout all of 2023.

The biggest highlights of the "Runick" reprints are the 3 most expensive and important cards in the strategy: Runick Fountain, Runick Tip and Hugin the Runick Wings.

To finish, another very interesting reprint which will directly impact the meta is the Muckraker From the Underworld reprint, which was very popular in Spright Live-Twin throughout the year. Today, it is popular in the "Unchained" deck, in which it is responsible for enabling the Knightmare Gryphon lock.

The 25th Anniversary Tin: Dueling Heroes brings various reprints for all tastes, current meta decks, decks which were once meta and have since had worse results, decks which can potentially be good in the future and also casual decks which have always strayed far from the competitive scene. Besides that, the set also has very interesting independent card reprints!

The biggest absences in the set are the Tearlaments and Spright archetypes, which were among the most popular decks in the last year, but didn't get a chance to be reprinted this time. Apart from them, another absence in this "Tin"'s edition is regarding relevant staples, which have most likely not come now because they will be in the 25th Anniversary Rarity Collection which will be released in November.

Therefore, I believe the 25th Anniversary Tin: Dueling Heroes could be better, but it is still considered an interesting option to get, particularly for players who will build a new deck, once the set brings a good variety of them.

But what about you? What did you think of the 25th Anniversary Tin: Dueling Heroes cards? Did you miss any cards in this list? Which of them do you want to get? Tell me all about it in the comment section.

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