6 best Cyberstorm Access cards in Yu-Gi-Oh!’s latest set
Unleash the set's evolutionary new cards.
Revolution and evolution. Sometimes a new Yu-Gi-Oh! set releases and proceeds to turn the meta on its head, usurping the previously-dominant decks with a new strategy that blows them out of the water, yet the best cards in Cyberstorm Access feel more evolutionary by design.
Rather than throwing the entire game into disarray or changing the balance of play, it’ll bolster the strength of popular strategies while throwing some wildcards (wild cards?) into the mix to bring new competition, revive old strategies or mix up the tried-and-tested playstyles of recent months.
Best Cyberstorm Access cards in Yu-Gi-Oh!
- Gold Pride - Pin Baller
- Despian Luluwalilith
- Time-Tearing Morganite
- Chaos Angel
- Purrely Sleepy Memory
- Superheavy Samurai Prodigy Wakaushi
Cyberstorm Access offers the latter of these two options - an evolution. New support for archetypes like the so-far TCG-exclusive Gold Ship cards have elevated them from an intriguing introduction to a competitive deck, the return of Superheavy Samurai with new support is a welcome surprise that offers strength the deck never had before.
Meanwhile, new, splashable Extra Deck and bonus cards promise to augment the game for all players, with one spell card’s intriguing alteration of core rules for the game upon activation promising to upend the expectations and, therefore, unpredictability of the game.
Read on to see our lowdown on the best new cards in Cyberstorm Access.
1. Gold Pride - Pin Baller
A pretty baller addition to the archetype
For Cyberstorm Access’ TCG debut, why not start by discussing the latest support for the archetype that so far remains exclusive to the international market? As we discussed in our rundown of the best cards from Photon Hypernova, the gimmick of the set relies on its powerful monster effects, activated whenever your life points are lower than your opponent’s. While an interesting archetype with powerful cards like the highlighted Leon in that debut set, it lacked the cards necessary to take it to the next level.
Enter Cyberstorm Access and Pin Baller. This is the new boss monster for the archetype which, coupled with previous support and this set’s other support - like the spell card Better Luck Next Time, which can both search Gold Pride monsters, lower your lifepoints and offers additional draw power - improve the consistency needed to find key cards and meet the activation requirements of the monsters in the deck.
Although the ability to equip your opponent's monsters requires the monster to be Fusion summoned, something that without an archetype-specific Fusion card is a little more difficult to pull off, it’s worth the hassle: the deck relies on having fewer life points than your opponent, while its effect to equip your opponent’s monsters can’t be negated if this condition is fulfilled. On top of being a 3000 ATK-eater, this is a powerful boost the deck needs to break into the upper echelons of the current metagame.
2. Despian Luluwalilith
A towering titan to fear
Any generic Extra Deck monster with the ability to be inserted into any deck is worth paying attention to, never mind one with the strength of Despian Luluwalilith. While still a little limited due to the specific requirements of a Level 4 tuner and other monsters likely facilitating the need for a Level 8 to complete the summon, those decks able to bring this beast out (such as, you guessed it, Despia) are mightily rewarded.
While its 2500 ATK does make it at least somewhat vulnerable, this weakness is countered by its effect to permanently raise the attack power of itself and other monsters you control during either player’s turn if a monster leaves the Extra Deck while negating a monster’s effect - a dangerous ability to dangle over your opponent’s decision-making progress. Timed correctly, you can activate this effect both during yours and your opponent’s turn to transform Luluwalilith into a 3500 ATK powerhouse.
Even if it leaves the field and stays in the Graveyard at the end of the turn, it can special summon a Light Spellcaster with ATK and DEF equal to each other. The threat never truly goes away.
3. Time-Tearing Morganite
Time to pay attention
Yu-Gi-Oh! cards that mess with the fundamental rules of the game are rare, and many have seen their use restricted by Konami not long following their release. Cards like Ultimate Offering allowed you to pay a paltry 500 life points to summon a monster during your Main Phase or even your opponent’s Battle Phase, before it was banned for good, and it’s not alone in cards seeing such a fate over the years. Which is what makes Time-Tearing Morganite so fascinating.
Recent years have seen hand traps like Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring and Nibiru come to dominate the game and strike fear through any opponent by stopping their strategy in their tracks, with their sheer presence in the meta leading many players to pack counters to them or force them to play with more caution. With this in mind, the restriction to using these cards for the rest of the duel is significant - but what it offers is something arguably far more powerful.
For everything lost when playing Time-Tearing Morganite, by preventing you from activating monster effects in your hand (a move also impacting decks like Rescue-Ace), Morganite allows you to draw two cards instead of one in your Draw Phase for the rest of the duel while conducting an additional Normal summon every turn. This second effect in particular opens up a backup plan if your own effects get negated or new strategies that would need additional setup and summons over multiple turns to get going, acting as ignition for even more powerful play. And if that wasn’t enough, you can stop your opponent from countering your Normal Summons for the rest of the turn by banishing it from the Graveyard alongside discarding another copy from hand.
Time-Tearing Morganite allows rogue decks to stand up to the best in the game and has the potential to open up new strategies as a better alternative to Double Summon in almost every scenario. Watch out for this card: it could be the difference between victory and defeat!
4. Chaos Angel
Reject Order, embrace Chaos (Angel)
Chaos Angel is another generic Synchro monster in Cyberstorm Access, and this one is arguably even more of a handful to deal with than Despian Luluwalilith. On the one hand, the requirement for a Light or Dark monster means the card isn’t entirely able to be played in every deck in the way Divine Arsenal AA-Zeus - Sky Thunder slots into any deck with Xyz support, but for those with the Dark or Light monsters necessary to run the card at all, you don’t even need a tuner to bring this powerhouse onto the field.
Not only can an additional Light or Dark Monster replace the role of Tuner - in the vein of Chaos cards of past generations that struck fear into players of their era - summoning the card under these requirements results in the ability to unleash a near-unstoppable fiend onto an unsuspecting opponent. After you banish any card on the field in response to its special summon, using the required monsters gives the monster up to two additional effects that make the card near-untouchable.
Using a Light monster to summon Chaos Angel means all Synchro monsters you control are unaffected by monster effects, and using Dark monsters prevents these monsters being destroyed by battle. Together, you have a card that’s almost impossible to shift. With 3500 ATK on top of this, I can only wish good luck to any player unfortunate enough to face this creature in battle.
5. Purrely Sleepy Memory
Dreaming of victory
I’m a proponent of cute over competitive, as I’ve argued on this site before. But that doesn’t mean a deck can’t be both! And with Cyberstorm Access cards like Purrely Sleepy Memory entering the fray, this is one archetype that’s set to inflict a sharp scratch on anyone who dares underestimate its adorable facade.
This is one of two new cards in Cyberstorm Access that transform the Purrely deck, alongside the new monster Purrelyly - which can search just about any card in the archetype (excluding Quick-Play Spell cards) and cycle Xyz monsters quickly into battle from the Extra Deck, forgoing its normal summon requirements and attaching itself and the searched card. This brings the deck consistency, while Sleepy Memory offers protection and damage negation; not only will it reduce the next damage you take to 0, it can bring out any Level 1 Purrely monster from the deck, massively improving consistency. If it was added to an Xyz monster such as with Purrelyly’s effect, it can also allow you to draw in your opponent’s Standby Phase. Not bad, huh?
Between these two cards, and the previous monster and spell and trap support the deck received in earlier sets, the Purrely deck is now far more consistent than it once was, while also being far more difficult to break down. If you’re going to take damage, you can negate it! You can avoid destruction, you can search - and that’s just with archetype-specific cards. The compact nature of the engine also allows you to run generic support and negation, or another powerful engine to bring firepower alongside your cute invasion. Don’t underestimate this deck!
6. Superheavy Samurai Prodigy Wakaushi
Make superlight work of the competition
We end our list of the best Cyberstorm Access cards with a Yu-Gi-Oh! card that brings an older archetype back into the competitive scene. Superheavy Samurai first hit the scene in 2014 as part of Duelist Alliance. Though it was an interesting archetype at least thematically reminiscent - if not in play style then in spirit - of the beloved Six Samurai with a Pendulum twist, it was never able to reach those same dizzying heights. Prodigy Wakaushi, the latest support in Cyberstorm Access, could change that.
Wakaushi’s strength comes from its ability to cycle itself between monster and pendulum zones to maximize both of its effects. By first summoning the monster, its power to Special summon any Superheavy Samurai from your deck or hand (provided you have no spell or trap cards in your Graveyard) then opens up the ability to Synchro summon any of the many Synchro monsters the deck has at its disposal. If that wasn’t enough, if you use this Tuner as a Synchro material it can just move into the Pendulum zone, where it can bring out another Samurai for the other Pendulum zone before bringing itself back onto the field.
Although you’re limited to using these effects once per turn, this still allows Wakaushi to serve as material for another Synchro summon, or set the scales for Pendulum summons. It’s the explosive play the deck has so desperately needed and has contributed to its revival in the OCG in Japan - and it will likely see similar results here.
It’s fair to argue Cyberstorm Access is an evolutionary step for the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG, rather than the revolution we witnessed prior to Photon Hypernova due to the introduction of Kashtira. These cards, plus additional notable releases like Guiding Quem, the Virtuous - which offers further Fallen of Albaz support with the intriguing note that it can Special summon cards from the archetype from the Graveyard once per turn - offer a twist on the meta.
At the same time, many of the decks that were a threat prior to this set won’t be usurped by these new cards in Cyberstorm Access, nor will they pose less of a threat. But considering the timing of this release, that may be for the best. We’re entering National Championship season, and soon the World Championships will be upon us. This is the time to refine, not redefine, your strategies - and this is exactly what this latest set is offering.