CPF1 Review

[VCR_CAT]

After trying some stuff and getting a feel for cards I may not have been totally sure about, I feel like I got a good feel for this pack. Anyways, let's break it down:

 

Arc V Stuffs

Mirage Dragon is pretty neat, but nothing terribly special. Uni and Corn are kinda meh. The Ruris are super meh.

 

Planets

Mixed opinions. Some of them are pretty cool, others are just blatantly super bad. I think the primary problem with these guys is that they need to be Tribute Summoned, and this really limits what they can be used in. Some of them have some disgusting interactions, while others despite being good, more or less lack a home. This isn't to say they'll never find one; but right now what quality there is in the good ones will get overlooked for the most part, which is a shame.

 

Cyber Angels

I wasn't expecting it, but these are probably my favorite part of the pack. The aggressive build for these is a very fun deck to play. It hits hard, it keeps the resources coming, and has a lot of creative plays you can do with some interesting techs. While some builds for these are pretty disgusting, the true aggressive build is a real treat to play and play against. I look forward to future support for these cards. I don't believe they'll be meta right now, seeing as the deck severely lacks in the S/T removal department as well as in some defensive manners, but it's still potent af.

 

5D's Stuffs

It's cool that Zushin finally got printed (I'm happy it's a Common), but pretty much nothing of use in this department. In terms of actual viability (I'm not counting Zushin because it's supposed to be hard to summon), it's just generally crap. Disappointing overall.

 

Numbers

Talk about a mixed bag. Number 100 is some hot garbage, and there are a couple other cards here that are just severely under-designed. At least a couple of these are useful, with a good new R6, but overall Dystopia's only going to really shine in Metalphosis as a means to counter UTL plays, R6 isn't easily accessible by most decks, and while Number Archive is actually only a two-mat (improves it noticeably), it's only really going to be used as a lolzy chance card for some fun plays. Back the Cook has some potential for silly plays, but beyond that this part of the set is very under-designed and this is very disappointing.

 

Ciphers and Stealth Dragon

Cipher Wing is garbage as-is right now. Cipher Dragon, on the other hand, is really good. Stealth Dragon is essentially a "Why would I use this over Galaxion in Photon/Galaxies?"

 

Cardians

Easily what I was looking forward to most in this set, and I'm not entirely sure what to think. What they gave these cards is more than I expected, but the incompleteness of the deck is what leaves me a little blue-balled here. The holes in the archetype are not terribly difficult to fill; it requires a boost to consistency in the way of play-starters and maybe something to help searches as well as some more Extra Deck options, but the question of whether these will be filled or not remains to be answered. I do like what I see so far and it is a very fun deck to play, but I do have to wait to see what Konami does with them.

 

Reprints are reprints. Anyways, discuss what you thought of the set as well. Personally, I have some mixed feelings. There's some really cool stuff in there and some good stuff that a lot of players will be using, but there's a lot of trash as well. Easily not as bad as the recent Series 9 blunders, but definitely could've been better.

 

 

[heraldry_lord]

I pretty much agree with what you said in the OP, though my gripe is mainly with how they handled The Grand Jupiter, Number 100 and Number 78.

 

The Grand Jupiter's cost should have been reduced (I'd even sacrifice the pseudo-Big Eye effect if they eliminated the cost altogether). Even in today's game, 2 discards is way too high a cost for a monster like this.  This is supposed to be the "king planet" (below The Sun, of course), and it's worse than Uranus, Mars, Venus and even ****ing Pluto (who is hands-down one of the best ones).

 

Number 100 is WTF, in the sense that its Summoning Condition is not only needlessly difficult, but it makes no sense from a flavour perspective; Numbers, after all, are each supposed to be unique.  Mandating the same Type would have been way better IMO, because Dragon-Type Rank 8s were used to "wake him up" and unlock the card, and it would have been more feasible.
 

Number 78 is wasted potential; I really wished they didn't put that Special Summon restriction on it, as you could then work around it with Numbers like Lightning and The Seven Sins. It'd still be casual-tier, because of the Rank, the randomness of the Numbers it Summons, the fact that it can choose another copy of itself, and the fact that you're better off not running any non-Numbers in your Extra Deck (which in itself limits your options), but they seemed to ignore this and went overboard.

 

When I first saw the Cyber Angels, I only viewed them with the notion of actually Ritual Summoning them, so I didn't really care much for them; however, when I realized that they're fantastic as Tributes, my opinion of them shot through the roof.  Ritual Sanctuary was a neat asset to bundle with them too.

 

Cardians, I like the concept, and I think they could be fun with some serious draw power added to them, but right now, they're Hana Awase-or-die and Ameshikou isn't enough as a win condition IMO.  I'd like to see how they handle the other two Synchros, and I wouldn't complain if they got some good OCG/TCG-original support (some of the other support Spells from the anime would be nice too).

[Jord200]

Yeah, I was very disapointed with 100. All the Numbers here are hot garbage, or at best SEVERELY Meh, except 24 and 59.

 

I'm happy Pluto got love. I am overjoyed to see Cyber Angels ( Now only if I still bought cards or played )

 

Cardians are something I am also really glad to see printed, but they need some more for them to shine.

 

 

Zushin I could are less about. Technically, it is SUPPOSED to suck.

[The Nyx Avatar]

I think they're either running out of ideas or being lazy with the Number monsters. I do like Back the Cook, though. It actually seems practical in a good number of Decks; whether they Grave-trigger or are Pendulum Cards.

 

Cyber Angels are nowhere near meta, but probably one of the few fun things of this set. It also helps that they were improved upon since their initial appearance in the anime/manga.

 

Cardians: Similar to Cyber Angels in the fact that they're not meta, but fun.

 

So essentially, is this like looking for treasure in a pile of trash?

[Jord200]

I think they're either running out of ideas or being lazy with the Number monsters. 

 

So essentially, is this like looking for treasure in a pile of trash?

 

Pretty much.

[heraldry_lord]

I think they're either running out of ideas or being lazy with the Number monsters. I do like Back the Cook, though. It actually seems practical in a good number of Decks; whether they Grave-trigger or are Pendulum Cards.

 

 

I actually think Nosferatu is a neat concept and has a neat effect.  It also helps that he's actually good for a Rank 6.

 

Similarly, Number Archive is something I expected to see among the Numbers at some point, and I like the concept of it being a "library of Numbers you can access at any given time", but they didn't try hard enough to find a proper balance with it. 

 

That said, you'd struggle for ideas too if you were creating 100 unique Xyz.

[The Nyx Avatar]

I actually think Nosferatu is a neat concept and has a neat effect.  It also helps that he's actually good for a Rank 6.

If only it didn't target. Awesome art and name to boot, though.

 

Similarly, Number Archive is something I expected to see among the Numbers at some point, and I like the concept of it being a "library of Numbers you can access at any given time", but they didn't try hard enough to find a proper balance with it. 

I don't like how random it is; but at least it's 2 Level 1 as opposed to 3.

 

That said, you'd struggle for ideas too if you were creating 100 unique Xyz.

True. If you were expected to make some new Number monsters, you'd eventually slip up or skimp out to meet a deadline.

[heraldry_lord]

True. If you were expected to make some new Number monsters, you'd eventually slip up or skimp out to meet a deadline.

 

This is why I think they gave themselves too much work; the proposed Number count should have been way smaller, like 50 or something.

 

 

 

If only it didn't target. Awesome art and name to boot, though.

 

I don't mind that, not only because it can flip itself down, not only because it has a bit more resilience than the average Rank 6, and not only is its removal effect non-targeting, but I don't want the game to get to a point where even targeting immunity becomes virtually useless.

[evilfusion]

They probably shouldn't have spent a couple of those designs on half a dozen No.39 variants, in that case.

 

And 14 of those Numbers were the Over-Hundreds and C10X versions. And most of those were actually GOOD cards.

 

It's more annoying that neither the manga nor anime could cover the full set of Numbers without a good 20+ of them being completely OCG exclusive, because they're all but obligated to print the full series due to the nature of Numbers being collector fodder. They probably also know that people will want the cards regardless PURELY because they're Numbers, so half the designs don't actually have to be GOOD and people will still want them.

[The Warden]

I just find it strange that they have yet to create Number 5.

[heraldry_lord]

And 14 of those Numbers were the Over-Hundreds and C10X versions. And most of those were actually GOOD cards.

 

Barian power > Astral power apparently

 

 

 

I just find it strange that they have yet to create Number 5.

 

What was up with that anyway?  Was it too much work for Number 5 to show up in the same Duel as C5?  Then again, ZeXal was noticeably rushed at that point.

[玄魔の王]

Numeron Dragon is that rare oddity where the biggest problem with its viability is the same as the biggest problem with its flavour: needing 2 same-name Numbers. I understand why they changed it from 2 LV1s, because that's ridiculously cheap for what it does, but these summon conditions make no sense in the context of the anime and really hinder its playability. 2 Numbers would have sufficed.