Astral's Advent Observations: The Kuriquel - DAY 1!

Welcome back! It's December again, which means it's time for the start of the follow-up to that pulling-cards-out-of-a-box thing that I did last year! It's Astral's Advent Observations: The Kuriquel! In case you don't know how this works: every day in December I'll pull a card out of the 2019 Yu-Gi-Oh! Advent Calendar and do the best of my very limited abilities to provide strategies and trivia for each and every one! Without further ado, let's get started!

Who or what could be hiding behind our first box?

Why, it's the best possible start to a Kuriboh-themed Advent Calendar...classic/vanilla Kuriboh!

General Observation:

Setting the template for your typical Kuriboh, this little guy doesn't pack much of a punch in either attack or defense, but more than makes up for it with its damage-blocking effect. Just discard him from your hand, and any incoming damage you're about to take from an attack will be reduced to 0! He's perfect for saving for when you're in a pinch!

Trivia Observation:

The trivia section here should be a little bit obvious to those with a cursory Yu-Gi-Oh! knowledge (how Kuriboh was always in Yugi's deck in the original Yu-Gi-Oh! manga and anime and oftentimes came off like his mascot and went on to inspire quite a few spin-off cards that may all be contained within this very box), so I'll go for some more off-beat factoids. 

For instance, did you know that "Kuriboh" translated from Japanese is a portmanteau of the words "chestnut" and "boy" or "person" or that he pretty much shares his name with the Japanese name of the famous Super Mario enemy, Goomba? (Kuribo) Goomba ALSO spawned quite a few variations and spin-offs, so I guess Japan is ALL ABOUT the little chestnut people.

Personal Observation:

Ah, classic, and a perfect way to start us off!

Day 1 is officially in the bag! However, we've still got 23 more boxes to open, so come back tomorrow for Day 2 of Astral's Advent Observations: The Kuriquel!