Astral's Advent Observations - DAY 20!

Welcome back to Astral's Advent Observations, where we're warming ourselves by a cozy holiday fire while making sure not to sit too close to protect our beloved children's trading cards.

Dawn of the 20th day: 4 days remain.

Our next Ultra Rare digs back into the manga card well! It's Toy Magician!

General Observation:

This card has a pretty unusual effect: you can set it like a Spell or Trap and if your opponent destroys it, you can special summon it. Could be a good defense builder for cards that destroy everything on the field, but having to rely upon your opponent's card effect to use this skill makes it not entirely practical. It also has the power to destroy an equal number of Spell and Trap cards to the number of Toy Magicians present on the field, making it a good card to gather a playset for just in case. Moving past its effects, its attack strength is nice for a 4-star Monster and being a Spellcaster, it's compatible with a score of useful Spells and Traps such as One-Shot Wand.

Trivia Observation:

Toy Magician was originally printed in the TCG set, The Duelist Genesis. As stated previously, he's another manga card, being summoned by none other than Yugi Muto (Little Yugi) himself in Chapter 23 of the manga-exclusive story, Yu-Gi-Oh! R.

Personal Observation:

This is the last card that I knew was in the Calendar thanks to the press releases. Very happy to have it, as I personally collect cards used by both Yugi and Yami Yugi.

That wraps up our 20th day, but stick around for the LAST FOUR DAYS of Astral's Advent Observations!

Astral's Advent Observations - DAY 19!

Welcome back to Astral's Advent Observations, where the grand majority of this December has consisted of me celebrating the holidays by pulling trading cards out of a huge box.

We're down to our last row of doors!

What's a Christmas without Deer? It's an Ultra Rare copy of Valerifawn, Mystical Beast of the Forest!

General Observation:

Valerifawn lacks attack strength, but has the ability to resurrect one of your fallen lower-level Beast-type Monsters once per turn with the simple discard of a card. In addition to this, it's a Tuner, meaning you can use its ability to quickly gather material for a Synchro Summon. Since it's a Beast-type, it works great in a Beast-focused deck.

Trivia Observation:

Valerifawn was originally printed in the TCG set, The New Challengers. While it lacks any anime or manga love, it actually makes a cameo on another Monster card, Flower Cardian Maple with Deer. Valerifawn gets its name from the Valerian Sprig and, obviously, a Fawn.

Personal Observation:

Talk about perfectly timed! They JUST added this card to Duel Links and made me aware of it and now I have my own copy!

That's everything for today, but don't miss the LAST FIVE DAYS of Astral's Advent Observations!

Astral's Advent Observations - DAY 18!

Welcome back to Astral's Advent Observations, where trading card and anime factoids are somehow synonymous with Clark Griswold's infamous holiday rant and Chewbacca's beloved relatives, Itchy and Lumpy.

We're in the homestretch with only six days to go after this one!

The fast-approaching Christmas Eve is already shining on us with our first Ultra Rare card, Hoshiningen! (Or "Star Person," if you translate the Japanese.)

General Observation:

Hoshiningen is probably the oldest card we've gotten out of the Calendar yet, and its effect is fittingly basic as a result: it strengthens Light-attribute Monsters by 500 ATK and weakens Dark-attribute Monsters by 400 ATK. Could be useful with augmenting a Light Monster-heavy deck, but the drawback is that it's such a wimpy Monster that you'd have to protect it with a Spell or Trap in order to keep it around. However, since it takes up a spot on your field in order to use its effect, you'd probably be better off sticking to Field or Equip Spells to strengthen your Monsters instead.

Trivia Observation:

Hoshiningen was originally printed in the OLLLLLLLLD TCG set Metal Raiders. It has made one single, solitary appearance on the anime side of things and it's not exactly a flattering one: Yusaku, the main character of Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS, showed it off among his "dummy deck" of terrible cards to his school's Duel Club in Episode 6 of VRAINS. (He keeps this deck on him to protect his secret identity as the vigilante duelist, Playmaker.) While you may feel sorry for Hoshiningen because of that particular factoid, it's kept in good spirit by the sheer fact that its Japanese name is, in fact, "Superstar."

Personal Observation:

Very interesting choice for our first Ultra. Might be fun to try making a gimmick deck with this guy.

That's all on our plate today, but stick around tomorrow for the next serving of Astral's Advent Observations!

Astral's Advent Observations - DAY 17!

Welcome back to Astral's Advent Observations, where we've been opening one little box per day and pulling out a children's trading card that we've been attempting to make interesting all in the pursuit of festivity.

It's Day 17! We've only got ONE WEEK LEFT of Days!

Today we've got another Monster with a penchant for fireworks! It's Lonefire Blossom!

General Observation:

Lonefire Blossom has a very straightforward effect and it's a nice boon for Plant Decks. When this card is on the field, once per turn, you can tribute any Plant-type Monster (including this one) to special summon any other Plant resting in your deck that can be special summoned this way. This allows you instant access to almost your entire catalog of Plant Monsters and affords you a ton of strategic opportunities depending on the situation!

Trivia Observation:

Lonefire Blossom was originally printed in the Phantom Darkness TCG set. It has made no canon appearances to speak of other than presence in the World Championship series games. Blazewing Butterfly makes a cameo in this card's art.

Personal Observation:

Never heard of this one, but it seems pretty useful. Guessing the holiday connection is lights or fireworks?

That's all there is for today, but come back tomorrow for another Astral's Advent Observations!

Astral's Advent Observations - DAY 16!

Welcome back to Astral's Advent Observations, where we're revealing all of the Yu-Gi-Oh TCG Advent Calendar's innards day by day as we march towards the merriest day if the year.

Day 16! It stills feels like we just started this...

Another switch-up with a very appropriate card, it's the Spell Gift Exchange!

General Observation:

This is an understandably gimmicky card that isn't really that super useful unless you have an understanding of what's left in your opponent's deck. You both banish a card from your decks and at the End Phase, add that card to each other's hands. This COULD be used to either further the deck destruction of an already low deck or plant a dangerous card in your opponent's hand, but I feel there are way better cards to do that with. This one's all about the festivity.

Trivia Observation:

This card was originally printed in the TCG set Maximum Crisis, however, the real bit of trivia is when it was released in Japan. It was actually released December 20th, 2014 to celebrate the upcoming Christmas there, so you couldn't ask for a more appropriate card for an Advent Calendar! It has made no canon appearances yet, but another bit of trivia is pertaining to the Monster printed on that surly Goblin's new t-shirt. That Monster is Scrap Kong, and his dissatisfaction is actually a reference to a meme about how useless that card is!

Personal Observation:

Heh, I think I might have barely heard of this card, but I've never owned it, so really fun choice for an Advent Calendar.

That's all for Day 16, but come back tomorrow for Day 17 of Astral's Advent Observations!

Astral's Advent Observations - DAY 15!

Welcome back to Astral's Advent Observations, a celebration of all things seasonal and card games.

Day 15 is upon us! Our remaining days are down to the single digits!

That's certainly a switch most of the way through the Calendar! Our first Trap Card, Token Feastevil!

General Observation:

Token Feastevil has the power to destroy all Tokens on the field when some are special summoned and inflict 300 damage to your opponent for each one. You could potentially create a strategy for a damage deck that revolves around repeatedly summoning Tokens just to destroy them with this card and further slug your opponent, or blow through the Tokens your opponent summoned to block you off, or even summon your own Tokens to activate this card when your opponent's field is stacked with them and take an even bigger bite out of them. Its effect is limited, but in the right situation, it could absolutely be a boon.

Trivia Observation:

Token Feastevil was originally printed in one of the first GX TCG sets, The Lost Millennium. It has not made any appearances, but it shares relation to two other Token support cards, the Spells Token Thanksgiving and Token Sundae, which also depict similar Goblins and Scapegoats.

Personal Observation:

Yep, run across this one before. I think it was actually the very first Ultimate Rare I pulled.

That's it for today, but tomorrow's another day for Astral's Advent Observations!

Astral's Advent Observations - DAY 14!

Welcome back to Astral's Advent Observations, where cards exit this festive box every day and we try to find some kind of link to the holidays.

Exactly two weeks in!

Guess we're having Chicken tonight! Today's card is Cockadoodledoo!

General Observation:

Cockadoodledoo is primarily useful for bringing out specific level Synchro Monsters, as it can be a level 3, 4, or 5 Tuner Monster depending on the field's current situation. It can also be special summoned, meaning it can also be a good defender against your opponent's lower level Monsters, as it has 2000 defense points.

Trivia Observation:

Cockadoodledoo was originally printed in the TCG set, Judgement of the Light. It only made minor appearances in the anime, as a part of Hero Chojiro's card collection starting in Episode 60 of Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V. It appears to be the older version of another Chicken Monster from the same original set, Cheepcheepcheep, who has the ability to special summon a level 5 Tuner (Like Cockadoodledoo) when it's flipped.

Personal Observation:

Another card I had very little knowledge of before and another that's a little odd for an Advent Calendar. What's the correlation between Christmas and Chickens? Aren't they more of an Easter thing? Unless he's supposed to represent a holiday meal...

That does it for Day 14, but stay tuned for Day 15 tomorrow. We're getting down to the last chunk of cards, so be sure not to miss Astral's Advent Observations!