Review: The White Dragon of Legend
Unlike the first Structure Deck EX: Spellbound Silence, this deck can be bought once for 1000 gems! In addition to $6.99 per deck and $3.99 one off.
“Will the cards create a new top-tier deck?”
In their current state, likely not. But it is hard to tell without defined builds. Though Hieratics and Blue-Eyes both have a fantastic Fur Hires matchup, their Vampires matchup is an uphill climb.
Hieratics just might. Blue-Eyes on the other hand after a main box and now an EX structure deck push, still didn’t get the right cards (that can safely be released in Duel Links… coughWhite Stone of the Ancientscough) to be competitive in Duel Links. With Fur Hires around and big booty Judy (Wiz, Sage Fur Hire) to negate your plays, backed by Treacherous Trap Hole (needs to be put to 2 or banned), no solid turn one play, which also goes hand in hand with the decks inconsistent opening hands, this deck isn’t more than a fun deck. This probably won’t deliver impact like the Silent Magician and Destiny ruler structures did.
Uhh… maybe?
Yes, Blue-Eyes has strong potential to be on the Tier List. It has a lot of consistency pieces in Bingo Machine, Go!!!, Cosmo Brain, Paladin of Felgrand, etc. and huge power plays with multiple Dragon Spirit of White summons and Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon revival to keep constant pressure on your opponent.
Sasuke:
I believe the cards in this box can for sure put Blue-Eyes on the Tier List. Where exactly is still unknown but it for sure has much potential. The high attack power and the continuous special summoning can really put the pressure on the opponent. All this deck really needs is to find the proper build and it will be incredibly strong.
“Will the cards be used in another top-tier deck?”
Considering their support is Dragon specific, I doubt it.
Hieratics are the possible hidden gem, they can swarm, synchro into Stardust Stardust easily, and destroy monsters and spell/traps with their monster effects. Cards like Treacherous Trap Hole, again may hurt a bit too much, but we’ll see how it plays out.
Likely not. The fact that they gave us a couple old box-UR/SR’s is pretty cool but the best cards in this box are more suited to be their own deck-types and aren’t very splashable into other meta decks.
No decks currently on the Tier List would use any of the cards in this deck.
Sasuke:
The cards in this deck don’t really go well with any other deck on the Tier List currently. Cosmo Brain could be used with Dark Magician but it’s been a while since Dark Magician was meta.
“How do you expect the cards to impact the meta overall?”
In a tournament atmosphere infested with Fur Hires, Hieratics stand a great chance. However, I do not expect Hieratics to perform fantastically whilst Vampires is still such a popular deck pick for tournaments. It would not surprise me to see a Hieratic player appear in the top cut from time to time though.
With the addition of Dragon Spirit of White, Blue-Eyes now has a great Amazoness matchup. But with the re-introduction of Side Decks, Amazoness has fallen from its prior tier 1 position, thus seeing far less tournament representation. Though Vampire Vamp is a massive threat to the deck, the deck effect of Dragon Spirit of White can be used to dodge that. Blue-Eyes have many ways in which they can be built, and without a defined built as of yet it is difficult to make an accurate assumption on how it will perform.
This probably won’t deliver impact like the Spellbound Silence and Destiny Rulers structure decks did but Hieratics may make me eat those words, and I hope so. Konami is SLACKING!
Blue-Eyes is the most interesting for sure. Before this structure the Blue-Eyes strategy was very linear in that all the deck did was spit out vanilla beaters that, quite frankly, were too easy for the rest of the meta to deal with despite their high attack. The other issue was that the deck doesn’t have any ways to “plus” so it struggles on resources after a turn or two. It’s tough to say how much the boost from this structure deck will fix either of those problems but certain cards such as Dragon Spirit of White and Rider of the Storm Winds at least add some versatility to the Blue-Eyes White Dragon strategy, and cards like Bingo Machine, Go!!! and especially Cosmo Brain can at least add a bit of extra consistency to the main strategy of the deck.
I think Blue-Eyes will become a top deck, forcing the meta to adapt to its presence a bit. Masked Heroes players will have to decide between Destiny HERO - Decider to wall off Blue-Eyes White Dragon or Destiny HERO - Drilldark to pierce through Vampires. Floodgate Trap Hole may start to rise back up in popularity a bit as this really slows down Blue-Eyes decks without Paladin of Felgrand.
Hieratics are full of future potential. Going second they can OTK fairly easily if they have Hey, Trunade! or are otherwise undisrupted (with plays like normal summon Hieratic Dragon of Gebeb, tribute for Hieratic Dragon of Nebthet, special summon Hieratic Seal of the Sun Dragon Overlord, draw 2 off Sun Dragon with Advance Draw, tribute from the hand to pop a monster with Nebthet and special summon Sun Dragon again, tribute Sun Dragon to special summon Hieratic Dragon of Su and swing for 4200 damage). They really lack a good turn 1 play (ideally they could pull Galaxy Serpent from the deck and make a good turn 1 Synchro, except we don’t have any of those outside of {Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon) and lose to Treacherous Trap Hole harder than any other relevant deck. Any additional support for this deck type, even indirect, could easily push this on to the Tier List.
Sasuke:
If order if these cards to impact the meta in any way the deck must first prove to be worth of a spot on the Tier List. It may be too early to say, but I do believe the deck can handle even the two strongest decks in the game, Fur Hires and Vampires, so that alone is enough to impact the meta entirely. The Blue-Eyes deck is filled with boss monsters that can easily beat over Wiz, Sage Fur Hire in defense position so you don’t need additional resources, that could possibly be negated, just to get rid of it. And all the special summoning and reviving in the deck allows it to play very aggro and play through cards like Enemy Controller and Treacherous Trap Hole.
Tell us your own thoughts on the structure deck in the comments below!
