RARITY COLLECTION II, DUEL LINKS in VR and the classic video game collection announced for YU-GI-OH!

Konami isn’t done celebrating the 25th anniversary of Yu-Gi-Oh! collectible card game. Last month they announced the 25th Anniversary Rarities Collection II (the sequel to Amazing Rarity collection released just a few months ago) and then this last week they announced goodies for fans of virtual duels. Let’s start talking.

Rarities Collection II It’s become a little divisive in the community. This was shocking because of the love we duelists put forth for the first set. First, what is it Rarities Collection II? It is a set of 79 cards, each different from the original Rarity collection. Once again, each card will be available in seven different holographic rarities, but this time each pack contains nine cards with double the Ultra Rare and Secret cards per pack, which in turn increases your chances of getting at least one deluxe rare card . Sounds like a slam dunk, right? Well, the problem is with the announced cards.

The list of cards announced for Rarities Collection II includes the following:

• Talker access code

• Magicians’ souls

• Silent wizard

• Silent swordsman

• Have fun and block the bird

• Ghost ogre and snow rabbit

• Ghost in mourning and frost in the moonlight

• Fantastic dragon Phantazmay

• Reichphobia of the primitive planet

• The primordial planet Perlereino

• The planet Wraitsoth is under pressure

• The peaceful planet Calarium

• I:P Masquerena (alternative art)

• Rescue Cat (alternative art)

• Apollousa, Bow of the Goddess (alternative illustration)

Yes, many of those cards aren’t exactly cards that fans care about. Unfortunately the first impression the duelists received Rarities Collection II it’s that there are far fewer cards that help them in a competitive environment, and there aren’t many nostalgic cards revealed either. Now, there are some really good cards like Accesscode Talker, but fans were hoping for a lot more like S:P Little Knight and Diabellstar to combat how expensive the secondary market is for those cards.

It’s important to note that many are right that the first round of revelations should create the most buzz. However, there is a possibility that such cards will be revealed in the future so as not to impact current sales of similar sets The era of the Overlord which is still relatively new. I wouldn’t hold my breath for something like that, but you can dream, right? You will be able to purchase Rarities Collection II on May 24 with each pack having an MSRP of $9.99 and the following rarity breakdown:

• 2 Secret Rares (each with an individual 1 in 4 chance of being turned into a Platinum Secret Rare or Quarter Century Secret Rare)

• 4 Ultra Rares (each with an individual 1 in 6 chance of being upgraded to a new “Prismatic” style Collector’s Rare or a new “Prismatic” style Ultimate Rare)

• 3 Super Rares

More recently, Konami made two more Yu-Gi-Oh! announcements that moved me. First, Yu-Gi-Oh! Early days collection will be a collection of digital games for Nintendo Switch and PC. This will be a collection of firsts Yu-Gi-Oh! video games, including those that have not previously been released in the West. The first official title revealed for Early days collection AND Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters 4: Battle between great duelists for the Game Boy Color. Quite interesting, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters 6: Expert 2 for Game Boy Advance has been confirmed for Japan, but is missing from the US announcement. Unfortunately no release window was given, but I would say this summer.

This brings us to perhaps the most exciting of announcements. Konami showed off Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links presents the SOLID VISION EXPERIMENT which is essentially Duel Connections in VR and I’m very excited about this prospect. This might be the closest game you’ll get to the holographic games that duelists have dreamed of since the beginning. I struggled to justify getting VR but being able to play games Yu-Gi-Oh! in VR it would probably be a huge boost. Unfortunately there isn’t much more information about this VR project, but we hope to know more by the end of the year.