It's Finally Here! A Look at our 2021 Mega-Tins Every year, one of the most anticipated releases is always that year's Mega-Tins. This year's 2021 Mega-Tin introduces some new cards and reprints som

Prologue

Every year, one of the most anticipated releases is always the Mega-Tins. Mega-Tins are an annual release which mainly reprints cards from the past year. This makes a lot of desired cards more accessible and offered in different rarities. This year's 2021 Mega-Tin introduces some new cards and reprints some of the best cards of the past year. Let's check out what it has to offer.

Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljCH9l03CbY&ab_channel=BlueRainTCG

New Cards

First, we're going to talk about this year's new cards. The 2021 Tin of Ancient Battles features 4 new cards. 3 of these cards are world premiere cards that support the Dark Magician and Blue-Eyes archetypes.

True Light is a continuous trap that is similar to Eternal Soul. It's a great utility card for Blue-Eyes and will probably see a lot of play in pure Blue-Eyes and Chaos MAX decks.

Magician's Salvation is a field spell that makes Eternal Soul more accessible. It has a lot of synergy within the archetype and is great for generating advantage.

Piercing the Darkness is a continuous spell that supports both archetypes. It's a great tool to make your monsters stronger during battle and makes your boss monsters even harder to deal with. 

The quality of support from this year's Tins is a big improvement when compared to last year's. The new support is all playable and does a lot for their respective archetypes. Though this alone won't make either archetype top tier, it's at least a step in the right direction.

The Elephant in the Room

The last new card released in this year's tins is Crossout Designator. It was initially released in the OCG as a V JUMP promotional card in 2019 and has been anticipated in the TCG ever since.

Crossout Designator is a powerful Quick-Play spell that can potentially negate the effects of any main deck card. It's a staple in combo decks and assists in playing through disruptions. Crossout can be used to negate troublesome hand traps such as Droll & Lock Bird and Nibiru, the Primal Being. This makes it superior to Called by the Grave in some cases because it can negate cards that Called by cannot. In mirror matches, Crossout can also negate important engine cards. This can come up in Tri-Brigade and Drytron mirrors where you can negate important effects such as Tri-Brigade Fraktall and Diviner of the Herald.

Crossout is a card that is difficult to praise in just a few words. It's a card that's extremely versatile in the fact you can use it both offensively and defensively. It's also relevant in almost every game-state where it can be activated. If I had to name a flaw, it can be dead in matchups against Rogue decks where you don't share many common cards. However, even in these matchups, if Crossout has nothing to negate, it usually means you have a green light to play.

Ignition!

The first set we'll talk about in this year's Mega-Tins is Ignition Assault. Ignition Assault is a set released in January of 2020 and introduced the @Ignister, Megalith, Plunder Patroll, and Ancient Warrior archetypes.

The highlight of this set is the reprints to the @Ignister cards. Previously, Ignister A.I.Land was an expensive secret rare that was one of the entry barriers for players to get into @Ignister. With its reprint along with rest of the core, @Ignister becomes a more accessible deck.

This set also features two prominent rarity upgrades to Sky Striker Ace - Roze and Cross-Sheep in Prismatic Secret Rare. Sky Striker players can finally rarity match their Raye from 2019's Tins and Cross-Sheep is just a nice reprint.

Overall, Ignition Assault's place in this year's Tins is lackluster to say the least. It feels like nothing of significance got reprinted and that the set's existence was just forgotten. Archetypes such as Ancient Warriors and Megalith are also absent leaving players who wanted rarity upgrades disappointed. Another card that's missing from the lineup is Lightning Storm. While it was present in King's Court, its absence from the Mega-Tins leaves many players wanting more.

Missing Code

Eternity Code is the set after Ignition Assault and is a set that supported a bunch of different archetypes. It also had notable cards such as Girsu, the Orcust Mekk-Knight, Animadorned Archosaur and Ghost Mourner & Moonlit Chill.

In this year's Tins, Eternity Code is decently represented with reprints to all the cards just mentioned. This makes decks that use these cards like Orcust and Dinos much more budget friendly. Mid-Tier meta cards such as Dragonmaid Sheou, Machina Metalcruncher, and Parallel eXceed also have their rarity bumped up to Prismatic Secret Rare. 

The main problem with Eternity Code's representation is the absence of Accesscode Talker. Accesscode is a powerful card that sees play in many decks. It's also one of the most expensive cards of the meta selling for upwards of $165.00 at the time of writing this article. This means players will have to wait for a while before the chance for an Accesscode's reprint appears again. Another card that missed the cut is Chamber Dragonmaid. Although Chamber is receiving a reprint in the next Gold Series set, not having it present in this year's tins is a bit disappointing. 

A Duelist rises Again

Rise of the Duelist is the set that many players consider the set of the year. It debuted multiple strong staples and one of the strongest engines in the game that still sees play today.

First, let's talk about the Dogmatika package. The Dogmatika package is one of the most flexible and powerful engines in the game. It can be splashed into a variety of different decks and is almost always impactful. The only problem is the package is quite expensive which made it difficult for the casual player to have access to. With these reprints, more players will have access to these cards so expect to see them much more frequently and in more decks.

Strong staples such as Triple Tactics Talent and Ice Dragon's Prison also receive reprints in this year's tins. Like the Dogmatika package, these cards were rather expensive making it difficult for many players to get their hands on them. With the reprints, expect to see these more often too.

Overall, Rise of the Duelist is well represented in this year's tins. Most of the cards people want reprinted are in the set and the rarity upgrades are quite nice.  The only thing lacking is the absence of Forbidden Droplet but players will have a chance to get that later this year in Brothers of Legend.

Definitely not a Phantom

Phantom Rage is a set that brought forth 2 strong meta archetypes; Tri-Brigade and Virtual World. It also contains powerful stand-alone cards like Divine Arsenal AA-Zeus - Sky Thunder and Alpha, the Master of Beasts

In this year's tins, Virtual World and Tri-Brigade both have their entire core reprinted with many rarity upgrades. This is great for players who want to give their decks a bit more shine or for players looking to get into those decks now.

Zeus and Alpha also receive reprints which is nice due to the popularity of both cards. Zeus in particular, is a nice reprint due to its high playability and demand. And lastly, Phantom Knights also become more accessible with all their major cards in the set as well. 

The cards missing from Phantom Rage include the complete Myutant archetype and most of the Raidraptor support. While both of these archetypes will probably go un-noticed and disregarded, it does mean getting these cards later might become more difficult so pick them up now if you ever consider playing these decks.

Not a Secret Anymore

Following the tradition of last year's Tins, the side set; Secret Slayers is also included in this year's Tins. Secret Slayers brought forth 3 archetypes into the game with Adamancipator and Eldlich being strong meta contenders.

The only archetype from Secret Slayers in this year's tins is Adamancipator. Adamancipator has their entire core reprinted with many rarity downgrades. This is good for players that want to play the deck since Secret Slayers is out of print and Adamancipator Researcher was quite expensive. 

Secret Slayer's spot in this year's tins may be good or bad depending on how much you like Adamancipator or Eldlich. While the Adamancipator reprints are nice, Eldlich cards are becoming increasingly more difficult to obtain and more expensive as the days goes on. Rikka cards are also missing from this set so pick them up while they're cheap if you plan on playing them in the future.

Truly an Impact!

Genesis Impact is another side set from this past year and introduced the Drytron, Twins and Magistus archetypes. 

Out of the three archetypes from Genesis Impact, Drytron is by far the most competitive. Maybe that's why it's the only archetype that received reprints in this year's tins. In the set, Drytron Beta, Gamma, and Delta receive upgrades to super rare while Zeta becomes Prismatic Secret Rare. This is great for any Drytron player who wants to add some more holofoil to their deck.

Though I would love to talk more about the reprints from Genesis Impact, that's... about it. Genesis Impact only got 4 slots and they were all upgrades to Drytron monsters. No Twin reprints, no Magistus reprints, not even Meteonis Drytron received a reprint. While the rarity upgrades to Drytron are nice, it seems like there was a missed opportunity here to give more cards a rarity bump.

Structure Deck Reprints!?

The 2021 Mega-Tin is the first Mega-Tin to reprint cards from the past year's Structure Decks. In this tin, we find reprints from Shaddoll Showdown and Sacred Beasts of Chaos.

From Shaddoll Showdown, Keios, Wendi, and Ariel receive rarity upgrades to Ultra Rare while Apkallone and Construct receive upgrades to Prismatic Secret Rare. Though I wish it was the original artwork of Construct that received the Prismatic Secret treatment, this is still nice and cool for Shaddoll players.

From Sacred Beasts of Chaos, the 3 Sacred Beasts and some of their new support cards also receive rarity upgrades. The Sacred Beasts get upgraded to Prismatic Secret Rare while the other support also receive upgrades to Super and Ultra Rare. This is nice for collectors and adds some collector value to a set consisting of mostly meta reprints.

Overall Thoughts

Overall, I would rate this year's Mega-Tins an 8/10. While it did miss some cards, it also got a lot of things right. Losing out on Accesscode especially hurts since it's such a necessary card for a lot of decks. Other cards like Forbidden Droplets and Chamber Dragonmaid, while not present in this set, have been announced in other sets which'll give players other opportunities to obtain them. 

As far as everything else goes, this year's tin does a pretty good job. It made many cards more accessible and features some nice rarity upgrades. The Dogmatika package in particular is something many players have been wanting reprinted for a long time. Tri-Brigade and Virtual World reprints also mean players can jump into the meta immediately with a full deck core. The new world premiere cards are also nice and something that both Dark Magician and Blue-Eyes players will definitely want. And lastly, who could forget about Crossout Designator; perhaps the most anticipated cards of the past 2 years and it's finally here and ready to cause havoc on our meta.

Whether you're a new player, a returning player or a veteran in the game, the 2021 tins has something for everyone. Be sure to pick them up quick since with a set this good, it's sure to sell out quickly. 

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