I did want to share some thoughts about Quarter Century Stampede now that it’s been released and we know the full setlist. First, it’s dirty what they did with Dragon Master Magia and basically every alternate art card in the set. While I understand the desire to not print a QCR in two sets, I think it’s dirty to still put these cards in select rarities.
Dragon Master Magia is only available in Platinum Secret Rare, Prismatic Collector’s Rare, and Prismatic Ultimate Rare, meaning that it is not available in two of the available rarities when you account for the fact it’s already been printed as a QCR (and that was also dirty). The alternate art cards are only being made available as QCRs which is also ridiculous! Just let them be available!
Second, some of the inclusions and exclusions for both pools are a little weird to a degree. For instance, I think it’s great that Epurrely Noir is in here, but the lack of any other Purrely card has me scratching my head and if they were only going to bring one Purrely card, it should have been Expurrely Noir.
I also think it’s a mistake that neither pool has the Edison staple Magical Android. That card has not been printed in over a decade and so the cheapest you can get it at any time is about $16! Previous Rarity Collection sets have had cards included with older formats in mind, so this oversight is a little sad.
Instead we get a card like Mystic Piper which to my knowledge has never been relevant to any meta, nor in any of the anime. That said, I do love inclusions in both pools such as Mementotlan Angwitch, Mulcharmy Fuwalos, Metaltronus, many of the alternate artworks, Delinquent Duo, Trap Dustshoot, and many more. This set does have good cards, just also some questionable ones thrown into the mix.
I have really enjoyed these Rarity Collection sets and I agree that the first one was objectively the best one and they should go back to that format. However, each one has definitely had cards that I wanted and been a fun experience and I know that a lot of other duelists enjoy opening them as well.
I do hope that Konami continues this idea with Starlight Rares instead of QCRs and maybe slows down on them a bit. I still maintain that they would be a good replacement for the annual Mega Tins that duelists have become increasingly frustrated with over the years.
Speaking of Mega Tins, Konami did also announce some details regarding the Mega Tins for 2025. Dubbed 2025 Mega-Pack Tin, this year, duelists will be able to purchase Mega Packs in two ways. First, there’s the traditional set of three in a metal tin with an MSRP of $23.99.
In my opinion the tin looks really cool featuring several characters across the different anime series opposite an associated card a la playing card. Yugi is across from Magician of Chaos, Jaden from Elemental HERO Neos, and Yusei is across from Junk Synchron to name a few. Inside the tins, duelists will also find 3 Deck Dividers depicting artwork from the tin.
The second way to get Mega Packs is through 3-pack bundles for $20.99. These don’t come with the metal tin nor the deck dividers. Honestly, I like this idea of not having to also buy the metal tin, but I wish the discount was more than $3. We don’t know any of the card pool (although I’d guess all the cards on the tin are included), but we do know that each Mega Pack will include 1 Starlight Rare, 1 Prismatic Secret Rare, 3 Ultra Rares, and 8 Commons (total of 13 cards per pack).
Hopefully Konami will better manage the card pool this year and it will be much smaller than the past couple of years. What do you hope is in the 2025 Mega-Pack Tins?
