The Ultimate Guide to Yu-Gi-Oh! Phantom Nightmare Set

As many know very well, 2024 marks the 25th anniversary of Yu-Gi-Oh!, the trading Card Game that released in Japan in February 1999. Konami put a lot of efforts to celebrate celebrate this amazing milestone and to remember all the cards that made the history of both the game and the anime. For example, the Collector's Rare set “Maze of Millennia” that released in January brought back tons of iconic cards from the Anime that were never seen in the TGC before. This was not an isolated case as we saw these sparks of nostalgia continuing in the first core set of 2024 “Phantom Nightmare” and in “Legacy of Destruction” just released in April.

Interesting fact, “Phantom Nightmare” release was the 8th of February and, as you can imagine from the card featured on the cover, this set provides a lot of support for “Yubel” Archetype. This is not a coincidence as almost on the same date in 2008 Konami released Yubel for the first time in a set named “Phantom Darkness”. The correlation does not end here as the set that came out right after this one was “Light of Destruction” that seems extremely close to the set just released in April: “Legacy of Destruction”. Let's also add that in both the newer and the older sets there was support for the “Lightsworn” Archetype and you can definitely see where this is going...

Together with Yubel, Phantom Nightmare set list includes a lot of support for other archetypes including Majespecters, "Aroma", "Diabellstar", and "Earthbound" together with some very interesting new Archetypes like "Ashened", "Voiceless Voice" and "Goblin Biker". Most important, Phantom Nightmare includes the first support for the new “Pyro” Archetype Konami started with “Bonfire” in Maze of Millennia. I think there is a lot in this set to be excited for but let's have a look into it together and let's see what you think.

Right out of the Booster Pack: what to expect?

As usual, Yu-Gi-Oh! Phantom Nightmare set comes in Booster boxes of 24 Boosters Packs, each containing 9 cards (8 common and 1 Rare or above). Phantom Nightmare card list includes a total of 101 cards: 1 Quarter Century Secret Rare, 10 Secret Rares, 14 Ultra Rares, 26 Super Rares and 50 Commons. All the Ultra Rares and Secret Rares can also be found as Quarter Century Secret Rare making this set very collectable. A full list of the cards included in the set can be found here.

Another good reason to collect Phantom Nightmare is that the Quarter Century Secret Rare in the set is “Magicians of Bonds and Unity”, a card that has been printed only in four sets so far (including Legacy of Destruction) and only in this high level of rarity.

Finally, this set does not contain any reprints as all of the cards are new to the game. This is unusual for the game and it is quite interesting to see how many Archetypes and Theme are support in this set.

Most interesting Archetypes in Phantom Nightmare set

As mentioned, Phantom Nightmare comes right after Maze of Millennia and to continue the current effort of Konami to provide support to beloved legacy decks together with releasing interesting and powerful new archetypes.

The first Archetype we can see in the set is Yubel, showcased in the cover of the packs as a clear link to the 2008's set Phantom Darkness. In this new set, Yubel gains a total of seven new support cards, including two new forms that can expand the Archetype abilities making it more fun to play.

The biggest change for all those player looking to bring back Yubel to the tables is the new fusion card “Yubel - The Loving Defender Forever”, which finally allows this deck to use “Super Polymerization”. This is a very overdue fix considering Yubel created Super Polymerization in the series thus it was quite weird that this Archetype was locked out of it for so long. The new Loving Defender can in fact now absorb all monsters from the field if summoned with this strategy dealing 500 damages for each material used in the process. In addition, if you choose to attack one of your opponent monsters on the field, Yubel will deal direct damage to your opponent equal to the battled monster ATK and than banish it from the field without taking any damage back.  

Another good card you can be able to get from this set is “Samsara D Lotus”, which can be tributed to either Special Summon any “Yubel” monster from the deck or change any activated effect to be “destroy a Yubel monster” (since this will triggers the effect Yubel deck is built on). Most interestingly, this card will always return from the Grave Yard as long as you have any “Yubel” Monster on the field.

Overall, all the new cards in the set are making Yubel definitely an interesting Archetype to play with a potential to be quite competitive.

Moving forward, the next important Archetype you can find in Phantom Nightmare is “Ashened”. This brand new archetype consists of DARK attribute PYRO Effect Monsters that Special Summon themselves from the hand when the Field Spell "Obsidim, the Ashened City" on the field. The aim of the deck is to summon to the field the Lv9 Boss Monster “Veidos the Eruption Dragon of Extinction” that can be summoned from the hand to the opponent's side in exchange for any field spell. Veidos takes the slot of the field spell thus preventing your opponent to summon any unless they remove this Monster causing it to destroy all the monsters on the field. The other effect of Veidos allows the player to summon the Continuous trap Card “Ashened for Eternity” which enables them to take control of Veidos (or any other of your monsters) in the opponent's field while reducing the ATK of all their monster by your monster ATK. Kaiju Monsters can actually synergize well with this card opening up some nice interactions for the deck.

Interestingly, the Archetype interacts very well with some of the new Pyro cards released in Maze of Millennia and it will get more support in the April set “Legacy of Destruction”. Overall, although this Archetype is limited by the presence of a Field Spell, it has some good potential considering also the newer cards will increase its consistency. The other aspect to consider is that Veidos is a Secret Rare and as such is quite valuable and a great pull if you are lucky enough.

The second new Archetype released in this set, “Voiceless Voice”, also showed a lot of good potential in the OCG and it can lead to some good decks in the TGC meta too. The cards of this Archetypes rotate around the Ritual Monster “Skull Guardian, Protector of the Voiceless Voice” that has similar stats as its classic counterpart, although its ATK can increase to 4100 in case "Lo, the Prayers of the Voiceless Voice" is on the field or Grave Yard. Skull Guardian can then allow the player to get one "Voiceless Voice" monster, or Warrior/Dragon Ritual Monster from your Deck and to negate any effect or card if the Player also control "Lo, the Prayers of the Voiceless Voice".

Lo is actually the other key card of this new Archetype due its ability to be used as only tribute to summon a Warrior/Dragon Ritual Monster and to come back to the field once the Ritual Monster summoned. Lo can also search for any Voiceless Voice Continuous Spell/Trap including the very useful "Barrier of the Voiceless Voice" to protect your Light Monster from any effect and to get one card of choice of the Archetype every turn including Skull Guardian itself.  

So far, Voiceless Voice has shown very good consistency and great flexibility and it has the potential to became a good contender for Fire King decks considering the additional support it will get in the upcoming Legacy of Destruction.

How to best collect Phantom Nightmare's cards

Considering the number of good cards released in the set and the impact a lot of them can have on the competitive gameplay, it does not surprise that Phantom Nightmare cards are still holding a very good value even after a couple of months from the release. In fact, 20 cards from the set have a value of £15 or more in the secondary market with 8 of these being £40 or above. Obviously, most of the Quarter Century Secret Rare from the set are pretty valuable but there are also some key cards needed for the more promising competitive decks that are among the more pricey ones.

The list of these includes obviously the highly sought-after Snake-Eyes Poplar and Lo, the Prayers of the Voiceless Voice that plays key roles in their respective meta-relevant decks. Therefore if you are looking to strengthen your Fire King decks or you are interested in building a very promising new deck, collecting Phantom Nightmare's cards can be quite important. In this case, buying one of more Booster Boxes of this set can be a reasonably good approach considering you will be able to pull two Secret Rares and four Ultra Rares together with eighteen Super Rares and usual massive amount of commons. Although these odds may not seem to much, investing in a Box may allow you to get some of the cards you need or eventually some high value cards to sold/ trade for the ones you need. This is much more interesting considering the price of the boxes has dropped quite a bit while the singles from the set are retaining most of the value to date. Magic Madhouse has a quite interesting price at the moment for the Booster Box in particular with also free shipment to UK included. I noticed the stock is not very high thus if you are looking to secure your next competitive deck, I would suggest to act very quickly. Wish you all the luck with your pulls!