Yu-Gi-Oh Crossover Breakers Spoilers Card List and Strategies

Yu-Gi-Oh! latest set for 2024 is, interestingly, a new Deck Building set, “Crossover Breakers”. A Deck Building set is a special type of collection that typically introduces three new Archetypes and that usually also includes some support for at least an existing one. Konami has been releasing one of these sets every year since the first Deck Building, “Spirit Warriors”, was released in 2017 and in most cases they have provided some very interesting and meta relevant cards. Considering this set arrives at the end of the 25th Anniversary of the game, there is a strong interest to see what Yu-Gi-Oh! Crossover Breakers will bring to the game. This is also the last set before Christmas so let's see if it can be a great present to find under your tree (or in your stockings).

Overview of Yu-Gi-Oh! Crossover Breakers

The new Yu-Gi-Oh! Set is planned to be released on the 6th of December 2024. Like previous Deck Builder sets, the cards in this collection are all Rare and Above with a large fraction of them being Ultra and Super Rare. In detail, Crossover Breakers will include 10 Ultra Rares, 10 Super Rares and 40 Standard Rares for a total of just 60 cards. However, half of the Standard Rares can also be pulled as Super Rares and there are 15 cards that are also featured as Collector's Rares and/or Quarter Century Secret Rares. The overall Rarity in this set is quite high and with the Quarter Century Celebrations coming to a close with this set, Konami really wanted to give all players an opportunity to get as many high rarity cards as possible.

In terms or pull rates, each of the Booster packs will include a total of 7 cards of which 1 will be a a foil card and 6 will be Rare cards. Each Booster box will include as usual 24 packs meaning that there is a high chance to get very good cards out of them considering how small the card list of this collection is. It is also worth noting that only 25% of the cards of this set are reprints.

What to Expect from Crossover Breakers: Best cards to look for

As expected, Crossover Breakers introduces three new Archetypes. The first one, Ryzeal, is the most interesting one and it is likely the one with the highest impact on the competitive game.

The new Archetype is based on a Thunder/Pyro theme and includes a lot of Level 4 Xyz Monsters. Most of these Monsters can gain materials from the Graveyard once summoned and they can detach to either add cards to the player hand or to destroy opponent’s cards. The Archetype therefore focuses on quickly swarming the field with Lv4 monsters that can be used to bring out Ryzeal Lv4 Xyz Monsters from your Extra Deck that can boost the engine further with their abilities.  

The two main Xyz Monsters of the archetype are "Ryzeal Duodrive" and "Ryzeal Deadnader". The first one provides 100 more Attack to all player monsters for every materials attack to it and can detach 2 materials from any of the player's Xyz Monsters to add 2 "Ryzeal" cards with different names from the Deck to the hand. "Ryzeal Deadnader", on the other hand, it can destroy 1 card on the field each time an opponent activates a card or effect by detaching one of its material.

The second new Archetype is called “Maliss” a name that is derived from the word "malice", in reference to malicious software or malware, and the name "Alice", the protagonist of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

The mathematical/Cyber references also continue in the names of the Monsters of this Archetype that include a turned A (∀) symbol, that is a typical logical constant, and a sort of code sequence to determine their role: <P> for Pawn, <Q> for Queen and <C> for code monsters.  

The archetype engine is based on the ability of each Maliss Monster to obtain advantages by banishing another Maliss card from the hand to then re-summon it back by paying a small amount of Life Points. All Maliss Link Monsters has also the same ability with additional effects that help removing Opponents card or extend the Maliss combos.

In addition to these interesting mechanics, Maliss Trap Cards can activate the turn they are set by banishing another Maliss card. Among them, “Maliss <C> GWC-06” is particularly interesting as it allows to Special Summon 1 "Maliss" monster from the GY or banishment, and gain LP equal to the Summoned monster's original ATK if the player controls a "Maliss" Link Monster. This effect can not only be great to even the costs of bringing back your Maliss Monsters but can also be extremely painful for your opponent considering some of your Monster can also be searched for by your other Maliss Monsters.

The last of the new Archetypes is called Ryu-Ge and includes one Sea Serpent, one Wyrm and one Dinosaur monster destined to fight to determine the one worth to ascend into a new Dragon that will rule the next world.

All the three main Ryu-Ge monsters are Level 10 and they can all search for their respective Continuous Spells cards to gain additional ability and to prepare to Summon "Guangba, Luminous Ryu-Ge of Starforge", the Boss Monster of this Archetype. Individually, each of these three monster has a specific playing that represent its type. For example, "Kuaiba, Rugged Ryu-Ge of Dinocrag" can Special Summon itself from the hand if 2 or more cards were destroyed during the current turn and use its ability to destroy cards on the field. It also has an Ignition Effect that can synergize with “Transcendosaurus monsters” and generic Dinosaur support cards. The same design also applied to "Yuanba, Abyssal Ryu-Ge of Serpentfall" and "Baba, Champion Ryu-Ge of Wyrmhaze" the other two main Monsters of this Archetype.

The Boss monster of this Archetype, "Guangba, Luminous Ryu-Ge of Starforge", does not actually fit in any of the previous synergies although it can be a very good fit for "Voiceless Voice" archetype Decks.

Would Yu-Gi-Oh! Crossover Breakers be good for you?

Basing on just the Rarity distribution and the Archetype cards, I personally think Crossover Breakers is a good collection and possibly the best Deck Builder set in a while. In terms of gaming, I am confident we will see Ryzeal cards and Decks joining the competitive scene fairly quick together with other cards that can boost existing decks, like Guangba for Voiceless Voice. Collectors will likely find the Rarity breakdown for the set to be quite good although not everyone will be pleased by having so many Super Rares and Secret Rares options.

Overall, I am quite excited to get my hands on this set and I think pre-ordering it would be quite critical to secure some good packs to open. At the moment, Booster Boxes and Booster packs are on pre-order on Magic Madhouse at very good prices (30% discount on RRP) but the Booster cases are already out of stock thus if you are looking to get your hands on Booster Breakers I will strongly recommend to not wait too much. Wish you all some great pull and some great Deck Building!