Yu-Gi-Oh! Rage of the Abyss: What to Expect

After a lot of waiting the last Yu-Gi-Oh! core set of 2024 is finally round the corner and players are getting very excited to find out what lurks in the depths of the dark oceans of this set. The wait is almost over considering the new set, “Rage of the Abyss”, will premiere on the 4th of October and it is planned, as usual, to release fully the week after on the 11th of October. If you have not planned it yet, I would consider to attend the premiere event to get "Mimighoul Charm", the promotional card for the set. Not only this is an Ultra-Rare card but it can also be a great support if you are looking to play Mimighoul monster. Interestingly, there is not just Mimighoul support in this set so let's have a look together to what we can expect from this set.

Rage of the Abyss: set details

As mentioned, Rage of the Abyss is the fourth and last set of 2024 and it arrives just after “Infinite Forbidden”. The set will include a total of 100 new cards (yes, no reprints this time!): 10 Secret Rares, 14 Ultra Rares, 26 Super Rares, and 50 Commons. 24 of these cards will also be available as Quarter Century Secret Rare and there will be one additional card, “Ultimate Dragon of Pride and Soul” that can only be found as Quarter Century Secret Rare and that will take the 101th slot in this set.

Rage of the Abyss will largely focus on Xyz Summoning strategies and on Water monsters. In terms of mechanics, the new tech and Monster cards from this set will make Xyz Summoning more versatile and provide more flexibility to players strategy by allowing materials to be moved from one Xyz monster to another or by reducing the summoning costs. The set will also offer broader support to numerous archetypes including the first support for "Fiendsmith", "Goblin", "Goblin Biker", "Mulcharmy", “Mimighoul” and "White Forest" which were first introduced in Infinite Forbidden. The support for this last one is particularly interesting in terms of art and background story. In fact the cards of this archetype are designed as part of a fairytale featuring themes from the Snake-Eyes and the Sinful Spoils Archetypes. In Rage of the Abyss, Yu-Gi-Oh! fans will find four new Fusion Monsters that represent the next chapter of the White Forest tale.  

Right out of the booster pack: Best cards to pull

One of the best cards you can find in Rage of the Abyss is the new Mulcharmy monster, “Mulcharmy Fuwaross” that is very likely to become one of the best assets in the meta game. In fact, this Lv4 Wind Monster is not only very cute but it can be discarded from hand if the player controls no cards to obtain the ability to draw a card each time the opponent Special Summons a monster from the Deck and/or Extra Deck. It is true that players will only be able to keep a number of cards in their hand equal to the number of card the opponent controls in the End Phase +6 but this is a minor cost to pay for such a powerful effect.

The next card is the classic elephant in the box or, in this case, a massive Shark named "Number C32: Shark Drake LeVeiss". Number C32 is a terrifying Rank 5 Xyz Monster with 3100 ATK and 2600 DEF that can negate effect monsters by detaching one material, attack twice per battle phase and inflict piercing battle damage to your opponent. Getting this Apex predator to the battle field is also surprisingly easy as you just need to discard a Spell card and use the Rank 4 Xyz Monster “Number 32: Shark Drake” as main material instead of the 4 Lv5 Monster listed on C32 card.

In Rage of the Abyss we also finally get the very first support to super old “Metalmorph” archetype, a group of cards known for transforming Monsters into their Metal counterparts. Anime and Manga fans will likely remind at this point the match between Bandit Keith and Joey Wheeler where Joey turned the tables of the game by using Keith's strategy against him by summoning "Red-Eyes Black Metal Dragon" from “Red-Eyes Black Dragon”. The main card of this archetype we see in Rage of the Abyss is the continuous Trap card “Max Metalmorph” that allows to summon a Monster mentioning "Max Metalmorph" from the player hand, Deck, or Graveyard by tributing 1 face-up monster. The best part is that the new monster gains 400 ATK and DEF, it cannot be destroyed by Spell or monster effects, and the opponent cannot target it with monster effects or Spell Cards or effects. Obviously, this set also includes the powerful “Red-Eyes Black Fullmetal Dragon”. This card can be revealed from your hand to set Max Metalmorph on the field from your Deck and once it is back on the field can use its effect to negate a card or effect and to inflict damage to the opponent equal to the original ATK of one of their Attack Position monsters.

“Red-Eyes Black Fullmetal Dragon” and “Metalzoa X” (the other new support for the Archetype we already know will be in the set) are likely not to be meta defining cards at this stage. However they are both Machine type monsters and I think we will see them finding some space in a few decks at least as a support. I would also bet we will see more of this Archetype in the future considering Konami has been releasing support for very old Archetypes and cards seen in Anime and Manga as part of the 25th year Anniversary.