There are few things I like better than promo cards. They’re shiny cardboard rewards for going someplace, buying something, or participating in an event, which are all things that I wanted to do in the first place! Most players agree with me on this, and they’ve all amassed their fair share of promo cards. Some of these promos live in binders, and other times, they’re a valued part of a deck. Although you can get Yu-Gi-Oh! promo cards from a variety of sources, there are a solid few that have firmly entrenched themselves in the game over the past year. Newer players, in particular, might not realize which cards they are and where they came from. To fix that problem, I’ve got a list of the older promo cards that you’re likely to see most often, along with their origins and uses explained. Let’s start with the good old, ubiquitous . . .
D. D. Assailant: This is promo #DBT-EN002, and it came packaged with the “Destiny Board Traveler” Game Boy Advance video game. This game was released in North America in October of 2004. The bane of many a deckbuilder who needed to trade heavily to get three copies, D. D. Assailant is a standard inclusion for nearly every kind of deck out there. It’s so useful, so handy, and so very expensive on eBay. D. D. Assailant can get rid of your opponent’s high-powered monsters, making it a good “land mine” when set, or an effective wall when your opponent doesn’t want to lose his or her Cyber Dragon or Jinzo.
I didn’t even realize D. D. Assailant was a game promo the first time I saw it, because it didn’t have that super foil treatment that my other game promos had. Unless it ever becomes limited in any Advanced format, most duelists will have to resort to purchasing a copy or two of the video game, purchasing the cards on the secondary market, or trading, trading, and more trading. Most people who have these will want to hang on to them, so it can be hard to get more than one copy.
Widespread Ruin: This is promo #DOD-003, and it came packaged with “The Dawn of Destiny” XBOX video game. This released in North America in March of 2004. It didn’t see the immediate leap into play that D. D. Assailant did, but lately it’s been cropping up in decks at high-profile events. Sakuretsu Armor is a staple in many decks, but Widespread Ruin can be a better choice in some circumstances. Since it destroys the opponent’s monster with the highest ATK value, it can hit the biggest threat, ATK-wise. If your opponent likes to lead off with smaller monsters when you’ve got set cards, you can still nail the big attacker before the opponent clears his or her way to your life points. It will also take out big monsters in defense position. If there are a lot of copies of Exarion Universe in your area, that’s a valuable option to have. It can also be a way to get rid of an opponent’s D. D. Assailant that’s just sitting there and keeping you from attacking, if the rest of your opponent’s monsters are smaller. This card is getting more and more popular, so if you can get your hands on a copy, you might want to do that.
Kinetic Soldier: This is promo #WC4-002, and it came packaged in the World Championship 2004 Gameboy Advance video game, which was released in North America in February of 2004. This has been a popular side deck choice in Warrior-heavy environments, and will probably continue to stick around, owing to the popularity of Warrior toolbox decks. Will we see it make the jump to main decks? Only time will tell.
Anyway, anti-Warrior tech doesn’t get much better than this. I’ve seen duels that ended from the backlash damage that a player took after attacking a set Kinetic Soldier with a Warrior-type monster. Dramatic! Unexpected! Difficult to prevent! Try and find a younger relative who doesn’t really duel but bought the video game, and persuade him or her to trade you the promo.
Windstorm of Etaqua: This is promo #PCY-E001, and it came packaged with the Power of Chaos: Yugi the Destiny™ PC video game. It was released in North America in January of 2004. This was a great card when Goat Control decks clogged up the scene, but it still works well alongside cards like Ojama Trio. It also really rips into Spirit Reaper. Turn that sucker to attack position and let the Reaper have it with every monster on your side of the field! Take that, Reaper! Who’s a wall now? If punishing Spirit Reaper isn’t enough of an incentive, players who come up against a lot of monsters with big ATK or puny DEF values might enjoy experimenting with this card.
Slate Warrior: This is promo #WC4-003, and it came packaged with the World Championship 2004 Gameboy Advance video game, which was released in North America in February of 2004. It’s a very good random Beatdown card, now that Nobleman of Crossout has been limited to one copy per deck. It’s got a lot of versatility, too—if you can flip summon it, it has the raw ATK power that’s needed to take out Cyber Dragon, along with anti-Cyber Dragon cards like Goblin Elite Attack Force and Zombyra. You can also set it “land mine” style, to take a high-powered monster down by 500 points. Don’t let its quirky looks put you off! Do make sure you know how Slate Warrior’s effect works, however—it is a flip effect, so if Slate Warrior flips as a result of being attacked, the ATK/DEF bonus won’t be added until after damage calculation, when it will be too late to have any effect on the battle. That occasionally trips people up.
Abyss Soldier: This is promo #CMC-EN001, and it came packaged with the Capsule Monster Coliseum Playstation 2 video game. This was also released in North America in October of 2004. Although it’s not as awesome now that Sinister Serpent has been forbidden in the Advanced format, this is still a smart pick for Water decks. I have a Water deck and if I had Abyss Soldiers, I’d put them in there. This is one versatile monster—if you want to run things like Mermaid Knight or Amphibious Bugroth MK-3, then Salvage can fetch back your discarded monsters so you can use them again. Pot of Avarice works nicely with Abyss Soldier, too.
The great thing about Abyss Soldier is that it can return anything—monsters, spells, or traps, on either player’s side of the field. Can’t attack your opponent’s Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys, and you don’t want to destroy it with a card effect? Is the Gravity Bind on your side of the field cramping your style? Consider the possibilities! Oh, and Abyss Soldier can get D. D. Assailant off the field for at least one turn!
Fairy King Truesdale: This is promo #WC4-001, and it came packaged in the World Championship 2004 Gameboy Advance video game, which was released in North America in February of 2004. Wow, all three promos from one game are on this list! Anyway, this card is a must for Plant decks, as they can use all the boosts they can get. There is some errata for this card, and it needs to be in face up defense position to give the plant-type cards on your field the boost, but 1900 ATK Mystic Tomatoes and 2300 ATK Homunculus the Alchemic Beings are good to have on your side. If you want to get out there and do a little gardening, then dig up a few of these.
Acid Trap Hole: This is promo #SSD-E002, and it was packaged with the Dark Duel Stories video game for the Game Boy Color. A good backup for Nobleman of Crossout, this card will destroy just about anything anybody sets nowadays, and at the very least, it’ll prevent you from the highly unlikely possibility of running headlong into a Battle Footballer. It’s effective against Cyber Jar, if you don’t summon before you activate it, and can work similarly to Swords of Revealing Light when you want to know what your opponent’s already set. It won’t negate any flip effects, but it will stop things like, say, D. D. Assailant’s effect, or that of Spirit Reaper. That’s good enough for me!
Acid Rain: This is promo #DL8-EN001, and it was released as a Duelist League promo. I’ve seen it packaged for resale with packs in stores like Target, too. It’s a good side deck pick in a Machine-heavy environment. System Down is appealing, but since Acid Rain destroys the cards, your opponent can’t side deck in Return from the Different Dimension to turn your removal against you. If you destroy the Machines, their only real option is Premature Burial or Call of the Haunted. Give them both a try if Machines are making your life difficult.
These are certainly not the only popular or useable promos in the game; however, most of the other promo cards are recent releases that people are familiar with. They may already have been or will be reprinted in sets like Dark Beginnings and Dark Revelations. Reprinting some of the harder-to-get promos like Needle Worm and Mechanicalchaser have given more players the chance to build decks that can utilize them. If you’re interested in the complete list of promo cards that have released by Upper Deck Entertainment, there’s a list available here.
You can use that to keep track of what you have, what you need, and where it is found. Regular booster packs are readily available to all, so it’s easy to overlook those “extras.” However, some of the better cards in the game are promos. Don’t overlook them when you’re designing your next round of decks!