Season Two of the hit series Yu-Gi-Oh GX! is in full swing and a new Elemental Hero has taken center stage in the fight against the malevolent Sartorius. After being cut off from the rest of his deck following a crushing defeat at the hands of Aster Phoenix, Jaden was forced to go back to basics and revisit his past in order to open the path to the future. Drawn into the mysterious realm known as Neo Space, Jaden was reunited with a blast from his past: Elemental Hero Neos! While in Neo Space, Jaden was forced into a duel against a sinister alien presence, but with the help of Neos and Neo-Spacian Aqua Dolphin he was able to defeat the mysterious creature and return to Duel Academy. Armed with Elemental Hero Neos and the rest of the Neo-Spacians, Jaden is now ready to take on anything that Sartorius can throw at him . . . starting with a rematch against Aster Phoenix in which the fate of Slifer Red is in his hands! Will Jaden be able to avenge his loss and save his dorm? You’ll have to tune into Yu-Gi-Oh! GX on Cartoon Network all this week to find out.
In addition to its strong ties to the show, Elemental Hero Neos fills an important void in the current line-up of Elemental Hero monsters. There are generally two ways you can go about building an Elemental Hero deck. First, you can focus on summoning the various Elemental Hero fusion monsters in order to bring swift justice to your opponent through incredible monster effects. Alternatively, you can focus on the HERO Flash!! series of cards and utilize the individual normal Elemental Hero monsters in order to overwhelm your opponent with a series of direct attacks. Where does Neos fit into the grand scheme of things? Everywhere! In addition to adding a new type of fusion to the Elemental Hero repertoire (Contact Fusion), Neos also provides the HERO Flash!! strategy with something it was sorely lacking: a gigantic normal Hero monster that you can special summon from your deck to lead the charge after activating HERO Flash!! Most of the non-fusion Elemental Hero monsters rely on the help of Skyscraper in order to take out today’s top monster picks, but Neos needs no outside assistance. Its 2500 ATK allows it to take out every single commonly played monster (with the obvious exception of Spirit Reaper), and with the help of cards like H - Heated Heart, R - Righteous Justice, and O - Oversoul you can ensure that your opponents will have a difficult time dealing with Neos.
The advent of
Elemental Hero Neos was such a big deal in Japan that the card was actually released as an ultra-rare magazine promo prior to its inclusion in the Power of the Duelist set. Knowing about this ahead of time, many American fans speculated that Neos would then be an ultra-rare in Power of the Duelist as well, given its importance to both the show and the game in general. Imagine their surprise, then, when it was revealed that Neos was a mere common in the set. A common?! Could it be that Jaden Yuki’s answer to the
Dark Magician was fated to be nothing more than a common over here in the States? It certainly seemed that way, at least until now. The folks at UDE have finally revealed the last of the first wave of 2006 Collector’s Tins, and it’s none other than
Elemental Hero Neos! Starting September 5th (when the new tins should start appearing in stores), Neos will be getting the secret rare foil treatment you’ve always wanted it to have. Each tin contains a copy of the new secret rare promo version of
Elemental Hero Neos along with one booster of Elemental Energy, one Shadow of Infinity, one Enemy of Justice, and TWO packs of Cybernetic Revolution. The Neos tin is sure to be a hot seller, and
Metagame.com wants help you get your hands on one.
To celebrate this release, we’ll be giving away five copies of the Elemental Hero Neos tin this week. What do you have to do to get your hands on one? It’s quite simple. Just write up, in 200 words or less, why you want a Neos tin, and send it off to WinATinWithMetagame@gmail.com. Sample decklists (along with explanations) designed to bring out the full potential of Neos are one idea, but don’t be afraid to get creative! The five best entrants will each receive a Neos tin as their prize, and the winners will be announced next week right here on Metagame.com. Be sure to include your full name and address information with your submission, so that if you win, we’ll know where to send your prize. Entries are limited to one per person, so make sure that when you enter, you make it count! All entries must be received by 11:59 EST on Saturday night, September 9.
Now, get busy writing, and until next time, play hard, play fair, and most importantly, have fun!
Jerome McHale