Nerf the Koreans: EPKO has come

September 13th shall now be remembered in Yu-Gi-Oh! as the day that Extra Pack: Knights of Order hit the OCG. Those of you who have not been anticipating this release with the dread it deserves should really have done your research, as this will have a monumental effect on the OCG and, by extension, the TCG+OCG format. Many months ago, Korean exclusive cards started popping up, and two extremely important cards just became fully OCG legal, alongside one not-so-important card. Here they are, in all their ridiculous power:

Elder God Noden

1 Synchro or Xyz Monster + 1 Synchro or Xyz Monster
When this card is Special Summoned: You can target 1 Level 4 or lower monster in your Graveyard; Special Summon it, but its effects are negated. When this card leaves the field, banish that target.

Your days of mass spamming the field are over. You may never again summon more than one Synchro or Xyz for fear of Super Polymerization. The rule of Elder God Noden has come. And not only can your opponent rape your beautiful field with a single Super Poly, they will also get a free Level 4 from their Graveyard back too. That'll mean they can Xyz straight off next turn. 2000 ATK is nothing to be sniffed at either. To top all that, the effect happens whenever it is Special Summoned, meaning if you Special Summon it from the Graveyard or from the Banished Zone it will get that effect too. It can also be abused with Vylon Cube and its ability to search Re-Fusion when used for a Synchro Summon for a relatively consistent OTK. It's very easily accessible as a Black Rose Dragon.

Cards that work together with this:
Super Polymerization
Instant Fusion
Vylon Cube
Re-Fusion

Decks/cards that are countered:
Anything that relies on Xyzs or Synchros.


Outer God Nyarla

2 Level 4 monsters
When this card is Xyz Summoned: You can discard any number of cards; increase this card's Rank by 1 for each card discarded. Once per turn, if this card has Xyz Material: You can target 1 monster in your Graveyard; detach all Xyz Materials from this card, and if you do, attach that monster to this card as an Xyz Material, and if you do that, this card's Type and Attribute become that Xyz Material's original Type and Attribute.

This card has 3 effects, 2 of which are on the card, the third of which involves giving nightmares to small children. Its 2 written effects are nowhere near as bad, and I can certainly cope with this card existing. However, it might be pretty good with Rank-Up magics. That's its only real use.

Cards that work together with this:
Rank-Up Magics

Decks/cards that are countered:
Nothing at all.


Earth Shattering

If a card(s) is sent from your Deck or your opponent's Deck to the Graveyard: Target 1 card in either Graveyard; shuffle that target into the Deck, also neither player can send cards from their Deck to the Graveyard for the rest of this turn.

Every Lightsworn player reading this just shat a brick. Or, perhaps I should say "earth-shat" a brick! Ha! Jokes at the expense of Lightsworn players aside, expect to see 3 of these in many side decks. They're great for killing Shaddolls and pretty much anything that sends cards from the deck to the graveyard, including Burning Abyss or anything using Mathematician. Your OCG side deck just got buffed.

Cards that work together with this:
Decks that can manage with only sending one card from their deck to their grave per turn, normally with cards like Lavalval Chain or Foolish Burial.

Decks/cards that are countered:
Lightsworn
Burning Abyss
Shaddolls
Infernity
Mathematician
Far too many non-meta decks to list


Considering that we now have these previously Korean exclusive cards available in the OCG, we can only assume that the other Korean exclusives will eventually hit the full OCG as well. In anticipation of this, you can have my analysis of these two Korean exclusives as well, though it is important to note that they are not yet OCG legal.


Great Old One Chthugha

1 Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner monsters
If this card is Synchro Summoned: You can return all Rank 4 Xyz Monsters on the field to the Extra Deck. If this card is used as a Fusion Material Monster for a Fusion Summon: Draw 1 card. An Xyz Monster that was Summoned using this card as an Xyz Material gains this effect.
● When it is Xyz Summoned: Draw 1 card.

It's Cthulhu! Our death is upon us! In all seriousness though, the meta really is dead when this comes. Like, really fu**ing dead. Ying Zang can summon this badass in your opponent's turn. Rank 4s are not going to be playable seriously after this appears. This card will hit the meta so hard it will pound Satellarknights into nothingness. It even works nicely with your own Rank 4 Xyzs and gives you a draw. Armory Arm is probably not going to be the standard Level 4 Synchro, either. Poor Arm.

Cards that work together with this:
Yang Zing
Formula Synchron
Any Synchro deck, but to a lesser extent

Decks/cards that are countered:
Any deck that uses Rank 4s (Probably more than half of all decks)


The Unspeakable Trapezohedron

Activate 1 of these effects. You can only activate 1 "The Unspeakable Trapezohedron" per turn.
● If you control a Fusion Monster and a Synchro Monster, and no Xyz Monsters: Special Summon 1 "Outer God" Xyz Monster from your Extra Deck, and if you do, attach this card to it as an Xyz Material.
● If you control a Synchro Monster and an Xyz Monster, and no Fusion Monsters: Special Summon 1 "Elder God" Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck.
● If you control an Xyz Monster and a Fusion Monster, and no Synchro Monsters: Special Summon 1 "Great Old One" Synchro Monster from your Extra Deck.

My first question about this card was "WTF is a trapezohedron", so I googled it. Wikipedia told me:

The n-gonal trapezohedron, antidipyramid or deltohedron is the dual polyhedron of an n-gonal antiprism. Its 2n faces are congruent kites (also called trapezia or deltoids). The faces are symmetrically staggered.

I understand that those of you who do not like maths will not understand this, and in that case I suggest that you like maths, and then you will learn to understand it eventually.
My next question was why is it unspeakable? which of these effects is the most useful? And what does the card really boil down to? What could this be useful in? And looking at it, with the 3 monsters it could potentially be able to summon, it's quite clear. Summoning Nyarla is flat out pointless. There is no reason to run it. That cuts out the first effect. Next, controlling a Synchro and an Xyz monster. This summons Noden. That isn't so bad, but it's more conditional than Instant Fusion, so it's still not worth using. That leaves the last effect. Special summon this Korean exclusive death god without the trouble of running any Tuners? Yes please. What deck could use this? It would have to be something that can summon Fusions comfortably. In the meta, that leaves... Shaddolls and HEROes. That's where it falls off. Shaddolls aren't exactly known for summoning Xyzs while also having a Fusion out, and HEROes only do Rank 4s. The only big advantage is the potential for drawing a card when using it in a Fusion or Xyz summon. This trapezohedron that must never be mentioned must have some kind of use, but I don't think I've fully grasped it just yet. Let's see what else Konami release.

Cards that work well with this:
None at this time

Decks/cards that are countered:
Nothing here either.


Overall, we have 2 extremely powerful new cards in the OCG, and one less so, along with the anticipation for another extremely powerful card and one with unknown potential. Let's see how this goes, although I'm expecting an imminent ban of Super Polymerization, and possibly a limiting of Instant Fusion. Also, 3 Earth Shattering in every Side Deck.