Justice Hunters is the newest Booster Pack, and it’s already having a huge impact on the Dueling landscape! This Booster Pack brings three new themes, and every one of them is proving to be a competitive threat. Here’s a look at each of them, along with the tech we’re seeing played with each.

Dracotail

First are the Dracotails, a mix of Spellcasters and Dragons focused on Fusion Summons. Their two Fusion Monsters, Dracotail Arthalion and Dracotail Gulamel, only require a Dracotail and any monster from your hand. Using one of your Main Deck Dracotails as a Fusion Material will trigger an effect to Set a Dractoail Spell or Trap Card directly from your Deck, and some of them will do more on top of that. The Spells will enable even more Fusion Summons, while the Traps help interact with your opponent while recycling your spent Dracotails. With Dracotail Faimena and Dracotail Mululu, you’ve got two methods of Fusion Summoning on your opponent’s turn, too! In addition to their own Fusion Monsters, the Dracotail Deck is great at playing monsters like Secreterion Dragon, Mysterion the Dragon Crown, and Filia Regis. Add in King of the Swamp, and now you’ve got access to cards like Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon!

Most Dracotails Decks we’re seeing have a splash of Shaddoll monsters, like Shaddoll Beast. These make for great Fusion Materials, since you’ll gain their effects when they go to the Graveyard. Playing some Shaddolls also allows access to El Shaddoll Winda, which can dominate some matchups all by itself. We also have a Dragonmaid Dracotail Duelist at the top tables right now, mixing the two Fusion-based Dragon themes to great effect. The most popular thing to mix with them so far is K9, the next new theme from Justice Hunters.

K9

The K9 theme is all about Rank 5 Xyz Summons, with the ability to even play them on your opponent’s turn! These crimefighters get even better if your opponent activates an effect in their hand or in the Graveyard. That will allow you to Special Summon K9-17 Izuna and K9-ØØ Lupis to perform a quick Xyz Summon. Then there’s K9-66a Jokul and K9-66b Lantern, which bring forth any other Level 5 monster from the hand or Graveyard, respectively. Their own Xyz Monsters, such as K9-17 “Ripper” and K9-X “Werewolf”, are great ways to disrupt your opponent during their turn. You can use any Rank 5 too, so older Xyz Monsters like Number 67: Pair-a-Dice Smasher and N.As.H. Knight (paired with CXyz N.As.Ch. Knight) are also making appearances in these Decks.

K9 are certainly the most prolific of the three Justice Hunters themes, because they can be splashed so easily with other themes. Vanquish Soul are the most common pairing, since Vanquish Soul Hollie Sue and Vanquish Soul Jiaolong are both Level 5 monsters, and the Deck has plenty of Extra Deck space to accommodate the K9 Xyz plan. You could also pair them with Dracotails, as Dracotail Faimena and Shaddoll Beast are Level 5. Crystrons have the Level 5 Crystron Sulfador and Crystron Sulfefnir, too. Some Duelists are even just playing three Izuna and a Lupis in unrelated strategies, since they can function together for an Xyz Summon without other support.

Yummy

The most delicious new theme is Yummy, a collection of cats that taste sweet, but pack a punch! Each of the Yummy Main Deck monsters has an effect when they’re Summoned, or can use a stronger version of that effect if they’re Summoned by a Synchro Monster’s effect. Each of their Synchros can tag out into two more Yummy monsters, so you’ll be bringing Yummys in and out of the battlefield a lot. Their Link-1, Yummy★Snatchy lets you repeatedly perform Synchro Summons during either player’s Main Phase, or even your opponent’s Battle Phase! Each of the Yummy Synchro Monsters can use a Link-1 like Snatchy as though it was a Level 1 Tuner, so you can easily sequence your Yummys into bigger Synchro Monsters like Herald of the Arc Light to control the Duel.

For another route to your Yummy Synchros, many Duelists are using a suite of Sky Striker cards. You can use Sky Striker Mecha – Hornet Drones for a Sky Striker Ace Token, then Link Summon Sky Striker Ace – Kagari. Kagari will return the Hornet Drones to your hand, and you’ll play it for a second token. Now you can use the Level 1 token with the Link-1 Kagari to Synchro Summon any Yummy Synchro Monster! We aren’t seeing Yummy mixed with other themes besides these small Sky Striker additions.

The two Yummy Field Spells can recycle themselves and more Yummy cards, and Yummy★Snatchy can find them at will. With all the Yummys tagging in and out, and cards being put back in the Deck, the Yummy theme can grind out long Duels with ease. At the same time, Yummys can end Duels in a flash thanks to cards like Obedience Schooled, and the Field Spell Yummyusment☆Mignon giving them an incredible ATK boost!

We’re almost in the Top 32, where we’ll see how each of these Justice Hunters themes performs overall!