We like to thank everyone who took the time to take part in our contests! Seeing so many of you take an interest really took our Christmas celebration to the level of a community event. Speaking of taking, or giving, take a look at your account balance. If you are one of our 48 lucky winners, we have given you €5 by now.
But we hope you had fun regardless. Let us know! We love to read your comments even when there aren't any prizes on the line. How easy or hard was it to guess these cards? Seeing some of them this high up on our best-seller list definitely surprised us.
Top 5 Spells
Our spoiler for number six was . Anime nostalgia is high on this one, as the card doesn't see tremendous amounts of play in the competitive scene even regardless of being limited. That doesn't mean it's not good, just that it's not consistently seen at one. Even more popular were all of the following.
Neat little fact: is the single most sold card of 2022, likely in part because it went from limited to unlimited at the start of the year. The number of tuners summonable from this card (Ze Amin) made it a very useful inclusion in these decks as well as any deck that needed a tuner on easy access for plays. Oh! Also, it's not a hard once per turn. Amazing that a card this old is still this good.
Every single one of the 2019 tin promos are among the most sold of their respective categories, and is no exception. This card shuts down monster-oriented strategies and really punishes your opponent for relying too much on monsters and their effects to win games. While typically a side card until this autumn, it was teched into the main decks of many players then, in order to counter the highly monster-reliant Spright, and to a lesser extent Tearlaments.
. Wow. Really? I guess, because it's a Duel Monsters card, searchable, and giving protection from the graveyard, the demand for it would be relatively high. But this high? Astonishing. It truly as been the year of fusion decks.
is the best anti-hand-trap hand trap in the game. Just stop any of the monster hand traps that go to graveyard, meaning you can play uninterrupted. Also, even if your opponent doesn't open a hand trap, just set it and use it as your own interruption. Great card. Feels sacky at one though.
is an amazing card for the Branded/Despian archetype. As a quickplay spell, it allows you to make your plays in your standby phase, and it searches the searcher for , the main fusion spell for the archetype.
Top 5 Hand Traps
Following the meteoric rise of Tearlaments, had its own meteoric rise to the sixth best hand trap, as it shuts this strategy down entirely. From this hint the Top 5 should've been decently guessable.
is a great generic hand trap that shuts down combo enablers. Never again do you have to worry about a normal summoned , or more recently . A reprint at a much-needed lower rarity in a structure deck contributed to it getting the top spot.
Ash Blossom this high is no surprise. No matter the deck, no matter the strategy, it'll be doing one of three things. Adding from deck to hand. Special Summoning from deck. Sending from deck to graveyard. It also got multiple reprints this year, including one at common rarity in Structure Deck: Legend of the Crystal Beasts, so availability is at an all-time high! Still a great card, even if it doesn't do too much to Tearlaments at the moment.
Ghost Ogre in third is mildly surprising! But it's a great card. Being the only one of the hand-trap girls not to be a zombie but a psychic monster instead meant it could be special summoned off . Being a tuner also meant easy access to plays (rest in peace, my dude) as well as plays in synchro decks. This on top of the fact its hand trap effect was very good at stopping decks earlier in the year like those running the adventure cards (specifically and ) and Therion P.U.N.K. and ABC decks ( and ) meant it was a good meta pick. It also got a reprint in a structure deck! So yeah. Makes sense. We notice a trend developing.
landed in fourth for reasons similar to Infinite Impermanence, albeit offering less utility than Impermanence. The main-phase restriction made it a little less flexible, but being a tuner made it a good summon off Crystron Halqifibrax to make and then .
remains the best hand trap for just completely punishing your opponent for overextending. This was included in almost every side deck up until Power of the Elements because after that Spright (one of the most dominant strategies) could lock both players from special summoning monsters other than level/rank/link two monsters. Still good, but slightly less so now.
Top 5 Extra-Deck Monsters
, our number six, is one of the most insane link-climbing cards around. It made making link monsters super easy, in some cases up to link four. So of course it was on everyone's radar for either picking up or a ban, and with it getting a reprint, it only made sense that soon after it'd be axed. But what about the Top 5?
was kind of obvious. An amazing card, it allows you to use an opponent's dark monster to link climb or summon back your opponent's big dark monster to push for lethal, one of the most common attributes in the game. It also allows you to search a dark monster when destroyed and got much more utility once the Spright and Tearlaments cards were released, what with them being dark. Dharc is easily the highest-utility charmer link monster at the moment. Sitting at a pretty low rarity too, comparatively, meant we could have guessed this to be a Top 5 card.
is one of the best disruptions you can have, a link three monster that on summon has a shuffle-back-into-the-deck effect for a card on the field. It also facilitates link climbing, while also having an amazing effect. Unicorn sees play in nearly every deck it can due to its sheer utility. Plus, it has a bunch of printings, in a range of rarities, so you can play economically or go full bling.
With the rise of fusion deck this year, fusion monsters that double as disruptions are at a premium. acts as a quick-effect negate, while also being an amazing target, as you can wipe your opponent's fusion monsters from the board to make your own disruption. The card is great in the current format, so it makes sense it's up here on the list.
Masquerade is a great card for Despia Branded strategies to help keep your opponent off winning via its amazing burn effect. Whenever your opponent activates a card, an additional cost is applied, where they must pay 600. The card is necessary for depleting your opponents life points and especially great for when you approach time. Also, it has a self-revive effect if your opponent summons an extra-deck monster, so this card is hard to remove.
is an awesome card for removing troublesome spell and trap floodgates on command. Much like the other Knightmare monsters, its utility as well as generic summoning requirements make it an amazing card to be part of your toolbox!
And that's it for 2022. We have something more for you tomorrow, but then Insight goes on holidays too. We hope you'll enjoy yours and you'll be back in 2023. Thanks for reading!
Opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, not of Cardmarket.
