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What Else Is in Speed Duel GX: Duelists of Shadows?


Date:  14 Aprile 2023


If you read this far to Part 5 of our reviews, you’ve seen all 16 Skill Cards for the 8 featured characters in Speed Duel GX: Duelists of Shadows, as well as their pre-built Duel Decks. But that’s not all you’ll find in the box!

There are more Skills, more support cards, and just generally fantastic cards that can help get you ready for competition, as well as those 24 Secret Rare variants! Today we’ll take you through everything else you’ll find in Duelists of Shadows, starting with the 4 remaining Skills.

4 More Skill Cards

If you’ve been keeping count, you probably noticed that only 5 of the 7 Shadow Riders have dedicated Decks in Duelists of Shadows. Don’t worry! The other 2 Shadow Riders each get a Skill Card as well, plus some additional cards so you can build around them.

Yes, Shadow Rider Don Zaloog is a playable character in Duelists of Shadows! Flip No One Suspects the Dark Scorpion Gang! at the start of the game, and once per Duel, if you control Don Zaloog, you can discard a card to Special Summon 2 Dark Scorpion monsters with different names – one from your hand and one from your Deck. The Skill Card keeps you from Summoning or Setting any monsters that aren’t part of the Dark Scorpion Gang, but it also lets Don Zaloog and any of the Dark Scorpions make direct attacks for 400 damage too. That really helps you sneak your attackers past your opponent’s monsters so you can trigger their effects.

If you want to assemble the squad, Dark Scorpion – Gorg the Strong and Dark Scorpion – Meanae the Thorn both appeared in the Speed Duel: Battle City Box, while Don Zaloog was in the Speed Duel GX: Duel Academy Box. That just leaves Dark Scorpion – Chick the Yellow and Dark Scorpion – Cliff the Trap Remover, both of which are in Duelists of Shadows.

Moving on, Shadow Rider Abidos the Third’s Skill Card is Ancient Ruler Rises, which is all about Spirit of the Pharaoh. It’s a monster with 2500 ATK and an effect that can Special Summon Level 2 Zombies from your Graveyard, but to play it, you have to control the Trap Card The First Sarcophagus, as well as the Spell Cards The Second Sarcophagus and The Third Sarcophagus. You need to send all 3 from the field to the Graveyard to Special Summon Spirit of the Pharaoh.

Normally that’s a slow process, but Abidos’s Skill Card speeds it up: once per turn, the Ancient Ruler Rises Skilllets you send a Level 2 Zombie from your Deck to the Graveyard and places one of your Sarcophagus cards from your Deck, Graveyard, or that was banished, face-up into your Spell and Trap Zone. It also buffs every Spirit of the Pharaoh you control by 900 ATK for every copy of Pharaoh’s Servant and Pharaonic Protector on your field and in your Graveyard, easily climbing past 4000 Attack Points.

And the best part? Everything you need is right here, including Spirit of the Pharaoh, the Servant, the Protector, and all three Sarcophagus, in Duelists of Shadows’ additional cards.

Wanna build a Reptile Deck? Thelonious Viper’s Cold-Blooded Tactician Skill lets you change the battle positions of your opponent’s monsters once per turn, up to the number of face-up Reptiles you control. Gale Lizard and Gentlemander already see play in Speed Duel, but the extra cards in Duelists of Shadows also include Gagagigo, clocking in at Level 4 with 1850 ATK, and even Bitelon, who will be able to pierce through your opponent’s defense position monsters.

And finally, Yubel fans get another Skill Card with Dark Creation: once per Duel in your Main Phase, if you have 5 or more DARK monsters in your Graveyard with different names and you control no monsters, you can banish a DARK monster from your GY to revive a DARK monster of your choosing. There’s no shortage of good DARK monsters in Speed Duel, but if you need some more options, the Duelists of Shadows extras include Zure, Knight of Dark World, Brron, Mad King of Dark World and more.

Cards Too Strong for Sealed

On top of cards for those characters, there are more cards for the featured characters too: some of them so powerful they’d create balance issues if they were included in the ready-to-play Duel Decks for the featured characters.

Need another Rock monster for Supreme King Jaden’s Fusion Materials? Legendary Jujitsu Master’s a powerful defender with 1800 DEF and an effect that spins attackers back to the top of your opponent’s Deck! Imprisoned Queen Archfiend lends her 2600 ATK to Shadow Rider Titan’s lineup, and you can Special Summon it with his Archfiend’s Promotion Skill.

Shadow Rider Camula gets Il Blud and Vampire Hunter. Amnael gets Aqua Spirit and Garuda the Wind Spirit to banish more cards, as well as Helios Duo Magistus and Helios Trice Megistus for the full Helios build. Even Adrian Gecko has Cloudian – Sheep Cloud, a defensive powerhouse that explodes into a wall of Cloudian Tokens when it’s destroyed by battle!

And hey, even characters that aren’t in Duelists of Shadowsget some new cards…

Support for Legacy Characters

Non-Evil Jaden Yuki gets Elemental HERO Shining Flare Wingman, Chazz Princeton gets Armed Dragon LV10, and Zane Truesdale gets his alternate artwork “dark” Cyber Dragon. And they’re all available as Secret Rares!

Chumley Huffington fans are going to love Vampiric Koala: it’s a great addition to Chumley’s Chillin’ Outback Deck, smacking your opponent for as much as 3800 damage if it’s got Spikeshield with Chain, a Huffington heavy-hitter. If Vampiric Koala battles a monster and deals damage to your opponent in the process, its effect gains you Life Points equal to the damage dealt. That means if you’re not just beating your opponent outright, you’ll launch your Life Points into the stratosphere. Also? It’s a Koala in a little cape, and that’s just adorable.

Must-Have Reprints for Competitive Speed Duel

Since recent Speed Duel releases have all been big-box products where you get all the cards in one go, Speed Duel Decks are pretty easy to build. But a handful of cards from earlier sets actually got pretty difficult to find. The good news? They’re all back in Duelists of Shadows!

If you’re still trying to hunt down your last copy of Nightmare Wheel, Zoma the Spirit, or Allure of Darkness you can rest easy, as they’re back again. So are other staples like Book of Moon and Wall of Disruption. Allure of Darkness even comes as a Secret Rare!

Speaking of, now’s a good time to show you the complete list of Secret Rare variants. Every Duelists of Shadowsbox comes with Secret Rare printings of Uria, Lord of Searing Flames, Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder, and Raviel, Lord of Phantasms. But you’ll also find 5 more Secret Rares randomly selected from the following:

  • Super Polymerization
  • Dark Fusion
  • Evil HERO Malicious Fiend
  • Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon
  • Vampire Genesis
  • Amazoness Queen
  • Amazoness Swords Woman
  • Skull Archfiend of Lightning
  • Helios – The Primordial Sun
  • Golden Homunculus
  • D.D. Crow
  • Macro Cosmos
  • Fog King
  • Legendary Jujitsu Master
  • Il Blud
  • Vampire Hunter
  • Elemental HERO Shining Flare Wingman
  • Armed Dragon LV10
  • Cyber Dragon
  • Allure of Darkness
  • Aqua Chorus

Speed Duel GX: Duelists of Shadows is available in stores now! It is packed with tons of new cards, lots of new Skills, a great roster of revisited cards and some truly amazing Secret Rares! It’s never been easier to get into Speed Dueling, and Duelists of Shadows has everything you need to get started, and to take your strategy to the next level.


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