Product Announcement: Battles of Legend 2021!

2021 was shaping up to be a terrible year for YuGiOh players, as concerns about Konami's silence regarding news on one of the best-selling and most impactful booster sets of the game seemed nowhere to be found, heard or even hinted at. Regarded as one of the most sought after products in the game's history, the Battles of Legend sets have always been the centerpiece of players' focus during the first half of every year. Starting with Light's Revenge in 2017 and the release of Armageddon last year, each BoL set has brought essential reprints to the table. Whether it be competitive players looking for rare cards, collectors eager to complete their number collections or just sellers looking for an easily profitable set, Battles of Legends have something for everyone... in jaw-dropping abundance!

Ususally released between late June and mid July, the Battles of Legend sets are heralded by much hype and enter the focus of the playerbase from their initial announcement, which has traditionally been set for late in the month of April. Naturally, fans had much cause for worry this year as the mid of May came and went and the Battles of Legend remained completely unacknowledged by Konami. Fortunately, the morning of May the 24th brought forth much excitement and relief as news of the latest addition to the legacy spread across the internet. While an official set description has yet to be put up by Konami on their website, several reliable sellers online have updated their websites to include the latest addition to the BoL family as a product available for preorder, allaying all fears that the news was false.

While very little is currently known about the contents, or even the final name of the set currently listed as "Battles of Legend 2021", we do know enough to hold a concrete discussion on the set. Being both reprint and import products, the Battles of Legend sets often act as vessels for a variety of miscellaneous OCG imports; this year, there is little doubt about whete the imports will be sourced from- raise the curtains for "Animation Chronicle" everyone! Animation Chronicle is an OCG-exclusive booster set advertised as having a card pool of 50 and introducing support for several anime characters from all 6 YuGiOh animes. In fact, according to the information on Yugipedia, Animation Chronicle:

• Includes cards used by Gansley, Yami Yugi, Syrus Truesdale, Zane Truesdale, Sherry LeBlanc, Yuma Tsukumo, Yuri, and Ai.
• Includes new members/support for the "@Ignister", "A.I.", "Chaos", "Kuriboh", "Noble Knight", "Number", "Number C", "Number C39", "roid", "Utopia", "Utopic", "Zexal", "ZS -", and "ZW -" archetypes.

Guess what the set description for the Battles of Legend 2021 says? The exact same thing! That in and of itself confirms where the OCG imports for this year will be sourced from. This most notably includes Gansley's cards like "Yowie" (Season 3: Noah's Arc) and Atem's Kuriboh Brothers (Season 4: Waking the Dragons), meaning that these sets will continue on their way to turn every anime-exclusive card into shiny cardboard which we can play in real life- truly a noble cause worthy of applause from every nostalgic young adult today!

Players have also pointed out that Utopia support will also be included in the deck, further bolstering the improved strategy for Yuma's ace monster introduced in Lightning Overdrive. Will Utopia really be a meta contender for the latter half of 2021? We can't say yet, but we'll sure as hell advise you to have a strong defense because these Zexal Weapons can make for some easy OTK's!

Imports aren't the only eye-catching feature of this set: the cover card alone will turn the heads of duelists everywhere. The dreaded tournament mainstay by the name of Forbidden Droplet will be receiving a reprint in this set! The natural successor to Dark Ruler No More and a 1 card out to even the most formidable multiple negate boards in the game, Forbidden Droplet has shown amazing promise throughout its current run and shows no indication of being outmaneuvered by any tactics in the near future. With a reprint like this up for grabs, there's no excuse for players to say they don't have their copy now. Sellers also have a great product to place their bets on, as all past Battles of Legend sets have proven that their cards stand the test of time and retain high pricepoints even years after their release. 

Imports and reprints aside, we ought to mention that the Battles of Legend this year openly boasts 60 NEW introductions to the game. The reason we mention this now is to point out that Animation Chronicle is only a 50 card set. What are the other 10 cards and where are they coming from? Your guess is as good as ours. Konami's sets this year have shown a great quality of inter-referencing each other and making their synergies known. The Obelisk Structure Deck has been mentioned in the description of Dawn of Majesty, Lightning Overdrive has seen reference in King's Court, and now the new Battles of Legend promises to tie in several other products as well- Lightning Overdrive, Legendary Duelists- Synchro Storm and the 2021 Mega Tins being at the top of this list!

It is obvious that Konami has started taking a much more proactive and unifying approach to the state of the game, and we're all the more greatful for it. To see this amount of synergistic potential among such different products is truly magical, especially in light of the fact that 2021 has seen the most amount of nostalgia-inducing themes in the history of the game! Battles of Legend seems to be the biggest link in this unifying theme! October the 10th is the day to prepare for, folks! Something BIG is coming to YuGiOh, and it will leave the face of the game changed forever! Old fans and new followers, meta players and collectors alike will all find their hopes and dreams rejuvenated with the latest entry in the latest addition to legendary legacy that is Battles of Legend!

Adilsons will publish a follow-up article when more information about this set and its contents is available. Due to the delay in this year's product schedules from Konami, this may be several months away, so please be patient and remember to place your preorders in time before this product is sold out for good!