Konami has just announced the reprint of a reprint set Retro Pack 2 from 2009, much to mild excitement of the community. The set, which primarily reprints the cards that are so old they were already considered ‘retro’ in 2009, features just enough vanillas and unplayable anime spell/traps to get the nostalgia juices flowing for anyone who last touched a card in 2007. However, it does contain a few cards especially important to the game and its beloved history: the Secret Rares.
You wouldn’t be excited to open Swift Gaia the Fierce Knight as your Ultra Rare in 2005, let alone 2009. The main reason to open the packs in the first place was a chance to lay your hands upon some of the coveted Secret Rares, that got their original printings in various strange promotions. Valkyrion and Harpie’s Pet Dragon, while not landing in any deck, were exclusively video game promos before the Retro Pack 2 reprint. Light and Darkness Dragon and Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon, both iconic creatures of the main rivals Manga Manjoume and Movie Kaiba were given away for attending Yu-Gi-Oh! movies. Dragon Master Knight, who required a yet-unreleased Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon as its material, for a while was exclusive to Walmart of all places. And Gorz, oh beloved Gorz… The Emissary of Darkness was a Secret Rare in a reprint set Dark Legends, exclusive to the US, meaning Europeans just couldn’t play with the iconic and powerful handtrap.
Reprint Pack 2 changed all that. No longer were cards exclusive to terrible movies, surprisingly good games or Shonen Jump subscriptions, everyone could finally play with them. Assuming they opened them. Which the vast majority didn’t. Retro Pack 1 and 2s rates were so abysmal, Konami decided to double the appearance rate of Super/Ultra/Secret Rares in the Retro Pack re-releases. Unfortunately, if you double a really small number, it doesn’t really make it big.
With the doubling of the pull rates the message from Konami is clear: Please don’t be disheartened by the odds to pull a Secret Rare! While you’re trying to land that sweet sweet Gorz or LaDD for your ‘all old-border’ Edison deck, you can use the thousands of commons and rares for something neat, like covering your entire wallpaper just with Gemini Elf, or using all the Destiny Board letters for the world’s worst game of Wordle.
Cards, in order of appearance:
