Episode 1

**Episode 1** is the 1st block of new age Duel Masters and is commonly known as "Year 10".

## World View

— Brief Plot

The Episode 1 worldview takes a completely different approach over past blocks; Instead of the Western Horror Fantasy/Asian Fantasy style used in past blocks, Episode 1 takes a completely different approach; It uses a Japanese teenage manga comic style that is still used till this day. Creature and Spell artwork often appear to be less frightening than their past peers and card naming becomes more comical, often with exclamation marks, comical wordings and abscence of common naming rules (Such as in Red Command Dragons).

Plots had also thicken past Psychic Shock and feature a slightly complex plot, albeit with the same premise with a mainly Fire and hot blooded group of protagonists.

Additionally, it is one of the few blocks that result in the defeat of all protagonists along with Revolution Saga, but unlike Revolution Saga where Dokindam X, the Legendary Forbidden directly destroyed all fractions, in Episode 1 Gaial Ore Dragon, the Vainglory, the final form of the protagonists were disgenerated by Codename Sherlock's anti-psychic powers.

Victory was also introduced in this block; While they have the same packaging rate as Super Rares, they are special as their card power usually exceeds regular cards, making them coveted by players. In this block, all victory rares are psychic creatures that are psychic link parts.

## Metagame

The Episode 1 metagame begins to sense the effects of the power creep since Violence Heaven; With the leading head of the power creep being the new Victory psychic creatures, most notably including Gaial Kaiser which was known for its combination with Hyperspatial Shooting Hole, the Gaial Ore Dragon, the Vainglory parts which were known as a must in 99% of hyperspatial zones, Aqua Attack <BAGOON panzer> which was known for its amazing extra draw and Volg Thunder which was known for its insane deckout abilities. These psychics are not flashy unlike their Psychic Shock counterparts, but can change the metagame all by themselves due to their sheer versatility. Among them, Gaial Kaiser, the Victorious is currently (In Revolution Final) in danger of being banned due to it being extremely versatile Invasion or Revolution change bait.

While they can use psychic link to transform themselves into much stronger creatures, they are seldomly used this way due to their limit oflink awakening at the start of a player's turn and the player must keep at least 2 and up to 3 creatures alive which can be insanely difficult. These psychic creatures are better off used alone.

Aside of Psychics, other cards are no slouch, from among them, Cyber N World is well known for its versatility due to its draw and reset powers and death to graving decks, Ryusei Kaiser, the Eternal is well known for its suppression abilities and discard resistance which consistently annoys players (Until now which it can be easily got around with a Black Psycho, Revenge combined with a Deadzone, S-Rank Zombie) to no end, Intense Vacuuming Twist which quickly became a must in all Fire Water Nature beatdown due to its amazing hand replenishment and bounce abilities, Bolbalzak Ex which was the continuation of the forbidden Bombazar, Dragon of Destiny which was so versatile that it has to be restricted due to its mana untap powers, Codename Sherlock which killed all of the Psychic decks all by itself for the duration of Episode 2 (But was outclassed by 5000GT, Riot in Episode 3), and Cosmo Cebu Lambda, the Super Electromagnetic whose amazing draw furthers Water Fire Nature beatdown's status in the metagame.

This is also the golden age for Emperor Kiriko due to its ability to spam Cyber N World, Ryusei Kaiser, the Eternal and Bolbalzak Ex with stunning ease. As it was too hard for most decks to manage, it caused the banishment of Kiriko from the Metagame.

At the end of the Metagame, Geo Baribari Miranda and Faerie Gift allows Ryusei Kaiser, the Victorious to be sent on the third turn and creatung an impossible to defend against offense.

## Sets

### DMR-01

(DMwiki Article)

The first set of new Duel Masters, it introduces many friendly civilization support, Space Charge which furthers multicolored decks, psychic links, as well as the new Victory rarity. While it contained many high power cards, Junk Rares (Which even goes into Victory slots) are also frequent and should not be taken lightly. This set also re-introduced forgotten races such as Brain Jackers and Sea Hackers.

### DMR-02

(DMwiki Article)

This set introduces Volg Thunder, a psychic creature well known for its staggering deck out and anti-spell abilities and extremely high packaging rate (1 per box), Ryusei Kaiser, the Eternal which became the most annoying creature ever for a very long time, and it also reintroduced phoenix saga races such as Saint Head and Brave Spriit who were thought forgotten.

### DMR-03

(DMwiki Article)
This set introduced enemy civilization supports, most notably the "Intense...Twist" series of spells, The Deis rangers which bought the return of the Lost Crusaders (Which will never be reunited due to Deis Magician, Ranger of Gaia being banished, and the masterminds of all the Unknown. Victory rares continue to be in nearly all boxes, but since this victory is pretty weak, it is considered virtually worthless.

### DMR-04

(DMwiki Article)

This set had a vastly multicolored set arrangement and has the second highest multicolored ratio next to Template:DMWiki, and has a great feature on 3 civilization and 5 civilization creatures, as well as a high concentration of support of multicolored cards. It also introduces Gaial Ore Dragon, the Vainglory, whose parts will change the face of the game like nothing has ever before, as well as Codename Sherlock which starts the beginning of the end of the psychic age.

### Other notable sets

#### King of Duel Road: Strong 7

(DMwiki Article)

A reprint of many of the metagame cards in the Psychic Shock Meta, mostly consisting of Hall of Fame Cards. It is more possible that a box has no super rares, however.

#### Full Foil Revival Packs

(DMwiki Article: Hunter)
(DMwiki Article: Alien)

These are a set of packs that feature all cards in foil as well as having creatures based on past creatures. Out of them Bolbalzak Ex is the most famous due to its versatility, And Heavy Death Metal, End of the Century is famous in Dragon Pulse Technique - Fortress Destroyer decks a few years after its release. However, the rest of the content and the Alien pack is absurdly lackluster and many leftovers can be seen till this day.

#### "Epic Battle"

(DMwiki Article: Red)
(DMwiki Article: Blue)

These sets introduces support for Hunters and Aliens and featured Chopping Ruzou, Rude Mincing Gang Leader and Fused Dreadnought! Jet Cascade Attack, whose Victory parts are great and versatile metagame cards. They also reprinted much needed cards such as Seventh Tower and Geo Baribari Miranda. However, the Super Rares are extremely lackluster and it is possible that one may not appear.

## Set Order

* *Previous:* Psychic Shock
* *Next:* Episode 2