Invincible Soul

**Invincible Soul** (闘魂編) (Duel Masters wiki Article) is the second block of Duel Masters. It is commonly known as "Year 2".

## World View

— Brief description of the plot

Invincible Soul retains most of the world views of Beginner's Block, but it had a clearer sense of good and evil and the Water Civilization's Emperor Quazla was the main antagonist of the block. While the first 2 sets introduced the defeat of the survivors and the interfighting of the Civilizations, in the second half a more consistent plot was made. Artwork style mostly remains the same as in Beginner's Block.

## Metagame

Unfortunately, the Metagame of Invincible Soul retains most of the similiarities as the Metagame in Beginner's Block, but it would contain slightly stronger creatures such as Bazagazeal Dragon and Magmadragon Jagalzor. Unlike later on, Überdragon Bajula is not common. Dragons are also much more frequently seen in as compared to before, especially after DM-08.

However, the main point of the Fighting Spirit Saga is that **Each set had a banished card**. These include:

* DM-06: Hell Slash, used in deckout loops to cripple the opponent. Remade as Future Slash overseas which was still banned (Although as a measure for get-arounds).
* DM-07: Cursed Totem, prevented all shield triggers to be used when it is in the battle zone, remade as Cryptic Totem overseas.
* DM-08: Skeleton Vice, Overly cheap and overly advantageous discard. Remade as Cranium Clamp overseas which was still considered too powerful. Was later remade as Demonic Vice and more than 10 years after the original card's release, Black Psycho, Revenge was released as an alternative. Black Psycho was actually in the same level of versatility as Skeleton vice as well.
* DM-09: Slash Charger, used in Deck out loops for mana and mana recycle loops. Can be also used as a pinpoint graving system.

Together, these cards had created a metagame mostly reliant on deckout removal control.

Additionally, in order to control the overly powerful Water Civilization, New Water cards, especially high-rarity cards, are deliberately made weak, with the most prominent examples being Aqua Master, Emperor Quazla, Cosmic Nebula and Marching Motherboard.

## Explanation of the Sets

### DM-06

(DM wiki article)

The introduction for Invincible Soul which had another ability trigger: Tap Ability. While it allowed an ability to be used numerous times, it was unpopular as the creatures get summoning sickness (Which prevented the effect from activating instantly) and would be beaten back by opposing creatures next turn as most of them had low power. (In fact, Gaial Kaiser, the Victorious can destroy most of them before they activate.)

It also started the legend of Bolmeteus Steel Dragon and introduced the Invincible Spells which were supposed to be the strongest power of the civilization's capitals. However, the Invincible spells were unpopular as they all costed 13 and have effects that are not worth the massive effort in manually casting them. Bolmeteus however, would be one of the franchise mascots and would become a metagame hit later until Psychic Shock.

### DM-07

(DM wiki article)

The set that introduced Chargers (Which would later decide the outcome of newer sets), Stealth (A copy of landwalk) and more Tap abilities. However, the set's content were a level of crud unheard of in previous sets or future sets. All of the Super Rares and Very Rares were total crap and good normal cards are countable by hand. The best card was Cursed Totem (A Rare) which was later banished and replaced by Galamuta, Matchless Fear Lord.

For more, see this wiki's article.

### DM-08

(DM wiki article)

This set in the other hand was a great turnaround from the low quality of DM-07; It contained many powerful cards and also contained many Dragons that would be popular among younger audiences and inexperienced players. Out of them, the most famous are Überdragon Bajula, Super Necrodragon Abzo Dolba and Super Terradragon Bailas Gale. Additionally, Turbo Rush was introduced and this set is the only set where the keyword was featured. The most prominent of these cards are Magmadragon Jagalzor, which would serve as a high power finisher for decks up to Psychic Shock. Overall, this set is among one of the best sets in ancient duel masters and many players came to a sense of grief when it was discontinued.

### DM-09

(DM wiki article)

This set introduced synergy between races and thus makes constructing race decks easier. Out of them, the most prominent is Petrova, Channeler of Suns which would act as an excellent tribal support until Psychic Shock or Episode 1. It also first experimented creatures with 0000+ power (Or 1000+ later) which can infinitely increase their power, but would fail so badly on practice that it is mostly scrapped right now.

In the other hand, its contents are absurdly weak, with all Super Rares but Petrova useless, and the most notorious of them were Aqua Master and Stratosphere Giant, with Magamdragon Ogrist Vhal coming next.

## Block Order

* Prequel:Beginner's Block
* Sequel:Eternal Arms