Dragon Saga

Dragon Saga is the 13th block of card sets in the Duel Masters trading card game.

Nomenclature
DMR sets are named [TWO-LETTER WORD] [NAME OF TRUMP CARD].

The trump cards all have relation to Glenmalt or Gaiginga.

List of Sets
It is composed of sets released after March 21st, 2014.

DMR Sets
 * DMR-13 Dragon Solution Gaiginga
 * DMR-14 Wild Dragon Gaiglen
 * DMR-15 Double Swords Ohginga
 * DMR-16極 Super Battle Guynext x Goku
 * DMR-16真 Super Battle Guynext x Shin

DMX Sets
 * DMX-16 The Great Royal Strategies: Fantasista 12
 * DMX-17 Dragon Souls Festival
 * DMX-18 Triple Shifter! Dragsolution Allstars
 * DMX-19 Super Rare 100% Pack

DMD Sets
 * DMD-15 Beginning Dragon Deck: Battle Passion Dragon
 * DMD-16 Beginning Dragon Deck: Heavenly Justice Dragon
 * DMD-17 Beginning Dragon Deck: Crystal Memory Dragon
 * DMD-18 Super Victory Deck: Blaze Up Dragon Sword Gaial
 * DMD-19 Super Victory Deck: Annihilation Dragon Sword Diabolos
 * DMD-20 Super Victory Deck: Victorious Rising Dragon Sword Gaiohburn

It also features promotional cards from Year 13.

Plot
The story now takes place a nearby world from the main world in Episode 3 or before, which is ruled by Dragons. This world was ruled by a king of dragons, but this all collapsed in a day where mysterious weapons called Draghearts were found. With these weapons, the civilizations toppled their king. Without a unified leader, the civilizations fought each other for dominance. At the same time the survival competition that appears once every 10 years, known as "Duel Masters" took place, so the civilizations brought their war into the competition. Little do the civilizations know the dark and tragic secrets behind the Draghearts...

Timeline

 * Main:Timeline/Dragon Saga

The Storyline of Dragon Saga takes a different approach than in the world before Episode 3; Each civilization has it's own background story. The relationships of the civilizations also takes a completely different approach then the previous world; for example, in the previous world the Darkness Civilization is an ally with the Fire and Water civilizations, while in the world of Dragon Saga, the Darkness Civilization opposes said civilizations. It is even possible that two different fractions from the same civilization fight each other, as seen in the case of Imen=Bugo, Dragon Edge and Sasoris, Dragon Edge. Just like in the Awakening Saga, the main characters of each civilization eventually team up to defeat a final threat.

Light Civilization
 * Main Article: Story of the Light Civilization

Water Civilization
 * Main Article: Story of the Water Civilization

Darkness Civilization
 * Main Article: Story of the Darkness Civilization

Fire Civilization
 * Main Article: Story of the Fire Civilization

Nature Civilization
 * Main Article: Story of the Nature Civilization

Details

 * Each civilization is focused on a iconic Command Dragon race and Support Race:
 * DMR-13, DMR-15, and both versions of DMR-16 introduce a new rarity known as Double Victory. These Double Victory cards, as their name suggests, have the ability to declare the demise of the opponent in a turn or two if they appear. The packaging rate of them was initially so low that it surpasses most Secret Victory Rares in rarity, which was criticized by players. As a result, in later sets they have the same packaging rate as any other Super Rare or Victory Rare.
 * While in Episode 3 card power seems to lower a bit, in Dragon Saga it has increased drastically, along with the rarity of useful cards.
 * Eventually card power had increased to an completely unreasonable level, with some of the new cards such as Glenmalt, Dragon Edge and its variants and Imen=Bugo, Dragon Edge being capable of finishing the opponent within a turn if they appear.

Pre-DMR-13 Stage
Dragon Saga began with three pre-built decks: DMD-15, DMD-16 and DMD-17. However, since their price was cheap, they did not change the Episode 3 environment that much with the exception of DMD-17 which enforced Liquid People beatdown with the help of Java Jack, Ultra Flash. Aqua Teacher also supported the usage of vanilla Liquid People.

With the release of DMX-16, Dorago the Great, Dragon World was reminiscent of King Alcadeias, Holy Gaia, but since it was not a cheap evolution creature, its cost was troublesome and the lockdown also affected its owner, it was only used in Miramisu and Drama. The fact that it was weak to spell removal also meant an exploitable weakness.

Meanwhile, with a Mono Darkness Control with Ryusei In The Dark winning a championship, players shifted their attention to this type of control. The original Ryusei Kaiser, the Eternal was strong on its own, but its shift to the Darkness civilization and the discard substitution being replaced with graveyard recovery called forth for new control tactics involving its effect.

Before the release of DMR-13, the Hall of Fame had been updated in order to weaken the older meta decks. Onimaru "Head", Victory Rush, Kubrick, Spiral Accelerator, Kiryu Jilves, Gaia's Roar, Rolan, the Oracle, Ghastly Drain and Mystery Hippo had been restricted. As such, Eureka Drain lost its main engine and faded away from the scene, Graveyard source lost one of its main removals and it was weakened, Shoegazer One-Shot was less weakened as it had other ways of making its trump speed attacker, but decks such as IFormulaX-tra Win which relied on loop combos with Mystery Hippo were also weakened. After two years, the infamous Onimaru "Head", Victory Rush had been restricted, but its main decks: Kaiser "Blade Demon" and Miramisu were not severely weakened, as the former still had Kaiser "Blade Demon", Zenith of "Certain Victory", Ryusei Kaiser, the Eternal and Diehard Ryusei of Invincibility, while the latter had Mystery Cube and Codeking Wilhelm to rely on.

DMR-13 Stage
Thanks to the Hall of Fame, a part of the decks that ruled the Episode 3 environment were gone from the scene. With the release of DMR-13, a new gimmick called Draghearts was brought forth, and such, older decks that relied on the hyperspatial zone which had been pushed out of the scene almost completely due to the Episode 3 meta, suddenly began to see a return, notably with controls.

Out of all the Dragheart Creatures, Gaiginga, Passionate Star Dragon was the easiest to Dragsolution, at the same time strong and very resistant to removal, and thus it was quickly adapted to Gift beatdown. Being brought out only by Glenmalt, Dragon Edge, besides beatdowns based on Faerie Gift, it had also seen some play in Shoegazer One-Shot decks. Due to this, many players now use cards to get rid of Glenmalt before Gaiheart can reach its stronger form.

Another powerful card was Sr Spellcyclica, Dragment Symbol. Due to its high versatility, it had been used with spells such as Reap and Sow and Miraculous Plague, reviving mana burn control. Also, it has been used with The Universe Gate, building an entire deck around it, and it has also been adapted to hyperspatial decks such as Transmogrify Spellcyclica.

It was particularly useful in Miramisu to cast Mystery Cube and Hogan Blaster and Intense Vacuuming Twist, keeping the deck very strong even with Onimaru "Head", Victory Rush's restriction. Miramisu began to adapt Faerie Miracle and have all five colors in order to activate its effect and using Hyperspatial Green White Hole as defense and mana recovery. Wald Brachio, Absolute World King also saw some use in Miramisu due to its effect, but besides that, there were a few mono Nature mana acceleration decks focusing on him. However there were some players who choose not to use him due to his mono-color, duplicating that of early game boosts and Mystery Cube to avoid color problems.

Since over the years Heaven's Gate had not been hit by the Hall of Fame, its strategies were adapted to Light /Water /Darkness Hyperspatial control. In response to it, mana burn with Hibiki, Explosive Mirror was used. Batou Shoulder, Shadow of Fiction and Fuuma Gorgonshack also returned to the scene to hinder said decks. However it did not mean that Mono Light decks were not used with Heaven's Gate exclusively.

Thus the new Hall of Fame reset the whole environment, and a new one was born from it. Measures to counter Gaiginga, Passionate Star Dragon's Dragsolution appeared with the usage of old cards like Raiden, Lightfang Ninja, Phantasm Clutch and Flame Lance Trap to destroy Glenmalt.

When DMD-18 and DMD-19 were released, older strong psychic creatures were reprinted. Living up to the name of Super Deck, they were powerful to win tournaments in cases. The reprint of strong old cards made it easier for new players to strengthen their resources.

Gaial, Leader Dragon Sword appeared as a second option to the already powerful Glenmalt, Dragon Edge. While its battle-forcing effect is good, its Dragsolution requirement is somewhat weak, due to it being unable to flip if one has no other creatures in the battle zone. Batocross Battle, Passion Dragon was a strong card, with a small disadvantage of being returned to the deck if brought out during the opponent's turn. Being able to force-battle an opponent's creature just by being put into the battle zone and having Double Breaker made it a viable option in Cube and Dragon decks. It also appeared a competition winner prize. As a result, many duelists flocked to official tournaments.

With the release of DMX-17, Gaial Mobius, Victory Emperor appeared as yet another option for Miramisu decks, being considered by some as the heir of Onimaru "Head", Victory Rush due to its ability of attacking twice as well as being a speed attacking triple breaker that costs 10. In addition to that, Lionel, Lion Zenith Dragon and Wagahai Cat, Spirit of Destiny became a strong combo that was hard to break down. Chirico Cubic, First Model Dragon Emperor attracted a number of spell users who began experimenting with it. However due to its nature, Faerie Life became difficult to implement in those decks, making it hard to balance the number of creatures and spells, rendering it unable to reach the top meta. But being a card with high potential, we can see if it is able to tap into that power in the future.

DMR-14 Stage
A new type of Dragheart appeared, the Dragheart Fortress. Unlike Weapons, which were equipped, there was no risk of losing these new Draghearts to the removal cards such as Terror Pit. Among them, Evidegoras, Dragon Sonic Aircraft Carrier was the most preferred, being both Victory Rare and having Dragon Evade, making it hard to remove. Along with Evidegoras came Metal Avenger Solid, Dragon Edge, which compared to the original it also had a bounce effect, thus seeing some use in Kaiser "Blade Demon" decks. Only Dias Zeta, the Temporal Suppressor was one of the few popular cards able to get rid of Dragheart Fortresses, and even so, Mono Darkness Control found difficulty handling the draw power of Evidegoras.

Gaiglen, Violent Dragon Incident had a heavy cost of 9 and a Mana Arms ability that requires the same amount of fire cards in the player's mana zone, and was seen as one of the worst Victory Rare cards up to date, but was later reevaluated and saw uses in some Drama decks with multicolors.

The attention was averted to Domitius, Evil Emperor of Five Dragonskind, its creature spam effects being reminiscent of Cyber G Hogan. Among the creatures that could be spammed, Babelginus, Demonic Dragon had strong synergy with Domitius, being able to spam further copies of him from the graveyard and creating a powerful reanimation combo. Diamond Aven, Spirit of Awakening, Mykee's Pliers and Kiryu Jilves, Gaia's Roar were also good options, for they could either give Domitius and the creatures it spammed either Diamond State or speed attacker. Galamuta, Matchless Fear Lord was also used to stop shield triggers, but since there have been 10 years since this card was first released, a reprint was to be desired, and being a Super Rare, his price has reached a new peak.

DMX-18 brought brought new strong Draguners and Draghearts such as Glenmalt "Explosion", Dragon Edge and Batorai Kaku, Blazing Castle recreating Drama decks. Unlike Balga Dragons, this Fortress also triggered Humans, meaning that other strategies can be adapted to it. Imen=Bugo, Dragon Edge and Boaroaxe, Evil Tomahawk were resembling of Shoegazer, Bright Deity due to Imen=Bugo's effect, the Mana Arms of Macallan Fine, Explosive Roar could be activated and a deck reminiscent of Shoegazer One-Shot was made. Cards such as Raija, Aqua Ninja and Ragmal, Spirit Knight could be used in combo with Boaroaxe in order to Dragsolution Boaropagos, Evil Emperor Ruins.

With the release of DMD-20, more older cards such as Onimaru "Head", Victory Rush and Ryusei Kaiser, the Eternal were reprinted. An updated Gaial, Leader Dragon Sword, aka Gaiohburn, Head General Sword appeared. A new strong Mana Arms shield trigger spell appeared, Hero Mystery, Burning Galaxy, which also had the ability to remove Drahgeart Fortresses, thus rivaling the removal of Demon Wolf, Howling Moonlight Castle. Another strong Mana Arms card was Glenmalt "Head", Dimension Dragon Edge which could get out any card with cost 6 or less from the hyperspatial zone.

As such, many remodeled DMD-20 decks appeared in tournaments, many surprising the players by actually winning them. Most edits were adding Glenmalt "Explosion", Dragon Edge, Batorai Kaku, Blazing Castle along with the finishers Gaiglen, Violent Dragon Incident and Gaial Mobius, Victory Emperor, as well as increasing the copies of Ryusei Kaiser, the Eternal, basically turning the decks into Batorai Drama. In order to counter those decks, controls with Dorballom D, Demon Dragon King and Alphadios, Lord of Spirits as finishers emerged, both out of necessity and nostalgia.

DMR-15 Stage
A new Double Victory rare appeared, Ohginga, Strongest Passion. Glenmalt "King", Dual Sword Dragon Edge was the first Draguner who could have two weapons equipped. It had great synergy with Gaimusou, Angry Hero and equipped with Gaiheart, Galaxy Sword and Protoheart, Galaxy Sword, it allowed for a one-shot kill in pseudo-Steroid decks nicknamed Malt "King", though some of these decks used Child Festival of Faerie Fire besides multicolors.

Among the other noteworthy Draghearts and Draguners were The=Deadman, Dragon Edge and Niga=Abushumu, Invasive Mystery. Yet, Deadman was mostly used for its own effect to completely gain control of battle field whereas Niga=Abushumu was used to get a strong field advantage as well.

A Light version of Dolgazer, Veteran of Hard Battle appeared - Southern Renaissance, Resonance Dragon Elemental. Due to its sympathy, it became a favorite in mono Light beatdowns with Sagrada Familia, Vizier of Instant Seal and Schreiber, Vizier of Strictness. Without hesitation, low cost blockers were used too; because of Diamond Sword's presence.

Since Dragheart Fortresses were hard to remove, spells such as Super Phantom Lion's Flame and Dragon Pulse Technique - Fortress Destroyer were made. Under these circumstances, older cards like Dias Zeta, the Temporal Suppressor were no longer used to deal with Evidegoras, Dragon Sonic Aircraft Carrier or Gigaheart, Invincible King Sword and thus Mono Darkness Control began to see a decline.

In January new tournament results showed that Miramisu was still reigning the meta scene, along with a surprising return of Light/Water/Darkness All Yes discard. Other strong decks were pseudo-mono Fire decks with Glenmalt "King", Dual Sword Dragon Edge, as well as mono-Light rushes with Southern Renaissance, Resonance Dragon Elemental and Mono Nature Sasoris decks with Boaroaxe, Evil Tomahawk.

Two weeks after the tournament, a new Hall of Fame update had been announced. Mystery Cube and Hyperspatial Green White Hole would be restricted while Amaterasu, Founder of the Blue Wolves would be banned. Mystery Cube because it had sustained Miramisu for almost two years, while the combo of Green White Hole and Prin Prin, the Victorious proved as being too strong, for it provided both defense and mana recovery for Kaiser "Blade Demon" and Zenith Turbo. While Amaterasu did not impact the meta that much, its combo with Transmogrify was another alternative for spamming big creatures in Miramisu. A stronger spell casting card, Sr Spellcyclica, Dragment Symbol, had escaped the Hall of Fame for almost a year, but it could be attributed to its strong synergy with Mystery Cube and Green White Hole that it wasn't very threatening without them.

DMR-16 Stage
The final chapter of Dragon Saga was split in two. The Goku half was focused on Darkness while the Shin half was focused on Light. The Goku half had been released a month earlier than Shin.

To compensate for the lack of card removal which made Mono Darkness Control have an increasingly hard time getting around Evidegoras, Dragon Sonic Aircraft Carrier, a new Dragheart Fortress was released: Welcome Hell, Supreme Devil Depth. Having stronger reanimation abilities than those of Go To Hell, Annihilator Blade, mono-Darkness controls had seen a rise once again.

The first Multicolored Mana Arms and Super Strike Back card appeared: The=Deadbrachio, World Evil Dragonkind. Being intended for 5 color decks, it had synergy with Niga=Abushumu, Invasive Mystery and Imen=Bugo, Dragon Edge. Using Imen=Bugo with Boaroaxe, Evil Tomahawk, one could bring out Emeralda, Pitch Dragon Elemental, return a shield and activate the Super Strike Back of The=Deadbrachio, as well as help dragsolution Boaroaxe into Boaropagos, Evil Emperor Ruins.

It was around this time that Deis Magician, Ranger of Gaia had started seeing use in combo with Imen=Bugo, Dragon Edge, creating the so-called Imen loop deck.

Spell-support versions of Honenbe, Skeletal Guardian and Inferno Sign appeared in the forms of Spellbe, Aqua Spellcaster and Dragment Innovation. A cycle of Dragheart Fortresses which united into All Over The World, Supreme True Dragon Soul appeared but could not be completed or used properly until the release of the Shin half. In the meantime, Mono-Nature rush had been enforced by Bell the Elemental, which also had great synergy in Mono Nature Sasoris.

The Double Victory of this set, MaltNEXT, Ultra-War Dragon Edge has yet to demonstrate its true value. While it does have synergy with Gaiheart, Galaxy Sword, since it doesn't have speed attacker on its own, it has been combined with Gaial Axel and Ryusei Kaiser, the Eternal in order to work with Batorai Edge, Blazing Sword. One of the ways it could be done in fail-safe manner was with Gaimusou. However, with the help of Heart Burn, Battle General Galaxy Fortress, MaltNEXT could live up to its Double Victory rarity.

With the release of the DMR-16 Shin half, Endless Heaven, True Holy Church was brought to enforce Mono Light Control, though it also has some synergy with Glenmalt "Head", Dimension Dragon Edge in Malt "King".

With the newly implemented Hall of Fame, Miramisu was wiped out of the tournament results while Kaiser "Blade Demon" found Hyperspatial White Blue Hole, Miraculous Truce and Emeralda, Pitch Dragon Elemental as alternatives to Hyperspatial Green White Hole.

Ultimately at the end of Dragon Saga there was no longer a deck that overpowered the others, meaning that the environment had finally been stabilized.

Though most decks have now switched to being monocolored, Codeking Wilhelm is still being used in the meta as part of few big mana multicolored decks (at times even when not using any other Darkness cards). But other than Water, Dragon Saga had managed to enforce mono decks into competitive environments.

But since there is more deck compatibility now than ever, it can be said that luck is now the decisive factor in the game.

Competitive Decks

 * Glenmalt beatdown
 * Gift beatdown
 * Miramisu
 * Mana ramp decks:
 * Zenith Turbo
 * Kaiser "Blade Demon"
 * Beethoven (deck)
 * DMD-20 edits:
 * Malt "King"
 * MaltNEXT
 * Batorai Drama
 * Boaroaxe decks:
 * Imen loop
 * Mono Nature Sasoris
 * Mana burn control
 * Transmogrify Spellcyclica
 * Hyperspatial control
 * Graveyard source
 * Shoegazer One-Shot
 * Mono Light Heaven's Gate
 * Mono Darkness Control
 * Mono Darkness Draguner
 * Graveyard Evolution rush
 * Mono-Light rush
 * The Universe Gate

Important Cards
New cards:
 * Dorago the Great, Dragon World
 * Ryusei In The Dark
 * Gaiheart, Galaxy Sword / Gaiginga, Passionate Star Dragon
 * Sr Spellcyclica, Dragment Symbol
 * Demon Wolf, Howling Moonlight Castle
 * Glenmalt, Dragon Edge
 * Hibiki, Explosive Mirror
 * Gaial Mobius, Victory Emperor
 * Evidegoras, Dragon Sonic Aircraft Carrier / Q.E.D. Plus, Final Dragon Logic
 * Domitius, Evil Emperor of Five Dragonskind
 * Metal Avenger Solid, Dragon Edge
 * Batorai Edge, Blazing Sword / Batorai Kaku, Blazing Castle / Batorai Bushin, Blazing Deluxe
 * Sasoris, Dragon Edge
 * Emeralda, Pitch Dragon Elemental
 * Glenmalt "Explosion", Dragon Edge
 * Boaroaxe, Evil Tomahawk / Boaropagos, Evil Emperor Ruins / Verokiboaros, Ga Ga Ga
 * Imen=Bugo, Dragon Edge
 * Southern Renaissance, Resonance Dragon Elemental
 * The=Deadbrachio, World Evil Dragonkind
 * MaltNEXT, Ultra-War Dragon Edge
 * Welcome Hell, Supreme Devil Depth / Deathgoros, Supreme Demonic Corrupt King

Old Cards:
 * Kaiser "Blade Demon", Zenith of "Certain Victory"
 * Shoegazer, Bright Deity
 * Heaven's Gate
 * Java Jack, Ultra Flash
 * Amaterasu, Founder of the Blue Wolves
 * Transmogrify
 * Hyperspatial Emperor Hole
 * 5000GT, Riot
 * Crossfire, Wicked Millionaire
 * Ryusei Kaiser, the Eternal
 * Diehard Ryusei of Invincibility
 * Mystery Cube
 * Faerie Gift
 * Codeking Wilhelm

Trivia

 * In all Dragon Saga DMR expansions, there is always a gold Secret Victory Rare and a secret Victory Rare that resembles a Dramatic Card.
 * There is an unusually small concentration of Evolution Creatures in Dragon Saga sets, possibly to make way for Revolution.
 * Dragon Saga resembles Awakening Saga; both featured double sided cards that are put in the hyperspatial zone, both have unreasonably high card power and both of them have a Fire Civilization protagonist that is a Dragon and an antagonist that utilizes the power of all 5 civilizations.
 * It also bears an resemblance with Episode 2, where the Main Protagonists has traits that resemble Kiramaru, Great Miracle and a Final boss that shuffles cards back into player's decks. Various stages of the main protagonist, Glenmalt are also named after incarnations of Onimaru, the main protagonist of Episode 2. The DASH Golden List also releases cards from Episode 2 in Dragon Saga.