Dragon Saga

Dragon Saga is the 13th block of Duel Masters card sets in the Trading Card Game.

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

DMR Sets
 * DMR-13 Dragon Solution Gaiginga
 * DMR-14 Wild Dragon Gaiglen

DMX Sets
 * DMX-16 The Great Royal Strategies: Fantasista 12
 * DMX-17 Dragon Souls Festival
 * DMX-18 Triple Shifter! Dragsolution Allstars

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

It also features promotional cards from Year 13.

Details
Each civilization is focused on a iconic Command Dragon race and support race:

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 Eternal Meteor Kaiser 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 "Demon Blade" and Miramisu were not severely weakened, as the former still had Kaiser "Demon Fang", Zenith of "Certain Victory", Eternal Meteor Kaiser 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.

Out of all the Dragheart Creatures, Gaiginga, Passionate Star Dragon was the easiest to Dragsolution, and thus it was quickly adapted to Gift beatdown. Being brought out only by Glenmolt, 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 Glenmolt 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. It was even used in Miramisu to cast Mystery Cube and Hogan Blaster, keeping the deck 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. 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 ramp decks focusing on him. However there are 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.

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 Glenmolt.

When DMD-18 and DMD-19 were released, older strong psychic creatures were reprinted. Living up to the name of Super Deck, they packed enough power 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 Glenmolt, 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.

Competitive Decks

 * Glenmolt beatdown
 * Miramisu
 * Kaiser "Demon Blade"
 * Mana burn control
 * Zenith Turbo
 * Mono Darkness Control
 * Shoegazer One-Shot
 * Heaven's Gate Hyperspatial control

New cards

 * Dorago the Great, Dragon World
 * Ryusei In The Dark
 * Gaiginga, Passionate Star Dragon
 * Sr Spellcyclica, Dragment Symbol
 * Glenmolt, Dragon Edge
 * Hibiki, Explosive Mirror
 * Gaial Mobius, Victory Emperor

Old Cards

 * Kaiser "Demon Fang", Zenith of "Certain Victory"
 * Shoegazer, Bright Deity
 * Heaven's Gate
 * Java Jack, Ultra Flash
 * Hyperspatial Emperor Hole
 * Eternal Meteor Kaiser
 * Mystery Cube
 * Faerie Gift
 * Codeking Wilhelm