Junk Rare

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Junk Rare ハズレア (Hasurea)
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A Junk Rare (also known as a "Scrub Rare", "Reject Rare", "Cheap Rare") is a slang term for cards that have a Very Rare or above Card Rarity that are extremely low in card power and will never be used in competitive play.

Due to this, their collective value is usually very low and most will only sell for low amounts.

Definition

A Junk Rare is not something like the Quasi-Vanilla fatties like in DM-01 and DM-05 as most of the cards that are Very Rare or above is basically the same. (This includes Syrius, Firmament Elemental and King Tsunami as they are considered weak at that time due to their high costs. Additionally, they can be considered Junk Rares if they are in the same set as top rare and good stuff cards, such as in DMX-19 Super Rare 100% Pack.) It means something that is of the same rarity as many competitively useful cards but is extremely low in card power, often standing out from the rest.

• The following are examples of junk rares comparing to Top Rares of the same set;
  • In DMR-01, the top rare cards such as Cyber N World and Zabi Mira, the Reviving Shaman compared to Gulliver Verdure, the Earth Breaker and Shining Edge, Light Divine Dragon;
  • In DM-10, Bombazar, Dragon of Destiny as compared to Balza, Seeker of Hyperpearls and Gaulezal Dragon;
  • In DMR-13, Gaiginga, Passionate Star Dragon and Sr Spellcyclica, Dragment Symbol as compared to Fulboko Donacle, Ultra Passion and Zeek Cavalie, Lord of Dragon Spirits;
  • In DM-28, Bolbalzak "Sword Flash" Dragon and Romanov the 1st, Lord of the Demonic Eye as compared to Pulse Giant and Super Necrodragon Sky Garuda.

Obtaining Junk Rares is considered among one of the worst outcomes in a Box Pull, only next to a box with no Super Rares and/or Victory Rares, or finding duplicate rares in a box.

Types of Junk Rares

Flat out useless cards

A type of junk rare that is so outright useless that they are often used in joke decks for novelty and might have a fan-base;

• Aqua Master: One of the most famous Junk Rares in Duel Masters history, it features a difficult to use and minor effect and its cost are too high and power is too low.
• Caspain, Invincible Demon: Power can infinitely increase but cannot attack players at all. As it has 0000 power and its power comes from creatures from the graveyard, it is destroyed instantly by Cyber N World's come-into-play effect.
• Gaulezal Dragon: Quasi-Vanilla that has a lower power-to-cost ratio than Giriel, Ghastly Warrior.
• Supporting Tulip: Card power is strictly worse than Petrova, Channeler of Suns in any way save for 500 additional power and this creature can't be destroyed by Galklife Dragon which is negligible.
• Emperor Quazla: Cost is overly heavy and offers no protection from opposing Shield Triggers.
• Godfather, D2G; Ability is basically a downgrade of cards such as Bazagazeal Dragon and Evol Dogiragon and its own D2 Field, Arena Kamone, Firefighting of D, does not compliment its weaknesses.
• Sky Crusher, the Agitator: Its race, power, effect and lack of multi-breaker doesn't justify its relatively high cost.

High Risk, Low Reward cards

A type of Junk Rare which has an effect that is not worth the risk and difficulty going for it;

• Vacuum, the Hidden Curse: The player will most likely waste 10 mana (6 from the creature and 4 to use it's Over Drive ability) for a 6000 power Quasi-Vanilla creature without casting an opponent's spell at all.
• Eternal Moon, the Enlightened White Knight: Ultimate Evolution creature that costs 8 and has 11000 power and only evolves from Light evolution creatures, which makes summoning it difficult. Its effect provides minimal protection for Creature attacks and has no resistance to removal.
• Jose Wilbert, Gaia's Justice: Both effects of this creature are completely luck-based Rock-Paper-Scissors effects with minor rewards for successfully connecting them. It is in the same rarity as top tier cards such as Olzekia, General of Decapitation and Romanesque, Dragon Wizard.
• Super Necrodragon Sky Garuda: Cost is too high and card removal effect is too slow to do any notable damage.
• Roar of Destruction, Dragon Secret Formation: 6 cost power deduction spell that offers -1000 power for each dragon in the player's mana zone on only 1 opposing creature. Outclassed completely by Wolf Fang Punch which is a common card in the same set.

Failed Remakes

A type of Junk Rare that is an attempt to remake a broken card that failed. Usually, these tend to be remakes of Astral Reef and Mist Rias, Sonic Guardian, although there are others as well.

• Astral Warper: Cost is too heavy for a 3 card draw and 1000 additional power from Astral Reef. Was later outclassed by Astral Super Reef.
• Astral Tempest: Cost is too heavy (9) and its effect is forced, which usually causes a deck-out at the late phase of the game.
• Cool Reaction: Complete downgrade of Deep Operation which is not a useful Hall of Fame card itself.
• Rusty, the Rainbow: Failed remake of Mist Rias, Sonic Guardian that only draws cards for summoning Multicolored creatures or casting multicolored spells.

Outclassed Cards

A type of formerly useful card that is outclassed by something else and there are some high-rarity cards in the same set that are still useful to this day;

• Fighter Dual Fang; Outclassed by Quattro Fang, Super Gang Leader and appears in nearly all CoroCoro Dream Packs.
• Metalchaos Dragon; Outclassed by Bolbalzak "Sword Flash" Dragon.

Reevaluated Cards

High Rarity cards that were once considered Junk Rares but had seen use in recent combos;

• Cosmoview Lunatron; Found use in IFormulaX-tra Win and Melge Loop One-Shot decks in Episode 3.
• Gabriella, Holy Princess; Found use in Eureka Drain and Mad Romanov beatdown decks.
• Dolgeza, Strong Striker: As the number of usable Giants and Earth Eaters increase, so does its value.
• Miraculous Truce: Once known as the weakest spell in the "Eternal/Miraculous" series of multicolored high-rarity spells, it is now known as one of the greatest threats to the monocolored decks that infested the Dragon Saga and Revolution metagame over 10 years after its release.

High collect-ability cards

Some cards that are not useful in competitive play but has high collectability;

• Crystal Zweilancer; is known for a flashy and beautiful illustration.
• Weaker Victory Rares/Legend Cards such as Katsuking, Kung Fu Shogun and Kaiser "Win", Matchless Oni; Victory Rares/Legend Cards generally sell for high prices and have high collectability, especially secret versions.

Comparatively bland cards

These cards tend to be somehow powerful but are bland compared to other useful cards from the same expansion;

• Fulboko Donacle, Ultra Passion: Bland compared to the other Super Rares of the same set but still a strong card if used correctly.
• Truename Viva La Revolution: Extremely luck-based Gachinko Judge ability but has the possibility to destroy some high-power creatures if it successfully connects multiple times.
• Infinite Orchestra of Love: Versatility is less than the rest of the Super Rare and Victory Rare cards in DMR-04.
• Utopia Ever, Zenith of "Destruction": While nevertheless a strong card, it pales in front of Kaiser "Baki", Zenith of "Certain Victory" and VAN Beethoven, Zenith of "Shura" in an extreme manner.

Notes

• A Common or Uncommon card is rarely called a "Junk Rare" as they can be easily obtained en masse and are the least of the player's worries.
• A Promotional card is also rarely called a junk rare due to their high rarity.
• Pulling Junk Rares are extremely common among any card game and among any player regardless of their usual luck.
• Other terms referring to junk rares include "Paper" (紙), "Landmine" (地雷), and "Industrial Waste" (産廃).
• Crath Lade, Merciless King in DM-07 and Aqua Master in DM-09 are easy to be considered Junk Rares due to their weakness, but as the other Super Rares in the set are just as horrible, They were actually not as horrible as a Junk Rare many others think. However, When they are pulled in DMX-12 Black Box Pack (Which contains many powerful reprint cards) they are usually considered horrible despite they are clearly included in the set for trivia and in-joke purposes.
• Usually the more powerful the other rares are in the expansion the higher disappointment the person who pulls it out will be. For example, pulling Zabimeteus Musha BLACK in DMX-05 will create less disappointment than pulling Eternal Moon, the Enlightened White Knight in DM-34 as DMX-05 consists of many weak cards, while DM-34 consists of many powerful cards such as Bolshack Cross NEX.
• The expansion Super Rare 100% Pack is extremely infamous for one-fifth of the set consisting of Junk Rares along with many top rare and goodstuff cards. This is possibly done in order to deter the player from accessing said good stuff cards easily.