Battles of Legend: Monster Mayhem is Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG's latest all-holo side booster set and is the current installment in the Battle of Legends series. You may remember previous sets of Battles of Legends which debuted cards like Elemental HERO Flame Wingman - Infernal Rage from 2023's Monstrous Revenge or Dragon Master Magia from 2024's Terminal Revenge. Monster Mayhem looks to continue the trend of bringing some exciting new cards to a slew of archetypes but with a few new surprises. This year's set includes new emblazoned emblems, the return of Starlight Rares, and chibi monsters.

Emblems Galore

New emblazoned emblems are unique symbols printed on the card that represent the archetype that card is from. The three themes the emblems appear on are Dragonmaid, Orcust, and P.U.N.K. Fans of the Quarter Century Rare stamp that have shown up on cards in the past three years will be happy to see the emblazoned emblems in their place. Speaking of Quarter Century Secret Rares, Konami has finally finished their run and have reverted the rarity back to Starlight Rares. The last time we saw Starlight Rare cards was back in Cyberstorm Access in May of 2023. The revived rarity shares the same holographic pattern as QCRs but without the iconic stamp. The pull rates for Starlight Rare cards should be more in line with what we've seen in recent core sets with QCRs.

Chibi Mayhem

The third unique aspect of Monster Mayhem is the introduction of new chibi monsters. Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Elemental HERO Neos, Honest, and more all get cute chibi versions sure to please collectors and fans of some of Yu-Gi-Oh!'s most prominent monsters through the years. They are all available as Secret or Starlight Rare so count yourself lucky if you're able to snag them. We've seen chibi monsters released in the OCG last year through convenience store promotions and now it looks like it is the TCG's turn to get in on the adorable, yet fearsome, monsters. Will you be adding these to the collection or putting them straight into your deck?

Dragonmaid

Let's take a look at the two new Dragonmaid cards coming in Monster Mayhem. Dragonmaid Cehrmba is a level nine effect monster that provides some protection for your dragon fusion monsters. It can reborn a Dragonmaid from the graveyard or banishment and has the normal tag out ability to return to the hand for a level four or lower Dragonmaid monster during the Battle Phase. But the real improvement to the strategy comes in the form of the new fusion monster, Lady's Dragonmaid. You can "contact" fuse into her by banishing two Dragonmaid monsters, one from each your field and graveyard. Upon summon, she can special summon a level four or lower Dragonmaid monster from the deck. Also, during each standby phase, she can fusion summon a dragon fusion monster by shuffling materials back into the deck from the field and/or banishment. This card provides a ton of advantage, while also being hard to stop since the fusion summon itself is not an activated effect. It also lets you pivot your Dragonmaid strategy into other powerful, more generic, dragon fusion monsters such as Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon.

P.U.N.K.

P.U.N.K. gets some exciting new cards, as well. To start, you have the new extra deck XYZ monster, P.U.N.K. JAM FEVER! It takes two level eight monsters but also has an alternate summoning mechanic where you can overlay it on top of a P.U.N.K. fusion or synchro you control. Its main effects allow you to draw a card along with a quick effect to negate and destroy the activation of another monster's effect as long as you have a level three psychic monster in your graveyard, which is great for insulating your other plays. Noh-P.U.N.K. Rising Scale can special summon itself and another non-level eight P.U.N.K monster from you deck or graveyard, making it a great starter or extender. These cards give the already solid archetype more flexibility, power, and resilience.

Orcust

Finally, let's peek at the two new Orcust cards to round out the emblazoned emblem gang. First, there's a new Link-1 card in the form of Galatea-I, the Orcust Automaton. She takes one Orcust or World Legacy monster to summon and can send one card from your hand to the graveyard to add one World Legacy monster or an Orcustrated Babel from your deck or graveyard to your hand. She also has a graveyard effect to special summon herself back to the field by banishing an Orcust from the graveyard. Galatea-I is crucial for the deck since it gets your main engine up and running. Orcust is a deck that relies heavily on the graveyard and banishment. The fact that she searches for the field spell that allows all Orcust monsters in the graveyard and Orcust Link monsters on the field to activate their effects as quick effects is nothing to scoff at. Next, there is a new Link-4 monster: Enlilgirsu, the Orcust Mekk-Knight. This powerful new version of Ningirsu the World Chalice Warrior is basically a walking Change of Heart, except the take control effect does not target and is permanent. Not only that, but if it leaves the extra monster zone, you can banish it to send one card on the field to the graveyard. That's a lot of value and makes it worthy of being the new boss monster.

Reinvigorated Strategies

Other archetypes getting new cards in the game include Gem-Knight, Nekroz, D/D/D, Fabled, Jurrac, Magistus, and Albaz. The new support for these decks makes many of them more explosive with their starting combo lines, while others get powerful end-board boss monsters. While these may not be the most meta-defining strategies, they still provide enough of a boost to get many players interested in playing the decks. Alternate arts for a few select cards such as Gem-Knight Fusion, Nekroz of Trishula, and Jurrac Meteor are other fun prizes to pull in this new set.

Reprints

Monster Mayhem definitely has some wins and some losses in the reprints category. Notable reprints in this set include Primite Lordly Lode, Primite Dragon Ether Beryl, and Primite Drillbeam. We also see a couple of nice staple cards in the set such as Forbidden Droplet and Triple Tactics Talent. Some questionable inclusions for reprints are the Dragon Ruler cards, which we've seen in recent Rarity Collection sets. Unfortunately, the set does not include reprints for some of the more highly anticipated archtypes such as Kashtira, Bystial, Horus, or Mulcharmy. We may need to wait for this year's tins or longer until we get those. Don't worry though, I'm sure the Labyrinth Wall reprint will hold us over for now.