ND Booster Set 3
ND Booster Set 3: Overview
From the introduction of the new card-classification Ultimate Cards to cards that make use of the new remove zone, along with 4 new Buddy Gifts, there's plenty of things to go over in this new ND booster set! If you would like to look through the changes made to the cards in this set yourself, feel free to look through the Card Changes table in the Set page.
First off, our new Ultimate Cards! We have Rinn, ND's first dual monster card while also being one of the first Thai-original cards to be introduced into a booster set. Rinn's 1/Turn [Counter] [Act] allows you to pay 1 gauge to mill 2, and if there is a monster amongst them, it allows you to [Rest] an opponent's monster. This card can be slotted in with monster-heavy decks in both Dungeon and Katana world (such as mixing it with the new Cobalt Buddygift) to accelerate monsters into your drop while also being a defensive option. For our second one, Meteor Rain has been turned from a Monster into an Ultimate Monster! For an Ultimate Condition of having 6 life or less, it loses its [Lifelink 3], while also gaining an ability that allows itself to [Stand] and destroy a size 2 or less monster.
For our third Ultimate Card, it will be introduced alongside a new Thai-limited archetype: Witches! Witch cards play with the remove zone. The third Ultimate Card, Luciana, can only be played once you've removed 5 or more of your own cards. In return, Luciana's first ability ensures that all monsters on your opponent's field will have at least defense-5000, and with the second ability of gaining critical+1 for each 0 defense monster on your opponent's field, Luciana can become a heavy hitter with both [Double Attack] and [Penetrate]. If any wall-monsters still stand in the way, Candy essentially doubles Luciana's defense reduction, while also working as a [Counter] [Rest]. Witches also have Arcadia and Jodi for resource-farming cards, with Arcadia also being able to be slotted into other Magic World decks due to not specifying any attributes or archetypes.
Apart from Ultimates, most Dungeon World cards from BT03 have also been brought over to New Drive, but with some interesting changes! While iconic Buddy Monsters such as Gagnar, Brave Drum, and Bladewing Phoenix have stayed the same, we've seen some adjustments to other cards. The crackdown on deck searcher cards continues, as with how Jackknife Braveheart had been changed to a top-seven searcher, Evil-Break has now had its on-call deck-search ability instead replaced with a [Act] top-seven search ability. Cobalts cards have been modified to more-strongly support their archetype, with Doberman being able to give Mameshiba [Penetrate], and Tosa Hound's permanent size reduction from 3 to 2 allowing it to make use of its new ability which recalls Mameshibas from drop.
Dragon Knights and Duel Dragons are in an interesting position, in that KidzandKai have included cards from sets that have yet to be released (all the way up H-BT04). Many vanilla Dragon Knights such as Ranmaru, Kagekiyo, Soushi, and Saitou, have all been given abilities that revolve around either self-[Rest]ing, or around the amount of different Dragon Knights in drop. As for Duel Dragons, Zald has been turned from a 6000 power and 3 critical attacker to a 4000 power and 2 critical card that instead helps accelerate Duel Dragons into the drop zone, while also potentially allowing for a free draw. Duel Dragon's most major change would likely be Battle Dragon Slaying Crush, which has been turned from an omni-destruction spell into a [Set] that burns your opponent 1 damage every time their monsters are destroyed by the abilities of your Duel Dragon cards.
And lastly, to go through the 4 new Buddy Gifts. While Gagnar's second ability (a pay 2 life to charge 2 gauge) complements the monster's ability of charging 3 gauge, the first ability also allows you to skip the somewhat hefty [BuddyCost] 2 cost to call it, albeit by calling on top of Gagnar and incurring yourself a [Lifelink 2]. Drum's Buddy Gift is a play on the original Drum's ability of playing rock-paper-scissors, but where both you and your opponent can gain gauge and life depending on the winner. Blade's Buddy Gift either gives a slight attack buff to Blade, or allows you use it as a mini-Pillar of Fire, being able to [Counter] destroy a 3000 or less defense monster when Blade is destroyed. And for Mameshiba's (long-awaited) Buddy Gift, it has a simple ability of milling any "Cobalt" cards you find among your top 7, and returning the rest to your bottom deck.
This is the first time I'm making a post like this after having just finished translating all the cards in a New Drive booster, so please let me know your thoughts! If you want to look into the new mechanics and cards yourselves, all their relevant pages should have already been created on the wiki. Thanks for reading!