Having originally been banned from Yu-Gi-Oh TCG tournament play in April 2015, it was widely believed that Tidal, Dragon Ruler of Waterfalls would forever remain on the competitive blacklist. However, in a stunning turn of events, Konami recently announced the card’s downgrade—something which will undoubtedly shake the metagame to its core.

There is a reason why this card has not been reprinted in a decade—its most recent iteration is the Gold Secret Rare card from Gold Series 2014. Originally, all four Dragon Ruler cards had been banned due to excessive ratios of support to counters. In recent times, though, more counters for those cards had begun to emerge—except for those which hindered Tidal, Dragon Ruler of Waterfalls. That’s no longer the case.

Mermail/Atlantean decks, in which this card was mostly used prior to its initial ban, aren’t the force they once were thanks to the increased presence of cards that counter them. Additionally, such decks are in and of themselves no longer major presences in the meta. While Tidal’s re-entry would undoubtedly boost such decks’ status, it would not make them broken as they once were.

This card’s visual depicts the aquatic dragon in a dominant stance over its terrain. It encapsulates not only the creature’s mastery of its element but also its sheer overwhelming force—both in-universe and in the meta.

This card has been released in English.

One copy of a Gold Secret Rare version of a Tidal, Dragon Ruler of Waterfalls (Gold Series 2014 GS06-JP005) card costs 5,810 JPY (~US$38).

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