Yu-Gi-Oh Legendary Duelists: Soulburning Volcano impressions: Red hot

The colour red often signifies rage, and the fiery hue certainly plays that part with Yu-Gi-Oh's latest set, Yu-Gi-Oh Legendary Duelists: Soulburning Volcano.

As the name suggests, it's a collection based on cards used in the anime series. After the 25th Anniversary Legendary Collection took aim at the original series, Soulburning Volcano splits itself between GX, VRAINS & ZEXAL characters Axel, Theodore, and Alito respectively.

Many of the cards here follow a theme of aggressive play, and we're here for it, with Battlin' Boxer and Volcanic cards aplenty sure to satiate fans that have been itching to overwhelm opponents.

Yu-Gi-Oh Legendary Duelists: Soulburning Volcano set impressions

Within the set, there are 9 Ultra Rares, 8 Super Rares, 10 Rares, and 29 Commons to be found, as well as a single Ghost Rare - Salamangreat Sunlight Wolf.

Click to enlarge

This Link Summon monster has the following effect, and it's a nice reprint to have - if you can find it. Konami was kind enough to send us a 36-pack booster box, and we managed to pull one.

As a returning fan, there's a lot I missed in the last two decades, and therefore there's plenty of this which is new to me - even the reprints - but the care taken with the artwork remains so distinctly endemic of the franchise I fell in love with as a kid.

Speaking of reprints, they outnumber the number of 'New' cards here, but it's hard to be disappointed in that, especially if any of the aforementioned anime characters draw a particularly strong affinity for you. It's not that building a Volanic deck has been tough if you're okay scouring the web, it's more that this Soulburning Volcano set makes it much easier to do so.

While Yu-Gi-Oh has slipped away from the mainstream consciousness in many ways, it's important to draw attention to some of the stunning card art, here. The fiery colours extend to the spell and trap cards, too, and the whole thing feels much more consistent than recent sets like Duelist Nexus.

Click to enlarge

That's likely down to the theming, and by bundling so many similarly-typed monsters together, Konami has a conundrum. If you don't need Fire monsters, you can skip it. But on the other hand, it's a nice focused set that offers pretty much everything you need to get cracking with a fresh deck.

Between Volcanic, Salamangreat, and Battlin' Boxer archetypes, the Legendary Duelists: Soulburning Volcano feels like a trio of structure decks in one (provided you get lucky with your pulls).