So last night the Card of the Day was released as usual, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that the two new reveals were Tsukuyomi support. But what really shocked me was the speed with which players started looking to buy the ride chain again. After all, the ride chain had just reached a low price point, comparing to its price just last year. And now it seems as though the prices are ready to skyrocket again. But is this hype really necessary? Are these two cards even worth it? Well, let’s start by breaking it down.

Remaining Moon Miko, Haruzuki

[AUTO]:When this card is discarded from hand for the cost of Stride, if you have a card with “Tsukuyomi” in its card name on your (VC) or soul, draw a card, choose one of your <Noble> units, until end of turn, it gets [Power]+5000, and “[AUTO](VC/RC):When this unit’s attack hits a vanguard, choose a grade 3 card from your drop zone, and you may return it to your hand.”.

MOAR MIKOS!!!!!!!!

Look, I know I said I wanted more Mikos, but I never expected the Mikos to show up in Tsukuyomi. This just leads me to want more information on these Mikos. They’re cute, but WHO ARE THEY? What is a Miko? Where do they come from? Do they work in all Oracle Think Tank departments? Are they “magically talented individuals” like Witches, or are they more than that? Will there ever be a Miko subclan?

In any case, Haruzuki is a new Grade 3 that has a skill when it is discarded to pay the cost of Stride, similar to Black Devote, Phaleg. The only difference is that Phaleg requires your Vanguard to have the Rescue ability, which limits the Stride options that you have if you want to use her skill. Haruzuki on the hand only requires you to have a card with Tsukuyomi in its card name on your Vanguard Circle or soul. This means that you could easily tech the ride chain up to Grade 2, ride a non-Tsukuyomi Grade 3 (like Susanoo, for example) and you would still be able to use Haruzuki’s skill. Speaking of Haruzuki’s skill, SHE LETS YOU STRIDE FOR FREE. In terms of hard hand count numbers, Haruzuki turns a -1 into an automatic 0, and potentially +1. This is extremely important for all Oracle Think Tank decks, especially those that rely on pre-drive check Oracle skills like Ame-no-Sagume or Wakahirume. It also gives you the flexibility of being able to attack with a Rearguard who needs Oracle to reach numbers like Battle Sister, Crepe, or Ame-no-oshiho. Of course, this is all Oracle, so how does this card do for Tsukuyomi? Well, it essentially eliminates the need to play Ame-no-Murakumo, who took up a lot of Grade 1 space for little to no benefit previously. It also provides Tsukuyomi with a more efficient way to manage hand count, and enables Wakahirume. Furthermore, it allows you to give a Noble unit +5k and an on-hit skill. Though, as most Oracle Think Tank rearguards aren’t nobles (that’s a Genesis thing), this skill will mostly go to the Vanguard to add higher pressure in the middle column. It can also potentially give the +5 to the Half-Moon, which can turn a measly 16k column into a beefy 21k. That’s not too shabby. Overall, I’d say that this card is definitely worth trying out. This definitely leads me to the thought that the Tsukuyomi Grade 3 line-up will need to expand, at the cost of the Grade 1 line-up. But that’s fine, because Haruzuki is better than Ame-no-Murakumo in Tsukuyomi on paper. Time and testing will tell if it’s worth it’s shiny new spot. I’ll give this skill a tentative 4/5. The on-hit definitely enhances the first stride Moon Deity turn, but it may end up being vanilla on later turns.

Dawning Moon Miko, Akizuki

[ACT](RC)[1/Turn]:[Soul Blast (1)] If you have a grade 3 or greater vanguard with “Tsukuyomi” in its card name, look at the top card of your deck, put it on the top or bottom of your deck, and this unit gets [Power]+2000 until end of turn.

[ACT](Hand):[Discard this card] If you have “Godhawk, Ichibyoshi” on your (VC), search your deck for up to one “Goddess of the Crescent Moon, Tsukuyomi“, ride it as [Stand], and shuffle your deck.

Akizuki… could have been better. By no means do I think that this is a bad card, but it’s a Grade 2, and Grade 2 space is always tricky in Oracle Think Tank. Akizuki does have a nifty skill that improves the consistency of riding the Crescent Moon. This skill is very much appreciated, however it does make me wonder why the skill wasn’t given to a Grade 1. Other ride chains in the past have been given units that can gain the name of the Grade 1 piece of the ride chain. But this one doesn’t. It’s a Grade 2 after all. And I can understand why it isn’t just a name copier, as you really do want the Crescent Moon’s Vanguard skill, more than just the name. But Akizuki clogs the Grade 2 line-up, which was already clogged by the “Goddess of the Half Moon, Tsukuyomi”. This is disappointing as prevents you from being able to run good generic units like Nazuna. I agree that we needed a way to improve the Crescent Moon’s consistency, but I don’t think that it was worth locking down the Grade 2 line-up to the Half Moon, Shrewd Concierge, and Akizuki.

The first skill also confuses me. It soul blasts… when this is in direct competition with Tsukuyomi’s original skill and intent to gain and maintain 6 cards in the soul. I know that I said that soul blasting in Tsukuyomi is okay now, but this really makes me question the validity of the Full Moon’s skill. At this point, the Full Moon is nothing more than a vanilla 11k (that can be a 9k) with the name Tsukuyomi. Furthermore the skill requires you to soul blast to get the +2k, which is disappointing as Shrewd Concierge gets the 2k for free. This means that in order to get Akizuki to be a useful rearguard, you would need to soul blast for her cost every single turn, reducing your ability to freely soul blast for NoNo’s skill. It would have been better if the soul blast was associated to the scry alone, and the 2k was free. In any case, something is missing here, and my money is on a retrained Tsukuyomi. Either that, or Bushiroad really doesn’t care about Tsukuyomi and just made the cards as throwaways. They are commons after all. For now, I’m giving this card a tentative 3/5. The idea is there, but there’s something amiss.

At the end of the day, this is just two cards. If you already have the ride chain, then that’s great! But if you don’t have it, don’t pick it up just because of the new reveals. Sometimes it’s just better to wait and see what happens.