Welcome to the very first instalment of the Inside The Vault!
I’m Dan from Momentobrand, and I am here to give you the low down on Ghosts from the Past… The Second Haunting!
I wanted to start this series off by looking at something that was already in circulation, something that you all will have had the chance to experience.
So unlike your usual ‘new set’ write up, it looks like we’re late to the party, I promise you it has been done on purpose.
At this point, it might be worth mentioning, we will soon have a video version of this write up which can be found here: YouTube
Where was I...
Ahh yes. Firstly, let us take a trip down memory lane to the beginning of spring last year… Konami had just released a new first edition set that we would come to know as Ghosts from the past, sounds cool right?
Now I, personally, was very excited by an all holo set (Ultra Rares are my favourite) With the prospect of a handful of ghost rares as your chasers including original & alt arts. I slammed my bank card into the internet so hard that I’d barely even realised a full case was on its way!
However, reality was about to put a stop to my hopes and dreams of a ghost rare Dark Magician. It swiftly became apparent that the pull rates from the first instalment of Ghosts from the Past were going to be brutal, and that they were!
After ripping into about 5 display boxes, that’s 25 mini boxes or 75 packs in real money… Nothing.
The set did bless us with very nice cards such as Red Supernova Dragon (yummy!) Dragunity Remus, Emergency Teleport and Evenly Matched, all of which seemed to hold some fairly good value against most of the others in the set.
The prospect of a ghost however, was looking unlikely.
Fast forward a few mini boxes later and boom! We did it!....... You can sense the “but” coming, can’t you?
I had indeed pulled a ghost rare Firewall Dragon, but it felt like a huge anti-climax. I am unsure whether this was because I had opened so many boxes and hit an amount of dupes that would sadden you to reach it….. Maybe the fact that my newfound Ghost had an enormous ding on the top right corner. who knows, I’m not bitter at all…
We have opened some since, but with not much to show for it I’m afraid to say.
Fast forward a year (and a little bit) later, it’s now May 2022 and Ghosts from the Past have come round for what Konami would call ‘The Second Haunting’. Not a great name for me personally given the trip down memory lane I had to subject myself too just now, but I attempted to keep an open mind!
This may give you an idea of why I waited. We could have gone with the advanced card list and expected release date sort of write up etc, but then having not laid hands on them, and given my relationship with GFTP, it somehow didn’t feel right to cast judgement on GFTP2 prior to release. I now feel like said judgement can be cast properly.
I am elated to say though, the 'Second Haunting' I was expecting, was not so much a haunting as it was a relief. Had Konami or the powers that be recognised that GFTP2 needed more sauce than its’ predecessor? I think they must have.
Given that not only do you have a wider array of ghosts, such as Dark Magician Girl, Red Eyes and the Blue Eyes White Dragon to name but a few, but the pull rate is at worst 2-fold (by my sketchy calculations) what it previously was with the first set! Meaning more bang for your buck… Although the set is somewhat bigger than the first, so you’ll have to buy more to get that master set gloat, but we’ll skip past those minor details.
Let’s not forgot about all of those ultra rares! As a huge anime fan, I am happy to see some new introductions for the art styling side of things as well as some new faces such as; Crystal Beast Rainbow Dragon (big ooooft) and a personal favourite Borrelend Dragon.
Unlike the first, this ‘Second Haunting’ is 180+ cards deep, so you’re not going to be short of shiny cards to enjoy, not to mention some of the OP abilities that will have some real playable application!
It seems a lot of thought has gone into the support structures for modern cards and modern styles of duelling but somehow, still maintaining that nostalgic vibe that you’d expect from a set called “Ghosts from the Past”
Overall, I am pleased to say that I was NOT haunted by this set in the way I was expecting. The quality control seems to have improved drastically over the last year or so. I was very happy to see some lovely examples of Ghosts worthy of grading.
GFTP2 is getting a big thumbs up from one of its biggest sceptics! I am always happy to be proven wrong.
Quick mention on price, currently at The Card Vault, there is a whopping 24% off on display boxes meaning that you can grab a display case for as little as £52.99 with a potential extra little discount on top when you get to the end of this write up. Think of it as a reward for suffering my story telling skills.
So, grab them while the grabbing is good – The Card Vault
Wait! We aren’t done.
To pay homage to Ghosts from the Past and to make my little ‘Story from the Past’ a little more relevant to your time spent here. We (TCV & Momentobrand) are going to give away the exact Ghost Rare Firewall Dragon from our Story.
All you need to do to be in with a chance is, head over to our Twitter channel, find our recent tweet about the blog, jump into the comments and let us know what your favourite ghost rare is, from any set. Reserved for UK residents, competition will be drawn live. Keep an eye out for an update on when!
Don’t forget to subscribe to the TCV mailing list to be the first to hear about new sets, offers and products coming to the TCV store.
See you next time!!
Dan @momentobrand