Neopets TCG: What You Won't Find in Booster Packs

You may have collected the following 6 cards if you purchased a starter deck.

S1 Blue Mynci (Holofoil)

S2 Red Korbat (Holofoil)

S3 Blue Scorchio

S4 Green Acara

S5 Red Aisha

S6 Yellow Eyrie

The following 2 cards may have been collected if you purchased one of the Battle for Meridell theme decks (Draik Skeleton in the Kass theme deck and Jeran, Meridell Knight in the Jeran theme deck). These cards are also found in booster packs, however those versions are not holofoil.

41 Draik Skeleton

46 Jeran, Meridell Knight

P1 is a redrawn holofoil version of #153 from the Base set. You received this when purchasing the 4th Neopets Magazine. P2-P6 were randomly found in cereal boxes during the General Mills promotion. P7 can be found in select Pocket Neopet toys (Blue Bruce, possibly others as well), and this is a redrawn version of #139 from the Base set. P8 was given to all participants in the Mystery Island preview tournament. P9-P10 was given out for certain activities at the Neopets Mall Tour. Non-holofoil versions of P8, P9, and P10 can be found in the Mystery Island Set (#53, #66, and #32 respectively). P11 is found in the 8th Neopets Magazine.

P1 Werelupe Sage

P2 Blue Grarrl

P3 Green Shoyru

P4 Red Kacheek

P5 Red Wocky

P6 Yellow Lupe

P7 Shoyru Spy

P8 Lu Codestone

P9 Trading Post

P10 Moltenus

P11 Maraquan Moehog

The following 15 cards were found in Happy Meals during the McDonald's promotion.

MP 1 Blue Ixi

MP 2 Green Lupe

MP 3 Red Kougra

MP 4 Yellow Kacheek

MP 5 Yellow Shoyru

MP 6 Bearog

MP 7 Count Von Roo

MP 8 Faerie Uni

MP 9 Mootix Launcher

MP 10 Pink Kadoatie

MP 11 Raindorf

MP 12 Shadow Aisha

MP 13 Snow Faerie Globe

MP 14 Starry Scorchio

MP 15 Tormund

At every official tournament, you receive a certain release card for that particular set. You can find regular versions of these cards in the set, but the difference is that these release cards are holofoil and they have a "Release" stamp printed on them. The Blue Draik was given out at the Battle for Meridell tournament, the Galactic Green Grundo was given out at the Return of Dr. Sloth tournament, the Blue Krawk was given out at the Mystery Island tournament, and the Red Bori was given out at the Hannah and the Ice Caves tournament.

26/140 Blue Draik

21/100 Galactic Green Grundo

21/100 Blue Krawk

31/150 Red Bori

So there are 38 cards you won't find in booster packs. So now that you know what they are and how you could have received them, should any of them be in your decks? Well out of those 38 cards, 20 of them are Basic Neopets. I can't really recommend to use any specific one of those because it just depends on which Neopets you use in your deck, but just use them as you see fit. That leaves 18 cards left, so I'll just go through them in order as I listed them (not the Basic Neopet cards).

41 - Draik Skeleton - This Villain has decent stats across the board, and if it is defeated, the person who started the contest gets to untap. Usually, I don't like the untapping if defeated part. If someone beats my Villain, I would rather them have the effect of being able to draw a card instead. There are better Villains out there with better stats.

46 - Jeran, Meridell Knight - This Hero is strong in the strength arena and has an interesting ability of being able to attach Equipment to it when played, then returning the Equipment to your hand when the Hero leaves play. I suppose this could be helpful in certain decks, but not in any I've built or played against.

P1 - Werelupe Sage - This Villain has no special effect but has a decent stat of 17 in Intelligence. There aren't any other Earth-type Villains particularly strong in Intelligence, so only use this card if you have nothing else you can use.

P7 - Shoyru Spy - When this Neopet wins a contest, you get to look at your opponent's hand. He has an interesting effect, but has only a stat of 10 in Agility. He wouldn't fair well against the likes of a Mynci Tourist (stat 15) or a Meerca Spy (stat 13 + similar effect).

P8 - Lu Codestone - Codestones have the interesting effect of being Items that can turn into Equipment if you win the contest. This particular codestone gives you +4 in Intelligence. Codestones can speed up your strategy, and I can see this being played in many decks.

P9 - Trading Post - You need an Air Neopet to play this Location card. When a player wins a contest here that isn't against a Villain, that player may put any number of cards from his hand to the bottom of his deck in any order and draw that many cards. This Location is great for putting away cards that you don't need for the chance of drawing cards that could be useful. This is especially helpful when you have multiples of many cards in your deck. If you only need one copy of a card, but draw two copies, this Location's effect can help you out. You should try to put this in an arena that you dominate in so your opponent is less likely to utilize its effects.

P10 - Moltenus - This Fire Villain has a stat of 22 in the Strength arena. Each player rolls a die for each of its Neopets. If a 1 is rolled, discard that particular Neopet the roll was for. Having a Neopet discarded can be devastating. Unless you have a strategy to somehow avoid its effect on you, I'd recommend using Blugthak from the Battle for Meridell set, which also has a Strength of 22 with a similar effect, but only against its rivals.

P11 - Maraquan Moehog - This Experienced Moehog has two Faerie types (Dark and Water). He has no overwhelming stats, but his effect allows you to return an Item from your discard pile to your hand when it taps to move. This pet can only get more useful as more expansions come out.

MP 6 - Bearog - This Petpet looks cute, and that's about it. It has mediocre stats across the board with no special effect. There are many other Petpets out there much more useful than this card.

MP 7 - Count Von Roo - This Air and Dark Villain has a stat of 15 and 17 in Agility and Magic respectively, which is pretty decent. He is even more useful because of his effect. When this Villain wins a contest, the player who lost discards a card at random from his hand.

MP 8 - Faerie Uni - Good card, but Uni Battle Steed is better.

MP 9 - Mootix Launcher - This could be one of the more underrated cards of the TCG. At the end of each contest this Neopet is on, move each of your Neopets in the contest to a new arena of your choice. Then your opponent does the same. This is helpful if you use Neopets that are strong in more than one arena because from my experience, most people use Neopets that only good in one arena. This card doesn't fair well against Poogle Racer decks, but makes those Poogle Racer decks even stronger.

MP 10 - Pink Kadoatie - See my comments above for Bearog.

MP 11 - Raindorf - See my comments above for Pink Kadoatie.

MP 12 - Shadow Aisha - If you need an Experienced Aisha, I would probably use any of the others, unless you need the Shadow Aisha's effect. When you play this card, look at the top 3 cards of your deck and put them back in any order. This could be helpful if that's the kind of deck you play, but you only get to use its effect when you play it. It would be much better if you could use the effect every time you won on your turn.

MP 13 - Snow Faerie Globe - This Item gives an additional +5 to all stats if you have a Hero in the contest. Even in a deck filled with Heroes, I don't see much use for this card. Heroes are usually strong enough in contests by themselves, and using a one-use item to boost a stat it probably doesn't even need help in is a waste.

MP 14 - Starry Scorchio - This is a decent card with 12 in Strength and 9 in Intelligence, but I don't see me ever using Scorchios in any of my decks.

MP 15 - Tormund - See my comments above for Jeran, Meridell Knight. Tormund is just a watered-down version of that card.

Final verdict: For the most part, I would say to just keep these cards in your collection binders and out of your decks. Most of these cards are easily replaceable by better cards throughout the sets. Though these promo cards are okay for your decks, they have a higher value as a collector's item. Until next time...