With the release of the the third D title Booster, we are introduced (or hit in the face with a huge whiff of nostalgia for some of us 90's kids) to the "Shaman King" franchise. The set introduces us to [Over Soul] as the new main mechanic of the set, requiring players to put the corresponding rear-guard unit that a shaman requires into his soul in order to enter the Oversoul state to activate powerful abilities.



For Example, Yoh's [Over Soul] Ability reads:
[Over Soul]-[ACT](VC)1/Turn:COST [Put a rear-guard with "Amidamaru" in its card name into your soul], draw a card, and until end of turn, this unit gets "[CONT](VC):All of your front row units get [Power]+5000.".

A very simple front row boost effect, but it can be effective in stacking power with a persona ride to give an even bigger boost, and further launching a double attack in tandem with support cards like "Goddess of Victory, Anna Kyoyama", which allows Yoh to pressure a second attack at -1 drive trigger check if his first attack does not hit!
 
Deck building in this set would require cardfighters to build around a decent mix of shamans and their synergies with their spirits in order to bring out the full potential of each pairing. 

One interesting thing to note is that the spirits all innately have 0 Critical so they cannot directly deal damage to your opponent, but some of them can gain special abilities, critical, and power if certain conditions are met (mostly tied to their shaman partners being on the field or in the [Over Soul] State), which seems to be a pretty neat nod in the direction of the anime where spirits cannot physically interact or harm people without using the shaman as a medium!



Taking a look at Hao's Great Spirit of Fire:

[AUTO](RC):When your opponent's rear-guard is retired by your card's effect, if you have a unit with "Hao" in its card name, you may Soul charge (1).
[AUTO](RC):When this unit attacks a vanguard, if you have a unit with "Hao" in its card name, this unit gets [Power]+20000/[Critical]+1 until end of that battle.

We can see that as long as Hao is present on the field with the great spirit of fire, it gains 2 powerful abilities which help's Hao to build Soul for his rear-gaurd retiring strategy and pressure damage with a 33000 beater at the same time!

And let's not forget the order cards in the set that seal the deal with both useful effects and great flavour! 



Burning away all your enemies rearguards with a Counter blast 1 if you control a Hao and a great spirit of fire on the field? Yes please! That's how you really start a fight.

Having a good balance of cards is key to finding success with this series at the moment due to an unfortunate lack of cards to build a full singular character deck (at least until more support comes up in the future), but it is a great excuse to add in a few more of your favourite Shamans into your deck!

So if you love this anime and want to get in on some awesome card fighting action, be sure to nab some starter decks, booster packs and singles for this collaboration set this week when the stocks finally arrive, and here's hoping for an even more awesome second set for Shaman King with in the near future!
In the meantime, it's time to draw out your furyoku and play some Vanguard!

P.S. Oh and if you love shiny bling and alternate art things, this set has many amazing full art cards of your favourite characters in the series!