This is a little outside-the-normal for my reviews, but it gives me a small chance to catch up on what I haven't done in a while.


MOV-EN004
Pyramid of Light
Continuous Trap
If this face-up card is removed from your side of the field, destroy "Andro Sphinx" and "Sphinx Teleia" on your side of the field and remove them from play.
COMMON

EPI-EN002
Andro Sphinx
LIGHT/Beast/10/3000/2500
You can pay 500 Life Points to Special Summon this monster when "Pyramid of Light" is on the field. This card cannot attack during the turn it was Summoned. This card cannot be Special Summoned from the Graveyard. If this card destroys a Defense Position monster on the field, inflict damage to your opponent equal to half of the ATK of the destroyed monster.
Ultra Rare

EPI-EN003
Sphinx Teleia
LIGHT/Beast/10/2500/3000
You can pay 500 Life Points to Special Summon this monster when "Pyramid of Light" is on the field. This card cannot attack during the turn it was Summoned. This card cannot be Special Summoned from the Graveyard. If this card destroys a Defense Position monster on the field, inflict damage to your opponent equal to half of the DEF of the destroyed monster.
Ultra Rare


I had a hard time figuring out what card to do for my 2nd CotD article, but sometimes you need inspiration to make you do something. Well, my inspiration came in the form of Cartoon Network showing "Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Movie." I was watching Kaiba's duel with Yugi when he played Pyramid of Light, and later when Anubis, who "took over" for Kaiba, Summoned Andro Sphinx and Sphinx Teleia. I then remembered how powerful this could be, so I decided to write on it.

Pyramid of Light isn't anything special. If it's removed from the field, you destroy your two Sphinxes and remove them from play. Um...NOT GOOD! If you can't protect your Sphinx(es) or Pyramid of Light, your Sphinxes are just waiting to be destroyed by one card, and it'll usually be a card to destroy Spell and/or Trap Cards (usually either Heavy Storm, Mystical Space Typhoon, or [in Traditional] Harpie's Feather Duster). Yes, if you're using it against a Yugi Starter Deck, Remove Trap becomes a "god card" for the Starter Deck player. But let's say you can protect them. How special are they?

Andro Sphinx and Sphinx Teleia are both Level 10 monsters with Attribute/Type of LIGHT/Beast. They are both Level 10 monsters, which usually means having to Tribute 2 monsters (or 1 if you're using Kaiser Sea Horse). But with Pyramid of Light on the field, you can simply pay 500 Life Points for each of them to summon them without Tributes. This could give you a cheap high-level Summon, or it could give you a 500 LP monster to use for Tribute. That?s not bad, especially given their ATK, DEF, and effects.

Sphinx Teleia has 2500 ATK and 3000 DEF, while Andro Sphinx is the opposite (3000/2500). Considering they might not need Tributes, that's not too bad. Both monsters have effects that activate when they destroy a Defense Position monster. Andro Sphinx will deal damage to the opponent equal to half the ATK of the destroyed monster, while Sphinx Teleia deals damage equal to half the DEF. That's GREAT for no Tributes. I mean, doing damage even when monsters are in Defense Position can be a dream come true for you. However, there are some significant downsides to using these two Sphinxes.

The first bad effect of these monsters is that they can't attack the turn they're Summoned. If you're hoping to Summon them as a last-ditch effort to help you win, you'll have to wait a turn to do it. Also, they cannot be Special Summoned from the Graveyard. This isn?t a drawback if you're playing with Dimension Fusion or Return from the Different Dimension (another movie card, found in Exclusive Pack 1), but if you decide to Tribute either of them you cannot use cards like Premature Burial or Call of the Haunted to get them back.

Final Verdict: If you're using a LIGHT Beatdown and can save your Sphinx(es) from the ravages of a destroyed Pyramid of Light (Interdimensional Matter Transporter, maybe), then 500 LP for a 3000-ATK Level 10 monster with a direct damage effect is GREAT! If you can't guarantee their safety, though, then pass them up faster than the plague.

Traditional: 3/10 with Pyramid of Light, 4/10 without it. Not being able to attack in the same turn it's Summoned hurts the Sphinxes terribly. Also consider that Harpie's Feather Duster is run in Traditional and it's even harder to use Pyramid of Light to more easily get the Sphinx(es) onto the field and keep them there.

Advanced: 6/10 with Pyramid of Light, 5/10 without it. Again, not being able to attack immediately is a significant downfall to the Sphinxes. I doubled the score with Pyramid of Light because you don't have to worry about Harpie's Feather Duster in Advanced Format. The only reason I bumped up the without score to 5 because, even though you don't have Raigeki or Dark Hole in this format, you do have to deal with Lightning Vortex. Even if you discount that, Black Luster Soldier simply has to snap its fingers and your Sphinx bites the dust. As well, Metamorphosized Thousand-Eyes Restrict just simiply has to blink 1,000 times to turn your Sphinx against you.

Casual (any format): No score. I'd definitely consider running the Pyramid of Light/Sphinx combo so that you can get some high-Level, high-ATK monsters onto the field for next to nothing.


Anime Appearance: Not technically in the Anime, all 3 cards were used in the movie "Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Movie." Pyramid of Light had a completely different effect, to remove all God Cards on the field from play (which is unplayable in the official game since God Cards cannot be played). Since it was a Continuous Trap, the God Cards were out of play as long as Pyramid of Light was face-up on the field. Andro Sphinx and Sphinx Teleia were used late in the movie by Anubis to destroy Yugi's last two monsters, Watapon and Obnoxious Celtic Guard (weird, considering Obnoxious Celtic Guard shouldn?t be destroyed by any monster with 1900 ATK or more), but it seems like the only monster?s effect to stay was Andro Sphinx's.

I'll try and make a full article on this monster but don't shoot if I miss out some things because it's my first article ever...

So one of the monsters the Yu-Gi-Oh! players have awaited for a long time is Marshmallon

Marshmallon
PP01-EN003
Type: Fairy
Attribute: LIGHT
Level: *** (3)
Attack: 300
Defense: 500
Effect:

The controller of a monster that attacks this face-down card takes 1000 damage after damage calculation. This card cannot be destroyed by battle. (Damage calculation is applied normally)



This card will become a staple card for each deck from highly competitive to low scrap decks. The reason of this is because of his Stall-effect AND you get a Burn side-effect aswell, that jus makes this card even better. Plus he's searchable through "Sangan" and "Shining Angel". He'll be played in any kind of Burn, Fairy and Stall decks along with, as mentioned above, any other deck.
Couple of downsides thou. First of all his low stats so Pierce monsters will be highly effective against him and second, and this is why "Spirit Reaper" is still the best Stall monster, he can be switched to the opponent where "Spirit Reaper" can't (he's destroyed immediatly).

So playability in Burn deck is very likely since his side-effect is Effect Damage, it can be a very dangerous combo and take a huge bite out of your Life Points. But since he and "Book of Moon" are both Limited it won't be used that often but thank God "Tsukiyomi" is still banned (in Advanced Format) else he'd be overused and it would've been very ugly...

Fairy deck is pretty obvious since he's a Fairy so he can serve as food to Summon, and power-up "Voltanis". And in the most narrow situation where you're being swarmed by your opponent he can be searched by "Shining Angel". The only down-side is that you don't get he Burn efect, but then again "Book of Moon" can come the next turn , and that if your opponent uses a Pierce deck he won't be such a great help...

Stall deck has the same 'problems' as the use in fairy decks (the Pierce down-side) along with some others. He's not such a great Stall monster as he may seem. I admit he's low stats help him since the most Stallers are high DEF monsters but still a target by "Smashing Ground" as to where "Spirit Reaper", "Treeborn Frog", etc USUALLY evade. But if you play a LIGHT based Stall deck he can come in handy since his *** (3) Stars slip right under "Gravity Bind" or "Level Limit - Area B", so with the right equipment he could destroy some monsters.


Now to talk about his only Support card (which aplies specifically to him) "Marshmallon Glasses"

Marshmallon Glasses
PP01-EN004
Type: Continous Spell Card
Effect:

While this card and "Marshmallon" are face-up on your side of the field, your opponent cannot select a card other than "Marshmallon" as an attack target.

Will this card see competitive play, probably not. Why you ask because it's to situational I mean you could add 3 copies of "Marshmallon Glasses" but there's only 1 copy of "Marshmallon" allowed in the deck. The only sort of deck I might see the Combination of both is in a "Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder" ("Crystal Beast" based) deck or a "Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder" ("Marshmallon Glasses" based) Stall deck




Rating:
Advanced 8/10
Traditional 9/10 (thanks to "Tsukiyomi" i believe)





So guys what do think of this article??
Please tell what I forgot or should change next time!!


Greets Don Tom

Card Name: Dark Magician Girl
Card Type: Spellcaster/Effect
Attribute: Dark
Level: 6
Attack: 2000
Defense: 1700
Text: Increase the ATK of this card by 300 points for each "Dark Magician" or "Magician of Black Chaos" in either player's Graveyard.

My Review: Dark Magician Girl with an atk of 2000 and 1700 def being a six-stared monster is a monster that most people would think makes it weak. The people that thinks its weak disregard its effect to gain 300 atk for each Dark Magician and Magician of Black Chaos, which powers it up just a tiny bit. Right now our little beauty is weak without Magician of Black Chaos so for TCG it deserve a 5.8/10 for the OCG which has the Magician of Black Chaos is deserving a 8.6/10.

Alright this article is about my new favorite monster Brain Crusher. So what is this card exactly well here are his stats.

Card Name Brain Crusher
Card Type Monster
Monster Type: Insect/Effect
Attribute: DARK
Level 7
Attack 2400
Defense 1500
Text
Once per turn, if this card destroyed an opponent's monster by battle and sent it to the Graveyard, you can Special Summon 1 of those destroyed monsters from the Graveyard during the End Phase.

Well I know what u first see in this guy. Its level 7, which means 2 tributes. Then u look at his attack power and say "I can get that with a Monarch with only 1 tribute." But wait there is good news ahead, his effect. Any time that this monster gets a whack at an enemy monster, if Crusher overpowers and kills it, u get to summon that monster in the end phase to your side of the field to do with as u see fit.

There are no rulings on this card yet but what matters is the monster that you destroy. If the monster you destroy cant be special summoned, then guess what, u dont get it. This isnt too much of a bother as few monsters in the format commonly appear with that restriction. Another thing to be aware of is that when a monster that you got through Crusher's effect is destroyed it goes back to the owner's grave. In other words, searchers (Mystic Tomato, Giant Rat, etc) and the like monsters that activate their effects in the grave will NOT benefit you and their effects will be at your opponent's disposal. So dont go failing everywhere with this monster as it can come back to bite u in the ######.

Now with that out of the way, what hope is there that he will be seen in more competitive play. Truly not much. There is only one type of deck currently semi-popular that will be able to incorporate Brain Crusher and that would be a Reasoning or Monster Gate deck. Most duelists will see the 2400atk and 2 tribute cost and toss it aside but the effect is quite nice. This is probably going to be one of the more specialized type of cards that some duelists use. So in the competitive environment, Brain Crusher gets a 3/10 and this is true in both formats.

In terms of the art of this card, it would leave u wanting. Not real good imagery on it and the colors conflict highly in design. Hmm for those with the card foil folders might want to keep this card image from the front of the folder.

Well, that does it, not much else to say. I'll add rulings on it when or if they appear.

KING DRAGUN
"Lord of D." + "Divine Dragon Ragnarok"
As long as this card remains face-up on the field, your opponent cannot target Dragon-Type monsters for the effect of a Spell, Trap, or Monster Card. Once per turn, you can Special Summon 1 Dragon-Type monster from your hand to your side of the field.
ATK: 2400 DEF: 1100

Rulings
The first effect of "King Dragun" is a Continuous Effect. The second effect of "King Dragun" is an Ignition Effect.

Your opponent cannot target a Dragon-Type Fusion Monster with "De-Fusion" while "King Dragun" or "Lord of D." is on the field because "De-Fusion" targets.

"Divine Wrath" is NOT a card that targets, so "Divine Wrath" may be used against Dragon-Type monsters while "King Dragun" or "Lord of D." is on the field.

You can chain "Divine Wrath" to the effect of "King Dragun" that Special summons a Dragon-Type monster.
[Re: Divine Wrath] "Divine Wrath" is NOT a card that targets, so "Divine Wrath" may be used against Dragon-Type monsters while "King Dragun" or "Lord of D." is on the field.

[Re: Divine Wrath] You can chain "Divine Wrath" to the effect of "King Dragun" that Special summons a Dragon-Type monster.

[Re: Last Turn] "Last Turn" does not target so you can select monsters like "Tyrant Dragon" and "Fiend Skull Dragon" for its effect or a Dragon-Type monster while "King Dragun" or "Lord of D." is on the field. You can select "Spirit Reaper" and it will not be destroyed by its effect.

With the rulings out of the way, allow me to guide you all through the uniqueness of King Dragun! Firstly if anyone plans on running Dragun, you should obviously run a dragon deck because both of his effects only work with dragons. The game plan is that I will first talk about his special abilities, then move on to the various methods of special summoning Dragun out to the field and finally talk about his competitiveness, art and amine appearances.

Ok, Dragun's first ability is very similar to lord of D and cyber phoenix, however there are key differences! Firstly Lord of D sais that whenever EITHER player targets a dragon on ANY side of the field, the card automatically fails to work. With Cyber phoenix when ever EITHER player specifically designates a machine with a spell or trap that card is instantly NEGATED. King Dragun has some similarities and differences to those effects. Dragun’s effect applies only when the opponent specifically designates a dragon which means feel free to use cards like rush recklessly or whatever to pump up your dragons ATK. This is different to Lord of D and cyber phoenix because they negated your own spells and traps too. Also unlike cyber phoenix, King Dragun can also negate pesky monster effects that target dragons like that warrior monster that most decks run a pair of. What was it called again? Oh yeah exiled force! Your opponent can forget about blowing up Dragun or any of his dragon comrades with exiled force. While we are on the subject, old vindictive magician won’t be destroying any dragons while King Dragun is out on the field either. Sak armors won’t be doing too much either except just sitting there preventing the opponent to bring back their treeborn frog from their graveyard. Also ring of destruction won’t be doing too much either. How about the versatile Enemy controller? Neither effect will work on any dragon type monster while Dragun is out. Also book of moon won’t be negating any attacks from dragon type monsters. However there is a way around this. Bottomless trap hole, smashing ground and D.D warrior lady (Trap, spell and monster respectively) do not target and King Dragun and any other dragon type monster are venerable to those cards. Ok that’s probably enough for his first effect, now lets take a quick look at his second ability.

This secondary effect allows King Dragun to summon any dragon type monster from the hand to the field once per turn providing that the dragon monster can be special summoned. This second ability is pretty useful too for bringing out high level dragons for free, which can save you having to lose cards sacrificing for Dragon type monsters. I especially like special summoning hours LV6 then levelling up to 8 during the endphase. That’s all there is to that ability, no need to explain it any further than that.

Ok for a fusion monster that’s not so bad considering he packs 2 decent abilities. But there’s just one slight problem. Having to bring him out onto the field. There are a few ways of doing this. Firstly you can go with fusion subs with either lord of D, divine dragon ragnarok and/or the dark hex sealed fusion. Those 3 cards are not exactly very great on their own. Divine dragon is a vanilla monster with a mere 1500 ATK, he won’t be doing too much. Lord of D has a special ability but with his low 1200 ATK he really won’t be staying on the field for long to abuse that effect. The dark hex at least has 1600 DEF so he can withstand blows from hydrogeddons but not enough DEF for the mighty cyber dragon. Now if you wanted to run the dark hex and lord of D, feel free to throw in a trio of mystic tomato as he can search out either one of them. Also throw in a Dragon’s mirror or 2 to RFG the fusion materials from the graveyard for a free Dragun. If you really wanted to run divine dragon ragnarok and the dark hex, then throw in a future fusion to dump the 3 ragnaroks and 2 additional dragons to the graveyard for a F.H.D. The only problem is that fusion subs take up too much space for my liking. This is where the second method comes in.

Using metamorphosis on a fusilier dragon can give you an instant Dragun. Fusilier is easy to summon to the field anyway so it’s all good. The only problem is consistency. With this strategy you are only going to be able to bring out one King Dragun if you pull it off. With the first tactic you can essencially pull 2 and more consistently but then it takes too much space for my liking (then again I am running a deck that is trying to fusion summon both Dragun and F.H.D so there you go). Its times like these I wish metamorphosis weren’t limited…

Let’s move on to the competitive world. King Dragun has yet to see any competitive play… I believe this is mainly because he requires too much of an investment in space in a deck for him and players need to make every card as versatile as possible. Hopefully one day I might be able to make a competitive dragon deck but for the time being I don’t think its going to happen.

Enough on that, finally I will talk about his art and anime appearances. I personally think the picture for King Dragun owns even though some people think that they just used a glue stick to create him… King Dragun has only appeared in one episode and that’s in yugioh GX when one of Chazz’s older brothers uses King Dragun.

Well I hope you enjoyed this article and thanks for reading.

We haven't had a COTD for a while, so i decided to do three cards that are currently played a LOT.

First, we start with Cyber Dragon:
[MACHINE/EFFECT]
If there is a monster on your opponent's side of the field and there are no monsters on your side of the field, you can Special Summon this card from your hand.
Attribute: Light
Level: 5
ATK (Attack Points): 2100
DEF (Defense Points): 1600

An obviously formiddable card, Cyber Dragon can be used for it's versatility. It's effect is much like a VERY upgraded Fiend Megacyber, your opponent needs only one monster to special summon it. Being a light, this means that it is excellent in decks alongside Chaos Sorceror. Being a machine, this card also gains a lot of support. It can double it's attack via Limiter Removal or be used in a fusion via Power Bond for the other cards today.

Some of the best ways to use this card are:
1) A quick Special Summoned Beatstick on the first turn.
2) A quick Tribute Summon, special summon it then sacarfice it for Mobius the Frost Monarch, a very good tradeoff.
3) Fusion!
4) Quick direct attack, special summon it, normal summon a second monster, then wreak havoc with the two! A direct attack by it and Mechanicalchaser will bring the opponent down to 7900 if you use limiter removal!

Ratings:
Traditional: 3.5/5 Since you will constantly have monsters destroyed, this will be a first draft pick here, be careful of Yata though, dead card if they don't keep a monster on the field. Light for Chaos like Wh0a!
Advanced: 4.5/5 Aggro is VERY popular now, use these to help counter the mass rush of Berserk Gorillas and Zombyra the Darks.
Art: 3/5 Looks more like a Cyber Snake to me, still pretty good though.

Next up is the formiddable fusion, Cyber Twin Dragon:
[MACHINE/EFFECT]
{Cyber Dragon} + {Cyber Dragon} A Fusion Summon of this card can only be conducted with the above Fusion Material Monsters. This card can attack twice during the same Battle Phase.
Attribute: Light
Level: 8
ATK (Attack Points): 2800
DEF (Defense Points): 2100

Oh geez....a 2800 attack double attacker1 WHAT A RIOT! This card on it's own can cause a MASSIVE 5600 damage if it can get off two direct attacks, thow in a limiter removal and you call that GAME!

This card takes two Cyber Dragons and a Polymerization (or Power Bond!) to make, you cannot use any sort of fusion subs such as Goddess with a Third Eye, which could restrain this card a bit. However, it states this card cannot be FUSION summoned with the above monsters, this means you are still free to special summon it via The Light-Hex Sealed Fusion, Cyber-Stein, or Metamorphosis.

Ratings:
Traditional: 5/5 It's a fusion, theres no reason not to draft a fusion! If you run metamorphosis run this! Might snatch a level 8.
Advanced: 5/5 See above
Art: 5/5 Looks MUCh cooler than the other two, the red lightning works for me.

Finally, the last of the set...The CYBER END DRAGON:
[MACHINE/EFFECT]
{Cyber Dragon}+{Cyber Dragon}+{Cyber Dragon} A Fusion Summon of this card can only be conducted with the above Fusion Material Monsters. During battle between this attacking card and a Defense Position monster whose DEF is lower than the ATK of this card, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent's Life Points.
Level: 10
ATK (Attack Points): 4000
DEF (Defense Points): 2800

...wow...just....wow. a MASSIVE 4000 attack WITH trample. The new OTK with Cyber-Stein, Megamorph, Dark Hole, and Heavy Storm. This card is just awesomeness in paper form. If you use Power Bond and 3 Cyber Dragons, you have a 4000 attack monster with trample. Throw down a limiter removal on top and you have a 16,000 attack with trample! This card could put many people into misery and defeat.

This thing is the ULTIMATE anti-Scapegoat. It takes them and SMASHES them for anywhere from 4,000 to 8,000 to 16,000 damage...heck even more! If you can get this monster out, you've basically won.

Congratulations to those who have. (I have ^^)

Ratings:
Traditional: 5/5 It's a fusion...no bad point in running it.
Advanced: 5/5 See above
Art: 4.5/5 I like Cyber Twin better...but this still looks mad cool on it's own.

Morphing Jar

ATK: 700
DEF: 600
Type: Rock/Effect
Attribute: EARTH
Set Name: Tournament Pack Series 4
Card Num: TP4-002
Rarity: Super Rare

FLIP: Both you and your opponent discard all cards in your hands and draw 5 cards from your respective Decks.

Rulings
If there are fewer than 5 cards in the Deck of either player when this card's Flip Effect is activated, that player will lose the Duel, since the text of this card says "draw".

[Re: Desert Sunlight] If you have a face-up Flip Effect monster, you can activate "Desert Sunlight", and chain "Book of Moon", another "Desert Sunlight", and another "Book of Moon". When the chain resolves, you will flip the monster down, then up, then down, then back up. The Flip Effect activates twice, and they wait to create a new chain after the current one resolves. For example, if the Flip Effect monster is "Morphing Jar", its effect will activate twice in a chain, as Chain Link 1 and Chain Link 2, they resolve in reverse order, and both players will discard and draw 5 cards, then discard and draw 5 cards again.

[Re: Divine Wrath] Another example: if "D.D. Warrior Lady" attacks a face-down "Morphing Jar", and activates her effect to remove both cards from play, "D.D. Warrior Lady" is Step 2 because she has an optional effect, and "Morphing Jar" is Step 1 because its effect is mandatory. So "Divine Wrath" can be chained to the effect of "D.D. Warrior Lady" to negate its effect, but not to the effect of "Morphing Jar" to negate its effect.

[Re: Gravekeeper's Watcher] You cannot activate "Gravekeeper's Watcher" during the Damage Step (such as against a "Morphing Jar" that is flipped by an attack).
[Re: Gravekeeper's Watcher] When "Morphing Jar" is Flip Summoned, you may chain the effect of "Gravekeeper's Watcher", negating the Flip Effect of "Morphing Jar" and destroying it.

[Re: Magical Thorn] The effect of "Magical Thorn" is applied when the opponent discards during the End Phase to make their hand size 6, discarding for the cost of cards such as "Tribute to the Doomed", "Cost Down", or "Judgment of Anubis", and discarding for card effects such as "Delinquent Duo", "Confiscation", "Robbin' Goblin", "Morphing Jar" and "Mefist the Infernal General".
[Re: Magical Thorn] The effect of "Magical Thorn" inflicts damage after an effect resolves. So if the effect of "Morphing Jar" is activated, the damage will be dealt after the new cards are drawn. This means if your opponent has 100 Life Points, and you have "Magical Thorn" active on the field but only one card left in your Deck, you will lose the Duel before the effect of "Magical Thorn" can deal damage to reduce your opponent's Life Points to 0.

[Re: Night Assailant] "Night Assailant"'s effect activates when sent to the Graveyard by "Morphing Jar" or "Card Destruction".

[Re: Null and Void] You cannot chain "Null and Void" to "Disturbance Strategy", "Graceful Charity", "Card Destruction", "Morphing Jar", "Mind Wipe", "Dragged Down into the Grave", or "Reload".

[Re: Peten the Dark Clown] If "Peten the Dark Clown" is discarded because of "Morphing Jar" or "Card Destruction", the last thing that happened was that both players drew cards. So the effect of "Peten" does not activate.

[Re: Protector of the Sanctuary] Most cards that would cause the opponent to draw outside of the Draw Phase, such as "Card Destruction", cannot be activated, even by the controller of "Protector of the Sanctuary". However, effects that are forcibly activated, like "Morphing Jar", can be activated (but results may vary; see below).

[Re: Protector of the Sanctuary] If "Protector of the Sanctuary" is on the field, then Flip Effects like "Morphing Jar" will still activate because they must activate when the monster is flipped (whether it was Flip Summoned, flipped by an attack, or flipped by "Book of Taiyou", etc.).

[Re: Protector of the Sanctuary] If "Morphing Jar"'s effect activates, then both players discard their hands, but if you control "Protector of the Sanctuary", your opponent does not draw a new hand.
[Re: Regenerating Mummy] "Regenerating Mummy"'s effect will activate when sent to the Graveyard by the effect of "Morphing Jar" or "Card Destruction".

Right now that all of that is out of the way, I would like to personally give my overview of this sneaky little jar. Firstly you can't just shove a morphing jar into any old deck, this monster benefits and works better in some decks than others (Obviously works well in a dark world deck) but also in other decks where dumping monsters into the graveyard (such as treeborn frog and sacred phoenix) can be beneficial. The general idea of using this card is to neutralise the cards that each player owns. So the way to maximise this monsters potential is to have fewer cards than the opponent in your hand and to also have a more cards on the field than your opponent so that when/if you are successful of launching the jar's effect, you will have a greater number of cards than your opponent, therefore having an advantage against them. There are a few combo's that you can use with morphing jar such as discarding your own treeborn frog or phoenix, or dumping monsters into the graveyard for chimeratech overdragon or dark necrofear. These decks can definitely benefit from the use of morphing jar. Also you can combine morphing jar with appropriate or forced requisition for deadly results, the latter can result in the opponent having no cards in hand. However this is not easily pulled off...

Also you want to be wary when setting your morphing jar, it is true that you want to generally empty your hand as much as possible, however at times your opponent may be able to guess your face down morphing jar due to the fact you emptied your hand... So some situations it might be better to leave a card in your hand incase your opponent noblemans, or exiles your morphing jar then follows through with a heavy storm, the probability of this happening is not huge it can still happen. Also by doing this you might be able to deceive your opponent so that they won't try to empty thier hand too which will prove useful if you do pull the jar off. There is also a bit of a mental game that you can play with your opponent, by bluffing that you have a morphing jar face down. Ok I'm not saying that you should try to empty your hand and set a random face down monster, however in specific situations a good bluffer is able to manipulate the way thier opponent's think, therefore they are able to get the maximum benefit out of morphing jar.

Morphing jar is a very tactical card to use. You need to be a very experianced duelist to know when to set a morphing jar down. If your not careful it will be the opponent who will benefit from the effect of morphing jar. In some of my dueling experiances control decks are not the type of decks you would want to throw a morphing jar into because a control deck generally tries to conserve thier resources, therefore morphing jar would theoretically be less effective in a control deck. However agressive decks that like to do plenty of duel simplifications might find a use for a morphing jar to refresh his/her hand with a reload of 5 cards. However you will most likely be giving your opponent a lot of cards too due to the constant one for one trade offs. Decks which have a lot of cards that discard from the hand (like decks that run multiple copies of lightning vortex with diamond dude or decks which run phoenix wing wind blasts in a bounce control deck and of course dark world decks) can truly abuse morphing jar because generally speaking they should be burning resources in thier hands more often than the opponent. Normally this is considered to be very bad because a lack of cards will most likely lead you to losing the duel. This is where morphing jar comes in! After using a lightning vortex set your morphing jar and when it gets flipped you refresh your hand while your opponent will hopefully be a little upset that they lost some of thier resources to the card graveyard.

For competative play, during the first duel in a match, you should be able to figure out what kind of deck your opponent runs. If your opponent is running a deck out strategy, or is running sacred phoenix or dark world, after the first duel, you should throw morphing jar out into the side deck, because you will have an increased chance of helping your opponent out when you use morphing jar. I mean it is bad enough they also get to draw 5 cards but what if you forced them to discard a bunch of dark world monsters or a sacred nephythys or even vampire lord. You will be helping out your opponent more than yourself most of the time in these scenarios. So the smart duelist will know when to side out morphing jar during tournament play.

Finally for all of those bakura fans out there who perhaps like to run a bakura themed deck, don't forget to throw in morphing jar, trusted and loyal friend of bakura! Morphing jar has had a few anime appearances in the yugioh anime, but the only episodes I remember him being in was when bakura summoned him to ''take care of these insolent fools'' and he also used three of them against yugi which was quite cool to watch.

Well this is my first article so if it is really bad or something don't go pouncing on me like a pack of wolves or anything. Thanks and I hope you enjoyed my article.

Skill Drain: Continuous Trap

Effect: Pay 1000 Life Points. As long as this card remains on the field, the effects of all face-up Effect Monsters on the field are negated.

Rulings
Paying 1000 Life Points is a cost.

"Skill Drain" negates the effects of face-up Effect Monsters on the field, but does not negate effects that activate in the Graveyard, such as "Witch of the Black Forest", "Sangan", "Mystic Tomato", "Giant Rat", "Exiled Force", "Sinister Serpent", and "Vampire Lord".
If your "Dark Flare Knight" is sent to the Graveyard while "Skill Drain" is active, its effect activates in the Graveyard so you can Special Summon "Mirage Knight" (but "Mirage Knight"'s effects will be negated once it is in play).

If your "Neko Mane King" is sent to the Graveyard by your opponent's card effect while "Skill Drain" is active, its effect is activated.

If your "Twin-Headed Behemoth" is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard while "Skill Drain" is active, its effect activates and it is Special Summoned.

"Skill Drain" will not negate an Ignition Effect or Trigger Effect if the Effect Monster is not face-up on the field when the effect resolves.

"Skill Drain" does not stop you from activating Ignition Effects, but it does negate their effects as long as the Effect Monster remains on the field. If you Tribute "Cannon Soldier" to itself while "Skill Drain" is active, "Cannon Soldier"'s effect is not negated because "Cannon Soldier" is in the Graveyard, but if you Tribute a different monster for "Cannon Soldier"'s effect, then the effect is negated and your opponent takes no damage. Likewise, if you activate "Winged Minion"'s effect while "Skill Drain" is active, "Winged Minion" is no longer on the field and its effect resolves. If you activate "Exiled Force"'s effect while "Skill Drain" is active, "Exiled Force" is no longer on the field and you can select and destroy 1 monster on the field. If you Tribute "Paladin of White Dragon" to activate its effect while "Skill Drain" is active, it is no longer on the field and you can Special Summon "Blue-Eyes White Dragon". If you Tribute "Great Dezard" while "Skill Drain" is active, it is no longer on the field and you can Special Summon "Fushioh Richie".

"Skill Drain" will negate Flip Effects, and you can chain the activation of "Skill Drain" to the activation of a Flip Effect, but you cannot activate "Skill Drain" in the Damage Step because it does not specifically modify ATK or DEF, so you cannot chain "Skill Drain" to a Flip Effect that is activated because a monster was attacked while face-down.

If you Flip Summon "Spear Cretin" while "Skill Drain" is active, "Spear Cretin"'s effect is negated when it is sent to the Graveyard because it is a Flip Effect and "Skill Drain" negates Flip Effects.

"Skill Drain" negates Multi-Trigger Effects such as "Dark Paladin" and "Ryu Senshi".

While "Skill Drain" is active you cannot Tribute a face-up "Kaiser Seahorse" to Tribute Summon a Level 7 or higher LIGHT monster. However, you can Tribute a face-down "Kaiser Seahorse".

While "Skill Drain" is active, "maintenance costs" are not negated so you still have to pay for "The Unfriendly Amazon", "Armor Exe", Archfiends, etc. However, all other costs are negated, so you do not have to pay to attack with "Dark Elf" or "Jirai Gumo".

Restrictions are also lifted, so you can attack with "Ultimate Obedient Fiend" even if you have other cards on your side of the field.

Spirit Monsters are not returned to the owner's hand while "Skill Drain" is active.

Toon Monsters' effects are negated while "Skill Drain" is active and the Toon Monster is on the field, so they can attack the same turn they are Summoned, you do not have to pay 500 Life Points to attack with them, and they are not destroyed if "Toon World" is destroyed, but they cannot attack your opponent directly.

"Jinzo" cannot negate Trap Cards while "Skill Drain" is already active, because "Skill Drain" is negating "Jinzo"'s effect. But if "Jinzo" is already on the field, you cannot activate "Skill Drain" because "Jinzo"'s effect prevents you from doing so.

When a monster's ATK or DEF are changed by its own effect, like "Slate Warrior" or "Berserk Dragon", and "Skill Drain" is activated, that monster's effect is negated and the ATK/DEF are returned to normal. Even if "Skill Drain" is then destroyed, the old adjustment to ATK/DEF does not come back. Any bonuses or penalties are lost when "Skill Drain" effect is applied, and you have to start over from the beginning.

If your opponent uses "Bazoo the Soul-Eater"'s effect to increase its ATK, and you use "Skill Drain", "Bazoo the Soul-Eater"'s ATK returns to normal, even if "Skill Drain" is destroyed after resolving. If "Skill Drain" is negating "Bazoo the Soul-Eater"'s effect, you can still pay the cost and remove monsters in your Graveyard from play, but "Bazoo the Soul-Eater"'s ATK will not increase.

"Goblin Attack Force" and "Spear Dragon" do not change their battle position after attacking while "Skill Drain" is active. If "Goblin Attack Force" attacks and changes battle position, then on your next turn you activate "Skill Drain", you can change "Goblin Attack Force" back to Attack Position because its effect that prevents this is negated.

Monsters equipped to "Relinquished" while "Skill Drain" is active are negated and destroyed because "Relinquished" no longer has an effect that allows it to be equipped with a monster, and "Relinquished"'s ATK and DEF are returned to normal.

Monsters that can hold Spell Counters, like "Skilled Dark Magician", no longer have that effect while "Skill Drain" is active, so they cannot gain more Spell Counters and all Spell Counters already placed on them are removed.

If a face-down "Kisetai" is attacked while "Skill Drain" is active, the effect of "Kisetai" is negated, damage calculation is performed, and "Kisetai" will not equip itself to the attacking monster. But if "Kisetai" is already an Equip Spell Card, and "Skill Drain" is activated, Kisetai is unaffected because it is no longer an Effect Monster.

The effects of "Zombyra the Dark" are negated while "Skill Drain" is active, so "Zombyra the Dark" can attack your opponent directly, and its ATK is not decreased because of its effect. If "Skill Drain" is destroyed, "Zombyra the Dark"'s ATK is not changed.

The ATK and DEF of "Gradius' Option", the ATK of "Maju Garzett", and similar monsters is 0 while "Skill Drain" is active, and is not restored even if "Skill Drain" is destroyed.

If "Skill Drain" is activated after "Hayabusa Knight"'s first attack, "Hayabusa Knight" does not get its second attack.
You can Special Summon "Gilasaurus" while "Skill Drain" is active, but its effect is negated so your opponent does not get to Special Summon.

Do not roll dice for Archfiends while "Skill Drain" is active.

A Union Monster that attached itself to another monster before "Skill Drain" became active is unaffected by "Skill Drain". If "Skill Drain" is active, you can activate a Union Monster's effect to attach it to another monster, but nothing happens and it remains a monster.

"Skill Drain" will not affect lingering effects or conditions that are left over from a previous effect. For example, if you Special Summon a Fusion Monster with "Summoner of Illusions", and then "Skill Drain" is activated afterwards, the Fusion Monster is still destroyed in the End Phase. If you Special Summon a Fusion Monster with "Magical Scientist", and then "Skill Drain" is activated, the Fusion Monster cannot attack your opponent's Life Points directly, and is returned to the Fusion Deck at the end of the turn.

When "Jowls of Dark Demise"'s effect is activated and resolves, and then "Skill Drain" is activated afterwards, it has no effect on "Jowls of Dark Demise"'s effect, so control of the monster does not change until it is returned to the original controller at the end of the turn.

If "Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi"'s effect is activated, and then "Skill Drain" is activated later, "Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi"'s effect is not negated and the opponent must discard his/her hand during their next Draw Phase. But if "Skill Drain" is active at the time "Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi"'s effect activates, then the effect is negated.

Conditions for Summoning monsters is not negated by "Skill Drain", so you still must remove 1 DARK and 1 LIGHT monster to Special Summon "Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End", and you cannot Normal Summon or Flip Summoning "Terrorking Archfiend" if there are no Archfiends on the field.

You can have 2 "Gravekeeper's Chiefs" on the field while "Skill Drain" is active, but if "Skill Drain" is destroyed, select 1 of the "Gravekeeper's Chiefs" and destroy it.

[Re: Amplifier] You cannot activate a card that would cause an infinite loop because its effect cannot resolve completely. Example #1: You activate "Snatch Steal" targeting your opponent's "Jinzo". You then equip "Jinzo" with "Amplifier". You cannot activate "Imperial Order" because it cannot resolve completely (it would negate "Snatch Steal", returning "Jinzo" to your opponent, which would negate "Imperial Order" so "Snatch Steal" would re-activate). If you activate "Imperial Order" by mistake in such a situation, flip it face-down again. Example #2: you control "Jinzo" equipped with "Amplifier" and "Skill Drain". Your opponent cannot activate "Royal Decree".

[Re: Ancient Lamp] If "Skill Drain" is active on the field, the effects of "Ancient Lamp" will be negated. (Attacks will not be re-directed.)

[Re: Anteatereatingant] If you activate the effect of "Anteatereatingant", then activate "Skill Drain", "Anteatereatingant" still can't attack that turn. (Even if "Skill Drain" was chained to the effect.)

[Re: Armor Exe] If "Skill Drain" is active and "Armor Exe" is Summoned, or if "Skill Drain" is activated after "Armor Exe" is Summoned, in both cases "Armor Exe" CAN attack the same turn it was Summoned.

[Re: Atomic Firefly] "Atomic Firefly"'s effect activates in the Graveyard when "Atomic Firefly" is sent to the Graveyard at the end of the attack, so "Skill Drain" will not negate its effect.

[Re: Balloon Lizard] While "Skill Drain" is active, you can't put new counters on "Balloon Lizard".

[Re: Behemoth the King of All Animals] If you Tribute Summon "Behemoth the King of All Animals" with 1 Tribute, and "Skill Drain" is activated, its ATK becomes 2700 points. Even if "Skill Drain" is destroyed, the ATK remains at 2700 points.

[Re: Berserk Dragon] While "Skill Drain" is active, "Berserk Dragon"'s effects are negated. But "Berserk Dragon"'s effect doesn't count turns, so if "Skill Drain" was active for 4 turns, and is then destroyed, do not reduce "Berserk Dragon"'s ATK for those 4 turns.

[Re: Big Shield Gardna] "Skill Drain" only negates the effects of monsters that are face-up on the field, so a face-down "Big Shield Gardna" may still negate a Spell Card that targets it while "Skill Drain" is active on the field. It will still be flipped to face-up Defense Position, and now its effect that changes its battle position when it is attacked will be negated.

[Re: Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning] If you activate "Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning"'s first effect, and "Skill Drain" is chained to it to negate the effect, or if "Skill Drain" was active before you activated the effect, you cannot attack with "Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning" that turn because the activation of the effect was not negated and the condition that is included will not be negated by "Skill Drain".

[Re: Burning Algae] "Burning Algae"'s effect cannot be negated by "Skill Drain".

[Re: Chainsaw Insect] If "Skill Drain" is active, your opponent will not get to draw, unless "Chainsaw Insect" is destroyed in the battle, then its effect will activate in the Graveyard and your opponent will draw 1 card.

[Re: Chiron the Mage] The restriction that you can only activate this effect once per turn is a condition, not an effect. So if "Skill Drain" is on the field, you can pay the cost once per turn (for no effect), but not pay the cost continuously in the same turn.

[Re: D.D. Survivor] If "Skill Drain" is active when "D.D. Survivor" is removed from play, it is still Special Summoned because its effect activates during the End Phase while it is removed from play.

[Re: Dark Catapulter] If "Skill Drain" is activated, all counters on "Dark Catapulter" are removed for no effect.

[Re: Dark Magician of Chaos] While "Skill Drain" is active, the first and second effects of "Dark Magician of Chaos" are negated, but the 3rd effect is not negated.

[Re: Dark Paladin] "Dark Paladin"'s +500 ATK effect is a Continuous Effect. While "Skill Drain" is active, the effects of "Dark Paladin" are negated.

[Re: Elemental Hero Neo Bubbleman] If "Skill Drain" is active, this card is no longer treated as "Elemental Hero Bubbleman".

[Re: Elemental Hero Wildheart] For "Elemental Hero Wildheart" vs. "Skill Drain", whichever effect was active on the field first takes
precedence. So if "Elemental Hero Wildheart" is on the field and "Skill Drain" is activated, his effect is not negated. But if "Skill Drain" is on the field and "Elemental Hero Wildheart" is Summoned, his effect is negated by "Skill Drain" as long as "Skill Drain" remains on the field.

[Re: Exodia Necross] While "Skill Drain" is active, "Exodia Necross"' ATK is returned to its original 1800 points. Even if "Skill Drain" then leaves play, "Exodia Necross" does no regain any ATK increases it had because of its effect, but it will begin to accumulate ATK points again.

[Re: Exodia Necross] While "Skill Drain" is active, "Exodia Necross" is not destroyed if Exodia pieces are removed from the Graveyard, but it will be destroyed if the effect of "Skill Drain" disappears.

[Re: Fox Fire] While "Skill Drain" is active, you can Tribute "Fox Fire" for a Tribute Summon.

[Re: Fusilier Dragon, the Dual-Mode Beast] If you Summoned this card without Tribute, and then "Skill Drain" is later activated, the ATK and DEF are no longer halved. If "Skill Drain" is later destroyed, the ATK and DEF still remain 2800/2000.

[Re: Gear Golem the Moving Fortress] If you activate & resolve this card's effect and then "Skill Drain" is activated, you can still attack directly because "Gear Golem the Moving Fortress"'s effect is already applied and it's still applied even if "Skill Drain" is activated.

[Re: Giant Kozaky] The effect of "Giant Kozaky" that inflicts damage to the controller activates in the Graveyard or the "removed zone", wherever "Giant Kozaky" goes to after being destroyed. "The End of Anubis" will negate the effect of "Giant Kozaky" if it was destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, but "Banisher of the Light" will not (because "Giant Kozaky" does not have to be "destroyed and sent to the Graveyard"). Nor will "Skill Drain" negate the damage if "Giant Kozaky" is destroyed.

[Re: Gora Turtle of Illusion] If "Gora Turtle of Illusion" is equipped with "Snatch Steal", both effects of "Snatch Steal" are negated. But if "Skill Drain" is activated, then "Gora Turtle of Illusion"'s effect is negated, and "Snatch Steal"'s effects will resolve properly.

[Re: Magical Scientist] If "Skill Drain" is activated after a Fusion Monster is Special Summoned with "Magical Scientist", the effect of "Magical Scientist" (that makes the Fusion Monster unable to attack directly and have to go back to the Fusion Deck) has been applied already, and is not negated, so the Special Summoned Fusion Monster still cannot attack directly and must go back to the Fusion Deck.

[Re: Majestic Mech - Goryu] If "Skill Drain" is active during the End Phase, it will negate the effects of a "Majestic Mech" so the "Majestic Mech" will not destroy itself.

[Re: Majestic Mech - Ohka] If "Skill Drain" is active during the End Phase, it will negate the effects of a "Majestic Mech" so the "Majestic Mech" will not destroy itself.

[Re: Majestic Mech - Senku] If "Skill Drain" is active during the End Phase, it will negate the effects of a "Majestic Mech" so the "Majestic Mech will not destroy itself.

[Re: Maju Garzett] If "Skill Drain" is active, "Maju Garzett"'s ATK is reset to 0 even if "Skill Drain" is later destroyed.

[Re: Mataza the Zapper] While "Skill Drain" is active, you can take control of "Mataza the Zapper" from your opponent.

[Re: Megarock Dragon] If "Skill Drain" is active while "Megarock Dragon" is in play, the effect of "Megarock Dragon" is negated and its original ATK and DEF are treated as zero. Even if "Skill Drain" is destroyed later, the original ATK and DEF of "Megarock Dragon" will remain zero.

[Re: Mirage Knight] "Mirage Knight" can be Special Summoned by "Dark Flare Knight"'s effect even if "Skill Drain" is active, because "Dark Flare Knight"'s effect activates in the Graveyard. However, "Mirage Knight"'s effects are negated by "Skill Drain".

[Re: Power Bond] If you Fusion Summon "UFOroid Fighter" with 3000 ATK, and then later in the turn "Skill Drain" is activated, reducing its ATK to 0, you will still take 3000 points of damage during the End Phase. If you send "UFOroid Fighter" to the Graveyard so that its effect resets and its original ATK becomes zero, you still take damage equal to its original ATK at the time it was Special Summoned by "Power Bond".

[Re: Proto-Cyber Dragon] If "Skill Drain" is active, this card is no longer treated as "Cyber Dragon". You could not use it for "Attack Reflector Unit", etc.

[Re: Raviel, Lord of Phantasms] If "Skill Drain" is activated, any "Phantasm Tokens" on the field still cannot attack. (Also, while "Skill Drain" is active, "Raviel, Lord of Phantasms" will not generate any more "Phantasm Tokens".)

[Re: Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys] If "Skill Drain" is active on the field, the effect of "Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys" that Special Summons it from the Graveyard is still activated, because it is activated in the Graveyard. However, the effect that destroys Spell and Trap Cards on the field is negated because it activates on the field (so "Skill Drain" and other Spell and Trap Cards on the field are not destroyed in this case).

[Re: Sand Moth] Even if "Skill Drain" is active when "Sand Moth" is Special Summoned by its own effect, its ATK and DEF will remained switched. (2000 ATK / 1000 DEF).

[Re: Silent Insect] If "Silent Insect" is face-up on the field, you can activate "Skill Drain" by paying 1000 Life Points, but its effect will be negated. If "Skill Drain" is active on the field when you Normal or Flip Summon "Silent Insect", its effects are negated and it will remain in Attack Position.

[Re: Skilled Dark Magician] When "Skill Drain" is active, and you or your opponent activates a Spell Card, do not place Spell Counters on this monster. Any Spell Counters that are on this monster are removed when "Skill Drain" is activated.

[Re: Skilled White Magician] When "Skill Drain" is active, and you or your opponent activates a Spell Card, do not place Spell Counters on this monster. Any Spell Counters that are on this monster are removed when "Skill Drain" is activated.

[Re: Sonic Jammer] If "Skill Drain" is activated after "Sonic Jammer"'s effect has resolved, the effect of "Sonic Jammer" is not negated because "Skill Drain" was not active when "Sonic Jammer" was flipped, activated its effect, and applied its effect.

[Re: Spirit Reaper] If "Skill Drain" is active, "Spirit Reaper" can be equiped with Equip Cards, but if "Skill Drain" is later removed from the field "Spirit Reaper" wil be destroyed.

[Re: Spirit Reaper] "Spirit Reaper" can be destroyed as a result of battle while "Skill Drain" is active.

[Re: Terrorking Archfiend] While "Skill Drain" is active, you still need to have an Archfiend Monster Card on your side of the field in order to Normal Summon or Flip Summon "Terrorking Archfiend".

[Re: The Agent of Wisdom - Mercury] When the effect of "The Agent of Wisdom - Mercury" is negated by "Skill Drain", and you have no hand at the end of your opponent's End Phase, and you destroy "Skill Drain" before your "Standby Phase" (such as with "Mystical Space Typhoon" during your Draw Phase), you CAN draw because "Skill Drain" was destroyed. This is because the "when you have no cards in your hand during your opponent's End Phase" is a condition, not an effect, so it is not negated by "Skill Drain". As long as you can make it so that "Skill Drain" is not negating "The Agent of Wisdom - Mercury"'s card-drawing effect by the time the Standby Phase begins, you can draw.

[Re: The Creator] If you activate the effect of "The Creator", and it does not resolve because the opponent chains "Skill Drain", or removes the targeted monster from the Graveyard with "Disappear", you've still used the effect. So you cannot activate its effect again that turn (even if you destroy "Skill Drain").

[Re: The Unhappy Girl] If "The Unhappy Girl" applies her effect to a monster, and "Skill Drain" is then activated and resolves, and "Skill Drain" is then destroyed afterwards, then "The Unhappy Girl"'s effect is re-applied and the monster that battled with her before "Skill Drain" was activated cannot attack or change battle position once again.

[Re: UFOroid Fighter] If "UFOroid Fighter" is on the field, and then "Skill Drain" is activated, the original ATK & DEF will be zero, and will remain zero even if "Skill Drain" is destroyed or negated.

[Re: Winged Kuriboh] Because the effect of "Winged Kuriboh" activates in the Graveyard, it will not be negated by "Skill Drain" but it will be negated by "The End of Anubis".

[Re: Winged Kuriboh LV10] You can activate the effect of "Winged Kuriboh LV10" if "Skill Drain" is on the field, and its effect will resolve normally and not be negated, because it is no longer a face-up monster on the field.


Summary:

Basically Skill Drain is the ONLY card in the game the negates any and all effects of all face-up monsters on the field when it is activated. It is also one of my favorite cards in the game

What deck to use in:

Skill Drain basically has to have a deck completely based around it in order for it to be effective. Just about ALL other decktypes have something to do with a monster effect activating, and Skill Drain would render that effect useless.

How to use in a deck:

In a skill drain deck, your objective is to take advantage of monsters that normally have high attacks, but negative effects. Such monsters include: Goblin Attack Force, Giant Orc, Goblin Elite Attack Force, Indomitable Fighter Lei Lei, Chainsaw Insect, Fusilier Dragon: The dual mode beast, The Majestic Mechs, etc. While you have Skill Drain out with any of these monsters, it negates the negative effects of them, that means a buch of free beatsticks, and the fact that the annoying MoF, CS, Mobius dont work for them.
Win-win situation for you

Disadvantages:

You have to pay 1000 lifepoints. WHOOPDY FRICKIN DOO.

it can be destroyed by m/t removal. for this you might need to pack in a few solemn judgements, maybe even fake trap or two



overall, if used correctly, can be a big help. Not a top tier deck, but effective when needed

3.9/5

TLM-EN036
Elemental Hero Thunder Giant
LIGHT/Warrior/Fusion/Effect/6/2400/1500
"Elemental Hero Sparkman" + "Elemental Hero Clayman"
This monster cannot be Special Summoned except by Fusion Summon. Discard 1 card from your hand to select and destroy 1 face-up monster on the field with an original ATK that is less than the ATK of this card. You can only use this effect once per turn, during your Main Phase.
ULTRA RARE/ULTIMATE RARE

Elemental Hero Thunder Giant is the second of the two Elemental Hero fusions in the English game. It fuses the other two Elemental Heroes currently available, Elemental Hero Sparkman and Elemental Hero Clayman. What's so nice about these Elemental Heroes? Sparkman has the highest ATK of the non-fusion Elemental Hero monsters (1600) and 2nd highest DEF of the Elemental Heroes (1600), while Clayman has the highest DEF of the Elemental Heroes (2000). The only bad news? Clayman has the lowest ATK of the non-fusion Elemental Heroes (800). That?s fine, though, because if you use Chorus of Sanctuary (Field Spell Card: Increase the DEF of all monsters on the field by 500 points), their DEF values jump to 2100 and 2500, respectively. In other words, they become hard to destroy in battle. That'll help you if you HAVE to play one of the monsters to the field in Defense Position. Sparkman and Clayman also get all the benefits of the other two non-fusion Elemental Heroes, Avian and Burstinatrix, except that Sparkman looses the ability to be searched by Sangan and Shining Angel. However, Sparkman and Clayman get all the other pluses of being Warriors (Command Knight, Marauding Captain, Reinforcement of the Army, The Warrior Returning Alive, etc.). But this review is about Thunder Giant, not the Elemental Heroes, so let's get to it.

Elemental Hero Thunder Giant is similar to Flame Wingman. He's a Warrior with Level 6 and can't be Special Summoned EXCEPT by a Fusion Summon. However, Thunder Giant packs 2400 ATK and 1500 DEF, 300 points higher for each. Assuming you can power up Thunder Giant just a little bit, you can burst through frequently-played Tribute Monsters like Jinzo and Airknight Parshath, while at the same time having a high enough DEF as to protect it from Tsukuyomi destroying it after flipping it to face-down Defense Position. It gets Warrior power-ups, so it's not too difficult to get its ATK higher. "Yeah, I know. I LOVE high ATK values. That means I can attack and destroy just about anything out there." Well, that's true when battling, but this monster when used properly could take out TWO monsters in one turn (one of which IS through battle)? Interested? Read the next paragraph.

Elemental Hero Thunder Giant has the ability to destroy just about any monster by discarding 1 card from your hand! Well, kind of. As long as their original ATK is higher than Thunder Giant's current ATK, you can destroy one monster by discarding 1 card from your hand. So that means if you're looking at a Goblin Attack Force and manage to Fusion Summon this monster, you can discard that Thunder Dragon you?re not using to destroy Goblin Attack Force since 2300 is obviously less than 2400. Original ATK gets tricky. Let?s say your opponent Normal Summons their Fusilier the Dual-Mode Beast with no Tributes. By Fusilier's text, its original ATK becomes 1400. If you can get Thunder Giant out and they keep the monster at an original ATK of 1400, you can discard one card to select Fusilier and destroy it. Normally, though, you?re looking at the printed ATK on the card. For example, if Goblin Attack Force's ATK can get up to 4500, its original ATK is still 2300 and makes him a prime candidate for Thunder Giant's effect. You can only use the effect once per turn during one of your own Main Phases, but that's only fair for so powerful an effect.


Final Thoughts: Beware of cards like Thousand-Eyes Restrict, Fusilier Dragon the Dual-Mode Beast, and Black Luster Soldier ? Envoy of the Beginning. You should be easily able to take care of them, though, as long as you use Thunder Giant after those monsters are Summoned OR you can save Thunder Giant for later (Interdimensional Matter Transporter, anyone?). Just make sure you can get its ATK up above 3000, usually by either Command Knight + The A. Forces (minimum of 3200) or by a single United We Stand.


Ratings:

Traditional Tournament: 6/10. You?ll have Imperial Order to help you against Harpie's Feather Duster, Raigeki, etc. You can easily raise his ATK so you can take out just about any monster. It actually has an advantage over Chaos Emperor Dragon ? Envoy of the End. A Fusion Summon will take 3 cards from your hand and/or field. You put 1 monster on the field. You saved yourself 900 points of damage, but you'll end up adding 300 by Fusion Summoning the monster. You saved yourself 600 Life Points, which MIGHT be enough to keep you alive should Chaos Emperor Dragon?s effect occur. What hurts its tournament rating is how fairly weak the Fusion Material Monsters are, but in a LIGHT-themed Warrior deck Sparkman might prove to be formidable by itself.

Traditional Casual: 10/10. Run this monster and its Fusion Material Monsters and Polymerization in 3s in a Warrior-based Elemental Hero deck. Just make sure you carry at least 2 Magic Jammer and an Imperial Order.

Advanced Tournament: 8/10. You don't have Imperial Order, but you also don't have to worry about Harpie's Feather Duster, Raigeki, etc. Again, raising ATK is easy, especially in this format. It holds no advantages over Chaos Emperor Dragon since Chaos Emperor Dragon is banned. Just watch your timing on activating this card?s effect. This monster gets 2 additional points because none of the 3 monsters (Sparkman, Clayman, Thunder Giant) are easily succeptible to being attacked after Tsukuyomi might flip them face-down, unlike some of the more popular monsters used in Chaos decks.

Advanced Casual: 10/10. See my Traditional Casual rating. Instead of Imperial Order, though, add in 1 more Magic Jammer since Imperial Order is banned.



My next CotD Review: Brain Control, this Friday (7/15).

TLM-EN038
Brain Control
Normal Spell
Pay 800 Life Points. Select 1 face-up monster on your opponent?s side of the field. Take control of the selected card until the End Phase of the turn this card is activated.
SUPER RARE/ULTIMATE RARE

My Card of the Day is one that you're fairly familiar with if you watch the Anime. Yugi uses this enough times to consider it a Yugi card. It's called Brain Control. In the Anime, it was a Quick-Play Magic Card that allowed the player to take control of one monster on the field for the rest of the turn. It was always used on face-up cards, so I don't think anyone expected that the real card would be much different. Turns out some of us were wrong.

The Brain Control found in The Lost Millenium varies from the Anime card in that you must pay 800 Life Points to activate the card. This isn't exactly a steep cost. I mean, people pay 1000 Life Points for Delinquent Duo. It helps you out even more if you use it in a Spellcaster-Type deck that uses Spell Economics (Continuous Spell Card; Effect: You do not have to pay any Life Points to activate a Spell Card). This would essentially give you a free Change of Heart effect. However, you probably won't play Spellcaster/Dark Magician until Dark Magic Curtain comes out in English (Normal Magic Card; Effect: Pay half of your Life Points. Special Summon a Dark Magician from your Deck. You cannot Summon any other monsters during the turn in which this card is activated.) to give you a free Dark Magician Summon. However, in current Spellcaster decks that might revolve around Sorcerer of Dark Magic, the Spell Economics + Brain Control combo makes a great way to get Dark Magician Girl or Chaos Command Magician or the upcoming Cybernetic Magician card out onto the field more easily (Cybernetic Magician; LIGHT/Spellcaster/6/2400/1000; Effect: Discard one card from your hand. The ATK of one face-up monster on the field becomes 2000 until the End Phase of the turn this effect is activated.) for Sorcerer of Dark Magic while at the same time getting rid of an opponent?s monster. You could use it in a Direct Damage deck that uses Toon Cannon Soldier or just regular old Cannon Soldier or even Catapult Turtle to get rid of a monster on their side of the field and do damage to your opponent. At the worst, you might be willing to play this card and pay 800 Life Points to destroy an opponent's face-up Spirit Reaper (Spirit Reaper would be targeted). That's not bad, but there are a few cards to watch out for when using Brain Control.

You might face a few dangers when trying to use Brain Control in a competitive duel. First, Book of Moon runs rampant through competitive decks. Why does this matter to you? Let's say your opponent has only a Black Luster Soldier ? Envoy of the Beginning and one face-down Spell/Trap Card on his/her side of the field. You have no Monsters and nothing on the field. You draw Brain Control, hoping that you can at least get rid of their juggernaut. You activate Brain Control, paying 800 Life Points to activate it and targeting Black Luster Soldier ? Envoy of the Beginning. Your opponent reveals their face-down card: Book of Moon.

Chain Link 1: Brain Control, targeting Black Luster Soldier ? Envoy of the Beginning
Chain Link 2: Book of Moon, targeting Black Luster Soldier ? Envoy of the Beginning

Resolve in reverse.

Chain Link 2: Book of Moon flips Black Luster Soldier ? Envoy of the Beginning face-down into Defense Position.

Chain Link 1: Black Luster Soldier ? Envoy of the Beginning, the target of Brain Control, is now face-down. Brain Control only takes control of face-up monsters, so Brain Control resolves without effect.

Other than that, there are no real downsides to this card. Obviously it faces problems against cards like Magic Jammer, Solemn Judgment, and Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV8, but what Spell Card doesn't?


Final Analysis: This card can be great in decks that use a lot of Tribute monsters like Blue-Eyes White Dragon decks, Sorcerer of Dark Magic decks, and LIGHT Destruction decks (using Moisture Creature and one of the new 2005 tin promos, Gilford the Lightning). I think it will shine in Dark Magician decks once people have a reason to play Spell Economics. For right now, though, you're probably better off using Snatch Steal if your only objective is to remove your opponent?s face-up Black Luster Soldier ? Envoy of the Beginning or destroying an opponent?s Spirit Reaper.


Traditional Rating (Tournament): 5/10. It's good, but decks are too packed in with staples to support another "retrained" Spell Card. Besides, Change of Heart and Snatch Steal are popular options for stuff that Brain Control can do, and Change of Heart can take face-down monsters for free.

Traditional Rating (Casual): 7/10. This and Dummy Golem in the new set can allow for you to build a Take Control deck using cards like Change of Heart, Snatch Steal, Creature Swap (x2), Invader of the Throne (x2, at least), Brain Control (x2, at least), and Dummy Golem (x2, at least). This is also great for Tribute-heavy decks. You might consider using this instead of Soul Exchange, especially if Book of Moon is not heavily used.

Advanced Rating (Tournament): 7/10. This card gets a lot more uses in Advanced, and there's usually space to spare for it. Nearly every deck using Black Luster Soldier ? Envoy of the Beginning, so this gives you a Change of Heart replacement to take control of it and remove it from play. Some still play Spirit Reaper, so this can be another opportunity to destroy him while he?s face-up. Just beware of Book of Moon.

Advanced Rating (Casual): 8/10. This is Change of Heart's replacement. Use this, especially if you?re using a Sorcerer of Dark Magic deck. Without Magical Scientist to get your Sanwitches, you'll need an easier way to get your Level 6 Spellcasters onto the field. If you're worried about Book of Moon, put in some Magic Jammers or Magic Drains. You might also consider this in a Last Turn deck to help rid yourself of the plague that is Black Luster Soldier ? Envoy of the Beginning, and believe me when I say that 800 Life Points is chump change to get rid of him for good. Why the two points less? 1 point is for the existence of Book of Moon as a Quick-Play Spell. 1 point is for the fact that it only gets face-up monsters.


Anime Appearances: As far as I can remember, the first appearance of Brain Control came when Yugi played Pegasus at the end of the Duelist Kingdom saga. Yugi took control of Pegasus' Jigen Bakudan and used it as part of the sacrifice for the Ritual card for Magician of Black Chaos. He also used Brain Control against Arcana to take control of his Fiend Jester and sacrificed Fiend Jester and Alpha the Magnet Warrior to summon Dark Magician and attack directly. The last use I know of was against Strings ("The Quiet One") when Buster Blader destroyed Revival Jam. According to Battle City rules and effects, Revival Jam reformed immediately after the attack for no Life Point cost. When Revival Jam attempted to re-form, Yugi activated Brain Control before Revival Jam fully re-formed. This allowed Revival Jam to re-form on Yugi's side of the field. Since it was Summoned to Yugi's side of the field, Slifer had to attack with its second mouth attack. Revival Jam went to Strings' graveyard, was Special Summoned to Yugi's side of the field, and Strings had to draw 3 cards each time Revival Jam was re-formed (Card of Safe Return in the Anime allowed a 3-card draw, not just 1). Then since Revival Jam re-formed on Yugi's side of the field due to Brain Control, Slifer had to attack again. Another 3-card draw, another re-formation, another Slifer attack, etc. Strings eventually ran out of cards in his deck and lost the Duel since he could not draw any more cards.

Magic Jammer - Counter Trap

Effect: Discard 1 card from your hand. Negate the activation of a Spell Card and destroy it.

Rulings

- [Re: Bait Doll] If "Bait Doll" is activated and targets "Magic Jammer", "Magic Drain", etc. the opponent may chain the Trap Card to negate and destroy "Bait Doll". If he / she does not, the Trap Card will be destroyed since the activation timing is incorrect, and "Bait Doll" will be shuffled into your Deck.

- [Re: Black Pendant] If this card's activation is negated, such as with "Magic Jammer" or "Riryoku Field" it does not do damage to your opponent.

- [Re: Burst Stream of Destruction] If "Burst Stream of Destruction"'s activation is negated by "Magic Jammer", then "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" can attack.

- [Re: Curse of Darkness] "Curse of Darkness" inflicts 1000 damage right after the Spell Card is activated, not when it resolves. If the Spell Card's activation is negated however, such as with "Magic Jammer", then no damage is inflicted because the activation was negated.

- [Re: Curse of Royal] You can use Curse of Royal against cards like "Magic Jammer", "Seven Tools of the Bandit", "Solemn Judgment", "Curse of Royal", "Mystical Space Typhoon", "Dust Tornado", "Magic Drain", "Riryoku Field", "Judgment of Anubis", etc.

- [Re: Dark Eradicator Warlock] If a Normal Spell Card's activation is negated (by "Magic Jammer" etc.), then no damage is dealt by "Dark Eradicator Warlock".

- [Re: Destiny Board] The placing of a Spirit Message on the field by the effect of "Destiny Board" cannot be negated with "Magic Jammer", "Magic Drain", "Solemn Judgment", etc.

- [Re: Fairy Guardian] Spell Cards that are eligible for this card's effect include: Set Spell Cards, Equip Spell Cards, or Continuous Spell Cards destroyed by your opponent's card effects and Spell Cards negated and destroyed by an opponent's "Magic Jammer", "Solemn Judgment", "Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV8", etc. It also includes Spell Cards discarded from your hand by your opponent's card effect, like "Delinquent Duo" or "Confiscation" and Spell Cards sent from your Deck to Graveyard by your opponent's "Needle Worm", "Don Zaloog", "Vampire Lord", etc.

- [Re: Fusion Sword Murasame Blade] When you activate this card, the opponent can chain a card like "Magic Jammer" that will negate its activation and destroy it.

- [Re: Gravekeeper's Watcher] You cannot activate "Gravekeeper's Watcher" when a card is discarded as a cost, such as "Magic Jammer", "Kuriboh", "Tribute to the Doomed", "Thunder Dragon", or "Type Zero Magic Crusher".

- [Re: Inferno Fire Blast] If "Imperial Order" is chained to "Inferno Fire Blast", the effect of "Inferno Fire Blast" is negated but "Red-Eyes B. Dragon" cannot attack. However, if "Magic Jammer" negates the activation of "Inferno Fire Blast", your "Red-Eyes B. Dragon" can attack.

- [Re: Night Assailant] "Night Assailant" doesn't have to be sent to the Graveyard by an effect, or by an effect controlled by your opponent; it just has to be sent to the Graveyard. "Night Assailant"'s effect activates when sent to the Graveyard as a cost for "Magic Jammer" or "Tribe-Infecting Virus"; "Night Assailant"'s effect activates after the current chain resolves.

- [Re: Offerings to the Doomed] Skipping your next Draw Phase is not a cost, so if your opponent chains "Magic Jammer" or "Imperial Order" to negate this card, you do NOT skip your next Draw Phase.

- [Re: Ojamagic] The effect of "Ojamagic" activates in the Graveyard, and it can be chained to. It cannot be negated by "Magic Jammer" or "Dark Balter the Terrible".

- [Re: Scapegoat] If your opponent chains "Magic Jammer" to your "Scapegoat" you may still perform Summons that turn, but if they chain "Imperial Order" you may not perform Summons.

- [Re: Skilled Dark Magician] You place a Spell Counter on this monster when the Spell Card resolves, so if "Magic Jammer" is used to negate the Spell Card's activation then you do not place a Spell Counter on this monster. But if "Imperial Order" is chained to the Spell Card, you still place a Spell Counter on this monster because the activation of the Spell Card was not negated.

- [Re: Skilled White Magician] You place a Spell Counter on this monster when the Spell Card resolves, so if "Magic Jammer" is used to negate the Spell Card's activation then you do not place a Spell Counter on this monster. But if "Imperial Order" is chained to the Spell Card, you still place a Spell Counter on this monster because the activation of the Spell Card was not negated.

- [Re: Smoke Grenade of the Thief] If your opponent chains "Magic Jammer", "Magic Drain", etc., to negate and destroy this card, its effect does not activate.

- [Re: Spell Absorption] If the activation of a Spell Card is negated by "Magic Jammer", etc., then you will not gain Life Points for "Spell Absorption".

- [Re: Spirit Reaper] "Spirit Reaper" is destroyed by its own effect after a card that targets it resolves. If a Spell Card targets it, and the activation of that Spell Card is negated (such as with "Magic Jammer"), then "Spirit Reaper" is not destroyed. However, if the effect of the Spell Card was negated, such as if "Imperial Order" is active, then "Spirit Reaper" is destroyed because the Spell Card resolves (even though its effect is negated). Even if "Imperial Order" is already active on the field, you can activate a card such as "Tribute to the Doomed" designating "Spirit Reaper", and "Spirit Reaper" will be destroyed by its own effect.

- [Re: Wave-Motion Cannon] Your opponent cannot chain "Magic Jammer", or use "Dark Paladin", etc., when you send "Wave-Motion Cannon" from the field to the Graveyard. Your opponent CAN chain "Magic Jammer" or use "Dark Paladin", etc., when you first activate "Wave-Motion Cannon" (meaning when you place it face-up on the field).

Magic Jammer...one of the worst cards in the TCG.

Why?

This review will say why, and also hammer home the concept of card advantage to everyone.

Effect

OK. Jammer is effectively negation for Spells.

Problem - you have to discard a card from your hand.

Now, some of you might disregard this as trivial, as ONE card can't hurt you right?

Wrong. Completely and utterly wrong.

You're giving up two cards (Jammer and your discard) in exchange for negating your opponent's Spell Card.

That's a 2:1, hence a overall -1 in advantage.

Your opponent should be jumping for joy.

You've basically tossed away TWO resources to counter your opponent's ONE resource. They now possess a fundamental advantage over you that you cannot reclaim save through a Magician of Faith, Magical Merchant, Pot of Avarice, and a few other cards. Now, ALL of those cards would have translated into POSITIVE card advantage for you before that. Now, they break even, which is not their purpose nor how they are properly supposed to be utilized. The advantage that you could have gained has gone.

So, you say this: so what? I'm one card down. So what?

You are now at a disadvantage. Take in the following situation.

You - CiH: 3, Field: Magic Jammer, Mystic Swordsman LV2

Opponent - CiH: 3, Field: Shrink, Don Zaloog

Your opponent activates Shrink. You counter with Magic Jammer, discarding Heavy Storm.

So, let's see the new situation:

You - CiH: 2, Field: Mystic Swordsman LV2

Opponent - CiH: 3, Field: Don Zaloog

You now possess less resources than your opponent. You are now at a fundamental disadvantage. Also, as soon as that Don attacks, you're another card down. Your opponent sets a card. You're scrambling to draw something. You Premature, only to hit a Dust. Alarm bells scream in your head that you could have used that Heavy Storm you discarded last turn. Now, you have one card left, and you better pray that is the one card that is going to save you before Don removes the rest of your hand and sends you topdecking with no field, where you have essentially lost.

This is the significance of card advantage and why Magic Jammer is a horrible card.

Yes, there are GOOD -1s (Scapegoat, Book of Moon, Swords of Revealing Light), but Jammer simply doesn't have an ability to match any of those.

How to Use It

There is ONE situation where you CAN use Jammer actually.

In a deck that uses Heart of the Underdog for en-mass draws, essentially giving you unlimited card advantage

However, those decks aren't competitive. You will NEVER use Jammer in a competitive deck. Never.

In a game where card advantage reigns supreme, Jammer is a horrible card, giving you a -1 with no redeeming effect.

Effect on the Metagame

Jammer has no effect on the metagame because it is never used. Simple.

Look into the Future

Unless some broken card comes out for 2:1s like this, then no, Jammer will still suck.

Conclusion

Like most 2:1s, Jammer miserably fails since it puts you at a disadvantage. The advantage that you believe you gained is completely negated by the discard. Due to this, it is an utterly horrible card that should never be used.

Rating: 1.6/5 - the discard absolutely ruins this card and makes it garbage.

NOTE TO EVERYONE

The essential goal of this review was to illustrate the concept of card advantage. Jammer stands as one of the best examples of a poor card due to card advantage reasons. If he cares to do so, Chrono will likely elaborate on this subject further on the weekend. Also, refer to Chrono's deck guide for a more in depth discussion. My thanks.

Rush Recklessly - Quick-Play Spell

Effect: Increase 1 face-up monster's ATK by 700 points until the end of this turn.

Rulings

- [Re: 8-Claws Scorpion] The ATK of "8-Claws Scorpion" becomes 2400 during damage calculation. You cannot chain "Rush Recklessly" or "Blast with Chain" to this effect. If these cards were activated before damage calculation, then the ATK of "8-Claws Scorpion" becomes 2400 during damage calculation so those cards have no effect on its ATK.

- [Re: Blast Magician] If "Rush Recklessly" is chained to the effect of "Blast Magician", and the ATK of the target monster is now higher than 700 x the number of Spell Counters removed, the effect of "Blast Magician" disappears. You cannot remove additional Spell Counters to increase the effect.

- [Re: Cyber Laser Dragon] The ATK or DEF of the targeted monster must be greater than (or equal to) the ATK of "Cyber Laser Dragon" when the effect resolves in order for it to be destroyed. Example: You target "Jinzo" with this card's effect. The opponent chains "Rush Recklessly" to raise "Cyber Laser Dragon's" ATK to 3100. "Jinzo" is not destroyed.

- [Re: Cyber Tutu] If "Cyber Tutu" uses her effect to attack directly, you can activate "Rush Recklessly" during the DAMAGE STEP, and even if it raises her ATK higher than the ATK of an opponent's monster a replay will not occur. But if you activate "Rush Recklessly" during the BATTLE STEP, a replay will occur.

- [Re: Dark Scorpion Combination] When you attack with "Dark Scorpion Combination", the Battle Damage is 400 points for each Dark Scorpion, even if their ATK's are changed by some Equip Spell Card, Field Spell Card, "Rush Recklessly", etc. (exception: "Rod of the Mind's Eye" will adjust the damage to become 1000 points).

- [Re: Freed the Brave Wanderer] If your opponent chains "Rush Recklessly" to "Freed the Brave Wanderer"'s effect to increase "Freed the Brave Wanderer"'s ATK by 700 points, and the ATK of the target monster is now lower than "Freed the Brave Wanderer"'s ATK when its effect resolves, the target monster is not destroyed.

- [Re: Heart of Clear Water] If a monster equipped with this card has its ATK increased over 1299, by the effect of "Rush Recklessly", etc., this card is destroyed.

- [Re: Obnoxious Celtic Guard] "Obnoxious Celtic Guard"'s effect looks at the ATK during Damage Calculation. So if he's WIND and is attacked by "Insect Soldiers of the Sky", their ATK is 2000 during Damage Calculation and "Obnoxious Celtic Guard" is not destroyed. Or if an 1800 monster attacks and you use "Rush Recklessly" to increase the ATK to 2500 during the Damage Step, "Obnoxious Celtic Guardian" is not destroyed.

- [Re: Secret Pass to the Treasures] If the monster attacks your opponent's Life Points directly, you cannot use an effect such as "Rush Recklessly" to increase its ATK above 1000 during the attack. If a monster attacks directly using the effect of "Secret Pass to the Treasures", "automatic" increases will not apply ("Super Robolady", etc.). If you use "Secret Pass to the Treasures" on "Injection Fairy Lily", and attack directly, you cannot activate the effect of "Injection Fairy Lily".

- [Re: Spirit Reaper] If "Spirit Reaper" is destroyed by its effect during the Damage Step, such as if "Rush Recklessly" was activated to increase its ATK, destroy "Spirit Reaper" with its effect AFTER damage calculation.

Ah, so let's review a sexy tech card.

Effect

So, Rush Recklessly has a rather simple effect. Any monster gains +700 ATK.

So what?

Your Airknight just beat that Cyber Dragon.

Your Vampire Lord just blasted that Mobius.

Your Zaborg just bested that Dark Magician of Chaos.

Your Don just killed your opponent's Breaker.

It's a simple form of defense. It saves your monster against a superior one, and gives you a little damage off it.

So, you're asking, so what? Why not just use Sakus?

What happens when that Cyber Dragon gets killed by the new 2600 ATK Airknight? You draw one.

What happens when that Breaker faces a 2100 ATK Don? Your opponent discards one.

That's the advantage involved. Cards like Airknight, Don, Mefist, and more become a deadly force with Rush ready to be used.

And also, there's the chainability factor.

MST that Saku? That Airknight is now vulnerable to your CyDra.

MST that Rush? That Airknight isn't going to be killed by that CyDra that turn.

Furthermore, Rush annihilates that little pesky annoyance known as Spirit Reaper, the card that dominates our metagame.

The shortcomings of Rush appear when:
1) You have an empty field
2) You have a set of DEF position monsters
3) When Rush isn't big enough to save your monster

In the first case, you wouldn't even set it, although then it's dead-weight in your hand.

For the second, Rush is simply useless...

And for the third, Rush can lessen the blow, but you were likely wondering why that Saku wouldn't serve you better...

As such, Rush is situational. It's highly effective in the right situation, but its inability to do anything in a series of situations greatly weakens it.

How to Use It

As tech. Simple as that. A single copy of Rush is always a decent tech simply for the surprise factor. Few opponents will expect a Rush Recklessly, of all things, to be sprung upon them.

Now, decks like Zombie, Parshath Control, and more heavily abuse Rush. Why? Cyber Dragon. Airknight is vulnerable without Rush. Vampire Lord's greatest bane, destruction in battle, is an omni-present threat with Cyber Dragon. Rush offsets the primary weakness of these monsters, and allows them to be used more efficiently.

Effect on the Metagame

Hardly any effect.

It is teched but I doubt anyone is going to toss it into their competitive deck that they're going to haul off to a Regionals or SJC anytime soon.

Conclusion

An excellent tech card, with its primary weaknesses being the situational nature of its effect.

It is one of the primary means that themes that have been recently annihilated by Cyber Dragon are now able to counter that very same card, and also decent tech anywhere else.

Rating: 3.3/5 - Very nice tech, but a tad bit too situational for a competitive environment

Dark Magician of Chaos - 8/2800/2600

Monster Type: Spellcaster
Attribute: Dark

Effect: When this card is Normal Summoned or Special Summoned, you can add 1 Spell Card from your Graveyard to your hand. A monster that is destroyed by this monster as a result of battle is removed from play instead of going to the Graveyard. If this face-up card is destroyed or removed from the field, it is removed from play.

Rulings

- Missing the Timing: If "Dark Magician of Chaos" is Special Summoned in the middle of a chain (if it is not the last effect in the chain to resolve), the timing will not be correct for its Optional Trigger Effect, so you do NOT return a Spell Card from your Graveyard to your hand.

- "Dark Magician of Chaos" is NOT removed from play if it is destroyed in your hand or Deck.

- You can Special Summon "Dark Magician of Chaos" with "Monster Reborn", and then return the "Monster Reborn" to your hand with "Dark Magician of Chaos"' effect.

- If you Special Summon "Dark Magician of Chaos" face-down with "The Shallow Grave", its effect does not activate.
When "Dark Magician of Chaos" is Special Summoned with "Reasoning", his effect activates.

- When multiple "Dark Magicians of Chaos" are Special Summoned simultaneously, all of their effects activate; the controller starts putting their effects on a chain.

- When you Tribute Summon "Dark Magician of Chaos" with "Sangan" or "Burning Algae", those cards effects are Step 1 of the chain, and "Dark Magician of Chaos"' effect is Step 2.

- When you Special Summon "Dark Magician of Chaos" with "Last Turn", you can activate "Dark Magician of Chaos"' effect.
"Dark Magician of Chaos"' effect targets 1 Spell Card in the Graveyard, so it will be negated by "Necrovalley" or "The End of Anubis".

- The Spell Card is chosen at activation of "Dark Magician of Chaos"'s effect, so your opponent could chain "Disappear" or "Graverobber" to deny you that Spell Card.

- If "Dark Magician of Chaos" attacks a face-down "Fiber Jar" or "Cyber Jar", the Jar is removed from play but its effect is activated.

- If "Dark Magician of Chaos" attacks a monster with equal ATK, both monsters are removed from play.

- When "Dark Magician of Chaos" is sent to your hand by "Penguin Soldier", it is removed from play instead.

- When "Fiber Jar" resolves, a "Dark Magician of Chaos" on the field is removed from play instead of returning to the Deck.

- When "Dark Magician of Chaos" is removed from play by "Interdimensional Matter Transporter", it is removed from play but will return to play as normal due to "Interdimensional Matter Transporter"'s effect.

- When a face-down "Dark Magician of Chaos" is destroyed, it is NOT removed from play.

- If "Dark Magician of Chaos" is equipped to "Relinquished", and is destroyed, then "Dark Magician of Chaos" is removed from play. While "Dark Magician of Chaos" is equipped to "Relinquished", you cannot select "Dark Magician of Chaos" as a card to send to the Graveyard for the effect of "Emergency Provisions".

- While "Skill Drain" is active, the first and second effects of "Dark Magician of Chaos" are negated, but the 3rd effect is not negated.

- [Re: Burning Algae] When you Tribute "Burning Algae" to Tribute Summon "Dark Magician of Chaos", "Burning Algae"'s effect is Step 1 of a chain and "Dark Magician of Chaos"' effect is Step 2.

- [Re: Dedication through Light and Darkness] You select the "Dark Magician of Chaos" you wish to Special Summon when you resolve "Dedication through Light and Darkness", not when you activate it.

- [Re: Divine Wrath] You can activate "Divine Wrath" in a chain to a Trigger Effect that activates when the Effect Monster is Summoned such as "Breaker the Magical Warrior", "Dark Magician of Chaos", or "Marauding Captain". The opponent must declare the activation of "Marauding Captain"'s effect before "Divine Wrath" can be activated. In this case, the monster that would have been Special Summoned remains in the opponent's hand.

- [Re: Enemy Controller] If "Dark Magician of Chaos" is Summoned, and you chain "Enemy Controller" to the activation of his effect, even if you take control of "Dark Magician of Chaos", you cannot take control of his effect, so the Summoner (the activator of the effect) gets to retrieve 1 Spell Card from the Graveyard.

- [Re: Grave Protector] A monster destroyed by "Dark Magician of Chaos" or "Lesser Fiend" is returned to the Deck instead of being removed from play.

- [Re: Last Turn] If your opponent activates "Last Turn" and you Special Summon "Dark Magician of Chaos" from your Deck, you can activate his effect to add a Spell Card from your Graveyard to your hand.

- [Re: Last Turn] You CAN Special Summon a high-level monster that has no Special Summoning restrictions for "Last Turn", such as "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" or "Dark Magician of Chaos".

- [Re: Magical Dimension] If you Special Summon "Dark Magician of Chaos" with "Magical Dimension", then decide to destroy 1 monster on the field, then you will NOT get the effect of "Dark Magician of Chaos" because it misses the timing. If you choose not to destroy a monster, however, then his effect will activate. (See rulings for "Dark Magician of Chaos").

- [Re: Monster Gate] If you Special Summon "Dark Magician of Chaos" with "Monster Gate", the effect of "Dark Magician of Chaos" activates, but it activates after "Monster Gate" has fully resolved and sent other picked up cards to the Graveyard, so you can use "Dark Magician of Chaos"' effect to retrieve a Spell Card that was picked up and sent to the Graveyard by "Monster Gate" in the process of searching for the "Dark Magician of Chaos".

- [Re: Ryu Kokki] If "Ryu Kokki" battles with "Dark Magician of Chaos", "Ryu Kokki" is destroyed and removed from play by "Dark Magician of Chaos"' effect, and "Dark Magician of Chaos" is removed from play because it is destroyed by "Ryu Kokki"'s effect and removed by its own effect.

- [Re: Samsara] If "Dark Magician of Chaos" is used as a Tribute for a Ritual Summon while "Samsara" is on the field it will be shuffled back into the Deck.

- [Re: The End of Anubis] "The End of Anubis" WILL negate the effects of "Night Assailant" (its second effect), "Aswan Apparition", "Nubian Guard", "Sangan", "Witch of the Black Forest" (even if Tributed to Tribute Summon "The End of Anubis"), "Mystic Tomato"/"Giant Rat"/etc., "Sinister Serpent", "Magician of Faith", "Dark Magician of Chaos"' spell retrieval effect, "Vampire Lord"'s ability to return from the Graveyard, "Dark Necrofear"'s ability to return from the Graveyard, and activation of "Call of the Haunted" or "Premature Burial".

So, today let's look at what makes DMoC one of the two best two-tribute monsters in the TCG (Sacred Phoenix being the other one).

Statistics and Type

2800 ATK is enormous. There's practically nothing in the current metagame that can destroy it in battle save the rare Lily.

2600 DEF essentially means that a Book of Moon or Tsukuyomi will be entirely ineffective against DMoC unless they have a NoC, MS LV2, or Drillroid.

Spellcaster is a type with nice support. The largest contribution that DMoC gets from that genre is Magical Dimension, in which DMoC is able to negate the card advantage loss that is gained through getting a Spell back from the Graveyard. Also, it is that deck's primary powerhouse, and fits in with all the Spell recycling that is going to be occuring with 2 Magician of Faith and 2 Apprentice Magician.

Dark has tremendous support. DMoC can be Chaos food, Ninja food, used with Deck Devastation Virus, and more.

Now, DMoC is a two-tribute monster. Normally, two-tribute monsters are highly discouraged, as they heavily decrease your field presence due to the sacrifices are needed to bring them out. Usually, they require a tutor (Sacred Phoenix), or some alternate way of hitting the field. DMoC compensates for this with its effect, but even that doesn't fully cushion the blow that you're going to suffer (it's still -1 in field presence).

Effect

And we come to the reason that DMoC is one of the two best two-tribute monsters in the TCG.

Its first ability gives you a Spell back. That's a free MoF. That's a free +1.

Need Graceful? Back.

Need Snatch to take that monster? Back.

Need NoC for that F/D? Back.

It's an incredibly powerful ability.

And then we see the removal ability.

Tomato? No effect.

Sangan? No effect.

Sand Moth? No effect.

It shuts down all the elemental searchers, Sangan, and basically anything whose effect requires it to hit the Graveyard. The only time this is going to be a disadvantage is against the elusive D.D. Survivor and D.D. Scout Planes, which aren't seen now, but will be dominant when EOJ comes out. The fact that they don't even need Macrocosmos or Dimensional Fissure on the field hurts.

And it's removed from play upon leaving the field. Now, this prevents it from being revived, but sets it up for a combination with RftDD, which DMoC complements quite well, as it returns a Spell as well as being a 2800 beatstick that can go for the kill.

How to Use it

DMoC has been used in several decks, of which a few I will discuss here. They are Strike Ninja, Spellcaster, and Monster Gate/Reasoning decks.

In Strike Ninja, DMoC is merely another nice Dark. It can't provide Strike Ninja fodder since it's removed from play, but nevertheless, its use is to get a Spell back, do some damage, and then be brought back with RftDD when Ninja has removed enough for the kill.

In Spellcaster, DMoC is primarily used for synergy with Magical Dimension as well as being another Spell recycler alongside Magician of Faith (which is reusable with Tsukuyomi and searchable via Apprentice Magician).

In Monster Gate/Reasoning, DMoC offers major advantage when it hits the field from either of those cards, as you just got a +1 from that, and your opponent is likely freaking out.

As seen, DMoC best belongs in a deck that can fully utilize its abilities, as the addition of a two-tribute monster is a harsh price for a deck to pay in order to utilize it, even a card like DMoC.

Effect on the Metagame

DMoC claims the distinction of being one of the last two-tribute monsters still used in competitive tournaments.

Face it. No other card save Sacred Phoenix can provide the advantage or power that DMoC can.

I'm not going to go into a Sacred Phoenix vs. DMoC debate, as they both have their pros and cons, and it is not my place to say which one is better.

The place you're going to see it most often? Strike Ninja is arguably the most competitive of the former three decks, so expect a DMoC played in there. You might see a Sacred Crane deck (which might become more popular due to the last SJC) utilizing a DMoC, but that's about it.

As versus other decks, you can be assured that DMoC can outpower virtually everything. Monarchs, CyDras, and even Ha Des all fall before it. The ONLY things that are going to kill DMoC in battle are Lily, something pumped up with a Rush Recklessly, or something killing DMoC after it's been weakened by Shrink. In all cases though, they require 2000 LP or -1 card advantage.

Look into the Future

DMoC faces a tough future ahead against Macrocosmos.

Like I said before, Survivor and Scout Plane laugh at DMoC's attempts to destroy them, even WITHOUT Macrocosmos or Dimensional Fissure on the field. With Macro, there will be few Spells left to retrieve.

Conclusion

It rightfully holds the position of one of the two best two-tribute monsters in the game, due to practically unrivalved power and abilities (again, save Sacred Phoenix). In terms of statistics, there is no single commonly played monster in the Advanced format that can rival it. Besides Magician of Faith, it gives the only method of bringing back Spells from the Graveyard. It shuts down Sangan, all the elemental searchers, and more. And finally it works insanely well with RftDD.

However, it STILL is a two-tribute monster, hence the inherent disadvantage there.

Rating: 3.9/5 - An excellent card by any standards, but the fact it's a two-tribute monster brings down the score.

TLM-EN006
Ancient Gear Golem
EARTH/Machine/8/3000/3000
This card cannot be Special Summoned. When this card attacks with an ATK that is higher than the DEF of a Defense Position monster, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent?s Life Points. If this card attacks, your opponent cannot activate any Spell or Trap Cards until the end of the Damage Step.
ULTRA RARE/ULTIMATE RARE


This one's a bit of a user request. Somebody wanted me to review Ancient Gear Golem and, well, since I had nothing else in mind I think I will.

For the basics, Ancient Gear Golem is a Level 8 monster, so Summoning him won't be easy. He's an EARTH/Machine, so if you can somehow combine the powerhouse cards of each you could make him spectacular (not like his effects aren't spectacular, but we'll get to that in a minute). He's got 3000/3000 stats, which is tied for the second-highest DEF for a 2-Tribute Monster (Yamata Dragon beats it and a few others at 3100 DEF). So you're saying, "Why should I use him? Blue-Eyes White Dragon has 500 less DEF but is MUCH easier to Summon." Well, you'll reconsider after looking at Ancient Gear Golem's effects.

Ancient Gear Golem has what I call the "Ancient Gear Effect." When it Battles, your opponent can't activate Spell and Trap Cards until the end of the battle's Damage Step. This means you don't have to worry about Mirror Force, Magic Cylinder, Enemy Controller, or any of that during Battle. Be careful with some cards, though, as even though they can be used in Battle to help protect your opponent they can also be used Offensively on their turn or Defensively during their Main Phase to help protect themselves. "Okay, you have me convinced. I'll use Ancient Gear Golem. But is that all it does? Because, you know, I'm sold. I'm just looking for extras." Boy, does Ancient Gear Golem have extras.

Ancient Gear Golem has what's "officially" referred to as Piercing. You may know this as Trample from the Magic: The Gathering TCG. Maybe saying that it has "Fairy Meteor Crush" helps? Anyway, when it battles a Defense Position monster with a lower DEF than the attacking monster's ATK, the opponent will still take Battle Damage equal to the difference. Why is this so special? How often do you run into monsters with even 1800 DEF? Rarely, right? Right. If you attack with Ancient Gear Golem, you'll almost guarantee damage. Equip it with United We Stand and Mage Power and he goes from a 3000 monster with Piercing to a 4800 ATK monster with Piercing. That's a lot of damage, even against a monster with 3000 DEF. "That's great. I'll take it!" Not so fast. I need to let you in on a huge downside.

Ancient Gear Golem has what what I call the "Normal Summon Only" effect. Ancient Gear Golem cannot be Special Summoned. Period. Not through Monster Reborn. Not through Return from the Different Dimension. Not through anything. You MUST Normal Summon or Set it. How you do that, though, is up to you.


FINAL THOUGHTS: Ancient Gear Golem is a huge monster, literally. It has two great effects, high ATK, high DEF, and a lot of Level Stars. It'll be hard to Summon, so it might be too slow for tournament play (unless you're only experimenting with 1 copy in the Deck). In casual formats, though, I'd say it's a great card to at least try out if you can afford one.

RATINGS:

Causal Play, Traditional: 6/10. It's a huge monster that doesn't have to worry about most Spells and Traps that are used defensively during the Battle Phase. Raigeki and Dark Hole will kill it, so if your opponent knows you're using it he/she will probably wait to use Raigeki and Dark Hole to take out your Ancient Gear Golems after you Summon them. It gets a 6 because unless your opponent uses something like Enemy Controller in the Main Phase you Summon it you're almost guaranteed to do a minimum of 1500-2000 damage against a face-down monster. Try using cards like Magic Jammer or, if you think you really need the negation, Solemn Judgment to ward off Raigeki and Dark Hole.

Casual Play, Advanced: 8/10. No Raigeki and no Dark Hole to have to worry about, but you have a card that's just as bad: Metamorphosis. If Thousand-Eyes Restrict and Level 1 monsters see a lot of play in your area, then stay away from using Ancient Gear Golem because it could easily be used against you. If your opponent doesn't even know what a Thousand-Eyes Restrict is, though, then you're good to go to use this card. Also take into account Chaos Sorcerer and maybe Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning (it is a Casual format, after all), monsters that can easily remove your Ancient Gear Golem from play. Run Magic Jammers and Royal Oppressions if you really want to keep Ancient Gear Golem on the field.

Tournament Play, Traditional: 4/10. Chaos is way too fast. Ancient Gear Golem is way too slow. Unless you can get it out and keep it out, it'll probably end up being a dead card in 10 duels before being useful in 1. I would suggest counters to the staples, but Decks are usually so full with Staples that only 10-12, maybe fewer, cards are different in each Deck, no matter what the "theme" is.

Tournament Play, Advanced: 4/10. It would have received a higher rating because Raigeki and Dark Hole are gone, but there are cards that are a whole lot worse. Your opponent could run their D. D. Warrior Lady into your Ancient Gear Golem, whether it's in Attack Position or Defense Position, to remove it from play. If your Ancient Gear Golem is in Attack Position, your opponent will gladly use one of their 2 or 3 D. D. Assailants to destroy itself in battle against your monster and remove both itself and your Ancient Gear Golem from play. Then you have the new classic combo of Book of Moon on Ancient Gear Golem PLUS Nobleman of Crossout. You also have Metamorphosis + Magician of Faith/Sinister Serpent/Sheep Token to Special Summon a Thousand-Eyes Restrict and use the high ATK and DEF of Ancient Gear Golem against you. Advanced Format decks can usually spare the space for theme-specific cards, so try using some Magic Jammers, Solemn Judgments, Bottomless Trap Holes, and Royal Oppressions to help take care of the big threats.



Anime Appearances: None so far, but watch Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. I hear it's supposed to make an appearance in one of the first few episodes.


Next CotD Review: I hope you don't mind me going casual and reviewing an Egyptian God Card. The first review: Obelisk the Tormentor, on Monday, 6/15.

CotD Review #5



In case anyone doesn't remember me, I'm the "usual" CotD/CotW poster. It's just that school keeps me from doing regular updates, so this is my first review in nearly a year.

Review:
For my first "regular" Card of the Day review for this year, I'd like to look at a new theme of Monsters that shows no signs of going dead in one set. This is the Elemental Hero theme. To get a general idea of how the Elemental Hero set works, they are similar to Kaiba's XYZ monsters. Elemental Heros share the Warrior Type in the same way XYZ's share the Machine Type. The individual monsters are a set of weak/mediocre cards that can combine into stronger Fusion monsters with MUCH more potential. The only difference between Kaiba's XYZ fusions and the Elemental Hero fusions is that the ONLY way to Special Summon them is through a Fusion Summon. You can use a monster that can substitute for either Avian or Burstinatrix, but you NEED either Polymerization or Fusion Gate in order to get the Elemental Hero fusions Special Summoned. It does make Special Summoning them difficult, but they come with great abilities. My first review will be on Elemental Hero Flame Wingman.

Elemental Hero Flame Wingman is a Level 6 Fusion, but he can't be Special Summoned in any way EXCEPT by a Fusion Summon, so Flame Wingman will be a task to Summon. His ATK of 2100 is nearly a standard anymore for Level 6 Fusions, but as far as being a Level 6 monster is concerned this just doesn't cut it when most 1-Tribute monsters worth playing have at least 2400 ATK. 1200 DEF is very low, but you won?t want this monster in Defense Position. It's a WIND Attribute, but WIND has little support outside of Bladefly, Flying Kamakiri #1 (which can get Avian), and Rising Air Current. It's also a Warrior-Type, which has MUCH to offer in the way of support (use The A. Forces to raise Flame Wingman's ATK, use Reinforcement of the Army to get Avian or Burstinatrix, use The Warrior Returning Alive to return Avian or Burstinatrix to your hand, etc.).

What's the potential in this card? When he attacks and destroys a Monster AND sends it to the Graveyard (sorry, the effect won't activate if it doesn't go to the Graveyard), it deals direct damage to the opponent equal to its ATK. Let's say your opponent has a Goblin Attack Force in Defense Position. You have Flame Wingman on the field in Attack Position. Flame Wingman attacks Goblin Attack Force and deals 2300 points of Direct Damage to your opponent's Life Points. Or let?s say you activated Book of Moon to flip your opponent's Jinzo face-down. Flame Wingman attacks the face-down Jinzo. 2100 ATK is more than 1500 DEF, so Jinzo is destroyed and your opponent takes 2400 Direct Damage. Add in at least 1 Dark Room of Nightmare and that becomes 2700 damage. 2 Dark Rooms = 3000 damage, and 3 Dark Rooms = 3300 damage. Not bad for one attack!

The main problem with Flame Wingman is he MUST be Fusion Summoned in order to Special Summon him, PERIOD. That means that you can't just Summon a Level 6 and use Metamorphosis, and in Traditional you can't use Magical Scientist to pay 1000 Life Points to Special Summon him. The second problem comes from the low DEF. 1200 DEF is TERRIBLE, and if Book of Moon or Tsukuyomi are highly used in your area then you?re in trouble.

TOURNAMENT RATING, TRADITIONAL: 2/5. There are better ways to burn your opponent. The Blaze of Destruction Structure Deck would be a great start if you want to learn about using cards that burn your opponent's Life Points away.

TOURNAMENT RATING, ADVANCED: 2/5. More potential here. I would have given a 3/5, but because of a new ruling involving Position Changes you can count on Tsukuyomi and Thousand-Eyes Restrict to see more play. The 1200 DEF then becomes a major hindrance to you.

CASUAL RATING: 4/5. This card has AMAZING potential when not going up against tournament-level decks. If you use some cards to exploit the generally low Defense strengths of your opponent?s monsters (Book of Moon, Tsukuyomi, Enemy Controller), this could be D-E-A-D-L-Y. Try combining it with a FIRE-based burn deck OR a Warrior-based WIND deck.

If you plan on using a deck with him, then good luck!

My next CotD: Elemental Hero Thunder Giant

Strike Ninja - 4/1700/1200

Monster Type: Warrior
Attribute: DARK

Effect: You can remove this card from play until the End Phase of this turn by removing from play 2 DARK monsters in your Graveyard. You can use this effect during either player's turn. You can only use this effect once per turn.

Rulings:

- You cannot activate "Strike Ninja"'s effect during the Damage Step.

- "Strike Ninja" is a Multi-Trigger effect so you can chain it to another Spell Speed 1 or 2 effect and can activate it outside your Main Phases, even during your opponent's turn (but not during the Damage Step).

- You can only activate "Strike Ninja"'s effect when "Strike Ninja" is face-up on the field.

- Removing 2 DARK monsters for "Strike Ninja"'s effect is a cost.

- [Re: Big Burn] You can only activate "Big Burn" when an EFFECT that removes monsters in the Graveyard is activated. So you can't activate "Big Burn" when a player removes monsters in the Graveyard as a COST to Special Summon "Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning", "Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End", or to activate the effect of "Strike Ninja" or "Freed the Brave Wanderer". Nor can you use "Big Burn" when monsters are removed for a condition.

- [Re: Divine Wrath] You can chain "Divine Wrath" to the effect of "The Creator" (Ignition Effect), "Fox Fire" when it is Special Summoned (Trigger Effect), "Strike Ninja" (Multi-Trigger Effect), and "Homunculus the Alchemic Being" (Ignition Effect).

- [Re: The End of Anubis] "The End of Anubis" WILL NOT negate the Special Summon of "Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End", "Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning", "Dark Necrofear", "Soul of Purity and Light", etc. (because these involve costs, not effects, and "The End of Anubis" cannot negate paying costs). "The End of Anubis" WILL NOT negate "Strike Ninja"'s effect because removing 2 DARK monsters from the Graveyard is a cost.

Ah, Strike Ninja. Arguably one of the most influential and best cards in the game.

Before going into its effect, which is the primary piece of this review, let's review a few other factors.

Statistics and Type

1700 ATK is nice. This is enables it to plow through Tomatoes, Dons, and more with ease.

1200 DEF is standard. It makes it unable to be killed by Tsuku, which is still a constant threat.

Being a Warrior and 4 Stars gives it an enormous amount of support via Reinforcement of the Army, one of the single best searchers that are left in the Advanced format. It is essential for Ninja to be searched out via RotA, especially in its own deck.

Effect

Ah, the effect. It essentially makes Ninja immune to destruction as long as there are Darks in the Graveyard to power its ability. This alone has enormous potential, as it makes Smashing Grounds, Zaborg, and more essentially worthless and makes your opponent either waste a card or make the cards in their hand useless. In the late game, when Graveyards are full and your opponent is low on options, bringing out a Strike Ninja is one of the single best moves that can be done. Your opponent will be hard-pressed to destroy it before it removes enough Darks for a RftDD and finish.

Furthermore, due to it removing Dark monsters from the Graveyard, this sets up a combination with Return from a Different Dimension, which can bring back a host of options for a finisher.

How to Use It

You obviously use Strike Ninja in a deck that can support it: hence a deck with enough Darks.

This is either in its own deck, or Ninja teched into a deck that has enough Darks.

For the former, this deck is almost exclusively Darks, with cards like Mystic Tomato, Newdoria, Dark Magician of Chaos, Jinzo, Blowback Dragon, and more offering a variety of effects before they go to the Grave to become Strike Ninja fodder. This is the deck that Mystic Tomato truly shines in, as it has an enormous set of monsters to search from. Strike Ninja is then brought out via RotA late game for a finisher, as enough Darks have accumulated by then.

For the latter, a deck should have a fair sized chunk of its monster line being Darks, otherwise the player will find it too difficult for Strike Ninja's effect to fire off. However, it is a powerful tech, as due to previously stated reasons, it is simply and utterly devastating late game.

In either deck, Strike Ninja should not be seen until late game. At late game, your opponent is low on resources and your Graveyard is full, both ideal situations for Ninja to thrive. It makes whatever resources your opponent has remaining practically worthless and also sets the stage for a finisher via removing Darks for a RftDD.

Early game, you're at a disadvantage using Ninja, as you likely don't have enough Darks for its effect, and your opponent will simply have more resources to deal with Ninja.

However, it you have two to four Darks in the Graveyard, feel free to drop Ninja. It gains you a momentary advantage and puts the onus on your opponent to get rid of it, as if they don't, Ninja will simply become more and more difficult to destroy. The general rule is that if you can fire off its effect twice at any given time, it's plenty.

Effect on the Metagame

Ninja still remains one of the best cards in the metagame. The deck that is built around it remains one of the best decks currently played, alongside Monarch Control and more.

Simply, Ninja is a counter to all the monster removal currently available, which can include Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, Smashing Ground, Blowback Dragon, and more, which is a nice-sized portion of any competitive deck. Due to this, Ninja always has the possibility of making certain cards your opponent is carrying useless, hence the immense value in playing Ninja.

Look into the Future

Sadly, Ninja's reign looks to be at an end with the coming of EOJ.

Reason? It's simple: Macrocosmos.

Macrocosmos and its lesser cousin Dimensional Fissure (which are both played in the same deck), cause all cards that normally go to the Graveyard to be removed from play or all monsters removed play respectively when they are on the field. This effectively shuts down Ninja, as it saps it of its Dark food, hence making it unusable. Since Macrocosmos is fully expected to be the dominant deck, with the sheer advantage and power it can offer, the future looks grim for Ninja.

Conclusion

An excellent card, in nearly all aspects, and it deserves its position as one of the best cards in the Advanced format. Its ability is unmatched late-game and it still is one of the single best moves that can be made then. It is slightly weakened by the requirements a deck must have before playing Ninja, as well as its ineffectiveness early game, but nevertheless, it is still powerful.

EOJ still presents the fait accompli of Ninja's death though, so use it when you can.

Rating: 4.4/5. Effective to the extreme when utilized correctly, but its inability to cope early game lowers its score.

Legendary Jujitsu Master - 3/1300/1800

Monster Type: Rock
Attribute: Earth

Effect: A monster that battles with this Defense Position card is returned to the top of the owner's Deck at the end of the Damage Step.

Rulings:

- If "Legendary Jujitsu Master" is destroyed, removed from play, or flipped face-down by the effect of the monster he battles with, "Legendary Jujitsu Master"'s effect is still applied and the monster is returned to the top of the Deck.

- If "Legendary Jujitsu Master" is changed to a Fiend-Type or a Zombie-Type by "DNA Surgery" and is attacked by "Getsu Fuhma", "Getsu Fuhma"'s effect is Step 1 of a chain because the turn player is Step 1, and "Legendary Jujitsu Master" is Step 2. "Legendary Jujitsu Master" resolves first and "Getsu Fuhma" is sent back to the top of the Deck, then "Getsu Fuhma"'s effect resolves and "Legendary Jujitsu Master" is destroyed.

- If you have "Destruction Punch"'s effect, and your opponent attacks your "Legendary Jujitsu Master", you resolve the 2 effects in a chain with the controller (the defending player) choosing the order.

A nice tech card that we'll be reviewing today, and this is one of Bounce's finest moments.

Let's look at some rudimentary factors first:

Statistics and Type

1300 ATK is decent. It can't kill Tomatoes, Dons, or anything of that sort, but it does take care of anything beneath that. You usually won't have this thing in ATK but it's useful in a pinch.

1800 DEF is nice. No non-tribute short of not-commonly played GAFs, Orcs (moreso than the rest), Spear Dragons, and more can destroy it (1900 ATK vanilla beatsticks don't count since they suck).

Rock isn't really a supported type. Only two things that I can think of are Rock Bombardment (which frankly isn't that good), and fodder for Megarock Dragon, which is its own deck entirely.

Three stars is superb. It fits nicely under Gravity Bind and Level Limit, and the chances of it destroying all the monsters that normally hide under those cards are high.

Effect

LJM's effect brings back memories of Wall of Illusion. Yes, those LOB days. Now, in order to state the sheer magnitude of advantage one derives from LJM's ability, let's compare it with Wall of Illusion.

Wall of Illusion sends it back to the hand.

Legendary Jujitsu Master sends it back to the deck.

Your opponent still gets to draw next turn due to Wall.

Your opponent draws the same card of whose identity you are aware due to LJM.

The advantage that is derived from this is enormous. You, for all practical purposes, got another turn while your opponent was stuck with the same cards they just had.

That's one entire turn that you have open.

It is even MORE devastating when you send back a Tribute monster (bringing into account your opponent doesn't have a monster on the field already, so that Zaborg, Mobius, or whatever doesn't plague you next turn), as your opponent has to burn cards to bring it out again.

Sorcerer hit this? Your opponent better hopes he has more Lights and Darks available.

CyDra hit this? Your opponent is going to be burning their hand to come back.

The only cards that you don't want to hit this are:

Ha Des, due to negation.

Mystic Swordsman LV2, due to negation.

Breaker, due to another S/T they get to nuke.

Drilloid, due to negation.

And even these aren't really cons. Ha Des, MS LV2, and Drillroid are going to negate whatever they hit. If they get Breaker back, just don't set a S/T next turn or make it a chainable.

Despite all this, however, the problem is LJM is that it's a one-turn phenomenon. Unless it's in a Recycle deck (which will be mentioned later), you aren't going to do this with a measure of consistensy, so there lies the problem. That bounce is going to severely hurt your opponent, but the problem is that a single turn of that isn't THAT game-changing.

How to Use It

Well, you CAN tech it, but that consistensy issue comes up.

It's best used in a deck that concentrates upon Recycle and bouncing, in which cards like Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, Back to Square One, and more are utilized to put cards back on your opponent's deck. Recycle cards like Dark Scorpion - Meanae the Thorn and more give fodder for these cards. Doing this continually, you have a constant source of advantage, as your opponent struggles to proceed when you put cards back on top of their deck.

LJM just fits into this overall strategy, as it, alongside Mysterious Guard, are the two primary monster-bouncers in this deck.

There's really no bad time to drop LJM. Unless there's a Drillroid or MS LV2 primed on your opponent's side of the field to blast it, you can place it on the field whenever you want.

You're going to come off on the better side no matter what happens except if LJM gets destroyed outside of battle.

Effect on the Metagame

LJM hasn't had a dramatic effect on the metagame, despite my previous statements about it. That Recycle deck that I mentioned is very effective by all means, the problem lies in that it needs to get the necessary Recycle cards (i.e. Meanae) before it can start firing off Phoenix Wing Wind Blasts and the like. Otherwise, you're going to be burning so much card advantage, that even the bounce isn't going to translate into advantage for you.

It's decent tech, so if you need an extra card or two, toss LJM and give it a try either on YVD or somewhere before you walk off to a tourney. Depending on your meta, it may just be godly, or fall flat on its face. I've experienced moderate success with it, but it ultimately is much more effective in that Recycle deck, which unfortunately isn't going to be winning a SJC anytime soon.

Look into the Future

There's really nothing in the future that's going to affect LJM in any major way.

Unless some godlike support comes out for the Rock Type, or for that Recycle deck, LJM will stay as is.

Conclusion

No doubt LJM is a good card. It's just that the temporary nature of its effect and the fact that that turn that you are getting isn't going to be THAT groundbreaking unless you have a game-winning strategy downgrades it slightly. That's the primary reason why you don't see it popping up like dandelions everywhere (no pun intended).

Rating: 3.6/5 - no doubt effective, but consistensy issues and a general lack of true advantage provided by this, lower its score.

Text
The controller of this card pays 500 Life Points during each of his/her Standby Phases (this is not optional). When this card is targeted by the effect of a card controlled by your opponent, when resolving the effect, roll a six-sided die. If the result is 1, 3, or 6, negate the effect and destroy the opponent's card.
Rulings
# [Group: ARCHFIENDS] The following rulings apply to "Vilepawn Archfiend", "Desrook Archfiend", "Shadowknight Archfiend", "Darkbishop Archfiend", "Infernalqueen Archfiend", "Terrorking Archfiend", and "Skull Archfiend of Lightning".
# [Group: ARCHFIENDS] If you don't have enough Life Points to pay for an Archfiend, the Archfiend is destroyed and you don't pay the cost.
# [Group: ARCHFIENDS] You roll a die for Archfiends when your opponent resolves an effect that targets the Archfiend, not when it is activated. If the activation or effect of a card that targets your Archfiend is negated by some other card, then you do not roll a die for the Archfiend.
# [Group: ARCHFIENDS] If your Archfiend is targeted by "Barrel Dragon", roll a die for the Archfiend before flipping coins for "Barrel Dragon".
# [Group: ARCHFIENDS] Rolling a die for an Archfiend cannot be chained to since you are resolving an effect.
# [Group: ARCHFIENDS] The effect of rolling a die for an Archfiend is a Trigger Effect.
# [Group: ARCHFIENDS] The effect of rolling a die for an Archfiend will be negated by "Skill Drain".
# [Group: ARCHFIENDS] You can roll a die for an Archfiend during the Damage Step.

Sakuretsu wasnt the only prize in Dark Crisis, this beauty is quite the sexy tech.

Lets look at its stats first.

We have a 2500/1200 tribute monster, meaning its a pain to smashing ground, a pain to fissure, and very hard to kill in battle.

Next the effect, this is where it shines.

Negating and destroying a card that targets JUST by rolling a dice is hawt, VERY hawt. Imagine that, some of the most played card, Chaos Sorcerer, Sakuretsu Armor, Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, and the occasional Night Assailant are all targeting removal. That means your monster can provide ALOT of defensive advantage if your feeling lucky.

Its ONLY downside is a whole 500 LP each turn, wow, thats a big whoop

Finally, its a Dark and a Fiend. Fiend means its Necrofear fodder, but dark is where it shines. This card can easily fit in any Strike Ninja/Chaos deck because its dark. And adds to the RFTDD assault that most decks are packing now.

That concludes my look at Skull Archfiend of Lightning.

I give it a 3.5/5, just because its still killed by Smashing, BTH and DDWL and the like and a tribute.

NOTE: The proper ATTRIBUTE/Type should be ?DIVINE/DIVINE BEAST,? but in order to make it playable in the TCG/OCG it needs to have a more proper Attribute and Type. I've picked LIGHT/Warrior since the Divine symbol is almost like the LIGHT symbol and Obelisk being a god only qualifies him to be a Warrior with the picture he has.

NOTE 2: I've taken my own interpretation of the god monsters' effects, so please bear with me if you don't see eye-to-eye with how I'm interpreting Obelisk the Tormentor's effects. Any resemblance to already "officially released" information is coincidental (but even if I could remember I got the information from an article, I can?t find and list the source here because it would be advertising.)

Obelisk the Tormentor
LIGHT/Warrior/12/4000/4000
This card is summoned by Tributing 3 monsters on your side of the field, and the summon is a Special Summon. This monster is unaffected by effects that do not target. This monster is affected by effects that target until the End Phase of the turn the effect is activated. This monster may attack the turn that it is Special Summoned. Tribute 2 monsters on your side of the field to destroy all monsters on your opponent?s side of the field and inflict 4000 points of Direct Damage to your opponent's Life Points. This card cannot attack during the turn it uses this effect.


Obelisk the Tormentor is one of my favorite Egyptian god card because he's simple. He's a 3-Tribute 4000-ATK monster that allows you to Tribute 2 monsters to devastate your opponent. Simple. There's no guessing at what all the card does (like with The Winged Dragon of Ra), and you don't need a special strategy to use it (like with Slifer the Sky Dragon). It's simple. It's almost foolproof. That's why I picked it for my end-of-season review (school starts for me on Monday, August 22nd).

Obelisk has the "god effects." First, you need 3 Tributes for Obelisk instead of 2 (like with other Level 7 and higher Monster Cards). That's high, but if you treat him as a LIGHT Attribute (he's not a Dark monster, and he's definitely not one of the elements [Earth, Fire, Wind, and Water]. That only leaves one Attribute.) he's much easier to get out since you'll want to use Kaiser Sea Horse (When Tributed for the Tribute Summon of a LIGHT monster, he counts as 2 Tributes instead of 1). I think you'll like what he has to offer for 3 Tributes. First, any effect that is global [basically anything that doesn't target] does not affect Obelisk the Tormentor. Your opponent activates Mirror Force? Fine. You'll just keep on attacking through it. Second, any effect that does target Obelisk will only affect him for one turn. For example, if you use Shadow Spell and target Obelisk, he won't be able to attack or change his Battle Position for one turn, and he'll loose 700 ATK for one turn, but after the turn's over he's ready to attack. Sadly, this also works when he's Special Summoned from the Graveyard, so using cards like Monster Reborn will only allow you to use him for the duration of the turn. He also has the ability of "Quick Attack," which means he can attack as soon as he's Summoned. Let me take a second to explain why this ability is here. In the Anime, a monster that is Special Summoned must wait one turn in order to attack (or at least, that's the general rule as I'm not sure how often they stuck to that). This "Quick Attack" ability allowed the god monster to side-step that little restriction. This can be helpful in the actual game if you use Vengeful Bog Spirit (Continuous Spell: Monsters cannot attack the turn they are Summoned). If you think you're sold now, just wait for the next effect.

Next comes the individual god monster's effect. Obelisk's effect allows him to Tribute 2 monsters to destroy every monster on the opponent's field AND deal 4000 Direct Damage to him/her. Not bad at all, right? It's great. That's half of a player's starting Life Points. That means you're essentially getting a Raigeki PLUS a super-charged Cannon Soldier for 2 monsters. But here's where some may branch off with me. In the anime, once Obelisk did his 4000, that was the end of the Duel because the starting Life Points were 4000. My interpretation of the effect says that he only gets that effect and no other chances at attacking. This is only to keep it fair (and I can't remember if I read that somewhere or not). If he's basically immune to opponent's Spells and Traps and he used his effect, then it becomes too super-powerful that you get to attack again for game. Then he'd be seen as the most powerful Egyptian god monster and Marik would have hunted down Obelisk first in the Anime.

Does he make a good Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG card? No. He's immune to too much stuff that can kill him, and anything else that could kill him will only last one turn (except destroying it as a result of Battle, of course). In a Warrior Swarm deck, all you have to do is get Obelisk to the field, then swarm down with 4 Warriors (not a hard task if you?re using Ultimate Offering, 2 Marauding Captains, and 2 Level 4 monsters). The combo would take time to set up, but so does Chaos Emperor Dragon (to get the maximum benefit out of him, you need to wait until you and your opponent get a LOT of cards out). I?ll leave by saying this: If he were legal in Advanced Format, he?d be the Chaos Emperor Dragon of the format.



TRADITIONAL FORMAT, CASUAL: 8/10. Use Monster Reborn, Premature Burial, and Call of the Haunted to get out 3 monsters. Then just stall for time to get out 4 more monsters. Make sure to include a lot of negation for Harpie?s Feather Duster and the like.

ADVANCED FORMAT, CASUAL: 10/10. Monsters can stay on the field WAY too long in this format, especially in casual. In theory, it?s too ridiculously easy to get his effect off twice in the same turn. Again, make sure you include some negation for cards like Divine Wrath, Heavy Storm, Lightning Vortex, Mystical Space Typhoon, Scapegoat, etc.



PLEASE REMEMBER: Everyone has their opinion on how powerful the Egyptian god cards are. I honestly think Obelisk ties Ra for most powerful, while Slifer needs his own deck to use. Others might think that Ra is by far better than Obelisk and that Obelisk is weak because it has no way of reaching the huge proportions of Slifer and Ra. Just remember: ?To each his own.?