Yu-Gi-Oh Card Review: Spirit Reaper

Happy monday duelists. Over the weekend i played in my local tournament and did not do too well. In my Locals, the first match of the tournament is essential to come first, and i had a tough matchup. He was running Light beat/shining, blinged out with warnings and dualitys. I almost triumphed but a topdecked miracle fusion saved him.

After the match ended and the win was declared to the judge, the guy next to me said "Was your opponent using The Shining? Its not a legal card yet". Frankly, I felt cheated. I did win my other 3 matches of the tournament with ease (Lightsworns still got it, folks.)

Anyway, todays card is Spirit reaper

The definition of Evil in a single card.

This little beaut has 300 attack and 200 defence. That's pretty bad, but lets have a look at the effect.

This card cannot be destroyed in battle. If this card is targeted by a spell, trap or monster effect, it is destroyed (after the card has resolved, i'll talk more about this). Lastly, if you attack directly with this card, you randomly discard one card from your opponent's hand.

Spirit reaper has always been good. It has the potential to bring your opponents deck to a standstill. If your opponent has just used Pot of Duality and you can tell that he/she is planning to make a big swarm next turn, a well timed spirit reaper can save you from an OTK. But the best part of its effect is the discard.

With the ability to discard your opponent's cards from their hand with a poke, your opponent is put at an immense pressure to use precious removal to take it out. I'm talking about Mirror force or Dimensional prison, which is a card that your opponent would rather have used on a big beatstick, especially if you have this card and a high attack monster on the field. Your opponent can either kill your big monster and discard a card, or take out reaper and take a huge hit, and have to take it down next turn.

So here we have, a monster that does not want to leave the field and it can completely wreck your opponent's hand.

The downside is that it's destroyed when targeted. Most of the time, cards that target destroy anyway so it's not really a problem. Since spirit reaper's effect activates after the card has resolved, it is not destroyed when it has been flipped face down by Book of Moon. However, if you are planning on bringing it back from the graveyard with Limit reverse or Call of the Haunted, forget about it.

The reason why i'm really reviewing this card is because of its new Semi-Limited status. With 2 in your deck, your opponent will be hard pressed to get an attack through without plenty of monster removal. And combined with cards like Ultimate Offering and monster reborn, 2 spirit reapers attacking directly can deplete your opponent's resources instantly, and 600 damage is not too shabby at all.

I have an urge to make a new decklist on my channel utilising spirit reaper to its full potential. Maybe with Gadgets and 3 Smashing/Fissure to keep their field open. The possibilities are endless. Spirit Reaper format is now, duelists.