Shadow of the Six Samurai - Shien Card Review

(17/06/2012) NOTE: This card review was before we found out it only boosted to 2000 attack. This review is discussing it when it made the monster 3000 attack. I am aware that it drastically affects the playability of the card but I am not going to re-review it since a lot of what I have said below is still relevant. 


- TheTCGLover 



Good day to you my well informed and innovative readers. The battle pack scurry has died down a bit now (In the UK anyway. You guys get your boxes tomorrow). Now it's time to move on to the next interesting products that Konami is throwing in our direction (more specifically: our wallets) which is the next structure deck.

The Structure Deck: Samurai Warlords is an attempt to rekindle the power of the six samurai. It's designed to cater to the TCG competitive scene so it will have great reprints of playable cards, rather than crappy techs like Kunai with chain or Marauding Captain (I don't hate the card, but they keep throwing him in decks and it's got to stop). Some of the cards of the archetype were difficult to get hold of (like Kizan. The card is still like $10 which is ridiculous).

Anyway, to give them a new edge, they added a new boss monster to their arsenal called...

Shadow of the Six Samurai - Shien

 With 2500 attack, it rivals power with Legendary Six Samurai - Shi en, so there's no need to worry about which card is stronger. In case you did not know, this card is the exalted form of Kagemusha of the Six Samurai (They both have the same hair), which might account for it's 400 defence. It needs 2 level 4 Six Samurais to summon it, which is pretty easy. Lets take a look at it's effect:

 Once per turn, During either player's turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card to target 1 face-up "Six Samurai" monster you control with less than 3000 ATK; its original ATK becomes 3000 until the End Phase.

So yeah, you can detach one of it's materials, and one of your Six Samurais goes up to 3000. With that, you can run over your opponent's bigger monsters or if you control another Six Samurai, you can pump that and attack for up to 5500 damage right there, which is pretty nice.

But it's also usable on your opponent's turn. If they attack you, you can pump your monster and win the battle, therefore making your monsters invulnerable to battle unless you're going up against an Obelisk or something.

You can also consider the fact that Enishi and Kizan both gain extra attack while there are 2 other Samurais on the field with them, making them 3500 and 3300 attack under this effect, respectively. It even makes Kageki a 4500 powerhouse!

However, while this card increases the OTK potential of the deck, the deck's aggression was justified by having a good level of control through Shi en's negation effect and Musakani Magatama. This card is great when your opponent's backrow is empty but when it's not, it's got no real way to keep itself alive when your opponent uses Dark hole or Torrential Tribute. And when your opponent Fiendish Chains it, it's a sitting duck which is a -1 until you run something over.

The card is really something that the deck needed. Like Dino Rabbits, the deck needed outside help to get over the bigger monsters (Forbidden Lance mostly) but with this, you don't need to waste deck space for that, allowing for more versatility.

One more interesting point. The card can be summoned with Gateway of the Six by removing 6 counters. That's another way to potentially OTK for no cost whatsoever. Seriously Konami?

Anyway that's pretty much it for the card. The card is powerful, makes other cards powerful and is an extra 2 counters onto Gateway. What's not to love?

Until next time, TheTCGLover out!