Yu-Gi-Oh Card Review: Aspiring Emperor Hope/ Number 39: Utopia

Hello once again readers. After looking on the wiki (If you don't use it, why not?) and it seems like the next yu-gi-oh related item to be released by Konami is the 2011 starter deck. This deck is no ordinary starter deck, it marks the beginning of a new era in duel monsters: Exceed monsters. This starter deck comes with 3 Exceed monsters and a bunch of the new protagonist's monsters (Which are not very good).

The starter deck comes with Yuma's ace monster, Aspiring Emperor Hope or as it's called in the TCG, Number 39: Utopia (Which i will call it from now on)

Exceed monsters look so badass

This Exceed monster is a Rank 4 (I'm going to have to get used to saying rank) and to exceed summon it, you must overlay 2 level 4 monsters on your field. It's got the standard 2500 attack and 2000 defence like all of the previous protagonist's ace monsters had. It's a light attribute, so it works with Honest and other light support. It's effect is pretty good:

When a monster on the field declares an attack, you can remove 1 exceed material from this card (Which you have 2 upon summon) to negate the attack. When this card is attacked while it has no exceed materials on it, destroy it.

So its got a good effect and a bad one. With a possible 2 attack negations, that can be the difference between surviving a swarm and losing to it. However, i would never recommend using both negations unless its necessary since you can just get attacked by a weak monster and it destroys itself (Meklord's don't mind that though). This negation effect is comparable to something like Necro guardna and that card's limited on the banlist. While it might not be as versatile as guardna, its still good.

The best part of exceed monsters is how easy it is to bring them out. They don't ask for a specific monster, just its level. There are so many level 4 monsters that can bring out more level 4s and bring this card out:

• Gravekeeper's spy: It lets you special summon any gravekeeper from your deck with less than 1500 attack, so just grab another spy and exceed summon on your turn.
• Batteryman AAA: While this card sucks in general, it is a level 4 that lets you special summon another AAA from your hand or graveyard, so thats all good.
• Summoner monk: Ditch a spell and grab any level 4 from your deck then exceed summon, without having to wait a turn like spy.

But the best way to get a bunch of rank 4 exceed monsters on the field at once is with the Gadget + Ultimate offering combo. All you have to do is activate ultimate offering, summon a gadget and add a new one to your hand. There you can just pay 500 life points and summon the gadget you just added to your hand and then you can get another gadget from your deck. Repeat this process and you will now have 5 gadgets on the field for the cost of 2000 life points from ultimate offering. You can just overlay 2 of them and exceed summon Utopia and since you have 3 left on the field, you can exceed summon another utopia. Now that you have freed up 2 monster slots on your field, you can just summon 2 more gadgets and exceed another utopia. Overall it cost you 3000 life points, but now you have 3 Utopias on the field and a gadget. With those utopias you can negate up to 6 attacks!

Because of that malicious combo, you can expect Ultimate offering to be limited or even banned come september.

So thats it. Exceeds are going to hit this game with its versatile summoning conditions and hopefully, their effects will rival that of the first synchro monsters.

I shall be picking up a few starter decks for myself, and i suggest that you do too.

Yu-Gi-Oh Card Review: Meklord Emperor Granel

After much debate with myself, i've decided that Extreme Victory, Bar a few cards, is a pretty uninteresting set. I have been giving it mad props in my other card reviews but overall, its not a set that will be remembered for long. So this T.G. thing i was doing seems pointless. Therefore i will review other cards.

I've decided to do a good one today, Meklord Emperor Granel

Incase you didn't know, his attack is called

GRAND SLAUGHTER CANNON

This level 1 machine type has no attack and defence points. Thats crap and should be thrown in the trash because of it.

Ok i'll stop trolling.

It gains its attack from its effect, so theres no need to worry.

This card cannot be normal summoned or set. This card cannot be special summoned except by its own effect. When a monster you control is destroyed by a card effect and sent to the graveyard, you can special summon this card from your hand. This card gains attack and defence points equal to half your life points. Once a turn, you can select one of your opponent's synchro monsters on the field and equip it to this card and Granel gains attack equal to the monster absorbed. Once a turn you can special summon one synchro monster that this card has stolen onto your side of the field in defence position.

Look at that wall of text. I'm surprised that China is not jealous. Its got the normal Nomi clause at the beginning which is fine. And it can only get onto the field when a monster is destroyed (Face-up by the way).

I really like this card actually. I'm a little biased since i play scraps but it is all round a great card. With synchro monsters being the big beaters of most decks right now, its synchro steal ability is a powerful tool against your opponent. There are so many useful synchro monsters to steal:

- Stardust dragon
- Ancient fairy dragon
- Odin, father of the aesir (If you ever manage to do that, please make a video of it and post it in the comments. I would love to see the look on your opponent's face.)

Best of all, this card can snatch one of the most troublesome synchro monsters right now, Legendary Six Samurai - Shi en. If you special summon it to your field, you can negate your opponent's spells and traps. So now your Granel, which if you summoned at full life points, is at 4000 Attack, can attack without worry. Steal two from your opponent, and its pretty much game.

But you don't have to special summon the monsters. If you keep them on Granel, he gains their Attack. Steal a red nova dragon and it becomes 7500 attack!

However, this cards attack power gets weaker depending on your life points. If you get this out late game, it might only serve as an extra defence. Just make sure you get it out when your opponent is trying to push for game with synchro monsters.

This is also good because of the way the format is right now. Many call it a "Set 5, go" format and that means they are using traps to try and stop your every move. Bottomless? Granel. Mirror force? Granel. Dimensional Prison? Gra- wait no, He can't get on the field by that, but you get the point.

This card works best in a scrap deck. If your opponent is beating you down with monsters, then Granel is just a dead card in your hand. Scraps however, pride themselves on their ability to destroy themselves with cards like Scrapstorm and the just released Scrap Orthros. Because of that, you do not have to rely on your opponent to get Granel on the field and start nabbing their pesky stardust dragon which they were saving for the right moment.

Although this card is implied to be the best meklord emperor out of the three, Meklord Emperor Wisel is better. Since the beginning of the game, attack power has become more and more unimportant. Wisel has the same ability as Granel where it can nab synchros, but it can also negate a spell card once a turn. That makes it somewhat immune to annoying cards like book of moon or dark hole, which is a staple in every deck. Oh, and Wisel is not reliant on your life points, so it can turn the game to your favour no matter if you're beginning, mid or late game.

Granel is Legal for play in the US but is not legal in the rest of the world until the beginning of July. This is because of it being a Shonen Jump promo card from the magazine, which is only despatched and sold in stores in the US. This is also because it is one of the three prize cards (Which i will review) for the Nationals in Europe and South America which ends at the beginning of July. Fortunately for me, i can import Granel from the US when it becomes legal instead of having to win a nationals to get one.