Yu-Gi-Oh Card Review: Flashing Carat Dragon - Stardust

Hello readers. I hope you enjoyed my LC03 opening. I was thinking about what to post for the last couple of days, but then suddenly this surfaced...

What you are looking at is the manga equivalent of Stardust Dragon, called Flashing Carat Dragon - Stardust. While it looks identical, not just the dragon itself but it's level, attribute, attack, defense and type, it  boasts a different effect. 

1 Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner monsters

Once per turn, during either player's turn: You can target 1 card on the field; that target cannot be destroyed this turn. While this card is face-up on the field, it's name is treated as "Stardust Dragon"

So how has this change in effect kept it worth reviewing? 

Well Stardust's ability to negate a card once a turn and come back in the end phase meant it was not a sitting duck after it had used it's effect. It could zip in and out of the playing field and stopped stuff like Zenmaines as well as another destruction card earlier in the turn. It's always proven itself to be a powerful tool that can seal games when timed correctly. 

But this card is different, it's not so much about quantity, it's about quality. You sometimes don't want your Stardust Dragon to be in the graveyard. You want it on the field to keep your life points safe. But Carat allows for it to select any card (Including itself) and stop it being destroyed. It means that if a card like, let's say, Dark Hole, activates: Stardust has to leave the field while Carat can just protect itself and any advance made that turn is useless since it can't be destroyed by battle either. In that scenario, Stardust is better when you have a field of 5 monsters, but if you actually managed that and didn't win last turn, then you pretty much deserve to lose your field.

Because of the way the game has become, it's not about amassing an army to beat your opponent to death. We have 2 Torrential Tribute, Mirror Force and Bottomless Trap Hole. All of these cards are played at their max numbers and overextending your field is just not going to happen. However being able to make a single 2500 beater that can't be destroyed will keep putting in work turn after turn.

And we haven't even started on the second effect. Because it's treated as Stardust Dragon, you can use Formula Synchron to make Shooting Star Dragon as well. You can also summon Stardust Xiaolong from your graveyard when it's summoned. It's not a huge deal, but it's better than nothing.

Seriously, I can't wait for this card to come out. While synchros are no where near played as much as they used to, many decks can make it and this card is absolutely brutal. If you've played against Constellar Omega on the Dueling Network recently, you'll understand how frustrating monsters like that can be.

Until next time, The TCG Lover out!

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!

Yu-Gi-Oh Card Review: D-Boyz

As promised, I'm reviewing the next exclusive to be revealed. It was announced yesterday evening, and boy, is it bad.

Introducing: the D-Boyz

 Fo' shizzle!

This DARK Fiend type monster is level 1 and has 100 attack and 1000 defense. There must be a cool effect to warrant running a card like this, right? Well, here comes the disappointment train.

FLIP: You can special summon any number of "D-Boyz" from your deck in face-up attack position. For each one summoned this way, you take 1000 damage.

So special summon 2 of them, and you lose at least a quarter of your life points. If you flip it during your turn, you now have 3 of them on your field to tribute them for whatever you want, whether it's Beast King Barbaros, Obelisk the Tormentor or one of the Wicked gods. And if you prefer to Xyz summon, you can make Galaxy Queen (Which also comes out in Photon Shockwave).

While I sound like I'm giving the card mad props, it's utter junk. 95% of the time, Flip effect monsters get flipped up by your opponent when they attack it. That means that 95% of the time, you will lose the D-Boyz getting flipped and be left with 2 on the field. And don't think that those 2 D-Boyz are a good wall, because you took 2000 damage, and they hit the field in attack mode. Also, since it's a flip effect, it gets crapped over by Nobleman of Crossout.

The worst thing though is that there are other cards in the game that do almost exactly the same thing, but better! Hero kid can special summon the other 2 copies by it's effect, and Naturia Cherries can get you the other 2 in defense mode (and they're tuners!).

At least it's dark though, so it's Dark Armed Dragon friendly.

Other than what's above, there's not much to say. It's a waste of an exclusive and a Secret rare, especially since you need 3 of them to use it's effect. I find the artwork funny since Konami usually focuses on history or futuristic stuff, but instead they have done a group of gangsters from the 90s.

It's price? It's obvious that it's a terrible card, but the power of a unique artwork can do a lot to a card's price. Before Tour Guide became a $120 card, It was $30 at the sneak simply because it had a girl on it. Now this card not only has a strange art, and you need 3, which always puts a card higher. Therefore i can see it being about $20.

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: Vylon Disigma

Wow. It's almost been a week since i last posted. I apologise to all my readers who come on a daily basis, i had a busy weekend.

Anyway, in the distant future, we will have Exceed monsters. They are quite honestly, a walk in the park to summon on most occasions. I would go over how they are summoned, but just search exceed summon on google and you will get a clear explanation.

Today's Review is the only half-decent Exceed monster ive seen so far. Yuma's ace synchro is far from good, but this one is actually playable. Some say its the new Goyo Guardian, but thats far from the truth.

Introducing: Vylon Disigma

GoyoTastor!

This Fairy type is a Rank 4 and requires 3 level 4 monsters to summon it. That is incredibly easy to accomplish. I'm talking Wulf, Lightsworn beast, Batteryman AAA (Or as Kevin Tewart calls it, Batteryman Dance party), Or any level 4 machine type with less than 500 attack and machine duplication.

It's got 2500 attack, which seems standard for a beater these days. Machina fortress, Stardust dragon and Legendary Six Samurai - Shi en are good examples of why 2500 is the magical number. It's got 2100 defence, which isnt too bad if you need to go on the defensive. With this monsters effect, thats not a bad idea at all:

Once per turn, you can remove 1 of this card's exceed materials (You should have 3 under disigma when its summoned) to select one face-up attack position monster your opponent controls and equip it to this card. When this card battles, if the opposing monster has an attribute that matches the attribute of a monster equiped to Disigma, then you can destroy that monster at the start of the damage step.

Wow. This is Goyo Guardian and Catastor's Child, and He's proof that evolution really does pay off. Upon summon, this card is a -2 (you need 3 monsters to summon it, and 1 monster goes in their place) but every time you use its goyo effect, you +2 (You get a monster, they lose that monster). Thats impressive.

So if you nab their DARK monster and attack their DARK monster, their monster is immediately destroyed. So even if that mediocre 2500 attack can't get over their beatstick, the effect should take care of them.

While thats all good, there are 2 problems i can see with this card:
- The monsters are equipped: That does NOT mean the same as overlaid. The equipped monster will reside in your spell and trap card zone, so you cannot use them for the goyo effect. You cannot attack with those monsters or use their effects either. If you take their Shi en, you cannot negate spells and traps. But if you could, this card would be absolutely outright broken.
- You cant take their face down cards. Which is good, but that means cards like Ryko completely destroy it.

This card works really well against decks that rely on one attribute, like Blackwings, but not Six Samurai, which is a shame. But if you manage to nab 2-3 monsters of different attributes, then your opponent will find it hard to take Disigma down, and the monster reborn in their hand is sitting there with nothing to resurrect.

This card should be released in Hidden arsenal 6 (I think. By my logic, Hidden arsenal 5 will have Duel terminals 9 and 10, so Hidden arsenal 6 should have 11 and 12), which will probably come out around this time next year (SADFACE :( ). Nevermind eh? At least there is something to look forward to in all of this ZEXAL bull****.

Yu-Gi-Oh Card Review: Token Sundae

Its time for a fun review. Usually i review cards with the intention of raising their awareness or giving tips that the readers might not have noticed before. But todays card, Token Sundae, is purely because it made me LOL when i saw it.

Goblins eating Lamb tokens. Now I've seen everything...

This spell card has a simple effect, but one of those effects that make you think of all the possibilities with this card. You can destroy all your tokens and destroy cards on the field up to the number of tokens destroyed.

Now, tokens are summoned by many card effects. There are some metagame cards that use tokens, like Gorz the emissary of darkness or Dandylion, but i doubt you want to use those tokens for a card like this.

But there are other cards that summon many tokens. Cosmic compass, a monster from Storm of Ragnarok, lets you summon up to 4 tokens depending on the number of monsters your opponent controls. You can use Token Sundae and destroy up to 4 cards on your opponent's field (those monsters), and it only cost you 2 cards.

Other useful cards that summon tokens are Scapegoat (The very same ones in the artwork of this card!) and Phantom Skyblaster, which might see play depending on the rulings of exceed monsters.

But the card is situational. While you can have 20 monsters that summon tokens, sometimes you just wont have them on the field. There might be hope however: You can use 3 Token sundae, 3 Kuriboh, 2-3 Flute of summoning kuriboh and 3 detonate to have a consistent combo that lets you destroy many cards. Add some high attack monsters like Machine emporer wisel (which will be a secret rare in Extreme Victory) and you have a potent win condition that your opponent will have a hard time coming back from.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Review: Legendary Six Samurai - Kizan

Happy Valentines Day people! And what a better way to celebrate a day like today with a card review about samurais.

I was debating on either Enishi or Kizan, but i came to the conclusion that only a few people actually run Enishi, so thats pointless.

Here we have, The Legendary Six Samurai - Kizan!


This warrior type has 1800 attack and 500 defence. thats quite decent for a level 4 monster, but it gets better.

If you control another six samurai monster, other than a Kizan, you can special summon it from your hand. and while you control 2 or more other Six-Samurai monsters, this card gains 300 ATK and DEF.

So with 2 other six samurai on your field, thats a 2100 beater that you just special summoned. That is extremely impressive. With Gateway of the six, thats 2 more counters (which if you normal summoned a Six Samurai before, thats a total of 4 counters, which means a free search)

With 3 Kizans and 3 Grandmaster of the six samurai, you can just keep special summoning out the wazoo every turn (Incase you didn't notice, Kizan is Grandmaster when he was younger, just like Enishi is a younger Enishi - Shien's chancellor).

You can also use Kizan to synchro with Shien's squire (A level 1 tuner also released in Storm of Ragnarok) to make Legendary Six Samurai - Shi en.

Lets just put it this way. If you want to play six samurais and you want to be considored any good at this game, then you must max out on Kizan.

Which brings me to the price. Now that STOR has been officially released, Kizan's price has sharply risen from $30 (around £20) to $50 (around 30-35). Thats no surprise that it's worth this much.

So how do you beat it?

• Thunder King Rai-Oh: Legendary Six Samurai - Kizan is an inherent summon (Like Cyber Dragon)
• Solemn warning and Solemn Judgment: stops the summoning and they don't get any counters
• Black Horn of heaven: Same as Thunder King Rai-Oh but in trap form.
• Puppet plant: If they have not already swarmed the field and wiped you out, you can use puppet plant during your turn to take their kizan. But if i were you, i would use your puppet plant on Shi en to stop them negating your spells and traps with it.
• Negate their normal summon: Legendary Six Samurai - Kizan needs another Six Samurai on the field to special summon itself. Take out their normal summon and their Kizan/Grandmaster in their hand is a dead card.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Review: Karakuri Steel Shogun mdl 00X "Bureido"

Its time for tuesday's review! (if i will actually do a review every tuesday from now on, i dont know) And recently i've been building Karakuri's and putting in all the new cards from Storm of Ragnarok. In this set, they got a card that can special summon when it destroys monsters in battle, a 4 star tuner and a better Reinforcement of the army.

We also got introduced to Burei's Dad. presenting to you today, and i hope i wont have to write this name out ever again:

Karakuri Steel Shogun mdl 00X "Bureido"!


This level 8 Machine synchro monster has 2 cool effects, and is similar to Burei. When this card is synchro summoned, you can special summon one Karakuri monster from your deck. And once a turn, when a karakuri monster switches position on your side of the field, you can draw a card.

Wow. That's amazing. it has the same special summoning effect like its son (or younger brother, IDK), which allows you to push for game or synchro some more. And with the release of Karakuri Muso mdl 818 "Haipa", you can summon Bureido, special summon haipa and dish out a total of 4900 damage. Add a Limiter removal into the mix, and thats more than your opponent can handle.

And i have not even started with the second effect. Since karakuris change positions, you will almost certain get to draw an extra card every turn.

Good cards to use for its second effect:
- Strategist: Special summon this card with Bureido and switch its position with its effect, bureido kicks in and lets you draw a card.
- Burei: His second effect lets you switch a monsters battle position on the field, switch one of your karakuris and draw a card.
- Haipa: After its attacked, it gets switched into its weaker defence position. but with bureido, you draw.
- Karakuri Cash Cache: It lets you search for a monster, then switches the selected monster's position. you can draw there too since the position change is the last part of the card's effect.

and all of the non-synchro karakuris get switched into defence position when they are attacked, so you will always get a draw on your opponent's turn.

But how do you get this card out? its a level 8 and it requires a tuner and one or more machine type non-tuners. With Storm of Ragnarok, We now have Kuikku and Saizan. With Saizan in the graveyard, you can summon kuikku, destroy an opponent's monster with it, special Saizan in defence mode, and synchro for Bureido in your main phase two.

Or if you dont want to do that, you can always just special summon a cyber dragon, summon a strategist and theres your 8.

Karakuri's, like scraps, have really come into their own with an intricate set of combos and with all this new support, they can go toe to toe with the Six Samurai next format.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Review: Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En

For my next review, i've once again looked at what i pulled/traded for at the sneak i went to, and decided to review it. I kept pulling the Six samurai commons, including a few Smoke Signals. But i dont plan on making a deck on them, so i gave them away. As i said in my Vylon Delta review, i entered twice and got 10 packs, and one of my last packs had this:
Legendary Six Samurai - Shi en

Allow me to break your deck...

Now before i even begin reviewing this card, i want to stress the space in between Shi and En in its name. Its there for reason and its still pronounced Shee-en regardless of the space.

Ok. This Level 5 DARK synchro monster has 2500 attack and 1400 defence. Which is a beefy offensive point for a monster of its level. It requires a Warrior-Type tuner and 1 or more Six Samurai non-tuners. That is probably the most specific summoning requirement i've ever seen on a synchro monster, next to something like Chaos Goddess (1 light tuner and 2 dark non tuners i believe). But the new six samurai can get Shi en out with ease.

It has two powerful effects: Once a turn, you can negate a spell/trap card and destroy it. Also, if it were to be destroyed, you can destroy another six samurai you control instead.

That is incredible. It has been created to be one of the most annoying monsters in existance. for your opponent to remove a monster, they will have to waste tonnes of resources. Konami really did not give this card a weakness unlike most cards. Your opponent will really be in trouble when this card hits the field.

The best way to get this card out is with Legendary Six Samurai - Kageki and Kagemusha of the Six Samurai. Normal summon Kageki and special summon Kagemusha with its effect and you now have all the materials needed to summon Shi en.

So why is this card called Shi en and not Shien? Well, to my knowledge, if you have 6 bushido counters on gateway of the six, then you can remove them to special summon one "shien" effect monster from your graveyard. Since this card is Shi en and not Shien, you cannot special summon it with Gateway's effect.

So how do you get past a card like this? Well, this card negates destruction by battle or effect, so thats not an option. Like many cards, caius the shadow monarch can take it out and dish 1000 damage since Shi en is a Dark attribute. If you have Solemn warning, you can use that when Shi en is summoned since it cannot negate counter traps. Or you can waste your hand and take it out with a smashing ground (after using another spell/trap that they have negated).

One card i do suggest using against Shi en is Goyo Guardian. If you can get their Shi en to your side of the field, then you can start using it against them and negating their spells and traps.

But when two Shi en hit the field, there is little you can do. We will have to wait and see how well Six samurai do in the coming weeks.

Like Vylon Delta, i pulled this card and i was being offered numbers around the 30 mark for it. I dont see this card going down in price so i wouldn't suggest selling it right now until people get desperate and start offering 40+ for it.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Review: Vylon Delta

A couple of days before the sneak, i reviewed Vylon Matter. Which is like a pot of avarice for equip spell decks. But apart from that, there was another Vylon card released as an OCG import (number 99 of the set). I entered twice and pulled it so i decided to review it.

Introducing, Vylon Delta:


This card is a level 7 LIGHT synchro monster and hits the field with 1700 attack and 2800 defence. Its effect is simple: During YOUR end phase, add one equip spell from your deck to your hand.

A synchro using 2 synchro materials is a -1 to you (-2 when the materials are sent, and a +1 when the synchro monster hits the field which equals a -1), but its effect means that before your opponent's turn, you will +0 at the very least. And its a good +0 since you will be getting an equip spell of your choice (rather than power tool's choice from 3).

And that effect might happen more than once with its resistant 2800 defence. With a defence like that and an attack like 1700, its probably better to keep defending with it rather than trying to attack. But if you do want to attack, then its a LIGHT, which makes it usable with Honest.

However, this card is overall a bad card. You need a tuner and a Light non-tuner to synchro into it. thats not too bad, but that stops it from being splashable. Its effect is rather lacking (for now until we get Vairons in a future hidden arsenal set) and players dont really use Equip spells as much as they used to. Also, even though its got a beefy defence, its got no built in protection so all your opponent needs to do it activate a smashing ground, and thats that.

So yeah, as i said before, i entered twice and pulled this card from my first pack. I read the effect and was disappointed, but a friend wanted it for his Loki, and i was just happy that someone actually wanted it.

Where would you see this card being played? With its non tuner requirement, i can only see this card being played in its own archetype and Watts, since they both utilise equip spells and are light. But with synchro decks nearing their end and most extra decks being 15 cards, there is just no space for this guy. Not now, not ever.

Yu-Gi-Oh Card Review: Vortex the Whirlwind

Hey. With 2 weeks left until the Sneak, im getting excited. Some people say that the set sucks, but i think its got a lot of really fun cards to play around with.

The Sneak Peek card, that is, the card you will get by attending the sneak, is Vorted the Whirlwind.

Blackwing - Vortex the Whirlwind...

Vortex the Whirlwind is a Synchro monster with a decent effect. At first glance, i was comparing the card to the failure that was Archfiend Empress, which nobody plays. But after the second glance, i noticed some useful cards that can work with this card.

It requires a Tuner and a Winged beast non-tuner and is a respectable level 5. The Winged beast non-tuner requirement hurts its playability very much. But there are 3 archetypes that can use this card: Mist valley, Harpies and Blackwings. The first two being Archetypes that are not played at all. So blackwings will be the only place where this card will see play.

When this card is destroyed in battle, you can special summon one level 4 or lower winged beast type from your deck. Its a bit lacking there, but it will do. It would have been better if it was any destruction (by battle or effect) then it would be much better.

Anyway, are there any easy ways to get this card out?

Well, in Blackwings (sorry if i keep saying that), you can Attack an opponent's monster with Blackwing - Shura the Blue flame and use its effect to special summon a Blackwing - Vayu the Emblem of Honor. Then you can synchro the two cards for Vortex and use Vayu's effect for later.

Right now, there are few Winged beast non tuners that are being splashed into decks at the moment. But when that time comes, expect this card teched in extra decks.

Oh also, this card can go toe-to-toe with Grandmaster of the Six Samurai and get its effect. Something to think about next format if you want to play blackwings.

Yu-Gi-Oh Card Review: Blackback

Hey. For today, instead of giving mad props to some random card, im going to be an ***hole and ***** about a bad card instead. And my victim for today is Blackback.

Now, this card was one of the worst wastes of a super rare that ive seen in a long time. The other Super rare traps "D2 shield" and "Tyrant's Temper" has actual uses.

It was better in the anime.

Its effect: "Activate only during your turn. Select and special summon 1 Blackwing monster with 2000 attack or less from your graveyard. You cannot normal summon or set this turn."

I really dont see why they had to place those restrictions on it. Only during your turn? What use is that to anyone? I can understand special summoning a Blackwing - Sirocco the dawn (the highest attack monster you can fetch with this card) then special summoning a Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind and synchro summoning a level 8. But it begs the question:

Why not just run Call of the haunted instead?

Call of the haunted does everything blackback can do, but so much more. You can use it on your opponent's turn, you can fetch nearly ANY monster you wish (except Nomis) and you dont have to give up your normal summon.

But the reason why im making this tiny review is because Konami decided it would be a good idea to make this card a Super rare. It was a TERRIBLE idea. You should see the look on people's faces when they fan through the 9 cards of a booster pack and see this.

Yu-Gi-Oh Card Review: Cursed Armaments

Today, i decided to review a card that you might not have heard, but probably pulled it from a pack and did not bother to read it. If that's the case, then look through your pile of commons and look for it. The card i'm reviewing for today is Cursed Armaments.

What is your mom's face doing on a Yu-Gi-Oh card?

This card has a very good effect, and is worth putting in many decks. You equip it to a monster your opponent controls and it loses 600 atk for every monster you control. When it is sent from the field to the graveyard, you can equip it back onto any monster your opponent controls.

2 very good effects right there. The first effect means the monster equipped with the card will lose a good amount of attack points as long as you keep your monster card zones filled up with your minions. With 5 monsters on your side of the field, your opponents monster will lose 3000 ATTACK. Thats enough to reduce a Blue Eyes White Dragon all the way to nothing. And with a card that relies on the amount of monsters you control, spamming tokens via Dandylion, Phantom Skyblaster or Scapegoat is a quick way to bring their big monsters down.

Its second effect is what makes it an amazing card. if its sent from the field to the graveyard, it equips itself back to another monster. Whether it be by destroying the equipped monster by battle, or by effect, the card can just equip itself onto another monster. That way, if your opponent has 2 or more giant beatsticks to your slightly weaker monster, you can attack and destroy one without worrying about being beaten by the second monster on their turn. And since it comes back every time, mystical space typhoon and dust tornado are wasted on it.

With it being an equip card, it can be retrieved from the deck or graveyard by Hidden Armory or from your graveyard by Fairy of the Spring. And since it is a spell card, its faster than a trap.

But this card does have a few downsides. If you destroy the opponents monster equipped with the card, and it was the only monster your opponent controls, it will stay in the graveyard and you wont be able to get it back on the field by its effect. Secondly, there is a lot of removal around which limits you to 1 or 2 monsters on the field at once before the next removal. This can make getting the monsters needed to reduce the opponent monster's attack low a difficulty.

But in a deck that relies on equip cards, this card is a staple. In other decks, this card can still be a devastating tech.

Try it. You will be pleasantly surprised!

Yu-Gi-Oh Card Review: Herald of Perfection

Sorry its been a while. but heres the next review.

In the last 3 booster sets, Konami has given us a decent amount of Ritual support and the newest addition is the Herald of Perfection.

If it could negate summons too, then it would be perfection.

Like all ritual monsters, this one can only be summoned by its own ritual spell card Dawn of the Herald. To summon it this way, you must tribute monsters from your field or hand whos levels equal Exactly 6. This might sound tricky to do consistently, but its effect really does make up for it.

Whenever your opponent activates a spell, trap or monster effect. You can send one fairy type monster from your hand to the graveyard to negate and destroy that card!

Now with 2800 defence, this monster is better suited in defence mode to serve as a inpenetrable wall. And with its effect, your opponent will have trouble getting a monster with high enough attack on the field to get rid of it.
With cards like Beckoning light, dark factory of mass production ,archlord kristya and the ritual spell card itself, maintaining a hand full of fairies to discard is easier than it sounds. This means your opponent has to use many useful cards in his hand until you run out of fairies.
Its effect also means that your opponent will be powerless against the other monsters you summon. While Herald of Perfection is on the field, your other monsters can attack while Herald negates the traps your opponent attemps to use.

This card has become its own tier 1 deck in the current meta. Its strategy involves the use of Manju of the ten thousand hands, Senju of the thousand hands and Sonic bird as well as Preperation of Rites and Advanced Ritual Art to facilitate its summon as quick as possible. Some variants also use Royal decree so that you only need to worry about discarding for monster effects and spells.

So if you like the idea of a competitive ritual monster which negates pretty much anything, give Herald of Perfection a try this meta!

Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Review: Reasoning

An old card with a very crazy effect. Lets take a look:

Floating cards? It makes me wonder what is in that pipe of his...

"Your opponent declares a monster Level. Then pick up cards from the top of your Deck until a monster that can be Normal Summoned is picked up. If that monster is the same Level as the one declared by your opponent, send all picked up cards to the Graveyard. If not, Special Summon the picked up monster and send the remaining cards to the Graveyard."

A somewhat underrated card that can be extremely handy to many decks currently out there right now. With many decks that love putting monsters into the graveyard, this card can be extremely beneficial.

There are a few good decks that can use this card and pull off an easy one turn kill:

- Evil hero dark gaia deck: Dump the cards you need. Play dark calling and summon Dark gaia, all with 2 cards in your hand.
- Hopeless Dragon: Once again, dump all the high level dragons that cannot be normal summoned with reasonings effect, then use Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon to Special summon them to the field. Also, if your opponent does not declare the right card and you special summon a dragon with reasoning's effect, then you have the monster to remove for Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon's Summoning condition!
- Zombies: Put lots of zombies in your graveyard, where you can use book of life, zombie master and call of the haunted to bring them back.

Most players will agree that thinning your deck is extremely important to get to the cards you want in your deck. Which is why players currently run cards such as Ryko, lightsworn hunter, Card trooper, and also cards that search other cards like XX-Saber Emmersblade and Mystic Tomato. So this card is a brilliant way to help get the cards you want.

However, this card does have its cons:
- If you run a very spell/trap heavy deck, you will probably end up sending many useful cards to your graveyard.
- It picks up the cards, then sends them to the graveyard. So Monster effects like Wulf, Lightsworn beast will not activate, rendering them useless.
- While it can do a lot for you, it is slightly luck reliant. You might accidently special summon a card like Junk synchron; a card that would rather be normal summoned so you can get its effect.

So if you have the space in your deck, love monsters in your graveyard, and like an almost free monster put onto your field with no drawbacks, then consider putting this card into your next deck. Or at least, your side deck!