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: Vairon Matter

Today, i want to review a card that you are probably going to pull on saturday/sunday. It's quite decent and im surprised i didn't notice it before.

Its time for Vairon Matter!

Its dark matter, but more Vairon-ey...

This spell card has an effect similar to pot of avarice. You return 3 equip cards (The vairon archetype revolves around equip cards) from your graveyard to your deck, then draw a card OR destroy a card your opponent controls.

So, the card gives you two choices. An offensive and a defensive. Most of the time, draw power is more important than destroying something, unless you are pushing for game. And as for the cost, if you are using morphtronics, watts or Vairons, then it is a small price to pay for draw power or generic destruction.

But, the cost also means you probably shouldnt run more than one. If you run enough equip spells to be able to run 3 of these, then your deck probably sucks.

But like most of the commons of this set, i wouldn't recommend throwing this out.

Oh, and also, i heard that in the TCG, vairon has been changed to Vylon. I dont know why that's the case though.

My realisation on the new Legendary Six Samurai.

Since november, we had been introduced into the Legendary Six Samurai. Everyone including your grandma know that they're going to be huge. But after scanning through the new cards, for the 4-5th time since they were released. My fears were beginning to decrease.

I'm not saying they suck. But like many archetypes that are released, they rely on a single card to break them. All konami has to do is limit that one card, and that's the end of their reign.

In this case, the broken card is Gateway of the Six.

I have been comparing the new six samurai to when blackwings were released. With whirlwind at 3 and Gale at 3, the deck could swarm the field quickly and keep a fairly sized hand. The same applies to the new six samurai. With Gateway, you can swarm the field, gain counters, and increase your hand. But just like blackwings, When whirlwind was limited and gale was limited, it severely hurt the deck.

The problem with the new six samurai is that if you open up with no Gateway of the six, you can use Grandmaster and Kizan and Enishi to swarm the field, but you will deplete your hand to 0 instantly and all it takes is a dark hole or a sided warrior elimination to take you out. Because of that, i think the deck is too reliant on gateway and cant fend for itself without it.

Another example is Infernities back in may last year. Their Infernity launcher was outright broken, and it was released as a super rare, so it was accesible by anyone with a few dollars. Its ability to swarm with infernity archfiend allowed you to keep synchroing to free up monster slots (Mist wurm was really easy to make with the deck and opened up the field to OTK).

So in conclusion: The deck is consistent. It can produce mass plusses and OTK fairly quickly. But if your starting 6 card hand does not have a Gateway, then you are stuck for what you can do. If you decide to summon a few things then draw Gateway, then it will be a dead draw.

Oh and also, i keep forgetting to mention their synchro monster, shi en. Its too F****** broken and stops your opponent from doing anything. Just make sure to side some Caius to take it down for good.

Yu-Gi-Oh ZEXAL: Looks to be a pile of s***.

Yup. I caught my first glimpse of ZEXAL the other day: the successor to 5D's. I have been watching 5D's (subbed) on youtube and even though the story is completely random and still goes on about "friendship and bonds means i win", its still entertaining to watch. I saw episode 145 the other day and Yusei was dueling Bruno (Antimony). Bruno uses Tech genus cards which debut in Extreme Victory, which is the set after Storm of Ragnarok and releases into the OCG on February 11th.

So with 5D's finishing on episode 150 (Thats about 4 weeks of Yugioh 5D's left, folks), a new Yu-Gi-Oh follows. Which is called ZEXAL.

I have not read too much into it. But i know the story follows a character called Yuma who duels some bully from his school. And some crazy event occurs with some being called Astral.

To be completely honest, 5D's was surprisingly good because the characters were not 15 year olds. They were older and it catered to the older viewers (I'm looking at you, GX). But ZEXAL? It just looks to be a pile of crap.

and what's with the name? Aparrently, the X in ZEXAL is not said, so its just "zeal".

I will only watch this to see the new cards, unless its just like GX but set in the future. *shudders*

Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Review: Card Trooper

Hey guys. I'd like to review a card that has been in our TCG for a long time. Not as long as the beginning of the game, but long enough to be limited to 1 for around 3 years.

Today's card is Card Trooper!

This little machine type has 400 ATK and 400 DEF points. People might look at those stats and say "Wow, that sucks. Bin that S***". But its effect takes care of that.

Once per turn, you can send the top three cards of your deck to the graveyard to give this card 500 ATK for every card sent, until this turn's end phase. And when its destroyed, Draw a card.

Bam. Its a beautiful effect. It has something for every player whether you play competitively or not. Sending three cards turns this card into a 1900 beater that can get over most things. But the beautiful part is the milling. You just milled three cards, which is what decks like lightsworn and to be honest, most metagame decks out there love to do. And unlike lightsworn monster, you dont have to mill if you dont want to.

Second is the draw effect. No matter how this card gets destroyed, you will draw a card. And its not an optional effect either, so the timing cannot be missed. In my book thats a +1, and a beautiful one at that.

Also, this card works well with many other cards, here a few to name a list:
- Wulf, Lightsworn beast: Mill it with Card Trooper's effect and deal up to 4000 direct damage.
- Debris dragon: Special summon it with Debris Dragon, and since the milling in the first effect is a cost, you can use it! But you wont gain any attack points, Not that anyone is complaining.
- Judgment dragon: Another lightsworn, but destroy all the cards on the field with his effect and Draw a card with card trooper.
- Hell, any card that destroys things: I'm talking about Torrential Tribute, Dark hole, Lightning Vortex, Limiter removal etc.


But why is this card at 1? Well. The card is amazing as it is, but its not enough to bring it to one on its own. The reason why this card is limited is because when this card was released, people began to see it's potential with Machine duplication and Limiter removal (Two cards that were fine before Card Trooper came along). So Konami did the right thing and limit this card.

And they're right: Would you really want to be up against 3 of these pumped up to 3800 atk each?

The downside to this card is that it's a machine. And with Cyber dragon in many decks and Chimeratech fortress dragon in their extra deck to boot, they will take your trooper with their cyber dragon and -1 you. As well as around 2000 of your life points.

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.