Wednesday

Our second Jump promo is the most recent one, a Synchro Monster, in Vulcan the Divine. This is a Level 6 Synchro Monster, and a Fire attributed, Beast-Warrior, with 2000 attack and 1600 defense. This guy is far more splashable than he might originally seem at a glance. I'd say the best Deck for him is Fire First, being a Fire Monster, and a Beast-Warrior. When Synchro Summoned, target a face-up card you control, and one your opponent controls. Both cards are returned to the respective Hands. This turn, you cannot activate cards, or the effects of cards, returned by this effect. You can only use this effect once per turn. See, now logically you're returning, at least in terms of your opponent, an XYZ or Synchro Monster, that would return to the Extra Deck, as opposed to the Hand. For yourself, preferably a card that maybe you want to reuse an effect of, or a Fire Formation Magic/Trap card to reuse, not really losing any advantage. This guy can be dangerous as hell, and if you're playing Synchro, or can make a Level 6 Synchro easily, use this guy. He's going to make a big splash on the scene.

Ratings:

Traditional: 3/5 Honestly, he's not bad here at all
Advanced: 4/5
Art: 5/5 Tiger, with a giant hammer, sick on a stick

Hey guys today we're going to be talking about a card I am too excited
about: Beastlord Vulcan. Now when Vulcan is summoned you can bounce two face-up cards to their respective hands one on your field and one on your opponents. Only downside is the card you bounce can't be summoned/activated for that turn, but that's not too bad. A well timed Vulcan can be pivotal in a match were more and more cards are becoming immune to being destroyed by battle or card effects. It's also so many amazing combos this card has with Fire Fist being able to add a Fire Formation back from the field to reuse and get rid of an opponents monster. All in all I'm glad Konami has given us a new toy in level 6 synchro monsters sense Goyo Guardian and Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier left.

Trad: 3.5/5 (Card would be great here.Even with Goyo and Brio)
Adv: 4/5 (Card is just amazing!)

Nowadays, with Xyz Monsters dominating the game and with so many ways to be immune to destruction, the ability to return cards to the hand has become very powerful (because if you try to send a Fusion, Synchro, or Xyz Monster to the hand, it goes to the Extra Deck instead). Granted, 2000 ATK is incredibly low, enough to be wiped out by a Cyber Dragon (or most monsters above Level/Rank 4), and the DEF is low enough to be slain by Maestroke the Symphony Djinn, but Vulcan’s effect is so deliciously versatile. He can force a troublesome Continuous Spell or Trap off the field, but his real power lies in booting an enemy monster off the field. Perhaps there’s a super-strong monster that, because of Safe Zone, cannot be targeted. That’s ok, use Vulcan to return Safe Zone and the monster gets destroyed. On the off chance you’re bouncing an enemy monster to the actual hand and not the Extra Deck, if the monster isn’t so easily summoned then usually it isn’t that threatening anyway, so hopefully you can tolerate it being summoned again. If you bounce an enemy card, chances are low that you wanted to use the effect of the same card, so the part that says you can’t anyway shouldn’t be that big a deal. Vulcan can prohibit you from activating effects, so it's possible for you to get around a mandatory, negative effect this way, but Vulcan can't be reliably used for this manner.
 
It’s interesting how Vulcan was made a Beast-Warrior, because lately most Beast-Warriors have been Fire. This includes Hazy Flame, Fire King, Coach, and especially Fire Fist. I think Vulcan was actually designed FOR the Fire Fists, given how Vulcan helps them recycle the effects of their Fire Formation Continuous Cards (but perhaps the best thing about Vulcan is how he can and should be thrown in most Decks capable of Synchro Summoning due to how he can recycle most Continuous Cards such as Call of the Haunted) (obviously you want to use that card as much as you can for the turn before Synchro Summoning Vulcan). The Fire Formation cards can also help boost his disappointing ATK score, and I also believe it is for this reason why his ATK was purposely made low. It goes without saying that Fire Fists are Vulcan’s best home, but Vulcan as a card is great because he works well in any Deck. I can tell people can be disappointed by his paltry 2000/1600 and the fact he can only activate his effect once, and only right when he’s summoned. However, he’s like a smaller version of Black Rose Dragon and can help you reuse your Continuous cards, plus bouncing has its pros and cons compared to destroying. Also, in case of emergency, Vulcan can return himself if you don't want/have any other faceup cards to be bounced. Vulcan is simple yet handy.
 
Tomorrow’s CotD, HTS Psyhemuth, is also a Level 6 Synchro with removal power. I have a paragraph there contrasting these two monsters.
 
Ruling Clarification: If I return a monster to my hand, I’m still allowed to summon the monster, but I just can’t activate the effects. This could potentially be useful to play monsters with negative effects, but it usually isn’t worth it.
Ruling Clarification #2: If a card doesn’t technically return to the hand, Vulcan will never be able to negate it. For example, I can activate the effect of Scrap Dragon, then return it back to the Deck using Vulcan. I can still Synchro Summon Scrap Dragon that same turn and activate both its effects.
Trad: 2/5 (reuse Premature Burial, kind of slow but pretty cool, although admittedly Brionac Dragon of the Ice Barrier usually does a better job and Goyo Guardian gives more competition)
Adv: 4/5 (currently the best Level 6 Synchro with no specific Synchro Material requirement, but that said, Scrap Dragon is still greatly better because of both its ATK and how its effect can be used multiple times…still, Level means all the difference for Synchros)
Aesthetics: 3.25/5 Vulcan is the Roman god of fire and blacksmith works. Recently, a lot of Fire monsters have been associated with Beast-Warriors, and the effect to return cards to the hand reflects how some of those Fire Beast-Warriors revolve around Continuous Cards (especially Fire Fist and Hazy Flame). Other than the Fire connection, though, I don’t really see how it connects with the original god…especially the way they depict him as a tiger forging a sword. It looks funny, though.
 
abc_at_123.com@hotmail.com