Classic COTD Reviews – LOB + Yugi/Kaiba (2002)

Card Name

Pojo Avg

My Rating

Notes

Blue Eyes White Dragon

4.1

2

This card was mega overrated at its time, as it was an iconic card in the anime.
It’s a 2 tribute card with no effect.  Removal cards are plentiful, so it’s often a -2.

Yes, it has 3000 ATK but that’s overkill.  With ATK, it’s important to look at breakpoints.  Defense walls are 2000.  La Jinn is 1800 (2300 with Reinforcements).  A Summoned Skull’s 2500 ATK beats every viable monster, so any more than that is overkill.

I give it a 2 rating for niche viability in Dragon+Flute decks but in any other use case its a 1 out of 5.

Summoned Skull

4.6

4.5

Great card.  You can use 3 with Soul Exchange.  Or just use 1-2, tributing your flipped flip effects.  2500 ATK is enough to get over a stat boosted La Jinn and punish 2000 DEF walls.

Dark Hole

4.6

4.9

Inferior to Raigeki, but still a staple card, and still a card that every player must play around.  Most cards in LOB format are 1-for-1, so the potential to go +1 by destroying 2 enemies monsters is huge.

Card Destruction

3.6

4

Stall decks will use 43+ cards and 2000 DEF walls + Card Destruction to slowly deck out the opponent.  Other decks side deck this.  (If you use this card correctly, you can force the opponent to discard their powerful spells they’ve been saving for the perfect moment) 

Change of Heart

5

5

Flute of Summon Dragon

3.1

2

Only viable in full-on Dragon decks with 3 Tri-Horned + 3 Blue-Eyes + 2 Lord + 2 Flute.  And even that deck isn’t consistent.  You get dead draws if you draw no Dragons, or Dragons (but no Lord/Flute).  Your swarm can be wiped by Raigeki or Dark Hole…

Lord of D.

3.1

2

See above.

Mysterious Puppeteer

3.4

1

How was this so overrated?  It’s a -1.  Stats are terrible  It’s effect does nothing to help field or hand advantage.  Life gain isn’t useful, and even if it were, players keep their board limited to 1-2 monsters to play around Raigeki/Dark Hole anyway so this won’t gain much LP.

Castle Walls

2.3

1

Is a -1 and has no way of generating card advantage.  Reinforcement is at least a 1-for-1 that helps you clear the enemy threat.

Despell

3

3

The only card that counters Swords of Revealing Light.  It’s situational but you can punish an opponent that thinks they’re safe from it.  I’d side deck 1 in this format.

Aqua Madoor

2.7

3.5

Giant Soldier of Stone has more ATK, making it obsolete in theory, but in most cases, they’re 99% the same.  But defensive/stall decks that already use 3 GSoS also use Madoors.

Dark Magician

2.8

1

How does this get over a 1??  It’s a vanilla 2 tribute monster with zero support cards for it.  Summoned Skull has the same ATK but only 1 tribute.  Blue-Eyes has higher ATK. 

Fissure

3.9

4.75

Underrated.  It may not be Dark Hole or Raigeki, but it helps you clear a creature without using a summon.  It works on both beaters and walls.  (Though this card becomes slightly worse next set with Sangan/Witch)

Yami

2.1

1.5

It helps both Neo and LaJinn, which are meta but also likely to be used by the opponent (and this card helps the opponent too).  It puts Neo at 1900 to clear beaters.  But putting LaJinn at 2000 doesn’t hit any new breakpoints that 1800 didnt.

Monster Reborn

5

5

Two-Pronged Attack

1.3

1

A card so bad that even Bill (Mr. Pojo himself) reviewed it.  I love you Bill, but why give this a 2???  I’m sobbing.

There’s 3x Trap Hole, 3x Fissure, Dark Hole, Raigeki, 3x Soul Exchange.  Reinforcements or Stop Defense to get over defense walls, etc.  Why go -2 on this card.

Mystical Elf

2

2.5

Defense wall, fine for stall decks or acting as removal bait.  GSOS has better stats.  It’s immune to Trap Hole, though you rarely summon it in ATK unless maybe for lethal damage.

Dragon Zombie

2.6

1.5

Sure, 1600 ATK is better than the majority of creatures, but Ox/LaJinn/Neo is already 9 slots, so its obsolete.

It has synergy with Sword of Dark Destruction that you already can use for LaJinn.  At 2000, it would get you over beaters, but still does nothing into defense walls. 

Ultimate Offering

3.2

3

Was a creative utility card of its time.  You can swarm the enemy field, clear the board and push for damage.  (Or just choose to summon an extra monster if your previous 1 got removed. But it’s also a -1 and your swarm can get hit with Dark Hole.

Reverse Trap

2.5

1

IIRC, there’s a ruling that it can’t be used in the damage step, so it doesn’t counter Reinforcements (which would’ve been it’s only viable use case)

Hane-Hane

2.8

1

-1 with bad stats.  If you want to clear a threat, there’s  Man-Eater Bug + 10 other removal cards.  (Or use Wall of Illusion which has a similar effect but competitive stats)

Neo the Magic Swordsman

4

4

3x staple for beatdown

Tri-Horned Dragon

3.5

2.5

Only for dedicated Dragon+Flute decks. 

La Jinn the Mystical Genie of the Lamp

4.6

4.75

3x staple

Wall of Illusion

4.25

4.5

It’s a good wall.  1850 DEF stops all the beaters just as well as 2000 DEF does.  There’s added utility of removing an opponent’s beater from the board.  It opens up the opponent for a direct attack, but that being said putting Wall in ATK mode means it’s destroyed next turn and you minus.  And summoning a LV4 beater on top of it could set you up to be minus’d by a Dark Hole..

Man-Eater Bug

4.6

4.75

3x staple

Trap Hole

4.75

4.75

3x staple

Soul Exchange

2.67

4.25

This card was very underrated at the time.  It later gained appreciation a few years later when the Monarch cards came out.  It easily clears an opponent’s monster (either face-up or face-down).  It summons a tribute monster for free.  You can make a full Soul Control deck with 3 Summoned Skull + 3 Judgeman + 3 Soul Ex.  Or just use 3 Skulls + 1-2 Soul Ex.

Remove Trap

1.75

1.5

Dragon decks side it against Dragon Capture Jar, but thats it.

Battle Ox

4

4

3x staple card for beatdown.

Reinforcements

3.7

4

Must-have for beatdown decks.  Helps LaJinn/Ox/Neo get over every LV4 beater and every 2000 defense wall.

Rogue Doll

2

1.25

Same point as Dragon Zombie review, but it doesn’t have a viable synergy card.  Sword of Dark Destruction lets La Jinn break 2000 DEF walls, but Book of Secret Arts doesn’t help Neo (or Rogue Doll) break 2000 walls.

Pot of Greed

4.8

5

Curse of Dragon

2.2

1

Anything over 1 is generous.  Maybe reviewers overrated fusing for Gaia the Dragon Champion which is a -2 and requires you to run Gaia the Fierce Knight (terrible card).

Card Destruction

3.8

4

Commonly side decked.  Stall decks will use 43+ cards and 2000 DEF walls + Card Destruction to slowly deck out the opponent.  (If you use this card correctly, you can force the opponent to discard their powerful spells they’ve been saving for the perfect moment) 

Stop Defense

3.2

3.5

I’d put 1-2 copy in the side deck against defense walls deck.  But wouldn’t main it because its not as useful against beatdown.

Swords of Revealing Light

4.5

4.25

I don’t know if this is a  “staple”, but it’s a really good card.  So much utility with the flip-up effect.  Protects your life points.  Putting yourself in a position where you can destroy monsters in battles but they can’t destroy yours.  This is technically a -1 card but it gives you opportunity to go positive if you win battles.

Raigeki

5

5

Exodia the Forbidden One

3

1

It is countered by Card Destruction, which was meta.  In the next set (Metal Raiders) it gets Sangan/Witch as support to search the pieces, but also Robbin Goblin.  Then the 3rd set (Magic Ruler) introduces Confiscation and Delinquent Duo…

Seiyaryu

2.2

2

Dragon decks, but it’s inferior to Trihorned and Blue-Eyes which is already 6 card slots.

Salamandra

2.3

1

Why was this not given a 1?  There are no remotely viable FIRE monsters to equip this to….

Acid Trap Hole

3

3

Possible side deck card against stall decks and 2000 DEF walls.  But not a consistent main deck card against beat down.  This card’s rating would go down to a 1 next set because Sangan, Witch and Magician of Faith hard counter this card.

Ancient Telescope

1

1

Ookazi

2.4

1

Burn didn’t have enough support to make it a proper deck so it’s just a -1 card.

Sword of Dark Destruction

2.8

3.5

I think this card was underrated.  I’d add 1 in the main deck to equip to La Jinn so it can clear a 2000 DEF wall and continue to be a 2200 ATK threat next turn.

Dian Keto the Cure Master

1.8

1

Why over a 1?  This card doesn’t do anything.

Sogen

1.5

1.5

Only synergizes with Battle Ox.  Puts it at 1900, but still not enough to clear 2000 DEF walls.  And it also helps the opponent’s Ox

Trap Master

2.3

3.5

This card was underrated.  It saw some play in retro tournaments.  It can clear trap cards like Trap Hole, Reinforcements and Waboku.  There are no other cards that can do that.

It does take skill to read what the opponent is doing (and they could be bluffing by setting spell cards), so this card is not for everyone

The Stern Mystic

2.3

1

Uncompetitive stats.  -1.  And the early format is so simple that it’s easy to predict and play the opponent’s 3 trap cards anyway.

Maybe there were so few effect monsters at the time that people were impressed