Labyrinth Wall Shadow – #MAZE-EN007
Monsters cannot attack the turn they are Summoned, except monsters whose original Level is 5 or higher. Once per turn, during your Main Phase: You can place 1 of your “Sanga of the Thunder”, “Kazejin”, or “Suijin” that is banished, or in your hand or Deck, face-up in your Spell & Trap Zone as a Continuous Spell. At the start of your opponent’s Battle Phase: You can target 1 monster your opponent controls with less than 1600 ATK; destroy it.
Date Reviewed: May 23rd, 2023
Rating: 3.50
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is awful. 3 is average. 5 is excellent.
Reviews Below:
King of
Lullaby
Hello Pojo Fans,
Labyrinth Wall Shadow pairs well with yesterday’s CoTD.
As mentioned, LWS was the card hinted at yesterday that pairs well with Labyrinth Heavy Tank. Field Spell that has a lot going for it not only in Gate Guardian decks, but also others as a sort-of tech card. Searchable with standard Terraforming, but also Labyrinth Heavy Tank, LWS preventing monsters that are summoned that turn from attacking unless they are Level 5 or higher puts a stop to Extra Deck monsters from hitting your LP hard, as well as any Level 4 or lower monsters the opponent summons to get their combos going. The likelihood that opponents will meet the criteria to attack with big Special Summoned/Summoned monsters from the Main Deck are slim, but in decks like this and Labyrinth this card fits.
No search option for LWS like most Field Spells have now, however, it can put one of your Gate Guardian pieces onto the field from your hand or banished area, making a dead draw into something or recovering a combo piece for one of your new Fusion Monsters. You have ways of searching out those Level 7 dead draws already, and while LWS could’ve done that as well as having the option to do it from the hand or banished area, the fact that it has attack-stopping power like a slightly weaker Lose 1 Turn and a spot removal potential is good enough. You will be banishing the pieces already to get your Fusion Monsters to be summoned, and LWS places a piece on the field which is needed for the Fusion Summons.
Destroying a monster with less than 1600ATK is a nifty spot removal out of a Field Spell and a nod to Wall Shadow from the show. This can take care of a wide variety of monsters from both the Main and Extra Deck, and, if you also have Labyrinth Heavy Tank alongside it, you will get another spot removal from that monster as well. There isn’t any protection or negation on this card but that doesn’t make it any less amazing.
This is a great Field Spell for the archetype. It doesn’t search from the Deck, but it recovers a piece and gets it to where it needs to be to continue your Fusion Summons. The attack protection for a turn from summoned monsters that aren’t Level 5 or higher could’ve used a “can’t activate effects” clause as well, but this is a way of keeping balanced. Finally, the call-back to Wall Shadow being able to pick off weaker monsters is a great nod to the old show and very useful against many decks.
Advanced-4/5 Art-3.5/5
Until Next Time
KingofLullaby
Crunch$G
I did mention we got Labyrinth Wall cards that weren’t the classic Labyrinth Wall, and it’s very appropirate that it is retrained into a Field Spell: Labyrinth Wall Shadow.
Labyrinth Wall Shadow is a Field Spell that prevents Level 4 or lower monsters from attacking the turn they are summoned, which is far from the selling point of this card, but yet another cool anime throwback. The second effect is a soft once per turn you can trigger in your Main Phase to place a Sanga of the Thunder, Kazejin, or Suijin that’s in your hand, Deck, or banished pile to the Spell & Trap Zone, which gives you more options to get the pieces on the field to make the Fusions in a single turn. Finally, at the start of the opponent’s Battle Phase, you can target a monster the opponent controls with 1600 or less ATK and destroy it, which is just here once again cause of the anime. It feels like this card is mostly meant to be an anime throwback while also putting the Gate Guardian pieces in the Spell & Trap Zone just so it’s actually doing something worthwhile for the Deck. You basically got 6 copies of this in the archetype thanks to Shadow Ghoul of the Labyrinth, so a consistent way to get to this to rush the Gate Guardian pieces on the field. You really only play this for the 2nd effect, and I don’t expect a lot of better cards to do the same plus more beneficial effects than what this has, so it’s a 3-of due to a lack of other options really. A case of a card being better than you’d think due to a lack of better options, honestly.
Advanced Rating: 2.75/5
Art: 4.5/5 I like seeing the Wall Shadow actually go through the Labyrinth Wall.
Mighty
Vee
Wall Shadow joins the revamped Gate Guardian archetype as an unusual Spell retrain; Labyrinth Wall Shadow is a Field Spell and it can be searched by Shadow Ghoul of the Labyrinth, Gate Guardian of Thunder and Wind, or, of course, Terraforming. While it’s active, monsters can’t attack the same turn they’re summoned unless they’re level 5 or higher, alluding to Labyrinth Heavy Tank’s effect as well as the gimmick of the first Paradox Brothers duel in the anime. While it’s not the strongest floodgate, it can cheese quite a lot of matchups and buy you some time to save you from an OTK, particularly against Xyz and Link decks, though popular decks like Branded and Swordsoul will easily bypass the restriction. Labyrinth Wall Shadow’s second effect is a soft once per turn (which is pretty important since opening multiple isn’t too uncommon), sharing the same effect as Labyrinth Heavy Tank to place a Kazejin, Suijin, or Sanga of the Thunder into your Spell/Trap zone as a Continuous Spell from your hand, deck, or banished. Again, this effect is necessary to make your Gate Guardian plays at all, and fortunately you’ll only need two pieces for a decent board. Finally, at the start of your opponent’s Battle Phase (effectively a hard once per turn), you can target and destroy one of their monsters with 1600 or less attack. Battle Phase effects are always kind of icky, but it’s a neat bonus on top of an important combo effect, so I don’t mind; it can save you in a pinch when combined with attack-dropping effects, which this deck has quite a few of. Overall, like with Heavy Tank, you’ll definitely want to run 3 for as much consistency as possible, and providing bonus effects is icing on the cake.
Advanced: 3.75/5
Art: 3/5 As fun as it is to see Wall Shadow in action, not much going on here.
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