Encode Talker – YuGiOh Card of the Day

WarlockBlitz

Happy Monday! Today we are reviewing Encode Talker, a Link 3 Light Cyberse-type Link Monster with 2300 Atk and Arrows pointing up, down, and down-right. It requires 2 or more Cybers monsters to Link Summon this card properly, which is easy enough in its own deck. However, this card will probably not see play in other decks because of that type restriction. Once it’s on the field, Encode Talker can save a monster it points to from destruction from an opponent’s higher attack monster. You also wouldn’t take battle damage. Then, it can pump itself or a monster it points to by the same opponent’s higher attack monster attack value. Realistically, this is a one monster save akin to Waboku. The attack increase only lasts until the end of the current turn. This effect would be significantly better with a slight LP cost and the ability to use it to protect itself and every card it points to. Since the effect doesn’t really extend plays or really have enough arrows to justify serious consideration, it will score low. Encode Talker just doesn’t speak to me. Well, except for the artwork. 

Score: 2/5     Art: 4/5

Crunch$G

We kinda missed this Structure Deck when it comes to reviews, so we will visit it now, the Cyberse Link Structure Deck. The deck is primarily focused on Cyberse and Link Monsters and we will start reviewing cards from this deck with the cover card, Encode Talker.

Encode Talker is a Light Cyberse Link-3 that requires 2+ Cyberse monsters with 2300 ATK and arrows pointing Up, Bottom, and Bottom Right. Cyberse is being pushed hard and Light is one of the better attributes in the game. Link-3s are not hard to summon, but the type restriction on what you can use to summon him kinda sucks. ATK is somewhat standard for a Link-3 that isn’t too specific, we are getting a 3000 ATK Link-3 that requires archetype only cards, so the less specific the requirements are, the more ATK it will have I guess. Once per turn, before the damage calc, if a monster this card points to battles a monster with higher ATK, you can make your monster unable to be destroyed by that battle and you take no damage from that battle, then after the damage calc, you can have this guy or a monster this guy points to gain ATK equal to the monster your opponent controlled that battled. Nice little way to guarantee you kill a strong monster your opponent controls, but not too broken to where it needed the type restriction on the summoning condition.

This is one of the better Code Talker monsters, despite the fact the summoning of this guy is limited to Cyberse, but since that type is getting pushed hard, I imagine this guy is going to be very simple to summon. This is still solid if you are playing a Cyberse deck.

Advanced Rating: 3.5/5

RCG

This card is as vanilla as it gets, and it’s a disappointment when you see Konami still wasting space for cards that can make zero impact. Encode Talker is worthless point blank. Its costly summoning requirement should be reserved for monsters with higher attack, a self-protection effect, or a way to earn plusses. This has none of those things. He doesn’t even have left or right arrows for extending plays.

There is no legitimate reason to expect players to sacrifice three link materials to summon something just to battle an opponent monster. That’s absurd and frankly lazy. And to top it off, it requires Cyberse monsters, which are a fledgling monster type that needs the best of the best to even be relevant.

Stop it, Konami. Just stop it.

Advanced: 1.5/5
Future Potential: 1/5