Today we are looking at a card that has been a
staple in most decks sense it came out. Book of Moon
stops just about everything your opponent is trying
to do. It stops Synchro’s and Xyz summoning dead in
its tracks by turning one of the two cards face
down. Now that we can not activate ignition effects
upon summoning, this means that we can Book the
monster before our opponent can activate the
monster’s effect.
To sum up what I just said; Dark Armed Dragon will
not be able to destroy a card, Judgment Dragon will
not be able to blow up the field, Red-Eyes Darkness
Metal Dragon will not get to special summon, Brionac
will not be able to bounce a card, Utopia will not
be able to stop attacks, Stardust Dragon will not
prevent destruction, Rescue Rabbit will not be able
to remove itself, and Wind-Up Rat will not be able
to special summon from the graveyard. I think you
get the point.
Not only does it disrupt your opponent’s big push
and strategy, but it also helps your strategy. You
can use the flip effects of your monsters twice.
Ryko and Morphing Jar get some great extra uses. You
can also use the ignition effects of your monsters
twice. Remove a card with Chaos Sorcerer or BLS,
flip it face down to reset it, then flip it face up
to use its effect again. Not too shabby!
There is a good reason that this card is limited and
just about every deck plays Book of Moon. It may be
a negative one the turn you play it, but the
disruptive effect that it has on your opponents best
laid plans is well worth it and more times than not,
you make up for the negative one on the next turn.
Traditional: 5/5
Advanced: 5/5
Miguel
Our last card of the week that has to with the
recent change in the Fast Effect ruling is Book Of
Moon. This quick play spell is very simple, target 1
face up monster on the field and turn it into face
down defense position. Book of Moon is perhaps one
of the most versatile cards ever. It can be used for
both offensive and defensive purposes. Your opponent
trying to destroy your monster using something like
Fissure or Smashing Ground? Use Book of Moon on your
own monster to protect it. Staring down a huge
monster? Book'em Danno. But what ever Book of Moon
can do, it will be mainly used to stop things like
Xyz's, Synchros and other types/ A great card that
really has founf its way back into the main deck of
everyone's deck.
Traditional: 3.5
Advanced 5
Philosophical
Psycho
Whew, it feels as if
we're reviewing a bunch of old cards as if they were
just recently unlimited.
Just like with Bottomless Trap Hole, in a given
situation, Book of Moon almost always benefits from
being able to stop a monster's effect right when
your opponent summons a monster, but that's where
similarities end.
Book of Moon, despite being an easily expired Spell,
has been Limited for long periods of
time due to pure versatility (frankly I disagree
that it has a stricter limitation than BTH or
TTribute, but it's still good regardless). When a
monster declares an attack, Book of Moon will block
that attack. Most of the strong ATK monsters have
lower DEF, and since that monster has technically
declared an attack, it is not allowed to be Flip
Summoned that turn, making it very vulnerable.
Inzektor Dragonfly, Rescue Rabbit, or Wind-Up Hunter
about to blow you to bits? Denied.
You should also know that you can only Xyz or
Synchro with currently faceup monsters. Book of Moon
ruins all of this. Since a Synchro or Xyz Summon
usually happens with a freshly summoned monster, BoM
that newly summoned monster, and since you can't
change the battle position of a monster that was
just summoned...no Flip Summoning.
BoM's defensive properties don't end there. Not even
counting non-situational Trigger Effects, like
Levair the Sea Dragon, BoM can block almost just
about any monster's effect. The opponent tries to
attack you with Utopia? Moon him, summon Cyber
Dragon, and destroy that Utopia without fear of his
Moon Wing Shield effect. Wind-Up Zenmaines walling
you for all eternity? BoM solves the problem as
Zenmaines is weakened when facedown (contrary to
popular belief, Book of Moon will NOT make Zenmaines
vulnerable to destruction by battle).
BoM carries many offensive properties as well, aside
from putting monsters in a more vulnerable position.
If a card is about to destroy one of yours on the
condition it must be faceup, BoM will hide your
monster into obscurity, saving it from potentially
BTH or Dimensional Prison. Bound by Fiendish Chain?
Remove that target. Is your life linked to Call of
the Haunted or Safe Zone and Heavy Storm just came
out? Cut the life link. You Flip Summoned Ryko,
Lightsworn Hunter last turn and now he's being
targeted by an attack. Flip your own Ryko down and
watch his effect go off again! I summoned Inzektor
Dragonfly last turn and you failed to destroy him. I
use his effect this turn and gun down one of your
cards with a Hornet. Moon my Dragonfly, Flip Summon
him again, ignore the "once per turn" clause and
blast you with a Hornet again, getting two searches
off Dragonfly in the deal!
There's just too many uses for BoM. Being a
Quickplay Spell with a simple yet unique effect
makes it extremely, extremely versatile. If you
think you could use a bit more attack protection or
can benefit from Mooning your own monsters,
definitely run one. Otherwise, it's extremely
splashable, and you will find many, many times where
you will find yourself in a situation where you
think "Gee, I want that guy in facedown Defence Mode
NOW." In comparison to BTH, BoM is limited as many
players (not including me) feel the versatility
makes it a lot better than outright destroying the
monster. Regardless, both BTH and BoM are very, very
good, and accounting for BoM's limiting over BTH's
semilimiting, I guess they're about equal.
Traditional: 3/5
Advanced: 3.97/5
Aesthetics: 4/5 I really like the "Book" series,
which is distinct from the "Books of Spell" series.
I'd like a support card that extends to all "Book"
cards. The design on Book of Moon is especially nice
and I like how the background suggests it is
floating on the Nile River. It is rather boring,
however, how every "Book" card has almost exactly
the same cover design.
Philosophy Corner: If people would prefer the
shortcut over the longcut, because the longcut is
less traveled upon for obvious reasons, but assuming
life has no shortcuts, then what is truly the path
less traveled?
abc_at_123.com@hotmail.com
Argouru
Book of Moon
Quickplay Spell
"Target 1 face-up monster on the field; change that
target to face-down Defense Position."
This one's a classic from the third booster series
of Yugioh and has been an on-and-off staple card for
most decks ever since. With the change in the rules,
this card is now much more useful in preventing
monster effects before they can get the chance to
activate. If the opponent brings out Rescue Rabbit
or Tour Guide from the Underworld, you can flip them
face down and stop them from using their effects,
thereby saving you a LOT of pain and suffering.
More than ever before, I expect to see this card
used again as a counter to opponent's strategies but
it's doubtful that we'll ever see it's restricted
statis lifted because of all the ways to abuse your
own cards with the effect. Still, it's well worth
using in any deck out there...