Opening note, any of these cards in this countdown over the next weeks, are rated FOR THE DECK THEY BELONG IN ONLY...so the rating holds true in both Formats. IF the card can be played elsewhere, you receive separate ratings. You know, it's funny. I'm noticing very few of the cards I picked (although we were told that the lists were very erratic) showed up on this list. My list consisted mainly of varying new XYZ Monsters, and I noticed as I went back and looked too, that I picked cards that were better overall...say more splashable, than just Deck specific, as most of this list seems to be. Today we look at Spellbook of Life, which is a simple enough Magic card (despite the text) in a Spellcaster Deck, at least involving the new cards form this set...the Priests and Priestesses and so on. This lets you reveal another Spellbook Magic card in your Hand, to target a Spellcaster type Monster in your Graveyard, and Special Summon it. Now, as far as resurrection goes, this thing is garbage. IF you're playing this at all, in its Deck obviously, you're using it as a combo piece, via the second effect. The Monster equipped with this card has its Level increased by the Level of the Monster you removed to start this whole cycle. Being an Equip Magic card is nasty, with the fast Format (and the equally if not faster one coming). I mean, honestly, it helps with insane high XYZ Summoning I guess, but it's not a MUST card in the Spellbook Deck.

Ratings:

3/5 in the Deck Not game-breaking, but has combo potential, so average

Art: 4/5

We are going to be look at one of the reasons for running a Spellcaster/Spellbook deck today. Does everyone remember how good Premature Burial was before it got banned many moons ago? Well, now imagine having 3 Premature Burials in your deck. What Book of Life does for Zombie’s, Spellbook of Life does for Spellcasters.

Having a Spellbook card in and searching for Spellbook of Life is the easy part, as these types of decks play tons of Spellbooks and have cards like Spellbook of Secrets and Spellbook of Power to search out Spellbooks.

Now all you need is some monsters to go with your Spellbooks. The new Prophecy monsters are the way to go, as they are tailor made for Spellbooks. Throw in some light monsters like Lyla and Effect Veiler which are also spellcasters, and you can play BLS and Chaos Sorcerer in you Spellbook deck.

Spellbook of Life has two other features that makes it a great card. First, once the monster is summoned, it does not matter what happens to Spellbook or Life as the monster will still remain unlike Premature Burial or Call of the Haunted. The level of the monster will return to its normal level. Second, Spellbook of Life increases the level of the monster it summons by the monster that was removed, so big Xyz or Synchro summons are possible and would make a great fit for Gagaga Girl Magician.

It is the day of the Spellbooks and more are coming so be prepared. Spellbook of Life is one of the main cards for this archetype.

Traditional: 2/5 (Too slow)
Advanced: 3.5/5

Number 10 on the list of the 11 best cards of Return of the Duelist is an equip card, Spellbook of Life. Now, you're thinking how did an equip card wind up here. Let's find out. Banish 1 Spellcaster-type monster from your graveyard and reveal one other "Spellbook" spell card from your hand to target one Spellcaster in your graveyard; Special summon that monster in face up attack position and equip this card to that monster. The equipped monster's level is increased by the level of the banished monster for this activation. You can only activate one Spellbook of Life once per turn. What makes this card so good, is that even if it gets destroyed, your Spellcaster stays on the field, all that it loses are the levels it gained. That, is just wow. Need it to your hand? You can use Spellbooks of Secrets and Power to grab it from your deck. If you banished it, use Spellbook of Alma to get it back. You can use it to summon a low level Spellcaster to raise its level high enough to Xyz or Synchro summon, or get back a high attack Spellcaster. This card is highly versatile in the Spellcaster archtype. If you use Spellcasters, you should be using this. Good luck getting one.

Traditional: 3.5
Advanced: 5
Tomorrow: Lord of the Dirt.

Spellbook of Life
Equip Spell
"Banish 1 Spellcaster-Type monster from your Graveyard and reveal 1 other "Spellbook" Spell Card in your hand to target 1 Spellcaster-Type monster in your Graveyard; Special Summon that target in face-up Attack Position and equip it with this card. The equipped monster's Level is increased by the Level of the monster that was banished for this card's activation. You can only activate 1 "Spellbook of Life" per turn."

It's a rather complex replacement for Premature Burial. SoL is only useable on Spellcasters and only works well in decks that use the other Spellbooks as you need to have another in your hand to show the opponent(s), so it's rather limited and conditional to pull off. still, there's some great decks this could work in, such as Dark Magician, Spell Counter, Fortune Lady and Gravekeepers, so the card definately has it's uses. The one disadvantage is that you need another Spellbook card in hand to pull this off, so that heavily limits it's playability. Can't we just have Premature Burial back instead? :/

Traditional: 2
Advanced: 2.25