Tuesday
 
If you didn't believe you were seeing a Wind-Up card (or more) on this list, I don't know what game you've been playing.  Wind-Up Rat comes in at #9, being quite the effective little critter.  Level 3, Earth-Beast types give you some combo potential and versatility in the Rat alone (in such things like Sangan and Giant Rat at the very least).  Also obviously easy enough to use and cycle via various other Wind-Ups, to include, Honeybee, Factory, Magician, and there could be more by now.  Wind-Ups are hella fast, even though I wouldn't consider them the most powerful out there, dominant as they have been.  So by changing this guy from face-up Attack to Defense position, you can Special Summon a Wind-Up from your Graveyard.  This guy actually gets better as the Duel progresses, but it's never a bad card to Draw into.  Honestly, because of various OTK/FTK in Traditional, he might be better in that Format, even if you don't play the Deck there.
 
Ratings:
 
4/5 both Formats 
Art;  Almost cute with that eye...5/5

As I mentioned yesterday, most of the top 10 cards that we are reviewing have propelled their respective decks into the top tier. Wind-Up Rat is the main card in the Wind-Up Carrier Zenmaity hand rape loop. By summoning Wind-Up Rat with Wind-Up Hunter in the graveyard, you could us Rat’s effect to special summon Hunter then use them to special summon Zenmaity. Use Zenmaity to special summon another Rat and use Rat to special summon Hunter. Use Hunter to tribute Zenmaity to drop a card from your opponent’s hand. Then just repeat. If you had a Tour Guide in hand with Hunter in the grave, you could bring out a Tour Bus and drop an additional two cards from your opponent’s hand. Then, if you had a Pot of Avarice you could take all of your opponent’s hand and leave them with nothing on the first turn.
 
The hand loop was something most duelists did not appreciate happening to them so Konami obliged us by limiting Wind-Up Zenmaity to one. It did not slow down the deck however as duelists found that they could still Xyz summon monsters like crazy with Wind-Up Rat, Shark, Rabbit, Magician, and Factory all giving you special summoning abilities. With combinations of the above cards we can Xyz summon anything from a rank 3 to a rank 5 monster giving the Wind-Up player a plethora of options when Xyz summoning.
 
What is so nice about Wind-Up Rat is that all it needs is a Wind-Up in the graveyard to get its effect. One card becomes many as we say in the YGO Biz. Wind-Ups are not going away any time soon and Wind-Up Rat is a big reason why.
 
Traditional: 3/5
Advanced: 4/5
 
If you would like more idea on any of the top 10 cards we are reviewing, you can also search on the Card of the Day page to find our old posts. Personally, I do not go back and look at those articles in order to keep my reviews original, but they may still mirror the Year End posts so just keep that in mind when reading the top 10 reviews.

Number 9 on our list is Wind-Up Rat. This card is almost like a Tour Guide for Wind-Ups, and you know how that can go. You can target one Wind-Up Monster in your graveyard, then change Rat to defense position, then special summon that target. That has lead to so many Wind-Up shenanigans in the past, including summoning Zemaity among others. Wind-Up Rat is one of those cards that can get the deck rolling and kinda hard to stop once it starts.
 
Traditional: 2.5
Advanced: 4 *Wind-Up Only*