Tuesday
 
I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day and weekend!  I'd like to give a heartfelt thanks to all the servicemen and women out there, I use to be among you, and have many friends and family brave and honorable enough to serve!  Mind Control opens our week, a simple Magic card, with an equally simple effect, that enjoys really messing things up.  Brain Control (the costed yet less restricted Mind Control, yet obviously the costed Change of Heart) is Banned.  Mind Control lets you take control of an opponent's Monster until the End Phase, although you can't attack with it, or tribute it.  Who cares?  XYZ or Synchro Summon, or even simply get rid of it so you can direct attack and/or win a Duel.  Mind Control seems to vary in playability from Format to Format, despite even being Limited.  It's something that can really mess up the opponent, adds a little speed to your Deck, and can potentially rid yourself of a threat.  You play this!
 
Ratings:

Traditional:  3/5  (Brain Control gets a 4, and Change of Heart gets a 5)
Advanced:  4/5  Without other options available 
Art:  3/5 

Welcome to Summer Break all you young readers. We will be starting your break early with one of the best cards in the game and a staple in most decks. Mind Control is an extremely versatile card that can be game changing, especially in today’s Meta with almost every deck Synchro, Xyz, or Fusion summoning. The only thing you cannot do with your opponent’s monster is to attack or tribute it.
 
What you can do with your opponent’s monster is just short of amazing. If your opponent is playing flip effect monsters like Ryko or monsters with effects like Lyla, Breaker, Dark Armed Dragon, and Dolkka, you can flip or use their effects and then use them for a Synchro, Xyz, or Fusion summon.
 
Mind Control has other great side effects in that it gets their monster out of the way for a direct attack. It also gets monsters that are preventing you from special summoning like Thunder King Rai-Oh and Laggia out of the way. Take your opponents Stardust Dragon so you can use Dark Hole without it being negated. Other side effects to this card are to prevent your opponent’s monster effects from activating by using them as Xyz material. Cards like Sangan and Absolute Zero will not get their effects.
 
Mind Control works wonders in mirror matches. Take your opponent’s Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon, use its effect to summon your own monster. Then banish your opponent’s Dragon to summon your own Red-Eyes and summon another Dragon. Almost any mirror match you can think of can make great use of Mind Control. Wind-Ups, Dino Rabbits, Gladiators, X-Sabers, Inzektors, and the list goes on.
 
The only thing keeping me from rating this card a perfect 5 are its draw backs. Besides not being able to attack or tribute the stolen monster, you do not get to keep that monster ether. Still, these drawbacks do not limit Mind Control’s usefulness do to the overwhelming advantages.
 
Traditional: 4.5/5
Advanced: 4.5/5

After taking off for Memorial Day, we're looking deeply at Mind Control. When first released, no one really paid attention to this normal spell card, because it allows you to take control of one monster your opponent controls until the end phase, that monster cannot attack, or be tributed. It was put to the side, never to be thought of again...or so we thought. Then the dawn of the synchros came, and a few smart duelists figured out that you can use Mind Control to synchro summon, then Xyz monsters came and the same thing happened. Mind Control went from a afterthought to pretty much a staple card, taking the place of the banned Brain Control. In other words, you have it, you're pretty much using it. The only drawback is that it makes for a bad topdeck when surviving on a card to card basis.
 
Traditional: 1.5 Change of Heart does it better here.
Advanced: 4.5

Welcome to another week of reviews! Today we are reviewing a very powerful spell that I believe deserves to be banned- Mind Control.

“Take control of 1 monster your opponent controls until the End Phase. It cannot declare an attack or be Tributed.”

In this day and age this card has one of two typical uses, steal to use as summon material or steal to use the effect. For example, most decks run level 3 monsters and level 4 monsters as part of support for the overall theme of the deck. You can Mind Control an opponent’s monster and use it as an xyz material monster or use it in a synchro summon. The second scenario could be stealing a chaos sorcerer or BLS and have it remove itself. My favorite situation using my Dimensional Eatos deck is Mind Controlling and opponent’s monster when I have a Cyber Valley and remove both for the draw effect. Most decks can utilize this deck very well, but there are some that cannot support the deck as well such as Lightsworn and Chaos Dragon with the Lightsworn engine.

Here is why I think I believe this card merit’s a spot in the forbidden section of our forbidden/restricted list. It can steal a monster for free, unlike the 800 LP cost “Brain Control” has and can target face down monsters. If you happen to steal a Ryko, you just ruined your opponents set up and can open them up for a direct swing for game.

Pros: Free monster to your side of the field regardless of position.

Cons: the monster can’t attack or be tributed.

Advanced: 4/5
Traditional: 3/5

omigosh, this card...
I mean, when it first came out, it was a little worthless, but now it's unbelievably annoying.

This card is identical to Change of Heart, the only differences being the stolen monster cannot attack or be tributed. The non-tribute thing is somewhat of a letdown, meaning Monarchs or Verz resort to using Enemy Controller. The attack thing is a loss too, but not too major. Now the part about having to give the monster back at End Phase... That's just laughable; that won't ever happen, because by that point it's been already used up for a Synchro or Xyz.

This card is abusable in so many ways. I personally like it over the likes of Brain Control and Snatch Steal as, unlike them, Mind Control hits facedown monsters, has no cost, and is not blockable by Mystical Space Typhoon. It's so perverse in the way it instantly takes a card away from your opponent and you technically used a card just to get another card. It's like Pot of Greed, +1 advantage. You've broken down the opponents defences AND given yourself fresh Synchro/Xyz food. Oh, you have a facedown monster? I'll take it. It's a Ryko. I Flip him, eat up another one of your cards, then use Ryko to summon a nasty Synchro. Marshmallon blocking my path? I'll use it for my own Zenmaines. Is your own Zenmaines walling me for all eternity? I'll take it, use Dark Hole and opt not to use Zenmaines' protection effect. I can take your Blade Armour Ninja and activate his effect just for the sake of wasting his Xyz Material. You have Black Luster Soldier? I'll make him banish himself.

That is why I want to take today as an opportunity to rant on this card and say it deserves to be Forbidden. If most of the examples I gave can also be done with Change of Heart, shouldn't Mind Control be banned too?

Traditional: 4.5/5 (Change of Heart, Brain Control, and Snatch Steal are all available, but it never hurts to steal from the opponent)
Advanced: bannable/5 (if it's worth being banned, it's definitely worth using)
Aesthetics: 3.5/5 The puppetry thing seems cool; I definitely like it more than Brain Control's design. I like Change of Heart most of all in both art and concept, but really, I don't think we really need any more "Change of Heart" spin-offs such as Brain or Mind Control.
 
Philosophy Corner: "If a monster is not yours, it does not deserve to live." -Ryoga - Pojo's 2005 Yu-Gi-Oh! Annual magazine

What's up guys, Blackmarketyugioh again with a special request CotD.
 
Mind Control.
 
    Now, this has to be one of the most useful cards in the game right now, with Synchro and Xyx monsters running rampant everywhere, whether you are a competitive player, or just a local warrior. You take a monster, but you can't tribute it or attack wit it, and you give it back at the end of turn. Well,that's cool with me. Ima take your monster, and overlay for a Xyz monster, then not detach it until the last minute to keep it from hitting youyr graveyard. Oh, wait! Maybe I need that monster to synchro into a monster that will destroy you. Oh crap, you have a Zenmaines, wait, I'll take that, you can't use that eefect to save him this turn.

    The ramifications of this card can be absolutely game changing, and most of the time, it is. I believe that in the current game state, MC should be a staple. I play Six Samurais, and play 1 maindecked. I think it is devasting to take a player's monster and use it to my advantage. And the card has no reall drawbacks, not in this format. Yes, if you draw it at the wrong time, it can hurt, but aren't all cards that way to some point?

    Enough pilandering, lol. I truly believe that this card is going to be looked at just like it's brother (Brain Control) very soon. This card can generate so much pure advantage while simultaneously disrupting your opponet's entire strategy, all at once. Do I want to see it go, NO!!!! Lol. But as a card that sees no real drawback with the direction the game is going, I foresee this and many other cards making some kind of move on the F&L list. Don't quote me on that, and I can't say when it will happen, but I'm pretty sure it will happen sooner or later.
 
Advanced:5/5 What's not to like?
Traditional: 5/5 Still, what's not to like?
Artwork:3/5 I think the art of this card is good, but could have been better. But kudos!
 
Look for upcoming vids on my Tube page, Blackmarketyugioh, OR TeamSentinel. Later Duelist!