Monday
 
Looking at essentially randoms from Abyss Rising this week, we open with the Counter Trap, Retort.  I seriously believe Retort could be a fun piece of Tech, despite being dependent on a couple of things.  If your opponent activates a Magic or Trap card, and said card is in your Graveyard, you can negate its activation, and destroy it.  That, on its own, isn't too impressive, but the card becomes a 1-for-1 as you can then add the selected card from your Graveyard to your Hand.  Of course, you only get to add the card to your Hand if your opponent doesn't counter something to this to negate its effect.  But if successful, I like the premise here.  Obviously this works best mid to late game, as you're likely to have played said card, (whatever it may be), and there are certainly enough Magic and Trap cards that you and your opponent share in your respective Decks.
 
Ratings:

3/5 both Formats...it might actually be better in Traditional, if only for the potential of gaining a card you couldn't in Advanced
 
Art:  3.5/5

Now that the Thanksgiving holidays are over and it is back to work and school for most people, we jump right in to our first Card of the Day: Retort. It is a counter trap card that can not only negate and destroy your opponent’s spell or trap card, but can replace itself by adding that same card name to your hand from your graveyard. The only stipulation is that you need to have that spell or trap card in your graveyard to activate Retort.
 
Plusing your opponent and getting a good card back to your hand is a good thing. You have always wanted a way to reuse those limited spell and traps and now you have it. Stop your opponent from using Monster Reborn, and then get yours back to use it a second time. The nice thing is that you do not have to pay any life points to use it and it will negate any spell or trap except those that can not be responded to.
 
Now let’s look at the down side. First you have to have the same spell or trap in your graveyard as the one your opponent is playing. This is something that is not going to happen in the early game or if you are playing completely different decks. You can probably count on the staple cards most of the time, but then you still need to play those mostly limited or Simi-limited cards and then your opponent needs to do the same thing while you have Retort set. That is a lot of things that need to happen, so drawing Retort early game will just result in a dead draw.
 
At the fast pace most decks work in, Retort becomes a poor card choice. However, if you are playing a slow and methodical type of deck that runs a lot of spells and traps like Ant-Meta decks, then running a couple Retorts may be a good option. It could also be a side deck option for mirror matches. As far as the main deck, finding room is next to impossible. How well this card works in the current Meta is reflected in my ratings.
 
Traditional: 1/5
Advanced: 2/5

I hope all of you, including my fellow COTD reviewers and The Mightiest of the Mighty himself Pojo, had an excellent Thanksgiving. This week we are looking at cards from Abyss Rising that are all pretty handy in their own ways. First up is Retort, whos card art reminds me of my own recent Thanksgiving with my family.
 
When your opponent activates a Spell/Trap card with the same name as one in your graveyard: Negate the activation, and if you do, destroy that card. Then, you can add 1 card with that name from your graveyard to your hand.
 
Retort is a Counter-Trap, that gives it more play-ability. When you use it to negate and destroy a Spell/Trap card your opponent plays, you need to have a card with the same name in your grave. Early in the game, this could be very risky to use, as most decks use 2-3 Mystical Space Typhoons and a Heavy Storm, so it could get wiped out without getting to meet Retort's requirements. This is best used in mid to late game, as you can get back something like Monster Reborn, Pot of Duality or Heavy Storm. This is a good card, you just need to be patient and wait for the right time to use it.
 
Traditional: 2.5
Advanced: 3.5
Tomorrow: A good review or your money back.