Winning best card of the year, not only making me happy, but also BEING the best card of the year and such good support for a theme it's sickening, is Spellbook of Judgement.  A bit tricky for this review, as this card is currently Banned in Advanced Format. We have a Quickplay Magic card, which only adds to this cards power.

During the End Phase of the turn this card was activated, add Spellbook Magic cards from your Deck to your Hand equal to the number of Magic cards activated this turn after this cards resolution. Then, you're allowed to Specail Summon a Spellcaster Monster from your Deck to your Field.

So long as its Level is equal to or less than the number of cards added to you Hand by this cards effect. You're probably looking at 1-4. It would take one hell of a chain to be able to get something like Dark Magician out. This is a combo card, but its good its mostly dependent on you (although your opponent can obviously help) but may not given that they only add to your advantage.

The card advantage that can be gained here is just sick. I might only play one, perhaps a second. I think this would be best toward the beginning of a Duel, maybe mid game, but late game this card could end up being little advantage. Obviously its best when you have plenty of Magic cards to play and more Spellbooks in the Deck.

Ratings: (Spellcaster)

Traditional: 5/5 
Advanced:  Banned

Art:  5/5  

Spellbook of Judgment
Quick-Play Spell
During the End Phase of the turn this card was activated, add "Spellbook" Spell Cards from your Deck to your hand, except "Spellbook of Judgment", up to the number of Spell Cards activated after this card's resolution, then, you can Special Summon from your Deck 1 Spellcaster-Type monster whose Level is less than or equal to the number of cards added to your hand by this effect. You can only activate 1 "Spellbook of Judgment" per turn.

And the number 1 card of 2013 is Spellbook of Judgment! Interesting to note that the top 3 cards of 2013 are the same as the top 3 cards from Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy.

This card is similar to Super Rejuvenation, but with Spellbooks instead of Dragons and a search effect and a special summon effect to boot. Of course this card does have a couple of drawbacks, for one you would need to have activated a lot of spell cards to get the most of this card. But the biggest problem with this card is that the effect happens during the end phase, so you have no chance to use any of the cards you got with this effect.

Overall, a really powerful card, and a must for Spellcaster decks.
Traditional: 4/5
Advanced: 4.5/5

Hello Pojo Fans,

Hope everyone is having a safe and Happy New Year. We have reached the end of our countdown and it ends with a card that is banned, but one I could possibly see returning one day: Spellbook of Judgment. This is the Quick-Play Spell Card that Spellbook decks were waiting for, and quickly lost (and deservedly so). “During the End Phase of the turn this card was activated, add "Spellbook" Spell Cards from your Deck to your hand, except "Spellbook of Judgment", up to the number of Spell Cards activated after this card's resolution, then, you can Special Summon from your Deck 1 Spellcaster-Type monster whose Level is less than or equal to the number of cards added to your hand by this effect. You can only activate 1 "Spellbook of Judgment" per turn.”

This card causes a massive advantage for the Spellbook player. You want this to be the first Spellbook you play in a turn to get the most out of it. If it isn't in your hand, but you know you are going to activate a lot of Spell cards that turn you will be adding this card to your hand through Spellbook Magician of Prophecy or Spellbook of Secrets. Spellbook of Power can add 1000 ATK to Spellbook Magician, and, if it destroys a monster, will add another Spellbook to your hand. Spellbook of The Master can copy the Spellbook of Secrets you used to find this card, letting you search another Spellbook and play it. In the End Phase, if you choose to Special Summon Justice of Prophecy, she can banish herself to add a Spellbook and Special Summon a Level 5 or higher Light or Dark Spellcaster (High Priestess of Prophecy). Regardless of the monster you can bring out with this card in the End Phase, with the Spellbooks you added from your Deck via this card, you are set up for big plays next turn.

You can only activate one Spellbook of Judgment per turn. Despite this, it isn't that big of a negative, as it didn't stop it from getting banned completely. This card isn't entirely useful when you find yourself in a top-decking war, or if the number of Spellbooks in your hand is minimal. If you can activate one Spellbook after Judgment you will be able to add a Spellbook and Special Summon Stoic of Prophecy, setting up a move next turn.

This card was the card Spellbooks needed to cement their position in Tier 1. They may get it back if another Spellbook card or monster get limited or banned. There are few cards that are “Banned for Life” and I don't see Spellbook of Judgment as one of them.

Traditional- 4.5/5- Pot of Greed and Graceful Charity aid this card.
Advanced- 5/5 (if not banned)
Art- 5/5

Until Next Time,
KingofLullaby

Spellbook of Judgment

Easy verdict: If you run a Spellbook deck in Traditional Format (since it is currently Forbidden in Advanced and unlikely to return any time soon), you must use this card.

Arguably the most powerful theme-focused card in the entire game, capable of up to an easy +9 card advantage. Keep in mind that Pot of Greed was banned for being an easy +1 card advantage. The fact that this card's effect works retroactively only makes it more consistent and nearly assures that it can be activated during the first turn.

It's maddening to watch your opponent defeat you in a war of attrition, not because of skillful manuevering, but because you had the misfortune of being matched-up against a one-track-minded Spellbook deck.

Advanced: N/A

Traditional: 5/5 (Great)

Contact: banefulscolumn@gmail.com

Have you ever wondered what it feels like to have your whole deck in your hand? Have you ever asked yourself, "Why can't I have my whole deck in my hand? Why must I draw cards like some puny mortal?" Well have I got a deal for you! With this remarkable product you can throw out any notions you had of restraint and just go crazy while your opponent goes into the fetal position, sucking his thumb, and begging you for mercy.

Hello and welcome to Terrorking's review of the great, the fearsome, the damning, Spellbook of Judgment.

"During the End Phase of the turn this card was activated, add "Spellbook" Spell Cards from your Deck to your hand, except "Spellbook of Judgment", up to the number of Spell Cards activated after this card's resolution, then, you can Special Summon from your Deck 1 Spellcaster-Type monster whose Level is less than or equal to the number of cards added to your hand by this effect. You can only activate 1 "Spellbook of Judgment" per turn."

Yes, you read that correctly. If you find yourself thinking, "eh, that's not so good," allow me to rewrite its effect in a way that is a bit more honest.

"During the End Phase (not that it matters, you already have Fate facedown and anything you discard at the end phase will just be used to fuel it) of the turn this card was activated, add "Spellbook" Spell Cards from your Deck to your hand, except "Spellbook of Judgment", up to the number of Spell Cards (at least two since your probably activated Spellbook of Secrets and then Master) activated after this card's resolution (yes, this includes non-Spellbook spells and can be used during your opponent's turn; it's a quickplay for a reason), then, you can Special Summon from your Deck 1 Spellcaster-Type monster (okay, just in case I'm not powerful enough, this should at least make me worth using) whose Level is less than or equal to the number of cards added to your hand by this effect (you should totally not summon Jowgen the Spiritualist or Justice of Prophecy. You really shouldn't. *nudgenudgewinkwink*). You can only activate 1 "Spellbook of Judgment" per turn (I'm sorry, but I have to preserve my modesty)."

Oh Spellbook of Judgment, you card, you. Joking aside, this card put Prophecy, a deck that was already stable, on the map. You can use it to be offensive by summoning Justice of Prophecy, then her effect can be triggered where she banishes herself to give you High Priestess and another spellbook from your deck (probably Spellbook of Secrets or Spellbook of Fate). Or you can lockdown your opponent with the much more low-key play of summoning Jowgen the Spiritualist, who along with the Fate you should have sitting on the field and the Spellbook of Wsdom will stop your opponent from doing anything. It's not uncommon to start your turn with 3 cards and end with 6 or 7 in your hand when Judgment is in the picture. This card wins games.

The best way to deal with Spellbook of Judgment is Eradicator Epidemic Virus. It's at its best, in my opinion (the one that should matter most to you, dear reader) when used after Judgment goes off. Right there you just robbed your opponent of their best cards and will destroy any problem spell (Spellbook of Fate) they draw for the next three turns and effectively winning the duel. There's also the much sillier Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell counter, but right there you just -1'd yourself to stop Judgment and fueling Spellbook of Fate.

Now use that Spellbook of Judgment and ascend to the realms of the divine, and greet me, your noble Terrorking.

Traditional: 4 (there's a lot of super powerful spells you can use here and a super powerful Magician that allows you to reuse them)

Advanced: 5 (while it was legal, that is)

Hey everyone.  For the #1 card of 2013, as you might have guessed by the fact that Dracossack was yesterday, today is none other than Spellbook of Judgment, the greatest of all the Spellbook cards.
 
What makes this the best card of 2013?  Simple.  Did you ever play with it/against it?  If you weren't doing whatever you wanted to control the field at the end of the turn you used this, something went very wrong.  You could put Jowgen on the field to control special summons, you could put Injection Fairy Lily on the field to make your opponent think twice about attacking, or you could just do the good old Justice play where you added ANOTHER Judgment to your hand and then oh, while we're at it, grab a Priestess too, which you were going to summon the next turn, guaranteed by the 3+ Spellbooks you had just added to your hand.
 
It doesn't get all that much more broken than this.  It creates ludicrous amounts of advantage every turn, and not just by drawing, but by searching whatever you want.  The average Spellbook deck already played about 20+ books, so you really had no shortage of things to grab.
 
And that folks is why it got banned.  You could open up with any two of this, Secrets, or Spellbook Magician, and you were set for the rest of the game.  It's almost the same reason that Sixth Sense is not legal, though I'd almost argue this is worse.  It could plus you far past the generally accepted +3 Spellbooks, as long as you were willing to push it that far.  You also had more control over what you were doing as opposed to Sixth Sense, which made it deadly in that aspect as well.
 
Oh and by the way, it's a Quickplay, so if your opponent is playing Spellbooks as well, or any other Spell-heavy deck, you could do it on their turn too.  Clearly a card that needed to be placed on the Ban List.  There are people that make the argument that Fate is the one that needed to go, and recently it went to one, but I feel it's the setup cards, not the power play cards that really make a deck go round.
 
Traditional: 4.5/5
Advanced: 5/5 if it were still legal
Art: 5/5
 
Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!