This card was released in Cyberdark Impact, an overall rubbish set, but this card was a standout.  I always thought that the card was a bit underappreciated, but people were going nuts over Snipe Hunter and ignored this gem.  I think they know about it now.  And my hipster status of being the guy who teched in BHOH (Black Horn of Heaven) is gone.

Black Horn of Heaven

Let's be clear about one thing.  This card only negates inherent summon.  Cards which summon themselves (like Cyber Dragon and Judgment Dragon).  Effect Special Summons (in the vein of Soul Charge and Instant Fusion) cannot be negated by this card.

During the Synchro era, I would always side it, but there were still skeptics out there.  Once XYZ's became prominent, this card gained more attention.  There was no doubt that this was a scary card.  Over the past few years, its been a relatively popular side deck option.  Lots of people sided 2-3.  Some decks with an anti-meta tinge even mained a copy because they knew 90% of the decks they faced would get set aback by it.

This card is one of several answers to XYZ and Synchro monsters.

Of course, Pendulums will challenge this card.  BHOH only negates the summon of 1 monster.  It can't do anything against the opponent summoning 2 or more monsters at once.  This was rarely a problem since inherent summonining several monsters was never really an option, but now it is. 

BHOH will always be secondary to Solemn Warning.  It will always be weighed against its more versatile cousin, Compulsory Evacuation Device, which I personally prefer.  And the upcoming Spacetime Trap Hole will also challenge it.  But due to the fact that Spacetime Trap Hole is going to be a Secret Rare (likely an $80 card), BHOH could be a cheaper alternative.

Assessments

Power – 3/5 ; This is a play that can hurt your opponent, for a little while.  But the opponent generally has ways of recovering from it.  Evilswarms, for example, have Evilswarm Kerkyion.  This is a card that can make decks vulnerable at times but its not necessarily as impactful as a floodgate card either.  It'll help you win the turn.  Not so much the duel, but still quite powerful.

Versatility – 2/5 ; This is where the points will be deducted.  Its a great card opening game, but its a bad draw later in the game when the opponent already summoned their XYZ monster.  Compulsory Evacuation Device just is way more versatile overall.  And since it prevents ignition effects (due to priority being a thing of the past), I can't say its any weaker than BHOH either.

Dependability – 4/5 ; This card doesn't really have a cost.  Moreso a requirement.  It is also a self-sufficient card that will work in most matchups.  One might be impressed that this card is a Counter Trap, but Wiretap negates all types of traps so it doesn't really matter.

Card Advantage – 4/5 ; Players generally -1 themselves when they summon an XYZ monster on the promise that they will use its ignition effect to plus off of it and gain a floater.  When you negate the summon, especially against decks which thrive off of a first turn XYZ, like Evilswarms, you have a meaningful advantage against them.

Speed – 3/5 ; The fact that its a Trap Card which you cannot activate during the Draw Phase  does dock off some points, but its not exactly a slow card either since you'll realistically expect to use this during Main Phase 1.

Ratings

Traditional – 2/5 ; This card can still negate the Envoys and such.  Traps just aren't good here.

Advanced – 3/5 ; This card may decline from its peak a little bit, but its still really good.

Mechanic Design – 3/5 ; A very specific focused source of Special Summon negation

Artwork – 3/5 ; It's Horn of Heaven.  But black!

Verdict

There are other cards you would want to run in your deck first (Warning and Compulsory), but if you ever need more Special Summon negation, this would be the route to go.

Black Horn of Heaven can be a really confusing card. Most people will read the text for what it is and assume it can negate any special summon. However, any competitive player will be quick to tell you it can only negate inherent special summons. So any XYZ Summon or Synchro Summon you are free to negate, but when it comes to a fusion summon or ritual summon, you won't get the intended effect. Once you understand this concept of inherent summons and learn when it is appropriate to activate Black Horn of Heaven, you will come to respect the card for what it's worth. 

With appropriate timing this card can easily + yourself in terms of card advantage. If your opponent is using multiple monsters to xyz or synchro summon a larger monster, you can capitalize on that, it will really turn the tide of a duel. The fact that this card is a counter trap and spell speed 3 also helps immensely. 

Even so, there will be several instances where decks you face are just not even effected by this card. If you duel against any fusion or ritual type deck as previously mentioned, this card will be worthless to you. Also, if you face against any type of Dragon Ruler's, Mermail's, or similar effect type monsters, this card will be useless.

Ratings 

Traditional – 1.25/5 ; It won't do anything here, really

Advanced – 3.0/5 ; It's not the best main deck option right now with what we have in the meta as far as fusion summoning and pendulum summoning now coming into effect, however, it still can shut down some decks and could be useful in the side

Mechanic Design – 3/5 ; The concept of mechanic was great here but this card could have used much better wording. It should specifically say "Negate an inherent special summon". Not just any "special summon".

Artwork – 2.5/5 ; Cool concept but basic illustration

Black Horn of Heaven

This is a fabulous card, able to stop Xyz, Synchro and Pendulum Summons (only if EXACTLY 1 Pendulum monster is being Special Summoned).
Additionally, common/ well known “Boss” monsters such as Judgment Dragon, Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning, Cyber Dragon and Dark Armed Dragon can all be Negated by Black Horn of Heaven.

Basically, this card does what Thunder King Rai-Oh does… (As a comparison).

Certainly this card does have it’s limitations, it cannot prevent the Summon of a monster that is Summoned that forms a chain link or from the resolution of another card.

While this second point does mean that this card has it’s limitations, Black Horn of Heaven is also a costless Counter Trap card.

As for it being a counter trap card, monsters such as Stardust Dragon, and Number 101: Silent Honor ARK cannot use their effect to prevent their destruction. This would also get around those annoying monsters that cannot be targeted as you are Negating and destroying the monster before it gets to the field.

I was playing this card when I did not have any Solemn Warning(s) and although not as good as that card, it certainly served me well and fitted into my Deck fulfilling a much required role.

Undervalued for a long time, this card is now coming into popularity as the card for stopping opponents Special Summons (most of them anyhow), and it’s something that this card not only does extremely well, but at counter trap speed and for free!

Traditional: 1.5. A little extra since it may help if you can Summon out some hard to get over monster, one that only requires a little more protection. But then I suppose, why aren’t you using Royal Oppression?

Advanced: 4. Very little wrong with this card, and despite it’s limitations it is one of the most worthy anti summon cards currently being used in the meta.

Hello Pojo Fans,

Black Horn of Heaven is a for sure side deck option, and for some decks, a main deck staple. Better version of its originator (Horn of Heaven), negating a Special Summon and destroying the monster without needing to pay 2000 Life Points like with Solemn Warning is a tremendous plus. If you have 2000 Life Points or below Solemn isn't an option, but this card is. Counter Trap means only another Counter Trap is stopping this. Every deck out there Special Summons more than once during any duel, so running at least one of this would be a good investment.

The downside to Black Horn though is that it can't be used against cards that Special Summon by the effect of another card...and there is a lot of those. Dead against cards like Call of The Haunted and One for One, Zombie Master, etc, if more than one monster is Special Summoned at once, like what can occur in Pendulum Summoning, Black Horn won't be able to be activated as well. Despite that downside, you can wait until they Synchro or Xyz with those monsters and then eliminate multiple resources at once.

There are several cards Black Horn of Heaven can't work against that Solemn Warning can stop. But for a Special Summon stopper, this card is a good choice and worth trying out. It is for sure a Side Deck option, and possibly worth running at least one in any deck that runs traps.

Traditional-4/5
Advanced-4/5
Art-4/5

Until Next Time
KingofLullaby

Warning, Judgment, Prison, Hole. Long ago the four traps lived together in harmony, but everything changed when the TCGbanlist attacked. Only the Judgment, master of the "lolnope" can stop it, but when the players needed it most, it vanished. Many months passed until players discovered the new "lolnope," a Trap card named Horn. And although its negating skills are great, negate the wrong summon and you lose. But I believe Horn, will make me win.

Hello and welcome to another Terrorking review. Today we shall march forward with the Black Horn of Heaven being touted behind us. This card negates a monster's special summon, but only when your opponent and not a card effect would do it (seeing as the opponent controls the card effect, you'd think that would count as "the opponent summoning a monster," but let us not get caught up on the silly semantics of the trivial ENGLISH LANGUAGE).

This is a card for the main deck. It shuts down crucial plays and puts you into a good position all for the low cost of flipping the card face up. Be warned, however, that this cannot negate a Pendulum Summon if 2 or more monsters would be summoned (same for Rai-Oh), so be cautious of that and always walk with a Bottomless Trap Hole too.

Advanced: 3.5/5
Traditional: 1/5. My stance going forward on "traditional" is to give a card a 1 if it does not enable an FTK. Traditional is a fantasy format, and it's all guess work anyway.

Black Horn of Heaven

In the immortal words of Admiral Ackbar, It's a Trap! and by far one of the best traps in the game right now. It's one of those cards that really needs no introduction and proves a thought about how YuGiOh Players think. Either A) if a card gets good, they find ones that do the same thing or B) If a card gets hit(by the f/l list), they'll find a suitable replacement. Black Horn became a response to the loss of Solemn Warning, and with no life point cost, it can hit any synchro, any xyz, and a good chunk of special summonable monsters. It's also one of the random cards that with as many printings as it has, it still maintains a good value per copy.

Traditional - 3/5(Stops Emperor Dragon but not much else, still that's saying something)
Advanced 4.5/5 - I'd go the full monty if it stopped ALL summons but it doesn't. Still it's one of the best and most usable cards currently in the game. If you aren't running any...I award you zero points, and may god have mercy on your soul

Cyberdark Impact has an interesting history. Upon release it was regarded as a terrible set, with the only cards even worth using all being Common. While it still doesn’t hold up very well today, a lot of cards from the set have risen in popularity long after its release.

Black Horn of Heaven is the most recent example of such a card. Often tossed aside in the past, Black Horn suddenly saw an explosion in popular in late 2013/early 2014. A number of factors likely played a role in the sudden increase in this card’s use. Firstly, the September 2013 banlist saw a Limit on all of the major Trap Cards in the meta, which left a lot of room for other cards to take their place. Additionally, the game became even more focused on Xyz Summoning; the fall of the Dragon Rulers in January paved the way for Decks such as Fire Fist, Mermail, and Geargia to take their place, all of which could be hurt by Black Horn at the time.

As that format came to a close, and with the release of Primal Origin, several changes in the meta slightly affected the use of Black Horn. Fire Fist fell to the wayside and Mermail shifted its focus from combos to a grind game with Genex Undine. Additionally, the meta became much more varied with Decks like Sylvan and H.A.T., both of which could play around Black Horn, taking the stage. Despite this, Black Horn still remained a relatively popular card, due to Geargia, a Deck which was still hurt by it, becoming the top Deck of that format.

The release of Duelist Alliance doesn’t seem very promising for the Trap, however. While the Deck can still hurt Stellarknight (provided they don’t have a Delteros out beforehand), Shaddoll’s focus on Fusion Summoning and Yang Zing’s ability to Synchro on the opposing turn through card effect makes the card pretty useless against both of them.

Despite this, Black Horn of Heaven is a powerful card that can find its way in any Deck whenever the meta calls for it.

Traditional: 2/5

Advanced: 4/5

Black Horn of Heaven

This card has been around for a long time, and it has been seeing quite a bit of play since last format, so let’s take a look at why.

First of all, it’s effect: “When your opponent would Special Summon a
monster: Negate the Special Summon, and if you do, destroy it. “ Take note of the fact that it says “When your opponent would Special Summon a monster. “ This means it only works on inherent summons of monsters, or summons that do not start chains. So, while it works on cards such as XYZ summons, Synchro summons, and the new Pendulum mechanic, it does NOT work on cards summoned by Spell or Trap cards such as Polymerization or any Ritual Spell Card, or Monster effects, such as Debris Dragon. Thunder King Rai-Oh is in the same boat as Black Horn of Heaven, as it too cannot negate summons that aren’t inherent. Also, take note of the singular form of a monster. This is important to realize, because with the new Pendulum mechanic, you can only use Black Horn of Heaven to negate a summon if they summon only one monster. Because the summon is negated, the monster never hit the field, so even a Pendulum monster, which would normally go back to the extra deck if sent from the field to the graveyard, would be sent to the graveyard.

Now, why is it played? Because of the resurgence of inherent Summons.
Geargia need to make XYZ monsters in order to make pushes and to get even more cards, and Black Horn denied them of doing so. It is a definitive counter to Gear Gigant X, in that it doesn’t get it’s vaunted “When this card leaves the field” effect. This diminishes the power of Gear Gigant X. Of course, this isn’t to say it isn’t useful against other decks. Against Lightsworns, it stops Judgment Dragon, Lightray Diabolos, and Synchro Summons, for example.

Not to say that this card doesn’t have it’s fair share of problems.
If your opponent has a correct read on your set cards, they can avoid using inherent Summons entirely, or destroy it before it has the chance to activate. Also, it’s utility is reduced when facing a deck that doesn’t entirely rely on inherent Summons, such as Fire Fists or Fire Kings, the former uses Normal Summoned monsters to do most of the damage, while the latter uses Monster Effects to summon their monsters. This card also loses much of its use in the upcoming format, where Shaddolls use Fusion to summon their monsters, and are therefore unaffected by Black Horn.

It is a solid Side Deck card for the upcoming format, against such decks as Stellarknights. Although, you might be able to main deck this card depending on your local meta.

Traditional- 2/5
Advanced-3/5

Black Horn of Heaven is can be a tricky card to those who don't know how to use it. A counter-trap, it negates the special summon of a monster and destroys it. Here's where the tricky part comes in. It only negates the special summon of a monster that special summons itself, such as Cyber Dragon, Black Luster Soldier, and those pesky E-Dragons. It cannot stop the special summon of a monster from a separate effect, such as Monster Reborn, Call of the Haunted and the like. Black Horn is a handy card, as most monsters played these days special summon themselves anyway. It can even stop Stardust Dragon in his tracks. And as a counter-trap, it's harder to stop. But since it has to wait till a monster is special summoned, it's a target for Mystical Space Typhoon. If you have it, you should, or already are using this.

Traditional: 3
Advanced: 4