Soul Charge

And at #2 (actually, #1 on my list)... Soul Charge!

There are a lot of cards we missed because there were so many great cards released this year, that we couldn't fit them all.  Here's a non-exhaustive list of other cards to celebrate for 2014: Fire Hand, Ice Hand, Wiretap, Kuribandit, Fire Lake of the Burning Abyss, Satellarnova Alpha, Supply Squad, Madolche Anjelly, Artifact Sanctum and Leo Keeper of the Sacred Tree.

Many immediately recognized Soul Charge's huge potential as a card ; some didn't.  But in an XYZ era, it's a plain fact that it's worth paying 2000-3000 life points to get a lot of monsters on the board, especially if these monsters have ignition (once per turn) or on-summon effects.  Then, you can use these monsters to XYZ Summon and trigger more effects.  Ultimately, it's about building a setup that's so powerful, that even though the opponent's ahead in life points, they will burn up all of their resources trying to contend with that field.

Some decks don't have monsters that benefit from Soul Charge (Gravekeeper's, perhaps).  But 90% of deck types out there can benefit from it.  Sylvans and Satellarknights depended on running 3 of them. While this card is limited at 1 now, it's not so much something to rely on turn one, but at the same time, it's that one power card you can save as a knock out punch. 

In addition, this card made life points matter again.  Before you could just be down to 100 life points and still win because you're up on card advantage.  Soul Charge makes you think.  Do you really want to thin your deck with 3 Upstart Goblins knowing that you're giving your opponent free monsters.  Do you really want to play risky and take attacks if it means having less monsters to summon from Soul Charge?

There's lots of comments about this card being broken.  All it really needed, in my opinion, was the limit.  But overall, it's a card which resulted in a major paradigm shift in the game.  It can be sacky.  It can be that big comeback you're looking for, also. 

In time this card will stay relevant as quickly reviving monsters is never a bad thing.  But for now let's just observe the massive impact it had in 2014.

5/5

Hello Pojo Fans,
 
Hope everyone has had a great holiday, as well as a happy New Year later this week. We resume with #3 on the countdown: Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss. The best card in the Burning Abyss archetype, Dante is the Burning Abyss specific Xyz monster. Easy to summon, requiring only 2 Level 3 monsters. Its LIGHT attribute and Warrior-type lend it as fodder and allow it massive support in the game. 2500DEF is tremendous defensive power for a Rank 3, it will likely hold its own against almost any monster your opponent can bring at you.
 
Detach a material to send up to 3 cards from the top of your deck and gain 500ATK for each sent to the grave this way until your End Phase. At 1000ATK it isn't very strong, but when the effect kicks you will have likely a 2500ATK powered Dante attacking for the turn. After it finishes attacking it turns into defense mode and stays there until your next turn. With the attack power drop and its strong defense this is a great protective effect. When Dante hits the grave he will kick a “Burning Abyss” level 3 monster back to your hand.
 
Any deck that involves the graveyard in some sense can use this card. 2500ATK (after successful effect resolving) protects itself after each attack it makes by changing its mode and having a strong defense unlike other monsters with this effect in the past. Lightsworns, Burning Abyss, and Shaddolls come to mind. Burning Abyss lean heavily on Dante, while Lightsworns could fill their graveyard with his effect, setting up Judgment Dragon and possibly getting a Wulf or Felis as well. Any Shaddoll sent to the grave by a card effect gets an effect. Much like Burning Abyss, the likelihood of not plusing off Dante's effect in either of those decks are rare.
 
Dante is good...very good. If you run any of the above decks you should have at least 1 Dante in your Extra Deck and 3 if you run Burning Abyss.
 
Advanced-4/5
Art-4/5
 
Until Next Time
KingofLullaby

#2 on our Top 10 Cards of 2014 is Soul Charge.

Position on my list: #1

I’m not just surprised this card isn’t #1 on the list; I’m appalled. Soul Charge is easily the best card to be released this year.

This card is disgustingly good. The amount of control it gives the user over the game is almost unparalleled. The early portions of the April 2014 format centered around this card, with games often coming down to who made better use of it. Even Geargia, which initially didn’t have much of a use for it, ended up using it in multiples. The card even ended up singlehandedly making several Decks viable; the card made Dragon Ruler go from a decent Tier 2 Deck to one the top threats of the early April format, and it remained a major contender to the very end. Mermail, which was already a top threat, became better by the card’s existence, and it was arguably one of the best Decks of the early July format. Most notably however, Soul Charge shot Infernity up to the top tier from the depths of obscurity, and made Sylvan an extremely threatening Deck.

Even after the release of Duelist Alliance, Soul Charge saw use in Satellarknights and Shaddoll, the latter most prominently in the Lightsworn build popularized by Patrick Hoban. It wasn’t until the card’s Limiting in October that it finally started to die down in use, but even then it still remained popular until The New Challengers accelerated the game to the point that it was too slow to be reliable (along with Life Points becoming an even more important resource); despite this, some Burning Abyss and Shaddoll builds still utilize it.

Soul Charge isn’t just the best card of 2014; it’s one of the best cards in the history of the game. To have it clock in at #2 on this list is, in my opinion, an insult to the card.

Advanced: 5/5

For the second to last card on our list, and a card I personally feel should've been number 1, we have Soul Charge, a beast of a card that not only singlehandedly makes decks viable, but also makes for possibly the best comeback card available.
 
It is a very simple card, with the easiest comparable card being Monster Reborn, except it can revive as many monsters as possible, in terms of how much of your life you are willing to give up, in intervals of 1000. Now take note, that the life point loss is NOT a cost, so if it is negated, or stopped(i.e. Solemn Warning or Vanity's Emptiness), you do not lose the life points intended. Also, take note that if you target multiple monsters, and one of them leaves the graveyard, the others will still hit the field. At the end of this card is the obligatory once per turn clause, which is a very fair clause for this card especially(or it was, kinda renders it pointless when it is now at 1), and you cannot enter your battle phase the turn it is used. This is required to give this card some balance, as a one-card otk such as this would be maddening.
 
As for what its used in, the answer is ALMOST EVERYTHING. Barring a few decks such as Spirits, Madolches, or maybe Qliphorts, this card has near universal usage. However, there are some decks that it is more effective in than others. Decks, such as Mermails, Sylvans, and Infernities, use this card to make near-unbreakable fields, and Soul Charge made these decks very viable in the last few formats. Quite often, the only way to break a field made from a Soul Charge was to counter with your own Soul Charge. Slightly more recently, this card was abused in Lightsworn Shaddolls and Tellarknights, again for comeback plays and giant fields. However, this card was hit to 1 on the October banlist, so it is a much rarer sight than before. This card's history is still ongoing, however, and as long as it exists, it will continue to provide insane comeback plays and unbreakable fields.
 
Overall, a complete and total beast of a card.
 
Advanced:4.75/5