Christian Moss - Review - Final Countdown

Pay 2000 Life Points. After 20 turns have passed (counting the turn you activate this card as the 1st turn), you win the Duel.

Final Countdown is an alternate win condition card. You pay 2000 life points to activate it, and then after 20 turns have passed, you win the duel. To last for 20 turns can be quite the feat, especially after paying 2000 life points. Is it realistic? Lets weigh some of the pro's and con's to find out.

Final Countdown is a normal spell card that once it activates and resolves, is sent to the graveyard automatically. One of the nice parts about this cards mechanics is it does not need to remain face up on the field (like Destiny Board) in order to win at the end of the 20 turns. Your best bet is to stall your opponent out, and not let them attack you directly. If you can get some decent protection set up on your field, you can prevent your opponent from being able to deplete your life points to 0. It's a perfectly possible strategy, but it does require a lot of planning, and a decent bit of luck to pull off successfully.

The biggest negative with Final Countdown decks are the consistency issues. Your final countdown to win, after 20 turns, cannot begin until you activate final countdown. If you don't draw into it, you could be looking at 25, 30, or even 40 turns to win depending on how long it takes to get a copy to your hand. Another drawback is the card itself does nothing defensively or offensively in itself, and is a +0 resource by nature when activated. Considering you will want to run multiple copies in order to draw into Final Countdown quicker, it's going to be painful when you have already activated a copy, and you top deck a second or third absolutely useless copy. The amount of offensive and defensive resources you have will be lacking compared to your opponent as you acquire dead draws. Lastly, it cost 2000 life points to activate. There immediately goes 25% of your entire life, and it makes it harder to last 20 turns, which is quite a long time in Yu-Gi-Oh!, especially in this fast paced, multiple special summoning per turn meta we currently have.

In conclusion, Final Countdown can work in a deck solely based around its presence, with the objective being to win specifically and only through its alternate win condition. However, 20 turns is a long time to last when you are already down 2000 life points and have multiple dead draws awaiting you in your deck. You might be able to catch a lot of duelists off guard who aren't expecting to see a Final Countdown deck, in game 1. But if you are victorious in the first round, after getting to side for the match, a well seasoned and resourceful duelist opponent will have no problem taking games 2 and 3 once your fragile strategy is revealed.

Ratings:

Traditional: 1/5
Advanced: 2/5
Mechanic Design: 3.5/5 (I like non-overpowered alternate win conditions by nature, as they tend to add diversity and strategy, and provide additional means to an end. However, Final Countdown in itself requires severe stall tactics, which are rarely fun for your opponent to duel against, and other alternate win conditions like Exodia and Destiny Board already require similar stall tactics, causing redundancy instead of diversity.)
Art: 4.5/5 (I don't want to be anywhere near where the image depicts when final countdown resolves)

Hello Pojo Fans,
 
Finishing out our Ban Week, we're looking at Final Countdown. A pretty simple card, and potentially lethal if the player can set it up correctly. By paying 2000 Life Points. After 20 turns have passed (counting the turn you activate this card as the 1st turn), you win the Duel.
 
10 full turns between you and your opponent separate you from victory after activating this card. We've all probably faced and/or been the victim of Final Countdown. You play it, then it's time to stall! Waboku, Threatening Roar, Thunder of Ruler, Battle Fader, and Swift Scarecrow become your best friends. Three of each will ensure victory if you hit them continuously. Stalling cards are most effective for those playing this card, as I've never seen a Final Countdown deck be offensive. Spirit Reaper, Marshmallon, Shield Wing, and Cyber Valley are monsters to consider using.
 
Paying 2000 life points can hurt you, but if you have your stalling pieces set up it shouldn't be that much of a problem. The real issue is searching out and playing Final Countdown as quickly as possible.  Upstart Goblin helps you draw (as you won't be caring about life points), Cyber Valley and One Day of Peace will help as well. Gold Sarcophagus is your best bet. Wait two turns to get it, play it, and stall! Pot of Duality can be maxed out in this deck, and you can play Morphing Jar to reset your hand. Set all the cards you need (that aren't monsters) set Morphing Jar, and wait for the opponent to flip it. The only way this deck fails is if you can't get Final Countdown into your hand quick enough, stall out against your opponent after activation, or they negate your activation of Final Countdown. Stalling doesn't guarantee victory either. Piercers exist, and they will feast on your stalling monsters.
 
Traditional- 1/5- Don't even try, you'll be dead before turn 10, period.
Advanced- 2/5- Better chances, but things have to go right, and there are ways to really hurt your stall.
Art- 3.5/5
 
Until Next Time,
KingofLullaby

Final Countdown

This card has not changed very much since it's release years ago. It needs a deck specifically tailored to it in order to be useful. However, even a deck focused on Final Countdown was never really consistent enough to work. That's especially true now as it's limited and you can't really build a deck around it anymore. Perhaps, Konami wanted to limit it because having a deck centered around it was too rogue, and a total slog to play against (and I don't blame them).

Nonetheless, if it was not a good card already, it's easy to extrapolate where it stands now

Traditional: 1/5 (Bad)

Advanced: 1/5 (Bad)

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