And the Band Played On...there's a name for a card, no? This is a Continuous Trap card, and a very interesting one at that. Despite things being, and having been, incredibly aggressive for a good while in Yugioh, this is a card I'd still really like to see some people give a try. This isn't as big a shutdown card as people may think, or it may initially appear. But it's a thinking players card, as it forces you and your opponent to think. You in terms of how to effectively use it, and the opponent how to effectively work around it. (Yes, I'm basing this all on the fact that it won't get destroyed immediately). This Trap prevents both players from Special Summoning Monsters the same Level and Rank (yes AND) as any Monster they all ready control. See, now it doesn't stop anything, but it can slow you down. I think a Deck that focuses heavily either on Removal (possibly more of your own Monsters) and/or Synchro Monsters could really enjoy this card. This is something I want to actually try and investigate and see what I can work with myself. My verdict is out for now, but I'm scoring on the favorable side.

Ratings:

Traditional: 2/5
Advanced: 4/5
Art: 1.5/5 Can't quite get over that picture, sorry

We have a really good anti-Meta card for you today in And the Band Played On. It is a continuous trap card that keeps both players from doing things like, Xyz summoning and loading the field with monsters of the same level. That really hurts just about any deck in play today as well as the new Pendulum mechanic. Decks like Geargia, Madolche, Sylvan, Mermail, Mythic Dragon, Evilswarm, Hieratic, Noble Knight, Gravekeeper, and Consteller decks all get squashed by the Band.

There are some decks that can run And the Band Played On with some success. Gagaga decks run Gagaga Girl and Magician which can manipulate their levels. Sylvan’s run Copy Plant, Harpies run Harpie’s Channeler, and Artifacts run Star Drawing.

There are some other top tier decks that And the Band Played On work really well in as they do not depend on Xyz summoning. Decks like Stun, Fire Fist, Hats, Inzektor’s, Spellbook, and Bujin’s can thrive on having just one monster or just one Xyz monster on the field at one time.

Only time will tell on just how important And the Band Played On will be in thwarting the powerful spam decks that tend to rule the nest. For now, it seems best to join them rather than fight them. And the Band Played On can be played around and out paced. I can see it as a side deck card, but that is about it.

Traditional: 1.5/5
Advanced: 2.5/5

And the Band Played On

Another new Trap card from Primal Origin today, in this case And the Band Played On. And the Band Played On is a Continuous Trap card that screams “No easy Xyz monsters!” And the Band Played On prevents both players from either special summoning monsters with the same level or rank as monsters they already control. This can stop cards like Goblindbergh and Tour Guide from the Underworld and generally slowing down the creation of Xyz monsters and stop people from spamming the field with armies of Rank 4s. However that is really its only use and it affects you as well so unless you don’t like special summoning you are going to be hurt as weel. Also it has all the inherit weakness of a Continuous Trap which doesn’t help.

Overall, despite what it hopes, it is a very mediocre card which came out way too late to really be any use.

Traditional: 1/5
Advanced: 2/5

Moving on through the week, we look at And the Band Played On, a trap card that's been released twice already for the Primal Origin set and deluxe edition.

This continuous trap ensures that no one can special summon monsters of the same rank or level as ones they already control.  It works better against some decks than others, for example anything that relies on summoning multiple copies of high-level monsters, or something like Glad Beasts, which require two or more monsters to make their nasty fusion monsters and are mostly level 4.  It's useless against decks that don't special summon much or make additional normal summons as opposed to special, like Fire Fist or Bujins.

Really I would ignore this.  If you need to stop special summoning from a defensive point of view, Vanity's Emptiness has been and is still a go-to card.  Monster version like Krystia and Fossil Dyna are also still viable, really putting this card on a lower tier.  Stick to the big guns.

Traditional: 1/5
Advanced: 1.5/5
Art: 3/5

Thanks for reading!

And The Band Played On

This is one of those cards that's seemingly powerful, but for some intricate reasons not viable enough for lots of competitive players to say "hey, I want to use this card". 

Its not a main deck card as half of the time you are going to face a deck that isn't badly affected by this card and it'll be a waste of space. But some people are opting to side it. It hurts decks that swarm similarly leveled monsters, especially for those who base their win state on looking to XYZ. It stops opponents from swarming with more than XYZ. It's not really common but its still there.

But there are things this card does not get around. The opponent can still Normal Summon a monster of the same level. Monsters that were summoned before the activation of the card are safe. And, worst of all, if your opponent has the materials already, they can still XYZ summon. This card should be activated before your opponent builds up a field of monsters, which is not always possible. This card is dead if you draw it late.

Also this card affects the player too. So if you run a deck that XYZ's quite a bit, then this card would be dead.

This is not a bad card but there are considerable marks against it that may seem subtle to the un-discerning player. It's a reasonable option for some decks, but overall, most people should just stick with Kaiser Colosseum if they want an anti-XYZ lockdown effect that doesn't hurt the user.

Traditional – 1
Advanced – 2.5

I'm just one man. I'm a one man band. Rock, rock, rock. I'm a sell out.

"And the Band Played On" is one of the prime examples of the foolery of considering yourself a "serious Yu-Gi-Oh player". Anyway, the card's clearly meant to shut down Xyz-centric decks, and does a fairly decent job of it. It comes with all the weaknesses of Continuous traps however (so many monsters destroy backrow cards these days), and has no answer to the numerous Xyz fodder monsters that modulate their levels. Your opponent could just as easily Normal Summon after Special Summoning the first monster, and then get an Xyz monster to neutralize this card. This isn't a main deck card by any stretch of the imagination, but it could force your opponent to make less efficient plays than they would otherwise.

Regardless, you could just be running Vanity's Emptiness, but this card isn't junk either. If you wanna go for it, drop it in the side deck and be a cool kid. Rock on.

Advanced: 2/5
Traditional: 1/5

And the Band Played On

Personally, I like this, it's a unique disruption card that can hurt quite a few decks without the drawbacks of something like Vanity's Emptiness. You can't special summon a monster with the same level or same rank as one you already have. It hurts Geargia since you can't special that accelerator, you have to waste the normal summon. They can't drop 2 or 3 Gear Gigant X's like you normally would be able to. Prevents Dragons from having access to Dracossack or Big Eye..or even Master of Blades. Turns off Kagetokage in the Gadget matchups, Glad Beast have to tag into something maybe they don't want to, the Mermail matchup loses the ability to make the best use of the hilde/gunde plays with Pike/Turge. It does a lot, but it isn't impossible to play around.

Traditional 1.5/5 - About the only thing this really really affects is Goat Control as you cant use Metamorphosis on a Scapegoat token for Thousand Eyes but at the same time, Harpie Duster and Heavy Storm are a thing.

Advanced 3/5 - Like I said, I like it. It affects so many decks but all it requires is a change in the game plan and I prefer my disruption to stop, not just hinder. Still, if you're a budget player who can't afford Vanity's Emptiness..this isn't a horrible substitute