Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss

Welcome to Burning Abyss week.  Burning Abyss is a euphemism for "Hell".  I did a quick Cliffnotes on Dante's Inferno before reviewing this week.

Some would call Dante the boss monster of the deck, and in some regards that would be true. The entire deck doesn't center around this one card. There are of course other options, but this is usually the first priority for XYZ'ing, unless you want Zenmaines for defense or Alucard for removal. 

As a rank-3 and LIGHT/Warrior, with a Rank-Up Astral Force spell card, you have access to Pleidas, which is one of the best XYZ's in the game.  You can even use the Rank-Up spell after you use Dante's effect, so its a floater and you don't lose much from offering it.

With 2500 ATK, he often dominates the field. Of course he gets switched to Defense Mode. It seems inconsequential either way since he has a strong DEF and you can just switch him back next turn, but then what would be the point of this restriction? Perhaps it has something to do with Dante's Inferno, the story this archetype was based on.  Maybe it represents Dante's turn away from the "dark side" at the end.  That's not important, I guess.

This card is a must-have for Burning Abyss decks. Use at least 2 (3 if you can afford a playset). Though other decks that use a lot of LV3 monsters might want to run him too. Back in the day, the card XYZ monster Leviathan had 2500 ATK of muscle, and now Dante is better choice for some decks because he mills too.

I know the economy is rough and this card is a secret rare (whilst the other BA cards are cheap), but if you can even get 1 copy of this card for your Extra Deck, it would help a lot.

Assessments

Power - 4/5 ; 2500 ATK beater and decent defense walls. No removal effects or built-in protection of anything fancy like this. This card, however, excels in the other categories, which makes it an overall important part of the deck..

Versatility - 4/5 ; Its hard to think of a situation where you wouldn't want this card. You generally always want to gain card advantage and have strong floaters on the field.

Dependability - 4/5 ; This card is cost-free and doesn't require other cards to combo with it, aside from the general requirements to XYZ summon it.

Card Advantage - 4/5 ; You search from graveyard when its destroyed, you trigger a Burning Abyss effect when you detach a material and you may even mill a Burning Abyss monster to activate the effect. All in all, you're looking at an archetypal +1, maybe a +2.

Speed - 4/5 ; Ignition effect. If it can survive on summon, you're guarenteed to get its effect and quite quickly.

Ratings

Traditional - 1.5/5 ; There are much better ways to plus and crank out powerful monsters in Traditional.

Advanced - 3.75/5 ; One of the many essential cards for a Burning Abyss build. We will definitely see a lot of him this format.

Hello Pojo Fans,

Date is one of the best (and expensive) cards to come out of the latest set. A flexible Rank 3 Xyz that can send up to 3 cards to the grave to increase its attack to 2500 each turn is very good. After it attacks it goes into defense and has more than enough DEF (2500) to stand against most monsters until next turn. With no specifications to its summoning, Dante can be in any extra deck.

In the “Burning Abyss” archetype, if Dante mills a “Burning Abyss” monster its effect will go off. With two out of three current TCG Burning Abyss monsters Special Summoning themselves when sent to the graveyard, the possibilities of swarming off Dante's effect are very likely. Also, with all “Burning Abyss” monsters currently being 3 stars, multiple Dantes on the field are possible. When Dante is sent to the grave he will bring a “Burning Abyss” monsters that isn't named “Dante” to your hand, replenishing your resources. The downside to the “Burning Abyss” archetype is that if you control another monster other than a “Burning Abyss” monster, then the “Burning Abyss” monsters destroy themselves, preventing any combo with other Special Summon monsters that bring themselves out from the grave. However, this can be offset by using Crane Crane and Tour Guide.

In other decks Dante is a monster that can set up the grave for future big plays or create them the turn he is summoned. He's capable of being one of the highest attacking Rank 3's (if you choose to mill 3), while retaining a defense that makes his forced turn to defense after attacking a benefit instead of a hindrance.

Traditional-3/5
Advanced-4/5
Art-4.5/5

Until Next Time
KingofLullaby

We begin Burning Abyss week with the boss monster: Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss. He is a generic Rank 3 Monster (which is good because we need some good ones of those) with 1000 ATK and 2500 DEF. The DEF stat is very solid, but 1000 ATK is pretty pitiful. Thankfully, he can detach an Xyz Material to gain an effect identical to Card Trooper’s: mill up to 3 cards and gain 500 ATK for each until the end of the turn. Along with giving him a solid 2500 ATK, it performs the same role as Card Trooper in Decks that benefit from it, such as Chaos Dragon (which can easily make him thanks to Tour Guide). Burning Abyss Decks can make use of the mill since every one of their monsters has an effect that triggers upon going to the Graveyard. And after Dante attacks, he can switch to Defense Mode, keeping him safe even after his ATK returns to 1000.

Dante has extra utility in the Deck he was designed for. If he’s sent to the Graveyard, you can target any other Burning Abyss card in your Graveyard and return it to your hand. This creates a soft-loop with Cir (who we’re reviewing later this week) in a vein similar to that of Lightpulsar Dragon and Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon, though not quite as powerful.

Being a Rank 3 LIGHT Warrior means you can use Rank-Up-Magic Astral Force on him to make Constellar Pleiades, one of the best Xyz Monsters in the game.

Overall, Dante is an extremely solid card that is not only key to the Burning Abyss Deck, but also a welcome addition to other Decks.

Traditional: 3/5
Advanced: 4/5

Burning Abyss fans, this week is for you. We're starting off with the heavy hitter of the team, Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss. A LIGHT/Warrior Xyz monster, with 1000/2500 for ATK/DEF and needs any two level 3 monsters to special summon. Dante is an awesome card, that if you dont what it is by now, you dont deserve to know. Once per turn you can detach an Xyz material from this card to call a number from 1-3, then you send that many number of cards from the top of your deck to the grave. Dante gains 500 ATK for each card sent to the grave by this effect, until the end of the turn. Sounds familiar? If Dante attacks, it is changed to defense mode after the battle phase ends, and since it drops back to 1000 ATK after your turn, being able to hide behind a 2500 DEF monster is pretty good. And when Dante is destroyed and sent to the graveyard, you can get back a Burning Abyss card (Monster/Spell/Trap) from your grave to your hand. This card has a great thing going with the Burning Abyss theme, and there are only a few cards released for it. Cards such as Tour Guide of the Underworld can flourish again and the 3 other Burning Abyss monsters work along side it. Dante itself is what a boss monster of a deck type should be, able to help its own decktype while being able to hold its own.

Traditional: 2.5
Advanced: 4.5