We’re finally down to our #1 card of 2015! After the 2014 Top 10 list had Soul Charge lose to Number 101: Silent Honor ARK for God knows what reason, I was very much hoping that we wouldn’t have a similar situation occur this time around. Fortunately, the #1 card on our list is the card that very much deserves the spot, although Wavering Eyes came close to beating it.

So if you weren’t able to guess, the #1 card of 2015 is obviously Elder Entity Norden!

Position on my list: #1

Words can’t even describe how absurdly powerful this card is. Rank 4’s are already the single best set of Xyz Monsters in the game, and Elder Entity Norden lets you summon one for practically nothing thanks to Instant Fusion. Whether it’s extending an already powerful play or mounting a comeback, Elder Entity Norden can easily swing games in favor of whoever summons him, and even though the TCG didn’t receive him until a point where Rank 4’s weren’t a centralizing presence (and with Pendulums on the rise making him difficult to use), Norden still managed to have a strong impact on the game.

On release, Norden instantly made his way into Nekroz, Shaddoll, and Satellarknight Decks, among others. After the fall of these Decks in November, Norden still managed to make an impact in Performage Pendulum Decks, and he still sees use in that Deck today. While it’s debatable as to whether or not Norden will still have a spot in that Deck going into Breakers of Shadow, what doesn’t change is the fact that Norden lets any Deck with Level 4 monsters have access to the increasingly versatile Rank 4 engine.

Though we only got him late this year, Norden was a major threat in the OCG for quite some time, which resulted in initially the Limiting of Instant Fusion over there, which eventually changed to Norden himself being Forbidden. One can expect the TCG to follow suit with one (or both) of these changes eventually.

Elder Entity Norden is the best card of 2015. It would be foolish to think otherwise.

Rating: 5/5

For those interested, here was the personal Top 10 list I submitted to Pojo; it was slightly rushed due to me having to deal with finals at the time, but for the most part I think it turned out alright:

1. Elder Entity Norden

2. Performage Damage Juggler

3. Ignister Prominence, the Blasting Dracoslayer

4. Wavering Eyes

5. Luster Pendulum, the Dracoslayer

6. PSY-Framelord Omega

7. Brilliant Fusion

8. Tellarknight Ptolemaeus

9. Nekroz of Unicore

10. Lose 1 Turn

Given a chance to redo my list, I would move Wavering Eyes to #2 and put Luster Pendulum above Ignister. I would also replace Nekroz of Unicore with Shurit.

Happy New Year’s everyone! Here’s to hoping that 2016 goes well for all of us!

Welcome to #1, Elder Entity Norden.  I actually completely forgot to add this card on my list, but if I did, it would have been at #2: just under Wavering Eyes.  Some honorable mentions: Luster Pendulum the Dracoslayer came in at #7 on my personal list (it's a great card and will be such for years to come); Lose 1 Turn also barely made it on my list at #10.
 
 In the last review, Norden card got a low-ish average.  Some of the reviewers gave it a 1 or 2 because they were unaware that Instant Fusion circumvented its difficult summoning requirements.  This was an unacceptable error on the part of the Card of the Day team, as any person who even remotely understands the meta should know how this card works.
 
It can instantly make Rank 4's and Synchros of any kind, resulting in one of the easiest plusses of our modern era.  It's a beneficial card to almost any deck.  It was once said that this card would be extremely broken and ban-worthy but two things happened.  1) The new Kozmo/Performage cards power creeped it a little bit, so it's no longer the only big threat now and 2) Norden is a boon to all decks, especially low tier ones.  Now, it's probably best that we just limit Instant Fusion to 1 and call it a day.
 
5/5
 
Another year on Pojo.  It's been great.  Thank you Bill for giving me the opportunity to give back to the Yugioh community.  Shout out to Chris and T-Rex, for all the good they've done for the site.  Shout out to past Pojo writers like Jaelove, Pook, ExMOD and plenty of others.  Thanks to all of the readers who have been here with me thus far.  Happy holidays, and I'm looking forward to 2016.  Have fun, Pojoers.  :)

Hello Pojo Fans,
 
Hope everyone has a safe and Happy New Year.
 
#1 on the list wasn't a hard choice: Elder Entity Norden.
 
EEN can be Fusion Summoned by its materials or can have at least one substituted by a fusion substitute. Normal stats for a Level 4, with some support behind it for Type and Attribute. Pulling a Level 4 or lower monster from your grave and Special Summoning it whenever Norden is Special Summoned is a terrific effect. Stack to Xyz Summon, Synchro with a Tuner, double attack and then tribute the monster you Special Summoned. You can use Norden's effect over and over as long as you can Special Summon him from the Extra Deck or the graveyard (CoTH and Instant Fusion come to mind right away).
 
What also makes EEN a great card is its ability to be flexible. Every deck uses Level 4 or lower monsters. Instant Fusion is the only card needed to get Norden to the field to net you a +1, if not more depending on the deck you are using. Tellarknights could spark their spamming of the field, Shaddoll could get effects rolling once the Level 4 goes to the graveyard, while any other deck that chooses to run Norden will get the previously specified +1. 
 
Can't recall when a Fusion Monster was so flexible that literally ANY deck could run one or more copy of that monster. Elder is a great card and requires little resources to spark its effect and help you advance your strategy, that is why he is our #1 of  2015.
 
Advanced-4/5
Art-4/5
 
Until Next Time
KingofLullaby

Did anyone not expect Elder Entity Norden to be on the list? This card received an appalling 3.79/5 and now is probably going to get at least a 4/5 from everyone this time. However, it must be mentioned that the score on this card plummets when Instant Fusion gets banned. Until then, run 1-3 of each and go nuts with Rank 4 plays, or Level 5, 6, 7, 8, etc Synchros. Heck, just use the effect and Tribute them for something beefy. All at the low cost of 1000 Life Points to activate Instant Fusion. This is the reason that Super Polymerization will never come off the Banned List. Even the stats of 2000 Atk and 2200 Def are good (for a Level 4 Monster). 
 
Score: 5/5 So long as we have Instant Fusion, we have a 1000 Life Point awesome combo.
Art: 4/5
 
I'll put my list on that Forum page in case anyone wants to laugh. 
 
Happy New Year, Everyone!
-WarlockBlitz