Performapal Sleight Hand Magician

Well this is a monster that draws my interest, though I can’t help but thinking it missed out on a lot of opportunity. Basically a Dark Magician in form, Sleight Hand can be special summoned easily, which is nice, and has a 1-for-1 card pop. Konami is all about the “once per turn” phrase, so I can’t really call it a detriment, and it’s nice that it’s any card, not just monsters or spells/traps. As a light spellcaster, it has support, though not nearly as much support as dark. If this thing had been a dark type, it would have seen a LOT of action. It’s also a bad break that this monster isn’t a pendulum.

I frown as I write this, but only because I know that despite the weaknesses I just mentioned, this monster is waiting to be used properly. Any combination of “ability to special summon from hand” and “discard to destroy a card” should warrant attention. And so what I’ll say is that the stage for this magician is not yet set. The lack of Performapal scale 8’s is probably the main reason Sleight Hand Magician isn’t as good as he could be, but a ton of future Performapal support is obviously guaranteed, which will only make Sleight Hand stronger. Not only that, but he’s also a very good generic spellcaster with the perfect level that could be great just for his popping ability. This monster isn’t very good now, but he has enormous future potential, and we could very well see him main decked in tier 1 builds some day. Watch out for this card.

Advanced: 2.5/5

Future Potential: 4.5/5