Stats:
Tower of Babel is a Continuous Trap, and as we
will see later, thanks to the effect, it really
can’t be run any other way… well, maybe as a
monster, but I don’t know if that’s be much of
an improvement.
Effect(s):
When a Spell Card is activated, you place a
Spell Counter on this card. When counter number
four hits, this card destroys itself and
inflicts 3000 damage to the LP of the player
that activated the Spell card that placed said
fourth counter. So, if this card has 3
counters, neither player is going to want to
activate a spell card. Also notice that this
card refers to activation of a Spell card,
meaning that if Imperial Order negates a Spell
card but Tower of Babel has already been
activated, then it will still get a counter.
Uses/Combinations:
A wonderful card for burn decks, and possible a
good card for normal decks if they have room.
The reason is that the best way to use this card
just involves cards that are already in most
decks. Set as many of these as you can, along
with an Imperial Order (to protect them) and
maybe some MSTs.
Next turn, if your opponent
tries to nuke them with something, chain
the activations of Imperial Order and however
many Tower of Babel cards you had set. If they
try and chain an MST to nuke your Imperial Order
and the card that IO was trying to negate was
not widespread Spell/Trap removal (Harpie’s
Feather Duster, Heavy Storm), chain your own MST
to nuke itself or an opponent’s card. Initial
Spell + opponent’s MST + your MST=3 Spell
counters. They can’t activate another Spell
card to nuke them now without getting smacked
for massive LP damage.
…
Sound too complicated?
Yeah, it probably will be without insane luck.
Fortunately, that is just the “insanely hard to
counter” set-up. The easy way is set one when
you have at least three spell cards you can use
in hand, and if it survives, next turn activate
it and then use those spell cards.
Taa-dah.
In certain decks, Barrel
Behind the Door is used at full count.
For those decks, this card is great-it does LP
damage, so even if you set it off yourself, you
can use BBtD to
shift the damage to your opponent.
One thing I wouldn’t worry about is using other
ways to get counters on it: if your deck doesn’t
have enough Spell cards being used to power it
up fast, then your deck is probably more than a
little rogue.
Ratings
Casual:
4/5-A lot of “extra” spell cards see play in
this format.
Tournament:
3.5/5-If you got room and your deck uses some
Spells, toss this in. Once you get that third
counter on it, it’s almost like spare Imperial
Orders. Multiple copies can get spell counters
at the same time, so three of these would kill
just about any player’s LP outright. Just be
cautious of backing yourself into a corner.
Limited:
4/5-Much harder to power up, but if you can set
it up, your opponent will literally be unable to
play a Spell Card without killing himself. Then
there’s the fact that there is a lot less
Spell/Trap removal.
Summary
I really like this card, as it really can act
like back-up Imperial Orders. I also like the
oddly appropriate Biblical tie-in: the Tower of
Babel was a structure built shortly after
civilization had recovered from Noah’s flood.
Humanity was supposed to spread throughout the
globe, but instead ignored God and more or less
stayed in one spot, then had the audacity to
build a colossal tower to celebrate
their own cleverness
and skill. As punishment for their
disobedience, God “made” people start to speak
different languages (until this time, there was
only one language). This created mass
confusion, and people finally started migrating
away with those that spoke the same tongue. I
am not Biblical scholar, and am going off the
top of my head for this, so please, don’t freak
out if I buggered it up.
