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Pojo's Yu-Gi-Oh Card of the Day
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Pyramid Turtle
Rare
Zombie
/ Effect Monster
When this card is sent to the Graveyard as a result of battle, you may select 1 Zombie-Type monster with a DEF of 2000 or less from your Deck and Special Summon it to the field in face-up Attack or Defense Position (no Tribute is required for monsters of Level 5 or more). The Deck is then shuffled.
Type
- Earth / 4 / 1200 / 1400
Card Number
- PGD-026
Ratings
are based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being
the worst. 3 ... average. 5 is the highest rating
Date Reviewed - 2.23.04 (previous) |
|
ExMinion OfDarkness |
Monday -- Pyramid Turtle:
Welcome to Regionals week! For this week, we are looking at cards that saw much more play at Regionals than anyone expected (except for Friday's card. Ooo...cliffhanger. :P)
This card nearly single-handedly defined the Butler, PA Regionals. About half of the Top 8 relied on this card. Just as the World Championships revealed Mystic Tomato's use to bring out Don Zaloog and searchers, this card allows for fast access of Spirit Reaper and Vampire Lord. I've also seen some players fetch a Patrician of Darkness, and redirect all of the attacks to a Spirit Reaper, creating a mini-lock.
The first thing most people will bring out with this is Vampire Lord, simply because unless the opponent has Jinzo, GAF, Giant Orc, or the like out, it won't be leaving for a while. And if they DO have any of those out, Spirit Reaper takes care of that.
Add Book of Life to the mix and you've got a pretty sick Deck that can stand up to a lot of things -- and 3 of this made it the speed engine we normally associate with the Warrior sub-type.
(For those of you who want to make a Deck similar to the ones at Regionals, remove your Don Zaloogs and your 1900 beatsticks (and Mystic Tomatoes if still using them) and put in 3 of this baby, a Vampire Lord, a couple of Spirit Reapers and you're all set.)
I give this baby a 4/5. |
|
f00b |
Pyramid Turtle - 2.23.02
Basically, of all the ‘type-searchers’ out there, this is the best.
Pros:
+2000 Def zombie = basically can special summon all zombies, except like sphinx and despair from the dark
+Can be ‘Book of Life‘-ed
+3 of these make your opponent second guess whether they want to attack, and allow for easy summoning of higher level zombies ^_^
+Great deck thinner if run in multiples
Cons:
-Only gets a Zombie type monster.
-Low stats, only 1200 ATK means it can’t even kill another tomato and play the suicide game.
-Without other zombies, this card is pointless, as it searches by that stat, rather than by type I.e. dark, light, etc.
Combos:
*Duh, creature swap it over to your opponent, then use their monster to kill your own turtle, special summoning a Vampire Lord/Patrician of Darkness/Spirit Reaper and continue attacking with it.
This was THE CARD to play back when V-Lord was unrestricted. I mean, I ran a deck with 3x turtles, 3x vampire lord, 3x reapers, 3x book of life, 2x creature swap, etc. You get the point, turtle can be used early as utility to take the blow from a monster only to summon your own powerhouse. It means trouble for the opponent.
And that’s pretty much it. Turtle thins the deck, is an AMAZING top deck as it is both a [semi] Beatstick and if the opponent kills it then you like, win. (Last time I heard, grabbing a free patrician/vampire lord when in top deck mode is pretty good. ;P
How about the current metagame? This card is STILL good. Reapers still see play. So does the [restricted] Vampire himself. However, it’s by no means worth running in multiples outside of a zombie deck, but rather as a TecH utility (aka a single slot) for these few playable zombies. I mean, there are other guards like Giant Axe Mummy, Royal Keeper, etc, but why get those when there are better choices, you know?
An amazing card, I guess that’s why it is in this ‘regional’ week, I mean, this card definitely pops up at regionals.
Weaknesses: Permanent Balter (my new strategy..) ruins this card by negating it, D.D Warrior Lady is everywhere and is trouble for this. Interestingly enough, your opponent must make a choice about whether to “waste” a DDWL on your turtle or save it for when the vampire himself hit’s the table. So, it’s not as bad to see a DDWL as it is to face my balters ;P hehe. Also, any type of removal hurts this card, since it isn’t like a witch/sangan graveyard effect, but rather more like tomato where it must be destroyed in battle. This is, indeed, a dock on the card, but then, any monster when destroyed by Raigeki/dark hole/etc is kinda, useless ^_ ~
Ratings:
Constructed -3.5/5 in Zombie-themed decks, 2.5/5 in Control with v-lord, reaper, etc. 0/5 if you don’t run zombies =D
Limited - 2/5 If you’re drafting pharaonic guardian, there’s a good chance you draft other zombies, so this card can be very useful.
Tomorrow and Wednesday we review my two favorite cards in the entire game. L00k out! |
|
Gambit |
Pyramid Turtle
I have been playing this card since it first came out. Its effect allows you to Special Summon many much stronger Zombies, such as Vampire Lord and Patrician of Darkness. It is also a good way to defend yourself if you get a Spirit Reaper from your deck. The added effect of allowing you to Special Summon in face-up DEFENSE mode makes life a lot easier for you if your opponent is still in Battle Phase and you choose Spirit Reaper. This card is fast becoming more common in decks as people have figured out that it is an easier way to get Vampire Lord out. I expect it to fade back into the shadows as people try to fit in more of the new set's cards, but it is a great card for Zombie decks or for stalling.
4.0/5.0 A must in Zombie decks with no realistic drawbacks. |
|
Tony |
ahh...this takes me back to the good ol' days when I had a 3 Vampire Lord Deck...I remember just kamikazing my Pyramid Turtle to Special Summon Vampire Lord and just reck my opponent's field ^^ And btw, this has to be one of my favorite weeks for COtD because my personal favorites/hates are on this week ^^ Stay tuned! dxP
oOh, btw...sorry for not doing most of the COtD reviews last week...I was busy with school and I honestly didn't know much about the XYZs >_< Back to the Pyramid Turtle review!
soo basically you can search for Vampire Lord, Partician of Darkness, Shadow Ghoul, Spirit Reaper, etc. hRmm...who knew Zombies had a lot of power? Before Vampire Lord came out, I never really looked at Pyramid Turtle, Book of Life, and Card of Safe Return. Interesting cards that goes well with a Zombie deck. I'll put some combos later in the article.
There's a reason why I put its stats on a little section on it's own. If you look at its attack, 1200 attack dies to almost any monster in the current meta-game of Yu Gi Oh. Makes pyramid turtle VERY searchable. Also, look at its
defense. Most people have realized the power of DD Crazy Beast...this does NOT die to DD Crazy Beast. O_O so they basically have to kill Pyramid Turtle in attack mode with DD Crazy Beast OR use DD Warrior Lady to remove it from out of play. I think this monster has the best stats compared to any other searchers in the current Yu Gi Oh meta-game. Now onto the Combos!
The most common one is to summon Pyramid Turtle and then kamikazing it with a Tribe Infecting Virus or Breaker the Magical Warrior (or any monster above 1200 attack) to special summon a Vampire Lord,
Shadow Ghoul, or Partician of Darkness to inflict big life point damage to your opponent. Remember, it doesn't always have to be in
defense mode. Attack your opponent with Pyramid Turtle to be killed. You'll like the results.
Another combo is with Creature Swap. This combo is one of the oldest but still one of the best combo's in the game. Creature Swap with any searchers (Mystic Tomato, Pyramid Turtle, Giant Rat, etc...) to steal your opponent's monster and to bring out a good monster (Don Zaloog, Vampire Lord, Injection Fairy Lily, etc...) I ran a similar deck in regionals having 2 Mystic Tomatos and 1 Giant Rat. It works very well.
eh, this is kinda off topic but kinda on topic so bare with me ^^. Pyramid Turtle normally belongs in a Zombie deck, but what IS a Zombie deck? Well it's a deck theme that is based on Pyramid Turtle, Painful Choice, and Book of Life while containing Zombies such as Spirit Reaper, Partician of Darkness, Vampire Lord, etc... This deck is certainly a beatdown because of the possible 6 monster recursion
possibilities in the deck. Try it one day. It's really fun ^^.
SOOO what else can you say about Pyramid Turtle? It's another Mystic Tomato that can bring out very strong tribute monsters or one of the best stall cards (Spirit Reaper) in Yu Gi Oh. It's a card that MUST go into a Zombie deck and it's a card that can go into almost any other deck that contains either Vampire Lord or Spirit Reaper. Try this card with Creature Swap to achieve it's full effect.
~NOTE~ Make sure you play enough Zombies for this card to work all the time. I normally suggest a 2-1 ratio for this card (2 Zombies, 1 Pyramid Turtle). Do NOT play with 1 Pyramid Turtle if you only have one Zombie in your deck. The possibility that this combo will work is slim to none (esp. if your only Zombie is Vampire Lord because you either Painful Choice it away or search it with Witch of the Black Forest)
Ratings:
Constructed in a Zombie Deck: 8/10
Constructed in a partial Zombie Deck: 6.5/10
Draft: 1.5/10 (sometimes you just don't draft Zombies)
Best Situation:
Your opponent has a only a Jinzo on his field. You summon a Pyramid Turtle in Attack mode. Play Creature Swap and switch control of your Pyramid Turtle with your opponent's Jinzo. Jinzo will attack Pyramid Turtle for 1200 and THEN special summon Vampire Lord to attack for another 2000 life points. In that one turn, you have taken your opponent's Jinzo, brought out Vampire Lord, and inflicted almost half of your opponent's life points (3200)! ^^ very fun combo. |
|
Quickshot |
Pyramid Turtle
Pros and Cons annoy me. They provide almost nothing to you all besides random comparisons of numbers of each which is not good enough for me. No more pros and cons for me, Just to let you all know.
:Analysis:
This is going to be a VERY informational week from me to all of you. Stay tuned, I was working hard to get them to have this certain card Friday and finally they did. Anyways, Pyramid is a lot like Mystic Tomato in terms of an advantage. They summon a monster and attack it, and yours dies but you get another, in which you skip wasting a summon in getting it out, BUT the monster is limited to 1500 attack or less. Not this one. The card lets you get out one of many Zombies, and the #1 choice is way too obvious. With Getting V-lord you can work on advantage. There are only a couple cards stopping it from totally owning J00. Who was punked..? Yee ole
opponent.
:Rating:
Casual: 4.3/5 – My V-lord Will Terminate (Say it in Arnold Swartzneggar’s voice and accent)
Tourney: 3.3
:Closing OTD: IMO not worth it. V-Lord decks focus on Big V. Then what..? What will you do when he’s out..? Get pwned against Meta Decks..? Get pwned against control..?
:AIM: Quickshot657 |
|
Otaku |
Stats:
Pyramid Turtle is an Earth/Zombie.
Earth is a fairly sturdy attribute, and
around the time of LON I threw together an
Earth-themed deck.
Keep in mind, I
did this out of frustration as my decks just
weren’t cutting it at the time.
I didn’t have a lot of good Earth cards
either. I
was using things like Jirai Gumo (as opposed to
GAF), Giant Rat (that makes sense at least), Mad
Sword Beast (until Enraged Minotaur comes out,
it’s the best Earth Trampler-and
the only one), Morphing Jar #2 (set up for Mad Sword
Beast), Giant Soldier of Stone (Gaia Power out-Level
3 1800 attacker, no Gaia-Big old wall), and of
course, the Rock Spirit.
As I all ready mentioned for GSoS,
Gaia Power made a lot of mediocre cards pretty good.
Sadly, I was using sub-par cards for the most
part-as already stated, Jirai Gumo instead of GAF,
no Gemini Elf, etc.
The deck was never a winner, but it was often
an “almost” winner, which scared the local good
players-they knew I was on a losing streak, and were
amazed that such a ramshackle deck could keep coming
so close to winning.
I just bring this up to emphasize the
relative strength of the Earth Attribute,
and
bring up Giant Rat, since Rat can search for Turtle
if needed. More
recent releases have boosted other elements, so
Earth may not be the absolute best, but it’s still
stayed near the top in my opinion.
Now, this card summons Zombies in general,
not just Earth Zombies, so long as their Defense is
2000 or less. Zombies
have some great support cards-Book of Life (Reborn a
monster and remove one from your opponent’s
Graveyard) and Call of the Mummy (Special Summon a
Zombie once per turn from your hand if your field is
empty of monsters) spring immediately to mind.
Are there any potent Zombies to accompany it?
Ever hear of a little card called Vampire
Lord?
As
a Level 4 monster, the ATK/DEF scores of 1200/1400
seem a touch low, but the effect gives good reason
to be wimpy. So
what is the effect?
Card
Text (Effects):
When this card is sent to the Graveyard as a result
of battle, you get to Special Summon a Zombie-type
monster from your Graveyard to the field, so long as
it’s DEF is 2000 or less.
That’s most Zombies ever made.
Now, “as a result of battle” is one of
those slightly misleading phrases: it really means
is sent to the battle as a direct result of losing
the “contest” between stats when another monster
is attacked or attacks this one.
Since these means you must lose, this is why
it’s good for the stats not to be too
high. Is
this effect good?
It’s great!
Well, for Zombies anyway.
Uses/Combinations:
I’ve mentioned a few already-what you really need
to know is why.
There are two Zombies I have seen that are
strong enough to warrant using this in a deck, even
if they are the only
Zombies: Vampire Lord and Shadow Ghoul.
Vampire Lord, even though restricted to one,
can still be incredible in a deck built around it
(usually control/depletion).
Its effect makes it next to impossible to
destroy permanently.
Even if they run it over with a GAF or
something, with Book of Life, that’s 3 extra
recursion cards!
Shadow Ghoul may be a surprise for most.
People tried it in the early days and it was
weak. Why
use it now? There
are a lot of cards that can trash your deck.
When I say trash, I mean chuck stuff into
your Graveyard.
Graceful Charity and Mirage of Nightmare are
commonly and well known.
For a deck around Shadow Ghoul, you can use
Magical Merchant, Troop Dragon, and more to thin
your deck fast.
I run a Shadow Ghoul deck.
Originally it was just for fun.
It started to show promise right before I had
to take a break from the tourney scene, so I won’t
say its going to be a big thing, but it at least it
still is fun.
Ratings
Casual:
4/5-A staple… for most Zombie decks.
Like most non-tourney caliber archetypes,
Zombie theme decks are more common in casual play.
In such decks, this card is great.
Even outside of Zombie decks, the ease of
adding a single good Zombie to other decks
(especially Vampire Lord, but my Shadow Ghoul deck
only has two Zombies in it-Shadow Ghouls and Pyramid
Turtles), means in conjunction with those cards, it
can see play in a variety of decks.
Remember, decks can afford to be a touch
chunkier here too (and Shadow Ghoul needs a bunch of
monsters).
Tournament:
3.5/5-Zombie decks (like most theme decks), aren’t
as good here-tournaments are the domain mostly of
Control and Beatdown.
Still, if you Vampire Lord and have room, go
for it.
Limited:
4/5-It’s in the set with a bunch of strong (at
least for draft) Zombie monsters that can be
summoned via its effect, most Zombie support cards
are in its set, an if that wasn’t enough, unless
they are starter deck based, most limited decks
won’t have a lot of monster removal.
So it will almost certainly die in the
appropriate manner to use its effect.
Finally, in this format, swarming monsters
works much better than normal, especially when you
can chose whatever big guns you managed to pull.
Summary
A
most useful card… just remember that I am most
certainly biased in favor of it due to my own deck
using it. Meaning
I should be on the high end, if not the upper limit,
of the review scores. ;)
-Otaku
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|
Desler |
Mon 02.23.04 - Pyramid Turtle
Pyramid Turtle is a monster card with a versatile effect. Its statistics won't break a duel, but its effect just might. As a stand alone monster it isn't very well off, as most things can and will kill it. It's 1400 defense is almost a liability, as there are many 1400 attack monsters, and this is something you will want to die in battle.
HOW IT IS USEFUL NOW: Pyramid Turtle can fetch some pretty good monsters, Spirit Reaper and Vampire Lord being
among the two finest. Beyond this however, its usefulness ceases. Deck thinning can be a plus. It also
receives a plus for being able to suicide against other monsters.
HOW IT WILL BE USEFUL LATER: More Zombies arrive in the future sets. The most notable zombie is Dragon Bone Ogre, a 6 star 2400 attack 2000 defense monster that is the most playable tribute zombie aside from Jinzo. With 3 books of life a deck lined with them could potentially be very threatening to certain decks unprepared for the zombie onslaught. This will only add to the value of pyramid turtle.
BOTTOM LINE: A useful card in zombie decks with passable stats. I
recommend using no more then 2 though until the next set comes out.
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 |
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