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Pojo's Yu-Gi-Oh Card of the Day

Thunder Dragon
Common

Discard this card from your hand to the Graveyard to add up to 2 Thunder Dragon cards from you Deck to your hand. Your Deck is then shuffled. This effect is activated only during a Main Phase.

Type - Effect
Card Number
- MRD-097

Traditional: 3.6
Advanced: 3.22

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale 1 being 
the worst.  3 ... average.  5 is the highest rating

Date Reviewed - 11.22.04

ExMinion OfDarkness Thunder Dragon

I'm honestly suprised I didn't pick this card first. Personally, I think this should end up being in the Friday slot -- it's THE most underrated Tribute monster out there.

Anyone who has seen me in real life and played against my pre-ban deck has screamed at me at some point for using this card repeatedly.

The last review of this was on 6/27/02...and boy has a lot changed since then.

The effect: You can pitch it straight from your hand to get up to 2 more of the card from your deck. There are so many things you can do with this card, with those stats/type and that effect it's not even funny.

Pros:
+1 card advantage (1 card turns into 2)

Light type -- CHAOS MONSTER FOOD! It's a Light that you can DIRECTLY throw into your Graveyard without the aid of Painful Choice or having to get it killed in battle.

Five stars -- Metamorphosis into Dark Balter the Terrible. Balters own.

1500 Defense -- Witchable in Traditional. I HAVE Witched this on a few occasions -- either I have a T-Virus ready and need the extra card, or have no Lights in my graveyard and a Chaos monster in hand.

Cons:
HORRIBLE topdeck (if you do discard it, your opponent knows you have complete crap...if you don't discard it, and your opponent plays Confiscation, The Forceful Sentry, or some other card to eliminate the card in your hand, you could end up drawing one of the other 2 later on and getting no advantage out of that one whatsoever)

If you draw 2 or all 3 in the opener, you're pretty much screwed.

Combos:
Steal an opponent's monster somehow and tribute it for Thunder Dragon. There are enough ways to take opponent's monsters and give them crap that I shouldn't have to explain it by now.

Pitch one, get the 2, and you have two shots with Tribe-Infecting Virus instead of 1.

Conclusion: Try it. Seriously, take some of the Lights you crammed into your cookie-cutter Chaos deck out and try Thunder Dragons. Those of you who thought Pot/Graceful/Painful on the 1st turn in Traditional couldn't get any more wrong: Thunder Dragon pitch to get the other 2, Pot, Graceful discarding the other two Thunder Dragons...etc, etc, etc.

Traditional (Cookie-cutter Chaos): 3.75/5 (It's speed, it combos perfectly with Graceful Charity, and it's a Light in the graveyard where more Darks than Lights are played.)
Advanced (Chaos/morph deck): 3.25/5 (It won't kill much, and if it could, it won't be able to because of the stall/burn...but it morphs into Balter and still gives speed.) Players tend to have more cards in hand in Advanced, so the extra card in hand is less of an issue, thus the lower score.
 
Snapper Thunder Dragon

Happy Monday! This week we’ll be reviewing underused High-Level monsters.
Today’s monster is Thunder Dragon, a card that fits the definition of deck thinning very well.

Stats: Thunder Dragon has the terrible ATK/DEF of 1600/1500, allowing you to search for it with Witch of the Black Forest. As is widely known, monsters requiring tributes should at the very least have an ATK of 1900, which Thunder Dragon obviously lacks. Of course, Thunder Dragon isn’t meant to ever be on the field, but we’ll get to that later. It’s a LIGHT monster, giving it some slight advantages. It’s also a Thunder monster, making it one of sixteen monsters to have this type. Obviously this isn’t advantageous in any situation. Stats – Bad.

Effect: Thunder Dragon’s effect is rather interesting; discard one Thunder Dragon from your hand to add up to two more Thunder Dragons to your hand. As said before, this card is the definition of deck thinning. Using it will give you a higher chance of drawing a card you could need later in the duel, and who doesn’t want that? The effect also allows you to put Thunder Dragons in the Graveyard, in case it would serve you better there. And in case you’re curious, you can use the effect of Thunder Dragon to add a total of zero other Thunder Dragons to your hand. Rather nifty if your Graveyard is missing a vital element and your deck is absent of more Thunder Dragons.
Effect – Adequate.

Combos: Obviously you could use the effect of Thunder Dragon to fill your Graveyard with LIGHT monsters, giving you easy summoning privileges of the Chaos monsters. Use the effect of Thunder Dragon to increase the number of cards in your hand by one, allowing you to use discarding cards an additional time for free. And of course, using the effect of Thunder Dragon while you have a Polymerization in hand will allow you to summon Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon with great ease. Whoopee.

Usability: Thunder Dragon fits well in very few decks. Most notable is a Chaos Deck, a LIGHT Deck, or any other deck that requires deck thinning.

If Thunder Dragon had good stats, it might be played more,

Advanced Format: 1.5/5. Deck thinning is useful, but not extremely necessary here.
Traditional Format: 2/5. Deck thinning is both useful and necessary at times here.
Overall: 1.75/5.
Art: 3.5/5. I really like the art on Thunder Dragon. I don’t know why…

 
Coin Flip Thunder Dragon is considered a relic of the Traditional format. Most of you are very familiar with Chaos, and there's a good reason that this was considered for a good deal of the Chaos decks. The stats are horrible, you will never want to tribute summon it unless you just Change of Hearted your opponent's Breaker and used the effect. That said, the effect was extremely useful pre-ban because of the focus on control and chaos. This card was a guaranteed LIGHT in the graveyard as well as discard bait for Graceful Charity, and a possible cushion against a Delinquent Duo. A lot of decks like deck thinning, as well as getting LIGHTs in the graveyard.

The trouble with this card now is that, apparently, it's EASY to get LIGHTs in the grave now. That leaves this thing's only good position in Deck Thinning. Of course, since it's level 5, you can morph it into a Balter or something if you get it on the field somehow... And it becomes easier discard bait. The trouble is that you never want to draw more than one and you never want to use the card for anything but discard bait if you get two in your hand. That kept a lot of people from using it.

I really think Chaos doesn't need this now. It's still a good card, but there are better cards to use, neh?

In Chaos:
4/5 Traditional
3/5 Championship
1/5 Limited. Deckout isn't something you want to happen, and this thing isn't useful enough to merit a use for Limited
 
JAELOVE

Monday: Thunder Dragon

 

Rated For: Chaos Metamorphosis, Decks requiring Hand Size

 

This card belongs on the short list of "most underrated cards of all time." In fact, you'll see that, in the Japanese game, most expert players love using this card for the discard fuel/advantage it provides (according to Edo).

 

It's by far one of the best deck-thinners in the game, but it also possesses numerous upside in a variety of useful combos with spells such as Card Destruction (absolutely godly here), Reload, Tribe-Infecting Virus, Raigeki Break, Abyss Soldier, and a slew of Rise of Destiny cards.

 

It's so versatile that it can go into any deck, including Reversal of Worlds, Exodia, Chaos, Metamorphosis, Polymerization, and such. On to the review.

 

Advantage: Right off the bat, you realize his effect gives you two cards for the price of one. Sure the stats are subpar, but there are many uses one can derive from this card. There are, in fact, so many uses for this card that they should all be listed.

-- With Reload/Card Destruction, you gain an extra card with this one.

-- With Change of Heart/Snatch Steal, they lose a monster.

-- Tribe/Abyss Soldier/Raigeki Break/Magic Jammer become free.

-- Metamorphosizes into Dark Balter the Terrible/Reaper on the Nightmare

-- Masks your hand's strength.

-- Serves in a pinch as a solid 1600 attacker.

-- Reliable form of putting lights into the graveyard.

            In a typical deck, you'll be able to make use of at least 4 of the above mentioned bonuses of using Thunder Dragon. Unquestionably, it deserves a solid score.

Traditional-- (D.Duo and CED run amok)    9/10

Advanced--         8/10

 

Best Draw for the Situation: He's almost always a good draw, unless you're topdecking. In the opening game, he's always good because he'll increase the size of your hand and let you open up your options (this depends, of course, on your deck). In a deck that uses at least 4 of the combos listed above, he's almost always a solid draw.

Traditional-- (CED increases his use a bit)  9/10

Advanced--         8.5/10

 

Attributes/Effect: He's probably the best deck-thinner in the game, especially since it's instant. His versatility makes him belong in almost any deck, period. He's also a light type and a 5 star monster (great for Chaos Metamorphosis).

Traditional--        9.5/10

Advanced--         9/10

 

Dependability: The only problem here is if you draw two in the opening hand, but you're going to be using reloads and Card Destruction perhaps too. Not a big problem, you'll basically always be able to use his thinning/advantage effect.

Traditional--        9.5/10

Advanced--         9.5/10

 

The Bottom Line: Use him for deck-thinning, fuel for resource-consuming cards, metamorphosis, tribute fodder, hand advantage, or any other situation!!!

 

A BAD Score:

    Traditional--          4.65/5

    Advanced--            4.4/5

 

Cards it functions well with: Reload, Card Destruction, Metamorphosis, Change of Heart, Snatch Steal, Polymerization, Raigeki Break, Tribute to the Doomed, Tribe-Infecting Virus, Abyss Soldier, Dark Core, Magic Jammer, many others.
 

Tranorix Thunder Dragon

Thunder Dragon is one of those few monsters that is actually more playable in Traditional Format than Advanced. It has one obvious use, and that is really the only reason anyone ever plays Thunder Dragon. 1600 ATK for a tribute monster just isn't very good.

Thunder Dragon has a Fusion (Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon), but there is little reason to play that one over some others. The real purpose of TD is simply to dump a few into the Graveyard as Chaos food. Draw one in your opening hand, discard it, and you have a LIGHT in the Graveyard, along with two extra cards in your hand (it's actually a good idea to KEEP them in your hand unless you need them in the Graveyard; that way, you'll essentially have a few free discards).

He could also potentially be used in Exodia Decks for a little deck-thinning, but I'd stick to using him in Chaos (that is, if I ever were to run Chaos).

Traditional CCCC: 4/5

Traditional No alternate deck

Advanced Some Chaos variation: 4/5
 

 

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