Stats: Total Defense Shogun is a Level 6 Dark/Warrior.  Being Level 6, he requires a single Tribute to Normal Summon.  As a Dark Monster means that it has adequate support, and can of course be used as Chaos Food.  Being a Warrior means there is much support for this card.  It has an ATK of 1550.  This is just barely high enough to kill most supporting monsters.  The most significant supportive monster that it is not enough to kill is Tribe Infecting Virus in ATK mode and D.D. Warrior Lady in DEF mode.  However, had it been a mere 50 Points lower, while being vulnerable to attacks by D.D. Warrior Lady, the creature would have also been legal to summon from the deck by a Mystic Tomato or Last Will, and it would have been a legal target for Sangan to search.  Had it been just 100 points lower, it could have hidden under Messenger of Peace.  Oh well.  The DEF is an impressive 2500.  This stops most monsters.  Now, such a DEF isn’t too valuable, especially for Tribute monsters, since some of the more playable Tribute monsters can just nuke it with an effect, and of course you can just suck of 1000 damage with D.D. Warrior Lady and remove it, discard and nuke it with Tribe Infecting Virus, or summon and sack an Exiled Force.  Fortunately, this card has an interesting effect that makes the DEF very, very useful.

Effect(s): The first effect looks “iffy” on its own: when you Normal or Flip Summon the Shogun, he automatically kicks himself into DEF mode.  Since that’s his big stat, it’s pretty nice.  Still, why not use a different big Defensive Monster.  Millennium Shield would be a much better choice, even for a Warrior deck (it’s a Level 5, 0 ATK/3000 DEF Earth/Warrior with no effect).  That’s where the second effect comes into play-this bad boy gets to bend the rules and ATK while in DEF position.  Now, don’t get to excited: he uses his ATK score of 1500 for damage calculation.  I also believe that you would still take damage hitting a DEF monster, and would die hitting a higher ATK monster-the benefit is that you are safe from cards that specifically reference being in ATK mode, like Mirror Force.  In fact, the only one I can name off the top of my head is Mirror Force.

Uses/Combinations: Well, the best way I can think of using this card is definitely with the upcoming Championship format.  Two cards turn this from being a bit weak to being wicked.  Weapon Change will let you attack with 2500 while still being in DEF mode.  Now, since the effect lasts until the end of your opponent’s next turn, you’d seem to be a sitting duck with just a DEF of 1550.  No problem-A Chorus of Sanctuary will boost that up to 2050-enough to frustrate even Berserk Gorillas.  Combining this with similar big defenders (Gear Golem maybe), and you can have an interesting “Defensive Beatdown”.  Another option is to toss in some Command Knights.  She can either join into attacking, but will probably work best simply getting into face-up DEF mode and bumping Shogun up.  If we risk tacking it onto the Chorus of Sanctuary/Weapon Change combo, we might be happy-now those attacks are hitting for 2900 while hiding behind a still solid 2050 DEF.  D.D. Warrior Lady is also a natural for the deck-use here to remove potential road blocks.  Exiled Force as well.

One last thing-there are several easy-to-summon monsters that can help get Tribute “fodder” into play.  Zombyra the Dark and Goblin Attack Force would both last for a bit in ATK mode.  Big, low level DEF monsters like Giant Soldier of Stone or Wall of Illusions are hard to remove.  Then there are just things like the normal searchers (Mystic Tomato, Giant Rat, etc.) or cards like Nimble Momonga that can get a lot of creatures into ply with relative ease.

Ratings

I’m dropping the “current” bans since they will not matter in a few weeks.  First number is no bans, second is the upcoming ban list.

Casual: 2.75/5, 3.75/5-I honestly believe this deck has potential.  I caution that I have not tested it yet though.  Once we lose the Typhoons and the mass removal, this card can set up a strong hold on the field.

Tournament: 2.5/5, 3/5-Without bans, there is little hope for anything half creative.  To many “broken” cards have accumulated now.

Limited: If you could actually use it here, it’d be solid.

Summary

A good card, maybe just a tad off.