For those wondering, yes, I know about the error in Silent Swordsman LV5’s CotD.  For those who missed it… go back and try again.  Might as well get a laugh out of it. ;)

 

Effect               : Let’s jump straight to the effect for this one: Silent Swordsman cannot be Normal Summoned or Set.  This is pretty common for the Level Monsters, but given that the only ways to get this into play are making a successful Direct Attack with Silent Swordsman LV5 and surviving to the next Standby Phase to use the effect to search and summon this, or use Level Up!  Since it can be searched from the deck, it’s really always a dead draw.  With all these restrictions, do we get a killer effect?  The negation of the effects of all Spell Cards on the field qualifies as a killer effect to me.  Yes, this limits you somewhat, but you know this when building your own deck.  Spell cards are so important to nearly every deck in the game that this can really force an opponent’s game to grind to a halt.  That is, if the rest of the card is strong enough to take care of itself: we all remember how Spell Canceller is not played. ;)

 

Stats                : This is a Level 7 Monster, naturally, but that doesn’t really mean so much given the ways it has to enter play.  Thankfully, it is a logical extension of its line, and retains the same great Attribute (Light) and Type (Warrior, most supported of all types).  We also get a fantastic 2800 ATK; enough you should be able to stand up to most commonly played Monsters… except Black Luster Soldier-Envoy of the Beginning.  Its puny DEF of 1000 could be a sore spot: Gravekeeper Decks, for example, can quickly recover with Gravekeeper’s Assailant, and in general cards like Windstorm of Etaqua.

 

Uses and

Combinations  : Only for a Silent Swordsman deck.  Simply put, combined with cards like Jinzo or Royal Command, you can easily reduce an opponent to reliance on effect Monsters.  Even then, there are some cards that could be added with relative ease to reduce it even further, relegating the opponent to needing effects they could activate on their turn.   Just make sure you lock down the Spells when you don’t need them too badly.

 

Ratings

 

Traditional       : 3.25/5-It looks to be a pain to get out, but once it shows up you should be able to win barring a lucky top deck of some sort.

 

Advanced        : 3.75/5-Again, it’s getting it into play that really hurts it.  Still, it is something you want in a Silent Swordsman deck, and who knows, you might consider tossing one in with two Silent Swordsman LV5 into many decks/side decks.

 

Limited            : N/A-If it is ever released in a manner it could be played, it would be a 1/5 due to the insane difficulty of getting it into play.

 

Summary

Due to time constraints, I had to be very, very brief with this article.  As such, it has come across somewhat negative.  Don’t get me wrong.  You should see Silent Swordsman decks.  It’s a Chaos friendly line and with the right cards will more or less totally shut an opponent down.  It’s just that it’s a hard set-up to accomplish.