Sorry about the lack of reviews lately: I’ve been surprisingly busy.

 

Given that we are dealing with a Quick-Play Spell, my normal breakdown doesn’t seem too useful, so let’s compress things.

 

Sebek’s Blessing is a Quick-Play Spell (good thing) that can give you life gain (okay thing) but only when you attack directly (awkward thing).  Now, attacking directly is difficult because in many serious, competitive areas, Scapegoat is so heavily used and abused.  This is why I keep telling people to play more Trample and cards that can shift positions from DEF to ATK.  When you activate Scapegoat against your typical Gravekeeper’s deck, you can expect to see the person running it tear up… tears of joy that is, since that deck has both Trample and the ability to shift an opposing Monster’s Battle Position.  For decks in general, Trample is usually just a Big Bang Shot (a useful card in general) or Enraged Battle Ox away.  If only more people ran them.  There’s also Windstorm of Etaqua, which is both a defensive and offensive card.

 

But I have gotten off topic.  It is hard to score a direct attack.  Then again, I usually see it happen one to three times a game.  No, I am not always running or facing decks with Monsters who effects allow them to attack directly; I just see plenty of Monster removal.  D.D. Warrior Lady, D.D. Assailant, Exiled Force, Nobleman of Crossout, Smashing Ground, Lighting Vortex, etc.  Let us also remember Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning: both of its effects aid in attacking directly.

 

So direct attacks to happen with most decks, in general.  The catch is that if you aren’t running three of these, it takes a lot of luck to be able to use this card.  Still, there are some decks that excel at attacking directly, or have some other reason to benefit from this card.

 

A Legendary Ocean based decks can use Amphibious Bugroth Mk-3, which can attack directly so long as “Umi” is in play.  Weenie Rush decks have something that really works well, Raging Flame Sprite.  Any Level 1 Monster can use Opti-Camouflage Armor to attack directly, too.

 

Wait, why do we want to gain Life Points?  You can’t win gaining Life Points unless it’s such a huge amount that it allows you to stall for time, right?  Well, there are a lot of cards with a Life Point cost to them, and of course, you can always lose by running out of Life Points.  So by gaining Life Points, you basically invalidate an attack or give yourself the option to use more LP intensive cards… like Toon Monsters.  A more practical example might be Injection Fairy Lily, though: she can run down and destroy almost any Monster in the game, but for a hefty LP cost.  However, if you can get another Monster in play with her (easier than it sounds), you can use her to clear the field, then the second Monster to attack direct, and finally Sebek’s Blessing to take care of at least some of that LP loss.  If you do get to use a direct attack with Injection Fairy Lily, then Sebek’s Blessing becomes sweet indeed: not only do they go down 3400, but you’ll still net 1400 more Life Points than you had before you attacked.  That’s a 4800 Life Point spread, and excellent “padding”.  Speaking of padding, if you plan to use Ring of Destruction after your Berserk Gorilla scored a direct attack; this is a nice thing to have just used.

 

Ratings (General)

 

Traditional       : 2/5-Direct attacks are much more common here, but the LP gain becomes less significant because of that and other factors.

 

Advanced        : 2/5-It is harder to pull off a direct attack here, but the LP gain will likely matter more.

 

Limited                        : N/A-This is a promo, and thus can’t be used in Limited events.

 

Summary

For most decks, Sebek’s Blessing is more a defensive or precautionary card.  It can be used in most decks, but not that well.  In it decks where direct attacks are more frequent, it becomes nearly a staple.  Remember, Yu-Gi-Oh is a game where things can turn around quickly.  Even though this card is most useful when you are already winning, I find it nice to have a little insurance.