First and foremost, let me say I am reviewing for the September 1^st, 2006 list.  I mean, that’s the entire point of this week’s choices.

 

Reflect Bounder is an okay Monster.  It is a Level 4 Monster that has an okay 1700 ATK which should actually be pretty good for a beatstick with an effect… except Konami doesn’t understand that by constantly making Monsters of the same level with higher attack and either insignificant draw back effects or actual beneficial effects.  Or the big problem right now, a Level 5 with what seems like a paltry 2400 ATK… except it has an easy to fulfill Special Summoning requirement so Cyber Dragon acts more like a Level 4 2100 ATK Monster.  That Special Summons itself.  Ugh.

 

So Reflect Bounder is hurt by that a little.  1700 ATK doesn’t go as far as it should.  It’s DEF score is a paltry 1000, and without Tsukuyomi that is a huge drawback.  It still isn’t safe, though, since we still have Book of Moon, Enemy Controller, Windstorm of Etaqua and other position changing cards.  Still, much safer than before.

 

Being a Light Monster used to make it Chaos Fodder.  Now, it might not make it automatically good.  I don’t know.  Its possible most Chaos decks can easily adapt to be “nearly monotype” decks and still pull off most of their old CC tricks.  They can use Soul of Purity and Light for a Special Summoned beatstick, for example, and/or Freed the Brave Wanderer for Monster removal.  I doubt this will be the case (I get the feeling its One Turn Kill or be Killed next format).  If it is “wide open”, net deckers can easily shift to these kinds of decks.  How long did a Chaos Sorcerer really stay in play?  So the Light Attribute is almost what it should be: important to themes where it can be extra helpful, yet you can run it in a non-Light deck if you wish without it being particularly harmful.

 

Being a Machine is a big boost this format.  At this rate, maybe in a decade we can see some love for Plants, Reptiles, Sea Serpents, etc.  Early on, Machines were the only real well supported sub-type (we had Mechanical Chaser and Limiter Removal in the days of Magic… er… Spell Ruler).  Then Warriors and Spellcasters got all the love… and nearly any bit of decent theme-support.  Now it appears we’ve finally convinced Konami to move onto another type… and they went to probably the next most developed sub-type, Machines.  Since being a Machine means compatibility with Chimeratech Over Dragon and Future Fusion, that basically means Reflect Bounder will work in that deck so long as the effect holds up.

 

That is the question: does it?  Not really: Monster removal was at a premium on this last Ban List we are just about to abandon, and the next list we can probably expect “Special Summon Cyber Dragon, normal Summon Exiled Force, sac to nuke your Monster” to replace the normal Nobleman of Crossout and/or Spirit Reaper plus Cyber Dragon start.  Nothing was done about the way-to-easy Spell and Trap based Monster removal we have, so while Tsukuyomi will no longer be around to force Reflect Bounder into a set for the easy kill, just like any other annoying Monster your opponent will just whip out a Monster kill card to solve the problem.  Remember, we Spirit Reaper is going down to one on the new list, so that Smashing Ground you used to use on it when it was facedown?  Just use it for one of the Reflect Bounder.  I mean, most people won’t have the room or need for three, so taking it off the Semi-Limited list won’t really affect that one.  Oh, and of course, the self-destruct effect usually means your opponent can and will just suicide a searcher into you, eating the damage to get the search and force Reflect Bounder to self-destruct.  They can also send a spent Flip Effect or other “trivial” Monster and at the cost of 1700 LP force Bounder to blow itself up.

 

For some, that will be enough: forcing the opponent to burn a Smashing Ground or the like to deal with Reflect Bounder or ensuring they take a minimum of 1700 burn damage is good.  In fact, it’s on the level of being about as good as a burn/beatstick should be, which is refreshing with some of the more popular cards (which tend to be far, far too potent in their fields).  Needless to say, you run in him in any Light/Machine deck, and Burn/Machine deck, and for the foreseeable future, probably most Chimeratech Over Dragon builds.

 

Ratings

 

Traditional: 1/5 – Chaos still has plenty of Light Monsters, and of course, we have FTK decks here: why worry about OTK?

 

Advanced: 3.5/5 – Don’t let the score fool you: this is good and what most good cards that aren’t integral to a deck theme should get.