Volcanic Eruption
is a Normal Trap with two very specific
activation restrictions: End Phase only and
while Jurassic World is in play.
Jurassic World is a mildly disappointing
Field Spell. I don’t consider Field Spells to
automatically be a waste, and further more I am
much more forgiving of them being mere stat
bonuses than some others I know. The reason is
my play testing has taught me that sometimes
brute force wins. The +300/+300 bonus
Jurassic World gives will put a Dinosaur
over most supporting monsters and surpass all
but the bigger beatsticks of the relevant
level. For example, Hyrdogeddon now ties
Breaker the Magical Warrior when he has a
Spell Counter and can easily run over him if he
doesn’t. Sabersaurus can mow down a
Cyber Dragon, and Dark Driceratops
can dispatch a Monarch. Since it affects
DEF as well as ATK, Black Stego gains the
ability to shrug off any sub-Monarch
attackers (other than attack/effect kills).
However, in most cases even if one lost
Jurassic World while battling, the opponent
is at best forcing you to break even. Better
“pressure cards” exist, or so I am repeatedly
told. I understand why cards like Swords of
Revealing Light, Messenger of Peace,
or Wave-Motion Cannon are used. If the
opponent ignores them, they are
incredible, ergo the
opponent is often forced to use up valuable S/T
removal on them instead of things like your
Traps. The three I listed, at least at one time
valued by many for this function,
are rarely much help
to a core Beatdown strategy, and are sometimes
even less useful than a simple attack boost.
Swords of Revealing Light lasts three turns
at most (without additional support),
Messenger of Peace has a (minor) maintenance
cost or else is meant as a single turn stall,
and Wave-Motion Cannon takes time – time
enough for you to lose before its worth
launching and before they need to nuke it.
Sometimes, the simplest choice is the best. A
note of warning, as my “meta” consists mostly of
casual play with friends, it is quite likely the
pressure card tactic is waning (or has ceased)
being relevant for big, tournament level play.
Then again, Dinosaur decks aren’t so great for
that anyway. ;)
So, now that I’ve covered why a Dinosaur deck
would include Jurassic World (other than
to use Volcanic Eruption), the reason to
include one of these is simple: even though
you’ve got to do it probably the worst time to
do it, it clears the entire field. All monsters
and Spells and Traps on each side of the field.
Since Jurassic World has to be in play,
obviously this means at least a -2 for you. So,
how likely is your opponent to have at least
three cards in play? Two cards in play, letting
you break even in terms of card count at least,
is common. A Spell or Trap and a monster are
generally what one assumes an opponent will have
in play. From there, it’s less common but still
fairly likely they’ll have one other S/T or a
second Monster, though the second Monster is
something along the lines of Cyber Dragon,
Spirit Reaper, or Sangan. Other
than Sangan, I wouldn’t mind blowing up
things like the other two.
This would still be kinda desperate, but
fortunately there is an obvious combo for all
Volcanic Eruption: Babycerasaurus.
When that Monster Card is sent to the Graveyard
by an effect, it lets you search out a Level 4
Dinosaur from your Graveyard. So just slag the
field and get a solid attacker. That is a lot
of effort though unless you’re winning the game
with the move (which you won’t be). It is okay
if you’re setting up for, if not a win, a major
threat that can win you the game next turn.
That would be Tyranno Infinity. That is
a Level 4 Dinosaur that can get really big,
really fast with a little help. And that is
where this card finally finds its niche: setting
up Dinosaur combos. I can only think of three
specific low level Dinosaur combos that might be
worth using (but probably not in the same deck):
Tyranno Infinity, as I just stated (and
will discuss in detail in its CotD tomorrow),
Black Ptera OTK (which isn’t so much a deck
as a handy combo one could add to another
Dinosaur-deck), and even Water Dragon
decks (Jurassic World would power up the
two components to decent levels).
So in the end, this card just barely seems worth
running in one specific Dinosaur deck,
Tyranno Infinity Rush, which can consider
one or two copies of this to make it setting up
the kill easier: even with a turn to build,
there’s only so much your opponent can do, and
Babycerasaurus with this will get
Tyranno Infinity into play that much easier.
Ratings
(Tyranno Infinity deck)
Traditional:
1/5
Advanced:
3/5