Okay, so what’s my excuse this time? I said I
was catching up, right? Well, it turns out that
mice (and their nests) aren’t very conducive to
phone lines. So I haven’t had internet access
lately. So these are late, but here they are.
Effect(s):
Tuesday’s CotD is (was?) Water Dragon.
Since it is a nomi Monster (can only ever be
Special Summoned via one specific card effect),
I will start here, with its effects. So it can
only be Special Summoned via Bonding – H2O,
but at least that card targets hand, deck, and
Graveyard, so you should be fine running one
copy of this Monster in a deck built around it,
as the opponent must remove it from play in
order to be “safe” from you reviving it.
Its next effect drops the ATK of Fire and Pyro
Monsters to 0. That is pretty nice, since it
means any non-Fire or Pyro Monsters on your side
of the field practically get direct attacks on
the opponent. ;) Unfortunately, such Monsters
are still pretty scarcely used so it will
require a lot of work to get any use out of this
effect (but it can be done).
The final effect is actually pretty nice, but is
a little annoying since it is optional (and thus
can be missed if it would be triggered in the
middle of a chain): when Water Dragon is
destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, you select
two Hyrdogeddon and one Oxegeddon
(the Monsters you need to sacrifice via
Bonding – H2O in order to Special Summon
this thing to begin with) in your Graveyard and
Special Summon them to the field.
Stats:
As a Water/Sea Serpent, in particularly one that
is a nomi Monster, there is no real Support for
it based on Attribute and Type: Umi will give it
a 200/200 boost. A Legendary Ocean won’t
help you unless you want to use Metamorphosis
for a Level 7 Monster. Umiiruka would
give a 500 ATK boost (and largely ignorable 400
DEF penalty). The rest are similar: either
generic help for Water that doesn’t do anything
amazing for Water Dragon that it couldn’t
do for any other Water Monsters… and often
doesn’t do anything mundane that it wouldn’t do
for anything else and is even less impressive in
combination with it. And of course, Sea
Serpents have no specific support.
The good news is that in addition to its useful
effects (obviously not the nomi part) it also
has a 2800 ATK and 2600 DEF to back it all up.
Of course, this seems just a hair low for a nomi
Monster, and when you factor in everything else
it seems like more than a hair low. It is still
a workable amount.
Uses and
Combinations:
Okay, so how can you use this thing well?
Hyrdogeddon is a decent 1600 ATK Level 4
Water/Beatstick, and it can fetch another copy
of itself from your deck. Oxegeddon is a better
beatstick as a Level 4, 1800 ATK critter who
once in a blue moon will score 800 points of
burn damage when it dies in battle with a Pyro
Monster. Interestingly, both are Dinosaurs,
which have a little support (unlike Sea
Serpents), but nothing especially useful here.
Still, together, these two aren’t horrid. They
aren’t great, but they aren’t horrid. That is
to say, with the “staples” that are commonly
played, you probably stand a chance of doing
well outside of major tournaments (unless locals
are pure Spikes who are likely to commit suicide
if they don’t T8).
As for actual support, there is a simple combo
that is central to this deck, and ensuring that
Water Dragon is actually fearsome. Obviously,
DNA Transplant and DNA Surgery can
be used to change everything to Fire or Pyro,
respectively. This is where the combo lies: use
DNA Transplant to make everything Fire,
and then slap a Scroll of Bewitchment on
Water Dragon. Scroll of Bewitchment, so
long as it was attached after DNA
Transplant is active, will override the
Trap’s effect. You can also use Scroll of
Bewitchment on it’s own to kill a single
opposing Monster easily, if that would be a
better choice. We also have a decent back up
attacker for the deck in Homunculus the
Alchemic Being. Well, that isn’t an
official ruling yet, but it does match up with
the ruling on Scroll of Bewitchment, so
here’s hoping. I know Homunculus isn’t
that big, but when everything else is at 0 ATK,
its okay. If you can find room, King Tiger
Wanghu might also be fun, especially with
Light of Intervention: anything they summon
dies. Of course, the deck will be packed as is
so if you want to win a lot, I wouldn’t
recommend it unless you find some miracle build
of all of it.
Ratings
Traditional:
1/5-Just too complicated for the format.
Advanced:
3/5-This is really a score for the entire deck.
I can’t see a way to really “break” this card,
and right now decks tend to rely on the
still-broken-but-just-not-as-bad-as-before
staples plus a great theme. This is a “good
theme” at best and requires doing without many
staples.
Limited:
2.25/5-The score is an “average” and assumes you
have at least the minimum required components.
Most of the time, it will be worthless, but it
is a big Monster that sometimes you will Summon
from the deck, and there are a few Fire
Attribute Monsters, two of which are Secret
Rares and very powerful.
Summary
Water Dragon
is a cool idea that was a little sloppy on the
execution. I would not recommend it for serious
play but it can make a delightful deck for
casual play that, with some luck and a major
surprise factor, might win a few small, local
events if it’s in the hands of a good player.
