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.

 

Stats                : As a Normal Trap, the card needs a fantastic effect.  While you do have the usefulness of being Spell Speed 2, it has to survive through the End Phase before you can activate it.  Additionally, we all remember such “friends” as Jinzo and Royal Decree, which negate Traps and Mobius the Frost Monarch, whom nukes up to two Spell/Traps upon being successfully Tribute Summoned.

 

Effect(s)            : This card changes the effect of an opponent’s Normal Spell to “"Your opponent discards 1 random card from their hand" at the cost of 1000 LP.  Note that the wording is from the perspective of the person who played the Spell.  Here is an example to clarify:

 

George has a set Dark Deal and Torrential Tribute.  His opponent, Bob, uses Heavy Storm.  Bob has no Spell/Traps in play, and George really wants to keep his Torrential Tribute safe so he activates Dark Deal, and pays 1000 LP.  Now George has to discard one card randomly from his hand.

 

So you’re basically turning any Normal Spell into a combination burn (superior burn since you’re paying 1000 and thus can’t block it with Des Wombat) and hand disruption card.  Also, remember it’s useless against non-Normal Spells.  That’s a lot of commonly played Spells: Premature Burial and Snatch Steal are Equips, Mystical Space Typhoon and Book of Moon are Quick-Play, etc.  Still, Normal Spells are the most common: Card Destruction, Confiscation, Dark Hole, Heavy Storm, Metamorphosis, Nobleman of Crossout and Swords of Revealing Light are all Restricted Normal Spells.  They aren’t all “staples”, but many are and most are important for many popular, strong decks.  Compared with the number of non-Normal Spell cards on the ban-list, they just barely outnumber them nine to eight (obviously I didn’t list them all).  There are other, unrestricted Normal Spells common to most decks, like Smashing Ground.  So yes, you should have many opportunities to use Dark Deal if it survives long enough… and if no other effect “interrupts” (that is automatically activates in chain) to the Spell, and if you have at least one card in hand when you activate Dark Deal.

 

Uses and

Combinations  : Dark World decks are literally made for this.  As you can see, that wording now makes sense: even though it’s really you determining what happened, for the purpose of Dark World Monsters it counts as your opponent “making” you discard via the effect of their card.

 

So we have another card that triggers Dark World Monsters by doing a poorer job than a pre-existing card with a discard cost (which wouldn’t trigger said Monsters).

 

Ratings

 

Traditional       : 1.25/5-Even though there are more Normal Spells to mess up, there are just so many discard opportunities thanks to your opponent you shouldn’t need this.  Besides, there are so many cards you’d “need” to negate, it might backfire.  After all, what’s the use of getting the effect of a Dark World Monster that Summons itself to the field by “altering” that Harpies Feather Duster… only to have it nailed by a Raigeki and your opponent go for a Yata-Lock.

 

Advanced        : 2/5-If it isn’t Dark World (or you’re creatively using Electric Snake, Minar, etc.) you might as well use Magic Jammer.  I suppose Zombie decks can make use of it as well, thanks to Regenerating Mummy, Fear from the Dark, and Despair from the Dark (backed up by normal Zombie effects).  Still, we have a pretty low rating.  There are so many other options for Dark World decks, little reason to use some of those old weird cards like Minar, and several great Zombies to use instead of the ones I listed.

 

Limited            : 1.5/5-Not even that great here.  Most Normal Spells in this set are useless or next to useless unless you have a lot of specific cards, and there aren’t that many of them to begin with.

 

Summary

An interesting concept that really is hurt by the LP cost, randomness of the discard, and that it only affects Normal Spells.  If any were taken away, Dark Deal wouldn’t be so bad. As is, it is a “maybe if I have room” card for three very specific deck types, only one of which sees significant play.

 

-Otaku