My CotDs for earlier in the week should be posted by now.

 

Stats                : The final card this week is another nomi, so once again the Level is mostly meaningless.  For the record, Raviel, Lord of Phantasms is Level 10.  He is a Dark/Fiend.  The Dark Attribute has some solid support but Fiend support is less hit and more miss.  At least we have a fantastic 4000 ATK and DEF to show that this is indeed a brute of a Monster.

 

Effect(s)            : In order to Summon this Monster, you must Tribute three Fiend Monsters.  Thankfully, they don’t have to be face-up and while it will take more time to set up than the requirements of its siblings… we have quite a few nice ways of getting Fiends into play without burning your hand.  Okay, not that many, but some.

 

Raviel generates a “Phantasm Token” each time your opponent Normal Summons a Monster.  The token can’t attack and only has 1000 ATK/DEF points, so it’s main use would be getting a second Raviel into play (not high on the priorities list) or being used for Raviel’s third effect.  Raviel can Tribute one of your Monsters in play once per turn to increase its own ATK by the Tributed Monster’s original ATK until the end of the turn.  So if you can keep your Phantasm Token’s safe, Raviel becomes a 5000 ATK Monster.

 

Uses and

Combinations  : Using some handy cards like Goblin Elite Attack Force (beatstick, offensive wall), Mystic Tomato (capable of fetching small Dark Monsters, which includes several useful Fiends), and Giant Germ (probably good for 500 points of burn damage and two of the needed bits of Tribute Fodder).  Goblin Elite Attack Force and Giant Orc have another benefit: if your opponent doesn’t destroy them before your next turn, you can use them for fast 2000+ boost to Raviel.  Of course, you already knew that.

 

The problem is that Raviel is as vulnerable as the other “Sacred Beasts”.  So you’ll probably have to include several negating cards if you want a chance at keeping it in play a while or you have to try to play it… yes, like a OTK.  Though in this case, it wouldn’t be as good a OTK deck, since it’s slower to get out than the other two and is harder to get the needed damage: Hamon has that built in burn effect, so it can afford to run over another Monster, where as Raviel needs a clear field to do his thing.  Uria can just get huge enough to eat almost anything and still score a OTK.

 

A quick note, there is a “support” card for Raviel, in that should make getting this big guy into play much easier – Phantasmal Martyrs – as it provides three Fiend Type tokens.  Unfortunately, it only works when you have one of the other two “Sacred Beasts” cards in play, requires you have two or more cards in hand, and that you then discard your hand… meaning you have to have a Night Assailant and one other card in hand, another Flip Effect in the Graveyard, Raviel in the Graveyard, and a set Monster Reincarnation if you want to actually gain anything.  Yes, that is pretty lame.  I don’t know why they even made it: I suppose it makes it possible to run a horrid deck that isn’t more than 40 cards that can feasibly get all three of the Sacred Beasts into play.

 

Ratings

 

Traditional       : 1/5 – A rating for it in its own deck.  Simply put, no.  If you are lucky, you could summon it once in a while and maybe, maybe score a hit on your opponent.

 

Advanced        : 2/5 – Even in his own deck, he’s just a big beatstick that needs protecting.  He’s not as good for a OTK as the others.  Normally I wouldn’t want a OTK deck to work, but since all three “Sacred Beasts” are so hard to use and it’s via battle… yeah, I can live with it.  Raviel itself suffers because it will take more time/effort to Summon than its siblings even though it technically would have a more stable deck.

 

Limited                        : 2/5 – Again, this assumes you can pull enough support to get it into play.  You almost certainly cannot, but it’s an obscure possibility.  Three Fiends in this set: Raviel itself, Demise, King of Armageddon (a Super-Rare Ritual Monster) and Memory Crusher, some little Monster that is only good if the opponent has a clear field and huge Fusion deck.  So basically you have to get the Memory Crusher in a three count, and it’s a Normal Rare making that difficult.  Then you have to get them into play and keep them alive, which probably means you already have a good beatstick.  Or you can hope try to pull one of the other two Sacred Beasts, what you need to get them into play, and Phantasmal Martyrs. Lol

 

Summary

Well, at least it isn’t another broken card that will plague the meta until the ban it after waiting two ban lists… still, Raviel, Lord of Phantasms is a disappointment.  There are a few cards that would help it that are out in Japan, but I don’t think they’d really make it that much better to get it into play.  Personally, I just want them to balance the format better and release the fairly balanced Egyptian god cards as they appeared in Yu-Gi-Oh Nightmare Troubadour for the Nintendo DS.  Is that too much to ask?  Oh, wait, it might be. ;)