Soul Taker

Normal Spell

Destroy 1 face-up monster your opponent controls.  Then, your opponent gains 1000 Life Points.

            This might be the reason Smashing Ground and Fissure were limited to 1 this format.  Gadgets get yet ANOTHER 1-for-1 Spell. 

            Now this card has pros and cons over Smashing Ground and Fissure.  Targeting itself can be both, since Cyber Phoenix (with its Ultra Rare reprint in Dark Revelation: Volume 4) always caused trouble for such cards.  1000 LP, really, means nothing – an attack from Cyber Dragon equals 2100 LP loss, and nearly every deck that intends on attacking runs Cyber Dragon (well…except that Dark Burn and other ones).

            The pros and cons are divided by a very thin line – while Smashing Ground and Fissure may still destroy something after Book of Moon (although consequently, Enemy Controller may turn that against you), Soul Taker cannot cause such havoc.  However, Soul Taker can choose the victim when needed. 

            Well…Smashing Ground sees more play because it is a lot easier to get than a Soul Taker, a Secret Rare.   Fissure has been with us since THE beginning, although Hobby League foil is hard to find…

            Is it a good card?  Yes.  Does it belong to every deck?  Nope.

            If Machine Beatdown was still available with Card Trooper at 3, it would abuse this card as deadly as Gadgets would.  A lot of players panicked when Smashing Ground and Fissure were limited to 1 because…well, they were not.  Now we have a version that makes the user’s deck slow down. 

Traditional:  1.5/5                                 Can you find a space?

Advanced:   3/5                                    You might need it for Marshmallon…