Alright, I don’t have to do one of my part time jobs tomorrow, so I am going to try and do a quick (but hopefully useful) review of Crush Card Virus.  Yu-Gi-Oh fans have been drooling over it since Kaiba used it in the dub.  Well, I have been.  Even though its effect is far tamer than its cartoon counterpart (there it seemed to hit everywhere) its actual effect is pretty snazzy.  Since some of you may be totally new to the game, suffering amnesia, or are pre-morning coffee/sugary cereal let me cover the basics.  It is a Normal Trap card.  There is a lot of Trap hate in this game so this might be its second biggest problem.  Far too much S/T removal in general hurts even the most chainable Traps because a lot of them are forced into activating at a less than optimal time.  There’s also not one but two cards that negate Traps: the classic bad boy (borg?) Jinzo and the more-recent-but-old-news-by-now Royal Decree.  Second, while you can activate Crush Card Virus at almost any time, it requires a Dark Monster with 1000 ATK or less.  Surprisingly, this isn’t too hard for most decks to meet: there’s Sangan and Spirit Reaper in most decks, so as long as you can make room for like Giant Germ, it seems pretty feasible.  The Tribute cost can also be offset by waiting until the opponent expends a card to destroy either Crush Card Virus or the Monster used for its cost.  Granted, it’d still be a “-1” at that point, but that’s when the actual effect does its thing, letting you destroy all 1500 ATK or higher Monsters on your opponent’s side of the field (and it lets you peak at Set Monsters to see if they need to be destroyed), in their hand, and amongst any cards they draw until the end of their third turn after you activate this effect.  That can easily turn this card into a two for four and even more if you time it right.

 

Alright, alright.  Most of you already knew that.  So I’ll point out something a little less obvious: most decks at least consider siding this.  Some could main it, but most could side it (and the Monsters for it) if they can make room.  This turns almost any deck into a control deck, but there is a reason not to use it at all.  Two, actually, that I can think of: Gadget Monsters aren’t big enough to hit, but the most common side deck choices of Dark World Monsters are.  No one wants to help the opponent summon a Goldd or a Sillva and give the opponent access to their effects.  Between this and the Trap hate, main decking this isn’t a good idea unless the deck is truly tailored to Crush Card Virus.  Still, if your opponent doesn’t seem to be prepared for it, it can still work wonders, just side it out/in when it looks safe.

 

Ratings

 

Traditional: 2/5 – It could do a lot of damage and set up for a Yata-lock… but we have so many options here.

 

Advanced: 3.5/5 – Obviously vital to its own deck, its just generally useful in side decks.

 

Summary

I hate to sound wishy-washy but I think this is the worst this card has ever been in the game, and it can still leave you helpless before an opponent’s onslaught… either because you were hit by it or because you tried to use it against the wrong deck.  Notice how it took three things for me to knock its “general” rating to what could be translated as “really good”.

 

-Otaku