Friday

Closing the week, we look at one of our better cards in a while, Sacrifice Lotus, a card quite comparable to Treeborn Frog.  Now, recall that Treeborn Frog can be Special Summoned to your side of the Field (in atk or def position) if you have no Magic or Trap cards on the Field.

Sacrifice Lotus can also be Special Summoned, but during your End Phase instead of your Standby Phase.  Furthermore, Special Summoning Sacrifice Lotus will cost you 1000 Lifepoints instead of the free Special Summon of Treeborn Frog.  Sacrifice Lotus also requires you have no Magic or Trap cards on the Field in order to be Special Summoned.

Now, the cost makes Sacrifice Lotus not quite as good as Treeborn Frog, but it does have one competitive edge.  Treeborn Frog is Restricted, while you could use three copies of Sacrifice Lotus if you desire.

Giving up 1000 Lifepoints for an extra tribute fodder is great, especially in a tribute heavy Format, even ignoring things like the Divine Monarchy.  People may not be won over yet if only because of the 1000 Lifepoint cost, but if the Frog gets the Ban, expect play of the Lotus to increase.

Ratings:

Traditional:  1.5/5  No real need.

Advanced:    4-X/5  Where X equals the number of people playing the

Frog over the Lotus. 

Art:  4/5

Friday - Samsara Lotus

     And I'm back for the second time this week even though it's Friday to give you Pojo readers another card review, and this time it's a thorough explanation of Samsara Lotus's good sides and bad sides. Like yesterday, we'll start with going over this card's effect.

Effect Explanation
     When Samsara Lotus is in the Graveyard, the owner can Special Summon this card onto his/her side of the field in Attack Position, and this can only be activated during the player's End Phase, and every turn that this card remains on the field, its owner has to pay 1000 Life Points to keep it there. Both of these effects are Trigger Effects, and if a player chains his/her Quick-Play Spell Card effect from his/her hand, Samsara Lotus's effect disappears. Also, if Book of Moon is chained to Samsara Lotus's damage inflicting effect, it disappears.

Effect Analysis
     Samsara Lotus's effect is another strange effect that hasn't been seen on most cards in the game, and doesn't come in handy in too many duels/situations, either. This card indeed has the potential to be a pretty useful card, but because of its stats, it's not too useful. In this current format, like I mentioned yesterday, quick effects dominate, but this card isn't fast and it also has to be in the Graveyard for its effect to activate.

Times when Effect would be useful
     Even though this card isn't useful in most situations, there are bound to be areas where this card is pretty good, and I'll go through those in this section. Samsara Lotus comes in particularly handy when you want to Tribute Summon a monster. Of course the opponent could easily dispose of this card in whatever method he/she sees fit, but if it survives for the whole turn, then the owner can Tribute Summon a strong monster like Caius the Shadow Monarch or Jinzo. Also, this card would be helpful when it's Special Summoned during the End Phase and you also set a card in the same turn. This is good because this could save the player's Life Points from being reduced to zero the following turn, so this card could also act as a token that protects the Life Points from Battle Damage. In DARK decks, Samsara Lotus could be seen because it could be used to Special Summon Dark Armed Dragon, although it's not recommended.

Why will Samsara Lotus's Effect not be useful in most situations?
    Despite the many reasons listed above that this card is useful, there are also reasons the this card isn't useful. Samsara Lotus can't be Special Summoned during any of the Main Phases, so it's difficult to keep on the field long enough to use as tribute fodder. Also, getting this card into the Graveyard to activate its effect is a rather difficult process, because the player either has to waste his/her Summon/Set for the turn and set this card or activate a card that discards this card from his/her hand. In this format, with Dark Armed Dragon and DDT Special Summoning monsters all over the place and rarely ever Tribute Summoning more than once in a duel, Tribute Summoning, the main use for this card, isn't really a good option anymore.

Traditional: 1/5
Advanced: 1/5

Art: 3/5

Friday, May 2nd, 2008

Samsara Lotus

Kind of like a Treeborn Frog, except it Burns you for 1000 every turn. I can't see any logical reason to play this over Frog, as Frog is superior in every way, even statistically. This card really just isn't worth the trouble, and just another example of set filler.

Traditional: 1/5

Advanced: 1/5