Storm Caller is a Level 6 Wind/Psychic/Effect Monster with 2300 ATK and 2000 DEF.  Its first effect gives you the option of sending your opponent’s Monsters destroyed in battle by your other Psychic Monsters to the top of their owner’s deck.  Its second effect hits you for the card’s base attack score of 2300 in self inflicted burn damage when Storm Caller is destroyed by an effect.  The card is fairly simple to review, except it exposes some of Yu-Gi-Oh’s problems, and I hate letting them slip by without comment.

 

First, the lack of draw power makes the “spin” mechanic insanely powerful.  That is why this card gets saddled with both a beneficial effect it can’t use directly and a nasty restrictive effect that burns you for over a quarter of your starting LP value.  So while these things are both needed to balance the card and examples of good design, it’s only required because of bad game design to begin with.

 

Second, the way they classified the cards was horrid to begin with and adding new primary types just makes it worse.  Without delving into some more complicated the system used in real life to classify organisms (as we’d have to account for the mechanical and supernatural), we have both redundant and confusing Monster Types.  The game probably should have had ignored the silly, often arbitrary Attributes and focused on one or two types per card.  Some Types would be better represented by standardized effects.  I mean, Winged-Beasts were better handled in Dungeon Dice Monsters than in the actual Yu-Gi-Oh TCG.  There, they are just Beasts with the Flying Ability.  Likewise, how the Monster supposedly would attack if it were real often defines its type: so a human casting a spell is different from one wielding a sword is different from one using psychic powers and furry creature doing all the same things might be the same or a different type as well.  Often times, you’ll have a creature that makes just as much sense as multiple types: a human who can generate intense heat could be a Fire/Warrior, a Fire/Pyro, or a Fire/Spellcaster, or Fire/Psychic.  If this person is a cyborg, it can be a Fire/Machine instead!

 

So, back to the card: it’s a definite boost to Psychic decks so long as you are thoughtful in its use.  As a Level 6 Monster, it can make getting out Thought Ruler Archfiend easier.  “Spin” effects are restricted mostly to Wind Monsters, and it is probably good then they kept at it with this card: it won’t help Wind Decks since they only have this Psychic Monster, but at least it’s not Dark or another overused Attribute.  Being Psychic is… whatever.  As my little rant indicates, it’s another fairly arbitrary Type designation.  If the effect were reworded to match, it could really be just about any type.  At least there is some mild synergy: my understanding is that Psychic Monsters often have LP costs or LP gain, so you should be well equipped to handle the downside of the effect.  2300 ATK is a bit low, but necessary to maintain balance.  It also isn’t all that bad when you consider your opponent will be very tempted to use a card effect to kill Storm Caller.  So ironically, the self inflicted burn damage will deter just killing it in battle, perhaps protecting it.  Plus, it isn’t low enough to be safe from a surprise Shrink or Rush Recklessly.  2300 is large enough that tie or beat most other “sub-standard” Level 5/6 Monsters with useful effects, and of course almost every Level 4 or less Monster that is unaided.  2000 DEF is pretty good: again your opponent will be sorely tempted to kill the card with an effect, so shifting it to DEF position to kill it will seem wasteful.  It is high enough that if you wanted to, you could put it into DEF mode and your opponent would have to hit with a bigger attacker, since only a few non-Tribute requiring Monsters top 2000.  It might in fact be a good strategy: you don’t want a well timed Sakuretsu Armor taking out Storm Caller and breaking your lock with its effect, this forces your opponent to burn a card effect to kill it or attack it and score no damage.  One really has to weigh LP advantage versus card advantage here.

 

As for that burn damage, since its burn damage you can play with it and maybe turn it to your advantage.  Since it is a clearly known amount of damage, I would think one could pack a few copies of Barrel Behind the Door… then again, maybe not.  I just checked and despite completely fitting the wording, when you destroy your own Monster your opponent currently controls you cannot send it to the top of your own deck.  Barrel Behind the Door is notoriously picky so maybe you can activate it, maybe you can’t.

 

Ratings

 

Traditional: 2/5 – Helps Psychics by giving them a lock, though as usual, inferior to other options.

 

Advanced: 3.5/5 – Helps Psychics by given them a potential lock.

 

Art: 1/5 – Machines =/= Psychic in my book.  Psychics are mixed with technology more than magic, but only because the former is considered more “real”.  Magic has successfully been mixed with technology several times in fiction, though.  I am getting sick of “random funky cyborgs” for Psychic art.  If we adjusted the effect accordingly, it would also fit in pretty much any Type’s deck, often times making just as much sense given the art.  It could easily pass as a Machine-Type, looks human enough to be a Warrior, possibly be daring and make it a technologically gifted Spellcaster. We could even re-name it Evil Hero Storm Caller and make it a Fiend!

 

-Otaku