Name: Reptilianne Vaskii

Level: 8

Attribute: Dark

Type: Reptile/Effect

ATK: 2600

DEF: 0

 

The new heavy for Reptilianne decks, Reptilianne Vaskii might be enough to make them worth playing.  Her Attribute is Dark (great), her Level is 8 (poor), and she is of course a Reptile monster (potentially useful).  Her 2600 ATK is low and her 0 DEF is abysmal, but at least she is bigger than Stardust Dragon and generally anything but other large “boss” Monsters.  There is even an up side to having 0 DEF; as a Dark Monster she may then be recycled with Recurring Nightmare.  Level 8 might be good, as that can fuel Trade-In… but we get to the effects, so Trade-In is probably out unless you think you can combine it with Recurring Nightmare (it’d be a crazy deck, but there might just be enough Level 8 Monsters with 0 DEF for that to work).

 

Getting to the effects, the first isn’t.  Officially, it is considered a “Summoning restriction” and it is… that it cannot be Normal Summoned or Set.  The only way you can Special Summon this monster is by sacrificing two 0 ATK monsters on the field.  Those can be your opponent’s and not just yours.  Thanks to all the many ways of generating tokens and the commonly seen effect of zeroing out the ATK scores belonging to Reptilianne monsters, this should be fairly simple.  There is one other beneficial effect and one other restrictive effect.  The former is good: you can select and destroy one face-up monster your opponent controls once a turn.  If your opponent has three face-up Monsters and two are at 0 ATK, you could pull a three-for-one.  Well, until you adjust the math for whatever method you used to lower said monsters’ ATK scores: 0 ATK monsters aren’t rare, but they certainly aren’t apt to swarm the field, face-up, without coaxing.  Still, if you can do it with just one or two more cards added, or even if you have to burn some of your own, you have something your opponent has to quickly destroy.  The last restraining effect is there can only be one of this Monster face-up on the field.  Bit of a bummer, though it should make mirror matches interesting.

 

Reptilianne decks finally have some fangs.  It’ll still probably be a challenge to win anything major with them, but a good build in the hands of a good player now requires good plays to defeat.  Reptilianne Vaskii requires a deck built for her, though it isn’t limited to just Reptilianne decks: there are several ways to generate the needed tokens, and on both sides of the field.  I may just have to try and see if I can indeed run enough Level 8 Dark Monsters and 0 DEF Monsters.  I am starting to see some real combos here.  Phantom of Chaos is Dark and has 0 DEF…

 

Ratings

 

Traditional: 1.5/5

 

Advanced: 3/5