Problems, problems everywhere. The universe is conspiring against my CotD-writing time in every way... I'll get this week's done sometime...

Reanimation Wave is an interesting card, but is it worth running? If you're about to take a big hit from a big monster, you have halve the damage, then pop a Synchro right out of the grave! That may seem great, but remember that Synchro-based cards aren't always good, because Synchros can't always be summoned. Solemn Warning makes this very difficult.

The easiest targets for this are things like Brionac, Goyo, Catastor, etc, assuming what's attacking is level 6+. Sadly, your Synchro probably won't save you, even if you did havea  Synchro that managed to get properly summoned (and if it was a threat, it probably isn't waiting to come back).

It's a great concept, but inconsistent.

2.5/5

Hey Pojo, Pheano here with another Card Of The Day for you. Today we will be looking at Reanimation Wave from Duelist Revolution. Reanimation Wave is a Normal Trap Card, its effect is that basically when you take damage from an attack you can Special Summon a Synchro Monster from your Graveyard with a level less than or equal to the monster damaging you and the damage you take is halved. Neat card to say the least. Problem being is that the condition is kind of awkward to activate this. You have to have a Synchro Monster in the grave and it has to have fewer Stars than the opponent’s monster. This can happen but it is not a card that you can count on to be a live card. For instance I would rather use a card like a Dimensional Prison to just stop the Attack in the first place. This is a cool card but I just don’t see it being able to be consistently used when drawn since it requires an odd set up. Also Call Of The Haunted, which isn’t played in most decks anyways, does what this card does better. And in the Traditional Format this card is far to late game to have any use since you will be FTK’d long before you even get a chance to get the Synchro out let alone have it in the Graveyard.
 
Bottom line:
Mediocre card, other cards do this cards job better.
Advanced: 2/5
Traditional: 1/5

Reanimation Wave is a Normal Trap, but unfortunately it has very restrictive timing which keeps it from being as versatile as such a Trap usually is.  Specifically you may only activate Reanimation Wave when your opponent’s monster declares a direct attack.  When they do, you can select one Synchro Monster in your Graveyard with a Level less than or equal to the attacking monster’s.  The Battle Damage you take from that attack is halved, and at the end of the Damage Step, Special Summon the selected Synchro Monster from the Graveyard.

Let’s break out the rulings quick, because they’ll further detail the card:

• It doesn’t start a new Chain when you Special Summon the Synchro Monster.
• The effect of Reanimation Wave will not be applied if the attack stops or is negated for any reason.
• If you take no damage due to an effect like Waboku, you still Special Summon the Synchro Monster.

I really like the idea behind the card.  It seems very much like what you’d see in the animé.  It’s like the Trap ‘absorbs’ the damage to reanimate your card.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem too practical; you have to have a legal-to-summon Synchro Monster whose Level is less than or equal to the attacking monster.  That means you either have to be running a deck more or less dedicated to Synchro Monsters and be at a point where you’re basically losing (taking a direct attack from something big).  Granted, if you are unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of a hit from such a card, this is a decent consolation prize.  Still, wouldn’t you rather just destroy, remove, or bounce the attacker?

If you do want to use it, it probably should be limited to a deck focused on Synchro Summons: the more Synchro Monsters you run and can get out, the more likely you’ll have the best possible options if things go south and your opponent begins attacking direct.  The smallest Synchro Monster for general use is Amory Arm, a Level 4.  As its primary use it to equip to another monster it stands a good chance of ending up in the Graveyard.  Soon we will have Turbo Synchron, and that should help this card out a lot: while you won’t trigger the draw effect (that only happens when Turbo Synchron is Synchro Summoned) you still get a Synchro Tuner in play.  If you are willing to run Turbo Rocket, you can also get a Level 3 Synchro Monster that has a nifty effect: Turbo Cannon.  Its small nature means it won’t last long the field, but it’s hard to deny that being able to destroy a face-up monster and inflict damage to its controller equal to half the monster’s ATK is pretty nice.

I can’t rate this card very highly: this game is plagued with easy card removal, and you’ll almost always find one of them to be a better choice.  At least I can applaud the art (not that those two

I can’t rate this card very highly: this game is plagued with easy card removal, and you’ll almost always find one of them to be a better choice.  At least I can applaud the aesthetic.  The art isn’t brilliant, but its good, and I like the monster choices: I believe it depicts Revived King Ha Des and Archfiend Zombie-Skull, though to be honest I find those two look so much like their non-Synchro counterparts it is easy to mistake them for each other.  They are very fierce looking monsters that make sense with this sort of necromantic flavored Trap.  The name is also pretty good, matching the card effect while sounding reasonably cool.  Not perfect, but definitely pleasing without mucking up any card families or probable future names.

Ratings

Traditional: 1/5 

Advanced: 1.5/5 

Art: 4/5 

Name: 3.75/5

I am still selling my former collectables on eBay.  I’ve had a lot of hobbies over the years, so at various times I’ll have comic books, manga, action figures, and video games on the auction block.  You can take a look at what’s up for bids here.  Just a reminder, Pojo is in no way responsible for any transactions and was merely kind enough to let me mention the auctions here. ;)