Snipe Hunter is our penultimate review for this “lessened restrictions” week.   It is a Level 4 Dark/Fiend, allowing it to fit into a variety of decks but giving it access to the very potent support that exists for Dark monsters.  It also enjoys a slight bump in potency in Fiend decks, it that really helps Fiend decks more than it helps Snipe Hunter.  It has 1500 ATK, which is a bit low to function as a beatstick but is still quite good as it makes the card easy to search out via Sangan and Mystic Tomato, and to return to hand from the Graveyard via Dark Eruption.  The 600 DEF is quite low and the only real blemish on its otherwise impressive stats.

 

The stats are technically good only so long as the effect is worthwhile.  Being easy to search doesn’t help bad cards that much: they require a strong effect or combo to capitalize on that trait.  Snipe Hunter doesn’t disappoint: you can discard one card from your hand to select a card on the field.  You then roll a six-sided die and if it comes up as anything that isn’t one or six, you destroy the selected card.  Related rulings are that the uncertain nature prevents cards like Destruction Jammer or even Stardust Dragon from negating the effect of a card like Snipe Hunter, the proverbial icing on the cake.  A two-thirds chance at destroying a card just requires “proper timing” to be great, and “proper timing” is pretty easy to calculate for this card.  If you have a single card you can risk losing for no gain, you go for it.  If nothing is expendable, then you don’t.  There might be a few obscure scenarios where you would want to waste a card with the effect and not destroy something, just obvious enough for me to waste time mentioning, but realistically that will the “bad” result you don’t want to ever see.  It serves as a mild deterrence from using the effect, but only mild: like I said as long as you aren’t going to lose next turn due to a bad result and can gain a reasonable advantage (destroying something you couldn’t just as easily and safely destroy through battle, or enabling an attack that will be for the win), you’ll happily chuck quite a few cards for the effect.  As there is no limit, this card is very potent as it allows you to exchange your hand for your opponent’s field, roughly two-thirds of the time.

 

So why did they drop its restriction level so that you can now use two per deck?  The reason is two fold, and we’ve seen both aspects before even in a single card: Exiled Force.  Exiled Force is currently allowed at three per deck, but nothing has magically altered its cost to make it more expensive to use (in game terms) or significantly diminish the number of targets.  Yes you’d have to worry about more destruction negation, but they kicked it off the list long before that was the case.  No, what happened was the deck that used it the most and got the most use out of it fell out of favor and the more general decks found replacement options.  Now that Dark decks have had many of their best tricks neutered via the list and are no longer the “cool” new thing, they are played less and thus the cards in them (like Snipe Hunter) have less opportunities to hit the field and unfairly destroy some glorious set-up a player worked hard to build through simply throwing your hand at it and not being unlucky.  There are also some other, good generic options that are just as palatable to run, like Brionac, Dragon of the Ice-Barrier, or simply would rather take something reliable and less card intense even if it can only hit a single card (and with potential targeting restrictions), like Smashing Ground.  This is underscored by the fact that Snipe Hunter is not large enough to adequately protect itself from retaliation on the next turn.

 

Like Magic Cylinder yesterday, I can’t help but find this card to be over-powered to the point of being unfair, even if it isn’t something you should be running in all decks.  It isn’t that it is an awesome end-all-card: on its own it is nothing.  With some cards to burn in hand, it’s a scourge when your LP is critically low, and if you have even a mild set-up to go with it, you begin to feel the sting of fickle fate.  You worked hard to build something, to really play the game… and your opponent just has to put a decent monster into play, pitch one card from hand, and not hit one or six to rob you of it.  If you’re losing, it can level the playing field, and if you’re winning it can help you push for game.  Just a little too good for the general game’s good, even when it’s fallen out of favor.  Of course, it just takes a single new, good combo (or several smaller, decent ones) to put it back over the top.

 

Now for the card’s art and name: at first I was going to say they fit each other well but not really the effect, but research shows I am wrong.  A “snipe hunt” is a form of practical joke where the experienced local(s) sends a naïve or ignorant newcomer to find something, usually with bad information on where to find it/how to catch it.  While traditionally it’s the kind of prank you expect of experienced campers or hunters preying on newbies, you can see it in a variety of settings: telling people they can catch Mew without a cheat code or device in any of the core series Pokémon games I am familiar with would be “sending them on a snipe hunt”.  What changed my mind on the name was learning that snipes are a classification of wading bird notoriously difficult to catch or shoot, and that the skill required shooting such a bird is where the term “sniper” came from.  Now I tend to think the name is good but the art is a bit off: instead of such a silly looking fiend, I’d rather have seen something a bit more professional or serious looking.  Seeing the card as a sniper just needing ammo and a little luck to lay waste to the playing field seems pretty accurate: as good as any sniper is, s/he is still dependant on factors outside of her/his control, such as the weather.

 

Ratings

 

Traditional: 4/5 

Advanced: 3.5/5 

Aesthetic: 3.25/5

 

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. ;)