Abyss Dweller – Yu-Gi-Oh! Throwback Thursday (2012)

King of
Lullaby

Hello Pojo Fans,

Abyss Dweller is todays Throwback choice and a Rank 4 that never really went away.

Generic Rank 4 that locks your opponent’s graveyard down for the turn as a Quick Effect, what’s not to like? With Master Rule 5 opening up Main Monster Zones without use of Link Monsters, Abyss Dweller will see a new surge of play I’m sure in the Extra Deck. So many cards banish themselves in the graveyard and this stops them flat. Easier to get to than Soul Drain. This card locks down Burning Abyss and ABC and even if it is destroyed by something like Torrential or Raigeki you will still benefit from that effect. The ATK boost it gives WATER could come into play in Marincess or any WATER-based deck that may tech this into the Extra Deck, but nine times out of ten you will be running this strictly for the graveyard disruption.

Abyss Dweller has always been good, it just took a backseat to Link Monsters because you had to commit three monsters instead of two to get this onto the field and not have your Extra Monster Zone plugged by something with low ATK for a Rank 4.

Advanced-4/5     Art-3.5/5

Until Next Time
KingofLullaby

Crunch$G

Throwback Thursday this week gives us a good generic Rank 4 WATER to look at in Abyss Dweller.

Dweller is a Rank 4 WATER Sea Serpent Xyz with 1700 ATK and 1400 DEF. Stats could be better for a Rank 4, but WATER is nice and Sea Serpent is good as it usually can work with Aqua and Fish. The requirements are any 2 Level 4 monsters, which helps it become a staple in any Deck using Level 4s. While this card has an Xyz Material who was originally WATER attribute, every WATER monster you control gains 500 ATK, which turns this to a respectable 2200 ATK in WATER Decks while boosting other WATERs for free. But honestly that isn’t what this will be played for as it also has a OPT Quick Effect to detach a material to prevent the opponent from activating cards and effects from their graveyard, which is phenomenal against so many different Decks. It’s a reason the card has been staple for years. So many different Decks use the graveyard for stuff, so this would always be useful in many match-ups, and being in the Extra Deck means you don’t have to draw it. Abyss Dweller belongs in any Extra Deck that can summon Rank 4s considering how often it can come up, it’s stood the test of time for nearly 7-8 years now.

Advanced Rating: 5/5

Art: 5/5 because it’s absolutely gorgeous and cryptic.

Alex
Searcy

Abyss Dweller is our Throwback Thursday, having had one prior review, almost 5 years ago exactly (link).

The card received rather favorable reviews at the time.  Let’s see what happens today.  Rank 4, Sea Serpent, 1700/1400 attack/defense (meh on both counts there, actually rather low for a Rank 4) and requiring two Level 4 Monsters (not even Water Monsters) making this a generic play for anyone who can easily make a Rank 4 XYZ (which should be most).

The attack increase, to start, is good.  As long as one of the original XYZ Material attached was Water, all your Water Monsters gain 500 attack.  Combo that boost with our Field Magic from Tuesday, and you could have quite an increase across the board.  The second effect is rather amazing, too, if not better than the attack increase, involving negation.

Discarding an XYZ Material, (This is a Quick Effect) during the turn of EITHER player, prevents the opponent from activating card effects in the Graveyard for the turn.  Even negating that for ONE turn is phenomenal.  Everything works in the Graveyard, and locking that out even so briefly can really change things.  It might be enough to win you a game.  This card isn’t powerful, but both effects are.

Rating:  4.75/5  Generic Rank 4 (honestly 5/5 in Water, so let’s go 4.5 elsewhere) and you’re getting that negation effect whether you play Water or not.

Art:  5/5  This is done well.  It’s vague, and fairly mysterious, but adding a nice creepy vibe to it.