Blackbeard, the Plunder Patroll Captain – Yu-Gi-Oh! Review

King of
Lullaby

Hello Pojo Fans,

Blackbeard, the Plunder Patroll Captain, while being the Link Monster for the Plunder Patroll archetype, isn’t the first, or even the second choice you’d want for summoning.

Link 2, needing a Plunder Patroll monster (obvious is obvious), 1600ATK is pretty good for a Link 2, but it being an WATER means you’ll likely need Plunder Patroll Booty to change your opponents Attribute. Standard Plunder Patroll Extra Deck shenanigans but once the Plunder Patroll Extra Deck monster gets equipped with the monster you target, you get a +1 off the draw. You can use Blackbeard for its own effect, eliminating the need for another Plunder Patroll monster on the field. Blackbeard is a way to get into your Extra Deck during either turn and deck thin off the draw from the effect. You aren’t likely to go for Blackbeard during your opponents turn if you can go straight-away for any of the other Extra Deck Plunder Patroll monsters that directly affect your opponents field. Blackbeard is the archetype Link monster many archetypes need to get their strategy going. What Plunder Patroll do during your opponents turn, Blackbeard can do during yours by himself.

Blackbeard doesn’t directly hurt your opponent, but it can get you to that point while gaining you advantage.

Advanced-4/5     Art-3.5/5

Until Next Time
KingofLullaby

Crunch$G

Now we get to the Extra Deck and the archetype’s Link Monster: Blackbeard, the Plunder Patroll Captain.

Blackbeard is a Link-2 WATER Fiend with 1600 ATK and arrows pointing Bottom Left and Bottom Right. Not much of an upgrade on ATK from the Main Deck set of monsters, and again we got a good Attribute and Type. You could find WATER monsters in the meta fairly often with Mermail always coming out of nowhere alongside Halqifibrax being a WATER. It isn’t important here as much since it doesn’t matter if Blackbeard is equipped. The arrows are good, though not as important in Master Rule 2020. At least the opponent gets no zones for Links or Pendulums, though. The summoning requirements are any 2 monsters, including a Plunder Patroll, so it’s archetype locked as you should expect and only needing 1 Plunder Patroll gives versatility for what you can use. Danger monsters work considering they can discard your Plunder Patrolls and get their effects. The only effect of this card is a Quick Effect to target an Effect Monster you control to Special Summon a Plunder Patroll from the Extra Deck with the same Attribute as a monster the opponent controls or is in their graveyard and then equip your targeted monster to it and then draw a card. First off, it’s nice to summon your Plunder Patrolls and have a monster equipped to it on your turn. It takes away the opponent’s turn restriction, which I like. You can target any of your monsters, but it’ll likely be a Plunder Patroll. You could target this monster as well if you wanted. The extra draw is nice, helping the archetype plus more. It’s a pretty good effect, and of course it’s a hard once per turn. You’d want to use a few of these since some Plunder Patrolls don’t have the effect to Special Summon from the Extra Deck for free and the ones that do are hard once per turns, so this can nullify that and add a draw on top. It’s also easy to summon for the archetype. It’s very good.

Advanced Rating: 4.25/5

Art: 4.25/5 The captain is here, matey!

Solember
YouTube

   Blackbeard is a very well designed Monster. The Plunder Patroll cards play really well with other archetypes, and cards like this make that happen. It has several great abilities that are not ridiculously overpowered but reward a player who can think laterally.

   The Link requirements are negligible due to how Plunder Patroll works. In a pure build, though, you can probably justify a traditional Link Summon. The 1600 ATK is nothing impressive, but that shouldn’t be a surprise here.

   The Special Summoning Effect is liberal and works well with yesterday’s Plunder Patroll Booty, but can also be used if your opponent is using a favorable Attribute. Not having to use a Plunder Patroll monster as a target opens up a lot of options. I spent several hours toying around with an ABC-Patroll and found that I was able to pull off a lot of interesting plays consistently. There are other great combos that this deck opens up requiring manipulation of effects that activate when sent to the GY or equipping to Monsters that make great use of Blackbeard (most are more entertaining than they are deadly), but I will leave that discussion for elsewhere. Also, hey! Draw that card!

   I don’t know how to assess this card’s individual value as far as balance goes. I have made some questionable plays, but that seems to be due to the archetype as a whole doing unique things. Being a HOPT is all I can ask of any card.

   The art is good. I like full backgrounds, but I have to draw attention to the blue on blue making everything but Blackbeard himself unnoticeable. That could be a good thing.

Versatility – 5
– I cannot stress enough how many places this card can go despite it seeming archetype bound at first glance.
Rogue Plays – 5
– Satisfying plays are easy to pull off here.
Art – 4
– Great principles of art; poor execution of framing.
Balance – 5
– HOPTs are good.
Uniqueness – 5
– The joy of this archetype is its non conformity. True pirates, through and through.

I give this card a 5/5. I enjoyed playing it. I want to play it more. I encourage rogue deck builders to make good use of this. Patroll is also a great deck to teach new players how to play.