Brain Research Lab – #ANPR-EN057
Once per turn, you can Normal Summon 1 Psychic-Type monster in addition to your Normal Summon or Set. If successful, place 1 Psychic Counter on this card. You can also place 1 Psychic Counter on this card instead of paying Life Points to activate any Psychic-Type monster’s effect that you control. When this card is removed from the field, the controller of this card takes 1000 damage for each Psychic Counter on it.
Date Reviewed: March 3rd, 2022
Rating: 3.25
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is awful. 3 is average. 5 is excellent.
Reviews Below:
King of
Lullaby
Hello Pojo Fans,
Brain Research Lab once found itself as a potential hit on the ban list, but wasn’t hit.
The extra Normal Summon for a Psychic Counter isn’t too bad. LP don’t mean too much in the game now and if it gets your strategy flowing the cost and risk are well outweighed by your potential field and game control. For the P.U.N.K archetype, an extra Normal Summon means another monster to tribute for one of your Level 8 P.U.N.K. monsters, or a Link 2, or double the monster effects that could start your combo much easier to set up your field. Swapping a counter for not having to pay LP for your Psychic-Type monsters each time you would is a great effect if the LP cost is more than the 1000LP per counter. Because P.U.N.K. monsters only pay 600LP that effect of Brain Research Lab isn’t really applicable, but it is worth noting that you can avoid the LP cost if you are closing out the game. If you can wipe the counters off the card by negating it somehow you can reset and do it all over again without consequences.
Brain Research Lab is a good card for Psychic archetypes that pay a lot of LP with their Psychic-Type monsters, but P.U.N.K. monsters don’t pay enough to warrant utilizing that part of the card. The extra Normal Summon each turn is far more useful for P.U.N.K. monsters and would be the reason to add this.
Advanced-3.5/5 Art-4/5
Until Next Time
KingofLullaby
Crunch$G
Don’t want to pay 600 LP that often in P.U.N.K.s? Well here’s your best alternative for Throwback Thursday: Brain Research Lab.
Brain Research Lab is a Field Spell that once per turn can let you Normal Summon a Psychic monster in addition to your Normal Summon/Set, and if you are successful in the Normal Summon you place a Psychic Counter on this. An additional Normal Summon for Psychics seems pretty good. Should note the rulings of this card says you can’t stack these Normal Summons and get more with multiple copies, even without the hard once per turn clause. Second effect also lets you place a Psychic Counter on this instead of paying LP to activate the effect of a Psychic monster, which is the gimmick of most Psychic monsters, so having a way to not pay so many LP is pretty good to have. Now what are these Psychic Counters for? Well once this card leaves the field, you lose 1000 LP for each Psychic Counter on this card, so be careful in placing too many of those counters on this, cause it leaving the field by any means can end the game for you in an instant. Either way, it’s still a decent card for some Psychic strategies, it can most certainly work in P.U.N.K. with all the Level 3 Psychics needing LP for their effects.
Advanced Rating: 3.5/5
Art: 4/5 BRAINS!
Alex
Searcy
Brain Research Lab is one of the more fun and interesting Field Magics out there, and one a P.U.N.K. player may want to consider. An extra, free (albeit Normal Summon) of any Psychic type is great. Given all those Tuners, and how easily that opens the Extra Deck plays, we’re all ready looking good. If successful, you add a Psychic Counter to this card, as well as any time you would pay Lifepoints to activate the Effect(s) of a Psychic Monster. Which, as you’re aware from earlier this week, is a great boon to these guys. You do have the nastiness of taking 1000 Damage per counter on this card when it leaves the Field (in any shape, size, or form) and that could be…unfortunate for you. So win before you get this card destroyed and save those Lifepoints. This is one of those high risk cards, just laced with potential, but consequences…possibly game ending consequences.
Rating: 3/5 seems fair
Art: 3.75/5 I mean, it IS what it is, technically, but something here is lacking in the picture for me.
Mighty
Vee
As all of the P.U.N.K. tuners are psychic type, it makes sense that Throwback Thursday would cover Brain Research Lab, one of Yugioh’s more gimmicky cards. Brain Research Lab lets you normal summon a psychic monster in addition to your normal summon or set, so for psychic decks it’s a decent extender, though I wouldn’t count on it for reliable combos. The more interesting aspect of Brain Research Lab is its other effect, which was enough to make it a banlist candidate before my time. Instead of paying LP to activate a psychic monster’s effect, you can place a counter on this card instead. As a drawback, you’ll take 1000 points of damage for each counter if Brain Research Lab leaves the field. While the intended use of this card is to minimize the side effects of many psychic monsters, there are some nasty combos you could do by using Reprodocus or DNA Surgery to get basically infinite uses off of Cyber Stein or any none-once-per-turn effect using LP. If they weren’t banned, Magical Scientist and Mind Master (the latter being psychic by default so type changers are unnecessary) would also be ripe for abuse with this card. Fortunately, the meta’s changed in such a way that Brain Research Lab can’t really be abused without easily disruptible or inconsistent combos, so overall it’s a meme card, but still decent for general use thanks to its first effect.
Advanced: 3/5
Art: 2.5/5 Nothing too special, though it’s hilariously fitting that Magical Scientist is here.
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