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Pojo's Duel Masters Card of the Day
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Image from
Wizards Duel Master site
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Niofa,
Horned Protector
DM04
Card S5
Date Reviewed: 11.26.04
Constructed Average Rating: 3.63
Limited Average Rating: 1.00
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst. 3 ... average.
5 is the highest rating. |
cecillbill
(Top 4 at
2004 GenCon
Championship) |
Niofa, Horned
Protector
Niofa is a bigger Rumbling Terahorn with less search
versatility that can slam for 2.
[Effects]
1. Double Breaker. Niofa's double breaker effect is
useful because it lacks summoning sickness. It can
be hard to combat for some decks, especially when
its appearance is accelerated.
2. Search your deck for 1 Nature creature. This
ability means at least four
things: 1. Niofa thins your deck by 1 card, 2. It
maintains your hand size by fishing out its creature
replacement provided you don't cast other cards on
the same turn, 3. The creature you need the most
when you play it had better be a Nature creature,
and 4. Your opponent knows which creature he's going
to see soon. Now that Niofa joins the creature
search ranks and is itself a creature, a nifty
field-filling creature search loop can be had via
Niofa and Rumbling Terahorn: play Rumbling and
search for Niofa. Next turn evo Rumbling into Niofa
and search for Rumbling. Next turn play
Rumbling...well you get the point--happens so long
as there aren't things stopping it (ie. evo bait
gets toasted). You can also get things rolling with
Dimension Gate.
Effect Ratings:
Constructed: 3.5/4. Niofa's effects are solid for
the price. You net a formidible threat and another
Nature creature.
Limited: Not enough evo bait or copies of this
creature are going to show in your pulls to bring it
to the field consistently, but it nabs another
Nature guy--although that creature is probably going
to be a ho-hum creature. It's Double Breaker ability
without summoning sickness is a plus in a format
where Control & Stall strategies cannot be optimally
fleshed out.
[Power/Cost]
Six mana for a 9000 creature without summoning
sickness is great. Only things like big walls, big
creatures, some choice removal like Terror Pit, and
bounce like Corile will put the brakes on this thing
once it's out.
Niofa adds to the madness that is green beatdown.
What hurts Niofa's chances for stardom is its evo
line.
Power Ratings:
Constructed: 4/5. 9000 power at the 6 spot is hard
for many decks to deal with, which pretty much means
decks not running Light's blockers or ample fattie
kill.
Limited: If you could make this evo see the field,
then it will kill.
[Other Considerations]
Evolution Line: It's evo line is choppy. Only 1 of
its potential evo bait comes in the early game,
Leaping Tornado Horn, and the bulk are mid game
drops hovering at 5 mana. The good news is that some
of the Horned Beasts are very playable like Raging
Dash-Horn and Rumbling Terahorn. The other Horned
Beasts don't offer much unless you want to run a
predominantly Horned Beasts deck or have no other
options.
Evo Rating: 2.5/5. Niofa is a solid creature that
can bring even more firepower and creature search to
a build that's big on creatures and one that's
designed for massive beats. Its evo line isn't
terribly slow or completely unimpressive.
[Where To Deck]
Mono-Nature. In that build you have room to run
Horned Beasts and Beast Folk without making too many
concessions. Niofa can only search out Nature
creatures, and in a mono-Nature deck that means any
creature. With mana gain Niofa and its evo bait
could hit the field sooner. Nature/Light. Having a
choppy evo line can be offset via time & protection
afforded through blocker stall, and Light has the
added bonuses of an anti-blocker drop in Larba Geer
and ways to draw cards. Other builds will likely
stick with the Beast Folk evolutions for mana
acceleration and pumped beats and just run Dimension
Gate/Rumbling Terahorn/Crystal Memory for creature
search.
[Some Cards To Deck With It]
You'll want mana gain to bring out Raging, Rumbling,
and Niofa faster.
Therefore, it fits nicely with Beast Folk creatures
like Bronze-Arm Tribe and perhaps with spells like
Ultimate Force (just watch the number of cards you
run at the 5 spot if you deck Rumbling and Raging).
Since Niofa and its evo bait Rumbling Terahorn can
re-fill the hand with a creature, Poisonous Mushroom
wouldn't be too bad to deck. Larba Geer is a nice
card to run in a Light/Nature deck with Niofa so
Nature's aggro elements have an answer to walls.
Other search creatures are also good to pair with
Niofa--and it has an evo bait that does it to boot.
[Format Ratings Overall]
Constructed: 3/5. Niofa is soild, but it's hindered
by a choppy evo line and a search ability that nabs
only Nature creatures. Dimension Gate and Rumbling
Terahorn are cheaper and more versatile creature
search options.
Many duelists will favor Fighter Dual Fang because
for 1000 less power it brings double breaker pain
and 2 mana for the same price--and has a more
fleshed out evo line.
Limited: If you can snag some evo bait, which is on
the short supply. Your opponent might snag all the
evo bait in Draft, and you'll barely see enough of
Niofa's evo bait in Sealed. If it hits, then it will
make your opponent cry.
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Knives101 |
Niofa, Horned
Protetor
Well this card already has quite a few good evo
baits for it. You've got Tornado Horn, Raging Dash
Horn, and Rumbling Terahorn. Searcing your deck for
a creature is a nice effect. I already like using
Rumbling Terahorn, so I might try this card out
someday. I think I might wait until another 3 cost
evo bait comes out though. Anyway makes for a nice
seacher and an evolution all in one.
Rating: 4 |
Parshathrules
8391 |
Niofa, Horned Protector
A
Six for 9000 double breaker with a built in
Dimension Gate? Cool!
He’s one of the new Shadowclash evos, this time for
Horned Beasts. You don’t see them played often, but
there are some decent ones to support Niofa. Leaping
Tornado Horn, Rumbling Terahorn and Raging Dash-Horn
are all nice targets for this creature. Rumbling
Terahorn can even search for him for a quick turn 6
double breaker.
The
search effect has to be used on a Nature creature,
which really isn’t that bad. Mononature is the type
of deck I’d be using this guy in anyway.
In
limited, NEVER choose this guy. There is NO support
for him.
Constructed: 3.5/5, decent evo bait leads to a 9000
double breaker, turn six. Nice.
Limited: 1/5, no support, literally. |
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Jordyce |
NIOFA, HORNED
PROTECTOR
Me = here to review. You = here to read. Simple
enough? I think that's enough introduction for
today. Today's review is on another Shadowclash SR
and it's the nature one - my personal favorite.
He's a Horned Beast, not exactly a rampant race with
only 5 other types avaliable in English yet, and
fewer less that are usable. The only card I use
competitvly is Rumbling Terahorn, and when not in a
tournament I use Raging Dash-Horn for his amazing
power-up ability. His effect is also close to
Rumbling Terahorn, with it letting you search
through your deck for any nature creature and add it
to your hand. Thus, you can cycle your deck by
playing another Niofa on another little Horned
Beast.
He's a major competitor against Dual Fang at a
whopping 9000 power, only Ballom, Alcadeis, Terror
Pit and Ladia Bale are the only major playble cards
that will stand in this guys way. He dosen't really
have the convenience of speed like Barkwhip at being
at 6 mana, but his effect makes up for it.
Once more nature creatures that can be used for
evolution in the Horned Beast division then this guy
will see some more serious play. At this time this
card will need a deck at least semi built around
him, just like Jack Viper. He is certainly playable
though.
CONSTRUCTED: 3.0/5.0 - In a deck around it, it will
be a bit of powerhouse.
And a higher rating.
LIMITED: 0/5.0 - There are no other Horned Beasts!
Take it for it's rarity, then leave it out.
ARTWORK: 4.5/5.0 - It's not perfect, but a love the
design and symmetry to it.
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Fish & Chips |
Niofa, Horned
Protector
Fish
Hey Everyone! Sorry
for the long pause again. I like this card. It's
a good asset to mono-nature decks with Raging
Dash-Horn in them. There's not really an
abundance of Horned Beasts, but this card is
playable. I'm sure a good nature player with
Dimension Gate will be able to use this card
well. It's 9000 power assures that it won't go
down without a fight, and 6 mana is pretty
cheap. This card gets an above-average rating in
constructed.
Constructed: 4/5
Limited: 3/5 Now,
I'm not sure how many Horned Beasts are in
Shadowclash, so I could be wrong, but if there
aren't many, than this card won't go places.
Chips
The card today is
Niofa, Horned Protector. Now this is an okay
card. It's a evolution card so it can attack the
turn it is played. It has 9000 for 6 which is
good and it has Double Breaker. You can also
search your deck for a nature card when this
comes into play. It's a pretty good card.
Constructed: 4.5/5
Limited: 4/5
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