This week is gonna be different than normal. The topics are free-response, so it’s my choice what card I review that fits the topic. The card the card today is a card from the base set that has changed in power with incoming sets. There really is one area of cards that really got affected, and that’s the bounce cards of the early sets. There’s only so many, so I’ll choose Aqua Sniper and hope no one else chose it…

Aqua Sniper

Civilization: Water

Type: Liquid People

Mana Cost: 8

Power: 5000

Ability: Return 2 monsters in the battle zone to their owner’s hands

The Rundown

The bounce family of the early base set is Spiral Gate, Teleportation, Unicorn Fish, and this guy. I remember, back in the day, when every deck around my tourney had 3-4 of each of these cards, since everyone ran Green/Blue/Black. This was around the time I got to choosing red/black as my main colors, since they are the least affected by bounce type cards, and it’s true. I’ll get to that later on…

The Positive Side

Why was this card so good?...

I think people just got hypnotized by the effect, even though Teleportation had a similar effect. That’s really the idea of  bouncing, to remove monsters and force your opponent to waste mana to re-summon a monster. That’s why I saw decks back then using up to 16 bouncers. They focused on all aspects of the game which removes monsters. Bouncing, Destroying, and Sending to the mana zone.

The effect is like Teleportation, in that 2 monsters get returned. The greatness is that the card is not specific on what side it can bounce, so it can bounce your monsters. Why would you do that?

What if your opponent had 1 monster. Then you could play this, bounce the monster and the Sniper, then you get to re-use Sniper for the next turn.

Just flat out bouncing 2 monsters can be good. TO have your opponent waste that kind of mana would change the game in a drastic way, unless you used red like I did :)

In all, the card isn’t really that bad. There are some combos with it, but the ability is really basic and general to go into detail.

The Negative Side

Now, I’m supposed to say how it has changed. Well, Red and black haven’t really gotten any worse in their ability to produce low cost cards. Speed Attackers really have a field day with the bouncers. Cheap Monsters only take few mana to get out again. On top of that, with new monsters and abilities, bouncing isn’t always a good thing. For example, what if you bounce a ballom? What if you bounce a Survivor? What if you bounce any card that has an effect that works when it’s summoned?...

This card has decreased in power and in play ever since the end of the Green/Blue Era (we’re in the Light Era now…). The card was the highest mana cost in the game when it first came out, along with Vampire Silphy and Scarlet Skyterror.

I’m guessing that people figured out that bouncing does not really mean removing and destroying. Red was too fast, so bouncing 2 humans to my hand really didn’t affect me, since I could bring them back next turn with the other monster I wanted, except now I have to wait for summoning sickness…

The card isn’t really that good…seriously…paying that kind of price for a teleportation monster? Look at Spiral gate. 3 more than that cost is Corile, and that card is soooo much better than a bouncer can ever be. That’s what happened. Corile happened. Deck-Topper cards like Corile took the place of bouncers very well.

Finally, here’s what else could you use?

- 4…*rubs eyes*…4 Spiral gates?

- Teleportation and Spiral Gate

- a Liquid People with Crystal Lancer/Paladin?

- A staple card-Terror pit, Natural?

- Corile then spiral Gate?

There’s lot’s of combos that result better than Aqua Sniper.

The Limited Side

This card does get better in limited. Due to lack of resources that kill things, bounce is the next best thing. By 8 mana, the cards that make or break the game come out, so this guy can screw with your opponent a bit. Having 2 of his monsters gone would be cool.

The Recap

Here’s the + and- again

Pluses

+ bounces 2 monsters

+ 5000 attacker

+…uh…it’s blue…

Minuses

- too expensive-(maybe not to today’s standards)

- Effect isn’t always worth cost

- New monsters make it less desirable to bounce

Constructed-2/5- It’s not a horrible card…but it has really gone down in play since evolution and Speed Attacker was introduced

Limited-3.5/5- Much better here…if you can get the 8 mana you need…

Art-2/5- I…Is it a fish?....

That’s it for Aqua Sniper. If anyone has any questions, comments, concerns, or complaints, E-mail me at

pt_1bc_2@yahoo.com

Later Days….

Well, I’m back…its been a longtime but I’m going to be doing COTD reviews again.  This week is a “You Choose It” week.  Today we are reviewing a card from Base Set whose uses have been greatly affected as new sets have released.  I chose Illusionary Merfolk, the Cyber Lord’s best friend.

Illusionary Merfolk-Water Civilization, Gel Fish race, 5 mana, 4000 attack, and “When you put this creature into the battle zone, if you have a Cyber Lord in the battle zone, draw up to 3 cards.”

This card screams to be put into a water deck.  What water deck doesn’t use Corile?  Not many that’s for sure.  Not only that, how many water decks use Emeral? Quite a few.  The reason I ask these questions, is their relevance to the card that I am reviewing.  His effect says to draw up to 3 cards when you summon him…if there is a Cyber Lord in play.  Emeral and Corile are both Cyber Lords.  Not to mention Hypersquid Walter has been seeing more play lately, making Ill-Folk, as I will call him from now on, far more playable than he used to be.  The main reason for this is Ill-Folk was released in the base set, with the only decent supporting cast being Walter, which was rarely even considered when deck-building.  Then Evo came out, which saw the release of one of the most game-changing card ever, Corile.  The next set, which failed as a set, saw the release of Emeral, the shield swapper.  Technically, this combo could have been big back in rampage, but most people started playing it around the time that Locomotiver was released.  The most popular deck type when he was released was a Blue/Black control deck, which utilized cards that allowed you to draw and made your opponent discard.  This has since died out with the release of Survivors of the Megapocalypse.  Now blue decks still run Ill-Folk, but only in moderation.  However, I have a feeling Ill-folk will still be able to make a reappearance in future sets due to his massive card draw and great support.

In limited, however, since he was garbage in Base Set, it would be in your best interest to not use him.

Constructed 4.8/5-Not perfect, but really good still.

Limited 1/5-its not the worst card to use…but its pretty close