Fire King Courtier Ulcanix – #ROTA-EN098
If this card is Normal or Special Summoned: You can destroy 1 other FIRE monster in your hand or face-up field, and if you do, add 1 FIRE Beast, Beast-Warrior, or Winged Beast monster from your Deck to your hand, except “Fire King Courtier Ulcanix”, then you can make this card’s Level become that added monster’s. If this card is destroyed and sent to the GY: You can Special Summon 1 “Fire King High Avatar Garunix” from your Deck in Defense Position. You can only use each effect of “Fire King Courtier Ulcanix” once per turn.
Date Reviewed: October 22nd, 2024
Rating: 4.08
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,
Fire King Courtier Ulcanix is some new support for Fire Kings during the Year of Fire that should’ve been their archetype, but was replaced with Snake-Eye.
Level 4 Winged Beast that is an instant destruction trigger monster for your FIRE monsters in hand and on the field. Simple and effective effect here: summon Ulcanix, pop a FIRE, then gain whatever from the monster you popped while using Ulcanix’s ability to search out a FIRE Beast, Beast-Warrior or Winged Beast from the Deck. The level change Ulcanix offers whe you search out a monster using her effect is useful if you are setting up a Synchro/Xyz Summon. Search out one of your big Fire King monsters to instantly have a Rank 8 potential on the board. Fire Kings Special Summon themselves off destruction of a Fire King destroyed on the field, so Special Summoning another Fire King to use for Ulcanix’s effect is critical.
When destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, Ulcanix can Special Summon a Fire King High Avatar Garunix from the Deck, but in Defense Position. You are doing nothing but destroying FIRE monsters in an Fire King deck and Ulcanix will meet the same fate as the others to further your plays. Trading your Level 4 800ATK for a 2700ATK Winged Beast that can reborn itself the Standby Phase after it was destroyed and wipe the board of monsters upon summon is an easy trade to make. Alongside Fire King Island, Ulcanix and your Field Spell will get you two searches for two cards. At worst you have two new card of your choosing and two in the grave. Five Fire King monsters (including Ulcanix) can plus off destruction from anywhere, and you can always pop and search another Ulcanix with Fire King Island to get her second effect if you want to keep the first copy on the field or use for an Xyz or Link Summon (Promethean Princess).
Fire King Courier Ulcanix is pure Fire King support. She doesn’t help Snake-Eye very much without help, but she enables smoother Xyz Summoning and Special Summoning in a pure Fire King deck. Popping stuff in the hand instead of on the field lessens what you need to commit and becoming the having the option to become the Level of the monster you search pushes for bigger monsters on board. If she had been a Level 1 like Ponix to align with One for One it would have been even better, but this is as good as it gets for Fire King.
Advanced- 4/5 Art- 4/5
Until Next Time,
KingofLullaby
Crunch$G
At the end of 2023, Fire Kings got their retrained Structure Deck, but the OCG then made a manga promo for the archetype that was in import limbo until now, so now we can review Fire King Courtier Ulcanix.
Ulcanix is a Level 4 FIRE Winged Beast with 800 ATK and 2000 DEF. Low ATK, but high DEF, and a FIRE Winged Beast is nice. Upon being Normal or Special Summoned, you can destroy another FIRE monster in your hand or face-up field to search for any FIRE Beast, Beast-Warrior, or Winged Beast from the Deck that isn’t another Ulcanix. So you get to destroy your Fire Kings to trigger their own effects along with other Fire Kings, plus you get a search for basically the whole Fire King archetype along with other miscellaneous stuff. It could get Fire Fists, Coach Solider Wolfbark, and much more, but the home of this is always going to be Fire Kings. This card’s Level can also become the Level of the added monster, so search a Level 8 to make this Level 8 to make the Rank 8 that Fire Kings have. If this is destroyed and sent to the graveyard, you can summon a Fire King High Avatar Garunix from the Deck in Defense Position. Before, the old Garunix didn’t really have a home in modern Fire Kings, but now that you have a way to float into it from the Deck, it doesn’t hurt to have a copy now, especially since this should be destroyed pretty often. HOPT on both effects, of course. Ulcanix is nice for Fire Kings to finally have for more searching and ways to destroy your cards to trigger their effects. It makes pure Fire Kings more viable or it can be a boost to Snake-Eye Fire King. Either way, it’ll end up in anything Fire King related now.
Advanced Rating: 4/5
Art: 4.5/5 A king needs their own courtier of course.
Mighty
Vee
Earlier this year, Fire King took the meta by storm paired with Snake-Eye, but quietly fell off with a whimper when people realized pure Snake-Eye was stronger than any hybrid at the time. Fire King is now back with a vengeance as they finally have Fire King Consort Ulcanix, a level 4 FIRE Winged Beast monster. Like all Fire King monsters, the main way you can search it is with Fire King Island, which by proxy is searchable with our old buddy Legendary Fire King Ponix, itself highly accessible through the Snake-Eye engine. Ulcanix comes with a very low 800 attack, but a very decent 2000 defense if it has to battle for whatever reason.
Ulcanix has, unsurprisingly, two hard once per turn effects, the first triggering on Normal or Special Summon to let you destroy any other FIRE monster in your hand or face-up on your field, then search any FIRE Beast, Beast-Warrior, or Winged Beast. As a bonus, you can make Ulcanix’s level become the same as the monster you searched. The main goal is to search Sacred Fire King Garunix– thanks to how triggers work, you’ll be able to summon it immediately and make Ulcanix level 8. From here, you can make any Rank 8 of choice, including Garunix Eternity, Hyang of the Fire Kings (though it’s not as great unless you make it during your opponent’s turn with Fire King Sanctuary), or extend even further using Garunix’s effect for Link climbing combos. Depending on the combo route, you can of course search Ponix as well, and in Tri-Brigade hybrids you can grab Tri-Brigade Fraktall to smokescreen into Tri-Brigade combos. Ulcanix’s other effect triggers if it’s destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, like most Fire Kings; it simply Special Summons a Fire King High Avatar Garunix from your deck in defense position. This is particularly helpful if you searched Ponix or any of the other low-level Fire Kings, since it’ll replace Ulcanix with a level 8 body for your Rank 8 plays. Ulcanix makes Fire King a much more flexible deck, since it’s arguably just as strong as Ponix as a starter and makes them less reliant on Snake-Eye engine (though it certainly helps a lot). I haven’t seen it run at any less than 3 copies in any variant, for good reason!
+Excellent alternative starter to Ponix in Fire King decks
+Easily enables Rank 8 plays
-Not a true 1 card starter
-Needs you to play the original Fire King High Avatar Garunix to make full use of it
Advanced: 4.25/5
Art: 4/5 Long-lost Harpy Lady cousin…
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