Guardragon Elpy – Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Review

King of
Lullaby

Hello Pojo Fans,

Guardragon Elpy is one of three Guardragon monsters we’re reviewing this week that may end up getting REDMD banned in the TCG.

Easy to summon, requiring only a Level 4 or lower Dragon, almost any deck that has access to at least one of those can summon this. Locking you into Dragon-Type monsters is something that will keep all but the archetype and Dragon-Type users away though. A deck thin and Special Summon mixed into one makes this like a searcher, but it stays on the field, giving you material for link summons. Yes, you need a zone two or more Link Monsters points to, which is why you have Guardragon Pisty opposite it or something pointing from above or on an angle. You can pull ANY dragon from your deck, REDMD being the favorite for obvious combo and overpowering advantage reasons. Despite that, you can get any dragon, Blue-Eyes players can get their White Stone to Synchro, or Dragon Spirit of White for spell/trap destruction, etc. When you mix in cards like Eclipse Wyvern, Black Dragon, White Dragon, and Defrag Dragon the possibilities depending on your monster lineup expand even more.

Ridiculously easy to summon, ridiculously powerful with the right monster in your Main Deck, and at the very least will be a Link 2 when all said and done. It is stupid how this card can be part of a 1-card combo that can cripple your opponent.

Advanced-4/5     Art-4/5

Until Next Time
KingofLullaby

WarlockBlitz

Guardragon Elpy has a lot going for it. Mainly it’s the Guardragon that most decks can use for advantage. It’s a Link 1 Dark Dragon-type Link Monster with 1000 Atk and a Left Arrow. Stats don’t matter much except that it’s a dragon. While Elpy is on the field, you can only Special Summon Dragons, which is the whole point, but since Link monsters Link Climb, the restriction won’t matter. You can only Special Summon Elpy once per turn, but it’s still going to gain a lot of advantage. The purpose of Elpy is to Special Summon any Dragon from your hand or deck for free once per turn so long as it can go to a Main Monster Zone that two Link Monsters point to. Even if REDMD gets banned, the advantage potential is huge. Elpy brings old decks back to popularity, and it’s the easiest one plus with. 

Score: 4.5/5     Art: 4/5 

Crunch$G

Next up for Guardragons is the first of three Link Monsters they have (so probably no surprise to what is reviewed the rest of the week) and we’ll start with Guardragon Elpy.

Eply is a Link-1 DARK Dragon with 1000 ATK and an arrow pointing to the Left. I can’t ask for a lot of ATK on a Link-1 really unless the summoning requirement is some big monster, and that Left arrow might seem bad, but it helps with the effect, and I like it being a DARK Dragon. The summoning requirement is any 1 Level 4 or lower Dragon, which should never be a challenge in a Dragon deck really. You cannot Special Summon monsters, except Dragon monsters while you control this, which should be fine since you’re likely playing this with a ton of Dragons and you can Link this away into other Dragon Links like the Borrels, Saryuja, Triple Burst Dragon, or Hieratic Seal of the Heavenly Spheres to get rid of that restriction. During your Main Phase, you can Special Summon a Dragon monster from your hand or deck to a zone 2 or more Link Monsters point to. Sure you need 2 or more Link Monsters pointing to a zone, but that’s easy if you can summon Saryuja Skull Dread first or get Guardragon Elpy and his brother out at the same time in the Main Monster Zones. There are a ton of strong Dragons you can summon off this, since it isn’t restricted to Level, with some popular ones being Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon, Eclipse Wyvern, or Amorphage Golliath if you can’t make too many more plays, which you should be able to. Other options include Blue-Eyes White Dragon and Red-Eyes Black Dragon for those decks, so that can be nice, and it can get their stones out of the deck. That effect of Elpy is a hard once per turn because we know how good summoning from the deck is, and you can only summon Guardragon Elpy once per turn so you can’t just summon this, Link it away, and revive it to a zone that’s more convenient for his effect if you were thinking about that. Elpy has necessary restrictions, but at the same time it helps so many plays for Dragons that playing this in decks using a ton of Dragons that can produce a ton of monsters is highly recommended.

Advanced Rating: 4.5/5

Art: 4.5/5 Almost looks like a LIGHT monster, but I guess I can get it being DARK. Still great artwork either way.

Alex
Searcy

Guardragon Elpy is a very simple Link Monster.  This is a Dark, Dragon, only a Link 1 (requiring 1 Level 4 or lower Dragon Monster) with a solitary arrow pointing directly to the left and 1000 attack.  Small body on a small Monster, so it’s hard to be very upset about.  Dark and Dragon both add to the usefulness of this card though.  First off, note you’re excluded from Special Summoning non-Dragon type Monsters.

Not an issue, all that means is you won’t play Elpy outside of the Dragon theme.  For as simple as this Monster seems, the effect is rather powerful.  During your Main Phase, you’re able to Special Summon a Dragon from your Hand OR Deck (and we love to Special Summon from the Deck) to a Zone two or more Link Monsters point to.  That may seem like a hard stipulation/condition to adhere to but…

I think it’s not the most difficult of things, and it’s appropriate, given there’s no restriction to the Type or Level of the Dragon you can pull out.  So it’d make sense to throw out something powerful (BEWD for those who enjoy playing that, a REBD or anything in that line).  This card can definitely reward you for playing (more) higher Level Dragons.  This is obviously a once per turn effect (and Elpy itself can only be Special Summoned once per turn) to prevent broken-ness.

Rating:  4.25/5

Art:  4/5  So we have dark wings on a white body…such a bland white, even with gold (shouldn’t necessarily) mean Light, although I see how the picture could draw you that way.  This kind of reminds me of a Dark(er) Ancient Fairy Dragon.