Judgment of the Branded – #LIOV-EN069
Target 1 Level 8 or higher Fusion Monster you control; destroy all monsters your opponent controls with an equal or higher ATK than that monster. During the End Phase, if this card is in the GY because it was sent there to activate the effect of “Fallen of Albaz” this turn: You can Set this card. You can only use this effect of “Judgment of the Branded” once per turn.
Date Reviewed: July 27th, 2021
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,
Judgment of the Branded is the first trap card of “Branded” origin that we get to look at this week.
All Fusions in the “Branded” archetype are Level 8 or higher, making the requirement easy to achieve. Board wipe of monsters is great, and as a trap it can be used defensively and offensively. Equal or higher ATK than the Fusion Monster you choose may limit the reach of your board wipe though. All “Branded” Fusion monsters are 2500ATK, and the problem with that is the monsters that set up the big monsters aren’t higher or equal to 2500ATK. Once the higher ATK monsters come out they typically can negate stuff like Judgment of the Branded, but that aside, JotB should be at least a 1-for-1. Reset effect like yesterdays card if used to fuel “Fallen of Albaz” works within the strategy and that is appreciated because you lose nothing off “Fallen of Albaz” cost. Once you activate his effect and Fusion Summon, this card being reset to the field locks and loads this card to hurt your opponent. Yes, they will see it coming, so they’ll have to play around it or destroy it beforehand, using a resource/effect to deal with hit.
I can’t see you having a big blowoff with this card, because of the nature of higher ATK boss monsters nowadays, but there is always a chance to see that happen. Anything above a 1-for-1 is a big plus for you, especially since you don’t need to tribute the Fusion Monster.
Advanced-3.5/5 Art-4/5
Until Next Time
KingofLullaby
Crunch$G
Now for some Traps in the Branded series as we get to Judgment of the Branded.
Judgment is a Normal Trap that lets you target a Level 8 or higher Fusion you control to destroy all monsters the opponent controls with equal or higher ATK than the targeted monster. With the Albaz Fusions having 2500 ATK mainly, you won’t destroy a lot in theory, but 2500 is low enough to be able to get rid of some strong monsters. This not being specific to what you target can be nice to use with other Fusions, not requiring a Dragon for example at least lets you use it with the Albaz Fusions that aren’t actual Dragons or the new Despia archetype. The Level restriction is fine enough considering Levels usually don’t signify how hard a Fusion is to summon. The second effect is the same recovery effect as Branded in White, where pitching this with Fallen of Albaz lets this card reset itself to the field during the End Phase. It’s much more acceptable on a Trap considering you got to wait a turn to use them anyways, where it was worse of Branded in White since you have to wait to use it. Hard once per turns on Judgment, which is fine. Judgment is a decent card that should be able to help remove some strong threats. Again, it’s nothing spectacular, but it’s fine for what it’s meant to do.
Advanced Rating: 3.5/5
Art: 4.5/5 Hello Golgonda.
Alex
Searcy You know, I do make a point in reading the other reviews on here, AFTER I’ve typed mine out. I don’t want to (intentionally) restate anything anyone else has, even though obvious things will and do happen. But I typed mine out, and Austin and I (who is more knowledgeable and a better player than I) had a completely opposite view, and I really liked that, because we both get to show you different opinions and strategy for this card, so please enjoy!
Judgment (in the American Traditional spelling without the second ‘e’; ironically which is the first ‘e’) is a delicious little Trap, a Normal one, and while my view yesterday was that you get the most out of your card while having FoA as an accessory, (and if used as part of its Effect, it Sets itself back to the Field after, as we saw yesterday, and will continue to see), that may still be true here, but you can still cause a lot of trouble without it.
This is rather simple, in fact, wherein this card has you Target a Level 8 or above Fusion of your control, allowing all Monsters your opponent controls with an attack greater than or equal to attack of your chosen Target to be destroyed. Now while, at a glance, that may seem rather daunting, difficult, and unnecessary, how many Level 8 and higher Fusion Monsters do we have that have 0 attack? QUITE A LOT…which makes the activation of this card insanely easy, and all the better. This card can fit into a LOT of Decks, and it may need a semi-constructed Extra Deck (at least for the Monster to Target) this thing can be played about anywhere.
How good this card is isn’t even in the Field clearing potential here. Sure, that’s an option, and it’s not always going to be the payoff where you hit 3+ Monsters each time. One of you out there, crazy and dismissed as I tend to be, is going to mercilessly chastise me for this, and then think…MAYBE he was on to something. To whoever does this and breaks this open, good for you! (Ironically, as this doesn’t destroy your Monster, if you just destroy one Monster, you do breakeven here, at least initially card advantage wise).
But if you nuke their Field, assuming you either can answer the back row, or there isn’t one, I see this card being able to win games. Now, sure, also, if you went my route and pulled this off with a 0 attack Fusion, Extra Deck that into something else. This doesn’t take or negate or regulate any of your Summons pre or post activation. This could be a game winning card. You’re going to want a couple Targets in your Extra Deck for this, but even if you can just dump something and revive it unconventionally in whatever you’re running and just Extra Deck into anything else powerful. Potential is certainly here, and if this ends up one of those ‘crap now, abused and broken 1/3/5+ years from not, I TOLD Y’ALL SO. (I may never have said that in 16 years).
This card is just screaming to be abused. You could + your advantage of this so easily just in a Turn, and that’s if you haven’t won. Also, at the very least, this could be a Side-Deck staple. Play around and see.
Ratings:
Traditional: You know, I may play with this myself, I know there’s more popular, faster, and less involved OTKs in Traditional, but this could be something to try to. 3/5
Advanced: For reasons stated above, and even with(out) FoA, I love that this can work anywhere you’re carrying an Extra Deck. 4.25/5
Side-Deck: I don’t think ANY card is perfect for the Side-Deck (hence, SIDE-Deck) but even so…4.75/5
Art: Much akin to yesterday, cool enough picture, and I feel Judgement (purposefully added the ‘e’) of the Lightning Strike might be more apt, given what we’re shown. But the REAL question is, what did Supreme Sovereign Serpent of Golgonda do to deserve this? And, who/what has ‘branded’ him?
2.75/5
We would love more volunteers to help us with our YuGiOh Card of the Day reviews. If you want to share your ideas on cards with other fans, feel free to drop us an email. We’d be happy to link back to your blog / YouTube Channel / etc. 😉
Visit the Card of the Day Archive! Click here to read over 4,000 more Yu-Gi-Oh! Cards of the Day!
