Lancea, Ancestral Dragon of the Ice Mountain – #BLTR-EN005
1 WATER Tuner + 1+ non-Tuner monsters
Once per Chain, if your opponent Special Summons a monster(s) (except during the Damage Step): You can Special Summon 1 “Ice Barrier” monster from your hand, Deck, Extra Deck, or GY, then you can change 1 Attack Position monster your opponent controls to Defense Position. You can only use this effect of “Lancea, Ancestral Dragon of the Ice Mountain” twice per turn. If this face-up Synchro Summoned card in its owner’s control leaves the field because of an opponent’s card: You can Special Summon 1 “Ice Barrier” Synchro Monster from your Extra Deck. (This is treated as a Synchro Summon.)
Date Reviewed: July 26th, 2024
Rating: 4.13
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,
Lancea, Ancestral Dragon of the Ice Mountain end ours week of Ice Barriers and of course we gotta end on a Synchro Monster.
WATER Tuner and at least one generic monster, this Level 10 Dragon packs pretty good stats. 3300ATK will get over most things, and it inherits WATER and Dragon support, though with most Ice Barrier monsters being different Types it’d be unlikely to run Dragon-based support within an Ice Barrier deck.
Special Summon of an Ice Barrier monster in response to an opponent’s Special Summon is an okay 1-for-1 considering no negation or destruction. Being able to Special Summon from anywhere but your Banished Zone is incredible even if you aren’t negating effect(s) of a Special Summoned monster your opponent just summoned. The change in position from attack to defense ensures a big monster won’t be attacking, however, you can’t do that to Link Monsters. Twice per turn means double the Special Summons, but remember if using in conjunction with Frozen Domain to keep at least a copy of up to three differently named Ice Barrier monsters in the Extra Deck. Your opponent is likely to Special Summon more than twice per turn, so choose wisely the monsters you summon. Sadly, the Special Summon from the Extra Deck isn’t considered a Synchro Summon so both Trishula Synchro Monsters aren’t great choices for this.
Synchro Summon of another Ice Barrier Synchro Monster when Lancea leaves the field because of an opponent’s card is probably the easiest way to summon one of the Trishula Synchro Monsters and get their effect. A free Synchro Summon after committing at the very least two monsters for this monster is a +2 in terms of materials used, in addition to whatever effect(s) you may get off the Synchro Summon. Again, be mindful of Frozen Domain as there are five Extra Deck Ice Barrier monsters with different names and the amount you run will vary. With 3300ATK and how the game is played they will be dealing with Lancea with a card effect, ensuring you will get a Synchro Summon.
Lancea, ironically not an Ice Barrier monster, is one of the best for the archetype. Twice per turn Extra Deck or Deck or hand Special Summons in response to your opponent’s Special Summons, while also changing their monster to defense can outright stop them from advancing their plays depending on what you summon. It gives you back something when it leaves the field because of your opponent and what it gives you will likely turn your negative into a positive. At the very least it will force responses from your opponent who will then have to expend more resources. Great monster that isn’t hard to summon in that archetype.
Advanced- 4/5 Art- 4/5
Until Next Time,
KingofLullaby
Crunch$G
The week ends off with the new Ice Barrier Synchro that’s so good, I guess it decided not to be an Ice Barrier card: Lancea, Ancestral Dragon of the Ice Mountain.
Lancea is a Level 10 WATER Dragon Synchro with 3300 ATK and 2700 DEF. Very strong stats for a Level 10 Synchro, WATER is great, and Dragon is pretty good here. Materials are any WATER Tuner and any non-Tuner(s), so you’re open to the WATER Tuners you can run, and non-Tuners are completely your choice. Once per chain, if the opponent Special Summons a monster, you get to summon any Ice Barrier monster from your hand, Deck, Extra Deck, or graveyard and then change an Attack Position monster the opponent controls to Defense Position. The effect is good to get to all the floodgate effects in the Ice Barrier archetype that the bigger monsters usually have, though some do require other Ice Barrier monsters you control, hence why you can use this effect up to twice per turn to help get the other monster you’d need to turn some of the floodgate effects on. The battle position swapping feels random, but it keeps your monsters safe from battle potentially, so that’s a positive. Thankfully that isn’t mandiatory in the case the opponent only controls Link Monsters. Most combos need to Special Summon twice, so you should get 2 powerful floodgate effects on board. You likely won’t summon from the Extra Deck with this effect since these summons aren’t treated as Synchro Summons, instead if this face-up Synchro Summoned card in its owner’s control leaves the field because of an opponent’s card, you can summon any Ice Barrier Synchro from the Extra Deck, with that being treated as a Synchro Summon. This is pretty good with both Trishulas, since the original can rip cards from the opponent on the field, hand, and graveyard, while the new Trishula can just wipe up to 3 cards off the field on its own, so you can summon the one you need depending on the situation. Lancea is pretty good to add to the Ice Barrier board when the opponent attempts to play the game, plus the floating effect is strong since it punishes the opponent with one of the Trishulas dropping with them being able to trigger their effects. One of the end goals for Ice Barriers now, card is pretty good.
Advanced Rating: 4.25/5
Art: 4/5 I kinda got Gungnir vibes off of this when I initially saw it. Thought it was gonna be upgraded Gungnir, but what we got is cooler (pun intended).
Mighty
Vee
Finishing off the week is a new sub-boss for the Ice Barrier archetype, Lancea, Ancestral Dragon of the Ice Mountain, a level 10 WATER Dragon Synchro monster. While it’s notably not an Ice Barrier monster by name, the deck can still make it very easily despite not being an Ice Barrier monster by name. Revealer of the Ice Barrier can be tuned with a level 6 Tuner like Georgius, Swordman of the Ice Barrier or Coral Dragon, which the deck can also easily make. Swordsoul can also make this card if you want (I have sour memories of debating this card’s usefulness in the deck). Lancea boasts an excellent stat spread of 3300 attack and 2700 defense, the best of any Ice Barrier monster in fact! Good muscle is always welcome.
Lancea’s first effect is a hard twice per turn and once per chain, triggering if your opponent Special Summons any monster to let you Special Summon any Ice Barrier monster from your hand, deck, Graveyard, or Extra Deck, then optionally change one of your opponent’s Attack position monsters to Defense position. The battle position change is largely mediocre except against Tenpai, where it’s quite deadly, but the main meat of the effect is of course summoning any Ice Barrier monster from anywhere. Ironically, you won’t want to dip into your Extra Deck for this since it’s not a Synchro Summon, so summoning either of the Trishulas is pointless. Plus, the other Ice Barrier Synchros are all ignition effects, so you wouldn’t be able to take advantage of them during your opponent’s turn anyway. Instead, you’ll usually bring out your floodgates– General Raiho of the Ice Barrier and of course the new Georgio\us are excellent choices since their floodgates are fairly versatile, though Warlock of the Ice Barrier, Medium of the Ice Barrier, and Spellbreaker of the Ice Barrier (for follow-up) are also good choices. In fringe matchups, even Defender of the Ice Barrier can be a good choice. General Wayne of the Ice Barrier is rather odd, but it can enable Trishula, Zero Dragon of the Ice Barrier when your turn rolls back around since it conveniently can make it with Georgius. Lancea’s other effect, while not once per turn, only triggers if your opponent makes it leave the field, letting you Special Summon any Ice Barrier monster from your Extra Deck and treat it as a Synchro Summon. This, thankfully, does let you trigger the Trishulas, though unfortunately it’s even more reactive than the first effect and relies on your opponent either not reading or being forced into it. Despite these limitations, Lancea is still a very strong card since it can summon floodgates and bodies for aggressive follow up; Trisula Zero in particular is a strong boardbreaker when it comes out on turn 3. That said, I don’t think it’s worth playing in Swordsoul…
+Easy to make
+Can bring out monsters for floodgates or follow-up
-Reactive effect makes it vulnerable to decks that can remove it without using the Extra Deck
-Can’t summon either Trishula with its first effect as disruption
Advanced: 4.25/5
Art: 4.5/5 I’m not entirely sure what Lancea is supposed to represent lore-wise, but the red makes me think a souped-up Gungnir.
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