Performapal Celestial Magician – Yu-Gi-Oh! Review

King of
Lullaby

Hello Pojo Fans,

Performapal Celestial Magician wraps up our week and is the newest Pendulum support.

Good stats and scale to support itself as a standalone monster, Celestial Magician can trade itself as a Pendulum Spell for an Extra Deck monster (minus a Link Monster). A different kind of protection for an Extra Deck monster, this kind of swap is more than balanced in your favor. A 1500/1500 monster for almost ANY Extra Deck monster is a great choice. Your opponent will have to deal with your Extra Deck monster(s) in some way, and if they do, they will help you activate this card. Imagine getting one of your strong Synchro Monsters like Stardust back, or an Xyz as a beatstick. Simply put: This 1-for-1 is like a 1-for-2 in your favor.

As a monster, the more the merrier. Without Master Rule 5 this effect wouldn’t be as playable, but now you can get at least two of these effects combined during any turn. Regardless of situation, locking your opponent out of monster effects is always desired, and Pendulums can Synchro as well as Xyz Summon with ease. Doubling this cards attack with an Xyz monster on your field, and having it being a one-sided Skill Drain/Soul Drain with a Synchro also on your field pins your opponent down with how the meta is heavily dependent on monster effects. Attacking directly can be handy, and searching a Pendulum Monster in the End Phase is also beneficial, but Pendulums can Xyz and Synchro better than Fusion. It may only be for a turn when you summon it, but you can summon it multiple times in a game using your Pendulum Summon.

This card is something that drastically helps Pendulum decks. Doesn’t matter what archetype you are running with Pendulum Monsters.

Advanced-4/5    Art-5/5

Until Next Time
KingofLullaby

Crunch$G

We end this week off with a Pendulum Monster that can do a ton depending on the summoning mechanics you use, and is part of the Performapal and Pendulum Magician archetypes, Performapal Celestial Magician.

Celestial Magician in the Pendulum Zone is a Scale 8, which is a great Scale, with the effect that when exactly 1 face-up Fusion, Synchro, or Xyz you control that was Special Summoned from the Extra Deck is destroyed by battle or opponent’s card effect, you can Special Summon the destroyed monster and then destroy this card. Nice option to revive a Fusion or Synchro that has a good effect, Xyz can be nice even though they’re nearly useless effect-wise without Xyz Materials. This is a hard once per turn effect, which isn’t the biggest deal since I doubt you’re putting 2 in the Scales and shutting down a potential Pendulum Summon.

As a monster, Celestial Magician is a Level 4 DARK Spellcaster with 1500 ATK and 1000 DEF. Mediocre stats on a Level 4, DARK is great, and Spellcaster is pretty good. During the Main Phase of the turn this card was Normal or Special Summoned, you can activate this card’s effect to apply any of the following effects for the turn depending on the types of monsters you control at the time you choose to activate this effect, but note Celestial Magician won’t count itself for the last one.

Fusion lets this card attack directly, which can get some free damage in if you aren’t using this as Xyz Material or something. It works with the Xyz effect as well.

Synchro prevents the opponent from using Monster effects, which Azathot proved how great this can be. It isn’t as potent after you’ve already made plays, though, but having it if you’re planning to enter the Battle Phase or do more is fine.

Xyz doubles this card’s ATK, making it 3000 that can potentially attack directly if you have a Fusion as well. It’s pretty respectable.

Finally, Pendulum lets you search for any Pendulum Monster that isn’t another Celestial Magician during your End Phase. This is probably the most common effect since you’ll likely trigger this after a Pendulum Summon, where you’ve probably summoned multiple Pendulums. Any Pendulum search is very good, so I can understand why it’s an End Phase search.

Celestial Magician has some pretty cool effects, but the most noteworthy one is if you have another Pendulum Monster since it can set up a follow up play. The other effects are pretty cool. Fusion and Xyz can go well together and Synchro should help you do more in a turn if you’re able. The Pendulum Effect is fine if it’s in a Scale. It being a Performapal and a Pendulum Magician gives it access to any card searching or using Performapals and/or Pendulum Magicians, which means the specific support cards for those archetypes as well. It’s a fine card in Pendulum Magicians, worth dedicating a few spots in the Deck to.

Advanced Rating: 3.75/5

Art: 4.25/5 Getting Z-ARC vibes a little bit, I like it.

Solember
YouTube

Performapal Celestial Magician

This card is a very strong candidate for the L/F list. It has an easily searchable Type, Attribute, Level and two easily searchable archetypes, and one aspect of its Monster Zone effect is very abusable. Being a Pendulum Monster almost guarantees persistence on the field throughout the Duel if necessary.

Starting with the Pendulum Effect, this Monster is incredibly potent support for any deck that Special Summons Fusion, Xyz or Synchro Monsters. It adds a passive level of protection to all of these Monsters in a revival effect. This makes a lot of cards that activate when destroyed or sent to the GY great pairings with this card, especially if they don’t have HOPT, but it is pretty easy for this effect to miss the timing due to “when/can” PSCT. Some cards I have been using this with to push the limit a bit include Voltic Bicorn, Dante, Pilgrim of the Burning Abyss and the D/D/D archetype. It works casually in any deck, though. The scale of 8 on such a splashable card with no restrictions is great, too.

Moving onto the Monster Effects, one effect really jumps out to me. The Synchro effect to stop your opponent from activating Monster Effects is the effect that really puts this card into a whole new territory of imbalance. It doesn’t specify that the opponent must control the Monsters, which means it stops Hand Traps, GY Effects and Field Effects from activating. This is, in many cases, an invitation to rain all sorts of chaos onto the opponent without much fear of repercussion. The effect when you control another Pendulum is decent, too, and I can see it getting play if Qliphorts return to prominence, but I believe you can also look to cards like Chronograph Sorcerer to further punish your opponent if they destroy your card(s). There is a lot of synergy there. The Fusion and XYZ effects are mediocre, but not every effect needs to be borderline banworthy, right?

The art on this card is fantastic. It not only looks good, but it feels appropriate for the attention this card demands you pay it.

Despite all the power in this card, I do not believe it is balanced well. Nothing this card does rewards outside-the-box thinking. It is both easy and stupidly powerful.

Versatility – 5
– This card feels very close to a staple card.

Rogue Plays – 5
– This card can be the mashed potatoes OR the gravy for a surprising win.

Art – 5
– Talented AND attractive? Unfair.

Balance – 0
– This is a great example of when HOPT means nothing, and the card is completely inviting abuse.

Uniqueness – 5
– While it seems inspired by 4 very powerful boss cards, it actually does all of those effects better AND acts as a scale-8 Pendulum. This is the guy your GF tells you not to worry about.

While I want to give this card a 0 for the poor balancing, I have to give it a 5/5 for being ridiculously good. I hope people find use out of this card while it lasts. I am personally using it in Super Heavy Samurai, Lightsworn, Blackwings and Burning Abyss as a tech, and in D/D/D and Pendulum/Magician as a perfectly synergized card. Remember not to miss timing!