Phantom of Yubel – #BLTR-EN047
1 “Yubel” monster + 1 Fiend monster with 0 ATK/DEF
Must be Special Summoned (from your Extra Deck) by shuffling the above cards from your hand, field, and/or GY into the Deck/Extra Deck. Cannot be used as Fusion Material. Cannot be destroyed by battle, also you take no damage from battles involving this card. When your opponent activates a monster effect (Quick Effect): You can Tribute this card; the activated effect becomes “Your opponent destroys 1 “Yubel” monster in their hand, Deck, or field”. You can only use this effect of “Phantom of Yubel” once per turn.
Date Reviewed: December 23, 2024
Rating: 4.38
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Crunch$G
Well it’s been a wild year, but it’s coming to an end now, meaning it’s time for the annual Top 10 cards of the year and we start the year with a card that took an old anime theme from 2008 and made it competitively viable enough to where the card itself got limited. From Battles of Legend: Terminal Revenge, we have Phantom of Yubel.
Phantom of Yubel is a Level 9 DARK Fiend Fusion with 0 ATK and DEF. Stats work when Nightmare Pain will be reflecting the damage to the opponent for you, and DARK/Fiend is a great combo. Fusion Materials are any Yubel monster and any Fiend with 0 ATK/DEF, and you can only Special Summon this (from the Extra Deck) by shuffing the Fusion Materials listed from your hand, field, or graveyard into the Deck or Extra Deck. The materials are easy to get when all the Yubel monsters themselves are 0/0 Fiends, along with other cards the Deck would run like Samsara D Lotus, Gruesome Grave Squirmer, Dark Beckoning Beast, and sometimes Chaos Summoning Beast for the extra fodder. This cannot be used as Fusion Material, so when it wasn’t at 1, you couldn’t shuffle this back to summon another copy. It cannot be destroyed in battle and you take no damage from battles involving it, so at least if you don’t have Nightmare Pain, you take no damage yourself. Finally, we got a Quick Effect when the opponent activates a monster effect to let you tribute this to change the effect to you destroying a Yubel monster in your hand, Deck, or field. It basically negates a monster effect by destroying your Yubel monsters, destroying Spirit of Yubel to summon your base Yubel, or destroy the base Yubel to get to Yubel – Terror Incarnate. In either case, stopping an opponent’s monster effect while getting a body out of your Deck is great for keeping advantage in your favor. This effect change is only a HOPT, which is fair. Phantom of Yubel was the key to the Yubel strategy, summoning multiples for a grind game and getting extra bodies on the field when needed. Having only 1 now means you have to be careful with how you use it, but Nightmare Throne can always put it back in the Extra Deck when needed. You’d play more if you were allowed, but you for sure play the single copy you’re allowed.
Advanced Rating: 4.5/5
Art: 4/5 The Ulti of this is still super odd looking.
My #10: Silhouhatte Rabbit
Mighty
Vee
It’s almost Christmas already?! As per Pojo tradition, we’re taking a break from new cards to do our countdown of the top 10 cards of 2024, voted by our wonderful contributors. Starting us off at number 10 is Phantom of Yubel; in our initial review, I noted that we’d have to wait for Nightmare Throne and Fiendsmith for the deck’s full potential– it turns out that Yubel is still a great deck, though not quite as popular as Tenpai and of course Snake-Eye. Just to refresh, Phantom is a level 9 DARK Fiend Fusion monster, taking any Yubel monster and any Fiend with 0 attack and defense (so other Yubels or Samsara D. Lotus and Grave Squirmer), and you can only summon it with its own condition to shuffle back its Fusion materials. Phantom also comes with the standard 0 attack and defense for Yubel to continue the damage reflection gimmick.
Simply put, the fact that you can summon Phantom very early in your combo means you can set up a monster negate early to beat Nibiru, the Primal Being (a must-have for any combo deck) as well as any other pesky Hand Traps that can stop your plays. If you somehow manage to make it all the way without using Phantom’s effect, you can keep it on the board for another disruption when your opponent’s turn rolls around. This alone wouldn’t be all that crazy, if really good, but for many people, the main killer about Phantom is the fact that you can summon it multiple times per turn. Paired with its very easy summoning condition, it wasn’t uncommon for Yubel combos to summon multiple copies, using two of them as Link fodder and Hand Trap insulation and ending with one on the board for disruption. It’s no surprise that the recent banlist put a stop to this by limiting Phantom to 1 copy, which means no more free Link fodder, and if you decide to use its effect early, you probably won’t be able to use it as disruption anymore. I don’t imagine Phantom will come back to Unlimited any time soon, but frankly, after almost 20 years of being a meme card, I think Yubel deserved something this strong, no?
+Can be summoned quickly and easily for a monster negate before Nibiru
+Recycles resources
+Additional copies can provide bodies…in Unlimited!
-Lacks inherent damage reflection
-Doesn’t help much against strong backrow
Advanced: 4.5/5
Art: 3.5/5 Oddly specific anime reference this time around
King of
Lullaby
Hello Pojo Fans,
Phantom of Yubel begins our look at the Top 10 of 2024 for CoTD.
What was the highly-anticipated addition to the Yubel archetype after the first round of Yubel support, Phantom of Yubel is a Fusion Monster you are not attempting to pair with Super Poly, but use your grave to cycle back any Fiend with 0ATK/DEF alongside a Yubel monster of yours. Not needing a Fusion card to summon eliminates one problem, and because you are adding the cards back to the Deck you are gaining back cards to use later and recouping what you’ve already gone through. With Spirit of Yubel easily Special Summoned and giving you incredible access to the original Yubel, getting to a Fiend with those stats isn’t hard. Cannot be used as Fusion Material was put in as a prevention from using this copy from the grave alongside a Yubel monster on the field to summon another Phantom and keep cycling the two copies in and out of the Extra Deck, a well thought-out restriction.
Once on the field, Phantom of Yubel carries the same battle destruction protection and no damage that many Yubel monsters carry with them. However, what makes Phantom so good is that Quick Effect that turns any effect your opponent may be using to “Your opponent destroys 1 “Yubel” monster in their hand, Deck, or field”. Not only are you countering an opponent’s card effect, you are getting advantage by getting to a different form of Yubel for yourself. In all likelihood you are thinning the Deck with this effect and going into Terror Incarnate or Spirit of Yubel. The only downside to this is if the card you are changing is on the field it will not be destroyed by Phantom of Yubel altering the effect, but that can be made up using other cards and in monster cases, Terror Incarnate.
First Spirit of Yubel for easy access to the archetype alongside some really good Spell Cards, then a Fusion that allowed for Super Poly shenanigans, then a way to counter your opponent and gain you advantage without destruction. Phantom of Yubel was Limited because of the ease of summoning and its ability to generate advantage for the player. It hurts Yubel, but it doesn’t stop them from running the archetype at all.
Advanced- 4/5 Art- 4/5
Until Next Time,
KingofLullaby
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