Classic COTD Reviews – Pharaoh’s Servant (2002)

Card Name

Pojo Avg

My Rating

Notes

Premature Burial

4.4

4.75

800 life point cost isn’t bad considering you can get an extra body on the board to deal 2000+ damage with.

Staple for every deck except decks with lots of flip effect monsters (or monsters that can’t be special summoned).

Jinzo

~4

4

In most  normal use cases, it’s a decently statted tribute monster that will get over things.

But the big selling point is the lethal game-ending plays by reviving it (Premature/Call/Reborn), summoning a beater

It gets even better in the next set with more traps like Jar of Greed, Skull Lair, Torrential Tribute.

Lightforce Sword

3

1.25

Fundamentally horrible.  It’s a -1 since you give up this card but the opponent gets theirs back.

Time Seal is a better version of this since it’s also a chainable hand removal card but it’s a 1-for-1 instead of a +1 because the opponent doesn’t get the card back.

I should rate it a 1, but I’ll be cheeky and give it a 1.25 for aggro decks since you miiiight be able to win by turn 4.

Graverobber

~3

1.5

The 2000 LP cost is prohibitive, and I think about an alternative universe where this card might see some play if the cost were only 1000. 

But there’s also another problem.  You have to wait until your next turn to be able to use this.  This card won’t protect you during your opponent’s next turn,.

Call of the Haunted

4

4.5

Staple.  Slightly lower than Premature since you have to wait a turn to use it.  But the synergy with Jinzo is nice.

Forced Requisition

~3

1

This card was never a thing.  It didn’t apply to discard costs, so very cards synergized with it.  It’s slow (you have to wait a turn to use it) and it does nothing unless you have specific cards to synergize with it.

Goblin Attack Force

4

3.5

This usually gets destroyed by battle in the next turn or two.  It’s terrible against monsters that dont minus when destroyed in battle (i.e. Witch, Sangan, Tomato and flip effects).

But it can get over defense walls and get over niche beaters like Gumo, Megacyber, etc. 

2300 ATK can also hit breakpoints (i.e. 2 direct attacks from Goblins + 2 1800+ beaters = 8000 damage.

For the main deck, it’s viable but totally optional.  For the side deck, it’s great to have against beatdown or defense walls.

Imperial Order

n/a*

5

IIRC, the original effect forced you to pay 700 every turn, so reviewers were more critical.

But an errata made the payment optional so its a hard-staple auto-include card in every deck, and the strongest card in the whole set.

Time Seal

~3

4.5

Underrated at the time, but people were in the beatdown mindset back then; not the utility mindset..

 It’s a 1-for-1 at worst.  And at best, it’s a +1 if you chain it against removal (and this effect will always be helpful so you can chain it at any time).

Probably favors aggressive decks or in situations where you already have card advantage and want to reduce the opponents options.

Magic Drain

~3

3.5

It’s essentially random, but it’s at least a 1-for-1 which is better than 80% of the cards in this set.  It’s side decked sometimes.

You would essentially be getting rid of their worst spell card, but even the worst spell card in a good deck is still a good card.  Like with Time Seal, it’s a 1for1 that can favor you in attrition if you’re already ahead in the board state.

Hayabusa Knight

~3.3

2

Winmore card.  Can do 4000 direct damage with Axe of Despair.  But by itself it’s a -1 with weak stats and its effect.  It depends on other cards to work and isn’t useful if the opponent has creatures on the board.

Nobleman of Crossout

3.7

4.5

Underrated by reviewers.  Even if it’s not useful against decks with many LV4 beaters, it’s still a side deck staple against defensive decks.  

Depending on the meta, you could main 2, side 2, or main 1 + side 1.  But either way you’re always using 2.

Morphing Jar 2

3.7

n/a

Empty Jar/deckout decks  🙁 .

Ceasefire

3

3

Viable for burn decks, viable as a side deck card against flip effect heavy decks.  I rate it a 3 for that.

But as a main deck card for most decks, I’d give it at a 2.  Very situational. 

But too situational to be used in most main decks. It can protect a your non flip effect Set monster from Nobleman.

 It can negate an opponent’s flip effect (though you -1 if it’s a non flip effect like Witch/Sangan/Tomato/defense wall) so it’s a gamble. 

It has only a handful of interactions, but it’s a -1 in the majority of situations.

Michizure

2.9

2.5

It looks good on paper, but in real world scenarios its slower and situational than it looks.  It’s still 1-for-1 removal (better than the average card) and was okay for budget decks at the time.

Chain Destruction

~2.7

1

Not only is this a -1 that doesn’t help your boardstate at all, it helps the opponent.  Thinning their deck so they can draw into power spells faster.

Burning Land

3.3

2

No Field Spells were viable at this time, and even if they were, MST (at 3) and Dust Tornado (at 3) outclassed it.

As a burn card its decent, but you lose life points too, meaning they can deal lethal damage to you if they destroy your stall cards.

Gearfried the Iron Knight

~3

2.5

Can’t be Snatch Stealed but also can’t be revived with Premature.

It’s basically an 1800 beater.  Mechanicalchaser at 1850 makes it obsolete but most players couldn’t afford it at the time.

Gearfried would later become good with cards like ROTA and Blast With Chain.  But now.

Parasite Paracide

~2.5

1

How did this get positive reviews.

It’s a -1 that could take several turns just to be a 1-for-1 in card advantage.  It’s really slow, you sacrifice field presence and you take a -1 just for the payoff of 1000 damage eventually.  There’s a solid chance this never activates at all.

Plus this was a judge/ruling nightmare back then if players were using different sleeves.  Thankfully it was rarely played.

Beast of Talwar

3

1.5

Stats are decent but Summoned Skull (higher stats, and less expensive at the time) and Jinzo (has an effect) are better.

Nobleman of Extermination

2.9

3

This card is obsolete with both MST and Dust Tornado at 3.  You don’t use it if you have access to those.

But at the time, it was a normal rare and those were holo, so it was viable for budget decks.

It’s still a 1-for-1 card and it could help you make an offensive play, which is better than 80% of cards in this set.

Solemn Wishes

3.5

3

As a main deck card, it’s a 1 out of 5.  It was noob bait at the time.  It’s a -1, slow, and doesn’t help your board state at all (which will cause you to lose even more life points than you gain from it).  Never main deck it.

I rate it a 3 solely for side decking 1-2 of them against Burn.

Dust Tornado

~3

3.5

MST is legal at 3 so this never sees room in main deck (unless at the time, you couldn’t afford MST; this was less expensive). 

I rate it higher than the reviewers did because there’s plenty of room in the side deck for it.  It’s a very safe side deck choice because it works against all sorts of decks (stall, burn, equip cards, etc).  Decks with rogue continuous spell/traps.  Etc. 

Against those decks, having several spell/trap removal options isn’t redundant. 

Light of Intervention

3.9

3

Most meta monsters aren’t flip effects.  Side deck material against Empty Jar or flip effect decks but never main it.

Prohibition

~3

1.5

Would become viable in later years when there are deck types that center themselves around specific cards.  But in 2002, decks don’t really rely on specific cards to function.  So this card ends up being really situational and slow.

What if you play this card and the opponent doesn’t have the card you declared in their hand and it takes them several turns to draw it (or they never draw it).  You basically invested a card + lots of time for nothing.

Maybe side it against Spear Cretins and Cyber Jar for burn or deck-out decks?

DNA Surgery

~2.8

1

It’s a -1.  It does nothing by itself, and relies solely on other cards.  It’s vulnerable to spell/trap removal.  It’s very slow (takes a long time to get value)

The Fiend Megacyber

2.4

3.5

Niche situational card, that I’ve seen on a tournament topping list before. 

It’s Special Summon requirement isn’t unreasonable.  With how much removal there is, you having no monsters isn’t uncommon.

Opponents also often feel safe having 2 monsters. I.e. 1 in attack + 1 in defense to balance it out.  Or a LV4 beater + Witch/Sangan.  etc

4-Starred Ladybug of Doom

~3

3.5

Side-worthy against beatdown focused decks!

Gravity Bind

~3.8

3.5

For stall and/or burn decks only.

Infinite Dismissal

2

1

I can’t think of any good LV3 monsters that this would destroy.

Flip effects already get their effects off before this card destroys it.  Sangan replaces itself when destroyed. 

Setting monsters in defense position also protects them from this effect.

Thousand-Eyes Restrict

3

1

Great effect but absolutely viable way to summon him so he’s useless until Metamorphosis comes out. 

Ground Collapse

2.8

1

Is a -1.  Does absolutely nothing by itself.  Going from 5 monster zones to 3 does nothing because no opponent would want 5 monsters on the field anyway.  Raigeki or Dark Hole would make them lose everything.

You’d need 2-3 of these to get value, which is not only a -2 or -3 total, but requires you to draw into them.  And it’s vulnerable to spell/trap removal; if even 1 of them dies, it’s useless.

Would later be useful with other lockdown cards like Ojama Trio, but not now.

Dimensionhole

2

1

Why?

Type Zero Magic Crusher

2

1

Probably the worst card in the whole set.  It’s a -2 that could become a -3, -4 or -5.  Don’t even use in burn.

Sword Hunter

2

1

The equips clogging up your spell/trap zone is a non-issue because removal is plentiful and monsters rarely live more than 2-3 turns.

The main issue is that it’s 2 tributes (dead on arrival).  And it also has zero utility aside from just a minor stat boost.

If this were only 1 tribute, I’d rate it a 3 and it would be a fun card.  It would be potentially stronger than Summoned Skull but you’d need to win a battle first.

Limiter Removal

4

3

Very good effect but a limited pool of machine monsters to take advantage of this effect, and it’s not worth adding suboptimal monsters just to make this 1 card work.

Still: Jinzo, +3 Mechanicalchaser, +1 Cannon Soldier may be enough for some players to consider splashing in one.

Sadly, in 2002 most players couldn’t afford Chaser (note: that isn’t a factor in my score).

Gamble

1

1

Lol