Sky Striker Ace – Azalea – #BLMR-EN052
2 LIGHT and/or DARK monsters
Must be Link Summoned. You can only Special Summon “Sky Striker Ace – Azalea(s)” once per turn. If this card is Special Summoned: You can target 1 card on the field; destroy it, then, if you have 3 or less Spells in your GY, send this card to the GY. Once per turn, at the start of the Damage Step, if this card battles an opponent’s monster: You can banish 1 Spell from your GY; destroy that opponent’s monster.
Date Reviewed: August 25th, 2023
Rating: 3.83
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,
Sky Striker Ace – Azalea is the newest edition to the Sky Striker archetype and wraps up our week.
The second Link 2 for the Sky Striker archetype, Azalea needs a combo of LIGHT or DARK monsters for its Link Summon. While Sky Striker have a monster for each Attribute now in the Main Deck, the main monsters will always be Raye and Rozen, your LIGHT and DARK monsters. Spot removal upon Special Summon was something the archetype needed as only Zeke had spot removal in the form of a banish effect that isn’t permanent. Azalea punishes you if you have 3 or less Spell Cards in your grave, immediately sending itself to the grave after her spot removal ability. It’s nice to see a punishment that would prevent you from going immediately into this Link Monster to get rid of something only to link her away for another Sky Striker.
Spot removal during the Battle Phase through banishing a Spell from your grave works against Mobilize Engage!, as well as other cards that value the number of Spells you have, but players are likely willing to trade a Spell for a bigger monster destruction. Shizuku may drop opponent’s monster ATK by 100 for each Spell you have in the grave, but this is a more direct approach to getting rid of the problem.
Zeke may be easier to summon and have a good effect, but Azalea can do more. It may take a combo of LIGHT/DARK monsters rather than just a Sky Striker and another monster, but you get spot removal on summon and in the Battle Phase. Giving up a Spell in the graveyard isn’t anything to a Sky Striker player unless they were hard-pressed for grave resources, and that isn’t usually the case.
Advanced-3.5/5 Art-4/5
Until Next Time
KingofLullaby
Crunch$G
The week ends off with the latest Sky Striker Link to join the arsenal, Sky Striker Ace – Azalea.
Azalea is a Link-2 DARK Machine with 1500 ATK and arrows pointing Upper-Left and Bottom-Right. ATK is kind of middling, the arrows are a little odd, but at the very least it is a DARK Machine. The materials are any 2 LIGHT and/or DARK monsters, which is pretty generic, but not something Sky Striker might have that often. You’d either have to get Raye and Roze on the field or the Sky Striker Token from Hornet Drones, unless you’re willing to use Zeke as material for this, which isn’t terrible. It must be Link Summoned and can only be Special Summoned once a turn, which is standard for Sky Strikers, and the first part especially for their Link-2s. Anyways, upon Special Summon you get to target a card on the field and destroy it, then this card is sent to the graveyard unless you got more than 3 Spells in your graveyard. The Spell requirement is easy for Sky Strikers themselves to meet, and a ton of other Decks for that matter, but nonetheless this is a solid card to remove any potential threat on the opponent’s board that might give you some trouble. No discard cost like the Knightmares have, just less generic summoning requirements and it goes to the grave unless said grave is loaded with Spells. The second effect is a soft once per turn at the start of the Damage Step where it battles an opponent’s monster, letting you banish a Spell from the graveyard to destroy the opponent’s said monster. Another fine effect, which I’m sure it can come up often. Azalea is a fine card, but weirdly enough it’s better in other LIGHT and DARK Decks than it is for Sky Striker. The removal is pretty versatile and most Decks are willing to use something like this if they were willing to use Diamond Dire Wolf back in the day, considering more modern strategies can generate enough advantage to make up for anything lost. If you do get to keep this on the field, you at least got a Link-2 to climb up with after you destroy something, so that’s good. I’d recommend this for the LIGHT and DARK Decks that might want to remove some threats, especially those that might be able to load the grave with Spells.
Advanced Rating: 4/5
Art: 5/5 If modern Sky Striker Links look this cool, I’m down for more support.
Mighty
Vee
Engage seemed a little random, but it all makes sense now– closing the week is Sky Striker Ace – Azalea, another Link monster for Sky Striker’s toolbox. Azalea is a Link 2 DARK Machine Link monster (NOT a Warrior, if you were confused by that Worlds play) with up left and bottom right arrows, which are fine in general. Azalea requires two DARK and/or LIGHT monsters, so it’s a bit difficult to summon in Sky Striker proper due to all the Link 1s being of varying attributes (easiest way would be with Sky Striker Ace – Raye and Sky Striker Ace – Roze), but many decks will be able to make it very easily. Like the Link 1 Sky Strikers, it only has 1500 attack, which is a bit more embarrassing on a Link 2, but most Link 2s aren’t fighters in the first place.
Azalea must be Link Summoned and can only be Special Summoned once per turn, which explains why its first effect triggers on Special Summon and lets you target and destroy any card on the field, though Azalea will send itself to the Graveyard if you have three or less Spells in your Graveyard. This essentially makes Azalea a superior version of Knightmare Phoenix and Cerberus for LIGHT and DARK decks, and you can even make it with I:P Masquerena for a disruption. The Spell card “bonus” effect (really a drawback) is meant to deter you from using it in decks outside of Sky Striker, though some decks won’t particularly mind the loss of bodies, like Dragon Link. Azalea’s other effect is a soft once per turn (on the off chance you manage to field multiple Azaleas), letting you banish a Spell from your Graveyard if Azalea battles an opponent’s monster to destroy that monster at the start of the Damage Step. Damage Step battlers aren’t very common in Yugioh in modern times due to how antiquated the effect is, but it’s a nice bonus that can save you in an emergency, and it helps compensate for Azalea’s low attack stat. Of course, the main reason you’ll play Azalea is for the first effect, being very versatile destruction that doesn’t require a discard, at the cost of removing itself if you don’t have enough Spells. If it’s a LIGHT or DARK deck, there’s no real reason not to run one copy instead of (or even alongside) Knightmares, though if you’re extremely tight on deck space it’s a card you can go without.
Advanced: 4/5
Art: 3.75/5 I haven’t read the manga, are all the Sky Striker Aces sans Raye just named after flowers?
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