Tenpai Dragon Paidra – #LEDE-EN016
If this card is Normal or Special Summoned: You can add to your hand or Set 1 “Sangen” Spell/Trap from your Deck. You can only use this effect of “Tenpai Dragon Paidra” once per turn. You take no battle damage from battles involving your FIRE Dragon monsters. Once per turn, during the Battle Phase, you can (Quick Effect): Immediately after this effect resolves, Synchro Summon using this card you control.
Date Reviewed: June 3rd, 2024
Rating: 4.17
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,
Only a matter of time before we got to Tenpai Week on Pojo CoTD. This deck has become a Tier 1 and was hyped since the spoilers for the Legacy of Destruction set were released. This archetype brings importance back to the Battle Phase, as it lives and dies there. We’re starting with the most expensive of the three Main Deck monsters: Tenpai Dragon Paidra.
Paidra is your Spell/Trap searcher for the archetype and is like another copy of Terraforming to get you to Sangan Summoning: critical to your OTK in the Battle Phase. When Normal or Special Summoned is important as well, as you won’t always start with Paidra, you’ll need to Special Summon them in the Battle Phase using one of your other Tenpai monsters or even Sangan Kaimen, which can also be searched by Paidra. Paidra protects against battle damage involving FIRE Dragon monsters, which the entire archetype consists of. It allows for crashing into bigger monsters and not take damage, and, in conjunction with Tenpai Dragon Fadra, not be destroyed. Attacking will help trigger Sangenpai Bident Dragon’s ability to Special Summon itself from the graveyard after you’ve Synchro Summoned it once before.
Synchro Summon ability during the Battle Phase is a step above what Yang Zing were able to do, and ties into the previously-mentioned effect. Using tomorrow’s CoTD, your Tuner for the archetype, you can attack, not die or take damage as long as you have one of each of your Tenapi Main Deck Dragons on the field, then Synchro into Bident Dragon, which can Special Summon back your Tuner or a different FIRE Dragon monsters, and you’ve likely met the requirements to summon Bident back from the grave once you use him for synchro material.
All Tenpai monsters play a part in delivering a one-shot KO to your opponent. Paidra makes certain you will get your needed Spell, and while you can search a trap, you are almost always searching that Field Spell or Kaimen to facilitate a Special Summon. You need that Field Spell though, as its destruction in the Battle Phase will only help with your OTK. It is possible to OTK without it, just not as consistent.
Advanced- 4/5 Art- 4/5
Until Next Time,
KingofLullaby
Crunch$G
Hope you like OTKs, cause this week we’ll look at a Deck completely dedicated to it, the Tenpai Dragon/Sangen archetype and we’ll look at one of the archetype’s main starters to begin: Tenpai Dragon Paidra.
Paidra is a Level 3 FIRE Dragon with 1700 ATK and 1000 DEF. Actually impressive stats for a Level 3, FIRE is pretty solid, and Dragon has a ton of great support. First effect triggers upon Normal or Special Summon to add to your hand or Set a Sangen Spell/Trap directly from the Deck. A good searcher to get to the archetype’s powerful Spells like Sangen Summoning or Sangen Kaimen to help your OTK by searching and/or summoning more monster, or buffing ATK in the case of Summoning. They also get a MP1 skip Trap in Infinite Forbidden, but it’s pretty win more for a Deck already wanting to go second when most Decks would already go first. Hard once per turn on the search. You take no damage from battles involving your FIRE Dragons, which helps to get free attacks with your Tenpai Dragons, mainly when you also have Tenpai Dragon Fadra to prevent them from being destroyed in battle. Next effect is a soft once per turn, being a Quick Effect in the Battle Phase to Synchro Summon using this card you control, getting your big Synchros on the field for more damage mainly. Paidra searches your Spells for getting to more bodies and helps Synchro Summon in the Battle Phase for increased damage output. It’s pretty simple, but pretty good.
Advanced Rating: 4.25/5
Art: 4/5 If I knew more about Mahjong, I might appreciate this more.
Mighty
Vee
Got Trident Dragion? This week begins our coverage of the controversial Tenpai (and by extension Sangen) archetype, which made its debut in Legacy of Destruction. Tenpai Dragon Paidra is first on the list, a level 3 FIRE Dragon monster; like all other monsters in this deck, it’s a FIRE Dragon, making it searchable with their in-house Spells, Sangen Summoning and Sangen Kaimen. For a level 3 monster, Paidra has a decent though still unremarkable 1700 attack, with a much more middling 1000 defense. Of course, every attack point counts when it comes to Tenpai’s win condition.
While Paidra is on the field, you don’t take any battle damage from battles with FIRE Dragon monsters, which can be a lifesaver if you’re forced to crash into a high-attack monster (such as Skull Guardian, Protector of the Voiceless Voice), getting you killed very quickly. Paidra’s first effect is its only hard once per turn effect, triggering if it’s Normal or Special Summoned to let you search any Sangen Spell or Trap or set one directly to your field. Depending on your opening hand, you’ll search either Sangen Summoning or Sangen Kaimen (the former can be set directly to bypass Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring and Droll & Lock Bird) to access your other combo pieces. Infinite Forbidden will give Tenpai a Trap card to help them with going first, though it’s less of a priority than the other two. Paidra’s last effect is shared by the entire original Tenpai trio, a soft once per turn Quick Effect to Synchro Summon with it during the Battle Phase. This is how you’ll access your Synchro monsters during the Battle Phase, as Tenpai combos require you to attack to make their plays. There’s a reason Paidra still costs a pretty penny despite only being a super rare; it’s a combo starter that can make or break your turn. Run three! I think people overestimate how consistent Tenpai is considering the amount of non-engine they run, so it’s good to see Paidra whenever possible.
+Primary combo starter for Tenpai
+Battle damage protection helps against decks with large beaters
-Weak to disruption during the Battle Phase
-Not being a Tuner can hurt you in fringe scenarios
Advanced: 4.25/5
Art: 4.25/5 All of the Tenpai monsters look really cool, even if they don’t exactly scream “FIRE”.
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