Wandering King Wildwind – Yu-Gi-Oh! Throwback Thursday (2017)

King of
Lullaby

Hello Pojo Fans,

Wandering King Wildwind isn’t too old but is still our Throwback Thursday choice this week.

Fiend-based support card. Normal and Special Summon capabilities are good, and it checks the boxes for support behind it and stats. This monster can fit in really well with Plunder Patroll since they don’t have much Main Deck support monsters at the moment. All are below 1500ATK, making WKW live whenever in your hand. Yeah, it locks you into Synchro Monsters for the rest of the turn, meaning you have to play around him first, setting up any Extra Deck summons that aren’t Synchro before using him. Next turn banish ability to search pays for itself and is another way (and more direct) within the Plunder Patroll archetype to search. You can also just Normal Summon WKW and not be locked out of everything but Synchro Monsters. This card is good for this archetype because of its Special Summon requirement. Most Fiend-based decks have many monsters over 1500ATK, making this just another Normal Summon, which those decks already have monsters to commit to that. Plunder Patroll summon themselves from the deck and during the opponents turn, this is one of those monsters you can use on your turn. Every deck needs that monster that can spur offense and WKW is that for PP.

Advanced-3.5/5     Art-3/5

Until Next Time
KingofLullaby

Crunch$G

Throwback Thursday has a card that can be useful for Plunder Patroll, though it makes you use the Synchro if you want to hard summon the Extra Deck monsters: Wandering King Wildwind.

Wildwind is a Level 4 DARK Fiend with 1700 ATK and 1300 DEF. Better Level 4 stats, and DARK and Fiend are a combo we’re more used to. The first effect is that if you control a Fiend Tuner with 1500 or less ATK, you can Special Summon this card from the hand, which free Special Summons are good. If you attempt this, you can’t Special Summon from the Extra Deck for the rest of the turn except for Synchro Monsters. Kinda stings if it’s negated, but if summoned properly you should be able to Synchro considering this is a non-Tuner and you Special Summoned this because you had a Tuner. The second effect is a grave effect where you can banish it from there during any turn except the turn it was sent there to search any Fiend Tuner with 1500 or less ATK. Fun searching effect and you got options like Resonators, which is what this is meant for, and you can use this in the Plunder Patroll archetype for Whitebeard, which is probably the best Plunder Patroll to search. It’s a good card for any Synchro Decks using Fiend Tuners, maybe not a must for Plunder Patroll, but it can be a good tech. It helps set up tomorrow’s card if summoned the proper way.

Advanced Rating: 4/5

Art: 4.5/5 I get Beast-Warrior vibes from it, but it does look menacing and evil like a Fiend as well.

Solember
YouTube

   Throwback Thursday brings us Wandering King Wildwind. This is a card whose typing fits more with the Japanese “Demon” than the English “Fiend” thanks to its design as a panther-headed creature with a questionable past. The translation of the name seems to have changed as well, though I struggled with this one. I believe his name could be a play on “Blown Here On a Strong Wind King Wild Wind” though if “blown here on a strong wind” is a common phrase meaning “wandering” in Japan, I don’t know. I just appreciate how word play fits into so many Yu-Gi-Oh! cards.

   The image initially looked like a retrain of Panther Warrior, but I realized that would be a lot like saying two guys wearing green shirts look alike. If they are the same species, they have unique features that separate them well. I wish there were more lore here. The background makes no sense to me, as he is clearly arriving into the void of space.

   The card’s effects both work well with Fabled, Resonator and D.D. decks. The latter effect is a bit more versatile, adding usability to a few other Fiend archetypes. I think Yu-Gi-Oh! could use more generic Type support and less archetype reliance, but that is probably my nostalgia talking. When using the Special Summoning effect, be sure to only use it when the time is right. Using it too early in a turn can shut down your potential plays.

   This card could have used a HOPT on the first effect. I go back to the Birdman/Doom/Gallis FTK and think that this card can eventually find its way into some convoluted loop if the right (wrong?) card comes out. As it is, Koa’ki Meiru Doom and Genex Ally Birdman can create an infinite summon loop with this card. Not much can come of it, but things like that are only one card away from needing an e-ban in a future format.

   Not much else to say about this card. You know what you need in your deck to use it, so if you can play him consistently, go for it. Trying new things can open doors for you.

Versatility – 5
– This card fits into several decks.
Rogue Plays – 2
– I can see combos that use this guy, but they aren’t terribly impactful.
Art – 3
– I like the thoughtfulness in the small details, but the background is lazy.
Balance – 3
– These kind of effects need HOPTs, even if they aren’t overpowered on their own. The Extra Deck restriction mitigates this a bit.
Uniqueness – 1
– These effects aren’t unique. It feels like these “summon if you control” effects have been pretty common since the original Six Samurai cards. Banishing to search is also a common effect.

I give this card a 3/5. It works in some decks better than others, but it never feels like a game changing draw, in my opinion.