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TLM Pre-Release Review: Sean of the Dead

From: SeanoOfTheDead@aol.com
Date: Mon, 30 May 2005 11:32:29 EDT

Well, I went down to the TLM Preview here in Tampa last weekend and got the big peek at the cards from the new set (as well as own the free dueling, thanks to pretty much already knowing the whole set) so I'll give you a brief overview of the free duel seen and then a few words on the new cards, but first...

This preview kind of showed me how unoriginal most players are becoming. I can't tell you how many players were walking around saying Brain Control was the only playable card they got because I was the only chaos friendly card unobtrusive enough to let them not have to think about their deck too much. Once I get some more cards from the set I plan on making what seems like it will be a cool control deck. And a chaos deck running Reshef the Dark Being would be extremely cool.

Well, when I was preparing for the pre-release I realized that there was only one card in the set with monster removal capabilities and luckily it was pretty much a clone of one of my favorite cards (Swarm of Scarabs) the card is called Medusa Worm, it's a low-level earth/rock with like 400/600 and the effect of being able to go back face-down once a turn and destroying any monster when it's flip summoned. Because of this I was sure to grab up all of these I could and they, along with Hieracosphinx (2400 ATK that keeps opp. from attacking your face-downs) pretty much carried me thru my 10 wins. But now, on to my mini-review.

BRAIN CONTROL- Yadda yadda yadda. I'm not gonna sit here and lie and tell you this card isn't great and that I'm not putting it in my deck and that you shouldn't use it because Invader of the Throne is so much better. If you use Lightning Vortex but not this you're retarded in the head and that's all. There relay isn't any big weakness to this and to top it off it looks really cool. I heard a lot of people at the pre-re trying to sound unique and say it wasn't a new staple, but then again they probably didn't pull one.

MEDUSA WORM- Just like it's uber-good cousins the Swarms this guy will see way less use than it should, especially since it (unlike the swarms) isn't chaos food. In the right deck (i.e. the one I'm making) its very good.

RESHEF THE DARK BEING- This is a light ritual monster with decent (over 2000) ATK, I believe 8 stars and the effect of turning any spell in your hand into Change of Heart once per turn. I have no clue why they called the gameboy game Reshef of Destruction and then changed the name of the card, but ut doesn't stop this guy from being cool as hell looking with a dangerous effect and a chaos friendly attribute that almost nobody will touch because *gasp* you need to use another chaos friendly monster to support him (Manju of Ten Thousand Hands).

MILLENNIUM SCORPION- This nasty 5 star insect starts with 2000 ATK but gets another 500 everytime it kills something. An insect deck could make good use of Insect Imitation on say, an Insect Knight to get this thing our quickly, and this guy does get strong. Though he's as vulnerable to removal as anything else he does in one attack get as strong as the strongest 1 trib monster, in 2 attacks becomes the strongest 2 trib monster and after that it's all gravy baby.
And he looks sick. Plus, being level 5 makes him morphable into something more appetizing against face-downs and the like.

MID SHIELD GARDNA- This much balanced Gardna can flip back down once a turn and when it's face-don and targeted by a spell it negates the spell and flips face-up. It's also an earth warrior with 100/1800, level 4. I think this guy makes a much safer alternative to the much underused Big Shield Gardna to draw out Nobleman of Crossout or scare it off by searching this guy with Reinforcements of the Army. He may not have the astronomical DEF, but it's still really high and he doesn't get the bad reverse Goblin Attack Force effect. If you play lot's of face-downs this guy could be a cool choice for your warrior deck.

LURE TO THE GRAVE- A chainable, slower Drop Off that may never happen. This flips the top card of your opponents deck face-up then shuffles it in, then when it's drawn it's discarded instead. I only brought this card up because you should never use it and it sucks.

THE SPIRIT CHARMERS- These are 4 different monsters that are all identical except for attributes. I'm going to list their info and put in <att> where an attribute goes and for each one you can replace <att> with wind, earth, fire or
water: <att>/spellcaster/3(?)/500/1500: FLIP: Take control of one <att> monster on your opponent's side of the field. Will these ever be useful? Earth may be, water may be worth side decking, fire not so much and wind... probably never. Maybe if there effect worked just when they were summoned but not as they are. They are super cute though and appear in other, more useful cards in the next set. I think someone probably uses these guys in the new Anime series or something.

THE ELEMENTAL HEROES- A bunch of effectless monsters with unimpressive stats and mostly unimpressive art (except Sparkman, and Burstinatrix is bad only becuase she got edited) And oh yeah, the first two got HORRIBLE name changes. But beware, though we may only have 2 fairly interesting fusions and a mild support card for these guys now, that will all change in the next set and they may actually become extremely playable, so don't throw them out just yet (especially Sparkman, because he looks so cool)

BATTERYMAN AA TYPE- A really weird monster to explain. Basically this 4 star light/thunder guys ATK and DEF is 0. If all copies of Batteryman on your field are in attack mode this guys ATK becomes 1000 times the number of batterymen on your field, and the same goes for defense. There's another less useful Batteryman in the next set and I'm not sure if this guy get's it's effect off of him or not. but basically if you can get two or even three of these guys in the same position you've got some big hitters. They even get their own revival card for just 800 lifepoints. With some deep thought and stuff like Last Will and Ultimate Offering you could make a nasty little deck with these little guys.
Plus they're some of the only useable thunder-types we have, woot!

There's lots more to see in this set and you should definitely check it out, and gasp maybe try making a non-chaos deck. Toodles!