Hey everyone, I just read the Card of the Day reviews for Sword of Dark Rites and everyone hated it. I say they just don't know what it's for. Structure Deck 12 - Curse of Darkness has been released in Japan, it's a Virus Deck that includes this card and you'll see why it helps. For some reason, the new cards in this set have been released as Secret Rares in Force of the Breaker. I don't know if Upperdeck Entertainment is doing it because they plan not to release this Structure Deck in North America or not. I wouldn't blame them, it includes a common Crush Card Virus. If anything, they're gonna hold off on releasing this Structure Deck for another year or so after the SJC Crush Cards have all gone out. It's very smart of them, milk all they can out of the public while Crush Card is extremely rare, then release a common so everyone can have it after the rich have paid their money.

Anyway, here's the deck list for Structure Deck 12:

Monsters: 18
Diabolos, King of the Abyss
Lich Lord, King of the Underworld
Prometheus, King of the Shadows
Mist Archfiend
Plague Wolf
Goblin Zombie
Axe Dragonewt
Mystic Tomato x2
Mask of Darkness
Spirit Reaper
Giant Orc x3
Stealth Bird x2
Malice Doll of Demise x2

Magic Cards: 13
Recurring Nightmare
Sword of Dark Rites
Shield Crush
Nightmare's Steelcage
Mystical Space Typhoon
Giant Trunade
Megamorph
Emissary of Obliteration
Heavy Storm
Ectoplasmer x2
Pot of Avarice
Magical Mallet

Trap Cards: 9
Eradicator Epidemic Virus
Crush Card Virus
Deck Devastation Virus x2
Magic Cylinder
Just Desserts
Dark Mirror Force
Dimension Wall x2

We already have some of the new cards in this set:

Diabolos, King of the Abyss
Dark/Dragon - Effect
Level 7 - 2800/1000
Text: This card cannot be Special Summoned. If you Tribute Summon this card, the Tributes must be DARK. This card cannot be Tributed by a card's effect. During your opponent's Draw Phase, before they draw, look at the top card of their Deck, then put that card on the top or bottom of their Deck.

Lich Lord, King of the Underworld
Dark/Zombie - Effect
Level 6 - 12400/1200
Text: If you Tribute Summon this card, the Tribute must be DARK. If this card is Tributed by a card's effect and sent to the Graveyard, it returns to its owner's hand.

Prometheus, King of the Shadows
Dark/Fiend - Effect
Level 4 - 1200/800
Text: When you Normal Summon this card, remove from play any number of Dark monsters in your Graveyard. This card gains 400 ATK for each removed card, until the End Phase of this turn.

Mist Archfiend
Dark/Fiend - Effect
Level 5 - 2400/0
Text: You can Normal Summon this card without Tributing a monster. If you do this, during the End Phase it is destroyed and you take 1000 damage.

Plague Wolf
Dark/Zombie - Effect
Level 3 - 1000/1000
Text: Once per turn, you can chance this card's ATK to twice its original ATK. If you do this, destroy this card during the End Phase.

Recurring Nightmare
Normal Magic Card
Text: Select 2 DARK monsters with 0 DEF in your Graveyard and return them to your hand.

Eradicator Epidemic Virus
Normal Trap Card
Text: Tribute 1 DARK monster with 2500 or more ATK, and choose Spell Cards or Trap Cards. Check all Spell and Trap Cards on your opponent's side of the field, your opponent's hand, and all cards they draw (until the end of your opponent's 3rd turn after this card's activation), and destroy all cards of the chosen type.

And you know Sword of Dark Rites from the CotD section.

Anyway, as you can see this is a Virus Deck. However, it's also meant to control the field with Ectoplasmer. Each of the Kings above are meant to work with Ectoplasmer to gain an edge until it feels like throwing out a Virus to seal the win. Diabolos can't be Tributed by Exctoplasmer's effect, so it stays on the field whereas your opponent loses 1 monster per turn from it or is forced to set every monster they play to avoid a direct attack. However, it can be Tributed for a Virus card because their Tributes are their cost, not their effect. So when you want to infect your opponent, Diabolos will be there waiting.

Lich Lord returns to your hand when tributed for a card's effect, so Ectoplasmer will Tribute it, inflict 1200 damage, then Lich Lord will return to your hand for another go later on. Mist Archfiend is the Dark Majestic Mech Ohka, it's meant to be Normal Summoned without Tribute, attack, then be tributed for a Virus or Ectoplasmer before its effect kills itself at the End Phase. Ectoplasmer's effect will be chained to this effect at the End Phase, you choose which order they go on the chain. Put Mist Archfiend's effect first, then Ectoplasmer's second. Ectoplasmer will resolve first and Tribute it for 1200 damage before it kills itself.

Plague Wolf starts at 1000 ATK, so it fits the bill for Crush Card Virus. However, since it can pump itself to 2000 ATK, it can become a suitable tribute for Deck Devastation Virus. It's truely meant to be the carrier of whichever plague you want to unleash at the time.

Now, my beef with the CotD reviewers is that they don't know what Sword of Dark Rites is for. It's meant to pump these monsters up to have enough ATK to harbour a certain Virus, it pumps Lich Lord, Mist Archfiend, Giant Orc, Dark Ruler Ha Des, etc. up to enough ATK to carry Eradicator Epidemic Virus. It pumps Malice Doll of Demise, Strike Ninja, D. D. Survivor, etc. high enough to deliver Deck Devastation Virus. The difference between this and other equips is that you don't lose this card when you Tribute these monsters for the Viruses. One of the reviewers brought up the fact that it doesn't return if the monster is destroyed by a card effect, but you're supposed to chain the Virus to a destruction effect to get the most out of it anyway.

Set Eradicator Epidemic Virus or Deck Devastation Virus, then next turn you summon Mist Archfiend, equip it with Sword of Dark Rites and attack. If they activate Sakuretsu Armor, you chain the Virus (either will do because Mist Archfiend's ATK is high enough to carry either Virus now) and the Sword returns to your hand. Also, you can pump a small monster up to enough ATK to take down a bigger monster, then Tribute it for Ectoplasmer at the End Phase and return the Sword to your hand.

**Some of the minor cards in the Structure Deck might not be the right ones, but it's the best I can tell from the multiple sources I use to consolidate this information into one article.

Send your questions, comments, etc. to cjrwaud@cogeco.ca. Please no hate mail, I'm really a nice guy once you get to know me.