Surprisingly, this card has never been reviewed on Pojo before. For much of the XYZ era, this card has been a very good splashable generic Rank-4. It got a bit pricy at $20, but now that it was reprinted in THSF everyone can have it.

It's effect is chainable during either player's turn, making it really versatile. It makes attacking set monsters a safer bet and it can preclude your opponent's plays during their turn. Even if Dweller dies, its effect still remains. And there's not a lot of other XYZ's out there that handle graveyard plays well. So, this is the best one for that.

Granted, XYZ's aren't the top gameplay mechanic anymore, but there are still a number of decks that are able to Rank-4 toolbox, and graveyard-based effects aren't going anywhere. This is one of those cards you're going to want in your collection for a long time.  I would've rated it a 4/5 like 6-12 months ago, but it's still very good in a timeless sense.

3.5/5

Hello Pojo Fans,
 
Abyss Dweller was one of the hottest Xyz monsters a player could have in their Extra Deck, and still is very playable in this format.
 
Easy to Xyz Summon, Dweller isn't very strong, so protection will be needed to keep him around. The attack boost he gives WATER monsters is useful if you run a deck based on that Attribute (Mermails). This monster is meant to be used as a graveyard restriction tool. Prevent any effects happening in your opponents graveyard during either players turn by detaching a material is highly desired in this format. Burning Abyss and Shaddolls depend on the grave to further their position in the game, Abyss Dweller can throw a serious wrench in their plans. Two turns could be all you need to swing the game heavily in your favor, and this effect stops ANY effects activating in your opponents graveyard. After using up Dwellers Xyz, it's easy summoning requirements allow you to bring out another. If you can get multiple Dwellers out in one turn your opponent could be facing a huge uphill climb if they depend on the graveyard.
 
If you have Level 4 monsters in your main deck, run this guy in your Extra Deck. At least have one in your Side Deck.
 
Advanced-4/5
Art-3/5
 
Until Next Time
KingofLullaby

Abyss Dweller is one of the many good Rank 4 monsters in the game, and has remained a relevant card throughout pretty much its entire existence. A walking, one-sided Soul Drain has proven time and time again to be a powerful asset for any Rank 4 Deck, especially, with so many Graveyard-based strategies that have existed, from Mermail and Dragon Ruler to Shaddoll and Burning Abyss. The abundance of strong WATER monsters in recent times means that it is not uncommon for it to come out with 2200 ATK instead of its base 1700, making it a bigger nuisance. Several Decks, such as Wind-Up, HERO, and H.A.T. run Level 4 WATER monsters like Wind-Up Shark, Elemental HERO Bubbleman, and Ice Hand, while Decks like Mermail and Nekroz will almost always get Dweller out with 2200 (while also boosting every other monster in their Deck).

Two years after its initial release, this card remains as one of the best monsters in the game (a rare feat), and as long as Graveyard-reliant strategies exist, it will probably stay this way.

Rating: 5/5

Abyss Dweller

Abyss Dweller has just been reprinted in The Secret Forces to accompany Nekroz, due to the obvious synergy that is given to you by using a Unicore to summon it. Honestly, the ATK gain isn’t that relevant, but it’s still nice – it isn’t hard to see why they chose to reprint it for this set in particular.

Dweller‘s relevance is rather format dependant, and while there are decks currently around that require a lot of graveyard effects (Shaddolls; Burning Abyss; Nekroz, somewhat peripherally), that isn’t something that is always going to be the case. There are a number of other decks around right now, and if Burning Abyss were to drop off, as Shaddolls have, then Dweller wouldn’t be that great a choice in something that supports a varied extra deck.

On the other hand, when playing a rank 4 centric deck, then there’s really no reason not to. Rank 4s have gotten to the point where a lot of their effects have so much utility. It’s why Silent Honor ARK has been dropped for Castel – you would rather have a wider range of effects. This means that despite being a large number of powerful rank 4s, you can still afford to fit in cards that are only effective against certain decks, and Dweller is one of those cards. If you’re running a deck that only supports rank 4s, there’s not really much excuse not to use it, even if the format were to shift so that graveyard effects were not as necessarily prominent.

A couple of note-worthy things to keep in mind: This card + Raigeki or Dark Hole (or Torrential Tribute, I suppose) is pretty much auto-win vs. Burning Abyss, this card stops Saqlifice from searching when it’s sent to the graveyard, you can use this card to stop Nekroz decks from searching ritual spells using the ones in grave and finally, it’s important to remember that you need to use its effect pre-emptively, chaining to a graveyard effect will not prevent it.

Advanced: 4/5 - Solid Choice for Rank 4 decks.