Hello one and all and welcome all once again to The Trade Book, my series of articles highlighting certain cards that (typically) are overlooked. Today we’re branching out a bit from cards that one typically sees in a trade binder and are going to focus, instead, on a card that was banned at the start of the October 2005 – April 2006 cycle. We’re focusing, this time, on Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning (or Black Luster Soldier from here on out), and specifically detailing first why he was banned, and then focusing on why he should become unbanned. But before anything we’ll start with his stats:

Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning

LIGHT

8 Star

3000 ATK/2500 DEF

This card can only be Special Summoned by removing 1 LIGHT and 1 DARK monster in your Graveyard from play. Once during each of your turns, you can select and activate 1 of the following effects:

- Remove 1 monster on the field from play. If you activate this effect, this card cannot attack this turn.
- If this card destroyed your opponent's monster as a result of battle, it can attack once again in a row.

Black Luster Soldier was first introduced to America in early 2004, inside a small booster set called Invasion of Chaos. He was just one of a duo of Chaos monsters, the other one titled Chaos Emperor Dragon – Envoy of the End, and each one was devastating in its own right. Chaos Emperor Dragon was deemed too powerful and was banned along with a slew of other incredibly powerful cards at the start of the October 2004 cycle, leaving his younger brother in charge of the dueling realm.

Black Luster Soldier paved the way for three cycles as being the card to beat, and it went through three different deck variations before finally being banned outright. Its most popular incarnation was none other than Goat Control, during the Trinity cycle, where duelists used Magician of Faith, Tsukuyomi, Metamorphosis and Thousand-Eyes Restrict to great effect. Black Luster Soldier was ultimately banned because he was deemed too good, like his older brother, and its fate was sealed.

In the meantime we’ve seen Chaos-based decks come and go, and with the new cycle Chaos is back in rotation, something that I was very excited to see (as well as many other players, apparently). But while Chaos is back, it’s sporting the new Synchro mechanic, which tells me that Chaos isn’t strong enough to do it alone, which is (for the most part) true. However, Chaos, post-Black Luster Soldier, has not been powerful enough to win on its own. When Black Luster Soldier was prominent it could win the game single-handedly, though there were plenty of times that the game was one without his help at all. But the fact remains that he was still strong enough to be banned after the Trinity cycle, which shows his promise as a card, in my opinion.

After he was banned, however, the LIGHT/DARK dichotomy that the Chaos build was famous for continued to flourish. Shane Scurry brought us Chaos Return, modeled after Bazoo Return (made famous by Paul Levitin), after a two year hiatus, though Chaos Sorcerer had cropped up in some casual decks before that. Chaos came roaring back from the grave thanks to Shane, and it was hot to trot once again, taking many a Shonen Jump Championship before finally being placed on the banlist along with his older siblings, Chaos Emperor Dragon and Black Luster Soldier.

But now that Chaos is back, I begin to wonder – should Black Luster Soldier be there as well? In his heyday, there was nothing to stop it, because it was too powerful in the format that it was in. Look at the combo that Black Luster Soldier had backing him up: the dreaded Goat Control. If anyone remembers, that deck was so dominant, and so incredibly easy, not to mention cheap, to build, that it was amazing that Upper Deck didn’t destroy it sooner. Black Luster Soldier thrived during that time simply because of the cards that he had to back him up.

Now the deck is entirely dead. Black Luster Soldier really doesn’t have any reason to be banned anymore, simply because there are too many cards to stop him. Take a look at what is the big thing right now: Synchro monsters. With the Synchro mechanic you have a myriad of ways to get rid of Black Luster Soldier, and even then Black Luster Soldier is just one card. The problem with him is that he can no longer swing the game’s advantage the way he used to – there are too many other factors to consider now as opposed to what there was during the cycles when he was huge.

Even coupled with Tuners and Synchro monsters, Black Luster Soldier is one card. His effect is great, sure, but when it comes down to it the only real mechanic worth playing at the moment is the Synchro mechanic, which has taken the dueling world by storm. Even in today’s Chaos  builds, with two Chaos Sorcerer, the deck typically relies on its Tuners to Synchro Summon a massive Synchro monster and the game is virtually over. Chaos Sorcerer and his effect is just another removal tool, that’s it.

Bigger and bigger monsters are becoming the norm these days, with the massive Synchro monsters that you are able to summon via a simple Tuner monster. In a world that is dominated by huge creatures with ridiculously easy summoning requirements, Black Luster Soldier doesn’t seem too out of place, to be honest, and even with Chaos Sorcerer at two the deck wouldn’t play like it used to. There is no more Metamorphosis, no more Magician of Faith, no more Scapegoat running in threes, no more Thousand-Eyes Restrict. Even with Breaker the Magical Warrior at three and D.D. Warrior Lady at three Black Luster Soldier would only help the current Chaos builds out a bit, while not having the power to build a complete deck around him and dominate.

Anyway, feel free to e-mail me at anteaus44@hotmail.com regarding this article or really anything else you’d like to see me do. I love hearing feedback from my audience and would love to hear from all of you out there.

Thanks,

Anteaus