I had been working on this idea for a little while, and I figured that it was high time that I at least discuss it briefly.

When Level Conversion Lab was released in TLM, I had originally thought that it might be one of the most influential cards in the set. I claimed this partially because nothing else was worthy of a lot of praise (outside of possibly D.D. Survivor, Brain Control, and maybe Antique Gear Beast). But mostly, I felt that LCL would offer more stability to Reasoning/Gate decks, therefore elevating their effectiveness. However, it appears that has not happened, and I may have been a bit premature in my high praise of the card.

LCL still has some very solid potential though, whether it is in a deck designed to abuse the card, or tech-d into a deck list heavy in Tributes (Dark Magician perhaps?). Where I find that the card shines most, however, is in decks that wish to play certain high level sprits, whose effects are awesome but their playability is slight. Of course, I am speaking of Hino and Yamata.

Being both spirits and requiring two tributes apiece, it is quite understandable while these two hand control powerhouses have rarely seen competitive play. Basically, their effects have to be so sickening because you need as much advantage as you can. Summoning them normally would very heavily tax your on-field resources, and you deserve some sort of bonus for all the work you put in. There are, of course, ways to sort of help the process; Flame Ruler would act as both needed tributes, and Dimension Hole could at least hold your monster around for a bit.

Neither of those options are very appealing though, lets be honest. Level Conversion Lab, while a tad risky, can be much more useful, as you can also utilize it to bring out your other tributes, and versatility in a deck is always very welcome. When LCL is played, you are giving yourself a 50% chance that you can summon the high level tribute without sacrifice, a 17% chance that you will have to discard the monster [which actually isn't all that bad since you could simply premature/call it], and a 33% chance that it will require 1 less tribute than normal. The odds are defiantly in your favor.

Essentially though, you are not creating any sort of major card advantage for yourself using LCL to bring out the tribute. But remember, their difficulty to summon is why they were "balanced" with such outrageous effects. Hino forces your opponent to top deck [the reason we are all so tired of DDuo], and Yamata reloads your hand [super pot of greed]. So which do you play, and how do you go about it?

Like I mentioned earlier, LCL could either be the focus of the deck (say you wanted to run both Hino and Yamata in a dedicated sprit deck), or it can be somewhat tech-d in. I personally prefer the latter option, and of the two spirits, I prefer Yamata.

Why, you ask? I'd play Yamata for the same reason people played another power-draw combo that likewise involved a slight element of risk. That?s right, in a deck utilizing LCL + Yamata, you virtually have created another Mirage of Nightmare situation. Albeit a bit tougher to pull off, Yamata+LCL can potentially yield a +3 [technically +4, as Yamata would return to your hand) card advantage. To memory, I cannot think of many other cards that can create that type of advantage, and remember speed wins games.

So, what might a deck with a semi-tech-d in LCL+ Yamata look like?