Article # 32 - The Chaos Monsters; An Analysis

Ok, everyone, for my 32nd article here, I thought I’d go a little more in depth into the Chaos Monsters, 2 of which you saw reviewed in my very 1st article - Chaos Emperor Dragon - Messenger of Destruction, and Chaos Soldier - Messenger of Creation. There is a third (referred to as a Chaos Monster by most, and not as one by others) Chaos Monster, that wasn’t yet released at the time of my 1st article. That Monster is Chaos Black Magician.

In today’s article, we’ll be taking a look at Chaos Black Magician, and I’ll be talking more about Chaos Emperor Dragon and Chaos Soldier, which you saw both of in my 1st article - The Messengers of Chaos. ( http://www.pojo.com/yu-gi-oh/FeaturedWriters/DM7FGD/2003/The%20Messengers%20of%20Chaos.shtml )

 

Chaos Black Magician

Dark/Spellcaster - Level 8 - 2800/2600

Effect: When this Monster is successfully Summoned, or Special Summoned, you may choose to select one Magic Card in your Graveyard and add it to your Hand.

Monsters that are destroyed in battle by this card are removed from the game.

When this card leaves the Field, it is removed from the game.

 

Chaos Black Magician will be released in Invasion of Chaos, as it was an Ultra/Parallel/Ultimate Rare from the Japanese 307 set.

Chaos Black Magician.. Known as the third Chaos Monster, released one set after CED and Chaos Soldier were. The first thing you notice about this Monster is that it doesn’t have the easy Special Summoning requirements as the Dragon and Soldier do. That’s kind of a good thing, considering how powerful it could be that way, but this one can be Summoned just as any other regular Monster could. 2 Tributes, Revival, etc.

Chaos Black Magician is restricted to 1, and rightfully so, as are both of the other Chaos Monsters. If you were able to use 3, or even 2 in a Deck, as a lot of people were doing before it got restricted, then you could easily end the Duel in one turn with these guys. There’s an Instant Win revival combo with Chaos Black Magician that could be used before it got restricted, and I’ll talk about that soon here.

Anyway, the first part of its Effect can be very useful Magic retrieval. Simply Normal or Special Summon the Magician to the Field, and you’ll be able to get a Magic Card from your Graveyard back to your Hand for re-use. Get a Drawing card like pot of Greed, a Revival card like Monster Reborn, a Destruction card like Thunderbolt or Harpy Feather Sweep, etc. It’s a very useful Effect that will always come in handy.

This is the combo that was lethal during the time before the card got restricted. Simply get 1, 2, or all of your Chaos Black Magicians into your Graveyard. (By way of Painful Choice, Foolish Burial, etc.) Revive/Summon one of the Magicians, and retrieve a Revival card from your Graveyard. (namely Monster Reborn) Use that Revival card on another of your Chaos Black Magicians in the Graveyard to retrieve another Magic Card from the Graveyard. (namely the Monster Reborn again, that you had just brought back from the 1st Chaos Black Magician’s Summon) Use that on the third and last Chaos Black Magician, and retrieve yet another Magic Card from that. (whatever would best help you at the time, such as a Raigeki or Feather Sweep or something to clear the opponent‘s Field) Use the last Magic card you retrieve, and it’s likely you’ll have an open Field to attack your opponent directly for a total of 8400 damage with only your 3 Chaos Black Magicians. This combo can be used just as easily if you only use 2 Chaos Black Magicians. Get one into the Graveyard, Summon the other one somehow and retrieve a Revival card to revive your 2nd Chaos Black Magician, then retrieve that Revival card again to use on one of your other Monsters in your Graveyard. Chances are your attack strength will total powerful enough to knock your opponent out of the game.

Luckily for a lot of people, though, that combo isn’t possible anymore with its restriction to 1. But, just 1 Chaos Black Magician can do a lot of damage, as well. Get it out and simply retrieve a Magic Card from your Graveyard that’ll help you most in whatever situation you’re in.

Not only is its Magic retrieval Effect useful, but look at the 2nd part of its Effect. There won’t be many Monsters stronger than Chaos Black magician in your opponent’s Deck, except perhaps Chaos Monsters of their own, but CBM could in most cases easily take out any Monster your opponent might have against you. And any Monster that CBM destroys in battle is getting removed from the game, just like Dimensional Warrior Girl’s Effect, only CBM doesn’t get removed along with it. Now that’s always something to like about any card with such an Effect.

The downside to CBM, though, is that at any time it leaves the Field, whether it be from battle, destruction, just being “sent” away, etc., it’s getting removed from the Game. That means no revival with it or anything, so when using it, you should watch out for things like Torrential Tribute, any Monster destruction Effect-cards your opponent may have, etc.

But some Decks actually utilize its Effect of getting removed from the game to their advantage, with a card called Dimension (a.k.a. Twilight) Fusion. Dimension Fusion was a Super Rare from the same set, that’s a Normal Magic card that allows you to pay 2000 LP for both players so Special Summon Monsters that have been removed from the Game to the Field up to the max number possible. (If you have 4 open Monster slots on your Field, and 5 total Monsters removed from the game, you can pay 2000 LP to Special Summon 4 of those 5 Monsters that you have removed from the Game. The errata on Dimension Fusion is that your opponent must have at least 1 Monster removed from the Game in order to use Dimension Fusion) Cards like Soul Release greatly help these types of Decks.

Chaos Black Magician is a really great Monster card, although I myself don’t like using it too much. I’d give Chaos Black Magician an overall rating of 8.7 / 10.

 

Now, here are a few more things regarding the other Chaos Monsters - Chaos Emperor Dragon (Envoy of the End) and Chaos Soldier (Envoy of the Beginning).

Chaos Emperor Dragon - Messenger of Destruction (Envoy of the End)

- CED & Priority - When CED is Summoned, the opponent has first priority to negate the Summon. If they do not, CED gets priority to use its Effect. (If they do, its Summon will be negated, and CED will not be able to activate its Effect) The opponent will (wrongly) immediately activate a Trap such as Bottomless Trap Hole or Torrential Tribute, etc. right when CED is Summoned about 90% of the time, without asking you if you‘d like to use CED‘s Priority to immediately activate its Effect (if they don't have a card to negate the Summon, that is) but because they did that, they skipped CED's priority of being able to activate its Effect. You then have the option to pay 1000 LP to activate CED's Effect, due to you having priority over the opponent since they did not negate the Summon, then the Trap card that they activated in response resolves. (i.e. BTH would then remove CED from the game, but then CED’s Effect would take place afterwards. Torrential would destroy all Monsters on the Field, but then CED's Effect would take place afterwards. Just as I explain a little later in this article.)

CED Summoned - Opponent has priority to negate the Summon - CED gets priority if the Summon is not negated - CED's Effect activation, paying 1000 LP - Trap Card resolves, but stays on the Field (if activated, something like BTH or TT, which wouldn't stop CED from using its Effect, but would lessen the damage done from it) - CED's Effect resolves - End Chain.

 

- When anything is Chained to CED’s Effect activation, that card will remain on the Field until the entire Chain resolves with CED’s Effect. (Example: CED Summoned - Opponent activates Ring of Destruction on CED in response to its Effect activation - CED is destroyed and 3000 damage is done to both players - RoD remains on the Field until CED’s Effect resolves, accounting for CED’s total Effect damage - 300 less damage is done by CED‘s Effect since CED is off of the Field at the time of its Effect resolution)

- CED vs. Torrential Tribute - CED is Special Summoned.

- Opponent activates Torrential Tribute.

- Priority passes back to CED’s owner, who chooses to use CED's Effect by paying 1000 LP.

- Torrential Tribute resolves, destroying all Monsters on the Field. (Including CED)

- CED’s Effect resolves, sending all remaining cards on the Field and in each player’s Hand to their respective Graveyards.

- Because Torrential Tribute resolves first, (though CED's Effect is activated first, it doesn't resolve right away if a Trap such as TT is activated in response) all Monsters are destroyed before CED’s Effect takes place, and therefore its Effect will be doing less damage than if Torrential Tribute weren’t activated. Say there are 3 total Monsters on the Field before CED is Summoned, as well as 2 M/T cards on your opponent‘s side of the Field. CED is then Summoned by you, and your opponent activates Torrential Tribute. You then choose to use CED’s Effect immediately, and Torrential resolves. All 4 Monsters (including CED) are destroyed, and TT remains on Field, meaning all that’s left on the Field are your opponent‘s 2 M/T cards, including TT. Those M/T cards are the only cards on the Field that will be accounted for CED’s Effect damage. If that TT weren’t activated before CED‘s Effect resolves, then a total of 1800 damage (just from the cards on the Field) would have been accounted for CED’s Effect damage. But because TT was activated, that makes CED’s Effect less destructive, since TT would have gotten rid of 4 cards from the Field before CED’s Effect resolved. (In that specific example situation which I gave there) And the total damage accounted from CED’s Effect as to how many cards were sent fro the Field by its Effect would only be 600, compared to 1800 if TT weren’t activated.

CED vs. Bottomless Trap Hole - CED is Special Summoned.

- Opponent activates Bottomless Trap Hole.

- Priority goes back to CED’s owner, who chooses to use its Effect immediately.

- Bottomless Trap Hole resolves, removing CED from the game; BTH remains on the Field.

- CED’s Effect resolves, doing 300 less damage than it would have if BTH weren’t activated, as CED isn‘t accounted for its own total Effect damage. 

CED vs. Book of Moon - CED is Special Summoned.

- Opponent activates Book of Moon.

- CED gets Priority to activate its Effect. Does so by paying 1000 LP.

- Book of Moon flips CED face-down.

- CED's Effect now resolves, (as it had already been activated before BoM flipped it face-down)

* Book of Moon pretty much does absolutely nothing against CED. It would not lessen the damage done (since it remains on the Field until CED’s Effect resolves), and it would not prevent CED from activating its Effect.

CED vs. Ring of Destruction - Ring resolves destroying CED, and making each player take 3000 damage, but remains on the Field. CED’s Effect then resolves, doing 300 less damage than it would have if Ring weren’t activated, as CED wouldn’t account for its total Effect damage.

CED vs. Skill Drain - If Skill Drain was already active before CED is Special Summoned, then CED will not be able to activate its Effect so long as Skill Drain remains on the Field. If Skill Drain is activated in response to CED being Special Summoned and its Effect activation, the 1000 LP will be paid by CED’s owner as well as Skill Drain’s owner for each cards’ costs, then Skill Drain will come into effect and prevent CED’s Effect from resolving.

CED + Interdimensional Matter Transporter - You can use Interdimensional Matter Transporter with CED, to remove CED from the game until the End Phase of the turn, preventing your CED from being sent to the Graveyard by its own Effect. However, just like the other cards, CED wouldn’t count towards its own total Effect damage, since it’d no longer be on the Field when its Effect resolves, and IMT would count towards the damage done.

CED vs. Scapegoat - Goat Tokens are not placed in the Graveyard, therefore any Goat Tokens on the Field when CED’s Effect is activated, will not count towards CED’s Effect Damage.

CED vs. Barrel Behind the Door - The ruling on CED vs. Curse of Pain (an Instant Magic Card similar to BBtD released only in the OCG) is that CoP can be used to counter CED's Effect, so one could only assume that BBtD can be used against CED, as well.

 

- Also note that Chaos Emperor Dragon’s Effect sends cards to the Graveyard. it does not “discard” or “destroy” any cards, so Monster Effects such as that of Vampire Lord will not be able to take place when CED’s Effect resolves. Card Effects like Despair and Fear from the Dark's, however, would be able to take place after CED’s Effect resolves.

CED & Revival - Chaos Emperor Dragon may only be Revived (by way of Monster Reborn, Premature Burial, Call of the Haunted...) if it had been successfully Special Summoned to the Field by its Effect before hitting the Graveyard. If you’ve done so, then yes, you can Revive CED. (Same Revival requirements for the Envoy of the Beginning, as well, and same also goes for the Chaos Sorcerer)

~ If you Special Summon CED, and your opponent asks you if you’d like to immediately activate its Effect due to Priority, and you tell them “no,” then you’ve skipped your own Priority, and your opponent may respond with something such as a Trap Card like Torrential Tribute, and that card will resolve, and you will not be able to use CED’s Effect.

- Can you Normal Summon CED by Tributing 2 Monsters from the Field? - No, you cannot. CED can only be Special Summoned.

Can CED be Special Summoned by its Summoning requirements while in your Deck or in the Graveyard? - No, in order to Special Summon it, you must do so from your Hand, and by fulfilling its Summoning requirements. (Removing a Light and Dark-type Monster from your Graveyard) The only way it can be Revived was explained earlier in this post.

Can CED's Effect be chained to anything and/or used during your opponent's turn? - No, CED's Effect cannot be "chained" to anything whatsoever, as it is a Speed 1 Cost Effect. (Can only be used during either of your own Main Phases) It only gets Priority when Summoned, and its Effect cannot be used in a chain to something like a Mirror Force, and it cannot be used during the opponent's turn.

Yes, CED sends itself to the Graveyard by its own Effect. 

I hope that clears up things about Chaos Emperor Dragon - Messenger of Destruction.

 

Chaos Soldier - MoC (Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning)

- When using the Luster Soldier’s ability of attacking twice in a turn, if you have destroyed a Monster with Luster Soldier, then you can attack again with the Soldier, as you know. However, if you want to use that Effect, Luster Soldier’s 2nd attack must come right after the first. That's one right after the other. If you have another Monster on the Field, and you’ve destroyed a Monster with Chaos Soldier, then your next attack is with your other Monster, Chaos Soldier won’t be able to attack again. Luster Soldier’s attack twice Effect is a continuation, so to speak, of its first attack. Therefore, the attacks must come one right after the other. And yes, the 2nd attack can be direct if your opponent doesn’t have any other Monsters left on the Field. And no, if Chaos Soldier destroys one Monster, then destroys another Monster by its 2nd attack, it can not proceed in attacking a third time. 2 attacks max per turn.

I don’t have much else to say about Chaos Soldier - Messenger of Creation other than what I’ve said about it in my first article. It’s a card that I believe to be underrated by a lot of people when compared to Chaos Emperor Dragon, mostly due to the one-turn-win combo that can be utilized with CED. (Which btw, is something that a lot of people give CED only credit for, when it‘s a lot more useful than just for that combo) I myself find the Chaos Soldier to be a more versatile and fun card to use in Decks over CED. Its removal Effect can always come in handy, and attacking twice with a 3000 ATK Monster can easily put an end to your opponent in a single turn.

 

All 3 Chaos Monsters are extremely good cards. They’re all very effective in their own ways, and they’re all Restricted to one-per-Deck, and rightfully so. These are some of the most powerful Monsters in the entire game.. Thus, the Messengers of Chaos.

For a Chaos Deck example, please see my 2nd OCG Discussion Article.

That’ll do it for Article # 32 - The Chaos Monsters; An Analysis. My next article will be featuring the remaining Toons which have yet to be reviewed by me, as they were the choice in the lead from my 30th article poll after 4,000 total votes. Look for a new poll in my next article, as well.

You may E-Mail me with any questions and/or comments at dm7fgd32@hotmail.com

Until Next Time..

~DM7~