DM7FGD's Look Into the Future

Article # 35 - Drastic Dragons

Well, after only 1 day of voting on my last poll, Dragons were in the lead with over 1,000 votes. As of now, as I’m writing this article, Dragons hold a hefty lead after over 2,600 votes, with almost half of the total amount of votes. So here’s today’s article, featuring 2 Dragons (not too many yet to be released worth talking about) of the future TCG, and current OCG. We begin with a look at Prominence Dragon.

Prominence Dragon, although not technically a Dragon-type, is a pretty nice Burner card. During each of your End Phases, as long as P-Dragon’s face-up on the Field, your opponent will be taking 500 damage to their LP. Cannon Soldier-like, but you don’t have to Sacrifice any Monsters to do the damage. It’s a pretty useful Effect that is likely to end up causing at least 1000 damage in total to the opponent alone.

With 1500 ATK and 1000 DEF, you’ll be able to keep it on the Field for long enough to get some damage done with it, both by its Effect and by attacking with it. It can be searched by the Witch, Sangan, and UFO Turtle, so it could be a bit of a speedy card, as well.

Then comes into play its Effect of if you have any other Fire-type Monsters on the Field, P-Dragon can’t be attacked. This Effect can certainly be nice in Fire-type-based Decks, which really aren’t played often at all. Plus, it gives your Prominence Dragon more protection, making it easier for you to utilize its Burn Effect to your full advantage.

And just like Marauding Captain, if you have 2 Prominence Dragons on the Field, your opponent could not attack either of them, and they could not attack you directly. With 2 P-Dragons on the Field at the same time, your opponent will be in for quite a bit of trouble. They’d have to rely on things other than attackers to get rid of your 2 Monsters, that will be burning off 1000 of your opponent’s LP during each of your own End Phases. And note that it’s only during each of your own End Phases that its Burn Effect takes place.

Overall, P-Dragon’s a pretty fun to use, and good Burner Monster card. I’d give Prominence Dragon an overall rating of 7.3 / 10.

For the second Dragon of today’s article, let’s take a look at Victory Dragon.

Now Victory Dragon’s certainly an interesting Monster card, that is quite confusing to some people. With 2400 ATK and 3000 DEF, it’s not too powerful for a Level 8 Monster, especially considering it requires 3 Tributes to be Summoned to the Field.

The only way you’ll be getting Victory Dragon out is by Sacrificing 3 (Yes, 3) Dragon-type Monsters from your Field. This will never be easy too pull off, but if you can, it may or may not be worth it. Some cards to help with this could be Blood of Dragons, DNA Surgery, Stray Lambs, Devil’s Sanctuary, Lord of Dragons + Dragon-Calling Flute, etc. Anything that allows you to get more Monsters out easier, and DNA Surgery/Blood of Dragons if needed to change them into Dragon-types so you can Tribute them for Victory Dragon.

Now, for the second part of V-Dragon’s Effect, if you get a direct attack off with it, and that direct attack reduces your opponent’s LP to 0, you win the Match. A Match is the best out of 3 Duels, such as in Tourney-play. So basically, unless it’s for fun, V-Dragon is only good in tourney-level Dragon Decks, but it still won’t be too effective, as V-Dragon’s not really a “tourney-level” Monster card. And the only way that Effect will really benefit you is if you haven’t already won a Duel in the Match. But say it’s either the first Duel of the Match, or you lost the first Duel of the Match, and you end up getting out Victory Dragon for a direct attack and the win. Well, that’d be it right there. No more dueling against that player, because you just won the entire Match, and are moving on to the next round. It sounds good, yes, but it’s very hard to pull off.

Some cards that can help with this are Bow of Falling Stars - Shiiru (Shooting Star Bow - Ceal), and of course any Field-clearing cards such as Raigeki and/or Harpie’s Feather Duster. Shiiru would lower V-Dragon’s ATK to a mere 1400, but if it’s late in the game, that could be just enough to finish off your opponent. 2400 ATK will not usually be enough to finish off your opponent, but it certainly could, and in that situation is the only one in which the trouble you go through to Summon V-Dragon would actually have been worthwhile.

V-Dragon can’t be searched, so it’s that makes it even slower of a card. Overall, it’s really not worth playing except for fun Matches, because in a very little amount of situations will Victory Dragon actually benefit you. It has no real upside, other than the fact that it could win you an entire Match with a well-timed direct attack, but as I said before, in only 2 Duel situations would that benefit you. Either in the first Duel of the Match, or in the 2nd, provided you lost the first. Otherwise, the outcome of the match would not be affected by V-Dragon’s Effect. Perhaps it’d be a bit better if its ATK strength were switched with its DEF strength.

Overall, V-Dragon’s a fun card, but it’s just a slow, and not effective enough (in a vast majority of situations) card. I’d give Victory Dragon an overall rating of 6/10.

And now, here’s a Deck example of a Dragon-based Deck using Victory Dragon and Prominence Dragon.

1x Victory Dragon

1x Tyrant Dragon

2x Lord of Dragons

2x Prominence Dragon

2x Spear Dragon

2x Sapphire (Luster) Dragon

1x Dol Dora (Twin-Headed Behemoth)

1x Cyber Pod

1x Black Forest Witch

1x Critter

1x Killer Snake

3x Cyclone

2x Stray Lambs

2x Dragon-Calling Flute

1x Thunderbolt

1x Dark Hole

1x Pot of Greed

1x Angel’s Gift

1x Mirage of Nightmares

1x Harpy Feather Sweep

1x Heavy Storm

1x Monster Reborn

1x Premature Burial

1x Change of Heart

1x Snatch Steal

1x Devil’s Sanctuary

2x Blood of Dragons

1x Imperial Order

1x Call of the Haunted

1x Destruction Ring

1x Waboku

3x Thunder Dragon

1x Chaos Emperor Dragon - Messenger of Destruction

1x Magical Scientist

2x Enemy Controller

1x Apostle of Obliteration

1x Painful Choice

1x Bow of Falling Stars -Shiiru

1x Shallow Grave

1x Sixth Sense

1x Mirror Force

1x Tidal Wave

1x Avatar of Apophis

3x Death Demon Dragon (Fiend Skull Dragon)

And that’ll do it for Article # 35 - Drastic Dragons. E-mail me with questions and/or comments at dm7fgd32@hotmail.com

Until next time..