Article # 46 - The Devilish Sanctuary

In today’s article (Yes, I know, it’s been a little while. My apologies to any and all who have been anticipating a new main-article of mine for these past couple of weeks. I‘ve been rather busy lately.), we’ll be taking a look at some of the demonic cards of the TCG’s future and current OCG. (Demons/Fiends and Undead-types/Zombies, to be exact) To start off, I made a small mistake in my Kaiba Character Cards article, and I explained it in my 11th News Article, so go ahead and take a look at that if you haven’t already. Let’s get started today with a look at.. Gelnia.

Gelnia

Dark/Zombie - Level 4 - 1300/1200

Effect: If an opponent’s card Effect destroys this Monster while it’s face-up and it goes to the Graveyard, Special Summon this Monster to your side of the Field during your next Standby Phase.

Gelnia was a Japanese Promo card (GB8-B01) from the DM8 Strategy Guide. There’s no telling when its English release will be.

Gelnia.. A very interesting Monster card used by Bakura in the Anime/Manga. It’s a Dark/Undead-type, for starters, making it viable for Dark, Zombie, or Bakura-based Decks.

With stats of 1300/1200 (Yes, it does indeed have 1300 ATK, not 1100 like many people tend to think for one reason or another), while not too powerful, it can be searched by both of the main Searchers, as well as the Tomato, making it easy to get into your Hand and out onto the Field. Again, 1300 ATK usually won’t do much for you without the right protection, nor will the 1200 Defense, but this card’s Effect just about makes up for that.

Its Effect is pretty self-explanatory, but let’s get into it a little bit here. If an opponent’s card Effect destroys it (note that the Effect would not work if Gelnia is destroyed in Battle), Gelnia will be coming back to your side of the Field during your next Standby Phase. This could be a pretty useful Effect that could really get on your opponent’s nerves. Sometimes they won’t use their Monster destruction Effects for fear of your Gelnia returning, it can keep coming back to do more damage to your opponent, it could easily set you up to Tribute for a higher-level Monster, etc. It could be a pretty fun and effective card to use in a small variety of Decks.

Gelnia isn’t used much by OCG players at all, really. But like I said before, it’s a fun card to use, and usually pretty effective for the most part. Another thing to remember is that if Gelnia is destroyed by an Effect while face-down, it will not be returning. But if it’s face-up, anything such an opponent’s Thunderbolt/Raigeki or Dark Hole, Tribe-Infecting Virus, Torrential Tribute or Destruction Ring, etc. destroying your Gelnia will enable it to return to the Field during your next Standby Phase. That could be very annoying and hard to get by in some cases for your opponent. One more thing to note is that if it is “sent” from the Field to the Graveyard, such as by the Effect of CED, it will not be returning to the Field.

Overall, Gelnia’s a rather unusual Monster that’s pretty fun to play. I give it an overall rating of 7/10.

Moving on, we take a look at Goblin Zombie.

Goblin Zombie

Dark/Zombie - Level 4 - 1100/1050

Effect: When this Monster does Battle Damage to your opponent, they must put the top card from their Deck into their Graveyard. If this card goes to the Graveyard from the Field, choose a Zombie-type Monster with a DEF strength of 1200 or less from your Deck, show it to your opponent, and put it into your Hand. (Shuffle your Deck afterwards.)

Goblin Zombie was also a Promo card (GB8-B02) from the DM8 Strategy Guide. There’s no telling when it will be released, either.

Goblin Zombie.. What can I say? Interesting Monster card, to say the least. It’s a Dark/Zombie-type, and it too was used by Bakura in the Anime/Manga, making it a viable inclusion to Dark, Zombie, and Bakura-based Decks, just as Gelnia is.

Goblin Zombie’s stats don’t rival that even of Gelnia, so it’s not much of a Monster stat-wise. But, like Gelnia, it has stats enabling it to be searched by the Witch and Critter (Sangan), as well as the Tomato, making it too a speedy Monster in whatever Deck it may be included in, which is always a good thing.

Goblin Zombie’s Effect can be pretty effective, but with its low ATK strength, it’ll be hard to pull off a majority of the time. Whenever it does Battle Damage to the opponent, they’ll be required to discard the top card from their Deck into their Graveyard. Some nice Deck Destruction tactics there, though not even as effective as Zaloog. The second part of its Effect allows you to Search for a Zombie from your Deck with 1200 DEF or less to add to your Hand, making Goblin Zombie most versatile in Zombie Decks. Works with other Goblin Zombies, Gelnia, Spirit Reaper, etc. Could be pretty helpful in most situations, but with its DEF requirement, it’s not as great as it could be.

There’s not much else one can say about Goblin Zombie. It’s an interesting card, but I wouldn’t suggest playing it outside of a minority of Zombie Decks, and Bakura-based Character Decks. I give Goblin Zombie an overall rating of 6/10. It’s another card that isn’t used much by anyone.

For the third and final card of today’s article, we take a look at Devil’s Sanctuary.

Devil’s Sanctuary

Normal Magic Card

Effect: Special Summon one {Metal Devil Token} (Dark/Demon - Level 1 - 0/0) to your side of the Field. The Token can’t attack. Damage done to the Token’s controller due to Battle is done to the opponent instead. Pay 1000 LP during each one of your Standby Phases, or the Token is destroyed.

Devil’s Sanctuary was also a Promo card (VB5-001), so again, there’s no telling when it will be released in English.

First of all, Devil’s Sanctuary is used by Kaiba in the Anime/Manga in order to deal with Malik and Ra, but since Kaiba lost to Yugi before-hand, he gave the card to Yugi to Duel against Malik, which greatly aided Yugi in that Duel.

Devil’s Sanctuary.. (Not to be confused with Dark Sanctuary, used in the show by Bakura) Quite an effective card for various reasons. First of all, when you activate it, you Special Summon one Metal Devil Token to your side of the Field. (Remember that Tokens can be anything. There’s no actual “Metal Devil Token” card or anything, for any who may be wondering) It’s weak in that it has stats of 0/0, but then you take a look at the rest of the Effect and you’ll see why that is nothing to worry about.

The Token can’t attack, but with 0 ATK, you wouldn’t attack with it anyway unless it had some type of power-up. (Not to mention if you could attack with it, it’d make it a lot easier to be able to do some very easy damage to the opponent) But any damage done to the Metal Devil Token due to Battle is done to the opponent instead. So it’s a not a card your opponent will want to attack, but if they do, it’ll only hurt them. Say your opponent attacks your Metal Devil Token with a Jinzo. You take no damage, and they take 2400 damage. Pretty nice.

In order to keep the Token in play, you’ll need to pay 1000 LP during each of your Standby Phases. It’s not a requirement, so if you don’t want to pay, you can just get rid of your Token. 1000 LP is a pretty hefty price, but it’s not too bad, considering it doesn’t have any other drawback such as that of Scapegoat, which makes it so you can’t Summon anymore during the activated turn, and you can’t Sacrifice them to Summon. But you can use the Metal Devil Token for that, and that‘s what many people use it for. Easy Tribute Summons. Play Devil’s Sanctuary, then Sacrifice your Token for a high-level Monster such as Jinzo. Fast, reliable and effective. Not to mention you could also use the Metal Devil Token with Metamorphosis for Thousand Eyes Rest, or even with the Deck Destruction Virus of Death. (Which was reviewed in my 23rd article, if you don‘t know what it is) You can also launch it with Cannon Soldier if you’d like, as well. (Just remember that Tokens don’t go to the Graveyard, so they can’t be Revived or anything)

Too bad Devil’s Sanctuary isn’t an Instant Magic Card. But if it was, I’d say it’d be powerful enough to have made it onto the Restricted List one way or another. Overall, Devil’s Sanctuary is a very fun card to play that can be extremely effective for you a majority of the time. It can fit well into Kaiba-based Character Decks, Dark-based, Demon (Fiend)-based, and Deck Destruction Decks using DDVD.

I give Devil’s Sanctuary an overall rating of 8/10.

And for today’s Deck example, here’s a Bakura Character Deck example, using Devil’s Sanctuary, which could actually be very beneficial to this type of Deck.

Monsters: 16

1x Dark Master - Zork

1x Dark Necrophia

1x Dark Ruler HaDes

1x Spirit Controller - Puppetmaster (reviewed in my 40th article)

2x Gelnia

1x Goblin Zombie

1x Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer

1x Jowgen the Spiritualist

1x Earthbound Spirit

1x Headless Knight

1x The Portrait’s Secret

1x Spirit Reaper

1x Demon (Archfiend) Soldier

1x Manju God (Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands)

1x Sangan

Magic Cards: 18

2x Devil’s Sanctuary

2x Shallow Grave

1x Pot of Greed

1x Monster Reborn

1x Premature Burial

1x Change of Heart

1x Snatch Steal

1x Death Message [E]

1x Death Message [A]

1x Death Message [T]

1x Death Message [H]

1x Pact with the Dark Master

1x Spiritualism

1x The Dark Door

1x Exchange

1x Dark Designator

Trap Cards: 7

2x Magic Drain

1x Ouija Board

1x Call of the Haunted

1x Dark Spirit of the Silent

1x Torrential Tribute

1x Sixth Sense

Total: 41

And that’ll do it for Article # 46 - The Devilish Sanctuary. E-mail me with questions and/or comments at dm7fgd32@hotmail.com

Until next time..

~DM7~