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Article # 50 - Sweet Pandemonium Big number 50 already.. (Well, technically # 66 if you count News and OCG Discussion articles, but still, this is the 50th LItF featured cards article) Thanks to all who have kept up with all of my articles and to all who enjoy reading them. I hope you will all continue to do so. I’ve been doing these articles here on Pojo’s here for 10 months now (Since 8 / 06 / 03 when my first article on the Chaos Monsters was posted), and although I haven’t and won’t be able to dish out articles as often as I used to, I still plan to be writing articles here for quite a long time to come. The TCG will be caught up with the OCG in terms of set releases in the very near future, as is obvious, but there are still quite a few Promos of the OCG that haven’t been released in the TCG. But even if I ever do run out of “future” cards to review, you can still expect to see my views on and experience with certain cards here, as well as more News and OCG Discussion articles. Just wanted to get all of that cleared up. Thanks again, everyone. For this monumental article, I decided to take a second look at a couple of my own most favorite Monster cards in the game; Holy Beast - Selket and Masked Beast - Death Guardius, both of which I reviewed in my 9th article over 8 months ago. Now, I’ll be repeating some of what I said in my last article featuring them, but that’s because this is sort of a re-review of the cards, along with four other new cards that I’ll be reviewing here. So anyways, let’s start with a second look at Death Guardius. Masked Beast - Death Guardius Dark/Demon - Level 8 - 3300/2500 Effect: This Monster can only be Special Summoned, and only by Sacrificing two Monsters. One of the two Monsters Sacrificed must be either Melchid the Four-Faced Beast or Grand Tiki Elder. When this Monster goes from the Field to the Graveyard, you may equip a {Bequeathed Mask} from your Deck on one Monster on the Field. (Shuffle your Deck afterwards.) Masked Beast - Death Guardius was released as a Promo card from the Japanese DM5 Strategy Guide along with the Bequeathed Mask. There’s no telling when either of these cards will be released in English. Masked Beast - Death Guardius was used in the show by Yami Malik against Mai, and in the show and Manga by Umbra and Lumis against Yugi and Kaiba. It’s a Dark/Demon, so it can fit well into any Dark-based, Demon-based, or Malik Character-based Decks that would like to try using it. At Level 8, stats of 3300/2500 are pretty much unrivaled. There’s almost no Monster that stand in Guardius’ way, and it’s very capable of doing some mass damage to your opponent. Now for its Special Summoning requirements.. It cannot be Normal Summoned, Reverse/Flip Summoned, etc. It can only be Special Summoned, and to Special Summon it, you must Tribute 2 Monsters. At least one of the two Monsters Sacrificed to Special Summon Guardius must be either a Melchid the Four-Faced Beast or a Grand Tiki Elder (Cursed Gyura). Just Sacrifice one of those guys along with one of any other Monster and you’ll have the Beast on your side of the Field ready to do some heavy damage to your opponent. Not only that, but because Summoning Death Guardius is a Special Summon, you’ll still be able to Normal Summon a Monster for some even more damage to do to your opponent. Or, you could use your Normal Summon to get out one of the Monsters you need to Sacrifice for Guardius (whether it be a random Monster or a necessary Melchid/Elder, whichever you need to get out onto the Field), then bring out Guardius afterwards. Pretty easy to utilize in that sense. One of the only main downsides to Guardius is that it cannot be Searched by anything, so it’s a card you’ll have to often wait around for. Now, its text may be a little deceiving. If you have properly Special Summoned it by its requirements, then, like the Chaos Monsters, you may indeed Revive Death Guardius with Monster Reborn, etc. Now for the main part of its Effect.. Whenever Death Guardius goes from the Field to the Graveyard, you have the option of equipping a Bequeathed Mask from your Deck onto one Monster on the Field. Bequeathed Mask Normal Magic Effect: Shuffle this card into your Deck. If {Masked Beast - Death Guardius}’ Effect is used, this card becomes an Equipment Magic Card. Gain control of the equipped Monster. The Mask is not a good card to play on its own, obviously. It needs to be played right along with Death Guardius. So anyways, whether Death Guardius hits the Graveyard by way of Battle, or destruction by card Effect, you may bring a Bequeathed Mask from your Deck out equipped onto one of your opponent’s Monsters, gaining control of that Monster. Of course, the Monster must be face-up to gain control of it, and in order to use the Mask with Guardius, the Mask must be brought out to the Field from your Deck. If you have the Mask in your Hand or on the Field, you will not be able to use it with Guardius to equip it onto an opponent’s Monster to gain control of it. (Thus the Mask’s Effect of “Shuffle this card into your Deck.”) But the Effect can be very useful. Gives you some extra power, as well as some extra protection. Overall, I consider Death Guardius to be a very effective Monster for any dedicated Duelist who would like to attempt using it. It’s not a card to just throw into any Deck; it’s a card that requires quite a bit of skill to utilize to its best effectiveness. It’s also a very fun card to play. I give Masked Beast - Death Guardius an overall rating of 7.5/10. Now for a second look at Holy Beast - Selket. Holy Beast - Selket (English name = Mystical Beast of Serket) Earth/Angel - Level 6 - 2500/2000 Effect: When this Monster destroys an opponent’s Monster in battle, that Monster is removed from play. Also, when this Monster destroys an opponent’s Monster in Battle, raise this Monster’s ATK strength by 500 points. If you do not have a {Royal Shrine} in play, this Monster is destroyed. Holy Beast - Selket was released as a Promo card from the Japanese DM6 Strategy Guide along with Royal Shrine. There’s no telling when either of them will be released in English. Holy Beast - Selket was used in the show by Rishid Ishtahl (Odion) in his Duel against Joey, as you may recall. The Holy Beast is one of the most powerful Monsters in the game when in the hands of a duelist who really knows how to use it. Being an Earth/Angel makes it viable for Earth-based and Angel-based Decks, and it can also fit well into Beatdown Decks, Dimensional Decks (as I refer to them; Decks based on mass card removal), etc. And at Level 6, only one Tribute gets you a very powerful 2500/2000 Monster that can easily be made to be even more powerful. The first thing that may stand out is the last part of Selket’s Effect. If Royal Shrine is not in play on your side of the Field, Selket is destroyed. This means if you Normal Summon it like any Monster such as Jinzo, without a Royal Shrine in play, it will immediately be destroyed, so you won’t want to be doing that. Here’s what Royal Shrine does. Royal Shrine (English name = Temple of the Kings) Continuous Magic Card Effect: As long as this card remains face-up on the Field, you may activate Trap Cards during the turn that you set them. While this card is on the Field, you may send this card and a {Holy Beast - Selket} from the Field to the Graveyard to Special Summon one Monster from your Hand, Deck, or Fusion Deck to the Field. Royal Shrine is a pretty nice card even on its own, without Selket. It allows you to activate Trap Card during the turn you set them, which can be pretty useful. Set and activate a Ring of Destruction, a Sixth Sense, a Call of the Haunted, etc. But with Selket and Royal Shrine on the Field, you really have a complete arsenal of Effects on your side in just 2 cards. You have an (at least) 2500/2000 Monster that can remove Monsters from the game whilst gaining ATK points, along with a card that lets you activate Traps during the turn you set them, with those 2 cards together allowing you to Special Summon any Monster from your Hand, Deck, or Fusion Deck. Let’s get into the Special Summoning ability of Shrine and Selket, now. The Effect is actually Spell Speed 2, as it can be activated/chained to Royal Shrine‘s actual destruction. Say your opponent were to play an MST on your Shrine, either during your own or your opponent’s turn. You may chain that with Royal Shrine’s Effect, sending your Shrine and Selket to the Graveyard to Special Summon any Monster from your Hand, Deck, or Fusion Deck. (This Effect is most commonly used in the OCG with Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon, and when pulled off, frequently wins Duels. A Monster being released in the TCG in the set after Ancient Sanctuary - Master of Oz (4200-ATK Fusion Monster) - will be a good replacement for BEUD if it hasn‘t yet been released at the time of release of Shrine and Selket in the TCG.) As a good friend of mine explained this to me how it is stated on the Japanese Expert Rules Site, “With Royal Shrine, it's an ability that triggers when it is destroyed, so it (The Special Summon) just happens, even if it’s during the opponent's turn.” The Effect can also be chained to Selket’s destruction, but it would be ineffective because whatever card used to destroy Selket (such as a Raigeki) would only destroy whatever Monster is Special Summoned after it has been. (Raigeki > Special Summon ability activated > Monster Special Summoned > Raigeki resolves) Only cards that’d work well with is to Special Summon one of the Search Monsters - Witch or Sangan. Many people use Selket and Shrine solely for the Special Summoning ability, however. They just manage to get Shrine and Selket out onto the Field, and immediately use the Special Summoning Effect. Whatever works for you. EDIT: Correction: The Special Summoning Effect is not Spell Speed 2 in any manner. You must manually send Shrine and Selket to the Graveyard during one of your own Main Phases to Special Summon another Monster. You cannot chain the Effect during your opponent's turn in response to them destroying your Shrine. It doesn't really make that much of a difference, really, as that rarely happens anyway, and most people just use the Effect during their own turn, anyway. Back to Selket. Whenever it destroys an opponent’s Monster in battle, that Monster is removed from play, so you won’t have to worry about whatever Monster that was at any other point in the Duel. (Unless your opponent’s running a Twilight Fusion) Not only that, but Selket also gets a power-up of +500 ATK points. Destroy one Monster, remove it from play, and your Selket now has 3000 ATK. Pretty darn powerful. Holy Beast - Selket really is quite an amazing Monster card, and my own personal most favorite card in the entire game. It’s very fun to use, and extremely effective when you learn how to use it to your greatest benefit in whatever Deck it may be included in. I give Holy Beast - Selket an overall rating of 8/10. For a Deck example with those two (well, technically four) in it, see my 9th article. The third featured card for today is the card newly released in the Soul of the Duelist set; Horus Flame Dragon LV4. Horus Flame Dragon LV4 Fire/Dragon - Level 4 - 1600/1000 Effect: As long as this card remains face-up on the Field, control of this Monster cannot switch. When this Monster destroys an opponent’s Monster in Battle, then during that turn’s End Phase, you may send this card from the Field to the Graveyard to Special Summon one {Horus Flame Dragon LV6} from your Hand or Deck to the Field. Horus Flame Dragon LV4 was just released in the new Japanese Soul of the Duelist set as a Rare; SOD-JP006. It will be released in English in the set after Ancient Sanctuary. Horus Flame Dragon LV4.. The first of its kind, being a “Level Up” Monster. Let’s hit the basics, first of all. It’s a Fire/Dragon, so it can fit well into Fire-based and Dragon-based Decks, and of course into the newly-possible “Level Up” Decks. It has a solid ATK of 1600, and can be searched by the Witch with its 1000 DEF strength. Now we take a look at the first part of its Effect. While it’s face-up on the Field, control of it cannot change. Similar to Mataza the Zapper. With this Monster you won’t have to fear any opponent’s Change of Heart, Snatch Steal, Enemy Controller or anything of the like. It’s an Effect that could often be very beneficial to you in tight situations. The second part of Horus Flame Dragon LV4’s Effect is an optional one. If it destroys a Monster in Battle, then during that same turn that it destroyed a Monster, (if it destroys a Monster one turn, and you choose not to activate its Effect, you cannot use its Effect during the following turn unless it has destroyed another Monster, in case you were wondering) you may choose to send it to the Graveyard to Special Summon a Horus Flame Dragon LV6 from your Hand or Deck. (Reviewed below) That’s a pretty nice Effect, especially since the Special Summon can be from either the Hand or the Deck. Makes it that much easier for you to utilize. But that’s not the only way you can get out Horus Flame Dragon LV6 via Horus Flame Dragon LV4.. There’s a certain card called Level Up! (released in SOD as a Common) that can also help with completing that task. Level Up! Now the text on Level Up! may be a bit confusing, so allow me to briefly explain here, although from the name of the card and the fact that certain Monsters have “LV“ in their names it may be quite obvious. See, just say for example you have Horus Flame Dragon LV4 on the Field. In LV4’s Effect it states the name of {Horus Flame Dragon LV6}, as in how it can be Special Summoned via LV4’s Effect. So Level Up! would simply allow you to disregard that requirement and sacrifice your LV4 to Special Summon a LV6 from your Hand or Deck. Quite simple, really, and it’s an effective and easy tactical card to use in Decks with LV Monsters. Not much else to say about LV4, really. I give Horus Flame Dragon LV4 an overall rating of 7.5/10. Moving on, we take a look at Horus Flame Dragon LV6. Horus Flame Dragon
LV6 Horus Flame Dragon LV6 was also just released in the new Japanese Soul of the Duelist set as a Super/Ultimate Rare; SOD-JP007. It too will be released in English in the set after Ancient Sanctuary. Horus Flame Dragon LV6.. Quite a nice Monster card. Its type makes it viable for the same types of Decks as Horus Flame Dragon LV4, although this Monster could also be good for such Decks as Beatdown, even without any of the other Horus Dragons. With its stats of 2300/1600, though, although they are good stats, it unfortunately cannot be searched by anything. But that’s not too much of a problem whatsoever considering that it has 2 easy ways to be Special Summoned even from your Deck. Now, the first thing that may come into mind with Horus Dragon LV6 is questioning whether or not it can be Tribute Summoned as any other Level 5-6 Monster can be. Well, the answer to that question is yes. Horus Dragon LV4 or Level Up! are just 2 cards that make it a lot easier to use Horus Dragon LV6. It can be Tribute Summoned as normal by Sacrificing a Monster, or it can Special Summoned via LV4’s Effect or by the Effect of Level Up!. Now, the first part of LV6’s Effect is just great, for the most part. While it is face-up on the Field, it is unaffected by the Effects of any and all Magic Cards. Your opponent plays Raigeki/Dark Hole? That’s fine, your Horus Dragon LV6 lives. Change of Heart/Snatch Steal? Nope. Want to Mystery Wok your own LV6? Sorry, no can do. There’s just one thing about that part of LV6’s Effect.. Its Effect as it is now would make it so that Level Up! cannot be used with LV6. But it is currently under investigation as to whether or not Level Up! will be allowed to be used with Horus Dragon LV6. If it is ruled that it can be, then there will likely be an errata on the card stating that it is only unaffected by opponent’s Magic Cards. If it is ruled that Level Up! cannot be used with LV6, well then, there’ll only be one way to get out LV8, and that’d be by LV6’s Effect. We’ll have to wait and see how they rule that, and when it is confirmed, I will post about it in a new news article. Now for the second part of its Effect, just like LV4’s. If you destroy a Monster with LV6, then during that same turn’s End Phase you can send your LV6 to the Graveyard to Special Summon a LV8 from your Hand or Deck. Very nice Effect, and especially so considering what LV8 can do for you. Horus Flame Dragon LV6 is overall a very nice Monster card, and it will probably be seen in a variety of competitive and casual/fun Decks. A strong Monster unaffected by Magic/Spell Cards with basically no drawbacks is unrivaled, and it is very effective. This Dragon’s not going to be easy to get by. I give Horus Flame Dragon LV6 an overall rating of 8.2/10. We now take a look at the mightiest of all Horus Dragons; Horus Flame Dragon LV8.
Horus Flame Dragon LV8 was also just released in the new Japanese Soul of the Duelist set as an Ultra/Ultimate Rare; SOD-JP008. It too will be released in English in the set after Ancient Sanctuary. Horus Flame Dragon LV8.. Quite an amazing Monster card. It’s viable for the same types of Decks as LV4 and LV6 are, as it’s the same type; Fire/Dragon, and at Level 8, its stats of 3000/1800 are pretty darn powerful. It can’t be searched, but meh, who cares about that when you have a Monster that can do what this one can. Horus Dragon LV8 cannot be Normal Summoned, and the only way it can be Special Summoned is via the Effect of Horus Dragon LV6, having it destroy a Monster then sending itself to the Graveyard to Special Summon LV8. But (although it’s unconfirmed, I would presume it should be ruled that it will be legal) Level Up! can also be used on LV6 to Special Summon LV8 from your Hand or Deck, making it a bit easier to use. And no, Horus Dragon LV8 cannot be Revived, based on how the Japanese text in its Effect is worded. I guess we should really hope it gets ruled that Level Up! can indeed be used with LV6 to bring out LV8. Now just take a look at LV8’s Effect.. While it’s face-up on the Field, you can choose to negate the activation and Effect of any Magic Card and destroy it. Wow. It’s like a stronger, easier-to-use (in some cases) Dark Paladin without the discard cost. A Spell Canceller without the drawback of negating your own Magic Cards. How can you not like that? If your opponent activates a Magic/Spell Card that you don’t like with Horus Dragon LV8 on your side of the Field, simply choose to negate it and it’ll be destroyed, having done absolutely nothing. A very powerful and unrivaled Effect indeed, and yes, it can be used as many times as you want to use it. A question that may come to mind is “Can Level Up! be used with LV8 to bring out LV6?” Well, I don’t see why you would want to do that in the first place, but I don’t believe you would be able to. Yes, LV6 is named in LV8’s Effect, but that would of course be “leveling down.” so I would think it would be ruled that Level Up! cannot be used with LV8 to bring out LV6 from your Hand or Deck. But again, hopefully it will be ruled that Level Up! can be used with LV6 so that LV8 can be easier to utilize, as without Level Up!, it’s not always going to be too easy. But either way, Horus Dragon LV8 is certainly a Monster to be weary of. 3000 ATK.. Magic negation whenever you want it.. All in one very powerful Monster, with the only drawback being how it has to be Special Summoned. Does this card have a chance at being Restricted? Well, in all honesty, I doubt it, as it’d be unlikely to get this guy out on the Field more than once per Duel anyway, but I guess we’ll have to wait and find out about Restrictions for the Horus Dragon(s). There may be an unknown reason for them having to be Restricted, but as I said, I really doubt they will be. I give Horus Flame Dragon LV8 an overall rating of 8/10. Holy Life Barrier Normal Trap Effect: Discard one card from your Hand. All damage done to you by your opponent during the activated turn becomes 0.
Holy Life Barrier is a Super/Ultimate Rare in Soul of the Duelist; SOD-JP060. It will be released in English in the set after Ancient Sanctuary, as well. Holy Life Barrier.. A new version of Waboku, really. Being a Normal Trap it’s very similar to Waboku as in how and what it can be chained to, and it’s a card that, again like Waboku, can fit into a vast variety of Deck types. Holy Life Barrier is different from Waboku in only a couple of ways. First of all, Holy Life Barrier requires the minimal cost for activation of a single discard. Yet another situation where Killer Snake/Sinister Serpent comes in handy. The second difference is that Holy Life Barrier prevents all damage done to you for the turn, and reduces it all to 0. That means all battle damage, all burn damage, etc. done to you for that turn is reduced to 0. This could end up being very effective for you and very annoying for your opponent. Holy Life Barrier prevents any and all battle damage, Prominence Dragon burn damage, Cannon Soldier burn damage, and even CED burn damage for the activated turn. Yes, Chaos Emperor Dragon’s Effect will do no damage to you if you have a Holy Life Barrier ready and waiting for it. Your opponent will be paying 1000 LP to use CED’s Effect, then you activate your Holy Life Barrier, discard a card, and you’ll have nothing to worry about. You’ll take no damage from CED’s Effect, and you’ll take no battle damage afterwards if your opponent has a searcher on the Field to search for a Yata or something after CED’s Effect to Summon and beat you with or anything like that. It won’t prevent CED’s Effect from going through, mind you, it will just prevent the damage that would have been done. But still.. Preventing all that damage is a pretty nice thing to be able to do against your opponent. Now, should Holy Life Barrier be a replacement for Waboku? No, but it’s something you should consider using either instead of Waboku, or right along with Waboku in your Deck, or depending on what your opponent is running against you, you may not need to use a Holy Life Barrier whatsoever. But either way, Holy Life Barrier is a great card to include in your Side Deck at all times, as is Waboku. Whichever one you don’t use in your Deck should be included in your Side Deck a majority of the time. And if you don’t use either of them, try to find room for both of them in your Side Deck. Both are great Side Deck cards, and both are effective cards to have included in whatever type of Deck you may run. They’re similar cards, as is even obvious by their pictures, and in my view, they’re both equally as effective as the other. I give Holy Life Barrier an overall rating of 7.8/10.
Picture: Top Row - Death Guardius, Bequeathed Mask, Selket, Royal Shrine Bottom Row - Horus Dragon LV4, LV6, LV8, Holy Life Barrier And to end today’s article, here’s a Horus Dragon Deck example for you all. (in accordance to the Banned List. If you want an example not in accordance to the Banned List, you can e-mail me saying so and I can provide you an example. If there‘s anything here that you don‘t know what it is, as I‘m using mostly Japanese names, let me know, as well.) Monsters: 16 1x Horus Flame Dragon LV8 2x Horus Flame Dragon LV6 3x Horus Flame Dragon LV4 3x Prominence Dragon (reviewed in my 35th article) 2x Spear Dragon 1x Tribe-Infecting Virus 1x Marshmallon (reviewed in my 28th article) 1x Black Forest Witch 1x Critter 1x Killer Snake Magic Cards: 18 3x Cyclone 3x Book of Moon 2x Level Up! 1x Pot of Greed 1x Angel’s Gift 1x Raise Dead 1x Premature Burial 1x Foolish Burial (reviewed in my 17th article) 1x Dark Hole 1x Heavy Storm 1x Snatch Steal 1x Nobleman of Crossout 1x Mirage of Nightmares / Mystery Wok (reviewed in my 27th article) Trap Cards: 6 1x Holy Life Barrier 1x Sixth Sense (reviewed in my 16th article) 1x Call of the Haunted 1x Ojama Trio 1x Ring of Destruction 1x Waboku / Magical Cylinders Total: 40 And that’ll do it for Article # 50 - Sweet Pandemonium. Thanks again, everyone, and as always, if you have any questions and/or comments, then e-mail me at dm7fgd32@hotmail.com Until next time.. ~ DM7
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