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Pojo's Duel Masters Card of the Day

The Water
Civilization

 

Date Reviewed: 09.07.05

Average Rating: 5

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst. 3 ... average.
5 is the highest rating.

 
Steven Cantrell

Introduction: Continuing this two-week series we now have the WATER civilization. It is by far my personal favorite. Head over to the DMRealms or Pojo message boards and you will see a strong representation of the Water civilization in almost all competitive decks out there. But why is there such a sharp contrast in playability between yellow (see Monday review) and blue? Today’s civilization actually has fewer cards at one-hundred-six released thus far. That breaks down to 86 creatures and just 20 spells.

 

As a whole the blue civilization is fairly neutral in the “Duel Masters war”, though it does loan support to both Light and Darkness. Because DM is largely based on Magic the Gathering we have a nifty little tool called the Color Wheel (check out the following website). Colors next to each other are allied, while opposites are enemies. This is not an absolute rule. It just means that Water tends to work better with yellow and black, while it does not work as well with green and red.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic:_The_Gathering

 

Top Cards: Following the same format as before, this section will cover all strengths and weaknesses associated with the Water civilization. Let’s start by quickly reviewing some of the top cards.

 

- Aqua Hulcus                    (4.75)

- Corile                             (4.75)

- Emeral                           (4.75)

- Illusionary Merfolk            (4.25)

- Crystal Paladin                 (3.75)

- Thrash Crawler                (3.50)

 

- Spiral Gate                      (3.91)

- Energy Stream                 (4.00)

- Crystal Memory                (3.67)

 

Those ratings come from past CotD or my own opinion if that card had never been done before. Together the top blue cards have an average rating of 4.15. That’s more than half a point higher than yellow! Now you can see why there is such a wide gap in playability between the two. Creatures come in ranked at a high 4.29, while the spells are strong at 3.86.

 

One of the main Water themes shown here is draw power. No other civilization can rival the pure hand advantage available here. Often whoever can take control of the hand size battle will in turn take control of the field, and then the game. The importance of drawing cards is a big reason why Water as a whole is so power and commonly used. For a while here at GQ we even debated banning Merfolk due to its insane draw capabilities.

 

Another major blue ability is bouncing. The term simply means to send an opponents creature back to his hand. While the effect has become less powerful since its glory days back in Base Set, cards like Spiral Gate can still have an impact. Corile takes the bounce idea and takes it one step further. By adding a creature to your opponent’s deck, that not only removes a threat, but also effectively takes a card out of their hand. Bounce can be powerful when you least expect it.

 

Aside from bounce and draw, Water has many less prevalent themes as well. Another that has become less potent is since Base Set is the unblockable status. Some cards like Crystal Lancer can still use it effectively though. You will also come across some shield manipulating, some mana tricks, and some decent blockers. If Water has a weakness, it would have to be a glaring lack of four-drops.

 

Underrated Picks: These cards are ones that could see more play than they do. Each has potential and a certain fun factor. Try out a couple copies to spice up your otherwise cookie cutter decks. I’m going to skip the review of those three since I need to hurry up and finish.

 

- Splash Zebrafish

- Aqua Surfer

- Teleportation

 

Overall: Water has to be one of, if not the, single most power civilization. The explosive draw power alone is more than enough. Many decks will use blue as the anchor civ with about 14-20 cards. Mono Blue is also one of the more powerful single civ options. Here are the updated standings:

 

1. Water (blue)

2. TBA

3. TBA

4. TBA

5. Light (yellow)

 

Well that’s all for now. We cap off this week on Friday with the Darkness civilization, then finish up next week. Props to those of you who actually read everything I wrote and didn’t just scroll down to the end. :P

 

Steven Cantrell

Smcman7@aol.com

 
Lee Sandow
I won't waste much of your time with this review.  We'll just dive right in to my favorite civilization, shall we?  Oh, prepare to be bombarded with bad water jokes for the duration of this review.  I'm just dripping with good puns.

The Water Civilization

Civilization Strengths:
Where do I begin?  I'll start with Water's ability to draw cards.  Water is the best civilization for that.  With cards such as Aqua Hulcus, Hypersquid Walter, Brain Serum, Energy Stream, Illusionairy Merfolk, and Psychic Shaper all allow you to draw extra cards, and thus allow you to out manuever your opponent. 
 
Water also has a nice mix of good blockers and good attackers.  Water also has a multitude of cheap cards for quick summons, allowing you to flood the field before your opponent can do a dam thing. *Has rocks thrown at him*
 
Moving swiftly on, Water is excellent as a control deck.  With bounce cards like Spiral Gate, Riptide Charger, King Tsunami, you can send your opponent's creatures back to their hand, leaving them up the creek without a paddle.  Water also has the most GODLY card of all time, Corile. 
 
This civilization has excellent evolution creatures, powerful races, and an oceanful of unique effects.

Civilization Weaknesses:
Um... Aside from a lack of killing spells..  I can't think of any real weaknesses here. 

Civilization Allies:
Though water is excellent on it's own, it becomes even more deadly when combined with the land/sky dwelling civs.  Nature and water pair up nicely, using control and mana accel to summon big evolution creatures fast.

Start the water boiling with some fire!  Using the speedy attackers of the fire realm, with the blockers and draw power of water, you can summon a searing wave of threats for your opponent!
 
Light plays well with water, as I discussed in the light review.  Finally, darkness and water are scary when played together.  With the kill spells and hand control of darkness, comboed with the draw power and bounce (and Corile-ness) of water, creates a MEAN deck type.  Truely, the Dark Tide.

Notable Water Cards:
Crystal Paladin - Clear your opponent's blockers, then go for the kill!  Good, cheap, clean fun!
 
Crystal Memory - Use this spell to search your deck for ANY card.  You don't even have to tell your opponent what it is, so you can secretly turn the duel around!
 
Emeral - Place a shield down, then pick one up.  An excellent way of setting shield triggers to leave your opponent all washed up!
 
Illusionairy Merfolk - As much as I loathe this card, I need to mention him.  At the cost of having a Cyber Lord on the field (Emeral, Corile anyone), you get to draw 3 cards.  Ouch.
 
Corile - http://www.pojo.com/duelmasters/COTD/2005/Feb/14.shtml .  Just read my review....

Overview:
My favorite civ.  It covers nearly all it's bases, and when played with other civs, becomes a force to be reckoned with!  5/5

Hey!  Who turned out the lights!?

 


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