Brandon Moore Brandon's Yu-gi-oh Top 10 4-star or lower monsters in advanced format It's been 7 months since I've posted a top 10 list, and the game has greatly changed, and so has the gameplay. I see lots of different monsters, magic, and traps that were placed in binders before and are now playable thanks to the ban list. I've seen a few different basic monsters used now than I did in the past. So here's my top 10 4 star or lower monsters in the new advance format. 10. Abyss Soldier- This card is possibly one of the best promos released in the past year, and it now makes water decks much more competitive. For a four star water monster and 1800 attack (2000 with a legendary ocean), you can discard a water monster from your hand to return a card on the field to owner's hand. There are a few combos with this card. One is that if you premature burial a monster, use abyss soldier's ability and use premature burial on the monster you just discarded!! Also, having this ability with sinister serpent to discard once a turn will make your opponent's chances of winning very very slim. Also, this card can basically clear the way for a safe attack to your opponent. A water deck staple with at least 2 copies of this used, possibly 3. If you have a water deck, you get these! 9. Marauding Captain- With warrior decks being possibly one of the best decks in advance format, this card's value increases even more. This is the card that makes a warrior deck have speed. It's only a 1200 3 star monster, but whenever this card is normal summoned, you special summon a 4 star or lower monster from your hand to the field, plus as long as the card's on the field, a warrior monster on your side of the field cannot be selected as attack targets. This card can special summon some powerful warriors, such as D.D. warrior lady, blade knight, d.d. assailant, and even the powerful Mystic Swordsman Lv. 4, and whatever warrior you summon cannot be attack!! 2 are needed and are a staple in warrior decks. 8. Cyber Jar- Back when Magic Ruler was released, everybody had this card in their decks. Now, most still do, but not nearly as many as in the past. The destroy all monsters part is very nice, but with both players picking up 5 cards and special summoning all 4 star and lower monsters is very, very risky. This effect is excellent if cyber jar is activated during your turn, and it also serves as a dark hole in advanced. Pretty much a staple in beatdown decks, and it can go in almost any deck today. 7. Magician of Faith- Ah yes! Still my favorite card of all time. Her 300 attack and 400 defense just screams for her to be destroyed, but her flip effect of returning a magic card from your graveyard to your hand is still very useful. Her effect is weakened in advance, since all the powerful magic cards are banned (raigeki, harpie's feather duster, etc.), but this card still is very powerful. Plus, it's always chaos bait to summon Envoy of the Beginning and Chaos Sorcerer. A staple in Chaos decks, but it can fit nearly anywhere. 6. D.D. Warrior Lady- Still possibly has one of the most annoying effects in the game. You love her or you hate her. I love her for being such a great card, but I hate her for being too used all the time. Possibly the most expensive super rare in advanced format, so hold on to them if you got one. Anyway, for a 4 star, 1500 attack/1600 defense, after battle damage is calculated between her and another monster, you can choose to remove her and the opposing monster from the game. kamakazi into a Jinzo for 900 life and remove it from the game, attack a face down card and remove that Mystic tomato or sinister serpent from the game, or defend and removing a high attacking monster from the game. It's a very great card, and yet, it is very annoying. Nearly every deck should have at least one of this card, except in a stall/burn deck. 5. Fiber Jar- This was once on the ban list, until it got taken off in October. I do not see this card nearly used as much in the past, simply because it is also a risky effect like cyber jar. It is not as risky, because it basically restarts the game with the same life points as before, but if this gets activated during your turn, you're basically losing a card, but if it's activated during your opponent's turn, you will gain a +1 card advantage over your opponent. It possibly has the most powerful effect for any monster in advanced format, but it's not #1 because it is risky to play. 4. Sinister Serpent- The biggest combo-licous card in the game! Although it is very weak, it just will not go away! Many people should see the combos of this card, like discarding it for dark paladin, graceful charity, tribe-infecting virus, and now abyss soldier! Plus, during your standby phase, if it's in your graveyard, it goes back to your hand! So you can have a guaranteed blocker once per turn until you draw what you need. Here's another fun combo with Serpent: Summon it in attack mode, and either creature swap it for one of your opponent's powerful monsters, or use Metamorphosis to summon Thousand Eyes Restrict from your fusion deck and get serpent back next turn!! Will always be one of my favorite cards! 3. Tribe-Infecting Virus- In a game witch discarding normally hurts people, using this card's ability makes discarding very useful! A 1600 attack, 4 star water monster, and during your main phase, you can discard any card from your hand to destroy a creature type on the field (zombie, spellcaster, etc.). Four other factors that make this card so awesome: 1) Since it's an aqua monster, very rarely will you destroy itself with its ability. 2) You can discard any card in your hand. Monster, magic or trap; it does not matter! 3) It helps dump light and dark monsters from your hand to feed the activation cost of the chaos monsters. 4) This ability can be used more than once per turn!! This is a deck staple in EVERY deck, as with the top 2 monsters on this list. 2. Magical Scientist- If 6 of the 8 finalists at 2004 worlds played this card, you also know this card will be widely used! It is only one star, 300 attack, and dark element monster, but its effect made fusion monsters much usable again! By paying 1000 life point, you can special summon any fusion monster Lv. 6 or lower from your fusion deck until the field, cannot attack directly, and is returned to the fusion deck at the end of the turn. This can be used multiple times. Now think, what fusion monsters can be special summoned? Thousand Eyes Restrict, Ryu-Senshi, Fiend Skull Dragon, Dark Blade the Dragon Knight, Reaper of the Nightmare, and the almighty Dark Balter the Terrible! There are also a few great combos with this card. If you book of moon one of your fusion monsters, the fusion monster will not go back to the fusion deck, because with the monster being face down, it offsets scientist's ability. Also, you can use Dimension Hole or Intermediate Matter Transport on a fusion monster and it'll come back after scientist's ability resolves. Finally, you can special summon a fusion monster and use Metamorphosis on it to permanently special summon a fusion monster! A 1000 life points may be hefty at times, but if it guarantees to get you out of a jam no matter what your opponent has on the field, it is well worth it!! 1. Breaker the Magical Warrior- There's not very much to say about this card. This card was attended to be used in a deck with magic counters from cards from Magician's Force, but this card alone was powerful enough to stand out on its own, and it's the #1 card on my list. Every deck, and I mean EVERY deck, will use this card, because it is another form of Magic/Trap removal. Whenever this card is normal summoned, it becomes a 1900 attack monster without a drawback. By removing the counter, it becomes a 1600 monster (still very great) and destroys a magic or trap card. Because this is an effect from a monster, it cannot be negated by Imperial Order, Seven Tools of the Bandit, Solemn Judgment [Of course, Solemn Judgment can just negate Breaker's summon altogether -- LT], and cards like that. Only a Curse of Royal can negate this effect [Curse of Royal cannot negate monster effects -- LT], but that card is not powerful enough to be in many decks. Because Mystical Space Typhoon is now restricted to one and Harpie's Feather Duster is banned, magic and trap removal is more crucial than ever. This is the main reason this card is in every competitive deck, and the #1 card on my list. Honorable Mentions (no particular order): D.D. Assailant, Berserk Gorilla, Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer, Slate Warrior, Blade Knight, Reflect Bounder, Injection Fairy Lilly, Mystic Swordsman Lv. 4, Solar Flare Dragon, Stealth Bird. If you have any questions about my list, e-mail me at: sweetbran2003@yahoo.com Brandon __________________________________