From: Sephiroth The Dark
Subject: Pros and cons of Blue-Eyes dragons. - Rob
Gray
Hey again!
Today, I'm going to share with you some of my more
recent insights regarding the Blue-Eyes series of
monsters! As you may have guessed by my previous
posts, Blue-Eyes White Dragon is my favourite card,
and I've had a lot of duels recently with it in my
deck (along with a lot of other Blue-Eyes-related
cards), so I figured I should perhaps share my
insight with you, since a lot of people have a low
view of Blue-Eyes, and it is definitely better than
a lot of people give it credit for!
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Let's start from the top, with the main monster;
Blue-Eyes White Dragon.
An 8-star LIGHT/Dragon-type Normal Monster, with
3000 Atk and 2500 Def. It's
a powerful and fearsome monster, with an attack that
even a lot of the newer, "more effective" monsters
have trouble matching, and a defence that is also
quite respectable. But, it has no effects, and it
requires two tributes to Normal Summon or Set in a
conventional way.
There are several ways you can use Blue-Eyes White
Dragon in a deck. You can design a deck based around
it, you can use it in a deck based around its
Fusion Monster, the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon (more
about this monster later!), you can use it as one of
your high-level choices in a regular Dragon-based
deck, or even in a deck based around the LIGHT
attribute. Here are some tips for using this monster
in these ways:
If you want Blue-Eyes White Dragon to be the focus
of your deck, then I would advise that you only
include a MAXIMUM of 2 copies in the deck! While
there are many ways to make summoning Blue-Eyes
easier (Kaibaman, Paladin of
White Dragon and Flute of Summoning Dragon to name a
few, all of which will also receive further mention
later), if you use three Blue-Eyes White Dragons,
you are limiting the number of effective high-level
monsters you can use in your deck (since having too
many can make your deck unwieldly).
Also, since all the Blue-Eyes White Dragon cards
released (to my knowledge) are foil cards, they tend
to bend when they are kept in low temperatures (not
too detrimentally for the cards, but quite noticably
to the user), which means that, when shuffling your
deck, the foil cards tend to group together a lot.
And often, having three Blue-Eyes White Dragons in
your hand
at the same time is most unhelpful (it happened to
me three times in one day, and they never saw the
field the entire duel).
If you are going to use it in a Blue-Eyes Ultimate
Dragon-focused deck, definitely use all three
Blue-Eyes White Dragons. You may argue "but with
Cyber Stein/Summoner of Illusions/some other card I
haven't thought of, you can summon BEUD much easier
and don't even need Blue-Eyes White Dragons!"
(normally when I that sentence written, it contains
a lot of "l33t" speak, and other miscellaneous
rubbish, but I refuse to type it that way, because
it is stupid and childish...) However, these cards
have their own drawbacks.
I will be mentioning Summoner of Illusions later
anyway, but regarding Stein, the obvious drawback is
that you have to pay 5000 life points. Not so
good when your opponent has Magic Cylinder on the
field waiting for you, and/or Mirror Force (even
Waboku can ruin the whole thing for you). Paying
that many life points in one go for one thing is
always risky, as it can mean make or break for your
entire duel. So, the way I see it, it's better to
have the three Blue-Eyes there, just in case you do
need them.
There's not much to say about Blue-Eyes White
Dragon's inclusion in a
Dragon- or LIGHT-based deck. It's a high-level
monster. Both decks will have
cards to boost the monster, or to make its summoning
easier. In these cases,
I'd recommend only one copy of Blue-Eyes in either
deck, as it's not necessary to have more, and there
are other cards that can be equally helpful, or more
so.
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Now to move on to another card. Let's look at a
combination that has been in the game since the
original SKD; Lord of D. and the Flute of Summoning
Dragon. This card is usable in any Dragon-related
deck, not just a Blue-Eyes-related one! Lord of D.
gives limited protection to the Dragon-type monsters
on the field (although it includes your opponent's),
and Flute of Summoning Dragon can Special Summon UP
TO 2 (this means you can
summon only 1 if you really, really want to)
Dragon-type monsters from your hand, with no
tributes required. Sounds great, doesn't it?
To be honest, I've not used Flute of Summoning
Dragon in absolutely ages.
It'd probably be quite good, but when it's so easy
to make use of King Dragun (using Lord of D. and
Divine Dragon Ragnarok, or subsitute), it's a bit
pointless. I still include Lord of D. in some decks,
but he doesn't feature all that often, as he can
often cause more problems than help (low attack and
defence, stops me from equipping Spell cards to my
Dragons...), and he doesn't last long on the field.
In an entirely Dragon-based deck, this combo might
be worth a try. But in a Blue-Eyes deck, you will
probably want a few non-Dragons in there, and then
this combo isn't worth it anymore.
I would advise against it; there are other things
you can do instead.
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Now, I'll look at Kaibaman! This won't take long...
The only reason to use Kaibaman at all is if you
want to summon Blue-Eyes White Dragon from your hand
to the field quickly. He's Red-Eyes Black Chick,
for Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Use it in your deck if
you actually intend to summon Blue-Eyes from your
hand at any stage in the duel. Otherwise, he's a
pointless card, as he will get obliterated by 90% of
monsters, and has no other benefits.
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And now, a Ritual Monster! That's right, boys and
girls; Paladin of White Dragon!
I really love this card, which is a shame, because
as a rule, I absolutely
despise Ritual Monsters, and the rules that go with
them, and this card is no exception! True, it is
easy enough to get out (how many tributes do you
need to summon a 4-star Ritual Monster?), but it's
very situational. First, you need both White Dragon
Ritual and Paladin of White Dragon in your hand, and
enough monster cards on the field or in your hand to
make up the tribute
cost. Then, you have to successfully activate the
Ritual Spell card (failing
to do so will result in a completely useless monster
being stuck in your hand), and then perform the
Summoning (which can also be negated, or the monster
destroyed as soon as it hits the field). Assuming
you can actually get away with doing all that, it's
not so bad, as it has 1900 Atk and a reasonably cool
effect (assuming its effects aren't being negated).
And, if the going gets rough, you can tribute it
during your main phase to Special Summon Blue-Eyes
White Dragon from your hand or deck (if they let you
get away with that... Bottomless Trap Hole and
Torrential Tribute say "no!").
But, of course, even if you do that in main phase 1,
Blue-Eyes can't attack that turn, so he'll
inevitably be made useless/dead next turn.
In general, I'd say this card is not much use at the
moment. The only Ritual Monster I'd use at the
moment is Relinquished (in my current "Toon"
deck, Relinquished is one of my more useful cards.
Mainly because I use Wall
of Revealing Light, Gravity Bind and Level Limit
Area - B in the deck too, as well as 2 Raging Flame
Sprites and Medusa Worm... but we'll discuss that
deck another time, maybe). This monster just isn't
up to the mark as it is.
If only Rituals were more reliable...
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Let's look at Kaiser Seahorse for a bit. While it's
not strictly Blue-Eyes-related (it'd probably be
more suited to a LIGHT/Fairy deck, to be
honest), for summoning the mighty Dragon, it's
probably one of the better monsters. True, summoning
Blue-Eyes using Kaiser Seahorse still counts as a
Tribute Summon (and so making it vulnerable to Trap
Hole), and means you can't make any other Normal
Summons/Sets in that turn, but it still makes the
summoning much easier. And, unlike Kaibaman, Kaiser
Seahorse has a much more respectable Atk and Def
(1700 and 1650 respectively). I don't use this card
at the moment personally (I can think of easier ways
of putting my Blue-Eyes in the graveyard, where I
really want them!), but for a Blue-Eyes White
Dragon-focused deck, this card is pretty good!
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Now, onto the Fusions! I'll start with the more
specifically Blue-Eyes-related Fusion Monster, the
mighty Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!
This monster is quite simple to use, contrary to
some people's opinions.
Getting the monster on the field is ludicrously
easy; keeping it there is the tricky bit! You will
often be able to get a couple of attacks off, maybe
destroy a few monsters, take off some life points...
but if your opponent is
any kind of duellist, they'll probably have a few
effect monsters that will be able to destroy it, or
at least a spell or trap card to stop it in its
tracks, and it will probably die within 2 turns of
it being summoned (when a
monster that powerful is on the field, you can
usually expect it to die quickly).
My advice here: run two or three! With the ease of
summoning it, you'll probably be able to make good
use of it (Future Fusion, followed by Dragon's
Mirror. Then, use Summoner of Illusions and a
throwaway monster to get the third out.
Dimensionhole can keep it alive after it would
normally be destroyed). And while one is easy enough
to get rid of, when you're having three thrown at
you one after the other, and with the ability to
revive them
from the graveyard, your opponent will have their
hands full!
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Next, we'll actually take a look at the Fusion
Monster called King Dragun.
This card is quite useful. A fusion between Lord of
D. and Divine Dragon Ragnarok, both of which, on
their own, are pretty bad cards. This card is a
DARK/Dragon-type monster with 2400 Atk and 1100 Def,
and good effects.
Firstly, it protects your Dragon-type monsters from
being targetted by your opponent's card effects
(including protecting itself), but still allows you
to target them, so you can still equip your monsters
with spells if you like! You can also Special Summon
a Dragon from your hand to your side of the field,
once per turn. That includes high-level monsters.
While I do like this card, I wouldn't recommend
using it unless you have plenty of fusion options in
your deck (excluding cards like XYZ, which aren't
"proper" fusions). I took it out of my deck because,
while I did have
some good fusion-activating cards, they were focused
around getting Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon on the
field, and if I used one on King Dragun, then
getting Blue-Eyes Ultimate on the field would be
much more difficult, and that would also mean my
three Blue-Eyes White Dragons were also quite
useless (since if I didn't already have them in my
hand, I probably wouldn't
have by the time King Dragun kicked the bucket...)
In short, this card is best for decks that have
plenty of fusions and Fusion Gate, as well as any
other fusion-activating cards. I use it in my
Red-Eyes deck, as I have loads of pointless Fusion
Materials in there, and can get Fusion Gate on the
field easily enough. You can put it in your Fusion
Deck anyway, as it doesn't matter what Fusion
Monsters are in the Fusion Deck; if you can make use
of them, go ahead!
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Now, some of the cards that can summon these
fusions. I'll discuss all the
ones I use; Future Fusion, Summoner of Illusions,
Fusion Gate, Polymerization and Dragon's Mirror.
Future Fusion is my current favourite. As long as
all three of my Blue-Eyes White Dragons are in my
deck (and I can make sure that they are), I can send
them all to the graveyard and wait until my 2nd
standby phase after activation to summon my
Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon! The drawback is, if
they destroy Future Fusion while the Fusion Monster
selected is on the field, then the Fusion Monster is
destroyed. This is why I want another Blue-Eyes
Ultimate Dragon. If they destroy Future Fusion
before the Ultimate
Dragon is summoned I can still use Dragon's Mirror,
but after it's on the field, I then have nothing to
summon with Dragon's Mirror. Another Ultimate Dragon
would solve that problem! And would also give my
Summoner of Illusions something else to do...
Summoner of Illusions has been thrown in my deck for
a laugh, but it's not
fantastic. It's a flip effect, that you MUST USE if
you can. Tribute a monster on your side of the field
(except Summoner) and Special Summon a Fusion
Monster from your Fusion Deck (NOT Fusion Summon).
The Fusion Monster
is destroyed at the end of the turn. So, if you've
set Summoner of Illusions
when you have another monster on the field, and your
opponent attacks it, you lose a Fusion Monster, and
can't revive it from the graveyard. On the upside,
if you use it in your own turn, you can activate
Dimensionhole to stop your Fusion from being
destroyed by this card's effect. It's also good if
you have a large Fusion Deck, even if you don't have
the Materials in the
deck to fuse them normally (if I don't want to waste
my Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon or King Dragun, throw
out Black Skull Dragon! Better than nothing...)
Fusion Gate is the Polymerization that stays on the
field longer. It's a Field Spell card, so you can
search it out with An Owl of Luck, and as long as it
doesn't get destroyed, you can keep summoning
Fusions everytime the Materials enter your hand! The
materials do get removed from play, however, so I
don't recommend using it if you require any of the
monsters to stay in the graveyard... On the whole,
I'd say this card is pretty good, especially if you
have loads of Fusion Monsters to summon!
Polymerization is bad. Considering the other methods
of Fusion available now, there's no point running
this unless you really have to. You may think "but
there's no situation when you really have to use
this card!" True, but then King of the Swamp would
be completely useless if you didn't (its best use is
to hunt out the Polymerization in your deck,
otherwise any other Fusion Substitute would be much
more efficient than this!). So, if you don't
run King of the Swamp, or anything else that doesn't
specifically revolve around Polymerization, don't
even touch it with your hands!
Dragon's Mirror... wants to be in your deck. With
the ease of getting Fusion Materials in your
graveyard, this is amongst the easiest ways of
Fusion Summoning monsters to date. Only works on
Dragons, although other types have their
equivalents. And in combination with Future Fusion,
this card is even easier to use! In short, stick one
in your deck, unless you're not actually using
Dragons or Fusion monsters.
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Now, a spell card; Burst Stream of Destruction!
Don't use it.
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Just kidding. Seriously, though, this card is
perfectly useless using the deck I have at the
moment, because getting Blue-Eyes White Dragon on
the field is actually about 8 times more difficult
than getting Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon on the field!
And I do not exaggerate in any way!
I can see this card getting its best use in a deck
entirely devoted to Blue-Eyes White Dragon. With two
of the monster in the deck, either a Kaibaman or a
Paladin of White Dragon, and maybe a Kaiser
Seahorse, this spell card would be much easier to
make use of. That having been said, I haven't tested
this theory out. If anyone knows of a reliable
method of using Burst Stream, please let me know.
However, from what I've learned in using my
Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon-related deck, if you're
going to be doing
the Fusion thing, Burst Stream will be the card that
grinds your deck to a halt. Maybe try using
Lightning Vortex instead.
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I believe I only have one more card to cover, the
one I've just started using since I discovered how
much easier it is to use now; it's time for the
Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon!!
Arguably the most powerful Blue-Eyes-related monster
card currently in existence in the English language
card list, the effect of this card appears
rather daunting for its user at first; it cannot be
Normal Summoned or Set, and can only be Special
Summoned by offering Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon on
the Field as a Tribute! Sounds hard! Not really...
As I said before, getting the Ultimate Dragon on the
field is easy!
KEEPING it there is the problem! It's even easy
enough to get two or three of the card on the field
(the number of times I wished I had three of them,
when I have everything set up so conveniently to
summon them all, and only have one copy to
summon...)! With Future Fusion, you can get the
monster on the field within two more turns, if they
don't destroy the spell card first,
but then Dragon's Mirror can make up for that. And
Summoner of Illusions can
call the Dragon to the field for one turn. Well,
that turn is a lot more worthwhile when the
Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon gets Tributed for its big,
shiny brother! Or sister, I don't know the Shining
Dragon's gender (since the White Dragon is a girl,
I'll guess at female for all of them)...
When the Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon is on the field,
things start looking up
quite a bit! Its Atk is increased by 300 for every
Dragon in your graveyard,
and this monster can negate the effects of spells,
traps and monsters that target it!
Recently I've not had any problem summoning this
monster. It's in my deck for a reason, the reason
being that it's not the problematic card that
everyone seems to paint it as, or at least not
anymore. You can get this card on the field! I've
had it on the field far more times recently than
even Blue-Eyes White Dragon, because this one is
Special Summoned, which makes it just that little
bit harder to get rid of (Trap Hole, the bane of
Normal Monsters, can't touch this! Bottomless can,
but if they didn't stop Blue-Eyes Ultimate with it,
I guess it's not on the field...). The biggest
problem is, if this card does leave the field,
chances are it's not coming back, since it can't be
Special Summoned from the graveyard. And, as with
any card that looks vaguely threatening, it won't be
left alone for long (Torrential Tribute, Lightning
Vortex, any destructive card that doesn't target).
True, you can shuffle the card back into your deck,
if you have the
cards to do it, but otherwise, once it's left the
field, it's a gonner.
Still, if you have any more BEUDs left...
Well, that'll do for now. If there is a card you
feel I've overlooked, or any card you want me to
comment on, just contact me at the address below and
I'll try and get back to you when I can. Also, if
you have any suggestions for me, or any queries
regarding anything I've said, contact me for those
as
well.
Catch ya later!
Rob Gray (aka sephiroths_champ, aka Funky Kaiba...)
<sephiroths_champ@hotmail.com>
