Legendary Jujitsu Master

Rated For: His Own Deck

I chose this week's cards because a) they're actually playable and b) you've probably not heard of, or tested, most of these bad boys.

I feel that every card in this week's lineup can shine in its own deck or even splashed in regular decks to some extent, and each of my reviews will focus on getting the most out of the card of the day.

Monday's card is Legendary Jujitsu Master, a card that went completely ignored by every duelist upon the release of Ancient Sanctuary; I noticed it while trying to construct an Earth bounce deck right after Anaheim's Gencon Shonen Jump, and basically created a tier one deck that could hang with some very good decks. Why is this card so wonderful?

Currently, there are only a handful of cards that can send an opponent's monster to the top of the deck; this is crucial because it ties up their draw phase, acting like a Drop Off or Time Seal, and removes their monster from the field, acting like Compulsory Evacuation Device. The double loss of tempo incurred by having your monster "bounced", is an obscenely powerful effect, limited to only Back to Square One, Mystic Knight of Jackal, Mystic Swordsman LV 6, Mysterious Guard, and Legendary Jujitsu Master (I may have missed one). Of these, Back to Square One is obviously the easiest to use, but it costs a resource. Mysterious Guard will likely die, and the other two are tribute monsters.

This leaves Legendary Jujitsu Master as perhaps the most effective means of bouncing monsters off the field. Pair this with a control deck and you can 1) put their monster to the top of the deck, 2) Tie up their draw phase for next turn, 3) Summon Don Zaloog/Spirit Reaper/Masked Sorcerer and swing for either +1 or -1 advantage.

1800 defense stands up to quite a bit, with only Berserk Gorilla standing up to it (unless your opponent runs 1900's). The biggest threat to this card's success, however, is D.D Warrior Lady, since it can simply remove Legendary Jujitsu Master from play, so you'll want to protect it.

If you search this card out with Giant Rat, your opponent basically won't be able to attack until they get rid of Jujitsu Master, since they don't want to have their monster bounced. This is a highly effective card.

Advantage F/H: 1800 defense will stand up to a lot, and 1300 attack isn't very bad. Basically, Jujitsu Master is one of those cards that more than breaks even after one use. If your opponent hits it, even with an 1800+ attack monster, you basically Evacuated them and Time Sealed them in one turn. So you lose one resource, they lose their normal summon and their next draw. Of course if they can't kill it, with perhaps Breaker, Tribe, Kycoo, Don, D.D Assailant, Blade Knight, among others, they lose even more. Finally, if it's a tribute monster that attacks, they lose EVEN more!

Traditional Format Score:                             8/10

Advanced Format Score:                               8/10

Best Draw for the Situation: This card is great in the opening game and late game; it isn't quite as effective in the middle where you're trying to stage legitimate attacks. Also, because of its low attack, you'll always want to leave this in defense, so supplement it with a main fighting force of strong monsters.

T:                                                                    7/10

A:                                                                    7/10

Attributes/Effect: This card is an Earth type, which gives it great synergy with Giant Rat. It's stats are rather decent, although 1900 or more defense would have been nice. The effect is solid but doesn't always work properly, and it's vulnerable to Nobleman of Crossout. Try using this card with Desert Sunlight for some real fun.

T:                                                                    7/10

A:                                                                    7/10

Dependability: Let's see; out of a typical Cookie Cutter Chaos lineup, you have 3 D.D Warrior Ladies, 1-2 Berserk Gorilla/Blade Knight, and Magical Scientist that can kill this bad boy straight up. Out of those, the only ones that really hurt you are the Warrior Ladies. And in all such cases, the advantage evens out to 1 for 1. Not bad right? Of course, this thing is vulnerable to Crossout, like I said, so be careful.

T:                                                                    6.5/10

A:                                                                    6.5/10

The Bottom Line: Highly overlooked; criminally so.

A BAD Score--

Traditional:                                                     3.56/5

Advanced:                                                      3.56/5

FORCE System Suggestions--

++        Contributes to On-Field Removal (slightly), On-Field Presence, Counter-Defense, Enemy-Disruption (slightly).

--          Detracts from Field Control (slightly)