Pojo's Yu-Gi-Oh! news, tips, strategies and more!


Card Game
Card of the Day
TCG Fan Tips
Top 10 Lists
Banned/Restricted List
Yu-Gi-Oh News
Tourney Reports
Duelist Interviews

Featured Writers
Baneful's Column
Anteaus on YGO
General Zorpa
Dark Paladin's Dimension
Retired Writers

Releases + Spoilers
Booster Sets (Original Series)
LOB | MRD | MRL | PSV
LON | LOD | PGD | MFC
DCR | IOC | AST | SOD
RDS | FET
Booster Sets (GX Series)
TLM | CRV | EEN | SOI
EOJ | POTD | CDIP | STON
FOTB | TAEV | GLAS | PTDN
LODT
Booster Sets (5D Series)
TDGS | CSOC | CRMS | RBGT
ANPR | SOVR | ABPF | TSHD
STBL | STOR | EXVC
Booster Sets (Zexal Series)
GENF | PHSW | ORCS | GAOV
REDU | ABYR | CBLZ | LTGY
NUMH | JOTL | SHSP | LVAL
PRIO

Starter Decks
Yugi | Kaiba
Joey | Pegasus
Yugi 2004 | Kaiba 2004
GX: 2006 | Jaden | Syrus
5D: 1 | 2 | Toolbox
Zexal: 2011 | 2012 | 2013
Yugi 2013 | Kaiba 2013

Structure Decks
Dragons Roar &
Zombie Madness
Blaze of Destruction &
Fury from the Deep
Warrior's Triumph
Spellcaster's Judgment
Lord of the Storm
Invincible Fortress
Dinosaurs Rage
Machine Revolt
Rise of Dragon Lords
Dark Emperor
Zombie World
Spellcaster Command
Warrior Strike
Machina Mayhem
Marik
Dragunity Legion
Lost Sanctuary
Underworld Gates
Samurai Warlord
Sea Emperor
Fire Kings
Saga of Blue-Eyes
Cyber Dragon

Promo Cards:
Promos Spoiler
Coll. Tins Spoiler
MP1 Spoiler
EP1 Spoiler

Tournament Packs:
TP1 / TP2 / TP3 / TP4
TP5 / TP6 / TP7 / TP8
Duelist Packs
Jaden | Chazz
Jaden #2 | Zane
Aster | Jaden #3
Jesse | Yusei
Yugi | Yusei #2
Kaiba | Yusei #3
Crow

Reprint Sets
Dark Beginnings
1 | 2
Dark Revelations
1 | 2 | 3 | 4
Gold Series
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
Dark Legends
DLG1
Retro Pack
1 | 2
Champion Pack
1 | 2 | 3 | 4
5 | 6 | 7 | 8
Turbo Pack
1 | 2 | 3 | 4
5 | 6 | 7

Hidden Arsenal:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4
5 | 6 | 7

Checklists
Brawlermatrix 08
Evan T 08
X-Ref List
X-Ref List w/ Passcodes

Anime
Episode Guide
Character Bios
GX Character Bios

Video Games
Millennium Duels (2014)
Nighmare Troubadour (2005)
Destiny Board Traveler (2004)
Power of Chaos (2004)
Worldwide Edition (2003)
Dungeon Dice Monsters (2003)
Falsebound Kingdom (2003)
Eternal Duelist Soul (2002)
Forbidden Memories (2002)
Dark Duel Stories (2002)

Other
About Yu-Gi-Oh
Yu-Gi-Oh! Timeline
Pojo's YuGiOh Books
Apprentice Stuff
Life Point Calculators
DDM Starter Spoiler
DDM Dragonflame Spoiler
The DungeonMaster
Millennium Board Game

Magic
DBZ
Pokemon
Yu Yu Hakusho
NeoPets
HeroClix
Harry Potter
Anime
Vs. System
Megaman

This Space
For Rent

Pojo's Yu-Gi-Oh Card of the Day

Ectoplasmer
Super Rare

Only once during each player's End Phase, each player Tributes 1 face-up monster on his/her side of the field and inflicts damage to the opponent's Life Points equal to half of the original ATK of the Tributed Monster.

Type - Spell Card
Card Number - SOD-EN043

Card Ratings
Traditional:
Advanced:

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


Date Reviewed - 03.08.05

 
Coin Flip

 

Ectoplasmer is our next card. Here's the deal:

Ectoplasmer has three real parts to it, and you need to understand them to figure out how to run it.

1) It is mandatory to Tribute a monster.

This means that if you use Ectoplasmer, you are placing a limitation on yourself and your opponent alike. This is a lot like Gravity Bind.
As long as you are placed at little or no disadvantage by the card, you are getting ahead by using it.

2) This card only affects face-up monsters that can be affected by Spells.

No Horus LV6, no face-down monsters, and if you have no monsters at all, no effect applies to you.

3) This card inflicts damage equal to half a monster's ATK.

That means that something like Goblin Attack Force, Giant Orc, Armor Exe or whatever high ATK 4 star that can be normal summoned can be turned into a quick 1000+ damage after its initial use. Giant Orc and GAF enjoy that. Since the damage is the monster's ORIGINAL ATK, so will Zombyra the Dark and Fusilier Dragon the Dual Mode Beast.

Basically, you can choose to take advantage of it by not having any monsters on the field to use with it or by going super-suicide beatdown and hitting your opponent with high ATK monsters and then firing 'em off for more damage. The other option is to use Dark Doll of Demise. If Tributed to Ectoplasmer during your End Phase, he'll revive at your next Standby Phase, and you can attack with him after that for a loop of sorts that does over 2000 damage a turn. Sweet.

No rating. It goes nowhere or in its own deck.
 
ExMinion OfDarkness Ectoplasmer

Ectoplasmer can be the basis for a solid Burn deck.

The main combo for Ectoplasmer is a little Soul of the Duelist common known as Malice Doll of Demise. It's 1600/1700, and whenever it's sent from the field to the graveyard by the effect of a Continuous Spell card, it's Special Summoned during your next Standby Phase. This constantly lets you launch him for 800 damage at the end of every turn...along with having, for Advanced Format, what could be considered a solid attacker or defender (barring the Aggro deck, with its 3 Gorillas and 3 DD Assailants...)

The other nice thing about Ectoplasmer is that it's NOT optional. Each player MUST tribute a monster, so an opponent will have to summon monsters when they are not used to doing so, lest they want to give up their BLS for a mere 1,500 damage. (Although that would win the game in some situations...) The Ectoplasmer player could just launch their Malice Doll over and over (or dolls, if you have more Ectoplasmers out). Two Ectoplasmer practically forces the other player to set all of their monsters until they can get rid of them.

Obviously, it shouldn't be the only burn card in this deck, but with 3 Ectos and 3 Malice Dolls, it should be the basis.

Traditional: 1.5/5
Advanced: 3/5
New Advanced: 2.5/5 (Semi-limitation of 2 stall cards)
 
Tranorix Ectoplasmer

Ectoplasmer is an interesting card that doesn’t see very much play, but that stands to reason: It really needs its own deck to do well. Being a Continuous Spell is a pro and a con; it’s easy to get rid of but it stays on the field if you can keep it there, allowing for repeated use of its effect.

At each end phase, the turn player must tribute a face-up monster (if he has one). Then, half of that monster’s ATK will be inflicted as damage to the opponent. So if you Snatch Steal your opponent’s Jinzo and you have Ectoplasmer on the field, you can sacrifice it at your end phase, deal 1200 damage to your opponent AND get rid of his Jinzo. Then again, he can do the same to you.

This card works nicely with Malice Doll of Demise, which will return to the field on your next turn if you kill it with Ectoplasmer; this means that you can basically just keep tributing the Doll off for 800 a turn while your other monsters are safe; and it’s likely that before long, your opponent won’t have much of anything.

Of course, this is a Continuous Spell, making it quite vulnerable to removal and such; and it has an effect that can definitely backfire, so it would be wisest only to play Ectoplasmer in a deck built specifically for it. But oh, what a rentsy deck that would be.

Traditional – CCCC: 2.5/5
Traditional – Ectoplasmer: 3/5
Advanced – CCWC: 2.5/5
Advanced – Ectoplasmer: 3/5
OVERALL RATING: 2.8/5
 
Snapper Ectoplasmer

Today’s card is Ectoplasmer, a Spell that can become very annoying for you and your opponent after a few turns.

As a Continuous Spell, Ectoplasmer is easy prey for cards like MST and Heavy Storm. While the prospect of easily losing Ectoplasmer may not sound welcoming, it’s kind of a nice bonus in the long run. During the end of each player’s turn, the turn players Tribute one of their face-up monsters and inflicts damage equal to half of the monster’s original ATK to the opponent.
Note that it says nothing about the effect being optional, meaning that it isn’t. So if your only monster is a face-up BLS, guess what you need to get rid of? That’s right; BLS gets to go to the Graveyard and your opponent loses 1500 Life Points. So when using Ectoplasmer, it would be wise to not summon valuable monsters. The opponent’s another downside to Ectoplasmer as well, they need/get to use the effect also. While they gain the same possibility that they’ll lose an invaluable monster, they also get to do some damage to you. So Ectoplasmer seems like a Spell with more cons then pros.

Ectoplasmer does have some cards you can use it with. Malice Doll of Demise can basically be used with only Ectoplasmer, which will give you Ectoplasmer fodder and a decent monster during your next Standby Phase. Enemy Controller and Snatch Steal can not only clear your opponent’s field temporarily but also give you monsters to dispose of through Ectoplasmer. And for some reason Soul Exchange works with Ectoplasmer, though I’m not really sure why… With all that said, Ectoplasmer needs its own Deck. What Deck it needs though is a mystery to me… So many things I seem to not know today… What time it is… What will be for dinner… Why I use 3 periods and the end of these sentences… Odd…

Advanced: 2.5/5. I’m sure I’m missing some deeper meaning that Ectoplasmer has, but I can’t think it.
Traditional: 2/5. Lots of S/T removal available here; use with caution.
Overall: 2.25/5.
Art: 3/5. It’s neat I suppose dot dot dot
 
dawnyoshi Ectoplasmer saw its release in Soul of the Duelist, and the card hasn't been given the respect it deserves.

During each player's end phase, the turn player is forced to tribute a face-up monster on their field. The bright side is that tributed monster will inflict half of its original ATK as damage to the opponent's life points. The downside is that they lose field advantage. The ability to have this single card take out two, three, or even more of your opponent's monsters is insane. Even if it takes out one monster and they end up destroying it, you still took out two of their cards with this single continuous spell. That provided you necessary card advantage against your opponent, who lost useful spell and trap removal and one of their monsters (or more).

How do you prevent Ectoplasmer from hurting you though? That's easy enough. Cards that aren't affected by spells, such as The Legendary Fisherman with an ocean field or (specifically) Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV6 are completely immune to Ectoplasmer's effect. This allows you to keep a powerful monster face-up on the field while your opponent is losing monsters every turn. Scapegoat also helps lessen the blow of Ectoplasmer on your field. There's also the monster specifically designed to work with this card, the Malice

Doll of Demise, which will be special summoned if it's tributed by Ectoplasmer's effect.One key thing you need to remember about this card: You're not relying on its damage ability. You want to use this card as monster removal, and when combined with cards that aren't affected by Ectoplasmer's ability, you'll be able to control the monsters on your opponent's field with ease.

In limited, this thing's a beast with Two-Man Cell Battle. While you'll be able to maintain field advantage, your opponent will never be able to keep a face-up monster on their field against the monsters you are summoning during your turn. Take this thing if you have access to some of the set's vanilla monsters and the overlooked Two-Man Cell Battle.

Traditional: 2.5/5
Advanced: 3.5/5
Limited: 3/5
 
Otaku

As I have yet another two exams to take this week, I will once again go with a simplified review format.  I am sure so many readers are heart broken. ;)

 

Ectoplasmer is somewhat confusing, primarily because even though it is accurately written, its effects are so odd that they just seem wrong when read.  To help clarify, here are the rulings from the Official Yu-Gi-Oh FAQ on UDE’s site, though I have made some formatting changes to match how I write my reviews (namely italics instead of “quotation marks” to indicate a card name):

 

Ectoplasmer causes the turn player to Tribute during his/her End Phase, but the opponent does not Tribute. So while Ectoplasmer is out, I Tribute in my End Phase, and you Tribute in your End Phase. But I don't Tribute in yours and you don't Tribute in mine.

So 1 Tribute is performed during the End Phase of each player's turn. The Tribute is performed by the turn player. (Both players have to do this during their respective End Phases, not just the controller of Ectoplasmer.)

Tributing a monster for Ectoplasmer is not a cost, it’s an effect, so you can't Tribute monsters unaffected by Spell Cards.

If you have a face-up monster on your side of the field during the End Phase, you have to Tribute for Ectoplasmer’s effect.

You can chain Mystical Space Typhoon or Raigeki Break to Ectoplasmer’s effect, and if there is no Ectoplasmer on the field, then its effect is not applied.

You can activate Soul Exchange during your Main Phase and use its effect to Tribute your opponent’s monster for Ectoplasmer during the End Phase.

If you Tribute your opponent’s monster that you controlled with Snatch Steal or Change of Hear", your opponent takes the damage even though it was their monster.”

 

So, as you can see, Ectoplasmer is a fascinating card.  Not surprisingly given its status as a “Super Rare”, I didn’t know it was even out until roughly a month ago (Ultra Rares tend to hog the spotlight).  As I have a tendency to run decks that either a) Swarm or b) have large Monsters.  Then I catch that line about “original ATK”, until I carefully read it.  This card forces each player to Tribute a face-up Monster.  That, in and of itself is useful for Swarm decks: for every Monster my opponent has, I am likely to have “one and a half” to two.  Using, say, a Gravekeeper’s deck, I like Tributing a spent Gravekeeper’s Spy, unneeded Mystic Tomato, or perhaps repeatedly Tributing Sinister Serpent, since on my opponent’s turn, their lone expected summon will be gone by my next turn.  For Swarm decks, this would have been great removal.  Even though the second part of the card’s effect inflicts “burn” damage, it could be dealt with: the opponent would have to either sacrifice a big Monster (who would normally block most of my Gravekeeper’s in that example), doing roughly 1000 LP’s worth of damage but allowing me to run over anything else they had left or they Tribute something tiny, making it more likely Smashing Ground will hit their big Monster.  Either way, I then get to hit with the remnants of my Swarm to easily stay ahead in damage.  Still, it’s a rather risky gamble since, if Ectoplasmer might not survive long, and might only succeed in merely crippling those Swarm tactics.  In other words, looks nice, but in the end seems too risky.

 

Okay, well, it’d be good with big Monsters, right?  Half right.  Sadly, it says it refers to the original ATK.  So while I do run decks that have big Monsters… they are big after using specific combinations, like Megamorph on a Jirai Gumo when my LP has gotten low, or Chaos Necromancer when my Graveyard is packed.  Unfortunately, I would only be hitting for half of the base attack.  The first combination I mentioned (used in Suicide Beatdown), wouldn’t be worth the risk of giving my opponent so much burn power, where as the second example and cards like it that use effect’s to boost their ATK would sometimes literally be worthless to use for the effect, since their base ATKs are so low.

 

So where does this fit in?  It has to be played in its own deck.  Some Stall/Burn decks might consider it, since they usually shift their Monsters into facedown DEF mode via a built in effect (re: Stealth Bird), but they have better options for that S/T zone.  I guess it really needs its own deck, either with big beat sticks to summon, attack with, and then sac, or with Monsters that can’t be targeted by Spells (forcing your opponent to sack their Monsters).  For the former, I would consider focusing on mostly Level 4 Beatsticks with no effect, since you could then use Two-Man Cell Battle to Special Summon a Normal Level 4 Monster from your hand.  There are quite a few 1900 ATK Level 4 Monsters available-the only downside is your hand likely wouldn’t be able to sustain it as for more than a few turns.  Both options should strongly consider something to gain some extra Life Points repeatedly (easiest way to handle small, persistent burn in my book), like Solemn Wishes.  Also good would be Light of Intervention, given that only players who had other means of setting Monsters could avoid having to tribute on their turn. 

 

All in all, this looks like a fun card that lacks enough turn around to make it worth trying to run.  Perhaps there is something else I am missing; let us hope one of the other staffers found it.

 

Ratings

 

Traditional: 1.25/5-A deck build around it is unlikely to work given all the Spell/Trap removal still available here.  Nothing like having to sac your Monster, only for a Harpies Feather Duster to clear your side of the Field next turn.

 

Advanced: 3/5-Here it looks like some fun, possibly effective.

 

Limited: 4/5-Just make sure you wait until you have a decent lead, or they have some big nasty Tribute that won’t kill you being consumed by Ectoplasmer’s effect.
 


Copyright© 1998-2005 pojo.com
This site is not sponsored, endorsed, or otherwise affiliated with any of the companies or products featured on this site. This is not an Official Site.