Backup @Ignister – #ALIN-EN002
If you control a Cyberse monster that was Special Summoned from the Extra Deck: You can Special Summon this card from your hand. If this card is Normal or Special Summoned: You can add 1 DARK Cyberse monster from your Deck to your hand, except “Backup @Ignister”, then discard 1 card. You can only use each effect of “Backup @Ignister” once per turn.
Date Reviewed: June 30th, 2025
Rating: 4.18
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is awful. 3 is average. 5 is excellent.
Reviews Below:
King of
Lullaby
Hello Pojo Fans,
Backup @Ignister starts our look at Ignister Week and this card in particular has been seeing a lot of play in Maliss.
Extender ability if you have an Extra Deck Cyberse monster on the field feeds directly into the Maliss archetype. However, only if it were Special Summoned from the Extra Deck, so the second go-around for any Maliss Link Monsters is not going to allow Backup @Ignister to Special Summon herself. Still, a good extender ability considering how easy it is to Normal Summon a Cyberse and link it off into a Link-1. When Normal or Special Summoned she is your DARK Cyberse RoTA, fetching one from the Deck to the hand except herself. Any Level, and while it will cost you a discard afterwords, it isn’t like you can’t get that monster back. DARK? Cyberse? Sure she shouldn’t have been called Backup @Maliss? So yeah, search any Maliss monster out of your Deck and discard one to be banished in the grave, to then activate their ability to Special Summon from the banished…I can see why Backup @Ignister has found her way into the archetype.
Within her own archetype she has more Attributes to worry about, so she’s narrowed to searching Danmari, Doyon, Donyoribo, Kurikurinku, Wizard, and Linkslayer. Of the monsters it can search within archetype, Danmari and Donyoribo have beneficial grave effects when banished, while Wizard is another potential extender. Within archetype you want to use Backup @Ignister to search a DARK Cyberse and then discard a different Attribute that can activate in the grave. Outside the archetype, Backlinker is a good extender going second, Firewall is an archetype outside the Extra Deck, Iblee still exists, but it is really all about Maliss outside the archetype.
In Maliss, Backup @Ignister can Special Summon herself off any Maliss Link Summon, search Wizard and Wizard can Special Summon itself immediately and bring back another DARK Cyberse from the grave. All that costs you is a discard and if it were a DARK Cyberse you are just setting up for Wizard to get it back. It is a great addition to Maliss and within her own archetype she searches a few good targets that can get your Link Summoning going as long as you set things up. Like Maliss needed any more fuel for their fire?
Advanced- 4/5 Art- 4/5
Until Next Time,
KingofLullaby
Crunch$G
It’s time for another week of Maliss support… what was that? *ahem* It’s time for some legacy support for the @Ignister archetype, focusing more on DARK Cyberse monsters for some reason, Maliss, but anyways the week starts with a new Tuner for the archetype: Backup @Ignister.
Backup is a Level 3 DARK Cyberse Tuner with 1200 ATK and 800 DEF, basically a copy and paste of Backup Secretary plus adding the Tuner aspect, which is nice. If you control a Cyberese monster that was Special Summoned from the Extra Deck, you can Special Summon this from the hand. Super simple extender, especially since Cyberse strategies have Link-1s to work with (even with Linkuriboh and Link Decoder banned) with cards like Salamangreat Balelynx or Almiraj, Linguriboh, or Link Spider, but Cyberse Decks also have a simple time summoning bigger Links and in the case of using Mathmech, you can also make an easy Xyz now that Circular is legal again. Upon Normal or Special Summon, Backup lets you search for any DARK Cyberse monster from the Deck, and then you’re forced to discard. The discard is fine considering there’s a lot of consistency to many Cyberse Decks that would use this, and in return you get a DARK Cyberse. The instant target might be Wizard @Ignister to summon itself and another Cyberse monster from the grave, like this, for a Link Summon or even a Synchro if you do revive this card since she is a Tuner. You can also search every Maliss name we have, Doyon @Ignister for your recovery, EM:P Meowmine, Firewall Defenser, Knightmare Corruptor Iblee, Micro Coder, and many more to get tools you can use to make more Link Monsters and build your board. HOPT on each effect of Backup is fine. It’s strange for @Ignister to take a direction focused more on the DARK Cyberse monsters considering they have every Attribute minus DIVINE, but this seemed designed specifically to boost Maliss as well, in which it does a good job. It’ll still be a staple in @Ignister and other Cyberse piles, but you for sure run it in Maliss, just as Konami likely intended.
Advanced Rating: 4.25/5
Art: 4/5 It’s not a blob like the original @Ignister monsters, so that’s a plus.
Mighty
Vee
We’re finally getting to the full wave archetypal support from Alliance Insight. This week it’s the titular @Ignister support, which is really Maliss support, but it’s the thought that counts! Backup @Ignister starts the week, a level 3 DARK Cyberse Tuner monster– fitting for an @Ignister version of Backup Secretary. Being a Tuner here is very important; aside from enabling your Firewall Synchros, you’ll be able to search it with Cyberse Wicckid and incorporate it into Maliss combos, though of course you can always also search it with A.I. Meet You, A.I. Connect, Achichi @Ignister, and of course Lady Debug and Cynet Mining if you want to. Statwise, it’ll take Secretary’s stats of 1200 attack and 800 defense. Not good, so not much else to talk about.
Backup (feels weird saying that, but I’m not typing @Ignister every time) has 2 very simple hard once per turn effects; the first will let you Special Summon it from your hand as long as you control any Cyberse monster Special Summoned from the Extra Deck. Usually this is going to be Dark Infant @Ignister in actual @Ignister decks, but pretty much any Cyberse deck will be able to take advantage of this if you searched if using Cyberse Wicckid or if you simply get the chance to field Linguriboh (all of the Maliss Main Deck monsters happen to be valid fodder for Linguriboh. Coincidence? I think not!). Relying on an existing monster is always a bit icky, since it can lead to some awkward combo lines where you have to Normal Summon Backup then search a second copy of Backup to actually use this effect– this is a similar criticism I have for Sword Ryzeal. Fortunately, much like Sword Ryzeal, Normal Summoning Backup still isn’t the end of the world. Backup’s other effect triggers on Normal or Special Sumon, letting you search any DARK Cyberse monster except another Backup @Ignister, then discard a card. The discard is slightly annoying, but at least it can help fuel the Graveyard with fodder to revive with Splash Mage or get Maliss names in the Graveyard to banish later. More importantly, the search is bafflingly generic and oddly out-of-place in @Ignister, which uses all elements. The intended search target is Wizard @Ignister thanks to its outstanding effect, though in some combo lines you can, obviously, just search a Maliss monster. Still, most of the time you’ll still be searching Wizard anyway since your Maliss combos will naturally put Maliss monsters in the Graveyard to revive with Wizard, setting up a Link 5 at minimum through the Wicckid combo line (totally not ominous foreshadowing), not to mention your actual Maliss Link monsters too. Backup is a very straightforward but strong card, with amazing combo potential in both its own deck and pretty much any Cyberse deck. Some say Cyberse slop is the death knell of Yugioh, but I’d say Maliss is far from the nastiest thing you could do with it. It’s a card you’ll run at 3 in most decks that use it, not because it’s the best starter, but because it’s a starter in emergencies that is also a great extender.
+Superb combo piece for @Ignister, Maliss, and most Cyberse decks
+Can be a powerful extender for any deck that can make a Cyberse Extra Deck monster comfortably
-Optimal combo lines prefer to search it rather than Normal Summon it
-Discard can be slightly annoying
Advanced: 4.25/5
Art: 3.5/5 I like Backup Secretary, though I wish they went with a different pose since from a distance it looks like a weird kneeling pose instead of floating in the air. At least the @Ignister bits are a nice touch.
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