Classic COTD Reviews – Rise of Destiny (2004)

Card name

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My Rating

Raging Flame Sprite

3.75

2

This card isn’t good standalone, as it requires stall cards.  It can be semi-viable in those decks, but I do still have to dock some points for its reliance on other cards.

It’s also really slow.  The first turn it only deals 100 damage.  2nd turn, it does a more respectable 1100, but you really need 3 turns to get anything out of this, and by then it’s probably destroyed.

The banning of Harpie’s Feather Duster (at this point in time) was a boon for stall/burn decks.  But there wasn’t much diversity in the meta, so people still had lots of room to side deck against burn.

Chain Burst

3

1.5

It’s a worse version of Curse of Darkness because people use less Traps than Spells.  

And the opponent doesn’t have to pay the 1000 LP tax to use Heavy Storm (or a non-chained MST) on it.

Yes, this card deals damage and burn is viable now, but burn has lots of other options

Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch 

3

3.75

With this card released, alongside Mobius and Zaborg, Soul Exchange/Monarch decks become more viable.

Granted, your standard Chaos or Goat Control deck wouldn’t use this because it’s not a LIGHT/DARK, and there are limited slots for tributes to begin with.  Those decks would prefer Zaborg.

2400 ATK is standard.  Strong effect.  Can be a +1.  Ripping from the hand is reliable effect; the opponent will almost always have a hand to rip from

This is an amazing card in Monarch decks with Soul Exchange (and Brain Control comes out next set as well).

Soul Control decks would see more play in the coming years, but I’d argue they were a hair underrated in 2004-2005.  They were at least better than some of the casual decks people were using at the time.

This is niche, but if you have slots for non-Chaos fuel tributes, this is a great option.

Fusilier Dragon the Dual-Mode Beast

3.8

3.5

It’s underwhelming if you summon it as a 1400/1000 vanilla monster by itself.  Hence why it’s not for every deck.

But it good for:
Machine decks (Limiter Removal)

Goat Control (i.e. 3x Metamorphosis, 1 of this)

Reasoning/Gate decks
Skill Drain

Yes, it relies on other cards.  And yes, I know I rate some cards low for being dependent on other cards.  But there’s a difference.  This card synergizes with cards that are actually good and actually see play.  

Dark Blade the Dragon Knight

4.5

4.5

This card has decent-ish stats and a useful effect.

This card gets rated high because it’s a Fusion monster.  Since you don’t draw it from your main deck, it’s never a dead draw.

Of course, we’re not actually Fusion Summoning this.  It’s used as a LV6 target for Metamorphosis, alongside Ryu Senshi.

You summon Ryu Senshi when you want to negate traps.  You summon this if you want more ATK, or banish Sinister Serpent, or banish LIGHTs/DARKs for Chaos monsters.

Mystic Swordsman LV6 

3

1

Reviewers were way off here.  This is horrendous.

Can we talk about how this card has the same effect as Mystic Swordsman LV4, so you’re tributing a monster just for 400 more ATK and 100 more DEF.

Yes, the effect is good, but MSLV2 already has this.

Having to set it face-down for a turn is horrible. Especially for a monster you have to tribute.

That’s really slow.  If the opponent set a flip effect monster, they’ll be able to activate it next turn, and by the time you flip this up, it’s too late.

At 1700 DEF, a LV4 beater will destroy this in battle, meaning you -1 (probably -2 since you paid a tribute).

Leveling this up from having both MSLV2 and MSLV4 is extremely situational and that requirement won’t be met in most matches.

Sure, this card can be revived, but so can Jinzo, Airknight and VLord!

If this didn’t have to be Set facedown, I’d give it a 3.5, and at the least it would be a great side-deck card.  

Divine Wrath 

3.92

3.25

Good card albeit slightly overhyped at the time.  Reviewers were all over the place.  Jaelove rated it low (2.6); Exmod rated it super high (5).

This card has a strong effect can be a  -1.  So you’ll need an engine like Thunder Dragon or Night Assailant to fuel it.  To be fair, these cards were less popular back then, so I see where Jae was coming from.

This card is somewhat situational.  It does nothing against Spell or Trap cards.  It won’t help you against monsters which rely on their stats rather than their effects (i.e. aggro decks).

Viable as a side deck card.  Not safe to main.

The Creator

3.75

2

Reviewers were way off.

Two-tributes makes this almost unplayable.  Having 2 monsters on the field (and a normal summon on top of it) is hard to do.  And you’re going -2 by tributing them.

But on top of that, this can’t be revived, which is the main practical way that 2 tribute monsters are summoned.

Yes, this can be summoned with Creator Incarnate but that requires you to have 2 specific cards in your hand at the same time.  And if you draw 1 of those cards without the other, either of them become a useless dead draw.

If Creator Incarnate did something useful other other than summoning Creator, this deck type might’ve been more consistent.

Sasuke Samurai #4 

2.9

3

This card can clear just about anything: high ATK beaters, DDWL, flip effects and defense walls.  

On the upside, If you’re attacking into a defense position monster, at least this won’t be destroyed in battle. 

Though there always is the risk that even if you destroy something next turn, this will die next turn.

It’s very searchable (Sangan, ROTA) if you need an answer to an enemy threat.

But it’s a 50-50 chance.  This card was/is mega niche and spicy, but not bad for Aggro/Warrior decks.

Monster Reincarnation 

3.5

3

Yes, I know retrieving a BLS Envoy late-game is clutch.  But like other graveyard retrieval cards, it suffers early game and it has to sit in your hand and do nothing for several turns.

It’s also a -1 and you need a discard engine (i.e. Night Assailant, Thunder Dragon) to make it work.  But decks with those engines are typically using a card like Raigeki Break which can interact with the field and immediately provide value without having to wait a few turns.

Slightly overhyped this at the time.  But maybe there are some decks that benefit from it?

Harpies’ Hunting Ground 

3.5

2

This card has a good effect on paper.  It can lead to a +1 if you’re able to summon more than 1 Harpie.

The problem is that you can only use 3 Harpie Lady.  3 out of 40 cards is not good odds.

This card would become more consistent once Harpie’s Queen and other Harpies come out.

This card fares better against decks with lots of traps or face-up spells/traps.  Worse against chainable traps.  But mostly, there just aren’t enough Harpie monsters yet.

Harpie Lady 1 

3.75

2.5

This can get to 1800 ATK with Hunting Ground (which would be great in 2002, but that’s only okay in 2004-2005).

But it’s only 1600 ATK by itself which is not good at all.  

It can boost other WIND monsters, which is great, but this card has no standalone value.

This card would get higher rating a few years later once we see support cards like Harpie Queen and Icarus Attack.  But right now it’s bad.

Still, this is a better card than the original vanilla Harpie Lady or Harpie Lady 2-3, so if you are running the deck, you would use this card.  

TLDR: Good for the deck type, but the deck type isn’t good (yet)

Harpie Lady 2 

2.5

1.25

A lot of decks only run 2-3 flip effects.  So this helps against those, but it’s not good into most matchups.

This card also does nothing against battle recruiters like Tomato, DD Warrior Lady, Sangan, GK Spy (!!) etc.

And at 1300 ATK, this card is getting destroyed in battle and going -1 next turn.

It would’ve been nice if Harpie decks could main deck 3 HL1 and side 1 HL2 for niche situations, but you can’t do that.  (But since this card counts as Harpie Lady in the deck, you can’t do that).

Harpie Lady 3 

2.5

1

This is the worst of the Harpie monsters.  

Its effect is pointless.  If this card destroys a monster in battle, it’s redundant.  If this card loses in battle, you still -1 and preventing the opponent’s monster from attacking for 2 turns doesn’t do anything to clear the threat.

This cards stats are uncompetitive and it has no way of establishing hand or field advantage.

Triangle Ecstasy Spark 

3

2.5

Harpie Lady Sisters was inconsistent, unreliable and unused.

So this card’s main selling point is the trap negation effect, which could be used in any deck – not just Harpie’s.

This can allow you to make game-ending plays sometimes but there are a few problems

1 – This card requires you to have a board of monsters to get value; not great if you’re behind

2 –  This card is technically a -1 because you spend a card but you’re not destroying anything; you’re just temporarily preventing the opponent from using it.

3 – It’s matchup dependent.  It won’t do as much against decks with leaner trap lineups. 

Nightmare Penguin 

~3

2.5

It’s DEF is decent, though some 1900+ beaters can still make this -1.

The ATK bonus to WATER monsters helps.  The return to hand effect is useful, though with this card in defense mode, you’ll need other monsters with it to make attacks (so this is not a very standalone cards.)

In Water decks, it’s okay.  In other decks, while not terrible, it’s unremarkable.

Flint 

~2.6

1

Reviewers are way off.  

Spells in classic Yugioh are very powerful.  Reducing the ATK of an opponent’s monster by 300 is not worth spending a spell card on.  

And preventing it from attacking/changing its battle position is way too slow; if you’re using a spell card on an opponent’s monster, it should be dead this turn.  Why keep it alive?

Use cards to actually destroy monsters and attack directly.  Smashing Ground, Lightning Vortex.

If you want a card to help you win battles, Book of Moon can fulfill this purpose, but – unlike this card – it has lots of other utility aside from just helping you in battles.

Jaelove made a point that you can just use an equip card on your own monster for an even bigger stat difference, and you get to keep a strong monster on the board even after it wins in battle.

A-Team: Trap Disposal Unit

1.75

1.5

Yeah, a few issues with this card.

1 – This card has no standalone value.  You need other monsters with it.

2 – You have to use up a Summon for this, so that means if you summon this, you usually can’t summon a monster to attack with.

3 – The opponent can decide to not activate traps, and just attack this card next turn (so you -1 and lose life points).

Covering Fire 

2.6

1.5

Requiring 2 monsters is situational.  Requiring that they both be face-up is even more situational.

What if you have only 1 monster?  What if you’re being attacked directly?

The deck that would use 2 face-up attack monsters (Aggro/warrior) dislikes that this card can’t get value on turn 1 when you only 1 have monster.

In 8-9 out of 10 situations, Sakuretsu Armor will be better.

Heavy Mech Support Platform 

3.5

2

500 ATK and immunity from destruction can be useful.  But this won’t protect you from Chaos Sorcerer, Thousand Eyes Restrict, Snatch Steal, etc.

If this were an Equip card I would rate it 3.5 like the reviewers did.

But being a Union monster means you lose a Normal Summon.  This is a downside of all Union monsters.

This means you have no monsters on the field and need to summon one, you can’t use this. 

Or if you have 1 monster, you can’t summon a 2nd one if you use this.

Seriously, why couldn’t this be an equip spell?

Pikeru’s Circle of Enchantment 

3.5

2.75

Its effect is only viable against Burn and it does nothing into all other matchups.  Hence, it’s never a main deck card, but maybe it’s a side deck card.

Good against high burst damage like Wave-Motion Cannon or a Just Desserts.  Maybe not as great against burn decks that have more consistent damage each turn.

That being said, there are lots of other options to side against burn too.  Barrel Behind the Door and Trap of the Board Eraser have bonus effects.  

Cards like Dust Tornado, Royal Decree and Mobius will destroy their whole setup.  Not just temporarily protect you.

On release, you definitely could side deck 1 of these against burn, but I’d save room for these other cards I mentioned too.

Des Wombat comes out in 2 sets, making this card obsolete.

Back To Square One

2.6

2.5

Decent if you have cards like Night Assailants and/or Thunder Dragon to help the discard cost.  But otherwise, if you don’t, it’s just a -1 and I would never use it.

Raigeki Break already exists: It’s chainable and it can get rid of spells/traps (which especially helps against burn, stall and other rogue decks).

Silent Swordsman LV 3 

~2.5

1

Coinflip and Otaku were correct here.  It’s horrible

It’s effect only protects against targeting spells.  Not traps.  No monster effects.  Not the spell cards that don’t target.

Also, this card’s ATK is so low, it can be destroyed in battle (and be a -1) by a lot of LV4 monsters.

Being immune to (some) card effects isn’t a threat if it can easily be destroyed in battle.

It relies on you having a trap to protect it.  It relies on you using SSLV5 in your deck.  Cards which have no standalone value lose points for consistency.