D.D. Esper Star Sparrow...is clearly a human, but a new member of the seemingly always growing D.D. Family. We have here a Level 10, Light attributed, Warrior Monster, with 3000 attack and 1500 defense. Light and Warrior are still as good as ever, and 3000 attack is also excellent, though perhaps low for Level 10.

There can only be one face-up D.D Esper Star Sparrow on the Field. Now, Level 10 means two tributes, but would be worth a Special Summon as it doesn't lose any power in being Special Summoned. It protects ALL your other Monsters from attacks and effects. One way or another, your opponent has to deal with this guy.

No protection for itself, aside from the 3000 attack, but you can use your other Monsters and/or Magic cards to protect it. Also, if you're attacked directly while this card is in the Graveyard, you can Special Summon it in face-up defense position. 1500 defense sucks, but if it blocks an attack, great, since it is removed from play after that effect is used. Note, however, not during the End Phase or anything, simply when it leaves the Field.

Ratings:

Traditional: 3.75/5

Advanced: 5/5

Art: 5/5 Although how a creature like that is a Light Monster as opposed to Dark is beyond me

The last Hidden Arsenal #7 card that we will review this week is D.D. Esper Star Sparrow. By the way, it is truly D day today as the set is out in stores today and is officially legal for play in the US. The first thing we notice is that it is a 10 star and can help in making Superdimensional Robot Galaxy and Gustav Max. If you want to know more about those cards just do a search on the cards of the day as we have reviewed those cards in the past. Cards like Trageodia, Metal Reflect Slime, Red Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon, and Call of the Haunted will work wonders in a deck built around D.D. Esper Star Sparrow and getting level 10 monsters out to summon powerful rank 10 monsters.
 
The second thing we notice is that Star Sparrow is a light monster making it a great fit in a light deck like Lightsworm. The advantage that Lightsworm gives you is that you can mill the Sparrow or ditch it to the graveyard with Lumina and Beckoning Light. You also have Necro Gardna to protect Star Sparrow from attacks after it is special summoned by its effect. Add in some Call of the Haunted, Trageodias, Gorz, and a BLS, and Lightsworm may just see some top tier action again.
 
Of course the best thing about D.D. Esper Star Sparrow is its effect. If you protect it from being destroyed in battle after it is special summoned to the field with its effect, you will have a 3000 beat stick on your turn. 1500 Defense is not going to stand up to many monsters, but if we have a strong trap line-up or the above mentioned Necro Gardna, your opponent is in real trouble on your turn. We could also run Final Attack Orders to face our opponents down with 3000 attack. The card I like the best with Star Sparrow is Imperial Iron Wall as you will indeed have a wall. Instead of being removed from play, Star Sparrow will go to the graveyard and just keep coming back to the field to protect your life points.
 
D.D. Esper Star Sparrow was designed to work with the other cards in the Hidden Arsenal #7 set: Beast Warrior Puma, Phoenix Beast Gairuda, Iron Hammer the Giant, and D.D. Jet Iron. The work together to special summon each other, but it is a bit unwieldy and tough to pull off. I see Star Sparrow working better by itself or with Beast-Warrior Puma, as Puma can be tributed to search for Sparrow. Then you can use a card like Phoenix Wing Wind Blast to pitch it to the graveyard.
 
A deck built around D.D. Esper Star Sparrow could be a top tier deck if built wisely by an innovative player. Besides Call of the Haunted, we might also run cards like Return from a Different Dimension and DDR Different Dimension Reincarnation in a chaos build to take advantage of all of the banishing effects. One last thing to note is that in the Manga, we have a card called Space Ration that works like Pot of Greed when D.D. Esper Star Sparrow is on the field. Only time will tell how good this card will be. It could be game breaking or too unwieldy to use effectively.
 
Traditional: 4/5

Advanced: 3/5