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

Manticore of Darkness
Ultra Rare

Beast-Warrior / Effect Monster
During the End Phase of the turn this card is sent to the Graveyard, send 1 Beast, Beast-Warrior or Winged Beast-Type Monster Card from your hand or your side of the field to the Graveyard to Special Summon this card from the Graveyard.

Type - Fire / 6 / 2300 / 1000
Card Number
- IOC-067

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

Date Reviewed - 3.24.04

MerrilHess Manticore of Darkness

This is a card I might consider using in my Beast deck. I like the fact that it can come back so easily. DNA Surgery would make this card a little better as I could offer anything for it’s ability. It's witch searchable and is as strong as a goblin. What’s the biggest downside folks? You have to tribute for it. If my idea is right, this is a great combo with it: Discard MoD for Tribe’s effect then offer a beast to bring it back at the end of the turn. Definitely a great card next to Enraged Battle Ox (Enraged Minotaur from DM7's article on beasts).

I give Manticore of Darkness a 7/10. Very stable card for a beast deck, but not much else. 
ExMinion OfDarkness Wednesday:
Manticore of Darkness

This is a fairly good cards that will be overlooked for all but one combo.

If a Beast Warrior or Beast deck is played, this card is almost guaranteed to stay on the field, giving you a constant 2300 Attacker. Berserk Gorilla is now a VERY viable card...Enraged Batle Ox, Bazoo, Giant Rat, Nimble Momonga...the problem is sticking to Beasts and the like for an entire Deck. I'm sure there are other cards that can be comboed with this, but not enough tournament playable ones.

Now, for the combo:
Have one Manticore in the hand, and another in the graveyard that just went there this turn (no matter how, doesn't have to be by battle, can be by Graceful Charity/Painful Choice/etc.), and Card of Safe Return on the field. During your End Phase, give up the Manticore from the field to bring back the one from the Grave. Now the one in the grave was just sent there this turn, so you can use the effect for THAT one, and discard the Manticore from the field, to bring that one back. This creates an infinite loop -- and every time you Special Summon one of them from the Graveyard, Card of Safe return gives you a card. Instant Exodia.

This card earns itself a 4/5 in decks based on it, and 3/5 in Exodia-based Decks (Tribute monsters, no matter how great their effects, are sometimes hard to get out.) 
Omega

Since I missed out on yesterdays Card of the Day of Dark Mirror Force I would like to just say a few things about Dark Mirror Force.

 

It is NOT at all like it’s holy barrier counterpart where as it can be abused in any deck.  Dark Mirror Force is a huge combo card.  Not bad on it’s own spectacular when used with other combo cards.
A few examples would be Book of moon to turn a monster face down just after activation so it’s removed from the game.  Also in the Japanese set 309 there is a card that could be quite deadly when used with Dark Mirror Force:  (From Edo’s Translations Page)

 

CURSE OF ANUBIS

Normal Trap

All face-up Effect Monsters on the Field change to defense mode.

During the activated turn, these Effect Monsters' base defense

strength become 0, and cannot change their modes.

 

Now forgive me if this combo I’m mentioning doesn’t work as I just thought it up off the top of my head.  After an attack is declared activate Dark Mirror force, and then as a Chain activate Curse of Anubis to remove all your opponents effect monsters from the game.

 

Once again I don’t know if it will work as I just thought it off the top of my head.
So for everyone who says that Dark Mirror Force Sucks, don’t just think simple single card, think combo possibilities.


And now onto today’s CotD

 

Manticore of Darkness basically serves 1 purpose in any competitive deck, and that is a 1-turn win loop combo.

 

Since I have been bogged down with homework I will keep this brief.  In order to set up this combo you need to have 1 Manticore of Darkness’ in your hand or on the field, and a second in your graveyard.

 

Firstly the key to this combo is the “Card of Save Return” which allows you to draw a card when a monster is special Summoned.  Simply continue to sacrifice Manticore of Darkness from the field to the graveyard to special summon the other Manticore of Darkness from your graveyard.  Simply continue this chain and continue to draw cards until you draw all 5 pieces of Exodia.

 

Outside of this combo Manticore of Darkness is a pretty lackluster monster.  Even in a beast deck this might not see as much play as other tribute monsters.

 

In an Exodia deck it’s a pretty good tool if you are not against 1-turn kills.

4/5 in an Exodia Deck.

Otaku

Stats: Manticore of Darkness is a Level 6 Fire/Beast-Warrior.  If my info is correct, it’s the strongest Level 6 or less Fire Monster in the game, and the only real playable Fire Monster with a higher attack (in my opinion, of course) is Tyrant Dragon( a level 8).  The only stronger Beast-Warrior is Garnecia Elefantis, a Level 7 monster.  There isn’t a lot of love for Fire Monsters, but Beast-warriors recently got some support.  2300 ATK is a bit low for a Level 6, so hopefully the effect will make up for that.  1000 DEF could have been a touch higher: after all, Sangan can search for up to a 1500.  Still, not terrible.  Overall, okay stats, but not enough to get it played.  So let’s move onto the effect. 

Card Text (Effects): This is part of what makes it playable.  Whenever this card is sent to the Graveyard (no restriction on how), it can be revived by discarding a Beast, Beast-Warrior, or Winged Beast card during the End-phase of that turn.  There are decent cards for each one, so is that enough?  Read the combos to find out. 

Uses/Combinations: Monsters that are nice for this are Enraged Battle Ox (which grants trample to Manticore and all the monsters that can be used for Manticore’s effect).  This has wonderful Synergy, giving a nice heavy hitter to decks built around that ability.  Monsters that appear in such decks are Mad Dog of Darkness (Level Dark Beast, 1900/1400), Berserk Gorilla (Level 4 Earth/Beast, 2000/1000 that must attack each turn it is able to), and several others.  Wild Nature’s Release might be a possible good combo-I believe that getting destroyed is one way of being sent to the Graveyard (stupid wording issues :-P).  If it is, then you can use is and discard something to revive Manticore.  Not great-you are only getting a 1000 ATK bonus for a 3 card combo, but it (hopefully) works.  The other nice trick (again, assuming it works) is discarding it with a card (like Graceful Charity), then discarding one of the appropriate monster types to get it back.  Timed right, you can build up a quick, trampling, assault quite quickly. 

Ratings  

Casual: 4/5-I think it makes a nice heavy for Beast/Beast-Warrior/Winged-Beast decks. 

Tournament: 3.5/5-As usual, it’s the same as above, but such decks take a hit from fiercer competition. 

Limited: 4/5-Considering most of the cards I mentioned in combo with it are in this set, it’s a solid draft choice and apt to become a “poor” man’s Vampire Lord. 

Summary

A good, solid card for a neglected attribute/type combination. 

 

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