Pojo's Duel Masters Tips, Strategies, News, Price Guide & More

Hey everyone! It's about that time of the month again. I've been getting a lot of complaints about the TCG players not being able to actually use the cards I'm reviewing. So for this week, I've picked one that's something to check out for every format of the game.

Quote:

Name: Techno Totem
Cost: 4
Race: Mystery Totem
Civilization: Light/Nature
Type: Creature
Rules Text:
(This creature is put into your mana zone tapped.)
While this creature is tapped, each of your other creatures has "power attacker +1500." (While attacking, a creature that has "power attacker +1500" gets +1500 power.)
Instead of having this creature attack, you may tap it to use its Tap ability.
Tap Choose one of your opponent's creatures in the battle zone and tap it.
Power: 5,000
Mana Number: 1
Artist: Katsuya
Rarity: V
Collector Number: 10
Set: Shockwaves of the Shattered Rainbow

Shockwaves was such a great set, right? It's probably because of all the other incredible cards in that set that were immediately changing the metagame that this guy went a little unnoticed.

The Basics

I really don't like four-cost guys in general because of the tendency they have to widdle your hand in multiple copies, but Techno Totem's ability makes it worth the chances. Get two of these guys up and you're starting some pretty mean field control -- especially if you can manage to put something like Shining Defense or Pala Olesis, Morning Guardian up before that happens. 5000 Power isn't bad at all, and the ability to tap creatures is pretty handy. When you flood the board, this basically becomes a 0 mana removal engine -- especially if you stack Totems to get rid of the other scary things, or chump blockers to stop incoming counterattacks.

My favorite part about this guy though, and what I really feel makes him shine is that "Power Attacker +1500" he gives to all of your creatures while he's tapped. That's right -- after he uses his ability, he gives all of your other creatures one! Now you may be thinking "Woah, Tom. Power Attacker? I haven't used that since 2004. It's not something I'm too thrilled about." And I totally understand, but you have to be aware of how significant the 500 at the end of that increase is. This means that in addition to winning all of what would normally be trade battles, you're going to be able to take out significantly bigger creatures -- still without trading! This kind of tap-battle, force-into-conflict memorandum is what suits Techno Totem best. I'm currently using this strategy in the KC Grand Tournament.

How This Affects The Game

This is a pretty good ability, so you’re going to want to have some ways to combat the new power given to the classic tap-attack strategy. Odds are your deck isn’t quite as prepared for it as it used to be, some not at all, so you’ll need to re-evaluate your early game plan in order to remove 5000 power creatures outside of chump blocking for time (since he can tap those). This guy’s usually running alongside either a small weenie or protective blocker at this point, so that’s where he’s most vulnerable. The best way to handle a single Totem here would be a permanent removal, reintroducing classics like Death Smoke to combat a classic strategy.
Now the big problem , as I said, is when there’s two of these guys on the board. You’re going to need something that can actually axe one in battle and scare off the other, giving you time to deal with it. Think “Rutheless Skyerror”-type creatures; they come out around the same time, they can swing at a creature, and they’re bigger than the Totem. However, double Totem is still a significant problem because of that nasty “Power Attacker.” That’s where you’ll need the early removal (perhaps some small bounce , ala Spiral Gate) or chump blocker to come in.
Ironically, what hurts this guy the most is that long forgotten ability – Power Attacker! If you can juice out a creature that swings over one in battle, odds are it’s worth losing the other creature (since you were going to anyway). Once you get the extra time to get rid of the Totem, considering now there’s half the total amount of threats on the board to respond to, you’re likely to end up with a stable advantage.

How This Affects You

Some of these solutions may not be the most practical – however, I can see Techno Totem sneaking his way into the metagame and worth one or two pieces of tech, perhaps small good purpose cards that already could potentially see some play, that also accomplish the task. Very similar in the ways players originally dealt with Petrova, Chaneller of Suns upon release.
So consider stocking up a little more on those Spiral Gates, consider the Death Smokes, the Rothuses, the Vine Chargers – because just when you least expect it, this guy might come get ya!

I'm playing a little more on KP, usually using this guy, so feel free to find me and see what I'm talking about! My username is Thomas_Jay.