Duralume, Vaalmonica Heathen Hallow – #VASM-EN033
1 Effect Monster – Cannot be Link Summoned unless you have 3 or more Resonance Counters on Fairy Monster Card(s) in your Pendulum Zone. You can only Special Summon “Duralume, Vaalmonican Heathen Hallow” once per turn. If this card is Link Summoned: You can target monsters your opponent controls, up to the number of Resonance Counters in your Pendulum Zone; destroy them. You can remove 3 Resonance Counters from your Pendulum Zone; this card can make up to 3 attacks during each Battle Phase this turn.
Zebufera, Vaalmonica Hallow Heathen – #VASM-EN034
1 Effect Monster – Cannot be Link Summoned unless you have 3 or more Resonance Counters on Fiend Monster Card(s) in your Pendulum Zone. You can only Special Summon “Zebufera, Vaalmonican Hallow Heathen” once per turn. If a card(s) you control would be destroyed by battle or card effect, you can remove 3 Resonance Counters from your Pendulum Zone instead. Once per opponent’s turn (Quick Effect): You can target 1 of your “Vaalmonica” Normal Spells/Traps that is banished or in your GY; apply that card’s activation effect.
Date Reviewed: February 2nd, 2024
Rating: 3.5 for both
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,
We finish our look at Vaalmonica with a duo dose of Link Monsters: Duralume, Vaalmonica Heathen Hallow & Zebufera, Vaalmonica Hallow Heathen.
Both need 3 or more Resource Counters on a certain monster in your Pendulum Zone (Fairy or Fiend) to be Link Summoned. It’s fitting with the archetype to make their summon tied to Resource Counters, it’s just frustrating that it is rather than having them summon the normal way. On the other hand, both are 2500 Link 1 monsters, so I guess it evens out. Duralume when Link summoned can wipe the board of monsters up to the number of Resource Counters you have when summoned, clearing the way for it’s next effect of attacking up to three times this turn if you can remove three Resource Counters from the Pendulum Zone. Duralume, when played correctly is an OTK card and with so few monsters in the archetype it is great that that is the case.
Zebufera has the same summoning conditions, however it is more a control card than an attacker. With the ability to prevent destruction by battle or card effect for a card through removing Resource Counters, Zebufera is a protection monster for Duralume, or whatever other monster or card you may have summoned. While that may not be as devastating as Duralume, Zebufera can copy one of your Vaalmonica Spell/Trap card effects per turn that is in the grave or banished, adding back Resource Counter(s) with the added bonus of getting you card(s) or, in the case of a trap like Flowed Rhythm, spot removal.
Attacking or controlling the board, both monsters have their benefits. Duralume is a finishing card while Zebufera is a multiple turn card. Both at the same time would be best, and if you can achieve that you are in great standing on the field.
Advanced- 3.5/5 for both Art- 4/5 for both
Until Next Time,
KingofLullaby
Crunch$G
We started the week with a double and we’ll end with a double as we got both Link Monsters for the Vaalmonica archetype to review: Duralume, Vaalmonican Heathen Hallow and Zebufera, Vaalmonican Hallow Heathen.
Duralume is a Link-1 DARK Fairy with 2500 ATK and the arrow pointing Bottom-Left. Strong ATK on a Link-1, the weird Type and Attribute combo still, and a good arrow. Material is any Effect Monster, but it cannot be Link Summoned unless there are 3 Resonance Counters on a Fairy in your Pendulum Scale, so basically generic but not. You can only summon this once a turn, since Link-1s are super easy to summon. Upon being Link Summoned, you can target monsters the opponent controls up to the number of Resonance Counters in your Pendulum Zone and destroy them, giving you a way for mass removal. It’d be nice if we had a better way in archetype to summon this on the opponent’s turn besides relying on the Battle Phase, but at the same time it should always be able to destroy up to 3 monsters on summon since that’s how many counters are required to summon it. The other effect lets you remove 3 Resonance Counters from your Pendulum Zone to let this monster make up to 3 attacks during each Battle Phase that turn, ensuring you can run over up to 3 monsters or do up to 7500 points of damage off this single cards, which is very close to game at that point in the case of the latter. Duralume is a big damage machine for Vaalmonica, something the archetype lacks on its own. If you can get the 3 counters needed to summon this and push for game, it should be a cake walk after that, just the challenge of getting 3 counters on Angello while it stays in the Pendulum Zone, meaning you got to gain LP 3 times total.
Advanced Rating: 3.25/5
Art: 3.5/5 Prefer it when it was on Followed Rhythm.
Zebufera is basically the same as Duralume, except it has the equally weird Type/Attribute combo of LIGHT/Fiend, the arrow points Bottom-Right, and you need 3 Resonance Counters on a Fiend in the Pendulum Zone to be allowed to Link Summon it. Everything after the clause of only being able to summon it once a turn is unique to it. The first effect lets you remove 3 Resonance Counters from your Pendulum Zone in the place of a card(s) you control being destroyed by battle or effect, giving anything on your board some protection as long as you have the counters to remove. Removing 1 counter might of been too few, so while 3 might seem like a big cost when you might not generate counters that fast, it’s more than fair. The other effect is a once per turn Quick Effect on thte opponent’s turn, letting you target a Vaalmonica Normal Spell/Trap that’s banished or in your graveyard to apply its effect, meaning this can be another defensive option for you or prep you for your next turn if you don’t need said defense. At least we got a way to copy the Traps on the opponent’s turn somehow. Zebufera is the better Link to summon on the first turn compared to Duralume being turn 2 and beyond. You got to take damage 3 times to get the counters on Dimonno, but that damage will likely be small if you get it. Another fine Link with more utility for the Deck.
Advanced Rating: 3.25/5
Art: 4.5/5 It’s fairly pretty with the colors, background, the monster itself, just everything.
Mighty
Vee
Unsurprisingly, closing the week is another double feature, Vaalmonica’s boss duo: Duralume, Vaalmonican Heathen Hallow and Zebufera, Vaalmonican Hollow Heathen. We’ll start with Duralume, a Link 1 DARK Fairy Link monster with a down-left arrow, a standard orientation. Despite extremely generic requirements of any 1 Effect monster, Duralume’s summoning condition makes it practically locked to Vaalmonica decks, so don’t get too excited. Duralume has a solid 2500 attack, giving Vaalmonica some much-needed offensive presence considering the deck’s only main deck monsters aren’t impressive statwise.
Duralume can only be Link Summoned if you have 3 or more Resonance Counters on a DARK Fairy monster in your Pendulum Zone (IE Angello Vaalmonica ), so you can forget abusing it for generic Link combos. Getting to 3 counters on turn 1 is almost impossible with this support wave, so we’ll have to wait for Legacy of Destruction, which’ll make it quite a bit easier. Duralume can only be Special Summoned once per turn, which makes its next effect effectively a hard once per turn: if it’s Link Summoned, you can target and destroy a number of your opponent’s monsters up to your total number of Resonance Counters. As you’ll most likely have at least 3 counters, it won’t be uncommon to blow up your opponent’s entire field, though not being able to destroy backrow is a bummer. More disappointing is that Angello’s ability to Quick Summon Duralume can only be triggered during the Battle Phase, so it’s strictly limited to boardbreaking in practice. Finally, by giving up 3 Resonance Counters, Duralume can make 3 attacks during the Battle Phase that turn. With 2500 attack, this can easily get very close to an OTK against an empty board, which will likely be the case with its destruction effect. While it’s nowhere near as good as Zebufera as disruption, it’s still great to close out the game, a necessary addition considering Vaalmonica lacks in offensive power.
+Can quickly break boards and close games
-On-summon effect can only be used as disruption during the Battle Phase
-Awkward to summon before new support
Advanced: 3.75/5
Art: 3.75/5 She’s upside-down? Is this supposed to be biblical meta commentary?
=============================
Mirroring Duralume is Zebufera, this time a Link 1 LIGHT Fiend Link monster. With the exception of having a bottom-right arrow, everything else is exactly the same, from the deceptive summoning requirements to the 2500 attack. Ironically, LIGHT Fiends are probably less useful than DARK Fairies, but Vaalmonica is best played pure anyway.
Zebufera shares Duralume’s restrictions, with the caveat that it needs 3 Resonance Counters on a LIGHT Fiend instead, which would obviously be Dimonno Vaalmonica. The similarities end there, as Zebufera’s other two effects are completely different. By removing 3 Resonance Counters, you can save a card (or cards) from being destroyed by battle or card effect. It’s necessary protection considering losing your Resonance Counters and scales is disastrous, though I wish it added targeting protection as well considering Cosmic Cyclone is still all the rage. Plus, you’ll burn through your Resonance Counters very quickly, given how steep it is. Zebufera’s last effect is a soft once per turn Quick Effect that can only be activated during your opponent’s turn, targeting a Vaalmonica Normal Spell or Normal Trap in your Graveyard or from banished to copy its effect. Most of the time you’ll copy one of the Traps you just used for more disruption, as the Normal Spells are simply extenders and are thus useless during your opponent’s turn unless you know disruption would be pointless and you’d rather have follow up. Overall, it’s a higher priority to make turn 1 over Duralume, so ideally you’ll set up Zebufera to disrupt your opponent, then summon Duralume when you’re ready to finish them off.
+Effectively gives double usage of a Vaalmonica Trap
-Copy effect being limited to opponent’s turn hampers its versatility
-Protection is costly for what it provides
Advanced: 3.75/5
Art: 4/5 Spyro? Is that you?
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