Grapha, Dragon Overlord of Dark World – #SR13-EN041
“Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World” + 1 DARK monster
When your opponent activates a monster effect, or a Normal Spell/Trap Card, while you have a card(s) in your hand (Quick Effect): You can activate this effect; the activated effect becomes “Your opponent discards 1 card”. You can only use this effect of “Grapha, Dragon Overlord of Dark World” once per turn. If this Fusion Summoned card in its owner’s control leaves the field because of an opponent’s card: You can Special Summon 1 of your “Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World” that is banished or in your GY, then each player with a hand discards 1 card.
Date Reviewed: December 16th, 2022
Rating: 4.00
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,
Grapha, Dragon Overlord of Dark World ends the Dark World coverage this week and is the Fusion that I referenced several times already.
The only Dark World Fusion so far, it predictably needs Grapha and a DARK monster for its Fusion Summon. Strong ATK, Grapha Overlord is one of only a few cards within the archetype that can force you to discard by changing an opponent’s card effect. In the case of Grapha Overlord, it can change a Normal Spell/Trap effect to “your opponent discards 1 card”. There are some seriously strong Normal Spell/Trap cards that lose out big to this alteration, and, by changing it to forcing you to discard a card, you get to activate any Dark World monster’s effect that depends on your opponent forcing your discard. The original Grapha, Goldd and Sillva, are the prime benefactors of this effect, but Broww can get you an extra draw through this, Reign-Beaux Overlord and Snoww can Special Summon a monster from your opponent’s graveyard, and Lucent can finally get you a Fiend search in addition to its Special Summon.
Grapha Overlord replaces itself with its original form if it leaves the field via an opponent’s card, which is nice, but the discard for each player it triggers immediately will help you. The less cards your opponent has, the better this is for you (except in the case of Infernity). With Dark World Accession able to cycle itself back and use monsters on the field or in the grave for a Fusion Summon, and Grapha Overlord able to retrieve Grapha from the grave or banished, summoning another shouldn’t be too hard.
The Dark World boss monsters have always had high ATK, so this monster wasn’t going to need too high of ATK, but it needed something that would prioritize getting it to the field. It has cost-free disruption that doesn’t negate, but changes things to suit your strategy. A first turn Grapha Overlord can force your opponent to prioritize what they play first. You aren’t going to shotgun off a Pot of Desires with Grapha Overlord on the field ready to negate unless you have a counter, which isn’t always a guarantee. A balanced Fusion Monster because its effect isn’t negation and can only be used against Normal Spell/Trap.
Advanced-4/5 Art-4.5/5
Until Next Time
KingofLullaby
Crunch$G
Of course with the Fusion Spell, we had to end the week on the new Dark World Fusion, so here we have Grapha, Dragon Overlord of Dark World.
Grapha 2 is a Level 10 DARK Fiend Fusion with 3200 ATK and 2300 DEF. Great stats and DARK/Fiend once again. Fusion Materials are Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World alongside any DARK monster, which is easy to obtain with all the drawing Dark Worlds can do if they aren’t just going to outright search Grapha with Reign-Beaux or Snoww. You at least got a generic other material, so I guess you could use a Danger if you wanted, but you might be more inclined to discard another Dark World off the Fusion Spell. First effect can trigger if the opponent activates a monster effect or a Normal Spell/Trap Card while you have cards i your hand, letting you change the opponent’s effect into forcing you to discard a card, which is great to trigger your effects in hand at full power since it’ll technically be an opponent’s effect making you discard. Get some hand ripping with Sillva, more destruction with Goldd, revival from the opponent’s grave with Snoww, or much much more. You can even run Neko Mane King to skip the opponent’s turn as a whole since you don’t have to specifically discard a Dark World card. This effect is a hard once per turn, so sadly not too much effect changing since the Dark World effects when discarded by the opponent are very strong. The second effect triggers if this Fusion Summoned card leaves the field by an opponent’s card, letting you summon a Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World from your graveyard or banished pile and then make each player with a hand discard a card. So it at least replaces itself with its base form while helping you discard, though it can trigger an opponent’s effect as well, a nightmare if you’re in a Tearlament matchup or a Dark World mirror. It’s a nice Fusion Monster for the archetype, even if it wasn’t the Fusion I was expecting. It’s worth having a copy or two in the Extra Deck to summon throughout the game, I just feel other Decks might abuse this with King of the Swamp since the other material is pretty generic.
Advanced Rating: 4/5
Art: 5/5 Yesterday was Grapha of old, this is Grapha today. Feel old yet?
Alex
Searcy
Continuing the Overlord Retrain Theme we started off with this week, we have a Fusion Retrain of yesterday in Grapha, Dragon Overlord of Dark World. Dark/Fiend, Level 10, 3200 atk and 2300 def who requires the original Grapha and any Dark Monster to be Fusion Summoned. A Quick Effect triggered when your opponent activates a Monster Effect or the Effect of a Normal Magic/Trap, so long as you have a card(s) in your Hand, which then turns the opponent’s Effect into they discard 1 card. Overall, that should hurt more than not. Naturally, it should hurt most the first time, but it’s quite disruptive, and difficult enough to play around as far as Effects go. Said Effect is Once per Turn. That certainly helps the opponent, but it’s cost free, so I’m mostly alright with this. Also throwing the dependency of needing a Hand, makes it a little more fair and balanced. Secondly, if this card leaves the Field via opponent’s Card Effect, you can Special Summon the original Grapha from your Grave or your Removal pile. Nice trade in there for the player, and additionally, each player discards a card, so long as they have a Hand. I think this would be a bit more beneficial if only you had to discard, as you’re likely discarding more Dark World fodder for future plays. But if your opponent is FORCED to discard something they needed and doesn’t do much good in their Grave (say they don’t get an Effect or a plus advantage of it, or say they only had one card in Hand they really needed, it can work in your favor). But with so many cards providing advantage by going to the Grave, that’s just as likely to help them. Another nice piece of support for Dark World in this new wave though for sure.
Rating: 4/5
Art: 4.5/5 While I find the art of Grapha’s upgrade here a bit overwhelming, the bright energy and color of the rest of the background compliments the Dragon quite well, I must say.
Mighty
Vee
Rounding off the week is the new official boss of the Dark World archetype, Grapha, Dragon Overlord of Dark World. Building on the original Grapha, it’s a level 10 DARK Fiend Fusion monster, and fittingly, its Fusion materials are the original Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World and any DARK monster. Dark World decks proper can make it incredibly easily with Dark World Accession, though many DARK decks can still make it with Fusion substitutes like King of the Swamp. Statwise, it gains 500 in both sectors, giving it an above-average 3200 attack, beating over most other bosses, and improving its defense to 2300, though it’s still not a value worth bragging about.
Grapha’s first effect is a hard once per turn Quick effect, changing the effect of a monster or Normal Spell or Trap into “Your opponent discards 1 card”. This effect is more potent than it seems; not only does it allow you to trigger the bonus effects of your Dark World monsters, since you are discarding by your opponent’s card effect, it is also essentially an omni negate, replacing the card’s original effect. Unfortunately, because of how it works, you won’t be able to activate it if you don’t have any cards in your hand, so keep that in mind. Additionally, being limited to Normal Spells and Traps is rather odd, but most potent effects are limited to those anyway. You can even use this effect to trigger Neko Mane King in gimmick builds, though don’t expect to pull it off consistently. Grapha’s other effect isn’t once per turn, which is something we’ve come to expect from Dark World, letting you Special Summon the original Grapha from the Graveyard or banished if it leaves the field by your opponent’s card while Fusion Summoned, causing both players to discard a card as well. While not a substitute for protection, being able to float and kickstart a comeback is still nice, and with how easy it is to make, fielding another Grapha shouldn’t be a problem after recycling Dark World Accession. Despite all the flashy tools, Dark World hasn’t seen much of a meta spotlight since the structure deck, as the deck is still quite bricky and vulnerable to hand traps. This Grapha has seen experimental play in Tearlaments decks, being made with King of the Swamp, though otherwise, Dark World continues to bide its time to take the top.
Advanced: 4/5
Art: 3.75/5 While I do like the art, I think the face is a bit derpy from this view, and I think I prefer the “heavy” feel of the original Grapha even if this one is more dynamic.
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