Classic COTD Reviews – Labyrinth of Nightmare (2003)

Card Name

Pojo Avg

My Rating

Notes

Gemini Elf

4

4

I think the reviewers were on point.  It shifted the meta by making 1800-1850 vanilla beaters obsolete.  But it wasn’t overpowered since it has no effect and there’s plenty of counterplay to it.

This set had other good LV4 beaters.  Kycoo, Bazoo and (to some extent) Zombyra.

It was a secret rare at the time which was expensive (and controversial), but if you couldn’t afford it, you could still use those other beater cards or focus on utility/effect monsters.

Magic Cylinder

4

2.5

Was overrated for it’s time.  I agree with the reviewer that said this was “trade bait”.

It’s a -1 that doesn’t clear the threat.  Removing the threat and attacking directly.

I rated it a 3 because it’s viable for burn and once in a blue moon, you’ll see an aggressive deck that can make aggressive plays once the opponent’s life points are low. 

But for most decks, I’d give it a 2 and would suggest to not use.

United We Stand

4.3

3

Arguably the best statboosting equip at the time.  It can make crazy game-ending plays if you have 3+ monsters and the opponent has no trap cards to protect themselves.  But in a practical scenario with 2 monsters, making your Sangan/Witch into a 2600-2700 beater is respectable.

Though it suffers the same problem of any other stat boosting equip.  Vulnerable to spell/trap removal, and you -1 if your monster is destroyed by monster removal (which is plentiful).

Valkyrion the Magna Warrior

3

1

(SDD Promo)   How does this get over a 1?  😭  It requires you to have 3 specific monsters face-up on the field.

Those specific cards all have uncompetitive stats and no effect, so the real downside is that you have to use up deckspace for several bad cards to summon this.

(Sorry, Bill, I love you and I’m grateful for you making this site and having me on here, but this card definitely IS shabby)

Pojo Note: This promo card sold for $240 on eBay as a PSA 10 in March 2025. Not too shabby! – Bill

Sinister Serpent

~3.5

4

Pojo’s avg. was a bit low, and some underrated it.  But to be fair, this was released a month before Graceful Charity.

Before Graceful Charity: I would say control decks use this card, but some aggro decks can avoid it because it doesn’t fit into the game plan of having every card in your opening hand be able to apply pressure early game.

When Graceful is released, this card instantly becomes a 5 out of 5 staple.

Harpies Feather Duster

4.8

4.5

(SDD Promo) We all agree it’s really good but the point of contention is whether we rate it a 4.5 or a 5.

Back in 2003, I’d easily rate it a 5.  This is an out to all sorts of weird/rogue cards.  It’s a catch-all against any type of deck.  It can easily +1 or +2 off of weaker players.

But in retro formats nowadays, players will rarely let you plus off of this.  They don’t set 2+ spells/traps unless at least one of them is chainable.  Chainable cards like Jar of Greed or Time Seal see more play in retro formats nowadays.

Some could argue MST is better than HFD because it destroys cards before they can be chained, and it can be used interactively on the opponent’s turn.

Many players still main it in current retro formats, but now you’ll see some players choosing to side it instead.

Torrential Tribute

4

4

It’s great against aggro/swarm/beatdown when the opponent is overcommitting and has to win early.  Nuking the board prolongs the game, which hurts aggro.

But if you are the aggro deck, you don’t want to destroy your own creatures.

This card is at 3, but since it’s situational (you don’t always want to nuke your monsters), players typically have often mained 1-2 and then sided 1-2.

In theory, my ratings would be

• 4.5 if you’re control vs. an aggro deck
• 3.5 in control vs control; or aggro vs aggro
• 2.5  if you’re aggro vs. a control deck

But overall rating is a 4 because you can choose how many copies to main vs. side depending on your deck and what you expect to face.

Jar of Greed

3

4

This card was very underrated for its time.  It’s not just for Exodia like reviewers thought; it was good in any deck.

Back in 2003, people were in the beatdown mentality.  But years later, with modern Yugioh, people saw the value of turbo.  Being able to thin your deck even by 1 card lets you draw into your power cards faster.

It’s chainable, and a counter to Heavy/MST/HFD.  It virtually never minuses, but it can be a +1.

Fusion Gate

~3.5

1.25

The premise of this card is that your second Fusion summon is only a -1 instead of a -2. 

But you still -2 the first time, and still -1 the second time.  And you still need 3 specific cards in your hand to summon a Fusion monster, let alone do it twice.

This card would become a little bit better when cards that Special Summoned banished monsters come out.

Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer

3.8

4

It loses in battle to Gemini Elf but it hurts Bazoo, so it’s a balanced triangle as far as the LV4 beaters go.

Kycoo counters Sinister, Premature, Call, Reborn and Skull Lair.

POST ERRATA, I’d every so slightly knock the rating down to 3.75 because it doesn’t counter Magician of Faith anymore, Skull Lair is not meta.   But it still counters everything else.

Bazoo the Soul Eater

~4

4

It gets over Gemini Elf and literally just about every good monster.

After the errata, I’d lower my rating to 3.5.  Getting it to 1900 isn’t too hard but it’s still bad opening hand.

Before the errata, I would run 2 in my deck.  After, I would run maybe 1.

Last Warrior from Another Planet

~3.4

1.5

Decent stats.  Great effect.  But as a Fusion there is just no viable way of summoning it.

Ekibyo Drakmord

3.25

1.5

Noob bait, and admittedly, I fell for it at the time too.

Not only is it slow and vulnerable to spell/trap removal, but keeping the opponent’s monster alive for 2 turns prevents you from attacking directly.

Why not just destroy the enemy monster in battle, or use various other cards that can remove it instantly.

I guess it could +1 if you wait 4 turns and the opponent does nothing, and you have a dedicated control deck that’s allergic to attacking the opponent directly.  But still…

Bait Doll

2.6

1.5

No room because Heavy, HFD, 3x MST, and 3x Dust exist.

Nobleman of Extermination exists, and it doesn’t -1 if the opponent sets a spell card.

Shuffling itself into the deck is a downside since that reduces your odds of drawing into your power cards (i.e. Pot, Delinquent, etc)

Also, chainable cards like Jar of Greed are seeing more play now.

Spiritualism

2

1

Similar point as above: Heavy, HFD, 3x MST, 3x Dust and Extermination exist (and they actually destroy the card)

Also Giant Trunade exists which returns all cards (not just 1) and it can even synergize with your own cards.

Sure, this card can bypass Imperial Order, Solemn and Magic Jammer.  But rarely if ever would the opponent want to pay half their LP, discard a card or use a really strong trap card up just to negate this?

Graceful Charity

~4.3

5

This is a flawless auto-include staple for any deck, that thins your deck.  The discard fills your graveyard, and helps you get rid of cards which aren’t useful in your particular matchup/situation.

The discard is never a downside because in any situation, there are always going to be some cards better than others.

Aqua Spirit

3

2

Effect is good for switching 1 LV4 beater to defense, but if the opponent summons a second LV4 beater, you can only switch 1 of them and the other one will destroy this.

Scapegoat

3.8

3.25

This card doesn’t really generate card/field advantage, but can make the opponent overcommit to try to destroy these tokens, and you can punish them for that.

It’s chainable and can protect you.  Since you need monster zones open to use, it tends to favors slower control decks.  You can run 1 if you want, though there are lots of other powerful spells this card competes with.

This card becomes better with Creature Swap and Metamorphosis being released in the next 2 sets. 

Offerings to the Doomed

3.3

3.25

I agree with this review.  It’s technically a -1, but it being a quick play spell (usable in either players turn, able to interact with the opponent’s cards) makes it viable.

It doesn’t affect set monsters, but at this point in time, most of the meta monsters are summoned in attack position.

Tornado Bird

1.3

1

Yep.  Bad.

Mage Power

3.5

2.5

Similar strengths and weaknesses as United We Stand.

But lower score because, as the reviewer SomeGuy said, Heavy Storm or HFD can be game-ending.

Mask of Restrict

2.6

1

Would later be a perennial side deck in some metas where tributing is common.  But right now, decks only use 1-2 tribute monsters; some don’t use any, so this card does nothing.

It’ll just sit on the field for a few turns, do nothing, then the opponent can destroy it with removal if they want to summon a tribute.

Royal Command

3.25

2.5

Situational side deck card (against deck destruction decks, burn, flip effect heavy decks), though Light of Intervention exists too.

It only negates a handful of cards.  In most situations, it does nothing (against Witch/Sangan, LV4 beaters, Tomato, etc.)

 And it can negate your own Magician of Faith.

In this format, LV4 beaters + Tomato/Witch/Sangan are common; there are very few if any flip effects used in LON Format.

Dark Necrofear

3.5

3

Decent stats, great effect, free Special Summoning is great. 

The main downside is that there are few good fiend monsters aside from Sangan and Summoned Skull.  You may have to settle for vanilla monsters like La Jinn (though 1800 ATK is obsolete) or Earthbound Spirit (2000 DEF wall).

Every so often, you’ll see a Fiend deck top a retro tournament.

Buster Blader

3.2

1

(Pharaoh’s Servant card). 

Reviewers??? Why?!!!!? 😭

Two tribute monster with basically no effect.  Has absolutely no utility aside from boosting it’s ATK.

Dragon decks weren’t good or commonly used at the time, but, even if they were, this would still be a 1 for the same reasons.

Needle Worm

3.8

?

Good in deck destruction decks, but I’m not sure how good those were back then.  1 out of 5 everywhere else. 

Mechanicalchaser

3.5

2

(TP3 Card).  This was good in 2002, but by 2003 with LON, there are 2 LV4 beaters with higher ATK (Bazoo, Gemini) and Kycoo outclasses it with its effect.

Even if this card isn’t terrible, you never pick it because there’s other options.

Penguin Soldier

4

2

(Starter Deck Joey promo).  This is a winmore card.  If you’re ahead on field advantage, you can keep returning itself + an opponent’s monster to always stay ahead on the summon.

But if this is attacked and destroyed in battle, you just minus, and with how weak its defense points are, this is very easy to do.

It can set you up for a free direct attack if that’s what you’re looking for but it’s still usually a -1.

The Masked Beast

3.4

1

Why didn’t they give it a 1? 😭  It:

Requires 3-4 cards to summon.
Requires 2 specific cards in hand to summon.
Is a -2 (or 3 if you need a 2nd monster to tribute for it).

It offers zero utility other than having high ATK power.

Fire Princess

3

1

Way off the mark. 

This card has weak stats.  Not only does it require specific cards to use its effect, but it requires cards to protect it.

It’s even bad for burn decks, because if you don’t draw this card, then your healing cards do nothing to contribute to your win condition.

Tornado Wall

3.5

1

Why??? 😭

Requires an extremely specific card or else it can’t be activated.
Has no way of plussing.
Is a -1’s if the opponent destroys Umi.

But the broader issue is that not-losing isn’t a win condition.  You still need to destroy the opponent’s cards, summon creatures and attack them.  This card does nothing to help you actually win.

Fairy Box

3.5

2.5

This is spicy.  It’s effect could be a 1-for-1 or even +1 if the opponent does nothing about it.

But  it’s slow, inconsistent and vulnerable to removal.

 If the effect fails the first time, even if you hit it the 2nd time, you still lose out on tempo by having to wait a turn for this card to do something. 

Skull Lair

4.2

4.25

Before the errata, this card is a staple that decks use exactly 1 of.  It’s a chainable trap with a strong effect, and it has potential to +1 or maybe even +2.

Post-errata, my rating would downgrade to a 3 out of 5.

This is a total dead draw early-game.  Bazoo for example, can still be a good card with just 1 banish, but this card would need 4 banishes to do something.

I’d give this a 3 out of 5 post-errata.

Mask of the Accursed

2.5

2

Usable in burn.  Avoid everywhere else

Card of Safe Return

2.4

2

I agree with reviewers here.  Great effect and would later become extremely overpowered and banned due to lack of a once per turn clause.  But in 2003, only 3 cards exist to proc this cards effect.  You’d need to have 1 of them to break even, and 2 to benefit from this card.  So it essentially requires you to have 3 specific cards to work.

Anti Raigeki

1.5

1

Awful. 

Maybe this card could’ve had a choice between 2 effects:
“1) Negate Raigeki, or 2) Discard a card; monsters you control cannot be destroyed by card effects this turn.”  So, that way there would at least be a baseline of value.

The Rock Spirit

2.9

2.5

Semi-viable because there are good EARTH monsters.

At 1700 ATK, by itself it won’t be able to stop a LV4 beater.  But if you have another beater, you can use this to push for extra damage.

Garuda the Wind Spirit

2.8

1

Worse than Aqua Spirit because you have to wait until the end of the opponent’s turn.  By then this is easily run over by any beater.   + No good WIND monsters exist.

Spirit of Flames

3

1.25

In a vacuum, a special summon that can be 2000 on your turn is really good.  But there are no viable FIRE monsters.

Having to use several horrendous cards just to enable this is a net downside.

Soul of Purity and Light

3.5

2.5

Good stats, decent effect, and there are good LIGHT monsters. And on the opponent’s turn, almost nothing beats in battle (Goblin can tie; only Jinzo gets over it). 

The downside is that it can be hard to get 2 banish materials for it if Kycoo hits you.