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Pojo's Shaman King TCG Card of the Day

Spirit of Fire Immortal Legacy

Type - Teamwork
Card Number - REI_066

Card Ratings
Casual: 3.5
Tournament: 4.15
Sealed: 2.83

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

Date Reviewed - 03.11.05

 
 


Dan The
Timid

Spirit of Fire, Immortal Legacy
Teamwork
Type: None
Cost: 1/0/1
Effect: You may play Spirit of Fire only if you are Zeke. Your strikes in Spirit of Fire's zone have -1 Intercept and +2 Force.

We finish are all teamwork week with our first ever spectragram (upper decks fancy word for mono colored foil). Like most spectragrams your probably gonna seen Spirit run in multiples in every deck of its corresponding shaman, Zeke. Some have claimed that Turbine obseletes Spirit of Fire. Are their claims founded? How about those that think every zeke deck should have 4 Spirits, are they overestimating this card? Lets take a closer look (bet you didn't see that coming).

Pros:
- Relatively significant force increase of 2

Cons:
- Decreases intercept by 1
- Costs alot of furyoku for a teamwork at 1/0/1
- Only Zeke can use it

Overview: Well lets not beat around the bush, this things expensive. A green and a red gives Spirit the dubious honor of being the most expensive teamwork in reincarnation if I'm not mistaken. Then again one should have expected that since thats the theme of Zeke teamworks in general, high expenses for big effects. Still it has to be noted because if your up against a field control deck its very possible your Spirit will be killed after only one, some times even 0 uses. It also means if it comes up in a zone where you've already got a teamwork you can't just easily pay for it and discard it with out thinking. Because of these 2 reasons expense is far harsher to teamworks then perhaps advantages or strikes. Next theres that -1 intercept. You can't just neccesarily throw spirits into any deck and expect it to work out, in a deck running alot of bone army, rain of bones, euthanize, dark ascendance, all cards I see commonly on zeke deck lists, spirit can be a liability. All those barely enough 4 intercepts become insufficient 3 intercepts. It also means that in general you don't want Spirit of Fire popping up in your red zone, its certaintly not the worst thing that can happen but while you can handle some bad luck in green or yellow when spirit makes a strike 1 intercept to small to block something, you just don't have that kind of room for error in your red zone.

Deeper Analysis: Well I used the overview to look at the downsides, now taking a closer look lets see if that one Pro cancels out the cons. +2 force may not look like much at first, many claim that because your losing an intercept your effecitvely just getting turbines effect except more expensive. But heres the thing, from about 1-5 intercept and force seem evenly priced, but once you start pushing your way into the 6+ range we notice a startling gap in price points. A 7/4 Point blank is signicantly cheaper and with additional useful effect then the effectless 4/7 Mystic Beam for instance. For the most part high attack forces are hard to come by and really expensive, you can throw 3-5s at your opponent all day but if you want to score sooner or later you're usually gonna need to bust out something with a bit more muscle and as such you'll find yourself willing to pay that extra fee. It lies in this fact why Spirit is so useful. You can take that point blank and turn it into a really cheap 6/6, suddenly necrawakening is a far more reasonably priced 4/7 and it has a charging effect. Hopfully your starting to see my point, Spirit gives you what pretty much all decks (besides furyoku control) need to win, that big attack, but it does so at a reduced price. And anyone thats faced a 4/8 boosted epicenter will tell you there is a big different between an 8 and a 7, or a 7 and a 6 for that matter. There are only a handful of really big stops in this game right now, most decks rely on a few 6 and 7s for their blocks, occasionally I see jaded spheres for last resorts, so every little force counts. I will say that if you only get one use out of it, spirit of fire probably isn't worth it, because of all those cons I listed above, but if you can keep it out and make use of it multiple times he can single handedly turn games in your favor. Obseleted by Turbine, I don't think so, worth running 4 of in every zeke deck... well... no, you need decently high intercepts and you need to be intending to win via brute force and not via furyoku control since in that type of deck you don't care about the strength of your attacks, but for many zeke decks I would say running multiples if not 4 would certaintly not be a bad idea.

Uses/Combos: Again its best used in a deck that has decent intercepts, you can splash a spirit or two in any zeke deck but if you intend to run 4 you better keep an eye on your overal intercept values and make sure they are strong. Card Spirit combos exceptionally well with include Surgeon's Implements, turn that attack into a 7/6 that gets you a red if they counter from green, Burning Onslaught, 5/8 that costs me nothing but green, where can I sign up? And perhaps the card it was made to combo with, Smoldering Confidence, 9/7 for a minimal fee, thats better stats then most back side signature moves for goodness sakes.

Final Stat Breakdown:
Constructed: 4/5
High Int Constructed: 5/5
Low Int Constructed: 2/5
Sealed: 3/5 (Could be awesome, could screw you, you just don't know, but its got enough potential that I still wouldn't mind pulling one)
 


 
Darth Vailo

Card Name| Spirit of Fire Immortal Legacy| Card Type| Teamwork|

Card Cost| 1 Green and 1 Red| Rarity| Spectrogram| Set ID Number| REI_066|

Art Number| NASK_0038

Card Effect| You may play Spirit of Fire only if you are Zeke. <p> Your strikes in Spirit of Fire's zone have -1 Intercept and +2 Force.

Foreword

Hey everyone! Well we are at the close of yet another great week of card of the day reviews. Sad to say I am still suffering from the flu so if anything seems below my average cut me some slack. J I wish everyone a great weekend!

Today we are reviewing our very first spectrogram! In case no one know spectrograms are the rarest cards in Shaman King and are Shaman specific cards. And it just so happens that we are reviewing my fav card in Reincarnation, Spirit of Fire. Keep in mind that I will not be taking points away from this card for being franchised since it is a spectrogram and thats just how they are. Read on

Card Advantages

Okay its no secret. I run a Defensive Furyoku Control deck using Zeke as my Shaman. So therefore this card has naturally found its way into my deck in multiples. And in reality this is really a defense deck card. Now granted it can see use in any deck flaunting Zeke as its Shaman, but the defense deck is where it shines. Basically you lose 1 intercept and gain 2 force in Spirit of Fires zone. That is pretty darn good if I do say so myself. In fact it can be plain devastating. You cannot believe how versatile and deadly this little beauty can be in a deck built around high intercept cards. This puppy makes the slightly wimpy, but always good Point Blank, a 6 intercept 6 force strike! So not only are you almost guaranteed to block an incoming strike, but you are also getting an golden opportunity to score a point. Not to mention youd be able to stack the deck. Of course Point Blank is only one of the many great blockers out there that Spirit of Fire abuses. Swooping Talon and Jaded Sphere are also extremely good with this.

Of course being that Spirit of Fire is a spectrogram it means only Zeke can use it. This is great though since Zeke loves defense. Most would say to throw 4 in your deck if you are running Zeke. I wouldnt go that far though. Spirit of Fire has some major flaws and needs the proper support to be good. (Which we will cover in the Card Disadvantages section.) If you are going for defensive Zeke then this card is amazing. But in an offensively based Zeke deck where intercept is not to high Id run two. For further reference on defensive decks stay tuned for my article which will be up next week hopefully.

Pros

Great Effect.

Card Disadvantages

Okay now we will discuss why Spirit of Fire is not a card you want to max all the time.

Like most really great card Spirit of Fire has a pretty steep cost of 1 green and 1 red furyoku. This is extremely tough since red furyoku is so hard to come by. Especially in an offensive Zeke deck where you will not be taking 2 points early on unlike the defensive type. (Again the article will elaborate.) Granted Zeke is good at gaining red furyoku, but you are still not going to want to run too many cards that cost red furyoku or else you may be in trouble. This is the big downside as I said and it is what makes Spirit of Fire a card that takes support.

Besides all that Spirit of Fire is a spectrogram. Since spectrograms are 1 out of every 6 packs, you will find it tough to acquire a pair or more of these little beauties. In most cases you will need 2+ boxes to get a set.

 

Cons

High Rarity.

Steep Cost.

Summary

When all is said and done I still love Spirit of Fire, Immortal Legacy. There is not doubt that he is a staple in Zeke decks. You just do not want to go overboard with him. Run two in an offensive deck and four defensive where you have intercept to spare.

Ratings

Tournament-3.5 (4.5 in defensive Zeke.)

Casual-3.5

Sealed-2.5 (You need the right Shaman.)

Feedback Information

If you have any comments, question, or suggestions here are some ways of contacting me,
PM me on the forums at my user name-Darth Vailo
E-mail me at-darthvailo@yahoo.com
I ll do my best to get back to you asap. Thanks to you guys again for the kind words.

^_^v Peace, Love, and may you never find yourself on Tilt!

 

andys
island

Today's CotD is "Spirit of Fire," a teamwork card. In the Japanese manga instead of writing out Spirit of Fire, Hiroyuki Takei shortened it down to just "S.O.F." If you ever wonder, Takei is lazy, yeah, just like Yoh. So, when you are talking about Spirit of Fire, S.O.F. is a proper way abbreviating it's name.

This card can only be played if you are Zeke. You can have up to 4 of this card in your deck. If there is another card called "Spirit of Fire" in the future, you can also have 4 of that card with 4 of this version. You can have different cards with the same names.

A cost of 1 green and 1 red is a little high. Maybe if that red was a yellow it would be better, but I think it's not great to waste a red furyoku on a teamwork since you will still have to pay for a strike. Always use your red furyoku well, it might be a turn or two before you get any more.

This effect is a mandatory effect, not optional. That decreases from it's value a bunch. Every strike you flip will have -1 intercept but +2 force. By all means this is better than the Tao En teamwork. Tao En you lose 2 intercept, but here you only lose 1. This effect would be useful for decks that what to overpower your opponent using only a few high powered strike. But it's not optional, so if you put it into your deck, you must plan to use it and get it out fast. If you use this, pack at least 2 if not more. But if you only using one just because you have it, it may hurt you if your deck can't support the -1 intercept. I don't think alot of decks at this point can handle this card, which reflected in it's overall review.

As is is a Spectergram, this card is great for trading. If you pull this in sealed, you may want to just keep this. You won't be pulling alot of these so, how many you have can limit how many you put in your deck. In sealed, high force for strikes is great, but you won't more than one of these.

Casual: 3/5
Tournament: 4/5
Sealed: 3/5
 

 


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