Silent Swordsman Zero – #LEDE-EN002
Once per turn, during the Standby Phase: Increase this card’s Level by 1. While this card’s Level is higher than its original Level, it gains ATK equal to the difference x 500. When your opponent activates a card or effect that targets “Shining Sarcophagus”, or a monster(s) that mentions it, that you control (Quick Effect): You can negate the activation, and if you do, increase this card’s Level by 1. You can only use this effect of “Silent Swordsman Zero” once per turn.
Silent Magician Zero – #LEDE-EN003
If your opponent draws a card(s): Increase this card’s Level by the number drawn. While this card’s Level is higher than its original Level, it gains ATK equal to the difference x 500. When your opponent activates a Spell Card or effect, while you control “Shining Sarcophagus” (Quick Effect): You can negate the activation, and if you do, increase this card’s Level by 1. You can only use this effect of “Silent Magician Zero” once per turn.
Date Reviewed: May 14th, 2024
Rating: See Below
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,
The Silent Duo is our Tuesday feature this week with Silent Swordsman Zero and Silent Magician Zero.
First, the Swordsman. SSZ has a once per turn ability to increase its Level by one, which will up its ATK by 500. The original form of this (Level 3) was able to level up into LV5 and then LV7 during your Standby Phase (though no one played LV7 because it locked everyone out of Spells). At 1000/1000, SSZ isn’t wining any battles, but there are ways to up its level and attack, namely Silent Sword Slash, giving it a 1500ATK/DEF boost for the turn, but making it immune to your opponent card effects. Great protection from a Quick-Play that cannot be negated, but it only lasts one turn. Turn Silence is what you want to play for its best boost. Permanent boost of a monster mentioning Shining Sarcophagus while said card is on the field, as well as a negation of a monster effect if chained in response to one. It plays like Silent Swords Slash, but it is permanent and can be used for either of today’s cards.
Silent Swordsman Zero can also help himself by raising his own Level through built-in negation. Sure, the card has to target Shining Sarcophagus or a card mentioning it, but that is good protection once per turn, and will pump Silent Swordsman Zero up. Shining Sarcophagus is immune from targeting destruction, but this is to cover the non-destruction abilities that target. Any negation ability is typically appreciated and it helps raise SSZ’s ATK at the same time. This may not go to LV5 within a turn, but it’s ability to negate certain things and help itself does put it on par with the original if not ahead.
Silent Magician Zero, or SMZ, is a little more difficult to jump in ATK and Levels only because it involves your opponent drawing cards. Same stats as its partner, but Silent Magician Zero needs the opponent to draw to increase its Level by one and jump in ATK by 500. That is a huge downside, but if your opponent naturally is drawing cards (including the Draw Phase) you can stack levels pretty quickly. Turn Silence as mentioned will jump this card’s Level by three and keep it there without the downside of helping your opponent. Unlike Silent Swordsman though, its Spell to help it gain Levels: Future Silence, helps both players. A Quick-Play RoTA for you while Shining Sarcophagus is out, it can become the show version of Card of Sanctity if used in the Battle Phase. You don’t want your opponent to draw because of a card you activate unless you are playing Deck Out, and Protector of the Sanctuary is a niche card you aren’t running just for one card. Silent Burning can do the same without needing Shining Sarcophagus on the field, however, it needs you to have more cards and you want to give your opponent the least amount of pluses as possible. Turn Silence is the best option to jump its Level if looking to do that through a Spell.
Silent Magician Zero also has built-in negation, and theirs I’d argue may be a little better than Silent Swordsman Zero’s negation power. Negating any Spell your opponent activates while you’ve got Shining Sarcophagus on the field has more reach than negating targeting of stuff mentioning Shining Sarcophagus in its text or the card itself. This will jump SMZ’s Level by one and give it the 500ATK boost, but the point is the negation. Save it for a Spell you know will hurt your opponent if it is negated. This can cover the wide-reaching destruction Spell cards like Lighting Storm, Raigeki, and Harpies Feather Duster that can wreck your field.
Both newer forms of monsters are better than their predessors because of the built-in negation that was absent. Silent Swordsman LV3 was immune to targeting Spells though. Both you’d jump to their higher forms with Level Up!, but that isn’t the case with these. These make you play cards to increase their power, but at least they’re searchable with Shining Sarcophagus each turn. The strategy with these two remain the same: Protect Shining Sarcophagus.
Advanced- 3.5/5 for Swordsman Art- 4.5/5
Advanced- 3.5/5 for Magician Art- 4.5/5
Until Next Time,
KingofLullaby
Crunch$G
Now we can see some monsters for this archetype after looking at the key card, so today we’ll look at more retrains of Yugi’s old LV monsters that mimic their anime counterparts more: Silent Swordsman Zero and Silent Magician Zero.
Silent Swordsman Zero is a Level 4 LIGHT Warrior with 1000 ATK and DEF. Not great stats, but it’s at least a LIGHT Warrior. Its Level is increased during each Standby Phase, where it also gains 500 ATK times the difference between its original Level and whatever Level it is at now, only when it’s higher of course. First Standby Phase means 1500 ATK, which still isn’t great, but it’s an improvement. The last effect is a Quick Effect if you control Shining Sarcophagus and the opponent activates a card or effect that targets said Sarcophagus or any card you control that mentions it, letting you negate the activation and increase this card’s Level by 1. It’s targeting protection first are foremost, which is decent. You’ll probably want this to have decent ATK so it doesn’t get ran over before the opponent chooses to target your cards, but it’s something the opponent will have to deal with before continuning. The negation is a hard once per turn, so multiples don’t do much besides making the opponent have to get rid of more than one of these before they start targeting. It’s a fine card for targeting protection for the archetype. It’s not strong, but it’s protection the Deck needs to keep the Sarcophagus safe. It’s easy to get to and summon, running a few should work for the Deck.
Advanced Rating: 3.25/5
Art: 5/5 It’s pretty cool visually with the smaller version at the forefront and the upgrade in the background.
Now we get to Silent Magician Zero, with all the stats basically being the same except Warrior being swapped for Spellcaster, which is another decent Typing. This card has the same ATK gain effect, only its Level is instead increased each time the opponent draws a card, with the Levels gained being equal to the number of cards drawn, so you can get multiple Levels per turn and at the same time if the opponent draws a ton of cards. The negation on Silent Magician is changed from Swordman, from negating targeting effects to negating Spell Cards and effects, which is a better effect since Spells are overall more common than cards that would target. It can stop something like a consistency card or a board breaker to stop the opponent from making plays or getting rid of your setup. Just again, got to hope its Level is high enough so it has ATK to not make it that easy to run over. It’s another hard once per turn, so the same as Swordsman in that department. It’s one of the better cards of the archetype, which while not overall amazing, is a fun gimmick to play and pretend to be Yugi. For sure play this in the Deck.
Advanced Rating: 3.5/5
Art: 5/5 Same styling here as Silent Swordsman, so that’s nice.
Mighty
Vee
Despite being left on the backburner for a hot minute, Yugi’s iconic ace monsters from the final showdown reemerge as Silent Swordsman Zero and Silent Magician Zero, a double feature for today’s Card of the Day. Both of them are level 4 LIGHT monsters, with Swordsman being a Warrior and Magician being a Spellcaster, naturally. As they both mention Shining Sarcophagus in their text, they’re searchable by the eponymous card as well as through tomorrow’s card, which makes summoning them a trivial matter. Like their original versions, both have a rather poor stat spread of 1000 attack and defense; though they do have ways to boost their stats, they’re not too reliable, as we’ll find out.
We’ll cover Swordsman first; mirroring its anime effect, Swordsman has a soft once per turn effect to increase its own level by one during each Standby Phase, with its attack being boosted by 500 for each level it has on top of its original level. Accordingly, Swordsman also has a hard once per turn Quick Effect to negate a card or effect that targets Shining Sarcophagus or a monster that mentions it, increasing its level by 1 in the process as well. The idea behind the card is simple– you’re meant to whittle away at your opponent while Swordsman gets increasingly more powerful each turn until you can push for the OTK. Though targeting protection has become increasingly common (Promethean Princess and S:P Little Knight are both targeting effects, after all), I don’t think it’s extremely reliable as a disruption, so it’s more protection than anything. It’s not a terrible card, but I’d give more priority to Magician if given the choice (though Swordsman is certainly better than Moremarshmallon…)
+Targeting negation is surprisingly relevant
+Can save Sarcophagus from targeting Trap effects and non-destruction effects
-Largely outclassed by Silent Magician Zero if given the choice
-Attack gain is too slow to be meaningful
Advanced: 2.5/5
Art: 4.25/5 He might not be the best of the bunch, but he still looks oddly cute and cool!
Rather than gain a level every Standby Phase, Magician instead gains a level each time your opponent draws a card and gains 500 attack for every additional level. A shout-out to the original Silent Magicians, this spin on the effect means it’s less consistent growth than Swordsman, but it can potentially be more explosive against decks that draw a lot (like the upcoming Ice Barrier). Still, gaining attack isn’t the most impactful effect. Magician’s hard once per turn Quick Effect is as simple as Swordsman’s, though it can only be used while you control Shining Sarcophagus. It simply negates an opponent’s Spell card or effect and increases its level by 1. That’s it! Spell cards are almost always relevant, so while it might not be as broad as Swordsman, it’s ironically much more versatile, and it can even protect Sarcophagus from the ever-present Cosmic Cyclone. Compared to Swordsman, it’s definitely a priority, though even Magician is low on the totem pole if you decide to go for the Dragoon play. Still, as the deck is now, it’s your most reliable disruption, which is mildly depressing but you’ll just have to live with it until Infinite Forbidden.
+Spell negation is still excellent disruption
+Protects Shining Sarcophagus from its main threat, Spell removal
-Doesn’t help much against aggressive monster decks
-Again, attack gain isn’t very meaningful
Advanced: 3.5/5
Art: 4.5/5 Looks much better than the admittedly dated original art…
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