Classic COTD Reviews – Soul of a Duelist (2004)

Card name

Pojo avg

My rating

Penumbral Soldier Lady 

~2.5

1.25

1 – This card has zero utility aside from raising its stats.  And it only works against 1 Attribute.

2 – This card’s stat bonus is only a difference-maker against 1 meta card (out of 40 in a deck), BLS Envoy.  But chances are if the opponent has BLS on the field, you don’t have monsters to tribute for this.  And you can’t use it against him when you need it the most.

 (Cipher Soldier is a more reliable BLS Killer, at only 1 tribute, and it’s good side deck against aggro warrior decks too)

3 – Deckspace for tribute monsters is very tight.  Jinzo, Airknight and Zaborg all outclass this.  Zaborg will instantly clear out any monster, regardless of archetype.

Sanwitch 

2.5

1

No effect.  No utility.  

There are LV6 Fusions with very good effects (i.e. Ryu Senshi, Dark Blade tDK), so there’s no reason to use a vanilla one.  

Maybe if it came out during Metal Raiders (with Witch and Sangan), it could’ve had a niche use in Polymerization decks with Labyrinth Tank and Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon.  

The “Sorcerer of Dark Magic” thing reviewers talked about never really happened.

Mobius the Frost Monarch 

3.75

4.25

I agree with ExMod’s review.  This is essential as a side deck card.  It counters burn decks, stall decks, alt-win condition decks, and various other archetypes decks that rely on a specific spell/trap.

Which in 2005, these were the main types of decks you were side decking against.

This card can easily +1 against spell/trap heavy decks, and it can likely +1 again by destroying a monster in battle (since the opponent will have no spells/traps to counter against it).

This card like having a 2nd Heavy Storm!

As a main deck card, it’s decent and viable, but not great for every matchup. You wouldn’t use it against decks with light trap lineups or lots of chainable spells/traps. 

But in the situations you side deck it, it’s very strong and game-altering.  You always have the choice on whether you want to side it in or not.

Hence I believe it’s a card in 2004, was a must own card.  Everyone at the time would’ve benefited from getting 1 copy of it and putting it in their side deck.

Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke 

~3

3

Some aggro/warrior decks can use 1 in their main or side deck to break through defenses. It’s not really used in control decks.

I can see how this card was underwhelming at the time.  People were using beatdown decks.  Its effect doesn’t do anything against attack mode monsters; it can also die in battle to 1900 beaters, Blade Knight, etc.

But in modern day retro formats (like Goat), Gravekeeper’s Spy is known to be really strong, which this card counters, so in that context, I’d rate it 3.5

Ultimate Baseball Kid

2

1

The ATK scaling on this card is unfortunate.

500 by itself is unplayable.

1500 with 1 other monster is unplayable.

You need 2 other monsters just to reach 2500.

And having 3 monsters on the field makes you vulnerable to cards like Torrential Tribute and Mirror Force.

If this card were 1500 base ATK (instead of 500), and it’s bonus were 500 (instead of 1000), it would be much more playable.

Element Dragon

2

1.25

These “Element” monsters are extremely dependent on other cards and do nothing by themselves.

Chaos decks don’t use this because they don’t use FIRE/WIND monsters.

FIRE effect is decentish, but it all it does is what Berserk Gorilla already does at base.  Plus there are almost no viable FIRE monsters.

WIND effect is okay, but it can -1 against a various LV4 monsters.

Two-Man Cell Battle

2

1.25

A few issues here.

First, it’s a -1.  You have to spend this card, and it’s pulling resources from your hand.

Second, it’s slow.  It only starts working during your End Phase.

Third, it requires you to use a deck of monsters without effects.

Level Up! 

3

1.5

Would be a good effect for a Level Up deck.  But Level Up decks are woefully inconsistent..

What if you don’t draw the lower level monster?  Then this card sits in your hand and does nothing.

What if you draw the high level monster early-game with no way to summon it?  Then this card is a -1 because you’re summoning from your hand instead of your deck.

The LV5+ LV monsters should’ve had the effect of “You can shuffle this card from your hand into your deck to draw 1”.

This clause would’ve made them playable since there’s no -1 and no dead draws early game.

Ojama King

~2

1.5

Of course, like with any Fusion, we assume it only sees play with Metamorphosis – not by fusing the materials.

0 / 3000 DEF means it won’t lose in battle and isn’t likely to minus.  But it also can’t put pressure on the opponent either.  It can never destroy things in battle or go +1 either.

It’s effect may be okay for slowing down aggro decks sometimes.  

But overall, this card low ATK and passive effect.  It’s not “trying to win”; it’s just trying to “not lose”.  There’s no win condition here.

Null and Void 

1

1

Extremely situational doesn’t even begin to describe this card.

Reviewers wrote that this card doesn’t even work against Graceful Charity, Card Destruction and Morphing Jar.  

The only commonly used card it works against is Pot of Greed, but it does nothing against the other 39/40 cards.

Time Seal and Drop Off exist.  They are more consistent, versatile and chainable.  So there’s never a use case for this card.

Greed

1.5

Slow.  Vulnerable to spell/trap removal.  Only works against a few cards but doesn’t do anything in most situations. 

Burn decks have more consistent burn cards.  And non-burn decks won’t use this since it’s a -1.

Cemetery Bomb

2.25

1.25

Awful early game.  

This card is only playable in burn decks, but burn decks have too many other consistent options: Just Desserts, Secret Barrel, Ojama Trio, etc.

Ectoplasmer 

2.75

2

It can be tough for some decks to play against sometimes, but in the grand scheme, I don’t really see the win condition here.  

You lose your life points too.  You (usually) lose your monsters too.

Has a good combo with Malice Doll, but both depend solely on each other to get value and neither are searchable.

It’s also vulnerable to removal (and Heavy Storm if you have other spells/traps with it).

Mind Crush 

3

3

Compared to DD Designator, this card doesn’t banish (hence doesn’t counter Sinister), but it’s chainable and can interact with the opponent’s cards.

Confiscation and Forceful Sentry being banned is a double-edged sword.  There is more room for hand disruption cards now.  But that’s two less cards that synergize this.

You would probably have to run this with Trap Dustshoot.  But it would be unfortunate if you draw this before Trap Dustshoot.

This has seen some niche play in formats in the mid 2000’s.  And it’s been side-deck worthy in some metas.

Personally, I think a card being dead in hand more than half of the time is too much.  And 

Mystic Swordsman LV2

4

Warrior/EARTH/aggro decks main 1.  Other decks side 1 against defensive decks, stall/burn and flip effect heavy decks.

Dark Mimic LV1

3.5

DARK, LV1 Metamorphosis target for Goat Control decks.  (Though next set Dekoichi makes this a little bit obsolete)

Dark Mimic LV3

3

Decent ATK for a floater.  Viable for Skill Drain or Creature Swap decks.  Though it’s a bit slow and passive.

As a battle searcher, Mystic Tomato is better (higher ATK, brings a card to field rather than hand).  But this isn’t a bad Tomato target.

Dark Factory of Mass Production

3

Offmeta, niche. Good for vanilla LV4 aggro decks.

Hammer Shot

2.5

Not great by any means, but viable for 2004 decks on tight budgets.