The Iris Swordsoul – #6 – Top 10 Yugioh Cards of 2021

The Iris Swordsoul – #DAMA-EN009

Date Reviewed: December 24, 2021

Rating: 3.91

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average.  5 is great.

Reviews Below:

King of
Lullaby

Hello Pojo Fans,

The Iris Swordsoul almost made top 5, but will have to settle for #6 on our Top 10.

A popular hand trap outside of the Swordsoul archetype that has gained a lot of steam in recent months, Iris boasts high-powered stats and level for a hand trap. Special Summoning Iris isn’t the easiest thing to do in comparison to activating any other hand trap you may see in the game. Either turn it can be done, any monster that got its effect(s) negated can be used as a trigger point, but that makes it situational…this cards hates “negate and destroy” effects. If you do Special Summon Iris she’ll have her own effect when your opponent Special Summons a monster(s) that you can activate each turn. If from the hand you get a Special Summon from the hand as well, a pretty good counter to your opponent’s move. If from the deck you get a nice draw two, which would put you at least in equal standing with your opponent’s monster (if they had effect(s) that were about to activate. The best one may be the Special Summon from the Extra Deck though, since you get to destroy a Special Summoned monster from the Extra Deck: the draw 2 is great, but in a simplified game-state you will be taking away their Extra Deck summon each time without them gaining any benefit.

Extra Deck summons will happen more than any other, the hand will be 2nd, from the deck 3rd. If you don’t have a monster to summon from the hand this effect isn’t the best, but you should have an option most of the time. All these benefits and counters only matter if you can summon Iris. Iris not negating any effect(s) either from the Special Summoned monster(s) isn’t great either, but it is still a good card. To put it simply: Iris is a counter to your opponent’s Impermanence.

Advanced-4/5     Art-4/5

Until Next Time
KingofLullaby

Crunch$G

If we were going by art, we found our #1 by a country mile, but either way at the #6 slot from Dawn of Majesty, we have the original Swordsoul monster: The Iris Swordsoul.

The Iris Swordsoul is a Level 8 LIGHT Spellcaster with 2500 ATK and DEF. Overall a good assortment of stats and traits for a monster to have. During the Main Phase while a monster whose effects are negated is on the field, you get a Quick Effect to Special Summon this from the hand, being a free body on board for something as simple as resolving an Imperm or Effect Veiler. It does work with Swordsoul somewhat with Chixiao having the negation ability that helps get this out of the hand. If your opponent Special Summons a monster or monster(s), you get an effect depending on where the monster was summoned from with their hand letting you summon a monster from hand, Deck letting you draw 2 cards, and Extra Deck lets you destroy one of the Special Summoned monsters from the Extra Deck. Overall some decent options to have, but it is a hard once per turn to even make the choice, so make the best option you know you’ll be able to resolve. The same goes for the Special Summon effect with the hard once per turn bit. It’s a decent card in all honesty. It might have a niche every once in a while, and she does synergize with the Swordsoul archetype somewhat with the name making her searchable and useful to trigger your Swordsoul effects.

Advanced Rating: 3/5

Art: Infinity/5 I still hold by what I say with her artwork being outstanding and how nice Fleurdelis looked under her armor.

My #6: Incredible Ecclesia, the Virtuous

Alex
Searcy

This countdown has featured just some gorgeous art thus far, and #6 is no exception, in The Iris Swordsoul.  Level 8, Light/Spellcaster are delicious, and 2500 atk/def make for a fine Monster (though I like my Level 8s to be 2800 or higher).  You can Special Summon Iris as a Quick Effect when a Monster on the Field has its Effects negated.  This does have to happen during the Main Phase.  I dislike the specific there, but I do give a little leniency in the fact in can be of either player.  It doesn’t even have to be your opponent’s Monster to happen to.  Then, when your opponent Special Summons a Monster, you get the following Effect based on where it came from:

Hand:  You also Special Summon a Monster from your Hand.  Could be good or bad, it doesn’t say position here, so it could even just be a defense or shield against your Lifepoints, or something you’ll get lucky enough to use later.

Deck:  You get Pot of Greed; and PLENTY of Monsters can Special Summon from the Deck anymore, but your opponent may play around that, you know, to keep you from getting 2 (or more) free cards.

Extra Deck:  Destroy a Monster Special Summoned from the Extra Deck.  This is great too, but just the same, your opponent can play into or around this, but they won’t always be able to.  It’s a risk, yes, but not a big enough detriment to really hurt this card.

This can’t happen during the Damage Step, naturally, but she’s a fun card, even if she’s a bit dependent on what your opponent does.  But that’s worked in the past before, specifically for cards of the Hand Trap variety…

Rating:  3.75/5

Art:  5/5  Glorious 

Mighty
Vee

Another card that Pojo’s reviewed before that I haven’t, number 6 on our countdown is The Iris Swordsoul, who lore-savvy duelists might recognize as Dogmatika Fleurdelis, The Knighted. Like its Dogmatika counterpart, it’s a level 7 LIGHT spellcaster with a balanced 2500 attack and a defense, which are fine for a level 7. While Iris is a Swordsoul monster by name and can be searched accordingly by Swordsoul Emergence or Incredible Ecclesia, the Virtuous, it’s not quite meant to be played exclusively in Swordsoul, as the effects will show.

Both effects of Iris are hard once per turn. On a quick effect, you can special summon it during the main phase if a monster with negated effects is on the field. This is pretty good when continuous negates are rather prevalent in the meta in the form of Effect Veiler, Infinite Impermanence, and more notoriously Swordsoul Grandmaster Chi Xiao. It doesn’t matter who controls the negated monster either so you can even facilitate Iris’s summon yourself, though it doesn’t apply to negation effects like Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring or Baronne de Fleur. Iris’s second effect triggers on the field if an opponent special summons a monster, differing depending on where it was summoned. If the monster was from the hand, you can special summon one of your own monsters from your hand, which is handy but usually doesn’t do much on your opponent’s turn unless you have a deck with main deck floodgate monsters, like Naturia or Ice Barrier (bad examples, I know). If the monster was from the deck, you can draw 2 cards, which is always great no matter whose turn it is since it’s free card advantage. Lastly, if the monster was from the extra deck, you can destroy it (or one of them if multiple are summoned like through pendulum summoning), which is also very handy to disrupt combos. Since you can only choose one, you’ll most likely be picking the deck or extra deck effect, depending on if you need the draws or if you’re confident you can end a combo prematurely. Unfortunately, while Iris looks strong on paper, it hasn’t been reflected very much in tournament results. Still, as a hand trap, it’s inherently a decent generic tool you can use if you have nothing else, so that’s how it earns a spot on Pojo’s top 10 cards of 2021.

Advanced: 3.25/5
Art: 4.25/5 It sure was nice of the Swordsoul gang to give Fleurdelis her very own costume, though I’d still like an alt art of knight Fleurdelis without her helmet.

We would love more volunteers to help us with our YuGiOh Card of the Day reviews.  If you want to share your ideas on cards with other fans, feel free to drop us an email.  We’d be happy to link back to your blog / YouTube Channel / etc.   😉

Visit the Card of the Day Archive!  Click here to read over 4,000 more Yu-Gi-Oh! Cards of the Day!