Subject: LoD Reviewed I personally am going to enjoy LoD. Like most sets, there will be goods and bads. But, unlike most sets, LoD will bring in new decks and just maybe revive an old favorite... Lets begin! First, I'd like to let the people reading this know that I give all of my credit to Edo and his website. His website is very nice and anyone who would like to check it out can go here Edo's Yu-Gi-Oh! Page! Now, the new darkness decks began with Dark Necrofear. This little beauty (well, sort of...) out of LoN was a joy to darkness decks because it used the graveyard to bring out an 8/fiend/2200/2800 creature with a built-in permanent change of heart after almost any play your opponent did to get rid of it. Battle, monster removal, both got you a monster at the end of the turn, only if they had one at the end of the turn! But! With LoD, a new dark creature comes out of hiding. This monster is called Dark Ruler of the Underworld Ha-des! He's a 6/fiend/2450/????/ but that should be enough to entice you (that oughta show all those folks using Beast of Talwar which I might add is alright, but I'll get to that next time). But there's more... There's an effect that makes Ha-des a wonder and a force to be reckoned with! His effect negates the flip effects of the monsters that your fiend monsters attack. For example, your La Jinn attacks your opponents face down Man-Eater Bug. The Man-Eater is destroyed and the flip effect is not activated. The same goes for your Ha-des when it attacks a Magician of Faith, no magic card for your opponent! Nice huh? It gets better with all of the new fiends and possibly Beast of Talwar (I prefer Skull though)! There are so many, I'm going to move on! Do you remember when only the Yugi and Kaiba Starter Decks and the LoBEWD set were out? Well, there was a Lord of Dragon deck that used the Lord of Dragon to bring out 2 high level dragons (mainly the Blue Eyes White Dragon and the Tri-Horned Dragon) who were the best around with staggering stats. But, there was one con about these two that made them horrible to play, their 2-tribute requirement. Both monsters were 8 stars, but that tribute requirement was passed with a magic card that was used called the Flute of Summoning Dragon. That card brought up to 2 dragons to the field as long as the Lord of Dragon was on the field. That combo blazed people and the Lord of Dragon deck was born. That deck lasted what, 2 months? The deck was shot down when Metal Raiders came out and Magic Jammer/Solemn Judgement came out. Also, Dragon Capture Jar was out before and the ever awesome Mirror Force was unleashed on the current gameing envirnment. That just about killed the deck. Witch of the Black Forest and Sangan could bring Lord of Dragon out, but that got you nothing really. But, bringing out the dragons was made better when Magic Ruler came out! Two rares in the set gave you 2 free monsters when one monster was destroyed. These wonders for dragon decks were called the Giant Germ and Nimble Momonga. Giant Germ lost your opponent 500 LP when it was destroyed during battle and you could special summon TWO Giant Germs to the field in face down defence position! The Nimble Momonga gained you 1000 LP instead of your opponent losing 500 LP (the giant germ was OK for Darkness decks too since it is a fiend might I add), but was the same 2 monsters effect. But, with LoD coming soon, new dragons will be unleashed to the dragon arsenal which might just revive this deck into the envirnment! One of these mighty beast is the Rock Dragon. It acts kinda like a dragon version of the Giant Soldier of Stone. Then there's the Spear Dragon which is the dragon version of Goblin Attack Force but it has 1900 atk instead of 2300 like the Goblin. There's the Emerald Dragon who has 2400 atk for 6 stars. But the most impacting card is probobly the Tyrant Dragon. This mighty beast has 2900 atk and 2500 def. It has 3 effects. The first is probobly the best, which states that it can attack twice during one battle phase if your opponent has a monster on their side of the field. Now, most quick thinking people will probobly think, "Wow! This thing has a Hayabusa Knight's effect!" No. That is not the case. The Tyrant Dragon CAN ONLY ATTACK YOUR OPPONENT TWICE IF THEY HAVE A MONSTER AFTER YOU DESTROY ONE OF THEIR OTHER MONSTERS! For example, your Tyrant Dragon attacks their La Jinn, if they have another monster to attack on the field, then it can attack again. But if they don't, then it's done. Another effect which is not so good is the ability to negate all trap cards that target the Tyrant Dragon. When I say target, I mean traps like Magic Cylindar and Waboku (yes, Waboku is a targeted trap card) but not Mirror Force and Dragon Capture Jar (which people should not be playing, the Dragon Capture Jar that is). The final effect is what gives the mighty beast it's tie breaker. The final effect states the following: "This card cannot be special summoned from the graveyard unless you offer a dragon-subtype monster on your side of the field as a tribute." This is what makes the dragon a double-edged sword. Now most quick thinking people again will probobly say, "That sucks, you need to offer a monster to bring it back to the field!" Yes, that does suck, but think of it in a way that could help you and not hinder you. Think of it this wasyour using a monster and a magic/trap card to bring it back instead of offering the two monsters on the field to bring it out in the first place, and I wish most people to get two monsters on the field to tribute it, which happens quite rarely because of this current envirnments monster removal. Yet again, the effect applies to your opponent as well. How many people have been beaten cause of your opponents Monster Reborn and they take that Skull to destroy your Jinzo? Not anymore with that OK effect. So, all in all, dragon decks get a big jump start from the LoD set! Also though, new magic cards are comming for the dragons too, like Fiery Dragon Breath which offers one of your dragons on the field to destory any face up monsters with a lower atk than the offered monsters def (offer Blue Eyes, kill skull and almost anything else in a current beatdown). Legacy of Darkness brings a new deck to the playing field. That deck is the Warrior Deck. This deck brings the best in Earth fighters to the field of battle. Goblin Attack Force works the best, and so will Gemini Elf even though it's not a warrior. Gaia Power may see play, but it's up to the person using the deck if their area is high on magic and trap removal. This new Warrior deck may not be as powerful as the usual decks around, but if you look at a regular standard beatdown, the main attackers are all of the Earth main type except for Kycoo and the flip effect monsters. The LoD set includes many new warriors like Freed the Matchless General and Initiate Troops. Right now, the Initiate Troops is restricted to 1 in Japan, and the effect will prove this. If you discard it from the field or hand, you can destroy one monster on the field! That's pretty good. Freed may not seem ok, he has 2300 atk for a level 5. Thats ok, but not up to par. But what about his effect? Well, this is what makes him good. He brings lvl 4 or less warriors to your hand every turn. Almost like killing a Witch of Sangan every turn. There is a con to this though, you must skip your draw phase. If you really need a monster, then choose Freed's effect. If you need something else, take the draw phase. Now on to the other cards, the Spirits. These are completely different than the Spirits from LoN. Only two of these spirits are worth using, one that provides you a single victory. It's the Yatagurusa "Eight Giant Crows." This is the thing Edo stopped using. It's stats are worse than Kuriboh and Sinister Serpent, a mere 200 atk. But what have we learned about this? With horrible atk comes great effects. This one has to take the cake. When it deals LP damage to your opponent, then your opponent skips their next draw phase. Imagine, they have no hand and no field, then you bring it out. It's game over for them. How you ask? No hand and no field plus no draw phase equals no ways of counter attack equals game over. Simple as that, but is it truly simple? Are people actually going to be able to nuke their opponents entire side of the field? Well, there are a couple of ways of doing this. One is to have Sangan on the field with Forced Requisition, then play Final Destiny. You get your Crows and the whole area is gone! Game over! Awards? Most Anticipated Monster: Tyrant Dragon Most Anticipated Magic: Fiery Dragon Breath Most Annoying New Card: Dark Ruler of the Underworld Ha-des Most Anticipated Revival of Decks: Blazing Dragons! Most Anticipated Trap: Second Chance (If anyone didn't know, this card makes it so that you can toss a coin a second time. For example, you get tails on Time Wizard. With Second Chance, you can reflip the coin) Best New Monster of the Whole Set: Yatagurusa "Eight Giant Crows" Why? Cause of it's locking ability to automatically win the game! Thank you to everyone who survived reading this. I apologize for the length, but I think that this needs to be recognized quickly before someone pulls a fast one and creams you! -Joe Screen Name: Sce211