Subject: Dark Crisis Normal Rare Preview- Feel the BuRn hi all, this is my first rant, and im gonna review the six normal rares from the 304 Power of the Guardians set in japanese, which the next english set "Dark Crisis" will include. of these six, three are on the exclusive list of "un-rebornable" monsters. The following translations all courtesy of Edo's Yugioh Page: http://www.stormpages.com/edhrzic/Yugioh.htm 304-015 TWILIGHT ZONE DRAGON Light/Dragon/5/1200/1500 This card cannot be destroyed by Magic or Trap effects that don't target, and cannot be destroyed as a result of Battle with a Monster that has an attack strength of 1900 or less. Normal Rare Hmm... one tribute for a 1200/1500. wait, he has an effect! actually, two. Truth be told, the Twilight Zone Dragon has so many combos, its not even funny. what's that? a raigeki? oops, my dragon's still here. dark hole? it survives. torrential tribute? alive. mirror force? oh well, try again. tribute to the doomed? still... oh wait, that DOES work... well, as long as you keep those targeting spells and traps away (trap hole, tribute/offerings to the doomed, etc.), Twilight Zone Dragon will be fine. for example, metalsilver armor to keep them away, or heart of clear water. for the 1900 atk thing, how about gora turtle, or retrained celtic guardian w/ a raregold armor on it? slap on UWS, Axe, or some other painful equip, and this dragon's going on a rampage. however, magic cylinder and waboku can still stop it, and the soon-to-be-released Negate Attack, as they dont destroy him. other than that, this is an awesome card. by the way, this card was used in the noa arc in the anime (english name: enter the shadow realm) when kaiba was dueling noa for mokuba. i give it a nice 7.4/10. 304-016 RULER OF HEAVEN SHINATO Ritual Monster Light/Angel/8/3300/3000 Summoned by an [Ark of Miracles]. You must sacrifice 8 levels worth of Monsters from the Field and/or your hand. If this card attacks and destroys an opponent's Monster in defense mode and it goes to the Cemetery, do damage to your opponent equal to the base attack strength of the destroyed Monster. Normal Rare holy... well this is another card used in the Noa Arc, in fact, this card was Noa's Deck Master at one point... anyways, this is the most powerful ritual monster released to date, with a whopping 3300 ATK, but that's not the only thing he's got going for him; no, ladies and gentlemen, shinato's got to come out with a kick-@$$ effect too. thanks to this damaging effect, unless youve got defensive monsters with low ATK, it'd really be more advised to keep your skulls and jinzo's in attack mode. from what ive seen of the Dark Crisis poster, this card will be an ultra rare. i give it a solid 8.5/10 in ritual decks, 5.5 elsewhere. 304-017 BLACK FLARE KNIGHT Fusion Monster Dark/Warrior/6/2200/800 [Black Magician] + [Flame Swordsman] Battle Damage done to this card's controller due to this card being in Battle is reduced to 0. If this card is destroyed and goes to the Cemetery during Battle, Special Summon 1 [Mirage Knight] from your deck or hand. Normal Rare hmmm, well this card isnt exactly something that glows with usefulness. again, this is yet ANOTHER card used in the Noa Arc, when joey and yugi team up to kick the big 5's arses, and fuse their deck masters, the Dark Magician and the Flame Swordsman. anyways, this card isnt much, you get and amazoness fighter's effect, i guess that's okay, but such a weak fusion, its has lower atk than the dark magician himself. its good with magical scientist (2200 atk... *drool*) but what really makes him "shine" is the second ability to summon the mirage knight. alone, id give him a 6.75/10. 304-018 MIRAGE KNIGHT Light/Warrior/8/2800/2000 This card can only be Special Summoned by the effect of a [Black Flare Knight]. During damage calculation, increase this card's attack strength by the base attack strength of your opponent's Monster. Remove this card from the game during the End Phase of a turn in which it Battled. Normal Rare damn, this card is insane. again, also used in the Noa Arc (im not even going to mention where). THis card can give some massive damage to your opponent. the only problem is that teensy weensy drawback of having to remove this 2800 atk powerhouse with a great effect from the game during the end phase that it attacks or is attacked. of course, there are ways to save it (remove it from the game first manually) such as by Sub-Space Matter Transfer Device, or Dimensionhole, or something else. this card cannot be reborned because it can only be Special Summoned (and not just initially) by Black Flare Knight's effect. i give him a 5.75. even as a one turn use, you can still do a lot of damage. just remember its really not worth it to get this card out and lose it at the end of teh turn, so try to keep him on the field, or just dont use him. 304-019 BERSERK DEAD DRAGON Dark/Undead/8/3500/0 This card can only be Special Summoned by the effect of a [Bargain With a Demon]. This Monster can attack each of your opponent's Monsters on the Field once. During the End Phase of each of your turns, reduce this card's attack strength by 500. Normal Rare oh yeah... this is definitely on of the nastier monsters in the set. again, this card cannot be resurrected due to the fact that it MUST MUST MUST be Special Summoned by Bargain With a Demon's effect, and not by any other card. btw, Bargain With a demon is a quickplay spell that is activated when a level 8 or higher monster is sent to the graveyard. graceful charity comes to mind, and just plain old monster destruction is good. other discard cards are also very nice, and one of the greatest combos is with Despair from the Darkness. just one discard, and you get two powerhouses on the field. the decrease isn't that much to worry about. skill drain can stop it, or reverse trap, or you could just get rid of it before it becomes too weak. however, if you dont do any of the above, and you leave it on the field for too long, it will become a sitting duck, despite its awesome base atk. id give it a 7.9/10, if you know what you are doing when you use it. 304-020 EXODIA NECROS Dark/Magic User/4/1800/0 This card can only be Special Summoned by the effect of a [Pact with Exodia]. This card cannot be destroyed as a result of Battle, or by Magic or Trap effects, and increase this Monster's attack strength by 500 during each of your Standby Phases. If you don't have a [Sealed Exodia], [Sealed Left Arm], [Sealed Right Arm], [Sealed Left Leg], [Sealed Right Leg] in your Cemetery, this card is destroyed. Normal Rare now THIS is what i call a fun card. again, it cannot be reborned, yadda yadda yadda, now this seems the opposite of the berserk dead dragon. instead of losing atk, it gets more every turn. it also cant be destroyed by spells, traps, or mon effects, so its really good. however, there is that little drawback of the 5 pieces having to be in the graveyard. as soon as one of them leaves the graveyard, BAM, you superpowered dead exodia is gone. monster reborn, anyone? this is NOT a staple for exodia decks, despite its fitting of the theme. putting exodia necros in means using up two more valuable spaces in your deck for Necros and its pact. its more of a backup plan, or a fun variant or another alternative for the use of exodia decks. i give it a 8.1/10 in an exodia deck. this ALSO appeared in the Noa Arc when kaiba was dueling his stepfather. id also like to mention that damage will still be caluculated even it its not destroyed in battle, and its got a def of 0, so one of the counters to this card is a nice shield and sword, and proceeding to smack away w/ some high def monster. --Feel the BuRn Questions? Comments? Suggestions? send 'em all to feeldaburn12@yahoo.com Flames and hate mail go to my other e-mail address: ssabmud@diputs.com Feel the Burn