Once again, classes necessitate that I be very brief with my reviews.  I wasn’t go to review at all, but there seems enough dissent in at least a few of the CotDs this week to warrant my participation (e.g. I disagree and can’t keep my mouth shut or fingers off the keyboard).  Besides, I really do need to shorten my average review length.

 

Wow.  Another way to almost completely ruin Gravekeepers.  Is there some über-unbeatable deck using them that the general dueling public is unaware of?  Seriously though, this cards effect is pretty good.  Yes, it is annoying to have to sack a Dark Monster with an ATK of 2000 or more to activate this Trap, but we do have some good options that can be added to almost any deck, like Zombyra the Dark Hero (a.k.a. Wannabe Spawn).  Destroying all opposing Monsters with 1500 (or less) ATK that your opponent has in play, in hand, or draws for the next three turns has potential for a huge reward.  Had this come out when the game was young, it wouldn’t have done much good.  Now, though, we have so many strong support Monsters with nasty effects but small ATK scores.  D.D. Warrior Lady, the Jars, most Attribute (and Type) searchers, and several theme-specific Monsters get trashed.  You do need to nail two to break even, but the potential return is staggering.

 

There are ways around this effect, though.  Cyber Jar, for example, “picks up” cards instead of drawing them, so those Monsters are safe.  Still, for depletion or control decks, this is a good choice to main deck (assuming you can adjust to meet the requirements to use), and for most decks, it’s a decent side deck candidate since it can mess up things like Weenie Rush and Gravekeepers.  Yes, I mentioned them again; only one Gravekeeper’s Monster has more than 1500 ATK, and they excel at swarming.  Just be careful with deck’s that feed off the Graveyard in some manner… like Chaos.  Somehow I think discarding their Don Zaloog and Shining Angel from hand will really upset those (and those are just random legal targets I’ve seen; if no serious deck uses them, insert the right cards XD).

 

Traditional: 4/5-This assumes a deck geared towards taking advantage of this… which to be fair, would qualify most decks that can add that 2000 ATK Dark Monster, since this is great for aiding in a Yata-Lock.  You might clear their hand a field in one shot!  It also could kill their copy of The Bird.

 

Advanced: 3.5/5-This is a general rating, so bear in mind it is still more useful here.  I think it makes a strong side deck candidate, again assuming you can meet the relatively simple requirement.  Two copies of this and three Zombyra might seem like a lot for, say, an ALO deck, and it is.  For Chaos and Warrior Chaos, though, it’s practically nothing.

 

Limited: 1/5-It’s possible I messed up, but I didn’t find any non-Fusion Monsters in this set that meet the Tribute requirement.  Be pretty nasty in a Starter deck (which usually adds one or two boosters) though.