*NOTE* Soul Release, being a personal favorite card of mine got its own article. I posted this on the message board a while ago, but I updated it.

Mini-Article: Soul Release

Soul Release
MRD-058
Normal Common

[Magic Card]

Select up to 5 cards from either you or your opponent's graveyard and remove them from the current duel.

Introduction Does anybody but me see the potential in this card? I've been play testing this card for a month now, and it works very well. In case you're wondering I play a Fiend Control Deck. Anyway, [Soul Release] counters so many different deck types and cards and can also help you.

Helps counter what?

"Remove from Play" Summoning Monsters This refers primarily to Chaos, which has their own section and [Dark Necrofear]. The other "Spirits" ([Spirit of Flame], etc.) rarely see play with the exception of an occasional [Soul of Purity and Light]. The maximum requirement for any monster is 3 removed from play, which is held by [Dark Necrofear]. If you use [Soul Release] you will at least get 2 cards other than the subtype/maintype required by the card to be summoned.

SUB CATEGORY: Chaos
This is the most obvious one. Not only can it remove LIGHT/DARK monsters from their graveyard, it can also be a great top deck after [Chaos Emperor Dragon- Envoy of the End]'s effect. After the big kaboom, your worst fear is that your opponent will draw a recursion card, or [Yata-Garasu]. If they get Yata, you're screwed- if they get recursion on their next draw, its useless if you got rid of their monsters with SR. Standard Chaos plays 15-16 monsters. CED will be in the graveyard and the LIGHT/DARK monsters will be removed. That's a minimum of 3 monsters gone so they only have 12-13 left in their deck. If half of that are in the graveyard, remove the ones that are threats. How effective SR is depends how well you make your decisions.

RELATED CONCEPT: "Remove from Play" Cost Effect Monsters
This includes such cards as [Strike Ninja], [Bazoo the Soul Eater], [Chaos Rider Gustaph], [Wandering Hero- Freed], etc. You should follow the same procedure mentioned above for these cards. One thing to be careful of is that 99% of the time, the monsters have already used their effects. The point of SR is to make it so they cannot use it again. The exception to this is [Strike Ninja] which is a Spell Speed 2 Multi-Trigger Effect. If you remove at least 2 DARKs, they can chain and remove them for its effect instead. To the best of my knowledge you don't get to choose 5 cards again. This can be used against the opponent as well- you could force them to use [Strike Ninja]'s effect and potentially save a Monster Removal card. If they don't use the effect when you get rid of it, its a sitting duck anyway. [Strike Ninja] is a rare card in non-casual play, but you never know.

Recursion
The most common form of Recursion (Revival) are [Monster Reborn], [Premature Burial], and [Call of the Haunted]. Other ones that are more specific are [Warrior Returning Alive], [Salvage], [The Shallow Grave], and [Book Of Life]. Others exist but I don't feel like listing them. Once 4+ cards that can be revived hit the Graveyard, it is best to remove them right away. Not things that make no sense to be revived (Yata, weak monsters, etc.); game breaking, powerful cards (Jinzo, CED, Levia Dragon) should be your target. I didn't overlook the fact that Call can be chained to SR, reducing you removal count to 4. Unless the monster is Jinzo, there is little to worry about. Doing this can force them to bring their monster out so you can destroy it before you attack. I'd rather do that than have to skip my Battle Phase because they Call'ed a strong monster to the field.

Recursion also works with Spells and Traps too. [Magician of Faith] is starting to see more play. Players in my area (Long Island, New York) play MOF in conjunction with [Apprentice Magician] because it doubles as deck thinning, defense, Chaos food, and of course, Spell retrieval. When removing these, you should remove game breaking cards. Just recently I played an Ocean Deck that ran Fiber Jar. He summoned Levia Dragon and used its effect and attacked directly. I blocked with [Kuriboh]. My turn I summoned Tribe, discarded [Sinister Serpent]. I played SR, got rid of Dragon, ALO, POG, and some other stuff. He set a Fiber soon after and I let it loose. He had a difficult time without those key cards, even if he did run multiples.

Don't forget V-Lord. This shuts it down completely.

Dimension Fusion Decks If you know your opponent is running
[Dimension Fusion], remove a few heavy hitters from your graveyard so he/she doesn't get as much advantage when he/she plays it. Players that run DF generally want to abuse it- you have no monsters removed and they do so they are poised to summon an army from thin air. I myself play Dimension Fusion and I've won countless games hitting my opponent with a DF army. There are instances that you will love the fact that SR potentially saved you from an OHKO.

Other Cards
Fiber Jar: [Fiber Jar] isn't used as much as its used to, and it won't be used at all after the bans, but for the time being it still remains a large threat unsuspecting players that think the face down is a Sinister. Remove game breaking cards and when the game resets, you've got a huge advantage. This absolutely kills non-FTK Exodia Decks that run Fiber. Does anybody remember the last round of the 2003 World Championship? I do, I was sitting in front as Ng Yu Leung and Shigeki Kitamura played for the title of World Champion. The 2nd duel was basically ruled by Fiber Jar. If Shigeki Kitamura ran 1-2 copies of Soul Release, even if he sided them in, he could have stolen a victory. Fiber Jar went off 4 times in their 2nd Duel and if Shigeki pulled off a Soul Release just twice, it would be enough to cripple Ng Yu Leung. That's just an example.

I've covered what Soul Release counters, now lets see how it can help in different decks.

Hand and Monster Destruction
How many times have you used [Delinquent Duo] and your opponent drops their Sinister? In this scenario, it is a 1000 LP, -1 card trade for -1 card. In this example I count Sinister as if it never leaves the hand. Sinister will continually come back to bite you in the butt, so why not get rid of it. The trade off was 1000 LP, -2 cards for -2, 1 being infinite that are both removed from the game along with 0-4 more cards removed. That brings the trade about even, if not tipped in your own favor.

Zombie decks, Warrior Decks, ALO Decks, etc. have a lot of ways of getting back their monsters. You Raigeki a Levia Dragon- does that mean its gone? Not at all. Most likely, they used it's effect so you can get rid of a centerpiece of their deck; ALO. Your opponent has Marauding, Marauding, and a Goblin. Get Tribe and use Soul Release. You get the picture. You want things to be removed for good.

Removed from Play Decks
Obvious, I don't need to say why.

Deck out
If you play a deck out deck and your opponent runs Fiber, you're in trouble. Deck out decks can get a head start with Soul Release. In fact, they can use Fiber to their advantage. Also, since DoDs, lack brute force you can also stop your opponent from getting out their heavy hitters.

Gren Maju Da Eiza
Though these decks are scarce, Soul Release basically reads "Add 2000 attack to every [Gren Maju Da Eiza] on your side of the field." Remember that Soul Release says "Up to" on it, so if you have 1-4 you can still play it.

Fiber Jar
I've mentioned this countless times.

Morphing Jar
If you run [Morphing Jar] why not? Especially if you [Book of Taiyou] it first turn. Soul Release, in this situation can screw up their strategy. Experienced players take time to think of a strategy even when its not their turn. You'll give them new cards, get rid of their old ones, and potentially break little combos they have in their deck.

Reversal of Worlds (JPN only)
Lets assume you don't go first. Your opponent played some cards so they have a graveyard which will delay your victory. Its not a big threat, but you should kill them before they can pull anything off.

Dimension Fusion Dump your own, revive. Basically any deck with strong cards can get DF+SR+Painful Choice as a OHKO.

There are a lot more decks it fits into, but for the sake of time, I won't list them all.

Disadvantages:
-Doesn't affect the actual field.
-Almost useless early game.
-Bad top deck if your opponent has monsters.
-Requires other cards in the control of either you or your opponent to work at full effect.

I generally divide the game into 5 phases- Going First/Going second, Mid-Game Advantage/Mid-Game Disadvantage, Topdecking, and Late game. In each section I describe how effective the card/strategy is.

Going First: SR is not my first pick for an opening hand. The largest amount of cards that can be sent to the graveyard/removed from play with you going first in the average deck is 4. Soul Release will get rid of the 3 that hit the graveyard. You basically made a 4 for 4 trade so its not worth it. I'd probably set it.

Going Second: If your opponent pulls a Pot, Graceful, Painful Combo, on you, you can screw up their graveyard. With Painful Choice being used on the first turn, they most likely dropped Tributes and lvl.4 attacks and wanted you to give them Sinister. Remove their Jinzo and their Airknights for a "safer game." Since most people don't run multiples of the same tribute in a beatdown besides Fairy beatdown, you can now set your monsters without fear of Airknight trample and set your traps without fear of Jinzo..

Mid-Game Advantage: You are winning, so why not make sure it stays that way. Tribe, IMO is the biggest threat to somebody that is winning ESPECIALY in a single Sub-Type deck. Because of this, I usually get rid of searchers, Tribe, and anything else that could possibly stop my flow.

Mid-Game Disadvantage: Hope with all your heart that you draw this alongside a Raigeki/Dark Hole. It doesn't matter how many monsters they have. You Rai, they die for good. If your topdecking when you are losing, this is a dreadful card to draw.

Top Decking: When both you and your opponent are topdecking, this is a great time to stunt their monster revival. As demonstrated by Sand Trap in his regional report, a topdecked Monster Reborn can screw you over.

Late Game: Soul Release can work either way. Let's say you used up all of your recursion and your opponent doesn't play Fiber Jar or failed to use its effect. However, they still have a reborn in their deck. What do you do? Remove your best monsters and their best monsters so they can't be used against you.

Conclusion

The point is Soul Release is a great card that can be considered for main decks. People call it a "side-deck card" but ask yourself how many times have you sided it in? I play by the reverse side system. If start with an experimental card- if it doesn't work I side it out for something more reliable. The most common deck is chaos, so usually this card will work for you. SR is an excellent TeCh card IMO. You know what's so great about the word TeCh? YGO players don't know what it means. :-p Power to the old Pokemon Players. >_< CONTINUE VOTING!

Questions? Comments? E-mail at Suicune@optonline.net.