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Pojo's Yu-Gi-Oh Card of the Day
 

 

Despair from the Dark
 

When this card is sent directly from your hand or Deck to your Graveyard by your opponent's card effect, Special Summon this card to your side of the field.

Type - Zombie/Effect
Card Number
- DCR-023

Card Ratings
Traditional: 4
Advanced: 2.85

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale 1 being 
the worst.  3 ... average.  5 is the highest rating

Date Reviewed - 01.26.05

ExMinion OfDarkness Despair from the Dark

Suprise! Usually I end up not mentioning cards in earlier CotDs in a week that show up later in that same week -- but this time I've made an exception.

The reason I chose to review this card is because Konami decided to put TWO of it in a deck running so many high-level monsters already. I wanted to explore why.

Zombie decks, as a rule, have a lot of Special Summoning. Book of Life, Call of the Mummy, not to mention the Premature Burial and Call of the Haunted available to all decks. This means the Zombie deck can get away with running a couple extra Tribute monsters.

This card has one of the best Special Summon methods available -- if hit by hand destruction, it gets summoned. That means if Chaos Emperor Dragon's effect, Don Zaloog's effect, Delinquent Duo, Spirit Reaper's effect, Card Destruction, Morphing Jar...any of those bring him out. A free 2800-drop in this game can be devastating.

This card is better in Traditional Format. You heard me -- there is more uncontrolled hand discard there than in Advanced. This thing basically screws CED unless CED's burn damage was the finisher; Delinquent Duo backfires majorly, and more Dons are played there than in Advanced. I think it has a place in the deck in both formats, but maybe only 1 in Advanced, where 2 or even 3 in the Traditional Zombie would fit better.

4/5 Traditional
2.75/5 Advanced
 
Coin Flip Despair From The Dark was in Zombie's Madness for a damn good reason, and that's Vampire Genesis.

Besides that, Double Coston turns it into a 1-trib, it's the most devastating anti-control card in existence... "I attack you directly with Don Zaloog to take the last card out of your hand." "Thanks, I needed that. ::summons Despair From The Dark::" "Holy... I suppose I should sign my name under loser, then." "Why don't you, yes."
Okay, so it's not that big, but still, it will be REALLY funny to see them risk putting Spirit Reaper in attack and taking huge LP damage only to give you a free summon of a card on par with Dark Magician of Chaos.

So it's good with Double Coston (or vice-versa, to be more accurate), it's good anti-control tech, and it's just a pure ol' powerhouse. I mean, _3000_ DEF and 2800 ATK to go with... Simply beautiful.
Unfortunately, it cannot be swarmed out with Pyramid Turtle, but it can be pulled out by Call of the Mummy. However, Call of the Mummy is nowhere near as universally useful as Pyramid Turtle, so this thing's use drops. Use it if they're REALLY heavy on control with Drop Offs and stuff.

In a Zombie Deck (hey, one of the structures was a Zombie deck! Go figure!)
Sexy/5 Traditional (CED? Don? Reaper? Delinquent, Confiscation (it could be the only card in your hand...))
3.5/5 Advanced
 
Tranorix Despair from the Dark

And now we go back to the classics. Despair from the Dark is a very nice Zombie, boasting a solid 2800 ATK and an even more solid 3000 DEF. He’s Level 8, so he requires two-tributes, and he’s one of the few Zombies that isn’t Turtleable; but he makes up for that with his effect.

If your opponent discards DftD with his Don Zaloog, he’ll regret it – Despair’s coming back. If your opponent discard DftD with his Needle Worm, he’ll regret it – Despair’s coming back. If your opponent calls monster with his Vampire Lord (though why he would, I can’t imagine), he’ll regret it – Despair’s coming back. If you play Traditional, and you have Despair in your hand when your opponent blows up his Chaos Emperor Dragon, the duel is pretty much yours (unless, of course, the Dragon explosion finished you off).

Despair is amazing against Control Decks. Your opponent will be very reluctant to discard randomly from your hand (or Deck) if he knows you have Despair from the Dark – who wants to face a 2800 ATK monster, especially one that was summoned, essentially, for free? I’d recommend him at least as a Side Deck choice for all Zombie Decks, and he’s not a bad option for non-Zombie Side Decks either.

Traditional – CCCC: 3.5/5
Traditional – Zombie: 4/5
Advanced – CCWC: 3/5
Advanced – Zombie: 4.5/5
OVERALL RATING: 3.8/5
 
Snapper Despair from the Dark

Well by the looks of it we’ll be ending this week with some re-reviews of reprints from the new Structure Decks. Today’s card is Despair from the Dark, a monster whose effect was once much easier to activate.

Despair is a fairly basic model of what a Level 7 or higher monster should be; its 2800 ATK offers a good chance to destroy a monster, and its DEF is the stuff of legends. Despair is a Zombie, but it is sadly is too strong to qualify for some of the simple methods to Special Summon monsters of that Type (namely Pyramid Turtle). It can of course be used with Double Coston (which is also a Zombie), so Despair isn’t that bad off.

Despair’s effect is much easier to activate in Traditional Format, mainly because cards that cause Despair’s effect to activate are more common/legal.
So, without CEDragon, Delinquent Duo, or a widely played Confiscation, activating Despair’s ability to Special Summon itself from the Graveyard when sent there by an opponent’s card effect is a rare sight in Advanced.

Despair can work in a Zombie Deck as a beatstick, but don’t expect to activate its effect very often.

Advanced Format: 2/5. It might as well be a Normal Level 8 monster.
Traditional Format: 3/5. The effect should be relatively easy to pull off, but it may be dead weight in your hand due to the whole Level 8-edness.
Overall: 2.5/5.
Art: 2.5/5. I like Fear from the Dark better…
 
sHecKii
Despair From the Dark
 
*sigh*  you know these starter decks and tournament packs and even the set with the foil Pot of Greed are annoying me now.  My 1st Edition Vampire Lords are going down...DOWN...*sniff* i'm losing a lot of value on my expensive cards!  raWR!!!!  haha...
 
Anyways, here's an interesting SideDeck, even maindeck, card for Zombie decks and sometimes not even Zombie decks. 
 
First, just by his stats, he is HUGE.  I mean he is HUGE!  He's bigger than a Jinzo and most of the time THAT'S the only thing you have to worry about.  Black Luster Soldier is just the nuts soo we have to get over trying to kill that with a high attacking monster now. 
 
Second, his effect isn't bad.  Remember Electric Snakes?  (btw, i have to thank that first place dude that ran it in his SideDeck.  I got the idea from that dude dxP)  It's like that but you get this HUGE monster on the field.  It's kinda like running Hero Emerges or w/e it's called all the time (when they have a don zaloog and/or white magical hat...).  Ummm, yeah the effect ain't the hottest huh?! dxP
 
Third, he can be book of lifed, which is the monster reborn I guess right? 
 
Fourth, it can't be Pyramid Turtled soo yeah...he's either a dead card in hand or a nutty card in the grave.
 
I don't suggest running this card in a zombie deck.  Zombies win by beatdown and the ability to splash double tribute monsters (because you have double coston and such...)  You want better effect monsters than that.
 
Ratings:
Constructed - 2.5/5
Limited - 1/5
 

JAELOVE

Despair From the Dark

 

Rated For: Zombie Decks

 

Semi-zombie week continues with Despair From the Dark, a card that was far more effective in the pre-ban days of Delinquent Duo and Chaos Emperor Dragon. In today's slower paced environment, it'll take a skillful duelist indeed to have any sort of success with this bloated card.

 

The problem with Despair from the Dark is manifold, but mainly exhibits itself in the fact that you'll a) never get its effect off and b) have a difficult time summoning the guy anyways. See, I want you to begin thinking about cards in terms of the relative advantages they provide. There are certain break points in attack that become significant.

 

The first is from 1400-1500. Cards like Don Zaloog and Cannon Soldier suffer somewhat because they can be rammed into by Shining Angels and Mystic Tomatos. So any card with 1500 + i.e DDWL, Tribe, Breaker, will have a solid advantage.

 

The next "breakpoint" is 1700. This attack score means the card can handle all the spent 1600's, of which there is Tribe, Breaker, DDWL, Assailants, Enraged Battle Ox, and Strike Ninja. The breakpoint after that is 2000, which is only achieved by Zombyra, Giant Orc, Goblin Attack Force, and Berserk Gorilla (among playable monsters). This basically lets it rule the roost for 4 star monsters.

 

The next two break points are quite easy to understand. They involve the rather long line between 2400 to 3000. See, if you break 2400, in any way shape or form, there's no relative difference between, literally, 2450 to 2950, mainly because the only things worth killing at this level are Mobius, Jinzo, Ha Des, and a few others. So the breakpoint of field advantage after that is 3000, which only the mighty BLS achieves.

 

This long-winded explanation basically means one thing; a non-effect 2800 attack two-tribute monster is nearly unplayable and made worthless by the lack of good 2600-2950 attack monsters. The effect doesn't work with anything any more, except maybe a lucky Don Zaloog, Spirit Reaper, or Card Destruction (good luck).

 

So the real key to getting this bad boy out is through Zombie search, funded by Pyramid Turtle, leading into Double Coston. Then, you can normal summon the bad boy for one tribute cost. There are several problems to this approach. The problems are named Dark Magician of Chaos and Invader of Darkness. In fact, Swift Gaia, Fusilier Dragon, and such would also be better alternatives to Despair From the Dark.

 

Tribute summoning a Coston for this card is like tribute summoning for a Beast of Talwar over a Jinzo; it shouldn't ever happen. I'll show you why.

 

Advantage F/H: Sure, when he gets on the field, he's great. But even if you could simply bring him out via the Coston method, chew on this. Despair would cost the Pyramid Turtle to bring himself out. Vampire Lord and Ryu Kokki would simply be brought out from the deck, being searchable for free. So let's do some simple math. The value of tribute summoning for Despair- the value of special summoning Vampire Lord should equal zero, or a positive number. Unfortunately, that's not the case. Dump Despair.

Traditional Format Score:                               4/10

Advanced Format Score:                                 4/10

 

Best Draw for the Situation: Is a two tribute monster ever a good draw? See, Vampire Lord and Ryu Kokki's drawback (being a tribute monster) are mitigated by the fact Pyramid Turtle searches them out for free. Despair, on the other hand, will always require at least one resource cost as a tribute, perhaps more. By all accounts and purposes, that's bad.

Traditional Format Score:                               1.5/10

Advanced Format Score:                                 1.5/10

 

Attributes/Effect: Being a Zombie is good because he can be dumped and Book of Lifed. He also has an effect (at least), and is the strongest non-nomi Zombie in the game.

Traditional Format Score:                               5/10

Advanced Format Score:                                 5/10

 

Dependability: You're not going to get him out with his effect very often any more. Your best bet is to go with better zombies.

Traditional Format Score:                               1.5/10

Advanced Format Score:                                 1.5/10

 

The Bottom Line: Some people may ask why I'm so harsh on so many cards. It's because I want to help you all become the best duelists possible. Being a good duelist means being able to discern between playable, underrated cards and rightfully underrated garbage.

 

A BAD Score-------

Traditional Format Score                                1.5/5

Advanced Format Score:                                 1.5/5

 

FORCE System Suggestions:

++        Contributes to Field Control, Counter-Disruption

--          Weakens heavily On-Field Presence and Resource Replenishment.

 

 

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