Cyber Dragon is a Level 5 Light/Machine/Effect Monster with 2100 ATK and 1600 DEF.  I won’t break it down quite like I normally due, because Cyber Dragon is a card whose effect is so important to understanding its stats.  The effect is simple: if you have no Monsters on your side of the field, and your opponent has at least one, you can Special Summon this Monster.

 

Now, I am saddened by having to explain that this card is broken.

 

What?  Why?

 

The nature of this game is to clear the opponent’s Monsters from their field every other turn or so.  As such, you will rarely be unable to Special Summon Cyber Dragon unless you are winning already (and sometimes, even then).  Effectively, Cyber Dragon becomes a Level 4 Monster that in exchange for being able to Special Summon it most of the time, will require you Tribute a Monster to Summon it the rest of the time.  This does two things: elevates the minimum ATK needed to maintain field presence to 2100 (as Berserk Gorilla made 2000 a requirement).  So we have another Special Summon Monster that fits into most decks and raises the bar on viable ATK points even higher?  Ugh.  It even has a good 1600 DEF which means that forcing it facedown via Tsukuyomi or Book of Moon isn’t going to be enough to take it out without a good beatstick to deliver the final blow (or Nobleman of Crossout).

 

To make matters worse, Cyber Dragon is a Light Monster.  Now, I believe that even if it had been a different Attribute, it still would be in almost every deck (maybe one less copy).  Since it is a Light Monster, and combos so well with Spirit Reaper, it’s usually a safe bet that a deck will have two of each.  Factor in Magician of Faith, Breaker the Magical Warrior, and Sangan, and that’s four each of Light and Dark, enough to make at least a single copy of Chaos Sorcerer viable for your deck.  So while I don’t think that Chaos Sorcerer is truly broken, thanks in part to Cyber Dragon its so easy to see it in just about every deck.

 

For completeness, I’ll say that it is nice that Machines get a good card, but then again they aren’t really hurting for single Tribute Monsters and Cyber Dragon and its Fusions are a large part of why Limiter Removal is restricted to one.  Thanks to Proto-Cyber Dragon, one can get out the Fusions without needing Cyber Dragon itself, so I really think this card needs to be banned.  Like most cards, restricting it would impact the game some, but it’d just make the cheapness of a Cyber Dragon open less common.  This card might have been okay had the effect worked the way others have told me that it works in the GX series: the effect just allows it to be Normal Summoned sans Tribute.  That might have just toned it down enough to have made it “safe”.  Oh well.

 

Ratings

 

Traditional       : 3.75/5 – It’s been a while since I really played Traditional, so I can’t be sure, but I think this should work out pretty good there still.  After all, it’s even more likely your opponent will be clearing your side of the field.

 

Advanced        : 4.5/5 – Yes, it could be more overpowered, but thankfully it isn’t so it gets this score for being so useful and rarely being a dead draw (or should I say remaining a dead draw for long).