Ancient Prophecy Preview: Release Restraint Wave

Ever found yourself facing a full back row of face-downs and wishing you could do something without triggering any traps? Well, with today's review, you can deal with any unpleasant surprises for a small cost:

Release Restraint Wave
Normal Spell
Select one face-up Equip Spell Card you control. Destroy the selected card and every face-down Spell and Trap your opponent controls.

Release Restraint Wave does have a few limitations, but the ability to destroy all your opponent's face-down spell/traps is just too alluring to pass up on. The main thing keeping this card from seeing much competitive play is the fact that you have to pay an equip spell in order to activate its effect. Firstly, equip spells aren't that popular and secondly, if your opponent manages to destroy the equip spell by (for example) chaining Mystical Space Typhoon to the activation of Release Restraint Wave, its effect will be negated.

Though it's still possible for your opponent to chain to this card, you can still clear away any unpleasant surprises your opponent may have in store for you. Give this card a try, and see if you can find a way around its weaknesses!

Duel with Honor!
~Geno

Ancient Prophecy Card Review: Arms Seahunter, Fishborg Gunner and Water Hazard

With all the new support for Water-types going around recently, I thought I'd preview three of the more potent additions to the Water deck arsenal. So without further ado, allow me to introduce:


Arms Seahunter
Water
Sea Serpent/Effect
If you control a face-up WATER monster, other than this card, negate the effect(s) of an Effect Monster that battles this card after damage calculation. If this card would be destroyed, you can destroy 1 face-up Level 3 or lower WATER monster you control instead.

Remember Ancient Gear Beast, way back when The Lost Millenium came out? The one with the ability to stop any searcher it destroys in its tracks? Well, this card is essentialy the same - it negates the effect of any monster is destroys in battle so long as another Water type is on the field. This effect is very useful when dealing with unknown face-downs. If you're afraid Sangan is face-down on your opponent's side of the field, send your Arms Seahunter in to take care of it.
Arms Seahunter's second effect seems to be designed with A Legendary Ocean in mind. In case you've forgotten what A Legendary Ocean does, it basically gives water-types a minor boost to attack and defense, and - more importantly - lowers the level of all water types in the hand and on the field by one. With A Legendary Ocean, any level four or lower monster can be tributed for Arms Seahunter's effect.

Next up is:


Fishborg Gunner
Water
Fish/Tuner
If you control a face-up level 3 or lower WATER monster, you can discard 1 card to Special Summon this card from your Graveyard. If this card is used as a Synchro Material Monster, the other Synchro Material Monsters must all be WATER monsters.

This little guy has already seen play in the OCG, often being used in some form of OTK deck. It even helped pilot a frog deck to victory at a Konami tournament, beating a Blackwing deck. It's easy to get this monster onto the field, and it can really help speed some synchros up. Special summon this, and you instantly have the materials you need for an Armory Arm. This card will definately help speed up any water deck.


Water Hazard
Continuous Spell
If you control no monsters, you can Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower WATER monster from your hand. This effect can only be used once per turn.

Ah, the Call of the Mummy for water types. Special summons are always welcome, especially when they're free, and this card does just that. For those who enjoy the classic ALO decks, use this to special summon a monster to the field and tribute it for Levia-Dragon - Daedalus for a quick field wipe. Keep in mind that A Legendary Ocean decreases the level of water monsters in your hand by one, so you can special summon a level 5 water monster from your hand when A Legendary Ocean is on the field. For those who prefer to synchro summon, this card is also very useful.

These cards are all excellent additions to any water deck. Fishborg Gunner is a very potent card - those who are innovative enough will find many ways to use it effectively.

Next time: Release Restraint Wave, the next Harpie's Feather Duster

Duel with Honor!
~Geno

Ancient Prophecy Card Review: Black Shining G

Continuing on with my previous article on defeating Synchros, I'll be previewing a cards whose sole purpose is to kill synchros:


Black Shining G
Earth
Insect/Effect
When 1 Synchro Monster is Special Summoned to your opponent's side of the field, you can remove from play this card from your Graveyard to destroy that 1 Synchro Monster.

Black Shining G will likely find its way onto the sidedecks of many duelists; with its searchability and simple effect, this card is a great counter to any synchro. When it's in the graveyard, your opponent won't dare try to synchro. If they do, they waste a lot of cards just to deal with the threat of this one card.
There are lots of ways to get this into the graveyard, though this card will most likely see play in lightsworn decks.

Keep in mind, however, that Stardust Dragon will still be able to activate its effect a moment before Shining Black G destroys it.

Black Shining G is an excellent addition to any duelist's arsenal, and will likely see some play in the coming months.

Next time: Ancient Prophecy came out with some nice water support, and I'll be previewing a couple of the more potent ones.

Duel with Honor!
~Geno

Ancient Prophecy Card Review: Unity of Family

Hi this is Gadzooks here. This time I’m going to take a peek in to the new never before seen booster: Ancient Prophecy, to be released on the 1^st of September 2009 right after the sneak preview event for it on the 15^th – 16^th August. Today we will be taking a peek before the official release date on the card Unity of Family.

Unity of Family

Spell / Continuous (Speed 1)

If all of the monsters in your Graveyard are of only 1 Type, all face-up monsters you control of that Type gain 800 ATK.

Just by reading it, without a doubt it is an almighty boost for type-based decks. Just shove it in any deck and then GADZOOKS you’ve got an 800 ATK boost. It is the best all-round support you’ve can’t miss for sure.

As the picture implies it is one of the best supports for the puny Ojamas just stick this one hell of a card and out comes Ojama Country, then Ojamas don’t seem so puny after all. With an 1800 ATK or a whooping 3800 ATK (for Ojama king) now let’s see those Ojamas deal some pain.

As I have said before, this card supports and revolves type-themed decks. So what happens if your deck is not one type? Say for example you want to stash a D.D Warrior lady with a Sangan and or a Breaker the Magical Warrior? Some people will say why bother with putting that card in? But I say Zombie World there you have it problemo solved. Also it gives you a great advantage to your deck since its like saying “non-zombie deck? Whoa stop right there and walk slowly thru”, where as yours will be whooping them all the way. Takes the speed of the duel to the level you wanted all the time. As well as that seeing that there are a lot of zombie supports, Zombie Master, Il Blud, Book of Life and Mezuki just to name a few by allowing you to resurrect a few “zombies” oops I meant warriors such as Exiled force ... Etc. I mean with the amount of warrior supports and zombie supports out there only your imagination is the limit also with Doomkaiser Dragon on the field your opponents ace monsters are as good as yours.

Use this card in a Blackwing Deck. You can get a Winged Beast monster in your Graveyard easily by using Icarus Attack, Destoying your opponent's cards, and leaving a possible direct attack for your beefed up Blackwing monsters.

You can use this card in a Plant deck, tributing a Lonefire Blossom will easily give your summoned plant monster an attack boost.

Use this card in a Frog Deck or Alien Decks. Since as all the monsters are Aqua and Reptile respectively so therefore it won't be hard to get the ATK bonus.

Unfortunately it has its falls because it does cause a disruption for Synchro monsters, avoid using Tuner and Synchro Monsters that are not of the same type as the monsters in your deck. Fortunately for pure Dragon decks, they don't have this problem, with Magna Drago, White Stone of Legend and Debris Dragon, they are on the clear.

Next time we will be heading over to yet another card with in Ancient Prophecy third incarnation of the kuribo family Kuribon.

If there are any other concerns please feel free to contact me at: paddy123234ex@hotmail.com

So until next time

GADZOOKS!!! Huston we have a problem

~Gadzooks

Raging Battle Card Review: Dark End Dragon and Light End Dragon

For this last card review, I'll be looking at Dark End Dragon and Light End Dragon, two dragon synchro monsters which have very powerful, but costly, effects. I realize that Dark End Dragon is not a card in Raging Battle, but the two go together. Dark End Dragon can now be won at Shonen Jump Championships. Anyway, on to the effects!

Dark End Dragon
Dark
Dragon/Synchro
1 Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner DARK monsters
Once per turn, you can have this card lose 500 ATK and DEF, and send 1 monster your opponent controls to the Graveyard.

Light End Dragon
Light
Dragon/Synchro/Effect
1 Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner LIGHT monsters
When this face-up card attacks, you can have it lose 500 ATK and DEF and have the opponent's monster that this card is battling lose 1500 ATK and DEF until the End Phase.

In a deck based around these two monsters, the preferred method for summoning these two monsters would be to use Chaos End Master to destroy an opponent's monster in battle, and use its effect to special summon Sphere of Chaos. Because Sphere of Chaos counts as both a Dark and a Light monster, you'll have the option of summoning either Light End Dragon or Dark End Dragon.
You'll want to pick Dark End Dragon when you have multiple monsters on the field facing several monsters on your opponent's side of the field. Dark End Dragon can clear away the monsters, and the rest of your team can attack.
On the other hand, Light End Dragon specializes more in taking down single monsters whilst dealing damage. Both are pretty cool, but on the whole, Dark End Dragon is the one you'll be choosing more, since it is capable of taking down up to five monsters once it is summoned. Furthermore, note that it does not destroy monsters - it merely sends them to the graveyard. Stardust? Useless. Prime Material Dragon? Helpless to prevent this.

Both Dragons reduce their own life points in order to activate their effects, similar to Light and Darkness Dragon. This is obviously meant to be a hinderance, in order to make their effects more balanced (especially in the case of Dark End Dragon), but this effect isn't all bad. In fact, it just makes the two even more fun to play, as they can combine other cards to make the best of their effects. Here are some of the ways you can take advantage of or bypass their attack reducing abilities:

1. By removing it from the field temporarily, you allow its attack stat to return to normal after it returns - use Interdimensional Matter Transporter for this. Another card in the upcoming pack Ancient Sanctuary has a similar effect, but I'll leave that for next time.

2. Reverse Trap can turn very nasty after the attack of the dragons have dropped very low. Your opponent will no doubt attempt to take advantage of this and attack them when they're low on attack, so that will be the perfect time to activate Reverse Trap, turning the tables on your opponent completely! A Light End Dragon with 100 attack would turn into a 5100 attack monster, and Dark End Dragon would have the potential to destroy ten monsters! (Not that that's likely to happen, though). You could activate this on your turn to boost the attack of Dark End Dragon, use it to sweep your opponent's monsters away and attack for a devestating hit to your opponent's life points.

3. In the case of Dark End Dragon, you could use Crush Card Virus to tribute Dark End Dragon after it's down 600 or less attack.

4. By boosting the attack of Light End Dragon or Dark End Dragon with something like Rush Recklessly, you are essentially getting a 1-for-1 tradeoff, which isn't too bad.

A final word of caution: When you activate Light End Dragon or Dark End Dragon's dragon, if they have fewer than 500 attack when their effect resolves, nothing will happen.

Well, that wraps up my card reviews for Raging Battle. I hope you enjoyed the series. Enjoy the new cards you get, search for new ways to take on the big decks, and most importantly, have fun!

Duel with Honor!
~Geno

Raging Battle Card Review: Chaos End Master and Sphere of Chaos

Today, I'll be reviewing two cards: Chaos End Master and Sphere of Chaos:

Chaos End Master
Light
Warrior/Tuner
If this card destroys an opponent's monster by battle and sends it to the Graveyard, you can Special Summon 1 Level 5 or higher monster with 1600 ATK or less from your Deck.

Chaos End Master is a very interesting level 3 Tuner. With its ability allowing you to special summon many high level monsters, this card goes well with many deck types. Yubel gets a very nice searcher to help speed up the process of getting it onto the field. Destiny Hero Malicious gets yet another easy summon, and Satellite Cannon has just recieved a nice method getting it out on the field. Being a warrior also helps, as warrior have by far more support than any other type. Being a light is also a huge plus, as Honest will give it the attack power it needs to defeat another monster.
There are numerous applications for this card, but the card that is really meant to be summoned by Chaos End Master is Sphere of Chaos:

Sphere of Chaos
Dark
Machine/Effect
This card's Attribute is also treated as LIGHT. Once per turn, this card cannot be destroyed by battle. When this card is Tribute Summoned, you can add 1 Level 3 or lower monster from your Deck to your hand.

Looking at Sphere of Chaos' stats, you might be rather underwhelmed. A level 5 monster with 1600 attack won't be winning any popularity contests just by itself. However, what makes this card special is its first effect, which treats its attribute as Light. If you special summon this monster with Chaos End Master, you immediately have a level 3 tuner and a level 5 monster which acts as both a Light and a Dark monster. This lets you have the choice of either choosing to synchro summon Light End Dragon or Dark End Dragon, which is a plus. Apart from being used to synchro summon Light End Dragon and Dark End Dragon, this dual-attribute ability is also handy whilst it is in the graveyard. With Chaos Sorceror being put back at 1 in the current ban list, Sphere of Chaos becomes even more useful, being able to pose as either of the two attributes needed to special summon Chaos Sorceror.
The protect-from-battle ability is nice at times, and the searching ability which comes into play when it is tribute summoned is also very handy.

Chaos End Master is a great card to use for summoning Stardust Dragon or Red Dragon Archfiend. In terms of card advantage, you also get a huge bonus: your opponent loses a monster when Chaos End Master destroys it, and you get another card for it, which may potentially net you even more card advantage.

I'll be reviewing Dark End Dragon and Light End Dragon together for my final card review for Raging Battle. Both are powerful level 8 monsters which go hand in hand with Chaos End Master and Sphere of Chaos.

Duel with Honor!
~Geno

Raging Battle Card Review: G.B. Hunter

G.B. Hunter
Earth
Warrior/Effect
While this card remains face-up on the field, cards cannot be returned from the field to the Deck.

G.B. Hunter is, as you might have guessed from the name, an anti-Gladiator Beast card. It prevents cards from being returned from the field to the deck, and thus is obviously very handy for stopping Gladiator Beasts from swapping in and out using their effects. And its usefulness doesn't just stop there - it's also handy against Raiza the Wind Monarch and Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, two very popular cards in the current metagame.

The applications of this card are very obvious, so there isn't much to say about this - its high defence is good enough to keep most of the Gladiator Beasts from breaking through, but Heart of Clear Water is a very nice backup card, since most Gladiator Beast decks depend on their monster effects to target cards and destroy them. Heart of Clear Water doesn't only protect G.B. Hunter from battle, but it also defends against any cards your opponent may direct against it.

Next time you get irritated by a Gladiator Beast deck, pop a few copies of this in your deck - it might just give you the edge you need to win.

Next time - A two in one card review! Chaos End Master, a combolicious monster that has loads of synergy with the new 'chaos' monsters in Raging Battle, and Sphere of Chaos, a card that goes hand in hand with Chaos End Master.

Duel with Honor!
~Geno

Raging Battle Card Review: Earthbound Immortal Aslla Piscu

Hey, readers. Sorry I left this card review until after the Sneak Preview, but I’ve been very busy. Hope you don’t mind - I'm making up for it with an extra long article.

Those of you who attended the Sneak Preview recently might have had the good fortune to draw one of the Earthbound Immortals. The Earthbound Immortals are the Sacred Beasts of Yu-Gi-Oh 5D’s; used by the Dark Signers, they are powerful two-tribute monsters which are bound to the earth, and so disappear when there are no face-up field spells. However, despite this weakness, their tremendous attack coupled with their practically broken effects more than make up for it.

Earthbound Immortal Aslla Piscu is the hummingbird Earthbound Immortal. The idea of a huge hummingbird may not seem very scary, but it’s just as they say – don’t judge a monster by its appearance. Here’s the effect for those unfamiliar with it:

Earthbound Immortal Aslla Piscu
Dark
Winged Beast/Effect
There can only be 1 face-up "Earthbound Immortal" monster on the field. If there is no face-up Field Spell Card, destroy this card. Your opponent cannot select this card as an attack target. This card can attack your opponent directly. When this card is removed from the field except by its own effect, destroy all monsters your opponent controls and inflict 800 damage to your opponent for each monster destroyed.

One of the most notable things about the Earthbound Immortals is that, unlike so many other powerful monsters with strong effects, they can be special summoned to the field – and there are about a million cards out there which can let you do just that.

With 2500 attack and defense points, it does have rather low stats for a two-tribute monster. Fortunately, you won’t be using it to battle with other monsters much, due to its first effect, which prevents it from being selected as an attack target. This is rather handy, as high attack monsters have been on the rise ever since synchro monsters were introduced. With this as the lone monster on your side of the field, your opponent will find it difficult to reach your life points, since they can’t attack Earthbound Immortal Aslla Piscus directly. The ever-popular Goyo Guardian can’t snatch it away; nor can D.D. Assailant/Warrior Lady/Warrior purposely crash into this to remove it from play.

Aslla Piscu’s second effect is also worthy of note; being able to attack directly, Earthbound Immortal Aslla Piscu can easily take a huge chunk out of your opponent’s life points with its 2500 attack points. Nothing much else can be said about this, except perhaps a suggestion to combine this direct attacking capability with Robbin’ Goblin to net even more card advantage.

And finally, we come to Aslla Piscu’s third effect, the ability that really makes it tick. When Aslla Piscu is removed from the field in any way at all (barring its own effect), it immediately destroys all of your opponent’s monsters and deals 800 damage.
For those of you who remember the old days when Chaos Emperor Dragon ran rampant, doesn’t this effect seem remarkably similar? It has the potential to destroy multiple monsters, and deal quite a considerable chunk of damage in the process. This will definitely make your opponent think twice about how to destroy Aslla Piscu. Even Compulsory Evacuation Device and Dimensional Prison aren’t entirely fool-proof when faced against this ability.
There are many ways you can make use of this effect – maybe you can use it as insurance against the possibility that your opponent might find a way to remove your Earthbound Immortal from the field. Perhaps you can find some way to trigger its effect by yourself, and clear the way for a clean direct attack. It’s up to you.

Dealing with the weakness of the Earthbound Immortals can be a problem at times, what with the number of spell/trap destruction cards out there nowadays. But there are also several ways of dealing with this. Field Barrier is one. Magic Reflector is another. Or, if you don’t think either of these are viable, you can always toss this in certain themed decks which have lasting field spells (Ancient City – Rainbow Ruins and Magical Citadel of Endymion comes to mind)

To wrap things up, I’ve got a few suggestions for cards you can combine with this:

Ojama Trio
Yep, Ojama Trio. Activate this, chuck three Ojama Tokens over to your opponent’s side of the field, and destroy them with Aslla Piscu’s effect to deal 3300 damage in one go.

Interdimensional Matter Transporter
Has your opponent just activated Smashing Ground in an attempt to trade their lone monster for your Aslla Piscu? Chain this card, and protect your Immortal whilst clearing your opponent’s monster. Need to get rid of the five or so scapegoat tokens protecting your opponent’s life points so you can sweep in with your field of monsters? Activate this during your opponent’s End Phase on Aslla Piscu to get rid of them, retrieve Aslla Piscu and attack directly during your turn.

Well, that wraps up another great card review. Have fun looking through the cards you draw from Raging Battle, and feel free to contact me! I’d love to hear any stories you might have, or answer any questions you might want to ask.

Next: G.B. Hunter: the counter to Gladiator Beasts we’ve all been looking for?

Duel with Honor!
~Geno

Raging Battle Card Review: Double Tool D&C

Card preview time! Today, it's Double Tool D&C, an equip card made specifically for Morphtronics and Power Tool Dragon. Here you go:

Double Tool D&C
Equip Spell
Equip only to a "Power Tool Dragon" or Level 4 or higher Machine-Type "Morphtronic" monster you control. ● During your turn: The equipped Monster gains 1000 ATK. When the equipped monster attacks, negate the effect(s) of the attack target during the Battle Phase. ● During your opponent's turn: Your opponent cannot select a monster you control as an attack target, except the equipped monster. Your opponent's monster that battles with the equipped monster is destroyed at the end of the Damage Step.

Obviously, this card works great with Power Tool Dragon - equip it, and you immediately have a 3300 attack behemoth which can negate the effects of monsters it destroys. Plus, with this equipped, Power Tool Dragon protects every other monster on the field from attacks, and destroys any monster it battles with.
Double Tool D&C has the potential to counter many popular cards nowadays. Its first effect counters the elemental searchers, Sangan and Appretice Magician, to name just a few. Its second counters monsters which absolutely refuse to leave the field through battle - namely, Spirit Reaper and Marshmallon.

Of course, Double Tool D&C's usefulness doesn't stop at Power Tool Dragon; it also has great synergy with the Morphtronics. Apart from giving a rather nice 1000 attack points, it combos well with Morphtronic Boarden. Equip this to another Morphtronic on the field while Morphtronic Boarden is in defense mode, and it'll become indestructable while protectig Morphtronic Boarden at the same time. Throw in another Morphtronic Boarden in attack mode, and your opponent will soon be under a lot of pressure.

Well, that's the card review for today. Up next: Earth Immortal Aslla Piscu, one of the seven Earth Immortals, evil beings used by the Dark Signers in their battle against the Signers.

Duel with Honor!
~Geno

Raging Battle Card Review: Power Tool Dragon

The cover card for Raging Battle is Power Tool Dragon, Leo's key card. Power Tool Dragon is a level 7 synchro monster which has the potential to give equip decks a real boost by giving them more searching capabilities. Here is its effect:

Power Tool Dragon
Earth
Machine/Synchro/Effect
1 Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner monsters
Once per turn during your Main Phase, you can select 3 Equip Spell Cards from your Deck. Your opponent chooses one at random. Add the chosen card to your hand and shuffle the others into your Deck. If this card would be destroyed, you can send an Equip Spell Card equipped to this card to the Graveyard to prevent this card from being destroyed.

With the ability to add an equip card to your hand every turn, not only does Power Tool Dragon give you card advantage every turn, but it also gives you an equip card which can be used in many other ways. Perhaps you need a card to discard for a cost - in that case, use Power Tool Dragon to search for an equip, and discard it. Maybe you need a small boost to beat that behemoth of a monster your opponent's controlling. Use Power Tool Dragon to supply that small boost. Perhaps a Spirit Reaper is standing between you and your opponent. In that case, search for an equip with Power Tool Dragon, and give it to Spirit Reaper, causing it to self-destruct.

And Power Tool Dragon isn't just a useful searcher. It has 2300 attack points, which may seem mediocre, but with its effect, you can equip a card to it every turn, boosting its attack and adding another layer of protection with every card equipped.
You can even combine Power Tool Dragon with Limiter Removal: activate Limiter Removal, boosting its attack to 4600, then use its effect to equip itself. You'll have a very powerful Power Tool Dragon and better still, Power Tool Dragon will protect itself from destruction with its own ability!

Have fun with this card if you manage to draw it - it can be a lot of fun.

Next time - Double Tool D&C, the equip of choice for Power Tool Dragon and Morphtronics.

Duel with Honor!
~Geno