Between Scylla & Charybdis

[Trebuchet MS]

[spoiler Lore]When your opponent declares an attack while they control 2 or more monsters: Your opponent chooses 1 of these effects.
*Shuffle the attacking monster into the Deck.
*Destroy all monsters they control, except the attacking monster.[/spoiler]

 

I love creating cards that force your opponent into a sadistic choice. The decision they make can give you hints about what they have that you can't intuit otherwise.

 

Here, this card is based off The Odyssey. You may know the name better as the proverb "between a rock and a hard place". I've created this for a 1v1 before, and toned it down a bit from its previous version. The choice presented is similar to the one Odysseus makes: to either put his ship at risk of being swallowed by the whirlpool Charybdis (the first effect), or risk getting wrecked by the tentacled monster Scylla (the second effect).

 

Choosing Charybdis is similar to having the attacking monster get sucked into a whirlpool - sure, it will get spat out as you draw the monster from your Deck, but it will take a while before that happens.

 

Choosing Scylla would have all other monsters destroyed, akin to how Odysseus chose to pass by Scylla first and lost 6 men to the monster. The attack will connect, but at the cost of the rest of the monsters available.

 

The earlier contest version of this card was a Counter Trap, and its Scylla choice sent the monsters to the Graveyard rather than destroying them. It was like that to make this card even harder to counter, and actually force the opponent to choose between the two rather than simply cheese the decision. (e.g. spring Aegis of the Ocean Dragon Lord and then choose Scylla to neuter the card) I've later realized that allowing the opponent the option to cheese the decision can still give valuable clues on their non-public information, or at the very least waste protection that would have been better spent.

[-Dom-]

Yeah, I think that I voted against your card in the 1v1 because of those two reasons: that it was so hard to counter, and that it sent to the grave rather than destroyed. Even without these two factors, I think it's still a good versatile card, helping against big bosses immune to destruction or being swept by multiple monsters. As for the second effect, can they still pick it when they don't control other monsters? I assume not, but I'm just making sure.

 

Overall, a nice card (with nice flavour) that I could see being run in quite a few decks that run traps. You sir, will be getting a priceless rep.

[Armoire]

I really, really like this. It isn't too abusable and it's easily countered.

As Empoledom mentioned, the only problem is if your opponent only has one monster, since they can't really choose. So maybe give it a clause like: "You can only activate this card if your opponent controls 2 or more monsters."  (Just a suggestion, so they actually make choices)
But really, this card is amazing and  would definitely would see play in many decks, since it's splashable. Also, I'm loving its flavor. Keep up the amazing work!

[Trebuchet MS]

Updated with activation condition that requires opponent to control 2 or more monsters.

 

It would mean that conservative play dodges this card entirely, but it will always ensure that they have to make a (sort-of) meaningful decision.