[Leaderboard] JamesMuddy vs .Thar

[Nathanael D. Striker]

Rules:
All Leaderboard rules apply.
First to 3 votes or most votes by March 7th, 11:59PM PST wins.
All voters must elaborate on their votes.
Both contestants and myself have the right to refuse votes, but must explain why we don't accept it.
Written cards are allowed. (Must be in written format, cards with blank pictures are not acceptable)
Create a lifelink-like monster.

Rewards:
The winner gets a rep from the loser.
All voters get a rep for voting.

Card A

When this card deals battle damage to your opponent: Gain life points equal to the amount of damage dealt; your opponent can send the top 2 cards of their Deck to their Graveyard to negate this effect. Your opponent can also send the top 3 cards from their Deck to the Graveyard to reduce any damage dealt by this card to 0.

 

Card B

This card cannot be Special Summoned. This card returns to its owner's hand during the End Phase of the turn it is Normal Summoned or flipped face-up. If this card destroys a Defence Position monster by battle, draw 1 card. When this card deals battle damage to your opponent, gain LP equal to the damage dealt.

[Trebuchet MS]

Card A

First up, I'm going to have to riff on the OCG here. While simply reading the card lets one understand how it's supposed to work, the crafty are likely to exploit the wording as it is. Due to how the colon and semicolon are placed, the lifegain can be interpreted to happen at the same time a cost is paid, meaning it's already triggered by the time the opponent can try to negate it, and rendering the attempt to neutralize said effect moot.

 

That aside, your opponent gets to self-mill 3 to become immune to damage coming from this card. This amount is a relatively small price, if Naturia Beast or Kuribandit taught us anything. So not only do we have a subpar LV6 monster, it also gives the opponent complete control over whether they want to actually worry about this card or not, in addition to letting them freely set up from it.

 

I understand this card's probably supposed to be drinking either the opponent's blood or the opponent's Deck, but letting them have full control over whether they want to set up their Graveyard interactions is not going to end well.

 

Card B

For a 2-Tribute Spirit, we expect great things to come from this investment. Yamata Dragon and Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi set the standard with impressive stats and effects at the same time. This card comes close, but makes up for it with 2 separate effects, neither of which is an on-Summon trigger, meaning there's good reason to keep this on the field.

 

The lifelink ability is solid. With far better stats than Fushi no Tori it will go far and create massive LP swings if left to attack unimpeded. If it doesn't, by crushing a Defense Position Monster, you still get something by drawing a single card. Not too shabby.

 

My only gripe is that its art doesn't quite conform to Spirit standards with their special background, but that's a very trivial thing.

 

The Verdict

Card B gets the vote.

 

Card A might have been going for a sadistic decision gimmick, but since everyone and their mother these days loves Graveyard recovery, you've essentially given your opponent almost complete control of the game. Letting an opponent control whether your cards work or not is a risky decision.

[Nathanael D. Striker]

0-1 Card B

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

Card A basically gives the opponent options to shut off any LP gain or damage altogether, at the cost of their Deck resources.

Just as a sidenote that because certain Decks like the Graveyard nowadays, it just leads to more graveyard setup.

 

Play this against LS; they can self-mill themselves for JD and whatever. Zombies dump stuff for whatever reasons; Shaddolls get to trigger a ton of their effects among other things.

 

So in essence, this card is a double-edged sword; one that hurts you a lot more than the opponent in most cases.

 

----

Card B gets a free draw if it kills a Defense Position monster, and gains LP without any real drawbacks; save for the usual Spirit clause.

 

 

Hands-down, I have to give it to card B.

Card A, while potentially helpful for draining resources, does a lot more harm than good; especially with the abundance of Graveyard-reliant strategies.

 

(LS, Shaddolls, Nekroz [see Ritual Spells, Mirror and others], Infernoids, Zombies, etc.)

[Nathanael D. Striker]

0-2 Card B

[VampireofDarkness]

Card A:
Sometimes I feel that people forget that sending cards from the Deck to the Graveyard isn't quite as threatening as it used to be. With the format going ever faster, this card feels more like something that should have been relevant in 2005 rather than now. It costs 1 tribute and has 2000 ATK, and that makes it even more of a letdown. As Gadjiltron mentioned, Kuribandit and Naturia Beast have proven time and time again that sometimes costs like this can only benefit the Deck. We even have a card that lets you mill 3 on Normal Summon that is Semi Limited in the form of Card Trooper. That should say a lot

Card B:
While I think this monster should be a Sea Serpent and in no way reflects the Spirit cards whatsoever, this card is quite a nice addition to the tribute roster that the Deck never asked for, but would surely welcome. It also fits the flavor of Yamata Dragon and Hino Kago Tsuchi by giving effects during the Battle Phase. If you attack an Attack Position monster, you gain LP. If you attack a Defense Position monster, you get a draw. That's quite the card if you ask me, and well worth the resources you would invest into.

Overall, Card B takes the vote. While A made a decent attempt at trying to have your opponent in a situation where they always lose, it's outdated characture holds back a decent idea.

[Nathanael D. Striker]

0-3 JamesMuddy

I guess Thar was right about his first round curse, but double elimination should help...