[Leaderboard] Aman Indra vs DovaCardMaker

[Nathanael D. Striker]

Rules:
All Leaderboard rules apply.
First to 3 votes or most by 1:45pm PST on 12/27 wins.
If there are no votes after the deadline, next vote wins.
All voters must elaborate on their votes.
The contestants and I have the right to refuse votes, but must explain why we don't accept it.

Contestants have 12 hours after the last vote is cast to refuse any vote within reason.
Written cards are allowed. (Must be in written format, cards with blank pictures are not acceptable)

Create a Level 5 or higher Aqua-Type Fusion monster. No Fusion Pendulum monsters.

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

Card A

1 Dragon-Type monster + 1 Aqua-Type monster
If this card is Fusion Summoned while a Field Spell is face-up on the field: You can Special Summon one of the materials used to Summon this card from your Graveyard. Once per turn, during either player's turn: You can move all Aqua-type monsters you control to your Graveyard until the next Standby Phase. This card cannot be targeted by card effects while you control another Aqua-type monster.

 

Card B

2 Water monsters

Must be either Fusion Summoned, or Special Summoned by sending the above cards you control to the Graveyard (in which case you do not use "Polymerization") and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. Once per turn, during either player's turn: You can discard 1 card and pay 800 Life Points; Target and destroy a face-up card your opponent controls. Once per turn, when this card destroys a monster by battle or it's own effect: You can add 1 Level 4 or lower WATER monster with 1800 or less ATK from your Deck to your Hand. Unaffected by other card effects during the battle phase.

[ENMaker]

The requirements for Foldrai make it terribly inaccessible and that hurts it straight off. The fact it can only be summoned off Poly isn't necessarily a bad thing when a card is in an archetype around fusion summoning, but for a generic it's painful. I cannot for the life of me think of a deck that uses both dragons and aquas, let alone one that can go for fusion plays.

 

I know this is a lot of focus on a small element but it's one that is key for any extra deck card, and fusions in particular, because you want to be sending things that like being sent to the graveyard to offset the inherent minus of the actual summoning process. This, as far as I am aware, fits in no currently existing deck. However, I'll leave this here and go onto the effect so as not to be rambling blindly forever.

 

Right away it remedies one of the problems I referred to in that it gives you a +1 on summon, but only under condition, and only bringing monsters from the Graveyard. I feel like this is a huge missed opportunity to have given the card actual synergy with Fusion Gate, it would have made it a far more interesting and flexible to allow it revive banished materials, and there's no Miracle Fusion-esque card for Aqua or Water fusions so it'd only have served to give more versatility and not a heavy minus.

 

The second effect, I'm sorry but I don't understand it at all. Why? It only triggers one Mermail and no there's only one Aqua Atlantean and this does nothing with it, all it does is protect your stuff from a Raigeki or whatever but it does at the cost of clearing your own board, as in what Raigeki is being activated to do anyway, so it's not going to be helpful against the OTKs that follow. I mean if you want to just get your own stuff off the field on your turn to make a big play I suppose maybe it has some use but what kind of play that would be and what deck would be making it eludes me.

 

Anti-targeting is never a bad effect to to have but really with the way this card is it'd need it to be a permanent and non-conditional anti-target so it doesn't just die straight off. Like I understand that it can protect itself from non-targeting with the self-resurrecting mass suicide effect and that if it was also anti-target it'd be annoying but that's all it would be, annoying, not particularly good, and not worth the odd deck-building that would be required to facilitate it.

 

However, as this has been made to require those materials and I know that neither Aman or Dova are idiots, I know there is likely a deck that includes both types and does make fusions and I'm being ignorant of it and if so, these criticisms are open to re-evaluation. Based on what I am aware of though, this seems incredibly underwhelming.

 

And onto Dragobyss we go.

 

Completely generic materials, can summon without Poly, it's straight away something that Mermails/Atlanteans/wacky Nekroz can use easily. The targeting kill effect is alright, and with the discard triggering Mermails/Atlanteans and such the life point cost is fair enough because with a Marksman/Heavy Infantry discard it becomes a pop 2 for 800 life points, albeit largely face-ups.

 

I am really not enthused by the search it gains off of doing so however. If you discard a Heavy Infantry or Marksman, which you likely will be doing as they're both easily searchable and recyclable, you discard which is a -1, pop 2 so you're up to +1, and then search. It's a +2 play at the cost of 800 lifepoints and it searches Neptabyss as well as all but 1 of the other Atlanteans and all but 3 Mermails. I am not enthused by this, I hate the deck I must admit, but this is just too strong for them to be gaining (rather easy) access to. If it didn't have the search I'd say the effect is fine.

 

Oh Christ only just realised after posting this that it's spell speed 2, this is potentially rather problematic.

 

The Star Eater clause is a boon and on just a 2500 body it's fair enough. The thing is though that this is merely a play extender for Merlanteans as opposed to a powerful or overly viable card in its own right. It's by no means a bad thing, but it does leave it with relatively limited applications where it could have been a more toolbox-y contact fusion thing with materials that generic, like something Heros could do with Norden/Bubbleman or whatever.

 

Vote goes to B, for the moment at least, but not without reservations. In fact I'll say it's more likely I'll end up going with C at this point. 

 

This post is unfocused and it's a bit late so if I've missed something obvious and said something (or various things) stupid, point it out to me and I'll look at it again, don't want the vote to be invalidated by ignorance which I feel is a distinct possibility, particularly in the case of Foldrai because I see no application whatsoever for it and I doubt that either of these people would make a card that way.

 

Oh fucking hell this is long, sorry.

[Nathanael D. Striker]

Unfortunately, Card C votes aren't possible in Elimination tournaments. So, a vote for B?

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

As Enguin mentioned already, card A's summoning conditions are REALLY inconsistent.

I don't know of any Decks that can realistically pull it off.

 

Not sure why you'd want to send all of your Aqua monsters to the Graveyard either,

Only thing I can think of is avoiding getting creamed via Mirror Force on your own turn, but that's it.

 

Sure, it revives one of its materials, but requires a Field up and the requirements themselves are already weird as-is.

 

Targeting immunity is nice, although given its conditions, you might as well make it immune to targeting immunity already w/out the need for another Aqua to be out.

 

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Card B has Nomi conditions, but is far more consistent in how it can be brought out.

Generic WATER materials means anything relevant can go into this without problem, which helps.

 

If the effect weren't a Quick one, I'd probably wouldn't be apprehensive to this card's effect (although that's coupled with its searching effect when it does).

But since it is, and Atlanteans will trigger off of it, we have problems. (Last time I checked, they've gotten more prevalent since Neptabyss came around [i think])

 

Also has the Star Eater clause on it, which is fine and all, but that does give it free reign to destroy something and likely search again because of its 3rd effect (assuming you didn't pop something already).

 

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In all, I'll have to vote B, despite reservations on how its 2nd/3rd effects can be abused (or rather, 1st/2nd, since SS conditions aren't really counted as such).

The abuse more/less comes with the aforementioned Atlantean/Mermail hybrids.

 

A is just really gimmicky. Not sure what they had in mind; maybe some weird Greydle variant with some ED Dragon or whatever else, but yeah not getting any ideas on viable Decks that can run this, given requirements.

[ENMaker]

Unfortunately, Card C votes aren't possible in Elimination tournaments. So, a vote for B?

 

Will do then.

[Nathanael D. Striker]

Alright, 0-2 B.

[Nathanael D. Striker]

Okay, this is over. Aman wins 0-2.