[Leaderboard] Dragon Sage vs Dova

[Northern Sage]

Rules:

-All Leaderboard rules apply.
First to 3 votes or most votes by the deadline wins.
All voters must elaborate on their votes.

Both contestants have the right to refuse votes, but must explain why they don't accept it.

-Written cards are allowed. (Must be in written format, cards with blank pictures are not acceptable)

-Cards must be PM'd to me.
-Remove any evidence of the card being made by you to ensure anonymity.
-In case a downtime happens, the deadlines may be extended.

 

Rewards:

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

 

Deadlines:
-The deadline for entries is January 24, 11:59 P.M. GMT+1.

-The contest ends on January 27, 11:59 P.M. GMT+1.

 

Requirement:

Make a monster with an effect that can activate Spell/Trap Cards from the Graveyard in some capacity.

 

Card A:

 

 

2 Spellcaster-type monsters
If you Special Summon this card: You can send 1 Spell/Trap from your hand to the Graveyard. You can only use this effect of "Spell Caller" once per turn. During your Main Phase, even if this card is no longer on the field: You can banish 1 Spell/Trap from your Graveyard that was sent their by this card's effect a previous turn; Use that card's effect.

Card B:

 

When this card is Normal or Special Summoned: You can target 1 Level 5 or higher Beast-type monster in your Graveyard, except "Red Baboon, Architect of the Forest"; Special Summon that target. If this card destroys an opponent's monster by battle: You can target 1 Field Spell Card in your Graveyard; activate that target. You can only activate 1 effect of "Red Baboon, Architect of the Forest" per turn, and only once that turn.

[Dova]

I'd like to have a go!

[Northern Sage]

I'd like to have a go!

Accepted.

[Northern Sage]

Cards are up, chop chop

[~~~~]

Ok, well Spell Caller can bypass activation requirements and costs like Diamond Dude can, so that's cool. Red Baboon is Rank 7 fodder mainly, but has the side option of being able to revive a field spell. Both cards seem well balanced, so I am going to vote for Spell Caller because it seems like what it does fits the task better.

 

I vote for Card A.

 

EDIT: But I love them both.

[Northern Sage]

1-0 A

Thanks for voting

[Major's Shadow]

I'm guessing I can vote straight away, so let's do this!

Card A: While the concept is interesting, I think the OCG is flawed. The only active areas that a Spell Speed 1 effect can activate are on the Field, in the Hand, in the Graveyard, and if its banished. There is no ruling (to my knowledge) that allows monsters to activate their effects in the Deck or Extra Deck (Example: Reborn Tengu). However, what's interesting is that it bypasses Spell costs, as well as Spell activation limitations. It only triggers the effect of the card, rather than the full condition and cost. Example, you discard Destiny Draw, then Banish it. You can draw 2 cards, without having to discard a Destiny Hero monster (same ruling as Diamond Dude). While I see the potential for some crazy OTK loops (like Soul Charge your board, and still being able to attack, since you never activated Soul Charge), I think the OCG should be corrected, so that the card can only trigger on-field or in-grave. Also, bringing this card out is kinda impractical w/ poly (requires 4 cards to use full benefit of the card's Spell/Trap effect).

 

Card B: This feels more like an archetype-specific card that has generic functionality. It's not very splashable, but both effects are very unique. I feel the 1st choice gets the job done better, but this card is more practical in its specific choice deck. It's a very well-crafted card, and does its job very well (I can imagine some sort of beast-pendulum deck being made out of this). I don't have many complaints on its design, it's just not practical in many decks.

 

I vote towards Card B, simply because it is much more well-designed. The first choice just begs being abused, even though in retrospect its fairly balanced currently.

[Northern Sage]

1-1 Tie

Thanks for voting.

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

Card A bypasses activation conditions much like Diamond Dude can (though it can use both Spell/Trap Cards). Given the wording, it also can send Equip Cards and stuff to the Graveyard, but you can't really use it (least as far as rulings are concerned; I could check with evilfusion on this, but don't think you can).

 

But yeah, unlike Diamond Dude, this can access Quick-Plays and other stuff, which opens up a lot of other things that can abuse this. As much as I'd probably think of using this in 'specters to avoid the Tributing cost for their support cards, they don't have space for Poly or some other Fusion card at the moment (and it's counterproductive for their own plays).

 

That in mind, this card would enable access to that kind of stuff without needing particular Attributes or whatever is needed to trigger costs in Spellcaster decks that can run this. However, it's still a one-shot thing, so shouldn't be too bad (well, until you factor CoTH and stuff into the equation).

 

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Card B helps with field presence for Beasts when it gets summoned, which is nice for reviving heavy beaters that got killed earlier. Suppose you can use Uniflora or something to trigger its summoning, but otherwise it is slow compared to its brothers (summon-wise). Out of fairness, only good Field Spell Beasts have nowadays is basically Closed Forest (though there exists other options), so not really sure how often you'll be using this effect.

 

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Let's see; A is functionally better (though it has the potential to be abusive in the long run), but B can at least fuel R7 plays in Beasts and recover stuff (however limited their Field Spell scope is at present).

 

Suppose I'm going with A at this point, given it's functionally more useful (albeit a one-time thing). Although I mentioned that certain Spellcaster decks might find a way to abuse that effect, I don't think it'll happen; at least not with the current pool of viable Decks at present (due to space issues or the fact that they don't run a ton of S/T cards in the first place). Still, a bit of reservation on voting for it.

 

B is nice, but overall it does feel a bit slow.

 

Though, regarding that ruling about A and shouldn't be able to trigger in the Extra Deck, likely is true (though again, either PM evil about it or ask in that thread in TCG).

[Northern Sage]

2-1 A
Thanks for voting.

[Northern Sage]

Bump. Last day of voting.

[Northern Sage]

Guess I'm calling it, Dova wins.