Beowulf Card Set (Newly Revised, Suggestions Welcome, Old School Style Cards) Last Updated: 11/13/16

[gmilb97]

Many years ago, when I was but a lad who'd discovered this website, I had just watched the 2007 incarnation of Beowulf and thought of what it might be like to have a set of Beowulf Yu-Gi-Oh! cards. Now, years later, I've made these cards in my free time.

 

All images were obtained via multiple strings of google searches. These cards are intended solely for the personal entertainment purposes of anyone reading, posting, printing/playing or generally admiring them. REDISTRIBUTING THESE CARDS IS ILLEGAL!

 

 

The Monster Cards

BWLF-001: Beowulf

 

First and foremost I present the title character of the mythos, Beowulf himself. Originally his effect was written to deal damage instead of give life, but then I thought" "Wouldn't life gain make more sense, as if it symbolized a reward for killing the monster or a boost to the hero's ego?" I am a little curious as to whether anybody thinks he's too powerful. He IS supposed to be pretty powerful, considering he's a legendary monster slayer who fought Grendel buck-frickin-naked!  Well... according to the film.

 

 

Effect: This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card can only be Special Summoned by the effect of "The Hall of Hart, Heorot". When this card enters battle with another monster, that monster's effect is negated until the End Phase. Each time this card destroys a level 5 or higher Fiend, Beast, Dragon, Sea Serpent or Winged-Beast type monster by battle, you gain 1000 life points. You may only have one copy of "Beowulf" face-up on the field.

 

 

BWLF-002: Grendel

 

As you can see Grendel is sort of meant to play into the opponent's hand, but ultimately, it's to your own benefit. I added on the draw 2 at the end to symbolize King Hrothgar's reward to Beowulf for killing Grendel.

 

 

 

Effect: This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card can only be Special Summoned by the effect of "The Hall of Hart, Heorot". If this card engages in battle with "Beowulf", then it is changed to defense position at the start of the Battle Phase. As long as this card can attack, it must attack all monsters on the opposing side of the field. When this card is destroyed by "Beowulf", the player controlling this card loses 1000 life points and "Grendel's Mother" is special summoned in it's place from either player's hand, deck or graveyard; the player controlling "Beowulf" also draws 2 cards. 

 

BWLF-003: Wiglaf

 

Beowulf's closest friend and ally. I'm worried this guy's effect might make Beowulf himself too powerful.

 

 

Effect: While this card is face-up on the field, "Beowulf" cannot be destroyed by card effects.

 

 

BWLF-004: King Hrothgar

 

King Hrothgar's effect plays the same role as the character does in the myth, he owns Heorot, a major backdrop for the story. So play him and you pretty much get the ball rolling.

 

 

Effect: When this card enters the field, you may search your deck for 1 copy of "The Hall of Hart, Heorot" and add it to your hand.

BWLF-005: Unferth

 

King Hrothgar's clever servant challenges Beowulf's tall tales forcing him to recall a good few stories about the monsters that he's slain. Ultimately, he lays his doubt aside and gifts Beowulf with his grandfather's sword: Hrunting.

 

 

 

Effect: Once per turn, while this card and "Beowulf" are both face-up on the field, you may activate one of the following effects.

- Search your deck or your opponent's deck for one Fiend, Beast, Dragon, Sea-Serpent or Winged-Beast type monster and Special Summon it to your opponent's side of the field (monsters whose effects state they cannot be Special Summoned, may still be summoned in this way; but only, if they are from your opponent's deck).

- You may add "Hrunting" from your deck to your hand.

 

BWLF-006: Wulfgar

 

Wulfgar is simply the sailor who brought Beowulf to King Hrothgar's lands to rid them of Grendel.

 

 

 

Effect: When this card is Summoned, you may add both "King Hrothgar" and "Beowulf" from your deck, to your hand.

 

BWLF-007: Grendel's Mother

 

I'm going off of the 2007 film's interpretation of the tale here: I figured that I'd slightly follow suit with the movie and make her a defensive long-game monster, giving the opponent the oppurtunity to find the right moments to make the most devastating moves. Hence the use of spells and traps instead of a high attack. It's very helpful for your opponent, but they stand to lose quite a bit from it.

 

 

 

Effect: This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card can only be Special Summoned by the effect of "Grendel". This card's effects cannot be negated. This card cannot be destroyed by card effects. If this card is in attack position, it must be changed to defense position immediately. Once per turn, the controller of this card may remove 2 cards in their hand from play to add 1 Spell card or 1 Trap card from their deck to their hand. If this card is destroyed by "Beowulf", the player controlling this card loses 2000 life points and the player controlling "Beowulf" draws until they have 6 cards in their hand.

 

BWLF-008: The Götaland Wyrm

 

A fearsome dragon that only Beowulf is able to defeat. Even when he does, the cost is great.

 

 

Effect: This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card can only be Special Summoned by the effect of "Stealing from a Dragon". This card's effects cannot be negated. Whenever this card attacks and successfully destroys an opponent's monster, the opponent must discard a from their hand. This card cannot be destroyed by the effects of cards other than itself. If the opponent controls "Beowulf" face-up on the field, he/she may sacrifice that monster in order to remove this face-up card from play and add "The Hero's Funeral" to their hand from anywhere in play.

 

EDIT (11-13-16): So, I seem to have forgotten some characters from the myth. Having just made them, I can say that they show some promise to round out the set.

 

BWLF-009: Wealtheow

King Hrothgar's beautiful, peacemaking wife. An expert at calming the rowdy folk that gather in Heorot.

 

 

Effect: This card cannot be targeted by attacks or card effects if there is a face-up Warrior-type monster on your side of the field. As long a both this card and "The Hall of Hart, Heorot" are face-up on the field, the player controlling them may active one of the following effects once per turn, during their Main Phase:

-Gain 400 Life Points.

-Change all monsters on the field to DEF position.

 

BWLF-010: Hygd

King Hygelac's wife, was said to be a peacemaker and a living symbol of propriety, not unlike Wealtheow.

 

 

Effect: This card cannot be targeted by attacks or card effects if there is a face-up Warrior-type monster on your side of the field. As long a both this card and "Gotaland Castle" are face-up on the field, the player controlling them may draw one additional card every other Draw Phase, beginning on the turn after this card is summoned.

 

 

BWLF-011: King Hygelac

The only character in Beowulf who has any real historical record. His effect is made to mirror King Hrothgar's, providing search power to get the other field spell. I'd appreciate somebody finding me a better image.

 

 

Effect: When this card enters the field, you may search your deck for 1 copy of "Götaland Castle" and add it to your hand.

The Spell Cards

 

BWLF-051: The Hall of Hart, Heorot

King Hrothgar's rowdy feasting hall. It draws warriors and drunkards from all over, hoping to partake in the hall's famous nights of singing, drinking and telling of tales.

 

 

Effect: Each turn, during your opponent's Standby Phase, you may use the following effect: toss two coins, if either result is heads, then you may Special Summon a level 4 Warrior-type monster from your hand. If both results are tails, then you must Special Summon 1 copy of "Grendel" from your hand or deck to your opponent's side of the field.

 

 

BWLF-052: "We are Beowulf's Army!"

Inspired by the tune of the same name that Beowulf's thanes were singing in the '07 film (link). Originally, I intended it to summon any of a bunch of thane's that I'd made based on the one's in the myth, but I found out after a bit of research that their names are lost and the number of them was never exact, so any level 4 warriors will do.

 

 

Effect: This card can only be played if "Beowulf" is face-up on the field. Discard your entire hand and pay half your Life Points. Search your deck for a number of level-4 Warrior-type monster equal to the amount of cards that you discarded, to a maximum of 3 cards, and Special Summon each of them in attack or defense position.

 

BWLF-053: Hrunting

This is the sword given to Beowulf by Unferth. Grendel's Mother melts it with a wave of her hand in the movie.

 

 

Effect: This card may only be equipped to "Boewulf". The equipped warrior gains 600 ATK and DEF. While "Grendel's Mother" is on the field, you may send this card from the field to the graveyard to activate 1 of the following effects:

-Gain 3000 Life Points

-Add 1 Spell Card or 1 Trap Card from your deck to your hand.

 

 

BWLF-054: Naegling

I'm not sure how he got this one in the legend, but I think It's supposed to be superior Hrunting. That's why I gave it higher stats.

 

 

Effect: This card may only be equipped to "Boewulf". The equipped warrior gains 1000 ATK and DEF. If the equipped warrior would be sent to the graveyard, you may send this card to the graveyard in his place.

 

BWLF-055: "Aye, Sea Monsters"

Surely if you've seen the movie, then you remember this scene: LINK

 

 

 

Effect: Special Summon 2 Sea Monster tokens (Sea Serpent-Type/WATER/Level 6/ATK 2400/DEF 2200), to your opponents side of the field.

 

BWLF-056: Götaland Castle

Another major backdrop of the legend. First, it belonged to Beowulf's uncle King Hygelac, then it belonged to Beowulf after Hygelac's young heir died, following Hygelac's own death. Beowulf's ruled from it for a short period before his death. After that, the crown passed to Wiglaf.

 

 

 

Effect: This card cannot be destroyed, unless "Beowulf", "King Hygelac", or "Wiglaf" is not face-up on the field. While this card is face-up on the field, all of your opponent's monsters except Dragon, Winged Beast and Machine type monsters lose 800 ATK during your opponent's Battle Phase.

 

BWLF-057: The Hero's Funeral

This card is intended to end the game, but you have to plan things carefully and use Beowulf to his full potential for it to go your way.

 

 

Effect: This card can only be played and activated after "The Götaland Wyrm" has been destroyed and "Beowulf" is in the graveyard. Remove "Beowulf" from play. Both players lose 4000 Life Points.

 

BWLF-058: Stealing from a Dragon

This card represents the event in the myth that causes the Dragon to begin attacking the Geats: A thief steals from it's treasure hoard. I've also made it capable of summoning other dragons. Hobbit set anyone?

 

 

Effect: Search your opponent's deck for 2 cards of your choice and add them to your hand. Special Summon any level 7 or higher Dragon-type monster from your hand or deck to your opponent's side of the field.

 

 

The Trap Cards

 

BWLF-081: "I AM BEOWULF!"

Of course the corny line from the movie made it into a card. Who do you take me for? LINK

 

 

Effect: This card can be activated on the same turn it is set. This card can only be activated when "Beowulf" enters battle with another monster on the field. The opposing monster is automatically destroyed by battle before damage calculation.

BWLF-082: "We Men are the Monsters now."

I'm not sure if this line was in the movie, but I know it was in the original tale for sure.

 

 

 

Effect: This card cannot be removed from the field, under any circumstances. While this card is face-up on the field, the effects of both "Beowulf" and "Unferth" are now changed to only affect Warrior, Spellcaster, and Machine type monsters, instead of the types listed on the card.

 

 

So that's my Beowulf set. I hope you guys like it. I'm open to critique, suggestions and grammatical corrections. However, keep in mind that these cards are meant to be played like "Old School" cards, as their theme suggests. I don't expect them to hold up to anything post-GX.

[DiplomatfromPluto]

Could you please post the card effects under each respective card so they're easier to read?

Beowulf is definitely pretty powerful. It has over 2000 ATK at level 4, most of which have some kind of negative drawback to using them. It can negate a monster's effects for a total 2 turns, only becoming active after your next turn, meaning you could then negate another effect on your next turn while the first monster is still negated. +1000 LP is just a bonus. Though it might help that it has a special condition for summon. 

 

Wiglaf makes it even stronger, though they can both be destroyed in battle. 

 

Hrothgar, wulfgar and unferth give you search power, but they're limited to specific cards, so that's probably good, since you have 3. Unferth's effect to search a monster in the opponent's deck might be for destroying with B, but if you chose to use that effect, either the opponent doesn't have a valid target and you wasted the effect, or you gave them an additional monster when you could have gotten cards for yourself. 

 

Most of your spells seem pretty good, the equips boosting Beowulf or getting more cards. in conjunction with "Aye, sea monsters" which gives monsters to the opponent for you to swing over and get lots of LP. Although, and I know you weren't trying to make these cards competitive, giving the opponent free monsters isn't really a great idea, since there are a number of good rank 6 xyz monsters which the opponent could very easily make if thy only had 2 or 3 monsters. They could clog up the opponent's field, but they could also be used against you. Maybe change the effect to summoning 1 token. The counter trap is a decent way to get rid of monsters.  

 

Heorot is pretty risky. Assuming you have beowulf, you could either summon it or give your opponent a big beater. It does lead into a pretty big combo-summon B, later grendel, destroy grendel, -1000 LP to the opponent while you +2 cards, summon grendel's mother; Of course now you've given the opponent a huge wall that can search spells or traps for a small cost and it has to be placed in defense position. The only way to beat it is with a highly boosted beowulf, then they lose 2000 LP and you get up to 6 cards. Then activate gotaland's castle, summon gotaland, tribute beowulf and destroy the monster, then get your spell cards and win.

 

This combo give you a lot of advantages, but it requires lots of cards over many turns, and could go wrong for any number of steps. If you get 2 tails on the first coin toss, your opponent gets a free monster on their turn, and even if you get it right, they still have a chance to destroy beowulf. Fact is, this combo requires grendel so the opponent could still target your other monsters, or attack beowulf with their other monsters unless you had another card to ensure that grendel is destroyed. Then grendel's mother comes out and they will use its effect to search for cards they need, for however many turns it takes you to destroy it. Then play castle and wyrm (whenever you get it) and if it destroys one of your monsters you have to discard a monster, plus it still has 3500 ATK on your turn and if they get rid of beowulf, they can destroy the castle and now have a huge level 8 dragon with tons of protection.  

 

This means that a lot of these cards are dead unless you have them at the exact right moment you need them, because if you stop at any point, you'd have to start over from the beginning. 

 

I'm really confused what that last trap is supposed to do. At the point where you destroy mother, you'd want to bring out wyrm, which is a dragon that you'd want to destroy with beowulf. (Though if you got to this point, you'd want to tribute it to search your spell and win). Why change the types that beowulf's effect would work with?

 

 

 

[gmilb97]

 DiplomatfromPluto:"Could you please post the card effects under each respective card so they're easier to read?"

 

ME: Absolutely. You seem to have misread a few things.

 

DiplomatfromPluto: "Beowulf is definitely pretty powerful. It has over 2000 ATK at level 4, most of which have some kind of negative drawback to using them. It can negate a monster's effects for a total 2 turns, only becoming active after your next turn, meaning you could then negate another effect on your next turn while the first monster is still negated. +1000 LP is just a bonus. Though it might help that it has a special condition for summon."

 

ME: Well, he also can't be destroyed battle (getting rid of that immediately). My reasoning behind the effect negation is that he is supposed to be a resourceful warrior capable of outwitting and outmaneuvering his opponent. You may be correct in the length of the effect being too long.  Perhaps I'll change it to only negate the effect of monsters during either player's Battle Phase (or something like that). Like I said above, I gave him the life gain to represent him being rewarded for for killing monsters by whatever lord happens. In the mythos, Beowulf was indeed a great hero, but he was ultimately a sell-sword. As for giving him a drawback, I thought about it, but nothing suitable came to mind except the summoning condition. As for Wiglaf making him stronger, but not invincible, you misread that; I made Beowulf immune to being destroyed by battle (again, I'm removing that).

 

DiplomatfromPluto: "Hrothgar, wulfgar and unferth give you search power, but they're limited to specific cards, so that's probably good, since you have 3. Unferth's effect to search a monster in the opponent's deck might be for destroying with B, but if you chose to use that effect, either the opponent doesn't have a valid target and you wasted the effect, or you gave them an additional monster when you could have gotten cards for yourself."

 

ME: Okay, so Hrothgar and Wulgar work just fine as intended (I didn't really expect otherwise). I'm not quite sure you understand how Unferth's effect is supposed to work, though. See, the intention is that you put monsters in your own deck of the types that Beowulf can destroy for life gain (preferably weaker monsters that play well to the deck's strategy, like Abaki). This is supposed to simulate how in the myth Unferth tries to disprove the tales that he's heard of Beowulf's mighty feats, but ultimately fails and winds up boosting Beowulf's ego by giving him a chance to reminisce about his adventures. If your opponent happens to be playing a deck with a lot of the types that you need for Beowulf to get his effect off, then you can let him take one out for more gold & glory. When correctly utilized, it can be use to really annoy and manipulate your opponent.

 

DiplomatfromPluto: Most of your spells seem pretty good, the equips boosting Beowulf or getting more cards. in conjunction with "Aye, sea monsters" which gives monsters to the opponent for you to swing over and get lots of LP. Although, and I know you weren't trying to make these cards competitive, giving the opponent free monsters isn't really a great idea, since there are a number of good rank 6 xyz monsters which the opponent could very easily make if thy only had 2 or 3 monsters. They could clog up the opponent's field, but they could also be used against you. Maybe change the effect to summoning 1 token. The counter trap is a decent way to get rid of monsters.  

 

ME: I'm glad that you approve of the majority of my spells. As far as the whole thing with xyz monsters goes, I really don't care about that. I want these cards to be competitive, but not in the meta. I'm old school. the newest cards I'm willing to play with are Synchros. Even then, I prefer the early ones. 

 

DiplomatfromPluto: "Heorot is pretty risky. Assuming you have beowulf, you could either summon it or give your opponent a big beater. It does lead into a pretty big combo-summon B, later grendel, destroy grendel, -1000 LP to the opponent while you +2 cards, summon grendel's mother; Of course now you've given the opponent a huge wall that can search spells or traps for a small cost and it has to be placed in defense position. The only way to beat it is with a highly boosted beowulf, then they lose 2000 LP and you get up to 6 cards. Then activate gotaland's castle, summon gotaland, tribute beowulf and destroy the monster, then get your spell cards and win.

 

This combo give you a lot of advantages, but it requires lots of cards over many turns, and could go wrong for any number of steps. If you get 2 tails on the first coin toss, your opponent gets a free monster on their turn, and even if you get it right, they still have a chance to destroy beowulf. Fact is, this combo requires grendel so the opponent could still target your other monsters, or attack beowulf with their other monsters unless you had another card to ensure that grendel is destroyed. Then grendel's mother comes out and they will use its effect to search for cards they need, for however many turns it takes you to destroy it. Then play castle and wyrm (whenever you get it) and if it destroys one of your monsters you have to discard a monster, plus it still has 3500 ATK on your turn and if they get rid of beowulf, they can destroy the castle and now have a huge level 8 dragon with tons of protection.

 

This means that a lot of these cards are dead unless you have them at the exact right moment you need them, because if you stop at any point, you'd have to start over from the beginning. "  

 

ME: I think that you've underestimated how easily manipulated I've made the monsters. Grendel MUST ATTACK, meaning that he will activate face-downs pretty consistently. Knowing that, I think you'll agree hat he's not hard to deal with (even if you don't have Beowulf on the field). Grendel's mother also may be immune to card effects, but when using "I AM BEOWULF!" on her, she isn't destroyed by the effect, she's destroyed by battle with the hero himself (a cool work-around I built into the phrasing BTW, works on a lot of annoying monsters). Not to mention, this set is built to be played in a warrior-toolbox style deck, meaning you'll have plenty of equip cards to boost not just Beowulf, but other warriors as well. All that said, I really don't think the monsters are that big of an issue (Wyrm excluded, I need to nerf it). However, I agree that there are a few too many steps to get to the game ending cards. The idea was that the cards would sort of follow the plot of the myth. In game mechanics though, it doesn't really work that well. I'm open to suggestions, but I'd still like the mechanics to somewhat resemble the story.

 

DiplomatfromPluto:  "I'm really confused what that last trap is supposed to do. At the point where you destroy mother, you'd want to bring out wyrm, which is a dragon that you'd want to destroy with beowulf. (Though if you got to this point, you'd want to tribute it to search your spell and win). Why change the types that beowulf's effect would work with?"

 

ME: I just remembered that quote and thought that if you needed to change to another type to take full advantage of Beowulf's effect, that would be a lore friendly way to do it. Perhaps I could make it change Unferth's effect as well and remove the requirement to destroy Grendel's Mother before playing it.

[DiplomatfromPluto]

OK. If you played weaker monster types in the deck to summon with hall of heorot, it would likely be a hindrance. I didn't think of that. But if you're using all these cards together, the idea seems to be summoning beowulf and grendel. You have a better chance of summoning beowulf than grendel, but it's impossible to control which you summon, meaning you could summon grendel and the opponent has a pretty strong monster to attack all of yours, since it's stronger than your NS monsters. I think Beowulf is probably balanced enough by its summoning condition, but my point is that you need to wait 2 turns to summon both monsters, which only woks on your opponent's turn. Is the Hall meant to be a continuous spell? I think it would be fine if you changed it to "Once per turn" on your turn and cut out the 300 point cost, because a card which is so important should be usable on your turn. Again, because it's random, you don't know whether you'll summon beowulf or grendel, though it could be destroyed more easily than I thought. 

 

Even if Grendel is destroyed on the opponent's turn by its own effect, mother will still be summoned and the opponent will be able to search for a card during their main phase 2. On the following turn, if you have Naegling, use that to destroy mother, or you use Hrunting, add the counter trap, but then the opponent has another turn to use mother's effect and the counter trap I think would only work if Beowulf was being attacked. 

 

Maybe mother could also let you play gotaland castle after it's destroyed (though that would be a lot of text). That way it's easier to destroy wyrm. Or you can make the hero's funeral work apply its effect after mother or wyrm is destroyed, for a lesser effect (i.e. both players lose 4000 LP, which would put you pretty close to winning, but not quite enough). If you don't mind making the cards less lore-y. 

I see now how the trap is meant to work. Warrior, spellcaster and machine are semi-common types, so if you took out the requirement to destroy mother, then the card could be made more versatile and would give beowulf more targets. 

[gmilb97]

You seem to be a bit confused. Give me a little while to edit the OP and copy-paste the card effects in. I might make some changes to the cards themselves too, according to what you've said. You will notice some changes to phrasing that I'll be making to clear up some confusion.

[gmilb97]

I've updated the set. Effects are posted, a few new cards have been added, card-grammar has been corrected. Some effects have been changed, mostly summoning conditions and a few thing that were unbalanced, like Mother's effect cost, number of Sea Monsters and Beowulf's effect negation.

 

The 4 new cards are:

• BWLF-009   Wealtheow: King Hrothgar's wife. Support card built to give an add-on effect to Heorot.
• BWLF-010   Hygd: King Hygelac's wife. Support card built to give an add-on effect to Gotaland Castle.
• BWLF-011   King Hygelac: Beowulf's uncle and the only character in the myth to show up in historical records. Search power for Gotaland Castle.
• BWLF-058   Stealing from a Dragon: Let's you steal 2 cards from your opponent's deck in exchange for giving them a level 7 or higher dragon.

 

 

To come:

• Alternate summoning condition for Beowulf. 
• Various balance tweaks.
• LotR based set?

 

And please, remember to post your ideas and opinions of what you think could be done to improve and rebalance my cards.

[Caláin]

Concerning "stealing from a Dragon": There is some card (I don't remember the name) which is a Dragon-Type Lvl 8 normal monster with 0 ATK and DEF. Using that one could basically get you two free cards from your opponent's deck, which is pretty powerful. That card, however, may be from Xyz-Monster time, so it's propably too new anyway and can left out of consideration. Apart from that, taking any two cards from your opponent's dack may still be a little OP, for you could just take the key cards of their strategy and thus ruin their whole deck.

[gmilb97]

I see your point, but if they rely on two individual cards out of their whole deck and they don't have duplicates to preserve their chance to utilize their strategy, then there wasn't much to ruin in the first place. Was there?

 

As far as the 0 ATK/0 DEF dragon: I don't think that's an issue, you're still bloating your own deck with a crappy high-level dragon that you don't intend to use yourself.

 

My original intention, btw, was for it to only summon "The Gotaland Wyrm". Should I change it back, you think?

[gmilb97]

Babump

[gmilb97]

I'd still like to know what everyone thinks of this set of cards? Anything wrong with them? Would you personally enjoy using them in a duel?

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

At this point in time, you may want to repost this as the threshold for creator bumping w/updates elapsed a few days ago and judging from the last updated thing, nothing new has been added since last November.

 

Though, judging from how inactive this thread has been, it seems that people either took interest in this but didn't want to comment due to the size or not. (A general rule of thumb; 10-15/20 works for sets; any farther and it gets a lot harder to review).

 

I know you messaged me about this going to Advanced; if you ever return and wish to post them again, make sure you look over the requirements for Advanced, as that section does require "design notes" concerning your intent and possible interactions with other cards, unlike in here.

 

----

I have to lock this under section rules.