[Leaderboard] - Abdelrahman vs D'Sceptyr

[Abdelrahman]

I'm finally back to 1v1 Contest!

 

Rules:

All Leaderboard rules apply.

First to 3 votes or most votes by deadline wins.

All voters must elaborate on their votes or else the vote will be rejected.

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

Card C votes are allowed in case the voter thinks both cards don't deserve a vote but must elaborate on why he/she thinks so.

Cards must be PM'd to me.

Cards will be converted to written format, for anonymity.

Remove any evidence of the card being made by you to ensure anonymity

In case a downtime or an emergency happens, the deadlines may be extended.

 

Deadlines:

The deadline for cards is 48 hours after the challenge has been accepted.

The deadline for votes is 72 hours (3 days) after cards have been posted.

In case of a challenger failing to meet the above deadline without explanation, the challenger slot will open up again, at which point it becomes first-come-first-served between the previous challengers and new submissions.

 

Requirements:

Challenger's choice of the following:

A: Pendulum support, for an Archetype or generic.

B: Link support, for an Archetype or generic.

 

[spoiler=Card A]Drowner Magician

WATER / Level 4 / Scale 1

Spellcaster / Pendulum / Effect

ATK: 100 / DEF: 1800

 

Pendulum Effect:

If a "Magician" Pendulum Monster(s) you control would be destroyed by battle or card effect, you can destroy this card instead.

 

Monster Effect:

If this card is Normal or Special Summoned from the hand: You can target 1 other card you control; destroy it, also add 1 "Magician" Pendulum Monster, except the card destroyed by this effect, from your Extra Deck or GY to your hand. You can only use this effect of "Drowner Magician" once per turn.

 

 

[spoiler=Card B]Zefra Crowning

Quick-Play Spell Card

At the start of the Main Phase 1: Discard 1 card; place 1 "Zefraath" from your Deck in your Pendulum Zone, then you can place 1 Level 6 or lower "Zefra" monster in another Pendulum Zone, but you cannot Tribute or Pendulum Summon monsters until the end of the next turn, except for "Zefra" monsters. You can banish this card from your GY; shuffle 3 "Zefra" cards into the Deck (but no more than 1 each from your field, your GY, face-up in your Extra Deck, and among your banished cards), and if you do, draw 2 cards. You can only use 1 "Zefra Crowning" effect per turn, and only once that turn.

 

[Black D'Sceptyr]

I'll step up-under the A choice, if you're willing.

[Abdelrahman]

I'll step up-under the A choice, if you're willing.

Sure. Countdown starts now!

[Abdelrahman]

Cards are up! Voting starts now.

[Abdelrahman]

Cards have been temporarily removed, until some issues get fixed.

[Abdelrahman]

Cards have been reuploaded. Let the voting begin again!

[Nekomata]

Came from the Status.

Even though Pendulum is my favourite mechanic, I've never actually played Odd-Eyes Magicians, so I might not be the best at revewing that kind of cards.

Anyway. Pendulums deserve to be played. (review will be made considering the Link format)

 

Drowner Magician ATK 100 DEF 1800 Level 4 Water/Spellcaster/Pendulum Scale 1

Pendulum: If a Magician would be destroyed, you can destroy this instead. Ok, this is a good start. I know Magicians like to commit suicide sometimes, and there's the Trap Pendulumgraph that has the incredible non-destructive removal if a card isn't destroyed, so it may see some plays.

NS or SS: destroy 1 card you control, add 1 Magician from ED or GY to hand. I would've put a "then" instead of the "also", but that doesn't matter much. The effect is designed for the Link era, isn't it. The Extra Deck used to be a place where Pendulums just waited until your next turn, but now it's almost a second GY. It can recover if your opponent destroys the Pendulum Scales. I would remove the "Summoned from the hand" part. It is necessary on swarming cards, like Harmonizing, but this one doesn't need it.

 

Zefra Crowning QUICK-PLAY SPELL

Discard a card, place a Zefraath and a Level 6 or lower Zefra from the Deck in the Pendulum Zone. Banish from GY: shuffle 3 cards from different places, draw 2 cards. Ok so. It sets up the Pendulum Scale by just discarding a card (yeah, Pendulum Call does the same thing, I know). It doesn't block the Normal Summon, but it's not that relevant. I'm more worried about the GY effect. Drawing cards is always a good thing, but 2 cards might be too many. You've basically put together Pendulum Call and Yang Zing Path; and the hard OPT doesn't balance this card enough. Also, you can shuffle from the Extra Deck too.

 

Ok, so I basically have to choose between Magician and Zefra support.

I'm gonna vote for Drowner Magician. It's not because I like WATER monsters (well, not entirely), but because even though I think Zefra Crowning is slightly more creative, it should be divided in 2 cards to be balanced. But I've never seen how Zefras do in the Link format, so I don't know if they need that kind of support.

 

Make Pendulums great again.

[Darj]

Voting for Card A.

 

At first I thought Card A was too good when Pendulum Magicians are good already, especially after the latest TCG banlist that unbanned Wavering Eyes. I mean, the Pendulum effect is alright, but the Monster effect triggers Zarc Magicians and/or Star Pendulumgraph while recovering a Magician so the plus is there but nothing too crazy IMO.

 

But then I read Card B, and wow, that's a no-no from me. Not only it searches for their new archetype Boss, also it sets another scale right away. At that point it's pretty much a Pendulum Call for Zefras, but searchable by both Zefra Oracle and Providence, while Oracle gets Field Spell support, so it has an advantage there. Granted, Pendulum Call is also searchable by Duelist Advent, but still, Card B gets 2 searchers. Also while Call gives destruction protection to your scales, that's a double-edged sword because it won't let you continue with any combos with Wavering Eyes, destroying Zarc Magicians and whatnot, while that's not a problem with Card B. Then, Card B doubles as a variant of an archetype Yang Zing Path. Yeah, too much good stuffs in a single card, IMO.

[Abdelrahman]

Okay, 2-0 for Card A. Any objections, D'Sceptyr?

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

Might as well close it up, assuming both competitors take this. 

 

Card A

 

At least it recycles Magicians that get blown up as Scales, given the new rules make it a bit harder to do that without Link Summoning, while redoing them as necessary. Also aforementioned interactions with ZARC Magicians, but I'll lay off that since Darj more/less said it already. The Pendulum effect is fine; nothing special but least provides some range of protection. Same goes for the Scale. 

 

This is fine.

 

Card B

 

Yeah, this card essentially acts like Pendulum Call for Zefras while letting you do your own stuff. IIRC the Tribute/Pendulum restriction doesn't really affect them too much, so... Even if this card only limits you to 1 from each area, you technically are ripping off Path on this one (and I think that one is still seeing a fair amount of play even now); coupled with it recycling support cards too. And yes, it also sets up Zefraath #2 (activate this, set Zefraath 1, send #2 to the ED face-up and prepare to summon it).

 

(Even with Link format, you still more/less get access to your monster zones. I mean, even if you have to try something else to summon them now, yeah, the setup is still there despite strict OPT.)

 

=====

Most of what I would've said was already mentioned above by the other two, Card A's getting this one. Issue with B mostly lies on it borrowing from 2 already good cards (one of which got list attention in OCG, though we use the TCG format by default).

[Black D'Sceptyr]

3-0 to card A, and that's game over for me-good work, Abdel.