Skeledirge, the Singer of Phoenix Flames: Again its Spooky Season What else do you except?!

[Zamazenta the OS-Tan Fan]

Skeledirge, the Singer of Phoenix Flames
Level 8/FIRE/Pyro/Fusion/Effect
1 FIRE monster + 1 Pyro monster
You can only use the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd effect of this card's name each once per turn.
(1) If a monster(s) is Special Summoned to your opponent's field or a FIRE or Pyro monster(s) is Special Summoned to your field (Quick Effect): You can target 1 card on the field, also, you can target 1 of your FIRE or Pyro monsters that is banished or in your GY; send the first target to the GY, also, after that, shuffle the other target into the Deck (if any).
(2) During the Main Phase (Quick Effect): You can Special Summon 1 FIRE or Pyro monster from your GY, then you can make each player take 1000 damage.
(3) If this card leaves the field because of your opponent: You can add 1 of your FIRE or Pyro monsters that is banished or in your GY to your hand.
3000/3000

@Raikoh130 @Horu @Tinkerer @Kokoroshi What do you all think of this card it just poped into my mind just right now.

Other cards that are somewhat related but do not get the spotlight because they aren't Spooky.

Fuecoco the Playful Fiery Croc
Level 4/FIRE/Pyro/Effect
You can only use the 1st and 2nd effect of this card's name each once per turn.
(1) You can discard this card; add 1 Spell/Trap that mentions FIRE or Pyro monster, from your Deck to your hand.
(2) (Quick Effect): You can banish this card from your GY; Fusion Summon 1 FIRE or Pyro Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck, by shuffling materials mentioned on it from your hand, field, and/or GY, into the Deck, and if you do, it gains these effects.
● This card cannot be destroyed by card effects.
● Once per turn, if your opponent Special Summons a monster(s) (except during the Damage Step): You can add 1 FIRE or Pyro monster or 1 Spell/Trap that mentions FIRE or Pyro monster, from your Deck to your hand.
1800/1400

Crocalor the Cheerful Croc of Flames
Level 6/FIRE/Pyro/Effect
You can only Special Summon this card by its (1)st effect once per turn, also you can only use its (2)nd effect once per turn.
(1) You can Special Summon this card (from your hand) by revealing 1 other FIRE or Pyro monster in your hand.
(2) (Quick Effect): You can banish this card from your field or GY; Fusion Summon 1 FIRE or Pyro Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck, by shuffling materials mentioned on it from your hand, field, and/or GY, into the Deck, and if you do, it gains these effects.
● This card is unaffected by your opponent's activated monster effects.
● Once per turn, during the Main Phase (Quick Effect): You can send 1 FIRE or Pyro monster from your Deck to the GY.
2400/2000

[Zamazenta the OS-Tan Fan]

@Rongaulius bump *sigh* since nobody has gave a review on these cards yet... I would like to know your opinions on the other people might have different opinions on these cards and might have different taste and knowledge.

[Rongaulius]

Getting ready for work.  Quick analysis: Fusion monster looks balanced, the two main-Deck monsters are a bit too much with their protection effects.  Though the first one, Fuecoco, works against a lot of Fire strategies that want to destroy their own cards.  I'll post more in-depth later.

[Rongaulius]

Okay. Home from work, have time for a more detailed breakdown. These are my own opinions, so take them for what they are. I’m approaching this strictly from the perspective of how strong and balanced these cards would be in the actual TCG, because that’s how I evaluate custom cards.

Skeledirge, the Singer of Phoenix Flames – Overall I really can’t see a problem with this card. If I had to pick one thing, I’d say the first effect might possibly want to be able to destroy the card outright rather than send it to the GY. Reason being, that gives it even more utility in Fire decks, because they tend to want to blow up their own cards. If that effect sends to the GY it can help get around some cards that are immune to destruction...but many of those are also immune to targeting. This one can go either way. My own preference would be to have it destroy the target rather than just send it, just so it would be better to proc your own effects if you’re going first, but it could go either way and be fine. The card’s powerful effects are balanced out by no built-in protection, so it’s not indestructible. Overall I like this card a lot. It wouldn’t be oppressive to play against and would make for some very interesting interactions, and it has some legitimately good effects. Its fairly generic materials also make it easy to summon in most Fire decks, so...yeah. Great card that Fire decks would love.

Fuecoco the Playful Fiery Croc – This one...is a bit of a problem child. I do understand the search effect’s intention; being able to search Rekindling would be absolutely bonkers for Fire Kings, for one. And that’s kind of the problem. Rekindling is the most obvious target for this card’s search effect, and it’s Soul Charge. For free. The only thing keeping Rekindling off the banlist is a lack of really good targets as well as no good way to search it out. This card removes that limitation, and would turn any Fire strategy into a degenerate deck capable of some ludicrous combos. The same thing goes for the effect it gives to a Fusion Monster that used it as Fusion Material. You can accrue way too much advantage off of this one card for it to be balanced. If the first effect restricts you from activating that card this turn, that would go a long way toward helping keep it within the realm of possibility.

Moving on to the effects it grants to a Fusion Monster that used it as a Fusion Material, the protection effect works against a lot of Fire strategies that involve nuking their own cards to gain advantage. It’s a good effect to give most boss monsters, but Fire boss monsters are kind of an exception to that rule. The second effect is busted for reasons outlined above.

My own recommendations would be to put a restriction on the discard effect by preventing that card from being used this turn, and change the effects it grants to Fusion Monsters. One thing I personally like to do with boss monsters is make them VERY expensive for your opponent to nuke, by triggering powerful effects that only go off if the opponent gets rid of them in any way except battle. For a card like this, that could mean “If this card is banished or sent to the GY by an opponent’s card, except from being destroyed by battle: You can destroy up to 1 card each from your opponent’s hand and field, then you can Special Summon 1 other FIRE monster from your hand or GY.” That creates a monster that technically doesn’t have an actual protection effect, but if your opponent is going to have to use up a second resource to deal with the monster once it actually leaves the field. It’ll make them consider more carefully whether they actually want to try getting rid of it outside of battle.

Bottom line: If I was playing a match against this card, it’d get old really fast. It’s too strong for its own good, certainly in a casual format but also in a competitive match. It would wind up banned at some point. It has hard once-per-turn restrictions, which is good, but for just how generic that search effect could be, once per turn is still too much.

Crocalor the Cheerful Croc of Flames – This card is good. Very good. The effect to Fusion Summon by shuffling back materials could potentially be not the most beneficial for Fire decks, since they do tend to love having their cards in the GY...but what you get for that minor price would be worth the trade. There aren’t a whole lot of good Fire/Pyro Fusions out there, but summoning Skeledirge would be enough of a payoff itself. In fact that’s really the only problem I see with it; lack of good targets to Summon. I guess the protection effect could also be a tad oppressive to play against, but since you’re probably summoning a 3k beater with it, most decks should be able to find a way to field their own 3k or bigger monster to crash into it.

That’s my $0.02.

 

[Kokoroshi]

On 10/25/2023 at 7:56 PM, Rongaulius said:

Okay. Home from work, have time for a more detailed breakdown. These are my own opinions, so take them for what they are. I’m approaching this strictly from the perspective of how strong and balanced these cards would be in the actual TCG, because that’s how I evaluate custom cards.

Skeledirge, the Singer of Phoenix Flames – Overall I really can’t see a problem with this card. If I had to pick one thing, I’d say the first effect might possibly want to be able to destroy the card outright rather than send it to the GY. Reason being, that gives it even more utility in Fire decks, because they tend to want to blow up their own cards. If that effect sends to the GY it can help get around some cards that are immune to destruction...but many of those are also immune to targeting. This one can go either way. My own preference would be to have it destroy the target rather than just send it, just so it would be better to proc your own effects if you’re going first, but it could go either way and be fine. The card’s powerful effects are balanced out by no built-in protection, so it’s not indestructible. Overall I like this card a lot. It wouldn’t be oppressive to play against and would make for some very interesting interactions, and it has some legitimately good effects. Its fairly generic materials also make it easy to summon in most Fire decks, so...yeah. Great card that Fire decks would love.

Fuecoco the Playful Fiery Croc – This one...is a bit of a problem child. I do understand the search effect’s intention; being able to search Rekindling would be absolutely bonkers for Fire Kings, for one. And that’s kind of the problem. Rekindling is the most obvious target for this card’s search effect, and it’s Soul Charge. For free. The only thing keeping Rekindling off the banlist is a lack of really good targets as well as no good way to search it out. This card removes that limitation, and would turn any Fire strategy into a degenerate deck capable of some ludicrous combos. The same thing goes for the effect it gives to a Fusion Monster that used it as Fusion Material. You can accrue way too much advantage off of this one card for it to be balanced. If the first effect restricts you from activating that card this turn, that would go a long way toward helping keep it within the realm of possibility.

Moving on to the effects it grants to a Fusion Monster that used it as a Fusion Material, the protection effect works against a lot of Fire strategies that involve nuking their own cards to gain advantage. It’s a good effect to give most boss monsters, but Fire boss monsters are kind of an exception to that rule. The second effect is busted for reasons outlined above.

My own recommendations would be to put a restriction on the discard effect by preventing that card from being used this turn, and change the effects it grants to Fusion Monsters. One thing I personally like to do with boss monsters is make them VERY expensive for your opponent to nuke, by triggering powerful effects that only go off if the opponent gets rid of them in any way except battle. For a card like this, that could mean “If this card is banished or sent to the GY by an opponent’s card, except from being destroyed by battle: You can destroy up to 1 card each from your opponent’s hand and field, then you can Special Summon 1 other FIRE monster from your hand or GY.” That creates a monster that technically doesn’t have an actual protection effect, but if your opponent is going to have to use up a second resource to deal with the monster once it actually leaves the field. It’ll make them consider more carefully whether they actually want to try getting rid of it outside of battle.

Bottom line: If I was playing a match against this card, it’d get old really fast. It’s too strong for its own good, certainly in a casual format but also in a competitive match. It would wind up banned at some point. It has hard once-per-turn restrictions, which is good, but for just how generic that search effect could be, once per turn is still too much.

Crocalor the Cheerful Croc of Flames – This card is good. Very good. The effect to Fusion Summon by shuffling back materials could potentially be not the most beneficial for Fire decks, since they do tend to love having their cards in the GY...but what you get for that minor price would be worth the trade. There aren’t a whole lot of good Fire/Pyro Fusions out there, but summoning Skeledirge would be enough of a payoff itself. In fact that’s really the only problem I see with it; lack of good targets to Summon. I guess the protection effect could also be a tad oppressive to play against, but since you’re probably summoning a 3k beater with it, most decks should be able to find a way to field their own 3k or bigger monster to crash into it.

That’s my $0.02.

 

I don’t think there’s anything I can say that hasn’t already been said but I like the cards!