Hello fellow CoGgers. This promises to be the first of many articles I will be writing for the site. I hope you enjoy. Feel free to comment; I'd love to hear your thougths.
With the October 1, 2005 ban list, we lost two of the most essential discarding cards, in the form of Sinister Serpent's ban and Night Assailant's limit to one. Because of this, cards that require a discard to activate lost a lot of popularity as well. However, these cards should not be so hastily overlooked. They have some potentially game-breaking effects and can be quite devastating. Let's take a look at some.
Back to Square One
It limits you to selecting a monster, but forcing your opponent into drawing the same card twice is quite a drawback to him/her. Plus, they lose their summon twice, too - very nice field presence swing.
Dark Core
Again, you are limited to a monster only, but this time it has to be face-up as well. However, removing it from play with possibly no way for your opponent to bring it back is really nifty.
Divine Wrath
I've always been fond of this card. You lose a card from your hand, but you stop an opponent's plan and destroy a monster of his in the process.
Lightning Vortex
Of the cards on this list, this is the most popular. It's not as broken as a lot of people think, but it does have its advantages. Personally, I'd rather play Smashing Ground or even Fissure or Hammer Shot, but that doesn't mean this card isn't without its advantages, so long as you're destroying at least 2 monsters to even things out.
Magic Jammer
Honorable Mention for most popular. With Spells making up one-third to one-half of most decks these days, you have a good chance of negating something every turn. If nothing else, it makes for nice side deck material against the occasional burn deck.
Monster Reincarnation
This is a near essential card to some decks (Exodia for example), and is a nice option in others. Graveyard recursion is always good.
Phoenix Wing Wind Blast
Similar to Back to Square One only slower, but it can return anything instead of being limited to only a monster. Control decks can make good use of these two cards by forcing your opponent into several dead draws per duel.
Raigeki Break
A tad slow being a Trap, but it can destroy anything. You might argue that your opponent can chain a Trap or Quick-Play, but the upside is that you can force your opponent into using that card before they wanted to. A truly devastating effect, often times well worth the discard.
Tribute to The Doomed
Another truly devastating effect. Granted it's a 2 for 1, but taking out troublesome monsters just got easier. Yes, there is Smashing, Sakuretsu, etc. but it doesn't hurt to have extra options.
You may argue that giving up the card from your hand for the cost of these cards isn't worth it, but there are some cards that can help alleviate that matter:
Archfiend of Gilfer
The effect pretty much speaks for itself. Equip it, lower the equipped, run it over. Just be cautious of the timing.
Skull-Mark Ladybug
Another card that speaks for itself, you discard this, do your thing with the aforementioned Spells/Traps, and gain 1000 Life Points in the process.
Thunder Dragon
Thin your deck and give yourself some discard bait for future turns. The hand advantage is also very nice.
Night Assailant
Though we lost the loop with being able to play only one, you can still use it's effect to bring other FLIP effect monsters back. Dekoichi is increasingly popular, and Magician of Faith still sees a good bit of play. Night Assailant lost some, but not all of its playability.
I don't advise the use of cards like Cockroach Knight or Sword of Deep-Seated that can return themselves to the top of your deck. I mean, why keep re-drawing the same card over and over? Speed and deck thinning are essential at times, and these cards hinder both aspects.
Another couple of cards to consider though are Outstanding Dog Marron and Roc from the Valley of Haze. Instead of returning to the top of your deck, they get shuffled into it. This hinders deck thinning, but they can be re-used over and over.
Should we ever get it back, Makyura the Destructor would be nice discard material. The reasons should be quite obvious. (Anyone have a problem with activating Sakuretsu from your hand?)
So there you have it. While hand disadvantage isn't something you should strive for, using these cards can really swing the momentum in your favor. There are also plenty of cards (especially from the CRV expansion) that reward you for having no cards in hand. If you're feeling brave, go ahead and make a deck from it. I think your opponent would be truly surprised and irritated at the same time.
With the October 1, 2005 ban list, we lost two of the most essential discarding cards, in the form of Sinister Serpent's ban and Night Assailant's limit to one. Because of this, cards that require a discard to activate lost a lot of popularity as well. However, these cards should not be so hastily overlooked. They have some potentially game-breaking effects and can be quite devastating. Let's take a look at some.
Back to Square One
It limits you to selecting a monster, but forcing your opponent into drawing the same card twice is quite a drawback to him/her. Plus, they lose their summon twice, too - very nice field presence swing.
Dark Core
Again, you are limited to a monster only, but this time it has to be face-up as well. However, removing it from play with possibly no way for your opponent to bring it back is really nifty.
Divine Wrath
I've always been fond of this card. You lose a card from your hand, but you stop an opponent's plan and destroy a monster of his in the process.
Lightning Vortex
Of the cards on this list, this is the most popular. It's not as broken as a lot of people think, but it does have its advantages. Personally, I'd rather play Smashing Ground or even Fissure or Hammer Shot, but that doesn't mean this card isn't without its advantages, so long as you're destroying at least 2 monsters to even things out.
Magic Jammer
Honorable Mention for most popular. With Spells making up one-third to one-half of most decks these days, you have a good chance of negating something every turn. If nothing else, it makes for nice side deck material against the occasional burn deck.
Monster Reincarnation
This is a near essential card to some decks (Exodia for example), and is a nice option in others. Graveyard recursion is always good.
Phoenix Wing Wind Blast
Similar to Back to Square One only slower, but it can return anything instead of being limited to only a monster. Control decks can make good use of these two cards by forcing your opponent into several dead draws per duel.
Raigeki Break
A tad slow being a Trap, but it can destroy anything. You might argue that your opponent can chain a Trap or Quick-Play, but the upside is that you can force your opponent into using that card before they wanted to. A truly devastating effect, often times well worth the discard.
Tribute to The Doomed
Another truly devastating effect. Granted it's a 2 for 1, but taking out troublesome monsters just got easier. Yes, there is Smashing, Sakuretsu, etc. but it doesn't hurt to have extra options.
You may argue that giving up the card from your hand for the cost of these cards isn't worth it, but there are some cards that can help alleviate that matter:
Archfiend of Gilfer
The effect pretty much speaks for itself. Equip it, lower the equipped, run it over. Just be cautious of the timing.
Skull-Mark Ladybug
Another card that speaks for itself, you discard this, do your thing with the aforementioned Spells/Traps, and gain 1000 Life Points in the process.
Thunder Dragon
Thin your deck and give yourself some discard bait for future turns. The hand advantage is also very nice.
Night Assailant
Though we lost the loop with being able to play only one, you can still use it's effect to bring other FLIP effect monsters back. Dekoichi is increasingly popular, and Magician of Faith still sees a good bit of play. Night Assailant lost some, but not all of its playability.
I don't advise the use of cards like Cockroach Knight or Sword of Deep-Seated that can return themselves to the top of your deck. I mean, why keep re-drawing the same card over and over? Speed and deck thinning are essential at times, and these cards hinder both aspects.
Another couple of cards to consider though are Outstanding Dog Marron and Roc from the Valley of Haze. Instead of returning to the top of your deck, they get shuffled into it. This hinders deck thinning, but they can be re-used over and over.
Should we ever get it back, Makyura the Destructor would be nice discard material. The reasons should be quite obvious. (Anyone have a problem with activating Sakuretsu from your hand?)
So there you have it. While hand disadvantage isn't something you should strive for, using these cards can really swing the momentum in your favor. There are also plenty of cards (especially from the CRV expansion) that reward you for having no cards in hand. If you're feeling brave, go ahead and make a deck from it. I think your opponent would be truly surprised and irritated at the same time.
