I don't know what the HECK happened to my review of this thing... so I'm gunna do it again. (maybe my title was too long)
So, here it goes. the sole only new cards is that new Starter Deck 2006.
Let's check it's effects.
Skelengel
Fairy/LIGHT/level 2
900ATK 400DEF
Effect
FLIP: Draw 1 card from your deck
Basically, it got the same effect as Dekoichi. Then well, what's the point? Well, diversity.
To counter NoC, people are running not just Dekoichi, but also Magical Merchants. And yes, Merchants are good, now with the Post April, it got some few negatives running against it.
#1: 2x NoC is legal. Although NoC is considered one of the worst topdeck card ever, with the increasing flip-flop slow tempo deckplays, people are gunna use 2x NoC, even if they're gunna put 1 of them in the sidedeck.
To counter 2x NoC, more diverse different flip-effect monsters is a nice way. It'll soften the blow of saying you losing 2x Deko or 2x Merchant. You can run like 1x of Deko, Merchant, MoF, Mask of Darkness, Merchant, and Skelengel and guess what, NoC won't hurt too much. (Heck, maybe we'll actually see Big Shield Guadna back)
#2: Pot of Avarice is 1x per deck
The greatness of Merchant came out with Pot of Avarice combo. There are cases where Merchants puts 1 too many monsters in your graveyard to hurt your gameplay more then what's worth of giving you s/t in your hand. This is where Pot of Avarice kicks in. Your monster loss can turn into pure advantage. And thus people run like 2 or some even goes far as 3x Pot of Avarice with Merchant decks. But now since Pot of Avarice is 1x per deck, Merchant lost somewhat of it's power. If your deck design doesn't depend on mass monster dumping, there's no real reason not to run Skelengel over Merchant. If you want to still play MPT decks, you have to run 2x MoF with your Merchants to pull out your used Pot of Avarice. But with 2x NoC being legal, that might not be too much of a good idea. People are already running 2x MSlv2 to counter these flip monsters even without 2x NoC being legal yet.
I'll say this card is pretty much a Alternative choice of Merchant.
I mean, Dekoichi is better then Skelengel. It have the same effect, but Dekoichi got way better ATK/DEF stats. But there are other advantages of Skelengel. First, it's Light, meaning it's Chaos Food. People who used Deko + Merchant for Chaos control can replace Merchant with Skelengel instead. Like I said, it's alternative. And 900ATK is way better then Merchant's weak 200ATK.
But there are some negatives to Skelengel. It's a 2 star monster. Meaning, just like Mask of Darkness, it's not TERable. This is one of the great things about MoF and Merchant. Both are TERable, and that's a pretty darn good use after a good used effect. Mask of Darkness and now Skelengel have the prob that once you flip it, you can't really make any other use out of it other then tribute food or Creature Swap. (That 900ATK won't help at all. The only good 900ATK or lower monster that's useful in battle phase wise is just MSlv2. Anything below are just supports during main phases.)
Anyway, even with that prob, I'm expected more Skelengel use after Post April with new banning ruling. With 2x NoC and 1x Pot of Avarice rule, people will use Skelengel as Merchant replacement or split 2x Merchant into 1x Skelengel + 1x Merchant to counter 2x NoC decks.
Really, in a world without Pot of Greed, these alternative draw effects are key to keep your card hand management high to give you advantage in play. Even with Graceful Charity back, I'm still expecting some flip-flop control decks for high hand card count deckplays.
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In the end, I give this card a
9 out of 10.
This card fits perfectly with the current metagames, and I can't really rate a Metagame material card lower then a 9.
So, here it goes. the sole only new cards is that new Starter Deck 2006.
Let's check it's effects.
Skelengel
Fairy/LIGHT/level 2
900ATK 400DEF
Effect
FLIP: Draw 1 card from your deck
Basically, it got the same effect as Dekoichi. Then well, what's the point? Well, diversity.
To counter NoC, people are running not just Dekoichi, but also Magical Merchants. And yes, Merchants are good, now with the Post April, it got some few negatives running against it.
#1: 2x NoC is legal. Although NoC is considered one of the worst topdeck card ever, with the increasing flip-flop slow tempo deckplays, people are gunna use 2x NoC, even if they're gunna put 1 of them in the sidedeck.
To counter 2x NoC, more diverse different flip-effect monsters is a nice way. It'll soften the blow of saying you losing 2x Deko or 2x Merchant. You can run like 1x of Deko, Merchant, MoF, Mask of Darkness, Merchant, and Skelengel and guess what, NoC won't hurt too much. (Heck, maybe we'll actually see Big Shield Guadna back)
#2: Pot of Avarice is 1x per deck
The greatness of Merchant came out with Pot of Avarice combo. There are cases where Merchants puts 1 too many monsters in your graveyard to hurt your gameplay more then what's worth of giving you s/t in your hand. This is where Pot of Avarice kicks in. Your monster loss can turn into pure advantage. And thus people run like 2 or some even goes far as 3x Pot of Avarice with Merchant decks. But now since Pot of Avarice is 1x per deck, Merchant lost somewhat of it's power. If your deck design doesn't depend on mass monster dumping, there's no real reason not to run Skelengel over Merchant. If you want to still play MPT decks, you have to run 2x MoF with your Merchants to pull out your used Pot of Avarice. But with 2x NoC being legal, that might not be too much of a good idea. People are already running 2x MSlv2 to counter these flip monsters even without 2x NoC being legal yet.
I'll say this card is pretty much a Alternative choice of Merchant.
I mean, Dekoichi is better then Skelengel. It have the same effect, but Dekoichi got way better ATK/DEF stats. But there are other advantages of Skelengel. First, it's Light, meaning it's Chaos Food. People who used Deko + Merchant for Chaos control can replace Merchant with Skelengel instead. Like I said, it's alternative. And 900ATK is way better then Merchant's weak 200ATK.
But there are some negatives to Skelengel. It's a 2 star monster. Meaning, just like Mask of Darkness, it's not TERable. This is one of the great things about MoF and Merchant. Both are TERable, and that's a pretty darn good use after a good used effect. Mask of Darkness and now Skelengel have the prob that once you flip it, you can't really make any other use out of it other then tribute food or Creature Swap. (That 900ATK won't help at all. The only good 900ATK or lower monster that's useful in battle phase wise is just MSlv2. Anything below are just supports during main phases.)
Anyway, even with that prob, I'm expected more Skelengel use after Post April with new banning ruling. With 2x NoC and 1x Pot of Avarice rule, people will use Skelengel as Merchant replacement or split 2x Merchant into 1x Skelengel + 1x Merchant to counter 2x NoC decks.
Really, in a world without Pot of Greed, these alternative draw effects are key to keep your card hand management high to give you advantage in play. Even with Graceful Charity back, I'm still expecting some flip-flop control decks for high hand card count deckplays.
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In the end, I give this card a
9 out of 10.
This card fits perfectly with the current metagames, and I can't really rate a Metagame material card lower then a 9.