IMO, I should just review these cards together. Cause they both contribute to the zombie theme in this new TAEV set.
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Zombie Master
Level 4 / Zombie / Dark / Effect
1800 ATK /0 DEF
Once per turn, you can send 1 Monster Card from your hand to the Graveyard to Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower Zombie-Type Monster from either Player's Graveyard.
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Il Blud
Level 6 / Zombie / Dark / Gemini
2100 ATK /800 DEF
This card is treated as a Normal Monster while face-up on the field or in the Graveyard. While this card is face-up on the field, by Summoning this card a second time and treating it as a Normal Summon, this card is now treated as an Effect Monster with the following effect:
- Once per turn, you can Special Summon a Zombie-type monster from your hand or either player's Graveyard. When this card is removed from the field, destroy all Zombie-type monsters Special Summoned by this effect.
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Okay, I'll start slowly, since I'm reviewing 2 at once. Let's check the stats.
The FIRST THING I DO when I read the word, "Zombie" in a monster card is, "Is the monster DEF equal or lower then 2000?". Cause if the zombie monster isn't searchable by Pyramid Turtle, it's most likely NOT worth playing. Luckily, both monsters pass on this department. (Along with the fact that both monsters have no restrictions about special summoning conditions or something)
Lets start with Zombie Master. Being a stat of 1800ATK is HUGE for a LV 4 monster. This is Stratos level of ATK stat. Although the DEF is a weakass 0 DEF, WHO CARES. For zombie decks, you WANT a weak DEF to be able to be searched by Pyramid turtle. Also, 0 DEF means harder to be killed by Smashing Ground.
So the stat is good. Now the effect. By sending/discarding a monster in hand to grave, you can special summon a zombie that's LV4 or less from either graveyard. Now note, this is a COST. And they MADE SURE YOU UNDERSTAND by saying "send", not even "discard" (even if it's a cost) What does this mean? NO DARK WORLD. Now that's clear, the next part. special summoning LV4 or less zombies means there's like 3 good targets
Spirit reaper
Pyramid Turtle
Zombie Master
The Spirit Reaper part is good. Cause practically EVERYBODY runs Spirit Reaper. And since Zombie Master can special summon zombie monsters in your foe as well, you can kill your foe's Spirit Reaper, and then special summon it to your foe with Zombie Master. And there's a good chance of this, cause, everybody runs spirit reaper.
Now, the Zombie Master targetting another Zombie Master is a interesting combo. In the previous paragraph, I said sending the monster is a cost right? But sending a monster card for a cost is actually a good thing for this strategy. Since it's a cost, you MUST send/discard first even before resolving the effect and selecting a monster. Meaning, you can send a zombie-type monster that's LV4 or less, TO special summon that thing right out. (This is like The Creator. Discarding DMoC or Exiled Force and then special summoning that thing right out for example) Although it's effect is only once per turn, if you target Zombie Master with Zombie Master, it gets fun. Here's an example.
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Your foe goes first, they set 1 card for each zone.
You start off. In your hand, you got
Heavy Storm
NoC
3x Zombie Master
Spirit Reaper
If you have this, you first
1: Heavy Storm, destory the back row
2: NoC, get rid of that face-down monster.
3: Normal summon 1 Zombie Master
4: Activate it's cost and effect. Discard a 2nd Zombie Master from hand to special summon that exact monster you trashed right out back onto the field.
5: Rinse and repeat until you got 3x Zombie Master + 1x Spirit Reaper.
If you actually get lucky enough to pull this off, that's 5700LP damage to your foe PLUS a discard... OUCH!
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I'm not saying you'll get this lucky, but Zombie Master is one of the few monsters that you WANT to have multiple copies stuck in your hand. So if you want to make a Zombie deck, running 3x is kinda of a MUST. Of course, if you want to swarm like this, hopefully, you won't get smacked by Torrential/Mirror.
And lastly, Pyramid Turtle. This card is what puts Zombie Master together. Even IF you run 3x, you might not have Zombie Master in your hand. This is where Pyramid Turtle kicks in. Let your Pyramid Turtle die in battle, and then you special summon Zombie Master on your opponent's turn. And then YOUR turn, you activate it's effect to special summon that Pyramid Turtle RIGHT back out. You pretty much lost nothing. Not to mention that Pyramid Turtle can get you some other good zombies like another Zombie Master, Ryu Kokki, Vampire Lord, Spirit Reaper, Il Blud, or something. Just like Stratos and Sapphire Pegasus are annoying beatsticks with good effects for D/E-Hero and Crystal decks, this card will be the annoying LV4 beatstick for zombie decks.
Seriously. This is the best LV4 Zombie monster that came out since.... Pyramid Turtle. Vampire Lady or other whatnots got nothing compared to this bad boy. If your worried about losing to many hand by the cost, you can always run A Card of Safe Return, to draw each time you special summon with Zombie Master's effect so you literally lose nothing this way.
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Now, lets check Il Blud. Now, this card is a Gemini. meaning you have to "resummon" it to make it an effect monster. Usually, this is BAD, especially since it's a LV6 monster. In most cases, this means you must tribute Summon, THEN wait a turn, THEN re-summon it right back. That's ALOT of wasted normal summon you could have done. However, with zombie support, this can all be ignored. In fact, this is like the ONLY Gemini monster IMO that DOESN'T need the support of Gemini Summoner or Blazewing Butterfly.
#1: Pyramid Turtle. Seriously, without this card, this card is literally unplayable. Pyramid Turtle lets you special summon it during your foe's turn when they kill it in battle, and THEN during your turn, you re-summon it to activate it's effect. That cuts down ALOT of the hassle
#2: Book of Life. Zombie decks have extra Preme/CotH. If you run 3x of this, you can just special summon this huge monster from grave and just re-summon it.
The 2nd method of Book of Life, means that Il Blud have to be already in the graveyard. However there are ways to dump zombies to graveyard. One way is Zombie Master. Now, Zombie Master cannot special summon a zombie monster that's higher then LV4, but you still can send it to special summon another type of zombie. And then just use Book of Life to get Il Blud out.
Another way is grave milling. With the likes of Magical merchant or card Trooper. Both can work. Card Trooper can work since in this kinda build, you want your Pyramid Turtle coming out fast, meaning Giant Rats in some builds. And Giant Rats will have more option of target then just Pyramid Turtle. But if you don't want to bother with Rat/Trooper with your zombie, then you can just run Merchant. Not to mention unlike Trooper, Merchant will only dump monsters, not your s/t like Book of Life you want to keep in your hand.
Overall, Il Blud, being a zombie, have ALOT of ways of being special summoned already so it doesn't need the usual Gemini Support. Anyway, onto the effect.
You can special summon ANY ZOMBIE from your hand or either player's graveyard, WITH NO COST. Now, this effect, is DEFINATELY better then Zombie Master. And special summon from hand is added bonus, since you have to waste a normal summon to kick in Il Blud's effect. (i.e. even if you wast a Normal summon, you can special summon another zombie from hand so it doesn't matter) And the fact that you can select ANY LV means unlike Zombie Master, this card can target Ryu Kokki, Vampire Lord, Il Blud, etc. along with what Zombie Master can already do.
The only "downside' of this monster is that if Il Blud leaves, so does every other monster that came with it. (it's like Doom Shaman) Yes, this even kills Vampire Lord since that card is only special summoned back if destroyed by FOE'S card effect. If you wonder how do you avoid the negative side-effect of this, is that you can run Deck Devastation Virus. Since literally all of those high LV Zombie monsters are Dark Attribute with 2000ATK or more, if they're going to die by Il Blud's effect, might as well tribute 1 of them for DDV bomb.
Seriously, I'm almost happy that Il Blud is a Gemini or else it's effect goes off too fast and thus too broken powerful. The only 'weakness" of Il Blud IMO is that it's a 2100ATK. i.e. equal to Cyber Dragon. If it was a 2200ATK, then oh man, it'll run havoc. But it's only equal, meaning for Zombie decks to go over Cyber Dragon in battle, you still have to reply on Ryu Kokki. But still, D-Hero deck focused on Metamorphosis still runs havoc with Ryu Senshi/Dark Balter annoyance and they're both 2000ATK.
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Overall, both Il Blud and Zombie Master does 1 goal, special summoning SWARM. And we all know the evilness of special summoning madness (e.g. Crystal Beast, D-Hero, etc.) But these guys have huge stats like 1800/2100/2400ATK unlike Crystal Beast, the best one was Topaz with potential of 2000ATK (Although now they got Rainbow Dragon) And these B&B of Zombie theme monsters are linked together by Pyramid Turtle.
Seriously with these two new cards, the whole theme strategy of Zombies have changed. Before, it was just Pyramid Turtle, with Ryu Kokki beatstick and Vampire annoyance. It wasn't about swarming and you usually ran like 1x Book of Life.
But NOW, you need to run like 3x Book of Life, 3x Il Blud, 3x Zombie Master, to create an instant army of the dead that doesn't die cause they keep coming back special summoned. With these two new cards, I sorry to say that Vampire Lord strat will have to take a break.
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In the end, I give BOTH of the cards
8.5 out of 10
They both have "costs". Zombie Master, you need to send a MONSTER card. (not any card) And for Il Blud, you have to re-summon a LV6 monster. Really, Il Blud in your hand is even worst then having Vampire Lord or Ryu Kokki stuck in your hand. Although thanks to Zombie Master, having high LV Zombie monsters stuck in your hand isn't that bad thing anymore. (You don't have to cry a river saying I can't special summon this card in hand with Pyramid Turtle.) But seriously, if you got Il Blud stuck in hand, you'll really want that Zombie Master out fast. (And thus Pyramid Turtle should help out with that)
Overall, this gives new life to the "dead" theme of Zombies. Zombies have been bumped down to tier 2~3 these days, but with this, it DOES have potential to go up to tier 1 again with swarm OTK. Seriously, in the next SJC after TAEV becomes legal, I WANT to see a zombie deck make top 8 again.
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Zombie Master
Level 4 / Zombie / Dark / Effect
1800 ATK /0 DEF
Once per turn, you can send 1 Monster Card from your hand to the Graveyard to Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower Zombie-Type Monster from either Player's Graveyard.
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Il Blud
Level 6 / Zombie / Dark / Gemini
2100 ATK /800 DEF
This card is treated as a Normal Monster while face-up on the field or in the Graveyard. While this card is face-up on the field, by Summoning this card a second time and treating it as a Normal Summon, this card is now treated as an Effect Monster with the following effect:
- Once per turn, you can Special Summon a Zombie-type monster from your hand or either player's Graveyard. When this card is removed from the field, destroy all Zombie-type monsters Special Summoned by this effect.
-------------
Okay, I'll start slowly, since I'm reviewing 2 at once. Let's check the stats.
The FIRST THING I DO when I read the word, "Zombie" in a monster card is, "Is the monster DEF equal or lower then 2000?". Cause if the zombie monster isn't searchable by Pyramid Turtle, it's most likely NOT worth playing. Luckily, both monsters pass on this department. (Along with the fact that both monsters have no restrictions about special summoning conditions or something)
Lets start with Zombie Master. Being a stat of 1800ATK is HUGE for a LV 4 monster. This is Stratos level of ATK stat. Although the DEF is a weakass 0 DEF, WHO CARES. For zombie decks, you WANT a weak DEF to be able to be searched by Pyramid turtle. Also, 0 DEF means harder to be killed by Smashing Ground.
So the stat is good. Now the effect. By sending/discarding a monster in hand to grave, you can special summon a zombie that's LV4 or less from either graveyard. Now note, this is a COST. And they MADE SURE YOU UNDERSTAND by saying "send", not even "discard" (even if it's a cost) What does this mean? NO DARK WORLD. Now that's clear, the next part. special summoning LV4 or less zombies means there's like 3 good targets
Spirit reaper
Pyramid Turtle
Zombie Master
The Spirit Reaper part is good. Cause practically EVERYBODY runs Spirit Reaper. And since Zombie Master can special summon zombie monsters in your foe as well, you can kill your foe's Spirit Reaper, and then special summon it to your foe with Zombie Master. And there's a good chance of this, cause, everybody runs spirit reaper.
Now, the Zombie Master targetting another Zombie Master is a interesting combo. In the previous paragraph, I said sending the monster is a cost right? But sending a monster card for a cost is actually a good thing for this strategy. Since it's a cost, you MUST send/discard first even before resolving the effect and selecting a monster. Meaning, you can send a zombie-type monster that's LV4 or less, TO special summon that thing right out. (This is like The Creator. Discarding DMoC or Exiled Force and then special summoning that thing right out for example) Although it's effect is only once per turn, if you target Zombie Master with Zombie Master, it gets fun. Here's an example.
------
Your foe goes first, they set 1 card for each zone.
You start off. In your hand, you got
Heavy Storm
NoC
3x Zombie Master
Spirit Reaper
If you have this, you first
1: Heavy Storm, destory the back row
2: NoC, get rid of that face-down monster.
3: Normal summon 1 Zombie Master
4: Activate it's cost and effect. Discard a 2nd Zombie Master from hand to special summon that exact monster you trashed right out back onto the field.
5: Rinse and repeat until you got 3x Zombie Master + 1x Spirit Reaper.
If you actually get lucky enough to pull this off, that's 5700LP damage to your foe PLUS a discard... OUCH!
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I'm not saying you'll get this lucky, but Zombie Master is one of the few monsters that you WANT to have multiple copies stuck in your hand. So if you want to make a Zombie deck, running 3x is kinda of a MUST. Of course, if you want to swarm like this, hopefully, you won't get smacked by Torrential/Mirror.
And lastly, Pyramid Turtle. This card is what puts Zombie Master together. Even IF you run 3x, you might not have Zombie Master in your hand. This is where Pyramid Turtle kicks in. Let your Pyramid Turtle die in battle, and then you special summon Zombie Master on your opponent's turn. And then YOUR turn, you activate it's effect to special summon that Pyramid Turtle RIGHT back out. You pretty much lost nothing. Not to mention that Pyramid Turtle can get you some other good zombies like another Zombie Master, Ryu Kokki, Vampire Lord, Spirit Reaper, Il Blud, or something. Just like Stratos and Sapphire Pegasus are annoying beatsticks with good effects for D/E-Hero and Crystal decks, this card will be the annoying LV4 beatstick for zombie decks.
Seriously. This is the best LV4 Zombie monster that came out since.... Pyramid Turtle. Vampire Lady or other whatnots got nothing compared to this bad boy. If your worried about losing to many hand by the cost, you can always run A Card of Safe Return, to draw each time you special summon with Zombie Master's effect so you literally lose nothing this way.
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Now, lets check Il Blud. Now, this card is a Gemini. meaning you have to "resummon" it to make it an effect monster. Usually, this is BAD, especially since it's a LV6 monster. In most cases, this means you must tribute Summon, THEN wait a turn, THEN re-summon it right back. That's ALOT of wasted normal summon you could have done. However, with zombie support, this can all be ignored. In fact, this is like the ONLY Gemini monster IMO that DOESN'T need the support of Gemini Summoner or Blazewing Butterfly.
#1: Pyramid Turtle. Seriously, without this card, this card is literally unplayable. Pyramid Turtle lets you special summon it during your foe's turn when they kill it in battle, and THEN during your turn, you re-summon it to activate it's effect. That cuts down ALOT of the hassle
#2: Book of Life. Zombie decks have extra Preme/CotH. If you run 3x of this, you can just special summon this huge monster from grave and just re-summon it.
The 2nd method of Book of Life, means that Il Blud have to be already in the graveyard. However there are ways to dump zombies to graveyard. One way is Zombie Master. Now, Zombie Master cannot special summon a zombie monster that's higher then LV4, but you still can send it to special summon another type of zombie. And then just use Book of Life to get Il Blud out.
Another way is grave milling. With the likes of Magical merchant or card Trooper. Both can work. Card Trooper can work since in this kinda build, you want your Pyramid Turtle coming out fast, meaning Giant Rats in some builds. And Giant Rats will have more option of target then just Pyramid Turtle. But if you don't want to bother with Rat/Trooper with your zombie, then you can just run Merchant. Not to mention unlike Trooper, Merchant will only dump monsters, not your s/t like Book of Life you want to keep in your hand.
Overall, Il Blud, being a zombie, have ALOT of ways of being special summoned already so it doesn't need the usual Gemini Support. Anyway, onto the effect.
You can special summon ANY ZOMBIE from your hand or either player's graveyard, WITH NO COST. Now, this effect, is DEFINATELY better then Zombie Master. And special summon from hand is added bonus, since you have to waste a normal summon to kick in Il Blud's effect. (i.e. even if you wast a Normal summon, you can special summon another zombie from hand so it doesn't matter) And the fact that you can select ANY LV means unlike Zombie Master, this card can target Ryu Kokki, Vampire Lord, Il Blud, etc. along with what Zombie Master can already do.
The only "downside' of this monster is that if Il Blud leaves, so does every other monster that came with it. (it's like Doom Shaman) Yes, this even kills Vampire Lord since that card is only special summoned back if destroyed by FOE'S card effect. If you wonder how do you avoid the negative side-effect of this, is that you can run Deck Devastation Virus. Since literally all of those high LV Zombie monsters are Dark Attribute with 2000ATK or more, if they're going to die by Il Blud's effect, might as well tribute 1 of them for DDV bomb.
Seriously, I'm almost happy that Il Blud is a Gemini or else it's effect goes off too fast and thus too broken powerful. The only 'weakness" of Il Blud IMO is that it's a 2100ATK. i.e. equal to Cyber Dragon. If it was a 2200ATK, then oh man, it'll run havoc. But it's only equal, meaning for Zombie decks to go over Cyber Dragon in battle, you still have to reply on Ryu Kokki. But still, D-Hero deck focused on Metamorphosis still runs havoc with Ryu Senshi/Dark Balter annoyance and they're both 2000ATK.
-----------
Overall, both Il Blud and Zombie Master does 1 goal, special summoning SWARM. And we all know the evilness of special summoning madness (e.g. Crystal Beast, D-Hero, etc.) But these guys have huge stats like 1800/2100/2400ATK unlike Crystal Beast, the best one was Topaz with potential of 2000ATK (Although now they got Rainbow Dragon) And these B&B of Zombie theme monsters are linked together by Pyramid Turtle.
Seriously with these two new cards, the whole theme strategy of Zombies have changed. Before, it was just Pyramid Turtle, with Ryu Kokki beatstick and Vampire annoyance. It wasn't about swarming and you usually ran like 1x Book of Life.
But NOW, you need to run like 3x Book of Life, 3x Il Blud, 3x Zombie Master, to create an instant army of the dead that doesn't die cause they keep coming back special summoned. With these two new cards, I sorry to say that Vampire Lord strat will have to take a break.
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In the end, I give BOTH of the cards
8.5 out of 10
They both have "costs". Zombie Master, you need to send a MONSTER card. (not any card) And for Il Blud, you have to re-summon a LV6 monster. Really, Il Blud in your hand is even worst then having Vampire Lord or Ryu Kokki stuck in your hand. Although thanks to Zombie Master, having high LV Zombie monsters stuck in your hand isn't that bad thing anymore. (You don't have to cry a river saying I can't special summon this card in hand with Pyramid Turtle.) But seriously, if you got Il Blud stuck in hand, you'll really want that Zombie Master out fast. (And thus Pyramid Turtle should help out with that)
Overall, this gives new life to the "dead" theme of Zombies. Zombies have been bumped down to tier 2~3 these days, but with this, it DOES have potential to go up to tier 1 again with swarm OTK. Seriously, in the next SJC after TAEV becomes legal, I WANT to see a zombie deck make top 8 again.