Abyss Rising Set Review (Part 2)

Welcome back! Today we're going over card slots 10-19 of Abyss Rising. This'll cover most of the Mermail monsters, and I confess I'm not excited to talk about them - there's a lot of interest about them in the dueling community, and there are duelists who understand their intricacies a lot better than I do. That said, I'll be doing my best. 


Planet Pathfinder

Let's start our review off with Planet Pathfinder! If you think back to our brief discussion about utility and power, you'll see that Planet Pathfinder has more utility than most monsters you'll use to fetch a Field Spell card from your deck (excepting  theme specific searchers, like Harpie Queen). He's Machine-type, meaning he works with a few cards, such as Limiter Removal, and Overload Fusion. An Earth-attribute means he's compatible with the wide range of support Earth monsters get, and can work towards the summoning of monsters like Grandsoil, the Elemental Lord.  If you were low on options, you could even use Monster Reborn on him, to bring a body back to the field to shield your face, or even make Chimeratech Fortress Dragon, if your opponent left a Cyber Dragon on the field. You can even use Planet Pathfinder to attack your opponent, or defend yourself (despite his low attack and defense). These are all things that Terraforming, arguably the most popular search card for Field Spells, can't do. In terms of power, Planet Pathfinder does his job just as well as anybody else; he'll search (pathfind?) any Field Spell, and add it to your hand. His effect doesn't specify activation on summon, or anything else like that, so you're free to keep him around as long as you want. Feel free to use cards such as Call of the Haunted to bring him back for more fun! Since he tributes himself, he dodges cards like Skill Drain or Effect Veiler. There's just one problem with Planet Pathfinder: he takes away a bit of the utility and power of other monsters you play. If you use your Call of the Haunted on him, that mean another monster in your graveyard didn't get brought back. That's not a big deal, but when it comes down to normal summoning Pathfinder, and taking away someone else's normal summon so that you can search out a spell - that's when it gets dangerous. It slows down your pace, and can leave you open to your opponent. Those are things to keep in mind next time you're looking for a card to search out your favorite Field Spell.


 Solar Wind Jammer

Solar Wind Jammer is one of those cards where you have to analyze the designer's intentions for the card. First off, it's a Light-attribute Machine-type. Light is well-supported, and we've just mentioned several Machine-type support card while talking about Planet Pathfinder. That support is largely irrelevant to Solar Wind Jammer, but it's always nice to have those options. It adds to utility. Solar Wind Jammer has a Cyber Dragon-esque effect, which is how we're intended to get this awkward Level 5 monster to our field. Once there, what do we do with it? Answer: not attack and defend. That much is obvious from its effect of halving its own attack and defense. In that case, this card is meant for Xyz summoning. It has an interesting effect of modifying its Level by 1 every Standby Phase, but with only 1200 defense, it ain't sticking around. Unfortunately, this effect is just too slow. If this card had (or even kept) a solid defense, its effect could be utilized, given time. A monster that gives you a chance to Xyz summon anything from Rank 5-12, but Solar Wind Jammer just doesn't have the strength to stick around that long. If it had an effect like Shield Wing, or even Sonic Chick, this card would be vastly more playable.


Heraldic Beast Aberconway

I really, really like Heraldic Beast Aberconway. As a matter of fact, I like all the Heraldic cards. Aberconway looks to be one of the most effective of the Heraldics, turning your fallen monsters into fresh cards in hand. An interesting note: all the members of the Heraldics are Level 4, making them consistent in Xyz summoning. Aberconway is a Wind-attribute Dragon-type, which is interesting in and of itself. Wind has a few good support cards, such as Quill Pen of Gulldos, but that'll tend to be conflicting towards what your goals are with Aberconway. Spiritual Wind Art - Miyabi is a good way to get Aberconway into the graveyard, where he's most effective. The Dragon-type is extremely well supported, and that support is as varied as it is extensive. Aberconway has a powerful attack of 1800, and a killer effect, granting it utility and power. Since Aberconway's effect requires having another copy of itself in the graveyard, it can take a bit of time to set up the effect - but it's worth it. There's a once per turn restriction, but you'll usually be using this effect only twice, as by then you're out of Aberconways in the graveyard. It's possible to reuse his effect with cards like Burial from the Different Dimension, but usually those cards will have so little utility in your deck that they won't be worth it. There are several niche ways to get Aberconway straight to the graveyard - Foolish Burial comes to mind, and cards such as Next to be Lost and Generation Shift would be interesting (read: controversial, and maybe even a bit goofy) choices as well. I like Next to be Lost quite a bit, as it lets us set up the effect in one fell swoop. As soon as our on field Aberconway dies, we're ready to go. This card is definitely in contention for my favorite card from this set.


Heraldic Beast Berners Falcon

Yay! Another Heraldic Beast. It's effect is... interesting, to say the least, when you look at it from the utility/power perspective. But before we get into that, let's look at its stats. It's a Level 4 Wind-attribute, like all the Heraldics, which means that, as a whole, Heraldic Beasts can use Wind support. Remember, there's another Winged-Beast-type Heraldic Beast coming in the future, so it may be possible (at one point) to use Winged-Beast support in Heraldic decks. It's attack and defense are down-right depressing. I guess they can't all be Aberconways. 1600 defense is passable and nudges its utility up a bit, but we'll rarely be using Berners Falcon for a defense. As evidenced by its effect, we'll be using him for Rank 4 Xyz summoning. The effect is solid if you're using a deck of monsters with mixed Levels, but, assuming we're playing a Herald deck, it's completely redundant! All the Heraldic monsters are already Level 4. Aside from that oddity, the best part about Berners Falcon is his splashability in other strategies. For example, a copy in an "Agents" deck can turn a play with The Agent of Creation - Venus and Mystical Shine Balls into a slew of Rank 4's. Whether or not that's a good play is aside from the point. In strategies that can summon multiple monsters that are either at Levels not Xyz-friendly (we're looking at you, Cloudian - Turbulence and Cloudian - Smoke Ball) or monsters that have mixed levels. It's in those strategies that this card may find itself a nice little home.


Mermail Abysslinde

A word about the Mermail and Abyss archetypes in general, before speaking about Abysslinde specifically, so that I don't have to repeat myself 50 times.
1) All members of the Mermail archetype are members of the Abyss archetype.
2) Mermails work very well with the Atlantean archetype, by providing a consistent, powerful engine that activates their effects (Atlantean monsters get their effects when sent to the graveyard to activate a Water-attribute monster's effect).
3) They have a distant relation to the "Umi" cards.
4) Their main strategy is swarming and Xyz summoning, similar to many of the top decks we find today (as of 11/7/12).
5) All Level 3 Mermails are female Aqua-type monsters. All Level 4 Mermails are male Fish-type monsters. All Level 7 Mermails are Sea-Serpent-type sea monsters.
6) Whenever a Level 3 Mermail is sent to the graveyard, they special summon another Mermail.
7) Level 4 Mermails activate their effects by discarding Water-attribute monsters when they are normal or special summoned (hence the usefulness in Atlanteans, as well as activating the lower Level Mermails) and search the deck or graveyard for Level 3 Mermails.
8) The Level 7 Mermails special summon themselves by offering up other Mermails to the graveyard, activating their effects.
Now that we've got these essential facts about the archetype out of the way, let's see how Abysslinde fits into the game plan. Its effect is fairly vague, meaning its utility is going to be strong. Destruction happens all the time, and it doesn't specify your opponent, meaning you could destroy your own Abysslinde with something like Torrential Tribute. There's no limits to the Level of Mermail monster summoned by Abysslinde, increasing its power. The only real limit on this card is its low attack, and the clause "once per turn." It's a card with an insane amount of utility and power.


Mermail Abyssgunde

Take absolutely everything said about Abysslinde, and put it here, with a lone disclaimer. The need to summon from the graveyard weakens Abyssgunde's utility, just a bit. It can be a boon when your graveyard is loaded, or when you've run out of copies of a certain monster in your deck. Also, it's more difficult to discard a monster than to destroy it, but you can tailor your deck to take advantage of Abyssgunde, with cards like Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, and Abyss Soldier.







Mermail Abysshilde
 Mermail Abysshilde shares all the normal Mermail benefits. Now we ask, "what's different about Abysshild?" Answer? More utility, less power. Abysshilde's effect activates whenever she is sent to the graveyard. Let me repeat that, for emphasis: whenever she is sent to the graveyard. Whether as an Xyz material, discarded, sent from the deck by Skreech, it doesn't matter! The only issue is, her effect requires you to commit monsters to the field directly from your hand. Effects like that have a tendency to drain your hand, and it can become extremely difficult, if not impossible, to win when you're constantly emptying it out. Abysshilde's attack and defense are un-noteworthy, although I would like to mention that of the Level 3 Mermails, Abysslinde is the only one who can't be returned to your hand by Salvage. Something to keep in mind.


Mermail Abyssturge
We've made it to our first Level 4 Mermail! Mermail Abyssturge's effect is extremely strong; it turns any Water-attribute monster in your hand into one of your Mermails in the graveyard. It adds utility to the Mermail strategy by making it more consistent. It shares the "once per turn" restriction, which prevents Mermails from absolutely steamrolling over any other deck in contention. Abyssturge has a lower-than-normal attack for a Level 4 monster, however, which doesn't bode well for getting a chance to use his effect twice. I think that the purpose of Abyssturge is to use his effect once, then, off of the effect of a monster like Mermail Abyssgunde, Xyz summon a Rank 4 by summoning either another copy of Abyssturge, or maybe the card that's up next for our review....


Mermail Abysspike
Right off the bat, I'm intrigued to note that Abysspike's attack is even lower than Abyssturge. From a design perspective, it's clear that the Level 4 Mermails are meant for Xyz summoning. Coming in with little prior knowledge, its fun to see how these cards work together, on my own. By using a Level 4 Mermail, you can get rid of one of the Level 3 Mermails, summon another Level 4 Mermail, then repeat. Feel free to Xyz summon with 'used up' Mermails. It' a powerful strategy, that may soon come to dominate the competitive scene. Abysspike is extremely powerful, adding cards from your deck to the hand, as opposed to Abyssturge's effect of adding cards from the graveyard to the hand. It has higher utility, to summarize.



Mermail Abysslung
Interestingly enough, Mermail Abysslung's effect has nothing to do with accumulating more cards, or setting of Mermail/Atlantean effects. Instead, he's geared more towards taking care of that thing I mentioned earlier when reviewing Abysspike and Abyssturge - low attack. He prevents your opponents from even attacking any of your other Water-attribute monsters - and I'm sure this effect may prove useful in other strategies. In addition, he boosts all of your Water monsters' attack by 300. That puts Abyysturge at 2000 and Abysspike at 1900, making them no slouches. I'm concerned about the viability of Abysslung surviving the battle phase howeer; 1800 defense may not be enough to survive for long. All in all, Mermail Abysslung is a fun, casual card that could see play in certain stall-centered strategies.


And that wraps up Part 2! We've gone over 20 cards now; personally, I'm glad to be through the bulk of the Mermail cards, despite the enjoyment I've had from figuring out their mechanics. Thanks for sticking with me!