Abyss Rising Set Review (Part 5)

Welcome back to the Abyss Rising Set Review! Today we'll cover most of the remaining Xyz monsters. I'm excited for this batch, so let's jump (dive) right in!
Note: Customary links will be up later.

One-Eyed Skill Gainer

The question you have to ask yourself when you're building your Extra Deck is: can my deck conceivably summon this card? Then, are there other cards I would summon before it? These questions don't take space into account, but with so many interesting Rank 4's, One-Eyed Skill Gainer has a lot to prove. Unfortunately, he has too much in common to be interesting. For (Rank 4) Light-attribute Warrior-types with high attack, we already have Heroic Champion - Excalibur, and Number 39: Utopia. For 3 Material Rank 4 monsters, we have guys like Number 16: Shock Master, who's agreed to be pretty good. So the question is, what does One-Eye do? Well, he has a high defense - but so does Gagagigo the Risen, who we'll go over tomorrow. What sets him apart is his mimicry effect. Most of the time, there are better things to summon at Rank 4. But... if you're running one of those decks that has loads of space in the Extra Deck and only makes Rank 4's then you should give One-Eye a spot. It's not as if there are loads of other, better options in your other 14 spots for just Rank 4's. Besides, he's got a cool effect! It's just situational. In all, his utility is dependent on the opponent, meaning it's low, and his power is... meh. It depends what you copy.


Gagaga Cowboy

Gagaga Cowboy is cool. He can beat the face of stronger monsters - like Maestroke - and can randomly steal games with his defense position effect. He's another Earth-attribute Warrior-type, of which the Gagaga theme now has three. His base attack is 1500, which is made up for with his effect, but is still worrisome. His defense is staunch. Going back to the Gagaga theme, there are several cards from it that can improve Gagaga Cowboy - namely Gagaga Bolt, one of the most incredible pieces of spot removal the game has provided. Cowboy is incredibly splashable, meaning he's sure to be seen in a number of strategies. Despite a relatively 'low' amount of damage for his defense position effect - 800 - it can still be enough to randomly win games, especially after a long game of traded blows and Solemn cards. Most duelists view lifepoints as inconsequential nowadays, and this card can punish duelists with the mindset of "you only need one life point to win." Expect to see him lots more. Him and his stylish space-man six shooters.


Heroic Champion - Gandiva

Gandiva has all the standard Heroic typing - Warrior, Earth, it's all fairly standard now. It's attack is fairly low, given it's rank, while its defense is in a similar state. Despite this, Gandiva still has a killer effecty. Gandiva is an alternative to Steelswarm Roach in Warrior-type strategies. At least, that's what your average duelist will see, not bothering to read more into it. Upon closer examination, you'll see that it's a compliment to Roach. Actually, with both on your side of the field, your opponent can do virtually nothing until a) they destroy your monsters or b) your monsters exhaust their materials. And if you were able to get off their effects once, or even twice? You're in a really good place. Gandiva is the bane of the existence of Wind-Ups, Geargia... really, most top decks are afraid of this guy. I expect to see him doing big things in Warrior strategies, and I'm quite frankly appalled at how little talk he's getting.




Heroic Champion - Kusanagi

Kusanagi is a 3 Material Rank 4. That automatically puts him in dangerous territory, as a 3 material monster requires a serious commitment. He has a strong defense, and his attack is good - not the absolute best, but it's good. It's better than Shock Master, the posterchild for 4 Material monsters'.  Speaking of whom, Kusanagi has an extremely similar effect: he'll only shut down traps (remember utility) but while he's out, you can be pretty sure that your opponent won't be activating them. You can rest assured that while Kusanagi stands, your opponent won't be activating any trap cards. In pure beat-down centered strategies like the Heroics, Kusanagi is amazing. Well, even more amazing than he is in any other strategy with an ample amount of Warrior-type monsters. I'm actually excited about the Heroics - they've got sweet Xyz, with kickin' effects. This one might just be the cream of the crop. The ability to keep your opponent from activating their traps - or, at the best, if they happen to have two pieces of removal - lose 2 cards to your 1 - is incredible. And don't discount the attack boost. Never discount the attack boost. Kusanagi goes up to a pretty 3000 with it.


Number 9: Dyson Sphere

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Number 9: Dyson Sphere is the TCG's first Rank 9 monster. That makes it significant alone, without factoring the collectible-ness of a Number card, and the fact that it has a great effect. First off: Light-attribute Machine-type. Cool. Honest-able, and you can Limiter Removal it. Can you imagine if you got off his attack directly effect, then flipped Limiter Removal? Absolutely brutal. That'd be a good 3/4 of your opponent's life points right there. Being quite frank, you're rarely going to use that effect, but it's awesome that it's there. What Number 9 does is completely own the field. If your opponent can bring to bear a monster strong enough to attack it, you can stop the attack by removing a material (like Number 39). If you run out of materials, you can activate its effect and refill it! A little naunce to that effect is that it lets you pick any 2 monsters from your Graveyard to attach to it - that lets you pick monsters such as Tour Bus from the Underworld, who's effects activate when they're sent to the Graveyard. That's pretty cool. Since it's extremely difficult to attack over Number 9, that means that you'll get the chance to use his second effect. It's cool how the two effects support each other so well, and all this with a monstrous defense of 3000.


Number 8: Heraldic King Genom-Heritage

Oh, look! Another Heraldic! Sweet! Number 8 has a strong attack, and what seems to be the new standard defense of 1800. He's a Light-attribute Psychic-type. Light is cool, but not necessarily in Heraldics, whereas Psychic Xyz are supported by a certain Heraldic monster. Number 8 has this cool little identity-theft going on, which is very similar to One-Eyed Skill Gainer's. He gets the name, attack, and effect of the Xyz monster he selects, while the opposing monster's attack is brought down to zero, and its effects are negated. The ramifications of this are clear - you can push through a ton of battle damage, while getting rid of a problematic monster. At best, you'll even get a great effect out of it. And the best part? Number 8's effect doesn't require it to detach an Xyz material. That means you can use it as many times as you want. Of course, some of the effects you steal may require Xyz materials, but that's okay. And even if you run out of materials, that won't stop Number 8's effect from activating, unlike some Xyz monsters. Number 8 is a power-house among anti-Xyz monsters, and a worthy boss monster for the Heraldics.

Mermail Abyssgaios

Not all Mermail/Atlantean decks are going to be summoning Abyssgaios, but those that do are sure to be flashy and full of win. Most of the time, Abyssgaios will be summoned through combos involving Lemuria, The Forgotten City. We're going to be talking about that later, so let's focus on Abyssgaios himself right now. He requires Water-attribute materials, which makes sense. He has a mighty 2800 attack, and a puny 1600 defense. He has the interesting effect of locking down all monsters above Level 4 from attacking. Of course, that won't stop Xyz monsters. Besides that, he has another controlling effect that will stop all monsters on your opponent's side of the field with an attack lower than Abyssgaios. King of the deep, indeed. This can come in handy fairly often, but doesn't immediately make this card a choice over Number 11: Big Eye. It'll be one of those cards where you summon it if it helps you out in your current predicament - or, if you need to trigger off some Water-attribute effects.


Empress of Prophecy

Empress is a cool boss monster, but I'm not sure if there's a particular build suited for her just yet. Which is sad, because as I said, she's pretty darn cool. She requires Level 5 Spellcasters, which aren't exactly in abundance. There IS the Emperor of Prophecy we've already reviewed though, and it's looking like he'll be a staple in any deck wanting to bust out Empress, along with Hermit of Prophecy. If you do get out Empress, you'll have to be careful - with only 2000 attack, she may not be sticking around for long. Luckily, her effect will help to ease that problem, by boosting her attack up. It doesn't specify materials attached to Empress either, so every single Xyz monster you have will boost her up, assuming they have materials. Her effect is awesome, considering the amount of Spellbook cards you'll want to run in a typical Prophecy deck. You'll be destroying anything from 1 to 5 cards, and it gets around Starlight Road! There are combos you can perform with some of the new Spellbook cards we review later on, and they pack quite a wallop as well.


Madolche Queen Tiaramisu

Up until now, Madolche decks were usually forced to run cards like Guardian Eatos and Madolche Puddingcess as their 'boss' monsters, or win conditions. Now, they have Tiaramisu. An Earth-attribute Fairy-type (a weird combination) Tiaramisu requires Madolche materials to summon herself. She's Rank 4, with a slightly-below average attack, while her defense is above par. Under Madolche Chateau, her attack increases to an astonishing 2700. Tiaramisu solves the issue of ever having Madolche in your Graveyard, while potentially increasing the amount of cards in your hand, while disrupting your opponent's field. If you succesfully resolve Tiaramisu's effect, you'll have gotten rid of 2 of your opponent's cards, while losing none of your own. If you resolved it with something like Chateau on the field, then your opponent lost two cards, and you gained two more. Swings like that win games, more often than not. Tiaramisu is a powerful leader for the Madolche archetype, and Madolche decks will now more often than not forego Puddingcess in favor of Tiaramisu.


Snowdust Giant

And now we close out today's review with another one of my favorites from this set! Snowdust Giant lacks a bit of strength, but makes up for it by... being a part of a really fun archetype! Snowdust Giant solves one of the issues of Ice Counter strategies by providing a way to dump mass amounts of Ice Counters to the field quickly. In addition, he'll weaken all non-Water-attribute monsters, evening the playing field for him to stomp on them. Snowdust Giant is a strong monster for a casual theme. He proples the theme's goals forward, while providing a strong body on the field. I'd just like to say that I'm extremely excited to review the other Ice Counter cards. Personally, I'll definitely be trying to build this deck. It's a perfect example of a casual deck in Yu-Gi-Oh!