Top 10 Favourite Spells (of All Time)

Well, I finally finished my list for my 10 favourite spell cards. It was a long list to narrow down so I’m not including Honourable Mentions, but if I get enough support for it maybe I’ll do a “20-11 Favourite Spell Cards” list, but for now it’s just Top 10. The list does include a banned card, but does not include Pendulum Monsters or their effects. The reason being is that I really hate Pendulums and the Pendulum mechanic itself. The set releases and years are TCG based, not OCG. So, let’s get into the list. 

10. DOUBLE SPELL

So this card is pretty old. We all got a copy in Yugi’s Legendary Decks for those who bought it, but it was first released in Dark Revelation: Volume 1 as an Ultra Rare back in 2005. The card is an excellent Side Deck card that can get you out of a tight spot quite easily. What the card does is, you discard a Spell and then you can activate a Spell from your OPPONENT’S Graveyard as this card’s effect. So that’s an extra Raigeki. A fourth Upstart, basically whatever you need provided that your opponent has already used the card. And just imagine the pain this card causes in Mirror Matches. Whatever your opponent does to gain advantage, you can make the same play at the cost of a Spell. I know Spells are hard to recycle because there’s not many Spell recycling cards, but if you can counter your opponent’s field advantage by building the same field or an even better field, that loss of a Spell won’t really matter. And you can always discard a dead draw (like Terraforming when you have no targets left in your Deck).

9. WAVE-MOTION CANNON

Another old card also released in Dark Revelation: Volume 1 as a Common, this was basically the best Burn card going around back in the day when Burn Decks were a thing (they still are, but not really around much anymore). You’d activate this card and it would count your turns. Then, during your Main Phase you could destroy this card and your opponent would take 1000 damage for each turn this card had been face up on the field. Now, by today’s standards it’s a very slow card, but back then back row was difficult to remove. You had MST, Dust Tornado, Breaker and Feather Duster (before it was banned) if you could afford them so this card could easily sit there, count 8 turns and then OTK your opponent. It was a stupid way to lose but I like it just for its troll ability.

8. DRAGON RAVINE

This card, with the release of Shinning Victories is about to fuck shit up. When it was released in the Dragunity Legion Structure Deck as a Common, the card didn’t make that much of an impact, despite being Limited. The card was really only played in Dragunity Decks and once they dropped off the face of the planet no one used the card. But now we have the Blue-Eyes support coming out and that relies so much on having certain cards in the Graveyard, Ravine is just going remind everyone why it earned its place as a Limited card and it would not surprise me if it returned there very quickly. The card can be used in Destruction Swordsman (formerly Swordmaster) but your only real target is Dragon Buster Blade and if you need that in the Graveyard, there are better ways of sending it there. I like Ravine for the utility it gives Dragon based Decks because Dragon’s are some of the easiest monsters Special Summon from the Graveyard so one Field Spell= a shit ton of advantage.

7. MOUND OF THE BOUND CREATOR

For those who have read my posts before, you’ll know that I am a massive fan of the Egyptian God cards. Released in Dragons of Legend as a Secret Rare in 2014, this card is one of the earliest support cards for the Egyptian Gods. No surprise it makes my list right? But now, we have Decks that can summon Lvl 10’s and make Lvl 10’s very easily giving this card so much versatility in the game. I really want to test this card out with Bishbalkin when it comes out in the TCG and hopefully this card gets a reprint making it a bit easier to pull. For those who don’t know what the card does, it prevents your Lvl 10 or higher monsters from being destroyed by card effects, they can’t be targeted so the only way to destroy them is to destroy them by battle, if a Lvl 10 destroys an opponent’s monster by battle and sends it to the Graveyard your opponent takes an extra 1000 damage, and (if that wasn’t enough) if this card is destroyed you get to add a God to your hand. So not only is it an offensive and defensive Field Spell, it’s also a searcher for the God Cards.

6. THE SEAL OF ORICHALCOS

By far one of the most iconic cards of the first series, The Seal of Orichalcos was the king of Field Spells when it was released in Legendary Collection 3: Yugi’s World as an Ultra Rare in 2012. If the card had its anime effects I think that the card would still be in use and very nasty to deal with. But it would raise some important Ruling questions such as “Can overlay a monster in my back row with a monster in my front row to perform an Xyz Summon?” or “Can use a Tuner in my back row and a monster in my front row (or vice versa) to perform a Synchro Summon” or even “Am I allowed to Xyz, Synchro or Pendulum Summon to my back row?”. Even though its real effect was very watered down, the card saw some use in Monarchs as the Deck didn’t require an Extra Deck and most of your monsters would have the same ATK allowing you to stall out your opponent in the event that they managed to get 3400+ beater on the board. But the main reason I like the card? Who doesn’t enjoy stealing people’s souls?

5. FOOLISH BURIAL

Moving away from Field Spells, Foolish Burial was released in Rise of the Dragon Lords Structure Deck as a common in 2007 before being reprinted eight times. But the card didn’t enter the Meta for a long time when it became advantageous to send your own monsters to the Graveyard. Prior to this, the main play was to Call of the Haunted’d your beatstick for free. Today the card is in every Meta Deck. Even Pendulums run it. The card just so much versatility that it’s not bad for a very old card. Basically this card gives you deck thinning ability while also giving you access to your big hitters and that’s what I like about it.

4. DESTRUCTION SWORDSMAN FUSION

Recently released in Breakers of Shadow as a Common, Destruction Swordsman Fusion is Buster Blader’s Super Poly (and we all remember how broken that card was. Buster Dragon is very easy to make in the Deck so making Buster Blader the Dragon Destroyer Swordsman is incredibly easy to do. Got a Buster Blader in hand or on field and your opponent has a problematic monster?  No problem. Fuse with it, get rid of it and have a big beater on the field giving you massive field advantage. The card is good and the deck itself is underrated in my opinion.

3. RAIGEKI

One of everyone’s favourite cards, Raigeki was first released in 2004 in Legend of Blue Eyes White Dragon as a Super Rare and has since been reprinted in every rarity bar Common, Ultimate, Ghost and Gold Secret (of course Ghosts and Ultimates aren’t being made anymore). Raigeki was actually banned for a period of time being moved onto the Limited list and it had an immediate impact on the Meta game. No longer did players have to wait for the board to be cleared to activate Dark Hole, because they could wreck their opponent’s field and push for game. Today in the age of Pendulums where monsters don’t go to the Graveyard very often, Raigeki isn’t as powerful as it once was, but dropped at the right time it can still be very deadly. And that’s why I like it. A perfectly timed, top-decked Raigeki has saved me on so many occasions I can’t even put a number on it. It sucks when it is used against you, but you can’t really be too salty about your opponent using a card you also run.

2. TWIN TWISTER

Another card recently released in Breakers of Shadow Twin Twister is the new MST. Sure, you discard a card but you force your opponent to go -2 in field advantage. If you hit their back row or crack their scales you’re probably going to cause them a few headaches. You can destroy your own back row with it as well so the card is excellent in Artifacts. In the end, destroying back row is one of the most satisfying parts on the game so destroying double back row is twice as satisfying.

1. MONSTER REBORN

The most iconic spell card of Yugioh as a whole up to Zexal, Monster Reborn is one of few cards to be banned, then Limited and the banned again. Released in Starter Deck: Yugi Evolution as a Common in 2004 (shortly followed by Starter Deck: Kaiba Evolution also as a Common) Reborn is one of the oldest cards in the game and has been banned for almost the longest period of time (if we combine the two ban periods). I understand why people don’t like the card. Having your monster used against you for free hurts a lot, especially when they beat you down with it, but would anyone really run it? I would because I’m a nostalgia person, but in the Meta, would anyone actually run this card? Probably not because it hurts consistency a little bit and the way the Meta is at the moment, if you get a dead draw, if you don’t have a way to deal with that you lose. The card isn’t as powerful as it once was, we now have monsters that outclass this card. But for nostalgic and iconic reasons, this card is my number 1.

So what’s your favourite Spell Cards of all time? Leave them in the comments section and tell me: Would you play Monster Reborn if it was legalised again?

I’ve now got a lot of work to do to finish off this series with my 10 favourite Traps cards.

Big Dub out.

The Adjusted Banlist

So, no doubt by now you’ve probably heard about (what Konami is calling) the Adjusted Banlist. And let’s be honest. It’s an emergency banlist. And with the next list, which we expect to be a month away at most (but no one that I’ve seen seems to have confirmation on that), it wasn’t really required. If they updated the banlist every six months and it was another 4 months away, then we could see the reasoning behind a mid-format shake up with an emergency banlist. But I think that we all could’ve coped with waiting for the Adjusted Banlist to be rolled into the normal banlist when it’s updated. That being said, I’m very happy with the decisions that they made. So we’ll go through the Forbidden’s first and then the Limited’s. There are no Semi-Limited cards.

For those who haven’t seen the list (and the new errata for Pendulum Sorcerer) click here

PERFORMAGE PLUSHFIRE

Well this card really should’ve been called “Performage PLUSfire”. That’s essentially what it did. It just generated massive amounts of advantage. The card was useful for both its Pendulum Effect and, even more so, its Monster Effect.

Pendulum Effect: If a “Performage” monster(s) you control is destroyed by battle or card effect: You can Special Summon this card from your Pendulum Zone, then take 500 damage. You can only use this effect of “Performage Plushfire” once per turn.

Monster Effect: If this card on the field is destroyed by battle or card effect: You can Special Summon 1 “Performage” monster from your hand or Deck, except “Performage Plushire”

So what would happen is, you’d have a monster destroyed and get out an essentially free Plushfire (normally during your own turn), then you’d use it to Synchro, Pendulum it back, Fuse with it. Or you’d destroy it to bring out your heavy hitter which generally also gives you massive advantage anyway.

“But Big Dub. We’ve had monsters that allow you to do for a very long time! Why was Plushfire singled out? This is so unfair!”. Don’t worry you salty PePe players. I hear you. And I don’t care. You played with one of the most unfair Decks ever to grace our game with its presence, and you then you bitch about the banlist unfair? Are you smoking crack? If so, could I have some? Because it seems like good shit. Plushfire was singled out because it’s a Pendulum Monster. What’s the advantage that Plushfire has over all the other cards that allow you to easily bring out heavy hitters? That you can summon it back immediately after you use its effect (assuming you haven’t already Pendulum Summoned this turn) and use it again. These other monsters don’t have that ability. And if they do, it’s limited to once per turn. Plushfire isn’t. Theoretically, you can get this effect off 5 times in a turn (well, you can’t now, because it’s banned).

PERFORMAGE DAMAGE JUGGLER

This one was a bit of a surprise. For me anyway, quite a few did actually see it coming but Damage Juggler was never really a problem in my eyes. And it was probably only banned for its third effect which reads “You can banish this card from your Graveyard; add 1 “Performage” monster from your Deck to your hand except “Performage Damage Juggler”. You can only use this effect of “Performage Damage Juggler” once per turn.”. The reason I think that’s the reason for it being banned is because we have a lot of cards that reduce battle damage and effect damage to 0 and none of them are even Limited.

This is one card where I agree with you PePe players. The effect itself isn’t overpowered. But people would banish this card, add Plushfire to their hand and then… well just reread above to see the problem.

I feel that straight up banning the card is probably a bit extreme. It probably could’ve gone to Limited. It would’ve hurt the deck a bit, but PePe players would’ve been able to cope with the consistency issue. I’m fairly sure this card will come back at 1 sometime in the future.

TELLARKNIGHT PTOLEMAEUS

Everyone knows why this card was banned: Cyber Dragon Infinity (which, personally I believe to be ban worthy in its own right). Basically, Ptolemaeus made any Deck that had access to Rank 4’s able to summon Infinity. And almost every deck that I can think of has access to Rank 4’s. I don’t think I need to say much more.

Now to the newly Limited cards.

PERFORMAPAL SKULLCROBAT JOKER

Basically, this was the Stratos of PePe. This allowed to go for your Damage Juggler or your Plushfire or anything you needed at the time. No restriction on level or attack points of the added monster (not that it would’ve really mattered anyway if going for Plushfire or Damage Juggler). Not ban worthy so I’m comfortable with it at one, which I think most were running at 1 anyway. I saw a few profiles running it at 2, but the majority was 1. And it was searchable anyway through Damage Juggler and just about any Performapal search card.

PERFORMAPAL MONKEYBOARD

Very much the same reason as Joker. It’s effectively a RotA for the Deck. Just massive consistency. Comfortable with it at 1.

LUSTER PENDULUM, THE DRACOSLAYER

This card allowed you to build and crack your own scales as necessary. The major play was obviously Ariadne, but no one seems to be playing that so why was it Limited? I honestly don’t know. It didn’t like that much of a problem to me, but that’s just my opinion. Maybe you guys know more. I know that it opened up a lot of OTK/FTK strategies which we all know that Konami doesn’t like. Other than that, I don’t really know. I’m not a Pendulum player. My knowledge of Pendulums is limited to how they and the mechanic itself works as well as the most used Pendulum Monsters. So maybe you guys know and can tell me why this card was Limited, if not for the OTK/FTK ability.