So, in quite a few previous posts, I’ve made it quite that I
hate and despise Pendulums with a burning passion, and I build my Decks
specifically to make Pendulum players cry as hard as possible. But I’ve never
actually done a post, specifically on why I hate Pendulums, and I’m also going
to give my counters to arguments that people use when I say that Pendulum
Summoning is broken.
My hatred of Pendulums comes down to my purist nature. When
the game first started, there were very clear rules on Special Summoning
monsters. In general, you could only Special Summon two monsters at most at the
same time, not because there was a limit, but because there weren’t any cards
like Soul Charge or Return From the Different Dimension (Henceforth simply
referred to as “Return”). They’d been seen in the anime, but hadn’t been
printed in the TCG yet. In fact it wasn’t until Dragons of Legend in 2014 that we received Soul Charge, despite it appearing
in the anime in Episode 176 all the way back in 2005 in the dub. We actually
had Return in 2004, but it didn’t become widely accessible until 2008 in The Dark Emperor Structure Deck, after
appearing in the movie Pyramid of Light
in 2004. Those are the only two cards I can think of from that era that allowed
you flood the field essentially at will. As we are now aware, Soul Charge is
limited and Return is Banned. Why you might ask? Because Konami doesn’t like
cards that allow you to flood the field at will. Well, at least they didn’t
until some bright spark came up with Pendulum Summoning, a mechanic which
allows you to flood the field at will. And I know you’re going to say: But Big Dub, what about the costs? But Big
Dub, they were Banned and Limited because of game-breaking combos. Yes, I
hear you guys. I think we can all agree that both cards were, and arguably still
are, broken. As for the costs, bear with me. I’ll get to that.
Argument 1- “Pendulum
Summoning isn’t broken, the monsters you summon are”
If I drop a glass and it shatters on the floor, am I responsible
for breaking the glass, or is the floor? It’s the same logic. Saying that “Pendulum
Summoning doesn’t break the game, the monsters do” is the same as me saying “I
didn’t break the glass, the floor did” from a logic sense, or should I say
nonsense? If the monsters you summon via Pendulum Summoning are broken, then
Pendulum Summoning itself is broken, inherently.
Argument 2- “That’s
not the same thing though” in response to Soul Charge are Return
This is a common one. Whenever I point out that Soul Charge
and Return are Limited and Banned, Pendulum players always come out with “it’s
not the same thing though”. Let’s compare Pendulum Summoning to Soul Charge/Return:
Pendulum Summoning
|
Soul Charge/Return
|
Inherent
Special Summon
|
Non-Inherent
Special Summon
|
5
Monsters max.
|
5
Monsters max.
|
No
cost
|
Has
a cost (1000 LP per Monster for Soul Charge and half of current LP for
Return)
|
No
restriction on game mechanics
|
Restriction
on game mechanics (Can’t attack for Soul Charge, banished during End Phase
for Return)
|
Special
Summon from Extra Deck/Hand
|
Special
Summon from Graveyard/Banished Zone
|
They seem very similar don’t they? Sure, Konami has made
Pendulum Summoning better than both Return and Soul Charge combined, but at its
core, it is exactly the same thing. You’re still flooding the field with up to
5 monsters at will, you’re just not summoning those Monsters from the same
places. Konami, please. If you’re going to have Pendulum Summoning as a thing,
either put Soul Charge at 2 or give us back Return, because it just seems
ridiculous to keep cards Banned and Limited for doing exactly what Pendulum
Summoning does.
Argument 3- “Pendulum
Monsters don’t break the Extra Deck limit, they just add to it”
This argument has the same flawed logic as Argument 1. You
typically start with 15 cards in your Extra Deck (which is the limit) and then
you get what’s essentially bonus cards on top of that, taking the Extra Deck
beyond 15 cards. Saying that’s ok, is like being pulled over for driving drunk
and telling the officer “It’s ok. I was at 0.05 (or whatever your legal limit
is) when I got in the car” No. It doesn’t work that way. We have limits for a
reason. Being allowed to break that limit, just makes Pendulum Summoning even
more broken.
Argument 4- “You win
or lose on the Pendulum Summon. Negate it and you win”
True. Yes, Pendulum Players usually push for game with a big
Pendulum Summon of 3-5 monsters. If you negate that summon, you usually win.
But that’s not the point. The point is having the ability to Summon that many
monsters at once is broken.
Anyway, comment below either on the post or on Duel Amino if
you got here from there. Do you agree with me? Do you disagree with me? I know
the game had to evolve to survive, but (apart from hating it) I just think Pendulum
Summoning as a whole was badly designed.
Big Dub out.
