Welcome to the fourth Aternative Review, by pssvr! This will be my last for a while, so let's hope I get it right. This week's theme is stalling via meatshield and avoidance. Two very fun concepts, but mostly in theory. You wouldn't REALLY be able to keep enough monsters on the field to absorb all attacks, or REALLY just avoid them entirely... Would you? Oh, don't tell me you want another overview of the cards! Geez...
Indomitable Fighter Lei Lei
Goblin Attack Force
Goblin Elite Attack Force
Giant Orc
Nimble Momonga
Bubonic Vermin
Hyena
Giant Rat
Troop Dragon
Masked Dragon
Astral Barrier
Spirit Barrier
Hmm... that was an interesting list. It was also much longer than most of the ones we've had before. Well, as usual, let's break it down:
Indomitable Fighter Lei Lei: How in the world can this stall for you? Well, it is actually quite effective, since it is both a meatshield and an avoidance card. When it attacks, it will almost certainly kill your opponent's monster, thus "avoiding" that monster ever attacking. Then, after it goes into defense position, it becomes a meatshield. Really a severely under-rated way to stall and maintain field presence. The same applies to GAF, GeAF, and GO. We'll skip those becasue they are so similar.
Nimble Momonga: The ultimate meatshield. Truly amazing, a card that saw consistent play from its release WAY back in MRL up to the chaos meltdown. After the ban, it began to see play again, and has continued to this day. Put simply, it is one card that can absorb three attacks, and give you three thousand lifepoints in the process. Just plain awesome.
Bubonic Vermin: Like Nimble Momonga, it can absorb three attacks. But it has a very unique characteristic that is actually very abusable. Even if they DON'T attack it, it can be flip summoned next turn to pull a second one. This can work well for tribute monsters.
Hyena: I think we've covered this...
Giant Rat: Admittedly, the monsters it summons go into attack position, but it still makes a great meatshield. What's more, you can bring out Hyena and Nimble Momonga with it, so it creates a steady flow of monsters.
Troop Dragon: Yet another meatshield capable of absorbing three attacks.
Masked Dragon: Even better, it can absorb three attacks, then on the last one bring out Troop Dragon for three MORE attacks. Very much a meatshield.
Astral Barrier: Huh? Well, you'll see...
Spirit Barrier: This is it. The big one. I can hardly even type up all the combos with this card. First and foremost is the combo with Astral Barrier that allows you to completely avoid all attacks. Next is that you won't take damage from Giant Rats being summoned in attack position. More avoidance. But most importantly, it prevents things like Final Attack Orders or Airknight Parshath from wrecking your whole strategy. Absolutely necessary. Pack plenty of Fake Traps.
So what have we learned? Field presence is a good kind of stall. Trample can be a problem. And oddly enough, it would also seem that Stalling and Card Advantage make an interesting hybrid (gee... You don't think maybe I planned that?) in a Beast / Earth deck. This is because Spiritual Earth Art - Kurogane and Beast Soul Swap can be used to maintain field presence, Manticore of Darkness makes an insane meatshield, and most importantly, because Behemoth the King of All Animals gives amazing advantage with Hyena / Nimble / Rat / Vermin. One more note: Bazoo the soul eater also works well here, since you will have PLENTY of monsters, mostly beasts, in the grave.
Well, there you have it. Feel free to tell me that was dumb. It has a tendency to happen that way, since I wrote this as I thought of it...
-pssvr
Indomitable Fighter Lei Lei
Goblin Attack Force
Goblin Elite Attack Force
Giant Orc
Nimble Momonga
Bubonic Vermin
Hyena
Giant Rat
Troop Dragon
Masked Dragon
Astral Barrier
Spirit Barrier
Hmm... that was an interesting list. It was also much longer than most of the ones we've had before. Well, as usual, let's break it down:
Indomitable Fighter Lei Lei: How in the world can this stall for you? Well, it is actually quite effective, since it is both a meatshield and an avoidance card. When it attacks, it will almost certainly kill your opponent's monster, thus "avoiding" that monster ever attacking. Then, after it goes into defense position, it becomes a meatshield. Really a severely under-rated way to stall and maintain field presence. The same applies to GAF, GeAF, and GO. We'll skip those becasue they are so similar.
Nimble Momonga: The ultimate meatshield. Truly amazing, a card that saw consistent play from its release WAY back in MRL up to the chaos meltdown. After the ban, it began to see play again, and has continued to this day. Put simply, it is one card that can absorb three attacks, and give you three thousand lifepoints in the process. Just plain awesome.
Bubonic Vermin: Like Nimble Momonga, it can absorb three attacks. But it has a very unique characteristic that is actually very abusable. Even if they DON'T attack it, it can be flip summoned next turn to pull a second one. This can work well for tribute monsters.
Hyena: I think we've covered this...
Giant Rat: Admittedly, the monsters it summons go into attack position, but it still makes a great meatshield. What's more, you can bring out Hyena and Nimble Momonga with it, so it creates a steady flow of monsters.
Troop Dragon: Yet another meatshield capable of absorbing three attacks.
Masked Dragon: Even better, it can absorb three attacks, then on the last one bring out Troop Dragon for three MORE attacks. Very much a meatshield.
Astral Barrier: Huh? Well, you'll see...
Spirit Barrier: This is it. The big one. I can hardly even type up all the combos with this card. First and foremost is the combo with Astral Barrier that allows you to completely avoid all attacks. Next is that you won't take damage from Giant Rats being summoned in attack position. More avoidance. But most importantly, it prevents things like Final Attack Orders or Airknight Parshath from wrecking your whole strategy. Absolutely necessary. Pack plenty of Fake Traps.
So what have we learned? Field presence is a good kind of stall. Trample can be a problem. And oddly enough, it would also seem that Stalling and Card Advantage make an interesting hybrid (gee... You don't think maybe I planned that?) in a Beast / Earth deck. This is because Spiritual Earth Art - Kurogane and Beast Soul Swap can be used to maintain field presence, Manticore of Darkness makes an insane meatshield, and most importantly, because Behemoth the King of All Animals gives amazing advantage with Hyena / Nimble / Rat / Vermin. One more note: Bazoo the soul eater also works well here, since you will have PLENTY of monsters, mostly beasts, in the grave.
Well, there you have it. Feel free to tell me that was dumb. It has a tendency to happen that way, since I wrote this as I thought of it...
-pssvr