Well, it's been quite awhile since I did this isn't it. Oh well, time for this thing again.
I'll review quite a bit of FOTB cards. Some are "obvious" and some... well, good value more then it gives credits.
This is IMO, the most wanted card of FOTB right now. The new monarch!
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Raiza the Storm Monarch
Level 6 / Winged-Beast / Wind / Effect
2400ATK / 1000DEF
When this card is Tribute Summoned, send 1 card on the field to the top of its owner's Deck.
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Another family of Monarch. And like all monarch, very good effect and worth the tribute cost. Like all Monarch, have the standard 2400/1000 stat. The DEF doesn't matter, it's all about the 2400 beatstick. And this Monarch, in theory, is the best monarch next to Mobius. Why? Here's the reasons.
Mobius, in theory, is the best Monarch since it destroys 2 cards for 1 tribute. So if you count the tribute monster, it's 2 for 2 even trade, if you add in the Mobius monster itself in the equasion. The other Monarch, are 1 for 2, but USUALLY becomes a 2 for 2 since a 2400ATK beatstick usually requires a monster removal to deal with it. (Saku, Smashing Ground, etc.) In this theory, Mobius have a potential to be a 3 for 2 for +1 card advantage for you. But of this, this is not set in stone. Alot of Monarch Tributes are not "costs" in proper deck. (e.g. tributing Sangan, Treeborn Frog, flipped Deko/GK Spy/etc.) Not to mention if Mobius hits a BTH, Ring, etc. it's an even 2 for 2, or even end up being 1 for 2 if your foe didn't had 2 s/t to destroy for Mobius. In this case, stuff like Thestalos or Zaborg gained more benefit as they were gunna die by BTH/Ring/Torrential/etc anyway so it took out something along with it.
Well, forget the theory, the reason why this card is "considered' the 2nd best Monarch in theory is cause it can target ANY card on field. Zaborg is limited to monsters, Mobius is limited to s/t, and Granmarg is limited to face-down. And Thestalos doesn't count since it effects the hand, not field equalizer. The fact that this card can hit monster, s/t, and not worry about being face-up or down makes it a superior version of Granmarg. (it's the reason why Granmarg isn't used. cause it sometiems got nothing to destroy.) However, like Zaborg, it MUST target something. Meaning, if your foe got no cards on their field, it must target something on your field, even Raiza itself. And bouncing your own cards... is just dumb unless you got REALLY good reason for it.
The "weakness" (also considered strength) is that it doesn't destroy, but bounce the card. But remember, it's not bounced to hand, but to top of deck. So Raiza, you have to play it smart and should use on stuff you want to bounce. Cards that you WANT destroyed, SHOULD be destroyed and not bounced. (e.g. SoRL, Gravity Bind, LLAB, etc.) Then what's the best selection, floater monsters. Monsters like Sangan or Treeborn Frog is such a waste to hit it with Zaborg it's not even funny. You should only do that when you got game. (And hopefully, your foe doesnt' search Kuriboh with Sangan) Not just them, but the current CC decks runs so much "floaters" that monster destruction isn't always wanted. Cards like Card Trooper, Gadget, etc. are all better off being bounced then destroyed. Being bounced to top of deck means they still lose a card, even if they'll be drawing into it. Since it's a bounce effect, hitting face-down monster with Raiza is always good. Zaborg tend to have probs when that face-down was something like Sangan, Frog, Sand Moth, Card Trooper, etc. And also, being drawn into it means under right condition, drawing into a dead card, and thus wasting a turn. What are dead cards? Big fat LV8 monsters of course. Go ahead and bounce stuff like Horus LV8, SPoN, etc, your foe will cry. Even DMoC is good enough as long as they don't have a way to immediately special summon it. But against, LV5~6, do it only when they don't have a Treeborn Frog, and that LV5 monster isn't named Cyber Dragon. (Yeah... bouncing a Monarch when you see a frog in the foe's graveyard.... bad idea.)
And also, bouncing s/t isn't that bad either. Bouncing monsters is the best choice, but soemtimes, an s/t isn't that bad. Getting rid of that saku for one turn and getting in that 2400ATK is not that bad. It just gives you 1 more turn to buy time to solve the prob while your foe wastes 1 turn drawing into that same turn. And if the targetted s/t is chained, it doesn't get bounced as long as it's not continuous so don't have to worry about "being reused again". It's like chaining stuff when Giant Trunade is activated. Remember, making them draw into that same card means no new cards in hand. And thus they'll likely have the same exact set-up. So if you hit it with multiple Raiza against your foe each turn... it'll usually give you the same benefit results and hopefully keep pounding away your foe's LP along with it.
Basically IMO, Raiza is more for controlled use. It doesn't solve all the prob of whatever you target for the bounce. (Since they'll draw into it.) So for most decks, the Monarch of choice is just Zaborg or Mobius. This card is more like Thestalos and thus more of controlled variant, or have huge support off some other theme. And no, Raiza isn't just for Monarch control. It basically helps out the whole theme of Winged-Beast and Wind theme altogether. It's literally the best thing to use with Icarus Attack. Icarus is a 2 for 2 trade for the card activation, and tribute cost, to destroy 2 cards. (3 for 2 if it was chained to a mosnter that was gunna die anyway, like Sakuretsu) But usually, the cost wasn't worth losing that monster in most cases. But this one is different. It's already a field equalizer when used with Raiza to temporary remove the problem card. And when they draw into and reuse the card again, then destroy it with Icarus Attack when the time comes. Before, the only decent target for Icarus attack was just SPoN when it was gunna get hit by BTH or something. But now it got more meaning and supports the winged-beast theme alot more. Not just Winged-Beast, but any "wind" theme deck should pack these guys are they're just idiots.
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In the end, I give this card a
10 out of 10
Splashable? Nope. The only real "splashable" Monarchs are just Zaborg, and possibily Mobius in main or sidedeck. But for a controlled deck, this card is a dream card. And not only it supports the already tier 1 Monarch Control, it gives boost to other deck types like Wind and Winged-Beast all at once. It supports other decks and it supports itself without too much need. Pretty much a very powerful tribute monster that's actually good that got printed for a long time. Expect to see him and Thestalos in all monarch Control decks when this card becomes legal. (Along with the best tech against Monarch, Pulling the Rug, the ultimate Anti-Monarch hate. We're seeing 3x of this card already cause it counters 3x deck types, i.e. Monarch/Gadget/Ritual, and when this comes out, expect him more.)
I'll review quite a bit of FOTB cards. Some are "obvious" and some... well, good value more then it gives credits.
This is IMO, the most wanted card of FOTB right now. The new monarch!
-------
Raiza the Storm Monarch
Level 6 / Winged-Beast / Wind / Effect
2400ATK / 1000DEF
When this card is Tribute Summoned, send 1 card on the field to the top of its owner's Deck.
----------
Another family of Monarch. And like all monarch, very good effect and worth the tribute cost. Like all Monarch, have the standard 2400/1000 stat. The DEF doesn't matter, it's all about the 2400 beatstick. And this Monarch, in theory, is the best monarch next to Mobius. Why? Here's the reasons.
Mobius, in theory, is the best Monarch since it destroys 2 cards for 1 tribute. So if you count the tribute monster, it's 2 for 2 even trade, if you add in the Mobius monster itself in the equasion. The other Monarch, are 1 for 2, but USUALLY becomes a 2 for 2 since a 2400ATK beatstick usually requires a monster removal to deal with it. (Saku, Smashing Ground, etc.) In this theory, Mobius have a potential to be a 3 for 2 for +1 card advantage for you. But of this, this is not set in stone. Alot of Monarch Tributes are not "costs" in proper deck. (e.g. tributing Sangan, Treeborn Frog, flipped Deko/GK Spy/etc.) Not to mention if Mobius hits a BTH, Ring, etc. it's an even 2 for 2, or even end up being 1 for 2 if your foe didn't had 2 s/t to destroy for Mobius. In this case, stuff like Thestalos or Zaborg gained more benefit as they were gunna die by BTH/Ring/Torrential/etc anyway so it took out something along with it.
Well, forget the theory, the reason why this card is "considered' the 2nd best Monarch in theory is cause it can target ANY card on field. Zaborg is limited to monsters, Mobius is limited to s/t, and Granmarg is limited to face-down. And Thestalos doesn't count since it effects the hand, not field equalizer. The fact that this card can hit monster, s/t, and not worry about being face-up or down makes it a superior version of Granmarg. (it's the reason why Granmarg isn't used. cause it sometiems got nothing to destroy.) However, like Zaborg, it MUST target something. Meaning, if your foe got no cards on their field, it must target something on your field, even Raiza itself. And bouncing your own cards... is just dumb unless you got REALLY good reason for it.
The "weakness" (also considered strength) is that it doesn't destroy, but bounce the card. But remember, it's not bounced to hand, but to top of deck. So Raiza, you have to play it smart and should use on stuff you want to bounce. Cards that you WANT destroyed, SHOULD be destroyed and not bounced. (e.g. SoRL, Gravity Bind, LLAB, etc.) Then what's the best selection, floater monsters. Monsters like Sangan or Treeborn Frog is such a waste to hit it with Zaborg it's not even funny. You should only do that when you got game. (And hopefully, your foe doesnt' search Kuriboh with Sangan) Not just them, but the current CC decks runs so much "floaters" that monster destruction isn't always wanted. Cards like Card Trooper, Gadget, etc. are all better off being bounced then destroyed. Being bounced to top of deck means they still lose a card, even if they'll be drawing into it. Since it's a bounce effect, hitting face-down monster with Raiza is always good. Zaborg tend to have probs when that face-down was something like Sangan, Frog, Sand Moth, Card Trooper, etc. And also, being drawn into it means under right condition, drawing into a dead card, and thus wasting a turn. What are dead cards? Big fat LV8 monsters of course. Go ahead and bounce stuff like Horus LV8, SPoN, etc, your foe will cry. Even DMoC is good enough as long as they don't have a way to immediately special summon it. But against, LV5~6, do it only when they don't have a Treeborn Frog, and that LV5 monster isn't named Cyber Dragon. (Yeah... bouncing a Monarch when you see a frog in the foe's graveyard.... bad idea.)
And also, bouncing s/t isn't that bad either. Bouncing monsters is the best choice, but soemtimes, an s/t isn't that bad. Getting rid of that saku for one turn and getting in that 2400ATK is not that bad. It just gives you 1 more turn to buy time to solve the prob while your foe wastes 1 turn drawing into that same turn. And if the targetted s/t is chained, it doesn't get bounced as long as it's not continuous so don't have to worry about "being reused again". It's like chaining stuff when Giant Trunade is activated. Remember, making them draw into that same card means no new cards in hand. And thus they'll likely have the same exact set-up. So if you hit it with multiple Raiza against your foe each turn... it'll usually give you the same benefit results and hopefully keep pounding away your foe's LP along with it.
Basically IMO, Raiza is more for controlled use. It doesn't solve all the prob of whatever you target for the bounce. (Since they'll draw into it.) So for most decks, the Monarch of choice is just Zaborg or Mobius. This card is more like Thestalos and thus more of controlled variant, or have huge support off some other theme. And no, Raiza isn't just for Monarch control. It basically helps out the whole theme of Winged-Beast and Wind theme altogether. It's literally the best thing to use with Icarus Attack. Icarus is a 2 for 2 trade for the card activation, and tribute cost, to destroy 2 cards. (3 for 2 if it was chained to a mosnter that was gunna die anyway, like Sakuretsu) But usually, the cost wasn't worth losing that monster in most cases. But this one is different. It's already a field equalizer when used with Raiza to temporary remove the problem card. And when they draw into and reuse the card again, then destroy it with Icarus Attack when the time comes. Before, the only decent target for Icarus attack was just SPoN when it was gunna get hit by BTH or something. But now it got more meaning and supports the winged-beast theme alot more. Not just Winged-Beast, but any "wind" theme deck should pack these guys are they're just idiots.
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In the end, I give this card a
10 out of 10
Splashable? Nope. The only real "splashable" Monarchs are just Zaborg, and possibily Mobius in main or sidedeck. But for a controlled deck, this card is a dream card. And not only it supports the already tier 1 Monarch Control, it gives boost to other deck types like Wind and Winged-Beast all at once. It supports other decks and it supports itself without too much need. Pretty much a very powerful tribute monster that's actually good that got printed for a long time. Expect to see him and Thestalos in all monarch Control decks when this card becomes legal. (Along with the best tech against Monarch, Pulling the Rug, the ultimate Anti-Monarch hate. We're seeing 3x of this card already cause it counters 3x deck types, i.e. Monarch/Gadget/Ritual, and when this comes out, expect him more.)