Wave-Motion Cannon, MFC-040

Wave-Motion Cannon
(Continuous Spell Card)
Send this card on the field to the Graveyard during your Main Phase. Inflict damage to your opponent's Life Points equal to the number of your Standby Phases that have passed after this card's activation x 1000 points.
Rulings
  1. Sending "Wave-Motion Cannon" to the Graveyard is a cost, so when you send it to the Graveyard, it's too late for your opponent to chain "Mystical Space Typhoon", etc., to destroy "Wave-Motion Cannon", because "Wave-Motion Cannon" is already in the Graveyard.
  2. Your opponent cannot chain "Magic Jammer", or use "Dark Paladin", etc., when you send "Wave-Motion Cannon" from the field to the Graveyard. Your opponent CAN chain "Magic Jammer" or use "Dark Paladin", etc., when you first activate "Wave-Motion Cannon" (meaning when you place it face-up on the field).
  3. If "Imperial Order" is active on the field, count Standby Phases as normal for "Wave-Motion Cannon".
  4. You can activate "Wave-Motion Cannon" (place it face-up on the field) and send it to the Graveyard during the same turn, but it will not do any damage.
  5. If the Standby Phase is skipped with "Solomon's Lawbook" or the turn is skipped with "Gamble", increase the count for "Wave-Motion Cannon" anyway.
  6. You cannot use "Pyro Clock of Destiny" with "Wave-Motion Cannon".
  7. [Re: Barrel Behind the Door] You cannot activate "Barrel Behind the Door" against a Continuous Spell or Trap Card, an Equip Spell Card, or a Field Spell Card. So you cannot activate it against "Magical Thorn", "Dark Snake Syndrome", "Wave-Motion Cannon", or "Black Pendant".
  8. [Re: Skilled Dark Magician] When you use the effect of a Continuous Spell Card that is already face-up on the field, such as "Inspection", or sending "Wave-Motion Cannon" to the Graveyard, or paying for "Messenger of Peace", you do NOT place a Spell Counter on this monster.
  9. [Re: Skilled White Magician] When you use the effect of a Continuous Spell Card that is already face-up on the field, such as "Inspection", or sending "Wave-Motion Cannon" to the Graveyard, or paying for "Messenger of Peace", you do NOT place a Spell Counter on this monster.
Ban List week comes to a close with the perfect burn card, Wave-Motion Cannon. This card is a valuable gem from Magician's Force, and, like Magical Scientist, I think its rarity should have been a bit higher. But alas, I've only ever got three from packs, and I can only find one of mine at the present... (Anyone else have this problem?) Regardless of uncommonity (<- word?), it's a great card that can be used in any deck effectively, especially burn.

Since the Cannon can support its own weight and decimate the opponent by itself, it doesn't need combos. However, to protect it, it'd be smart to use Magic Reflector so that you can ensure a huge hit of damage to your opponent with it.

Advantage should be obvious - you can win the game with it, and that's huge. By using more than one, you can do it faster too. With just one, and assuming this is the only way your opponent's Life Points will decrease, it'd take you 9 of your turns, which would be about 18 turns total. You might as well use Final Countdown in that scenario. However, with two, it becomes 5 of your turns, and with 3 it goes down to 4. But who's to say that's the only way Life Points are going down? One that has amassed 3 deadly counters can deal 3000 damage. Coupled with battle damage, Life Point payments, and other burn cards, that could easily be enough.

Disadvantages sadly come with this card too. For one, it takes up one of your Spell/Trap spaces and does nothing until you set it off. If your opponent destroys it, you also just wasted a few turns with it too. It also can be slow to use, but it's still one of the better burn options. However, it can be HORRIBLE top deck. There are times when you hope to everything that is hoped upon that you DO NOT draw it, and at other times, you only wish your first hand or next draw was it. (Drawing in your first hand is the best case scenario, usually*)

Now playing this card can be tricky. I previously said you can use it anywhere, and you can, but I wouldn't advise that 100%. You see, some people may focus too much on it, and be sloppy using it. Firing it after one Standby Phase and dealing 1000 Life Point damage isn't worth it, unless it'd win you the game, but is keeping it on the field for five turns smart? The possibility of it getting destroyed is too great. With most decks running Dust Tornado in doubles or triples, Mystical Space Typhoon, Heavy Storm, Breaker the Magical Warrior, Giant Trunade, what have you, your Cannon could easily never fire. In my opinion, I'd say after it has three or two counters is the optimal time to fire it. It really depends on your preference and your opponent's removal too.

The best decks for it are Side Decks. It's definately a good Side Deck card. Burn decks can abuse it too, and I'd say any effective Saturn Burn deck should use it. Otherwise, it can go anywhere pretty well, but isn't necesarilly needed.

* - It depends on your opponent's Spell/Trap removal too, since in the beginning of the duel, there's still plenty.

Ratings:
Advanced: 4/5. It doesn't have too many bad points at all.
Limited: 4/5. Why not? You can build some pretty stable decks with MFC cards, and this can go in them prefectly.
 
Well written chaos general, but let's not forget another reason this card is so valuable, and that's the psychological edge on things.

I agree that the WMC may not be as edgy with the return of so many Dust Tornados but still WMC starts to give massive problems to your opponent around 2 or 3. They see this massive bomb getting ready to be unleased upon them. They have that MST in hand, but is it worth it? The turn after the WMC get's defused, there could be a far more deadly trap or continuous spell card waiting to make things even worse than WMC could have been.

Or even worse, if Jinzo is out preventing the Dust Tornados from going to town. Each turn makes your opponent squirm that much more and they begin to lose focus. They worry more and more about how high the bomb is getting. Will my opponent wait two more turns, 1 more? Do I need to push all my attacks now before they get a chance to unleash the bomb? They begin to play sloppy, which plays into your favor.

WMC has been a long time favorite of mine and I've recently returned it to my deck with wonderful results. I have an uncanny knack for getting it on my first or second turn and I honesly use it more for the psychological nastiness or S/T removal waste that it tends to produce. Once in a while I get to unleash a good 3K or 4K damage with it, which is even more to my benefit.

This weekend at the Vegas regional I saw a LOT of WMC in people's decks. A few people I even saw running two or three and were simply burning people out with it. A lovely card indeed 8^D
 
Heh, Wave-Motion Cannon can serve as Dust Tirnado bait. MST bait too. The Cannon pretty much serves its purpose as there Spell/Trap removal-er-removal. You HAVE to get rid of a Cannon if your opponent activates one. So it's pretty, much going to force a Heavy Storm before your opponent would ordinarily use it. Not to mention it'll give you 1000 damage after one turn. Better than Meteor of Destruction in that respect.
 
Yes , but it's a either/or situation. If they get rid of it, fine. There's one less reason your Bottomless Trap Hole will get fried. If he doesn't, all the better then. You'll get the damage and move on. Basically what I was saying is that it serves it's purpose and then some.
 
Do both: bait their S/T removers, AND have an effect of their own. Jar of Greed is a two-for-one trade: you play one card (-1), draw another (+1), and your opponent loses one card (+1) amounting to an advantage. WMC will EITHER bait their removers, OR deal damage.

-pssvr
 
But Jar of Greed and Waboku are passive removal bait. They are simply face down and waiting, mysterious and unknown. Granted in some situations that will be more advantageous to keep your opponent guessing. But Wave Motion Cannon is a ticking time bomb. It can explode for tremendous damage and gives an unsettling urgency to get rid of it. These are two entirely different psychological games. Oh and just to point out the obvious an opponent with 2 or 3 Royal Decree in their deck are probably not too concerned about what you might have face down in your back field. The longer you leave them there trying to bait out removal the better the chances you get stuck with no effect when you need to use them.
 
I will say that Wave-Motion Cannon is indeed a psychological marvel in this game, alongside Different Dimension Capsule.

I will also have to stand by my opinion that it can easily be destroyed or reset, regardless of Jinzo. Breaker, Heavy Storm, MST, Giant Trunade, etc. all are not negated by Jinzo, so... :D

Now I'm not saying using him as an example is a bad idea, but he's just one card that negates +/- 3 that can destroy WMC, whereas you'd need something on the calibur of Horus to protect it from the rest, and that's expanding more resources to protect a card than needed. Which is why you should activate WMC as soon as possible and leave it be, unless you're serious about things with it. But I'd say that 3k or 4k is enough. The rest you should be able to do on your own, really. Otherwise, things just get cheap, people start complaining, and, what do you know? Wave-Motion Cannon gets limited. Ruins all the fun. ;)
 
The last thing I need for my deck is to see Wave-Motion Cannon limited. I run two in my LG Burn and most of the time I'll either get one off for 4/5k or send 'em both off for 6k. That's gotta tell you somethin' about the relative (don't want to upset anyone) lack of S/T removal in this format.
 
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