10 Obscure Cards to Keep an Eye On

December 30, 2011

by Tyler Nolan

Hello, my name is Tyler Nolan. I have been playing Yu-Gi-Oh since it's release, and have seen some moderate success in the tournament circuit recently with Tech Genus. Today I'm going to write about 10 cards I feel are largely forgotten, or overlooked when building decks, and deserve some attention, so enough of the introduction and lets just get into it.

10 Cards to Watch Out for:

10. Begone Knave

This card has some very interesting interactions with cards like Reborn Tengu, or Mystic Tomato. The idea here being that if Tomato crashes into a big synchro or exceed such as Leviathan Dragon, then Tomato dies and searches, then Begone triggers since Leviathan dealt me damage, returning Leviathan to the extra deck, then I get my search (generally spirit reaper) and attack directly. If they have multiple monsters, you can tomato → tomato to bounce up to 4 of them. With Tengu, the interaction is obvious. Not only does Tengu do what Tomato does in bouncing monsters, but it can also attack into an empty field for 5100 damage.

9. Prohibition

Prohibition is my favorite sideboard card against Dark world, you can completely shut the deck down with a prohibition naming Grapha. Most builds have their only out as MSTs and storm. The card is also a solid side-in against Tech Genus, since you can destroy a T.G. Monster, then main phase 2 play Prohibition declaring it. Not only have you shut off that monster for the rest of the game, but they also don't search in end phase, since you shut off their monster. Since T.G. Decks play so little spell/trap removal, it is very easy to shut them out of the game completely if you get rid of a Rhino or Striker.

8. Liberty at Last!

The last card combated Tech Genus, this card is one of the strongest traps the deck has. A lot of people probably know about this one by now, but I still feel it needs mentioning. When I played the card at YCS Toronto, I only played it because I saw it as a great sideboard card against agents, since it dealt with the very troublesome Gachi Gachi Gantetsu. Now however, I feel the card is better than just a sideboard card. I advocate maining at least one copy in T.Gs, since you need those good outs to cards like Zenmaines and Gachi game 1 as well. Liberty is often a strictly better Dimensional Prison, since you don't care if your monsters die. It's worth noting that if you Liberty back their Tengu, they don't search since going back to the deck isn't treated as leaving the field.

7. Cosmic Fortress Gol'Gar

This is more of a “theme to keep your eyes out for” than a single card. Gol'Gar is the heart of the alien theme, and a card that is really overlooked by a lot of players. He comes out for one card off of Alien Ammonite, and then from there constantly recurs continuous cards like Call of the Haunted, and Fiendish Chain all while destroying cards on the field every turn. This deck has a devastating late game, and the only issue with it is finding the right cards to help support you through the early game, while maintaining those strong lategame locks. Post-side a lot of options open up for the deck. Rivalry of Warlords, Prohibiton which you can keep renaming with, reusable Xing Zhen Hus, Safe Zone, Grave of the Super Ancient Organism, Kaiser Colosseum, Burden of the Mighty, or even Alien Brain are all very good cards with somewhat narrower uses.

6. The Transmigration Prophecy

Going back to splashable cards, Transmigration is a slightly slower D.D. Crow, that has the added benefit of reloading your Reborn Tengus, or Tour Guides. It also has the rare blowout moment where you manage to send back both your opponent's spore and glow-up bulb, leaving them with a dead field.

5. Wind-Up Rabbit

I like this card not because I think the theme is good, but just as a splash in some control deck. Evasion is a rare ability on a normal summonable monster, the last one I can remember is Strike Ninja, and this card is very similar to it. When you stick a Wind-Up Rabbit, it will almost never leave the field unless your opponent wants to minus heavy to get rid of it. While it doesn't protect your life, since you have a monster that never dies you can afford to cut back on the monster count, and play more one for one removal. Rabbit has great synergy with cards like Needle Ceiling, and Torrential Tribute, and it's also a beast warrior for Horn of the Phantom beast, so maybe it will find a home in Tech Genus, or Scraps.

4. Wattcobra

Another theme card, since this card can search copies of itself it can be almost like a faster, searchable wave-motion cannon. Cards like Wattdragonfly and Shining Angel ensure you always have one early, then the only problem is protecting it for a couple turns until you just kill them with direct attacks. Cobra is a really fast clock, turn 1 deals 1000 damage, then turn 2 deals 2200 (giraffe + cobra) turn 3 deals 3200, then on the 4th turn you have lethal even if they kill 2 of your watts. This kill can be expedited with Call of the Haunted for dragonflies or angels to ram them, or maybe even photon lead to put damage on the board faster. Swords of Revealing Light + cobra is a really strong lock, and while right now with decks like rabbit and plants in the meta this deck may not be viable, it is definitely something to keep an eye on in future metagames.

3. Royal Firestorm Guards

When this card was released, the problem it suffered from was a lack of good targets to send back, a problem that still exists to this day. The only good cards it can send back right now are Volcanic Shells, and Volcanic Rockets, but with the new Laval theme, which contains a lot of fire/pyros, and revolves around getting other Lavals into the graveyard, something might come up to make this card very powerful. While right now it is very hard to play in anything, in the near future konami could very easily print something that breaks it.

2. Heavy Slump

This is a narrow card I feel has some very strong uses in the Plant deck. Normally, when your opponent plays maxx “C” you need to stop going off, but with this card, you can continue your combo, end with a strong field, then in their standby phase reduce their hand back down to 2 cards, effectively winning the game.

1. Hope for Escape

I played a Final Countdown list that ran this card, Gift Card, upstarts, and some stall back when samurai were first getting big at a regional. This was an awful metagame pick at the time, since the deck just got dismantled by Samurai, but I did extremely well against every deck that wasn't samurai. Hope for Escape routinely drew me 4 or 5 cards per activation, and when you're playing final countdown, that is basically game over for your opponent as you just bury them in too much stall for them do deal with. I don't know if this card has broader applications, and it has been something I've been trying to find a place for since it's release. In the right deck, it is a powerhouse.

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