Six Sams card! Ya... well, it has a nice picture.

[Spenсe]

[center][img]http://i532.photobucket.com/albums/ee323/jayjacki/Niten.jpg[/img][/center]

[center]"Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En" + 1 other "Six Samurai" monster
Must be Special Summoned (from your Extra Deck) by sending the above cards you control to the Graveyard and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. When this card is Fusion Summoned, cards and effects cannot be activated. Place Bushido Counters on this card equal to the Level of monsters it destroys by battle and sends to the Graveyard. Once per turn, you can remove Bushido Counters from your side of the field to activate an appropriate effect: ● 2 Counters: This card loses 1000 ATK and can't be destroyed or targeted by card effects until the End Phase. ● 4 Counters: You can activate this effect during either player's turn: if this card would be destroyed by a card effect controlled by your opponent, banish this card and 1 monster your opponent controls. Return this to your side of the field during the End Phase (retaining Bushido Counters it had on it). ● 10 Counters: Negate the activation, effect, or Summon of a card and banish it.[/center]

[center]It's slow. BUT IT CAN WORK![/center]

[Sora1499]

The first effect is pretty OP'd. With this beater on the field, your opponent won't be able to summon much, so the issue of it not being able to destroy an opponent's monster by battle isn't much of an issue. You might say the the -1000 part balances it, but that doesn't weigh it down at all. Six Sams swarm very effectively, so a measly 1000 battle damage will barely make a dent in your battle proficiency. I suggest that you change it to "This card cannot be targeted by card effects" and cut out the destroyed part. That way, mirror force can still get it, therefore giving you less incentive to use this virtually cost-less effect. Also, 3400 Atk is a bit too much for a monstyer that is really easy to summon, as "Shi En" gets summoned pretty easily. 3000 seems better. In that case, you could make the Atk loss by its first effect 600 instead. Despite all this, I do like the card. The other 2 effects are pretty balanced, and it's an overall good card that I would think about running.

8/10

[Spenсe]

[quote name='sora1499' timestamp='1348701649' post='6032888']
The first effect is pretty OP'd. With this beater on the field, your opponent won't be able to summon much, so the issue of it not being able to destroy an opponent's monster by battle isn't much of an issue. You might say the the -1000 part balances it, but that doesn't weigh it down at all. Six Sams swarm very effectively, so a measly 1000 battle damage will barely make a dent in your battle proficiency. I suggest that you change it to "This card cannot be targeted by card effects" and cut out the destroyed part. That way, mirror force can still get it, therefore giving you less incentive to use this virtually cost-less effect. Also, 3400 Atk is a bit too much for a monstyer that is really easy to summon, as "Shi En" gets summoned pretty easily. 3000 seems better. In that case, you could make the Atk loss by its first effect 600 instead. Despite all this, I do like the card. The other 2 effects are pretty balanced, and it's an overall good card that I would think about running.

8/10
[/quote]
The thing about the first effect is its an igneous effect (the only igneous effect this card has). So you have to be responsible for it before declaring an attack or making a push. Keep in mind that the effects are once per turn, so you must commit to one effect. With that knowledge, the first effect is a very strategic effect, so it'll require some skill to use. I guess 3400 atk is a bit much, but Six Sams generally can't deal with big beaters, which is the original point to this card.

Also, I'd like to note that the cost for this card isn't all that easy to fulfill. This card is a boss card and will generally get immediate attention from backrows or hand traps. So fulfulling the effect to gain Bushido counters won't be that simple (although it does have many self-preservation effects). This card generally only shines if you have support Bushido Counter spells in your arsenal. Otherwise, its just a beatstick that has potential.

[Sora1499]

True. I'd still lower it's Atk to 3000

[宇佐見 蓮子@C94]

I don't know if it's just me, but people wouldn't trade their Shi-En for something that can be Dark Hole'd, Soul Taker'd, Smashing Ground'd, Mirror Force'd, Dimensional'd and a lot of other stuff. The reason Shi-En was so good is because it can stop most combos your opponent can use; E.G: Negating Final Countdown/One Day Of Peace against Final Countdown decks, Negating Short Circuit against Batterymen and a lot of other stuff, for free. Like you mentioned, it's slow. And even though it can work, it's probably only gonna see play for being last resort and having a 3400 Body. For me personally, I still like Shi-En better than this, mostly because it's free negation. Just my opinion though.

[Sora1499]

Shi-En only has 2300 Atk though. If your opponent summons something that breaks the 2500 threshold, which is very possible given Hieratics, Inzektors, Scraps, etc., you can use Shi-En's self-preservation effect, normal summon another Six Sam next turn, and bust out this bad boy. I'd say this card is viable

[Spenсe]

[quote name='★Toyo-tan★' timestamp='1348703224' post='6032908']
I don't know if it's just me, but people wouldn't trade their Shi-En for something that can be Dark Hole'd, Soul Taker'd, Smashing Ground'd, Mirror Force'd, Dimensional'd and a lot of other stuff. The reason Shi-En was so good is because it can stop most combos your opponent can use; E.G: Negating Final Countdown/One Day Of Peace against Final Countdown decks, Negating Short Circuit against Batterymen and a lot of other stuff, for free. Like you mentioned, it's slow. And even though it can work, it's probably only gonna see play for being last resort and having a 3400 Body. For me personally, I still like Shi-En better than this, mostly because it's free negation. Just my opinion though.
[/quote]
I'll admit, this card unsupported isn't worth giving up Shi En. However, with the proper support that I mentioned above, this card can become a tremendous problem for your opponent. Shi En topples stall decks, but decks that rely more heavily on monsters (which is a majority of the meta like Wind-ups, most Chaos variations, Lightsworn, etc. which can get out heavy beaters) laugh at Shi En.

You've made the mistake of thinking this card replaces Shi En; on the contrary, it's just another option to fill what Sams lack. It isn't meant to be an upgrade to Shi En.

[宇佐見 蓮子@C94]

Yes, I can see that it's an upgrade of Shi-en and yes, I know it needs support to be good. But that's my main issue with it. Six Sams are decks that swarm, swarm, swarm and swarm. They don't have the time to run pointless support to it that can end up crushing the deck consistency. Plus, the Bushido counters on Gate and Dojo are better off being used for their own effects, not to help this. Another thing I might say is how rarely there are ever 2 Six Sams on the field. Most of the time it's Shi-en + Shock Master/Utopia/Excalibur/Blade Armor Ninja/Any combination of the previously mentioned/Some obscure rank 4 Xyz no-one gives two cents about.

[Sora1499]

But this support wouldn't congest the deck, if anything it'd speed it up. It shields your other monsters once you get it running and it's a nice beater. It also banishes cards. Meh, I think I'd use it