Arcana Force Support: The Judgment

[Zextra]

Because they need it...

 

 

Effect:

2 Level 4 LIGHT monsters

When you Summon an "Arcana Force" monster: Choose which effect to apply without tossing a coin. Once per turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; target 1 “Arcana Force” monster you control. Toss a coin and the targeted monster gains the appropriate effect until the End Phase: • Heads: When the targeted monster destroys a monster by battle: You can Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower “Arcana Force” monster from your hand or Graveyard. • Tails: When the targeted monster destroys a monster by battle: Draw 1 card.

 

Comments and suggestions are much appreciated.

[Toffee.]

My statements about this still remain true-
It's a sort of playable underdog for Arcana Force that can kick the deck into overdrive upon it hitting the field. Mostly, for the fact it's a second Light Barrier and upon choosing which effects you want off whatever you Summon, you can actually net pluses with an archetype that plays off sheer luck, by eliminating that all together and giving you a straight forward playstyle without worrying about potential inconsistencies off negative effects.

[Garlic175]

i would actually increase the rank of this card. 4 just seems... Low.

[Zextra]

My statements about this still remain true-
It's a sort of playable underdog for Arcana Force that can kick the deck into overdrive upon it hitting the field. Mostly, for the fact it's a second Light Barrier and upon choosing which effects you want off whatever you Summon, you can actually net pluses with an archetype that plays off sheer luck, by eliminating that all together and giving you a straight forward playstyle without worrying about potential inconsistencies off negative effects.

The concept of Light Barrier is amazing, but obviously it doesn't do its job as well as it should. So, as you know, that was the main point of the card. Its choice effect is there, as you said, to make the archetype valid and playable by netting you plusses off of the other Arcana Force effects.

 

i would actually increase the rank of this card. 4 just seems... Low.

Rank 4 works fine; going above would severely hurt its playability, and would therefore destroy the entire purpose of the card - to make Arcana Forces more playable and consistent.

[Shinobi Phoenix]

Side-comment:  I almost thought of posting my own Arcana Force monsters that I finished a long time ago (I gave up hope of Konami doing the remaining 10 Major Arcana, so I did them myself plus 2 EX's), but changed my mind when I got too busy.  Might still do it after I redo the 12 proxy images.

 

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Flavor wise:  Judgement is already a Major Arcana, in fact, it's 20 (XX),so it cannot be an EX, because the EX's are non-real Tarot.

The Light Ruler and The Dark Ruler are EX's because they are made up Arcana cards from Lovecraft and especially from the Silent Hill games (which are ALSO a Konami property, hence ending up in Yu-Gi-Oh!).


So if anything, the name should be changed to "Arcana Force XX - Judgment".  This would also means changing the stats to fit the normal Arcana Force "Number to Stats" formula  of "(A100) + 1000".  So (20x100)+1000= 3000.


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Mechanical wise:

- "When you Summon an "Arcana Force" monster: Choose which effect to apply without tossing a coin."

--- Pretty sure that's just Bounds of Light.  Thus, it needs to be a Continuous effect, so the colon ':' needs to be changed to a comma (on top of the fact it's just Bounds of Light, which is Continuous).  It wouldn't even make mechanical sense as a chainable effect.  Also, an EASY Bounds of Light defeats the POINT of the Arcana Force theme, which is DESTINY and fate having a barring on events.  Bounds is of itself is a luck card too, so even that can't manipulate fate completely.  It breaks the theme to have a monster come out that just lets you choose whenever you want. There is SUPPOSED to be a negative consequence with the cards (though, the EX's break this a little, but are also the stronger and hardest to summon), sometimes fate is not on your side and it takes incredible, hardfought power to fight fate.  There's plenty of NON-Arcana Force that make the deck work better, but they also break the theme and then what is the point to playing the deck?  Might as well play a different deck with those other cards and not Arcana Force cards.



I also agree the materials should be upped to 3.  I myself made an Arcana Force EX monster (I made all 10 missing Arcana numbers plus 2 original EX's), and while mine was also a Rank 4, it needs 3 Arcana Force monsters (with different names) as materials to justify the power of it.  You are only asking for 2 and they only needs to be LIGHT and can be the same monster.  In fact, your card doesn't even need to go into an Arcana Force deck, because of the semi-generic materials and the fact that the effect can target JUDGMENT itself.  The Heads effect only summons AF's but the Tails effect works with any Deck.  So any deck with two Level 4 LIGHT's (or some level manipulation) can bring this guy out and use the Tails effect on itself.  That in itself I think needs changing for the sake of the theme, either by linking the materials to Arcana Force (justifying its effect) or weakening the effect (or making it only target OTHER Arcana Force and not itself).  If you up the materials or even lock it to Arcana Force exclusively (I say BOTH), then I think the effect should be upped a little to make it worthwhile to the theme.

Devil Advocate:  Either way, maybe you want it to be able to go into other Deck or be able to use any non-Arcana Force monsters in the same deck (like Honest or Thunder King Rai-Oh, both or which go in that deck and are Level 4 LIGHT's).  The card is ok, just not very exciting for the Arcana Force theme itself.  I guess I wish it was stronger, but it can't be stronger without locking it more to the theme anyway or making it harder to get out (else, it might be too strong).



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Rank 4 with only two materials is just too easy and if it has to be easy to even be played, maybe there's a problem with the card.  There's plenty of real life Rank 4 that can make the deck playable, so why make an easy tool for the deck that just does everything and it's fast?  It's not even a challenge for the reward.  I would say Rank 6 (use 2 Temperance's and other monsters or force level manipulation making you work for it), or just ask for more Materials to keep it Rank 4, but as it is, it's too fast and giving you too much without much effort.

You could Summon Judgment, target itself, kill a monster in battle and (if Heads) IMMEDIATELY resurrect the spent Material Monster to the field and attack again AND the Material will have its Heads effect because you CHOOSE the effect now thanks to Judgment.  All that and you only used two monsters, one of which you just got back, possibly both if you do it again.

I want to be more on the fence about it, but I lean toward the "just too much, too fast" side the more I think about the mechanics and what WILL be done with this if tested.  It's fast, the effect does a lot and the effect enables the other Arcana Force to succeed, which means they now are also too powerful by proxy.

[Zextra]

Side-comment: I almost thought of posting my own Arcana Force monsters that I finished a long time ago (I gave up hope of Konami doing the remaining 10 Major Arcana, so I did them myself plus 2 EX's), but changed my mind when I got too busy. Might still do it after I redo the 12 proxy images.

By all means, do so - I would be interested in seeing what you came up with.

Flavor wise: Judgement is already a Major Arcana, in fact, it's 20 (XX),so it cannot be an EX, because the EX's are non-real Tarot.

The Light Ruler and The Dark Ruler are EX's because they are made up Arcana cards from Lovecraft and especially from the Silent Hill games (which are ALSO a Konami property, hence ending up in Yu-Gi-Oh!).

So if anything, the name should be changed to "Arcana Force XX - Judgment". This would also means changing the stats to fit the normal Arcana Force "Number to Stats" formula of "(A100) + 1000". So (20x100)+1000= 3000.

I am fully aware that Judgment is an existing Arcana - however, the formula you posted was the exact reason I cannot make it XX, since 3000 ATK is too much for a 2-material Rank 4 monster. Now, of course, I could just make it 3-materials, but then the main deck it could consistently be ran in would be Hunders, which defeats the purpose of it being Arcana Force support (since Arcana Forces themselves are too slow to pull it off). In addition, the other reason I made it an EX was due to the fact that the card has two positive effects, which follows the trend of the other two EX monsters. However, to solve this problem, I could change the name to something else to keep it as an EX.

Mechanical wise:

- "When you Summon an "Arcana Force" monster: Choose which effect to apply without tossing a coin."

--- Pretty sure that's just Bounds of Light. Thus, it needs to be a Continuous effect, so the colon ':' needs to be changed to a comma (on top of the fact it's just Bounds of Light, which is Continuous). It wouldn't even make mechanical sense as a chainable effect. Also, an EASY Bounds of Light defeats the POINT of the Arcana Force theme, which is DESTINY and fate having a barring on events. Bounds is of itself is a luck card too, so even that can't manipulate fate completely. It breaks the theme to have a monster come out that just lets you choose whenever you want. There is SUPPOSED to be a negative consequence with the cards (though, the EX's break this a little, but are also the stronger and hardest to summon), sometimes fate is not on your side and it takes incredible, hardfought power to fight fate. There's plenty of NON-Arcana Force that make the deck work better, but they also break the theme and then what is the point to playing the deck? Might as well play a different deck with those other cards and not Arcana Force cards.

Why yes, that effect is basically Bounds of Light/Light Pillar. Regarding the OCG, the "When you Summon an 'Arcana Force' monster" is a condition, which needs to be followed by a colon. An example of such an effect (almost word by word, in fact) would be the newest errata of Bottomless Trap Hole. As for making it have Light Barrier's effect - I have already explained that earlier; I am intrigued by its concept, yet it's too risky and inconsistent to be competitive. And while you may be upset at the idea that I'm breaking the theme of the Archetype, I have done so for the sake of the Archetype to make it at least semi-playable.

In terms of the real game, Harpies have recently just received a huge boost in the form of Harpie Channeler, Harpie Dancer, and Hysteric Sign; personally, I feel that an Archetype as overlooked as the Arcana Forces deserve the same.

Obviously, the whole of the Arcana Force relies on luck - however, that is the main aspect which makes it impossible to run a good variant of the deck. With the boost this card gives, Arcana Forces become a deck that can actually pose as a challenge to some of the other lower-tier meta decks in the format.

Now I am aware that the anime is almost never a valid source of information regarding the actual game, but I would just like to point out that when introduced in GX, Saiou never truly did rely on "luck" when using the Arcana Forces - even going so far as to dismiss the idea countless times, but rather with his belief in predestination and fate being decided beforehand. As for this card - I based it off the idea of "judgment" - that the card becomes the one to decide your fate. Personally, I find the effect useful, practical, and quite fitting for the card, hence why I decided on it.

I also agree the materials should be upped to 3. I myself made an Arcana Force EX monster (I made all 10 missing Arcana numbers plus 2 original EX's), and while mine was also a Rank 4, it needs 3 Arcana Force monsters (with different names) as materials to justify the power of it. You are only asking for 2 and they only needs to be LIGHT and can be the same monster. In fact, your card doesn't even need to go into an Arcana Force deck, because of the semi-generic materials and the fact that the effect can target JUDGMENT itself. The Heads effect only summons AF's but the Tails effect works with any Deck. So any deck with two Level 4 LIGHT's (or some level manipulation) can bring this guy out and use the Tails effect on itself. That in itself I think needs changing for the sake of the theme, either by linking the materials to Arcana Force (justifying its effect) or weakening the effect (or making it only target OTHER Arcana Force and not itself). If you up the materials or even lock it to Arcana Force exclusively (I say BOTH), then I think the effect should be upped a little to make it worthwhile to the theme.

Devil Advocate: Either way, maybe you want it to be able to go into other Deck or be able to use any non-Arcana Force monsters in the same deck (like Honest or Thunder King Rai-Oh, both or which go in that deck and are Level 4 LIGHT's). The card is ok, just not very exciting for the Arcana Force theme itself. I guess I wish it was stronger, but it can't be stronger without locking it more to the theme anyway or making it harder to get out (else, it might be too strong).

Your idea of having the materials be so strict as to use three different Arcana Force monsters may be balanced in your book, but I find those summoning requirements to be ridiculous. It's hard to even find 3 Level 4 Arcana Force monsters that are worthy of being used (granted that you may have created better, more playable Level 4s in your set). And yes, allowing Judgment to target itself is one of the perks that allows this card to bump up the Arcana Force's playability. Chances are that since the Arcana Force has no reliable ways to get out their monsters quickly, once you summon it, you will be left with no spare Arcana Forces on the field - not to mention the fact that most of the other Arcana Forces are too weak for this card's effect to work with anyway.

As for it being a semi-generic 2-material Rank 4 Xyz which requires LIGHT monsters for its summoning, I would have to say that even those decks that could utilize it would not do so, due to either a lack of space or it being simply unnecessary. As far as 2 Level 4 LIGHT monster Xyzs go, the pair that they already have (Constellar Omega and Starliege Paladynamo) is quite powerful, with this card's only advantage over them being its 2500 base ATK.

Rank 4 with only two materials is just too easy and if it has to be easy to even be played, maybe there's a problem with the card. There's plenty of real life Rank 4 that can make the deck playable, so why make an easy tool for the deck that just does everything and it's fast? It's not even a challenge for the reward. I would say Rank 6 (use 2 Temperance's and other monsters or force level manipulation making you work for it), or just ask for more Materials to keep it Rank 4, but as it is, it's too fast and giving you too much without much effort.

You could Summon Judgment, target itself, kill a monster in battle and (if Heads) IMMEDIATELY resurrect the spent Material Monster to the field and attack again AND the Material will have its Heads effect because you CHOOSE the effect now thanks to Judgment. All that and you only used two monsters, one of which you just got back, possibly both if you do it again.

I want to be more on the fence about it, but I lean toward the "just too much, too fast" side the more I think about the mechanics and what WILL be done with this if tested. It's fast, the effect does a lot and the effect enables the other Arcana Force to succeed, which means they now are also too powerful by proxy.

While it is true that there are plenty of solid, generic Rank 4s nowadays, none would justify running Arcana Forces - as I stated before, what this card does is give the Arcana Force Archetype a much-needed push to give it an opportunity to compete against other meta-level decks. As for your idea of forcing Level manipulation - then it would not be worth it. When taking the resources required to do so into account in addition to the space and dedication needed, you'd be better off not running it at all.

Lastly, though I may disagree with many of your points, I appreciate the time and effort you put into your review, so thank you for that.

[Zextra]

Bump.

[Zextra]

Meow >.<

[Zextra]

Bump?

[Zextra]

Bump...

[~ Redemption ~]

Overall a really nice card!

 

Only thing wrong with it is the misspelling of appropriate, beautiful card though man, really does arcana force some good :P.

 

9/10

[Zextra]

Overall a really nice card!

 

Only thing wrong with it is the misspelling of appropriate, beautiful card though man, really does arcana force some good :P.

 

9/10

Thanks for catching that; it will be fixed :3