Custom Cards Test #1: Day Break Drake

[Blake]

You can discard this card; add 1 "Rank-Up Magic" card from your Deck or Graveyard to your Hand. This effect of "Day Break Drake" can only be activated once per turn. If a "Number" Monster is Special Summoned: You can attach this card in your Graveyard to that monster as an Xyz Material. Each player can only activate this effect of "Day Break Drake" once per duel.

 

Thread will close at 12 AM EST, April 15th, 2013.

 

As a reminder, this is currently a TWICE PER MONTH event, but may get reduced to weekly. On top of that, here's a recap of what the CC Test is:

 

There will be a Bimonthly Yu-Gi-Oh! test card posted by a moderator on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of each month. Users who assess the design of the card, the applications and implications of such a card, a good sense of flavor, and its effect on the current game, if any, and demonstrate knowledge of the game on the whole will be repped. It is completely optional, and is simply a way of testing how far you've come/how far you have to go.

 

Good luck to all.

[The Warden]

When looking at this card, it will give the RUM spells quite a good bit of power, except, I can't help but feel this card would gain greater power if it were a ZW monster instead, since then it can gain advantage from Leo Arms, and speed up a ZW deck by also adding easier RUM sheningans. The attach effect, hmmm, well, obviously this card has a tendency to be yet again a Utopia card more than anything else, mostly because of the RUM magic discard.

 

In all, it's a Utopia card more than anything else, since other Numbers wouldn't seriously waste their time for half an effect.

[Cute Rotten Yoshika]

I suppose I can take a crack at it. First off the flavor. I'm not a big fan. There's nothing about this card that even hints "supports rank-up magic, which is an ability used by otherwordly energy beings." If someone asked me what this supported and only gave me the name and art, Rank-Up Magic would be around the same area as Rock Stun. Which is to say nowhere. It honestly seems like a Chaos Dragon card, and I feel that it would work much better flavor wise if it were something in that area.

 

Now, balance. Not a fan of that combination of stats. Level 4 LIGHT Dragon-type with 1900 ATK seems...troubling. Its already got a lot of support from a lot of places, on top of not fitting the flavor. LIGHT means Honest. Dragon means E-Dragons/Super Rejuvenation. And while you'd be right to state that those cards are all issues in their own right, it doesn't solve any problems to give them this.

 

I would actually like to talk about it's effect now, cuz I guess this is the most relevant part. I also find issue with it. The first part is fine. Ditching a monster for a spell has worked out pretty well in the past with field searchers. While this searchers out a normal spell, it doesn't get any field bonus. I don't mind that. The second part is REALLY problematic though. Not only does it combo far too well with the first, but it has an incredible array of unfortunate targets. Shock Master being the most obvious. Some other ones that are worrying include Acid Golem, Leviathan Dragon, Big Eye, Volcasaurus. There's probably others I'm forgetting. it also limits future Number design, as if any of them can become problematic with an extra material, even if there would be no other way for them to get it feasibly and they're balanced otherwise, this breaks them. You won't even necessarily run the RUM cards at all to use this card. Another turn of Shock Lock is worth 1 card in your deck. And its stats mean it isn't useless in other contexts either. Hell, you can XYZ with it, ditch it as a material, then make a Number and throw this on there.

 

I'm starting to get a bit jumbled and off-topic here, so let me make this concise.

 

1) Not good flavor.

2) Unfortunate mixture of stats.

3) Effects work off each other with no drawbacks except a limited number of uses.

4) Breaks several Number monsters, limits future Number design.

5) Doesn't meet the goal of supporting RUM as people will run this and not RUM if it's used at all.

 

I might expand on this later when I've had more time to ponder on it but I think that's a good groundwork.

 

[spoiler="spoiler"]also wow, a whole post where i typed with correct grammar and punctuation and conventions? welp. @_@[/spoiler]

[Kingdom Xathers]

... welp, here goes nothing.

 

It's a Discard Searcher, similarly to Harpie Queen and Assault Beast in that it searches out a card that assists a specific Archetype (or in this case, technically, two); in this case, it can search out one of three cards, so there's some room for variety, but in the end, its second effect assures that it would never be of use for the "Chaos Xyz" Archetype

 

Speaking of its second effect, it can be used during the very same turn that it used its first effect.  The resulting "Number C" gets around 4-5 Xyz Materials if Xyz Summoned (possibly 5-6 if Summoned with "Rank-Up Magic - Barian's Force), and just 1 Material if Special Summon from, say, the Graveyard.  This means that an Xyz Summoned "Number C" has more than 2-3 chances to use its effect(s).  Thankfully, the "Once per Duel" clause tacked onto this effect keeps it off the "Broken Radar".  In all, an excellent Support Card for RUM Number C Decks....

 

... flavor-wise, however, it's a bit confusing.  Sure, it has the same general color scheme as "Number C39: Utopia Ray Victory", perhaps to suggest that this card would support it the most, but beyond that its art and name seem to come somewhere out of left-field.  Perhaps if the name had something to do with "Hope" or "Victory" (and if this card's name is a reference to the anime, i.e. one of Utopia's attacks, then you'll have to excuse my ignorance; I do not follow the ZEXAL anime). As well, there's nothing to suggest it having anything to do with RUM or even Barians and Number (C)s.

 

Having 1900 ATK allows it to be a decent beatstick, and it is the usual number for most Discard Searchers.

 

 

 

 

... hmm.  Well, looks like I ran out of gas now.  There's not much else I can think to say without pointing out the more obvious points like it Attribute and Type.

[L0SS]

So, what we have is Rank-Up support and fodder in the form of a discardable level 4 beater. Rank-Up spells don't seem to have much support yet, so it's good that this gives them a useful searcher in order to pull Rank-Up spells and make them generally more accessible.

 

This cards second effect + the possibility of more materials for your Xyz using Rank-Up spells is going to give you a lot of materials; but the fact that the effect can be used once per duel, and the fact that most of the top tier archetypes wouldn't waste space on these cards, leaves it in an interesting position where it could be more useful in other applications.

 

I'd like to see some of the more interesting Xyzs used with this, such as Number 53. I personally can't see it being used in a huge way, but it lends support and a searcher to a rather interesting group of cards.

 

It'd be nice to use with Rabbit in order to Rank up your 4s into 5s, but again; it would need a largely dedicated build and the need for Rank-Up cards means there would be less room for staple spells and monsters. Might make an interesting tech-deck. 

 

Overall, I think it is balanced and does it's job well. The Once per turn and Once per duel clauses respectively balance this card out and make it strong in a dedicated Rank-Up. Might not be meta worthy, but they only way it could have been meta worthy is if it had been hopelessly broken.

[Resident Fascist]

Meh. Personally I don't agree with the design choices here. I feel it does far too much in a singular card. First of all, it's a RoTA from Hand or Graveyard on a Discard. This would be fine if it only grabbed from 1 area and only searched 1 card, much like Assault Beast. However, this has multiple targets. If that wasn't enough, it has pretty decent face stats too. 1900. LIGHT. Dragon. Even if you can't search a RUM, you can easily summon this and use it as a Beater. Then there's the last effect. Attaching to any Number you summon for free, allowing for 4 Material Shock Rulers, 3 Material Utopias, 3 Material Volcas, etc. I personally think that's a little too good on a card that also happens to dump itself into the Graveyard, and on top of that, you can attach this card when you RUM. Even if it's only Once Per Duel, it feels a little strong.

 

 I don't think it would impact the game in any way positively because of this, and would really only be used in decks like Thunder Family and so on. Giving a deck like Thunder Family extra power and speed to go into their Chaos Number bosses doesn't really sound like a particually amazing idea, to be perfectly honest. Outside of decks that don't spam a rediculous amount of Exceeds, it's totally useless. There is no medium. Overall I just don't agree with the two effects in combination with each other. Maybe a Stratos-esque card would be better, if we really need to make a Barian's Force searcher.

 

 Hopefully that review doesn't suck lol, I haven't played properly in a good 2-3 months.

 

 

 

[Blake]

Just bumping this up because, technically, the last shown post was over 12 hours ago.

[Sora1499]

I take it we submit our response in this thread? Well, from what I understand, the RUM cards usually dabble in chaos or negativity, not purity nor light, so the flavor is a little off there. The intention, from what I understand, is to allow yourself to run up to 6 RUM cards in a deck if you so desire. This is kinda cool in that it gives users of RUM cards such as Hunders more consistency, but we also need to keep in mind that RUM has a few dangerous targets, such as C104 and C106 and, to a much lesser extend, the Utopia Rays. The design itself seems a bit 'eh' tbh. It works like the Gishkis, in that you just dump it and go. This entails is unshackled in terms of speed and doesn't let your opponent respond to it or try to stop it in any way. It's an auto-pilot card. The other effect seems fairly balanced.

[Nathanael D. Striker]

Okay, I've noticed a few problems with this card. This card can easily get to the Graveyard with its effect for a +0 deck thinning. Once in the Graveyard, its effect can give you a longer lasting "Number" monster with its effect carrying that +0 along with it or it can be used as Chaos fodder considering it is LIGHT. The fact that it is a LIGHT Dragon irks me a bit since I think Chaos Dragons are still a thing last time I checked. Back to its effect, the once per duel clause does make you think a bit when using it though it is still an effect that can be abused especially since the two effects of this card can be used in the same turn, causing some trouble for the unsuspecting opponent. Also, why does a card whose sole purpose is to be discarded have 1900 ATK? I guess it makes it more versatile, though it just seems out of place to me.

 

TBH, I'm not so good at making fixes as I used to with a card like this since the game has progressed a lot. Hope I did okay.

[Aix]

So lemme have a try...

 

I suppose this is the Xyz/Chaos Xyz version of Assault Beast, with a bonus one-time effect. Like any other discard-to-search card, it's cool that it has the versatility to be turned into a specific Spell Card or be Summoned as a beatstick or Xyz/Synchro Material. The effect is an extra and doesn't have much of an effect on the game, it's not really a plus as Xyz Material aren't really card advantage and there's no way to retrieve an Xyz Material, so it works out fine. The only Number that wants lots of Xyz Material is Thunder Spark Dragon, but something like that probably deserves a little something so it gets to see the light of day (though it wouldn't anyway). The "once per Duel" clause does really help, as even as Xyz Material aren't exactly card advantage, it's unfair to have an unlimited amount.

 

It definitely makes Decks that want to use Chaos Numbers and Chaos Xyz more consistent. Because of it's versatility, even when it dead draws it's not too terrible.

 

:/

[CommanderVolt]

So I've been meaning to get around to this for some time now, but work and relationship stress has prevented me from doing so. 

 

So let's begin, and start with the basics

 

.

 

Overall monster is solid. Dragon Typing gives it a few niche supports, and LIGHT has bonuses of it's own, though how likely it is for you to use those with this; I am unsure of. 1900 ATK is solid. Clashes with one of the most notable monsters, that being cards like Neos Alius and Rai-Oh. . . Although how important this is in the current Meta I'm not entirely sure of. I've heard of nothing about the two former mentioned monsters, so in terms of sheer meta this could very well be a moot point. But in under-meta at least, 1900 is nothing to scoff at easily. Discussing DEF is kind of a moot point as well so.. Onto the next.

 

Onto the effect. A neat effect which allows you to ditch it from your hand to grab a RUM Spell from your deck or graveyard. Resulting in 3 Options. RUM - Barian's/Limited Force and RUM - Numeron Force. Spells used to Rank-Up Xyz Monsters into a single rank higher then them, provided the monster being summoned is a Chaos Xyz or Chaos Number. Regular Barian's Force and Numeron Force restrict the type of monster you can use to Rank up, which is important for a few cards, but Barian's Force has an added bonus of stealing an Xyz Material off an opponents monster; and I might be wrong about this, but I heard somewhere that if you do steal an Xyz Material, the effect of RUM causes Bottomless to miss it's timing. While Numeron Code will negate the effects of all other (Currently) Face-up cards on the field. 

 

Limited is probably the most likely to be used, although it can only rank up Rank 4 Xyz Monsters, lacking the type restriction the former have allow you to adjust to a situation to which wouldn't normally be open..Though this will only makes a diffirence in one instance. Also it might be worth noting, there is currently only 1 Chaos Numbers this card cannot make; however what that card does is still not known to either TCG nor OCG. Generally making Limited the superior choice..dependent on build of course.

 

So now you've ranked up your monster, In a basic scenario it'd likely be one of two monsters. Number 39: Utopia, which turns into Number C39: Utopia Ray V or Victory, and Number 104: Masquerade Magician - Shining which becomes Number C104 Masquerade Magician - Umbral.  Additionally, the reason I stated Limited Barian's Force would prove superior to the Numeron and Regular Barrian's Force,is for the existence of a Chaos Number who allows any Number to be used to gain his effect. Number C106: Giant Hand Red. Now there are a few other Chaos Numbers, such as Cestus the comet, and two others who have yet to have their Chaos Forms released/Seen. Generally the reason you'd use the same monster, is because without the former form, your monsters more powerful effect would be in-accessible. 

 

So your monster hits the field, and provided you hadn't already done so to it's previous form, this guy becomes an additional Xyz Material on your monster. This could be used on any Number in general, like Black Corn or Shock Master, for additional uses of their effects in subsequent turns. You don't "have" to be using RUM spells if you want to use this guy, it could serve well as just a beater and an extra material. Back to the monster's it helps you make. C39 Utopia Ray V gains a Volcasaurus Esque abilty once rank-uped from normal Utopia. Detatch to destroy a monster the opponent controls, and burn damage equal to that monsters current ATK. Unlike Volca however, it has 200 more ATK and isn't prevented from attacking this turn. Can easily bring alto of damage, which plays in a scenario slightly difficult to accomplish which would be due to the RUM spells not having a solid way to reach your hand. It should be noted that, Number C105: Caestus the Comet has this same effect, 100 ATK stronger, and an additional effect that inflicts more damage upon destroying a monster in battle. It however is slightly more difficult to make, and in such scenarios, you may not have the space dedicated to include him and his normal form, especially when you may want Shining and Umbral. There is also Utopia Ray Victory, which possess 100 more ATK, an Ancient Gear attack effect, and the abilty to "self-Honest" upon attacking at the cost of it's Xyz Material. This ends in similar results to V, except attacking with it won't be chainable by the opponent, and as long as it's attacking an attack position monster, the damage can become considerable. Ceartin scenarios will allow V to potentially do more damage, but both are powerful cards in their own right.

 

So let's poke at Shining and Umbral next. Shining is a 2700 3 Level 4 Xyz Monster. He has an ability to make an opponent mill 1.. but that's not what we're here to look at. During the Battle Phase, Shining can negate a monsters effect by detaching an Xyz Material, and then sub-sequentially deals 800 damage to a player. This grants you safety from things like Battlefader, Tragoedia or Gorz, ensuring your swing for game or damage goes in safely. Generally Shock Ruler (Or another Number I'll soon get to) can do a superior job at ensuring game swings, it has a crucial 2200 ATK stat, which could make Shining more suitable in certain situations. and as such, if you so decide, you may rank up Shining into Umbral. A 3000 ATK Chaos Number that destroys an opponents spell or trap upon summon. While it retains its effect negation, it's restricted to being only on the field, but provides sub-sequentially halves the opponents life and sends a card from their hand to the graveyard. A dangerous effect indeed, but will you generally need it if you've reached this far into the game? 

 

Lastly, there is Number C106: Giant Hando Redo... Err, Giant Hand Red. 2600 Attack body, that gains it's effects when ever it has any "Number" monster as it's Xyz Material. A chainable effect that negates all current face-up cards on the field. Chaining to spells or non-counter traps to render them useless. Effective in temporarily stunning your opponent in a similar manner to Shock Ruler. and With Day Break Drake's effect, you could get this going for three whole turns, and potentially more if you used normal Rank-Up Magic, however if you do so, you can only use the non Chaos 106, which has a place in possibly only one deck. (Rock Stun) 

 

They say a searcher is only as strong as the targets it can grab, and in turn, the cards it can then make. While the above cards are powerful indeed, such plays are not as consistent as current meta rampant decks, and would probably not even need to use this. There is however a few decks, perhaps not tier 1, but lower then that, that could use this as a tech. The most notable would be Hunders. A family of level 4 LIGHT-Thunder Type monsters who excel is Normal Summoning mass Level 4 Monsters in rapid succession, that are backed by Thunder Seahorse for strong searching power. Typically this deck also runs Cardcar D and Duality, helping it amass it's pieces very fast. (At least, as far as I know) Spitting out rank 4s like there nothing, making Utopia and Shining very easy to access, as well as other monsters like Verz Uroborus, Black Corn and Maestroke. If they have drawn into their RUM Spell, this guy can still serve as a decent beater, and being level 4 means it won't clash with Xyzing on it's own. It could be a very amusing play to make Black Corn, detach Drake for its effect, then rank it up into Hando Redo, and attaching it self to Hando Redo for 3 turn negation. 

 

Now you ask for a potential sense of flavor this card can have. I must say this seems like a very difficult thing to approach as such flavor is generally derived upon creation by it's OWNER. However, leaving it up to us to discern a potential flavor it has, stirs imaginative juices and shows creativity. I've always liked to think of Utopia Ray's effect (the original Ray not V or Vic) to be depicted as a ray of light emitted from it's body, bathing an enemy monster in it; cleansing the impure in it's light and draining their power. I feel like such an event is portrayed in the artwork of this card, as the Drake fires an energy beam dyed the color of the sun. Additionally, the dragon has a similar color scheme to Utopia, which could hint that it's been created with him specifically in mind, of course, only the creator of such a card can derive the true flavor, it was fun to take a crack at it.

 

From my personal perspective, I'd say the design of the card is neat and applicable. Providing a method to reach RUM spells quickly increases the usability of the Rank Up monsters, which have been powerful monsters but have required the dedication the faster decks don't want or need to use up to create them. I believe none of the monsters are over-powered in their own right, though powerful indeed. I doth declare this card good, perhaps not needed in the meta-game, but one that makes those decks that can compete, come with a niche, spinning edge. While still providing more casual decks with more ways to play and to think. 

 

I apolgize for the wall of text, and errors in spelling. Towards the end I started to run low on time so, sorry again if it got messy. and Thanks for reading.

[Blake]

Alright then, now that this is over, I guess I'll make points.

 

Design: It's not the worst design, but it's not the best design. A free material is nothing to laugh at, and it searches a card that can remove costs and such from monsters you control. The most glaring issues are things like Shock Master and Big Eye, but both of these are problem cards in their own right. The design COULD prove to be restrictive. Design is also meant to mirror Assault Beast and Harpie Queen and such, so 1900 ATK discard searcher isn't that badly designed. Being able to grab it from Grave shouldn't be an issue as it keeps you from clogging your deck with more than 1 copy of any given RUM. It's not bad design to be able to do so, thought it can be argued it's not the best.

 

The attach is the only really bad part of the design, and that's only because of what it enables. It's bad design because it was made in an environment that can abuse it too well, more than being inherently bad design.

 

When it comes to balance, 1900/1500 is fine on a card like this. These are similar stats to existing cards that serve similar purposes. I mean, is Rai-Oh badly designed because of its high ATK and good effects? No, not really. The only thing different here is that it's a Dragon, which gives it a slight push in the opposite direction of balanced. The effect itself isn't gamebreaking, as the first is a OPT search/restock and the second's just an extra use of what will generally be a Once Per Turn effect, unless it's an original Chaos Number, Utopia, or something else unreleased, which is where the restrictive design comes in.

 

That said, it's certainly not balanced, but it's not on the broken end either. It's pushing it, but I don't feel it's quite as bad as many of you have made it out to be, at least on its own merits. This is opinion, though, not fact.

 

As for usability, I want to make a point: Doing support for something other than the intended support does not mean the intended support failed, but rather, the card succeeds in another area. It falls a little short in the RUM support, but the fact that its latter effect is better does not invalidate its first part. You only have to run 1 RUM to support running this, and it evolves clogging in that sense. Is it the most usable card? Nah, but it certainly has a nice undermeta niche.

 

The flavor here was mostly used as a trap. The name sounds like something Yuma would use, the name is meant to be similar to a ray of hope, and the appearance of the card is similar to Hope Ray Victory if you reeeeeeeeeeally stretch your definition. The flavor here was made intentionally ambiguous and awful, seeing as it really doesn't fit well at all.

 

I'm a bit disappointed that no one mentioned how bad the flavor of Number support is in the first place. I mean, it's a set of Mystical cards that magically existed. There should be no support for Numbers, unless it's a Number itself. It's not good flavor to magically spawn plot device support for Numbers, and this is an example of such.

 

This also looks nothing like a support for a RUM, much less Numeron Force which is the one it would most easily link to, given its slight link to Victory, in design.

 

And with that, the first CC test is over, as I believe I covered all bases. Given that no one got, shall we say, an A on the test, and that I wasn't actually expecting anyone to do exceedingly well this first time, the one to pass the test the most effectively was clairedestroyer.

 

Thank you all for participating, and please try again when the next CC Test is posted. This thread will stay pinned until then.