Zombie War-Lion [Week 10/Card 3]

[Kyng's Old Account]

 
When this card is banished: Special Summon 1 Zombie-Type monster with 2000 or less DEF from your Graveyard. Once per turn: You can return 1 Zombie-Type monster from your banished pile to the bottom of your Deck; all monsters on the field, in either player's hand, Deck and in every Graveyard become Zombie-Type monsters until the end of the next turn.[hr]Flavour Music - Party Ghouls
Within the darkness of the misty marshes, there cries a sad, wounded soul. Much of his flesh robbed from the pitiful beast by the wicked Hunter of Beasts, this soul cries out for the pride it once commanded. Fear the sorry soul, the former King of Beasts as it roams now seaking to destroy all those before him with a terrifying bark - but should you come across such a spectre, then turn back and flee.
 
I felt a little bad for the poor Zombies, and decided to attempt to make some support for them. It also gives them a fighting chance to oppose the Dragon Rulers to a degree. I feel I screwed the pooch in terms of its power level.

[Galkin]

Feels a bit underwhelming. It is a 2 Tribute monster, with the stats of a 1 Tribute (or a really old 2 tribute *cough* Dark Magician *cough*). The only reliable means of Summoning is Special Summoning...which it is also limited to Book of Moon, Mezuki, Pyramid Turtle OR itself. Also, it can't be searched and there are better mill targets than this (Plague, Mezuki, for instance). All this limits its general effectiveness, especially for an effect that isn't that amazing, considering Zombie World does the same thing. I'm sure you though of a Mezuki + This + This effect; target Mezuki, but that isn't really helpful or, at least, not as helpful as other moves.

 

First and foremost, move it to level 5 or 6. Level 5 so it works for the new Vampire XYZ or synchro into level 7 options; Level 6, so you can XYZ with Vampire Grace and form level 8 synchros with Plaguespreader. Secondly, its Zombie World-esque effect, while good for slow-downs, isn't that bad since generic XYZ/Synchros exist. With that restriction he is just a Zombie World that spreads into the hand, but most of the time one would rather just side Zombie World, seeing as it is less costly to place. I would say, you should remove his ability to inflict Battle Damage for the turn, so he can still wreck the field a bit.

 

Lastly, the first effect, change it...in the wording. I can't think of many cards for Zombies that would use to trigger this effect, especially with that "When...you can". If you wanted this to work with Shutendoji for a +2 or +3, it should be written as "If...you can / When...*insert obligatory*..." so it doesn't miss timing. That being said, this card's neat upside is the ability to make Shutdendoji a plussing machine by spamming the field with a draw added. That little added in, makes it quite useful for some massive revival and due to this card's (or Zombies') lack of use in the banish pile (or effective reuse of...) might deem it worthy of not having "This effect can only be activated once per turn" clause stamped on it.

 

Tl;dr (How dare you!):

 

- Level change to either 5 or 6. Exclusive benefits to each.

- Nerf the restriciton so that it can attack (Recommended to just not deal Battle Damage, but I would prefer if it didn't have a restriction)

- Change the first effect's wording from "When...you can" to "If...you can" to remove its uselessness.

 

IMO.

[Kyng's Old Account]

Card has been updated with the given advice.

[Therrion]

Balance/Playability

The card itself provides no direct advantage, merely a Dark Magician as a Level 6 that adds some interesting Gold Sarc usage. The DARK Attribute hinders it a lot, as EARTH would've been a fantastic choice of Attribute (and fitting, but both work). The return is conditional, meaning at most times you'll just have a Dark Magician beater on the field (which isn't bad). The Defense allows Pyramid to fetch it, and ofc the fact it itself is a Zombie allows Book of Life and etc. to grab it. It isn't beast/godlike/great, but it is good enough to be ran in casual Zombie World Decks.

 

Flavour/Originality

I'm not sure how being banished brings back a dead Zombie (he regurgatates!), but that isn't too much an issue. I imagine it is possible he shoots that little beam in his mouth to turn things into Zombies. The name is perfect for the picture. Not too much flavour here, but certainly, again, an original piece done by you, Kyng.

 

Suggestions/Additional Comments

Make it EARTH. As it stands, it isn't really a draw-in factor for Zombie World-esque decks (like Spellbook of Judgment was for Spellbooks, for example, be it a drastic example). As EARTH, it becomes a Redox discard as well as Mezuki, and the banishing to Summon Redox would trigger the rez, perhaps bringing back a PSZ for a Kiganjou Synchro. All in all, it would do nothing but good for the card (though I guess you could argue Allure, but currently, Allure would be less likely to draw/have).

[~Shin~]

No zombie tha's worth it has more than 2000 DEF, just thought I would point that out. Its second effect makes Shutendoji somewhat safer to use. Both of these will be even more useful if you do follow Therrion's word and change into EARTH. Though that makes it no longer work with: EEV, DDV, Allure, Chaos decks and (in a way) DAD. I can not really say which is better...

Another decent LV6 zombie as well as the last effect are nice adds, I have seen builds drop Zombie World becuse of space.

[Therrion]

True, this card is an EEV target, however, all decks could just go into Crazy Box, and Zombies are no exception to that.

I don't think most competitive Zombie Decks would even run Chaos, and seeing how Pyramid is EARTH, I think viewing this as a potential Redox target is better then assuming it is a better Chaos target. As for DAD, Zombies already have PSZ, Zombie Master, and Goblin Zombie, and that's assuming it isn't a Vampire Deck (though this would never go into Vampires, ever).

 

However, I didn't think of Chaos when thinking of the banished effect, and EEV is noteworthy (though, again, Crazy Box as a sidedeck option would work fine).