Shade Challenger

[Morgan LeFlay]

 

Lore (I forgot to save the card, so the lore is different than in the picture): You can Normal Summon this card without Tributing, but its ATK becomes 1900. At the start of your Battle Phase, your opponent must select 1 monster they control, and if they do, this card must attack that monster this turn, if able. If this card attacks or is attacked, your opponent takes no battle damage. If this card destroys a monster by battle: Inflict damage to your opponent equal to this card's ATK, also this card gains 300 ATK. You can only activate the effect of "Shade Challenger" once per turn.

 

This card was inspired by the TV Show Merlin, in which there was an undead warrior who challenged the knights of Camelot once per day by "throwing the gauntlet". The knight who picked up the gauntlet would pick it up and fight to the death the next day, at which the point the knight would issue another challenge.

[Zazubat]

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Effect & Use: It can become pretty powerful. It is at first at 2700 burn, with possible ATK increasing cards making it even higher, plus its own ATK increase. Sadly though, it isn't very easy to get out. Apart from a few Graveyard reviving cards and cards like Mausoleum of the Emperor or Fires of Doomsday, both of which arn't extreamly helpful. At 0 DEF, it is great for it being DARK, since you can reget it with Recurring Nightmare. It is also Warrrior, meaning that it has a lot of support in regards to ATK increases, though there's a few which sadly cannot be used, such as Magnum Shield. Though, cards like Union Attack can easily make for some OTKs. It has high ATK, meaning that Xyz Monsters like Zababa General can easily get a powerful boost. Sadly though, getting it out is too much work, and on top of that, it requires your opponent to have a monster it can easily attack, which target is under their command, meaning that you could potentially ram right into a powerful monster, or they could have a Spell/Trap ready that boosts a specific monster, such as if they had a Beast or Besat-Warrior, they could use Horn of the Phantom Beast to protect it. This makes it both pretty risky, and while I like the design choice behind it. It has a Level of 7, and while 7 is the best Level right in terms of Xyz Summoning (4 is also good, but 7 has two of the best Xyz Monsters out there) it doesn't do anything for its typing and Attribute. DARK would much rather want Level 6 or 8, and on top of that, it isn't easy to get out. Lastly, the to battle damage should really only have been on monsters, as it makes it useless when your opponent doesn't have any monster up, which they probably don't want since this guy burns a lot.

Design/Balance: It is balanced in that it is hard to get it out and use it effectively. The massive burn it can provide could be considered unbalanced, but since it doesn't inflict battle damage, it is fine as it is. Its typing and Attribute doesn't break it, Warriors are not high Level at all, they remain mostly in 4 and below, some are Level 6, but higher up, they don't have a lot of support, making the design behind what would support it bad, making it not fit anywhere at all. The only once per turn is also welcome, as multiple attack cards, and having multiple of this guy can easily provide very powerful if you Summon Ojama Tokens to your opponent's side of the field, or use Duston monsters or cards like Black Garden.

Flavor/Image and Originality: I like the idea behind this. It is pretty original, and while it wasn't handled the best way to make it useful, it is a neat idea. The image, well, it isn't all that great. While it matches well with the effect, it is awful quality, and it feels more like a Spell/Trap card, since most monsters only have themselves in the frame, this looks like knight in the background is actually the one the card is focusing on, which makes more sense for Spell/Trap cards.

Overall: It isn't horrible, it is balanced enough, while still being powerful, though it isn't useful. I would choose a Special Summoning condition of some kind, not sure which, as it should still be able to be balanced without the Special Summoning condition screwing it up. Maybe a Normal Summon without Tributes and then lowering the ATK a bit? 4/10

OCG fix: Hover your cursor over the word(s) with the dotted lines to read my reasons for the fixes. Make sure to hover over more than one one word, as it might put the things I have to say together with the dotted lines. You might be able to see a more bold dot where it changes. Either that or you can view it with BBcode turned off, just copy and paste it and click the switch in the control pannel. I do not repeat if you have made the flaw more than once, instead will it be bold (if any). Anything in italic is simple typos (if any). Anything in red means that it is something that is missing and should be there, as well as dotted lines to explain my reasoning/ask why you may have forgotten (if any). Also, if you have the time, check out my OCG Thread.

 

Lore: At the start of your Battle Phase[acronym='Since you have a condition, there must be a colon here']: Your[/acronym] opponent [acronym='It is already a mandatory effect, saying must is not needed, also, you target cards, not select them']targets [/acronym]1 monster they control[acronym='Once you have a target, you must also have a semi-colon']; this[/acronym] card must attack that monster this turn, if able. [acronym='based on wordings like "Machine Lord Ür"']If this card attacks or is attacked, your opponent takes no battle damage.[/acronym] If this card destroys a monster by battle: Inflict damage to your opponent equal to this card's ATK, also this card gains 300 ATK. You can only activate the effect of "Shade Challenger" once per turn.

[Morgan LeFlay]

Thank you for the in-depth review. The first effect is meant to be a continuous effect, I will reword the battle damage part though. And normal summoning without tributes seems like it could work. I'll change it a bit and upload the modified card.

[Zazubat]

Thank you for the in-depth review. The first effect is meant to be a continuous effect, I will reword the battle damage part though. And normal summoning without tributes seems like it could work. I'll change it a bit and upload the modified card.

Oh, it's a continuous effect? Well, it is kind of weird that way tbh, I don't really see what the problem should really be with it not being one, as the way it is worded looks wonky to me.