[Improvement?] Devourer of Unfortunate Souls

[Darj]

So I was looking at my cards when I saw this one and it occurred to me that it could be improved:

 

Devourer of Unfortunate Souls
Attribute: DARK
Type: Fairy/Xyz/Effect
Rank: 4
ATK: 2400
DEF: 900
2 Level 4 monsters

 

Current effect:

Cannot be banished from the field. Once per turn, during either player's turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; this turn, any opponent's card destroyed by a card effect is banished instead of being sent to the Graveyard. After damage calculation, if this card destroys a monster by battle: You can banish that monster instead of sending it to the Graveyard, and if you do, this card gains 100 ATK.

 

Improved effect:
Cannot be banished from the field. Once per turn, during either player's turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; this turn, any opponent's destroyed card is banished instead of being sent to the Graveyard. After damage calculation, if this card destroys a monster by battle: You can banish that monster instead of sending it to the Graveyard, also this card gains 100 ATK.

 

In short, its detach effect would also banish cards that are destroyed by battle or by mechanics, and it would gain +100 ATK even if it doesn't apply the banishment.

As for its application, it's intended to complement Abyss Dweller by avoiding "sent to the grave" floating effects, preventing the opponent's destroyed cards from reaching the grave and thus making them accessible while disrupting cards or effects that need grave resources, and generally improving your destruction effects. Unlike Abyss Dweller however, it cannot stop effects of cards already in the grave and won't affect cards that aren't destroyed so the opponent can still discard, Tribute, etc. floaters and trigger their effects.

 

I post it to ask for your thoughts an opinions on if the changes are too much or an overkill, or if it can get away with them.

[Eshai]

So I was looking at my cards when I saw this one and it occurred to me that it could be improved:

 

Improved effect:

Cannot be banished from the field. <Interesting effect, making it invulnerable  and banishing for a turn is pretty nice, but a little broken compared to other defensive xyz.

Once per turn (Quick Effect): You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; this turn, any opponent's destroyed card(s) that would be sent to the GY are banished instead.

<<fixed some grammar> this card effect change allows is interesting, considering it means this monster cannot be destroyed by battle or card effect for a turn. This change may break the card if left to itself, unless the opponent just solemns it like any other xyz. If you're going to do it this way, I don't think it should be generic. Maybe make it 2 level 4 DARK monsters.

After damage calculation, if this card destroys a monster by battle: You can banish that monster instead of sending it to the Graveyard, also this card gains 100 ATK.

<I'd rather have this effect a bit buffed, like "when a monster is destroyed and banished: this card gains 200 ATK" which wouldn't nessecarily be a buff, but it enforces the exploitation of the previous ability during your turn, where they could have a lot of monsters, you activate the effect and then you activate Dark Hole, destroy all monsters on the field not including this card, and then having it become a 3k or so beater.>

 

Overall the card is interesting, but I feel cannot be destroyed by battle or card effects, and banishes other cards on the field for 2 turns warrants more like 1900-2000 ATK rather than 2400 ATK. Whether or not that balances out the card is debatable, but the card seems interesting enough to play in decks like Evilswarms and some of the other DARK oriented decks that the community has made. Your changes were interesting, but if you're going to buff it like that it needs a couple restrictions.

 

 

 

[Darj]

Yeah, I was too lazy to update it with the latest PSCT and keywords, and didn't want to confuse readers who are not up to date with those new PSCTs either.

There is a misunderstanding with the first effect: it cannot be banished, but it can still be destroyed, so even if there was a Macro Cosmos active on the field, after its destruction its protection shouldn't apply anymore AFAIK, and consequently will be banished regardless. Besides, only the opponent's cards are the ones being banished when they are destroyed, not yours. Originally it could indeed protect itself with its own effect, but I have changed the Quick Effect since then and I just left the protection vs. banishment as a reminder of its former self, so to speak.

 

I find interesting how you suggest to improve its ATK-boosting effect, while also stating that it may have too much ATK for what you thought it does; it's kinda contradictory xD

[Eshai]

I meant that you should decrease the original ATK to make the ATK boost relevant and exploitable so that I could further it from being played as a simple 2400 k beater that can mess up your opponent's plays. 2000 is easier to get around, but if you're using your deck synergies you would be able to exploit its ability to gain more ATK.

 

An example would be the difference between a 3k beater that gains 100 ATK for each monster your opponent controls vs a 1k beater that gains 1000 ATK for each monster your opponent controls.

[Darj]

Ah, right, I see what you mean. The thing is that the ATK boost is mostly for flavor (she "eats" the souls of the defeated enemies) anyway, and I don't want it to be the monster's main effect or highlight; I mean, she is not intended to turn into a beater right away, but grow slowly instead. Besides, it already has the floodgate-ish effect, and I feel that floodgate + beater would then indeed be too much for a generic Rank4. So I would rather keep a high base ATK + low ATK boosts, but I do like the idea of gaining ATK for each monster destroyed. I'm not sure if starting with 2400 ATK would be a fair thing to do in that case. How about 2250 base ATK + 100 ATK per banished monster? 2250 keeps it bigger than an non-boosted Dweller, and thus having an small offensive advantage. Another alternative I think of is sticking with 2400 and reducing the ATK boosts to 50.