Season 17 Postseason (Match 1-1)

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

Standard stuff

 

- First to 3 or most votes by deadline (12/19/2017 @ 8:35 pm HST) wins.

- If tied by the deadline, I will tiebreak.

- Voters must elaborate on both cards.

- Participants and I reserve right to contest reasoning if needed.

- Voters with accepted posts will be repped.

 

Theme

 

Make a non-Cyberse Link Monster.

 

 

Card A

 

Palezeoic Trilobite
WATER | Link 2 | Aqua | Link | Effect
ATK 2400

SW / SE
2 "Paleozoic" monsters
Unaffected by other monsters' effects. If this card is Link Summoned: You can discard 1 "Paleozoic" Trap; Set 1 "Paleozoic" Trap directly from your Deck, also it can be activated this turn. If this card is destroyed by an opponent's card and sent to the GY: You can target 1 of your banished Traps; add it to your hand. You can only use each effect of "Paleozoic Trilobite" once per turn.

 

Card B

 

Splash Skater
WATER | Link 3 | Insect | Link | Effect
ATK 2400

W / E / S
2+ non-Link monsters
Cannot be used as a Link Material. If this card destroys a Link Monster by battle, you can also destroy all monsters in Zones linked by that monster. Once per turn: You can move this card to an adjacent unoccupied linked Zone.

 

=====

Alright guys, go vote.

[Dova]

Card A has the archetypal monster eff protection, and provides immediate pay-off for laddering purposes. I'm a little concerned with its high stats for a Link 2, but it's not meant to be a beater anyway, hence its second effect. The ATK ties into the rest of the archetype's theming, although I would've liked to see some more creativity or interactions with its own effects, as the other two Paleozoics have their duel effects tie in so nicely.

 

Card B provides an easy 3 Link pointing down...except none of the Materials can be Links. It can immediately move itself out of the EMZ, but making this is rather difficult in most decks, considering it doesn't really have an archetypal support. Perhaps something in Inzektors, or Krawlers, but even so, there are better plays for them to make. The problem with this card is that it doesn't commit to anything: As a ladder, it limits its materials, and as a beater, it has lowish stats. I don't really even see the point of the first effect, as if its not the EMZ (and it cannot move itself there) it doesn't really do much.

 

Vote to Card A.

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

To be fair, you can still kill Links pointing L/R in the MMZ, but yeah, rest of the review is fine.

 

So...

1-0 card A

[Darj]

Card A:

Similar to Dova, I find this card's ATK a bit too high for a Link2, and the effects are nice and all, but a bit bland for my tastes since it's just searching and recovery.

 

Card B:

Not looking good. The battle effect depends on the opponent controlling Links so even if Links can be pretty much everywhere, it is still matchup-dependent. And the inability of using Links as materials, as well as using it as Link material, and thus staying out of any Link laddering plays, isn't appealing either. It also means that once you Summon it, you cannot swap it for another Link, which doesn't help its match-up dependency.

 

 

So, vote for Card A. It may be bland for me but it is still strong and, I may not be an expert on Paleozoics, but surely it would be a welcomed addition for them. I would vote for C, but IDK if that's an option in these postseason events.

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

You technically can vote C as normal, but given this section's inactivity, there is a high chance that someone else doesn't vote A or B. After the deadline, yeah, you have to choose one. (Or normally I just pick one myself and vote as normal.)

 

But for the time being, it's 2-0 A.

If someone else votes, this match could be over very quickly.

 

====

Suppose I can just give my opinion on the cards when this all ends.

[Dova]

Misread Card B's linkage as SW/S/SE. Regardless, still voting for Card A, as the Gaia Link is a better ladder in almost every way...and you're not going to be using this card for anything else.

[Darj]

Then I switch for Card C for the time being. Card A is not exactly a card I would endorse.

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

Alright, 1-0-1 card A.

You changing to C doesn't really change much, unless someone else votes B and then a tie results.

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

Card A wins 1-0-1, so that means Abdel gets to fight in the next round against Eshai and Batmed. 

 

As for my opinion, yeah, I would've chosen A because it is technically still usable and also gives them a consistency boost in this format. Granted, I am a bit out of touch with any recent developments with them, so...if this card does push them over the edge, the fault is on them. At least they can at least set up now for later, which is good. 2400 ATK on a Link 2 (even with restrictions on its materials) is high with regard to stuff we already have, but I don't see that as much issue. 

 

With B, yeah, the 2+ thing doesn't make sense since you cannot use Link Monsters and there's no non-Link that can treat self as multiple materials or equal to Link Rating. The destruction effect works, but that is dependent on the opponent actually setting it up, and obviously the "cannot ladder thing" hurts it a lot.