Limited Movement

[Atypical-Abbie]

Here's a strange little Continuous Spell that messes with Link Monsters and where a player can Summon monsters. You are only allowed to Summon monsters in Attack Position to zones that your Link Monsters point to, so this will lock out Link Monsters from being Summoned first of all, unless you point to your Extra Monster Zone of course, though it is possible to avoid this by using the other effect, which allows the turn player to move a monster in the Extra Monster Zone to the Main Monster Zone, so you can use this to put a monster that points a specific direction to the Extra Monster Zone, or to make it so that player's monster now points in a way that can't help them, and due to the lockout, they can't Summon to their Extra Monster Zone. Can be powerful, but be careful when using it.

 

While you control a Link Monster, neither player can Summon monsters in Attack Position, except to zones your Link Monsters point to. Once per turn: The turn player can target 1 face-up monster in their Main Monster Zone and 1 monster in their opponent's Extra Monster Zone; send the first target to the GY, then move the second target to their Main Monster Zone.

[Darj]

I'm confused. First, the card text doesn't do what you describe in the thread introduction: you would still be able to Summon Link monsters in Attack Position to pointed Zones. But assuming the first effect is meant to read as "both players can only Summon monsters in Attack Position, except to zones Link Monsters you control point to", then you state that you would be unable to Link Summon into your ED Zone unless a Link Monster points towards to it, but that conflicts with what you say at the beginning, that Link Monsters cannot be Summoned on Zones that a Link Monster points to. So how does the card work? Is it "both players can only Summon monsters in Attack Position, except to zones Link Monsters you control point to", or "neither player can Special Summon monsters in Attack Position, except to zones Link Monsters you control point to"?

[Atypical-Abbie]

I'm confused. First, the card text doesn't do what you describe in the thread introduction: you would still be able to Summon Link monsters in Attack Position to pointed Zones. But assuming the first effect is meant to read as "both players can only Summon monsters in Attack Position, except to zones Link Monsters you control point to", then you state that you would be unable to Link Summon into your ED Zone unless a Link Monster points towards to it, but that conflicts with what you say at the beginning, that Link Monsters cannot be Summoned on Zones that a Link Monster points to. So how does the card work? Is it "both players can only Summon monsters in Attack Position, except to zones Link Monsters you control point to", or "neither player can Special Summon monsters in Attack Position, except to zones Link Monsters you control point to"?

Yeah, I meant to that you can only Summon to zones Link Monsters point to, my bad.

[Darj]

In that case, then this is a really oppressive card. If you refrain from Summoning a Link with upper pointers, the opponent cannot Special Summon Link monsters at all, and whatever else it Special Summons will be forced into Defense Position. Even if it can move your Link Monster with this card's second effect, it won't be pointing towards its ED Zone. It basically becomes a kind of Stumbling + Link Summon lock. I hope I don't have to elaborate on how floodgates are frowned upon because of their "you can't play YGO" nature and discouraging player interaction. Although requiring a Link monster on your field to apply the effects adds weaknesses to the lock, I'm not sure if it's enough to justify the effect.

I would suggest a nerf, but at the moment I cannot think of anything that doesn't hurt the card so much that it becomes not worthy of being played.