Combined CoTDs 20/8 & 21/8 - The Ultimate Shooting Star! (I)

Sorry for the delay, but since I was too busy preparing my exam yesterday, I didn't have time to do my CoTDs and other stuff =( As a compensation, I decided to do a combined CoTD today, featuring two of the evolutions of the most useful Synchro Monster in the game - Stardust Dragon (Oops, spilt my beans for a topic I'm about to do).

Today we are going to do Majestic Star Dragon and Malefic Stardust Dragon. Here comes my shooting star:

MAJESTIC STAR DRAGON
Lv. 10



Synchro
Lore: "Majestic Dragon" + "Stardust Dragon" + 1 non-Tuner monster
You can Tribute this card to negate the activation of an opponent's Spell Card, Trap Card, or Effect Monster's effect and destroy all cards your opponent controls. Once per turn, you can negate the effect(s) of 1 face-up monster your opponent controls until the End Phase. Also, if the negated effect can be activated, you can activate it once as this card's effect. During the End Phase, return this card from the field to the Extra Deck, and Special Summon 1 "Stardust Dragon" from your Graveyard.
ATK 3800/DEF 3000

First of all, a kind warning to those who are intending to buy the Majestic Star Dragon tin - You won't be adding this card into your Extra Deck. Why? Let's look at its most vulnerable weakness - its Summoning conditions as a beginning.

Majestic Dragon would be really hard to get to your hand from the Deck except by three commonly used conditions - 1. Asspull it as shown in the anime; 2. Sangan and 3. One for One. Since I guess you would be using method 3 to get your Level 1 non-Tuner Monster, you would not be getting this card except through methods 1 and 2.

The Level 1 non-Tuner Monster, as stated above, can be searched through One for One, but would you be willing to use so much hand advantage to search for a one-turn surviving Monster when you could just plan on other strategies? Which leads us to its second weakness - its effects.

Okay, Tribute to destroy all cards on the opponent's Field? Having used so many cards to Summon this card, would you have any more Monsters to launch a direct attack as your opponent's Field is empty? Besides that, Starlight Road can negate this effect thoroughly, even little Kuriboh can defend your opponents from your attacks. Ok effect, but not good enough. Checked.

Second, negate an opponent's effect and use it as its own. That's the only and best part of this card - effect copy. This card can potentially copy the effects of useful cards like Red Dragon Archfiend, Black Rose Dragon, DAD and Ancient Fairy Dragon... wait, Ancient Fairy Dragon!? Summoning this card just to Summon another Level 4 or lower Monster from your hand? I would rather use the actual Monster's effect. Nah, this effect is a little situational.

Third, and the most WTF effect that pulls this card to absolute nowhere. It must be returned to the Extra Deck and Stardust Dragon is summoned. What's the point? You have used so many cards to summon this card and in the end, you have to repeat everything all over again!? Which reminds me of the first duel I used this card, where my Stardust Dragon was nuked by a DAD a turn later. Bad job for Konami for creating this card.

All in all, I would really not recommend you to put this card in your Deck except for collecting. Neither is it valuable. Such an awesome card in the anime being undervalued due to its drawbacks is unfair. No wonder Konami created Shooting Star Dragon.

MALEFIC STARDUST DRAGON
Lv. 8

Lore: This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card cannot be Special Summoned, except by removing from play "Stardust Dragon" from your Extra Deck. There can only be 1 face-up "Malefic" monster on the field. Field Spell Cards cannot be destroyed by effects. Other monsters you control cannot declare an attack. If there is no face-up Field Spell Card on the field, destroy this card.
ATK 2500/DEF 2000

Alright, simple Summoning conditions (in fact a lot simpler the Majestic Star Dragon), but its drawback is still its effect. FTW. This card, for the information of people who wishes to put this in their Decks, only works as a beatstick, but without a Field Spell Card, you lose this card away. And Stardust Dragon is removed from play. Except that isf you want to play Return from a Different Dimension, you lose two cards. FTW.

On the bright side, this card is an extremely useful addition to the Earthbound Immortal Protector series, besides Earthbound Linewalker. This card protects any Field Spell Card from being destroyed, and yes, any. Which means Earthbound Immortal Chalcu Challhua can stay on the Field as long as this card is not destroyed by battle, while skipping your opponent's Battle Phase and dealing 1200 damage to him/her each turn.

But, this is reality. No one plays Earthbound, and if you play it, you are one of those people who don't love Quick GLADs or Synchrons and go for the vintage Blue-Eyes White Dragon Deck. Except that Blue-Eyes White Dragon can now be easily countered by some beast called Colossal Fighter or Black Rose Dragon (or what some old fan say, BUSTER BLADER!!!). FTW.

Anyway, a bad choice for those who wants a "free" Stardust (in fact, this card is not even used by Yusei, so I don't count it as a Stardust). Nothing is free in this world. Go for the two Stardust Dragon/Assault Mode and Shooting Star Dragon, debuting next Episode.

(Ouch,. crappy Network... Pic for Malefic Stardust Dragon coming tomorrow)