Saturday, May 3, 2014

New Hotness: Castel the Avian Skyblaster

Today I'm going to throw the spotlight on a new card coming out in the TCG this August in Duelist Alliance. Check him out:

Castel the Avian Skyblaster
Wind / Rank 4 / Winged-Beast / 2000 / 1500
2 Level 4 monsters
You can only use 1 "Castel the Avian Skyblaster" effect per turn, and only once that turn. You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card, then target 1 face-up monster on the field; change that monster to face-down Defense Position. You can detach 2 Xyz Materials from this card, then target 1 other face-up card on the field; shuffle that target into the Deck.

[Source: http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Castel_the_Avian_Skyblaster]

Here are some quick reasons why I think this card will see a lot of play:

Similar to Diamond Dire Wolf, it's a generic Rank 4 answer to random problem cards. However, it has three distinct advantages over the dog:

1. It doesn't have to kill itself if you don't have other compatible monsters on the field.
2. It dodges the protection of cards that avoid destruction.
3. It has an entire other effect, boosting its utility and flexibility.

I think the only real advantage that Dire Wolf has over Castel (other than it being a dog) is that it can destroy face-down cards. The second and third points also make Castel a nice competitor with the likes of Number 50: Blackship of Corn and Maestroke the Symphony Djinn. Unlike Maestroke however, this card's Book of Moon effect is more flexible, being able to target Defense Position monsters and even monsters under your control. You could potentially do neat things like flipping a monster down and Flip Summoning it to free it of paralyzing effects like Fiendish Chain. Even random cards like Moon Dance Ritual become slightly more relevant now.

This card may need to be Limited someday; removal like this is just so convenient for Rank 4 decks to have. I honestly had to re-read his effect a few times before I could even believe that he's generic and not a Wind or Winged-Beast exclusive or something. What do you think about this card? Leave a comment and let me know below.

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