Card Discussion : Gendo

He has been around for quite some time...

• Face-up Attack Position monsters on the field cannot activate their effects.
• This Defense Position card cannot be targeted, or destroyed, by card effects.

Gendo the Ascetic Monk debuted in SHVI and despite being labelled as an interesting card by many, never saw much play in the OCG. Preventing your opponent from activating their effects is never the same as a negation, be it a negation by Solemn Strike or Skill Drain. The key difference, as many may already know, is that they can't pay the cost for it.

But the main reason I like Gendo is because he is capable to appearing and put a stop to everything.
What I mean is that, similar to monsters such as Outer Entity Azathoth and D/D/D Duo-Dawn King Kali Yuga, upon successfully summoned, their passive effects immediately applied.  In a sense, it is like Denko Sekka rendering your opponent's backrow useless upon a successful summon. Except Gendo does that for monsters, and not backrow like Sekka does.

But xyz monsters, being an inherent special summon process, Solemn Strike can negate it.
But Gendo isn't. A normal summon leaves little window of opportunity or response time for your opponent to neutralise this threat. Except for maybe Solemn Judgment and Solemn Warning, both of which have been dropped in favour of Solemn Strike which has a lower Life Point cost and larger range of targets. So now it's time to punish any of your opponent's for forgoing the older Solemn cards.

With Gendo on the field, passive effects that don't activate, such as Dark Law's banishing still goes through. That's a trade off you have to make do with. Passive effects are usually only stopped by negation, after all.

Currently, Gendo sits in my Side Deck for Majespector Metalfoes, prepared to be called upon and tagged in to deal with annoying threats. I usually don't have the luxury of pendulum summoning him out in defense position, as I would risk its summon being negated by Solemn Strike that way. So unless I get the first turn, I end up normal summoning this spellcaster monster. And most of the time, I summon him out, he does his thing by stopping monster effects, and I get to build my field without worrying about negations. With Gendo, I usually laugh at the confident lockdown my opponent has set up.

Funny story: A D/D/D player once built a field, during his first turn, with Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon, D/D/D Hexblood King Siegfried and Kali Yuga. Under optimal conditions, he could manage to negate a monster or a spell/trap and have a Heavy Storm effect, whenever he pleases.

But Gendo says no...

Well, my turn came, I normal summoned Gendo, and his backrow couldn't respond to it, so the summon was successful. And immediately after that, I cleared the backrow with Feather Duster.  Placed my scales casually, as he watches helplessly.

Pendulum summoned out Majespector Unicorn - Kirin in defense mode, careful not to get shoot myself in my foot. And a few other monsters. A fusion summon gets me enough firepower to tie in battle with Siegfried, and once Metalfoes Orichalc hits the grave, it takes out Crystal Wing via its own effect. And Crystal Wing can't negate it, all thanks to our WATER spellcaster. Kirin took care of the 3500ATK xyz by bouncing it. 

In the current meta, Gendo has a number of achievements that he can earn to place under his belt.
Firstly, against Metalfoes, it can stop Kirin, which is notorious for being an annoying threat as it has a wide range of opportunities to activate its effect.

Against ABC - Dragon Buster, not only can you stop it from banishing a card, you make the machine monster unable to tag out. Thus you won't have to deal with the three Union monsters (which have effects upon being destroyed by battle) or another Dragon Buster when your opponent's next turn comes.

A matchup with PK Fire, you stop Beatrice, The Eternal Lady from doing her mill, if you opponent decides to delay the activation, but unfortunately, you can't stop its graveyard effect. But perhaps with the help of the other monk - Jowgen the Spiritualist - it can.

HEROes? What other better way than to turn Treatoad and Dark Law similar to plain vanillas with a single card. Of course, as aforementioned, still have to look out for the Macro Cosmo-ish effect you are subjected to. But it lets you use your resources to clear your opponent's field without worrying that you may lose a card to your opponent due to Treatoad.

Gendo may dwarf in comparison when you compare it to a Blue-Eyes matchup. Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon, and Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon are both the Kirin equivalent for the Blue-Eyes deck. But them being usually summoned in defense position puts them in a zone where Gendo's effect doesn't extend and cover. Nevertheless, Gendo will likely remain useful in stopping a Number 38: Titatic Harbinger from getting in your way.

Let's not forget that Gendo can also put a stop to many rogue monsters that are capable of escaping via their own effects, be it PSY-Framelord Omega or Infernoids monsters.

This is the part where I stop players who starts lamenting and ranting on Gendo's low 300ATK points. Sure it is nothing to be proud off, and probably it will deter players from normal summoning it. But it works fine in Metalfoes, since you can pop it off after its purpose is expired for a search-and-set. That way, not only will you protect it from being attacked by monsters, you can prevent it from hindering your plays as well.

And last but not least, Gendo's protection capability gives you all the more reason to pendulum summon it in defense mode. It also makes you wonder if it is a distant relative of the Majespector family or these two are just meant to be with. Its defense stats are nothing to be laughed at either.

The meta now seems to be filled with a first turn lockdown involving monsters, ready to activate their effects for a negate-and-destroy. It is either that or Anti-Spell Fragrance. Gendo provides many players with what they need - an answer. An answer to escape a lockdown. And on top of it all, it is just a single card answer. So hooray for card economics and worthwhile trades.

He still remains vulnerable to spells and traps that can remove it (Phoenix Wing Wind Blast), or negate it, such as Breakthrough Skill. Nevertheless, it shouldn't be forgotten, and I hope to see more players appreciate its existence in the future. It's WATER ATTRIBUTE, and thus, Frog-HEROes might find it a pleasant tech inclusion to their deck. One key thing to note for all Gendo users is it, on its own, although commendable and effective in putting a stop to lockdowns, it is vulnerable to a removal via battle during the next turn. So a follow-up or attack plan to permanently remove the opposing threats from there on is crucial.

Conclusion

Should you need a stun monster, and a surprise factor to toss at your opponent's face, look no further. Gendo is here for you.

OVERWATCH Genji always says: Genji is with you.