Wednesday 24 August 2016

Card Discussion: Super Quantal Finisher Alphan Ball

New Super Quantal support card!
Superb~?


 RATE-JP063 超量必殺アルファンボール Chouryuu Hissatsu Arufan Booru (Super Quantal Finisher: Alphan Ball)
Normal Spell Card
(1) You can activate this card if there are three or more different “Super Quantum” monsters on your field; return all cards on your opponent’s field to their Deck. Afterwards, your opponent Special Summons 1 monster from their Extra Deck, ignoring the summoning conditions.
(2) You can banish this card and 1 “Super Quantal Fairy Alphan” from your Graveyard; activate 1 “Super Quantal Mech Ship Magnacarrier” directly from your deck.


Let's get the ball rollin'...



All along we were praying for Nekroz and Shaddoll support, and who knew Super Quantal would get theirs first? Well, readers who has been following us for a while would know that Dueling Cancer doesn't do news announcement. When we do talk about new news, we usually do a little rant, discussion, and maybe spread some cancerous crazy ideas around. So here goes...
Heads up guyz! Another Normal Spell card to abuse with D-HERO Diamond Dude. As always, cost and activation criteria doesn't matter when Diamond Dude is concerned. Just have to mill it with its effect. The clear field effect is definitely cool, but I doubt Diamond Dude can take on an Extra Deck monster on his own.

So the first effect seems to simulate the climatic battle between Power Rangers (or Super Sentai) have against their foe, by challenging your opponent to summon out their best Extra Deck monster from their arsenal. Which is kinda cool, seeing how it has a massive field clearing effect, for both backrow and monsters, bringing a one-on-one battle scene to the field. They are even so kind to include a "ignore summoning condition" clause.
Clearing the field via a 'return to the deck' instead of 'destroy' not only simplifies things infinitely, as cards that avoid destruction will still be affected. But it also doesn't target, so pretty much everything returns to the deck - spells/traps/monsters? Shoo! Well, almost everything. I am pretty sure there are exceptions. But my point is, the removal part of the effect doesn't complicate matters.
We will get back to the Extra Deck monster part later.

The second effect helps the Super Quantal deck further, by being capable of searching out and activating (right away!) their deck's field spell right from the deck, this is kinda like Judai's moment from Season 4 where he activates his field spell from his deck, using Demise of the Land. (Upcoming article regarding that soon!)

With the need to gather two of these cards in the grave to use its second effect, it seems that Summoner Monk now serves more purpose in the deck, and justification for a slot, if it didn't already before. Magnacarrier has always been the playmaker of the deck, contributing to the win condition of the deck by summoning out its boss monster. Previously, it was only searching and accessible most commonly by Terraforming, since it is a field spell. Now, after Raging Tempest, it seems that Super Quantal players will have a easier time piloting the deck.


So back to the first effect, once the conditions for Alphan Ball's activation are in place, it is likely you would have already gathered the basic materials for the summon of their boss monsters.
Wait.... is that a once per turn clause I see missing? So if you have two in your hand, and with the three Super Quantal monsters.... you can use the both copies in your hand...?
Which is pretty handy if you think about it, since the Extra Deck monster you summon via the first copy, will be shuffled back via the second copy's effect. (Ceteris paribus) And then, you would have activated and sent two copies of Alphan Ball to the grave, paving the road for its second effect. And with the field spell....

Autobots, transform and roll out...
 Wrong reference?

Mech King Great Magnus can hit the field, and challenge your opponent's Extra Deck monster one on one. And is this the part where I add in that Alphan Ball only shuffles your opponent's field cards to their deck and your cards remain intact?

Only problem is, assuming you have no other resources on field. Activating this card alone would only clear your opponent's field and bring you another problem to worry about - the Extra Deck monster summoned. So unless you have another copy in your grave, it seems unwise to pray to topdeck this card.

Also, if you are only banking on your Super Quantal monsters in grave for the summon of Great Magnus, assuming it is the bare minimum of three cards, you will end up with only his [2 of more] effect, and not receive the [4 or more] protection effect. That leaves the Great Magnus vulnerable and maybe not so great after all.

But in late game stages, perhaps Super Quantal Finisher Alphan Ball, assuming your initial Great Magnus has fallen and is defeated, and Super Quantal Finisher Alphan Ball can allow the summon of a second Great Magnus. Perhaps this time, with more materials than just simply three. Of course, as always, you can supplement the Great Magnus with xyz material support cards.


Now let's top shop. If you were to face this monster, what card would you bring out against it? Which soldier would you call? Who can you count on?

Basic survival instincts would draw you to the strongest of powerhouses, seeing how this card can clear your entire field, leaving all but that one Extra Deck monster to shield you.

Five-Headed Dragon packs the largest stats, and seeing how it avoids damage with all ATTRIBUTES but LIGHT and DIVINE, it seems to be a good candidate to nominate for your protection detail. Seems invincible...
Only problem is, it isn't . Great Magnus can just avoid battle and proceed to shuffle him back, since Five-Headed Dragon doesn't have ant inert protection capabilities. And what is Great Magnus' ATTRIBUTE again? Wonderful.... LIGHT. Guess now even in battle, with a boost of stats with cards such as Honest and Limiter Removal, Great Magnus can not put the previously-best-fusion-monster-in-the-game to shame.

One of my friends, M, whose name shall be concealed as he may possibly be ganged and beaten up since he comes up with the type of ideas that makes him loses friend all the time... suggested this little baby:
Number 24: Dragulas the Vampiric Dragon
Number 24, even with no materials, does not fear Great Magnus in a battle. When perished, it seems determined to send its destroyer to the grave with it. Strike 1 for Karma! Only problem is that it tempts players to remove this Wyrm from the field instead. And since Magnus doesn't banish like ABC Dragon Buster does, and instead shuffles, seems like Number 24 isn't all that great either.


There are of course, more options, seeing how long Yugioh has existed and the various Extra Deck cards there are. A more obvious choice would be cards that will be unaffected by Magnus. Such as great old Raidraptor Ultimate Falcon.

But Ultimate Falcon stands at 3500ATK, falling short by a small, but crucial amount of 100ATK to Magnus. And without xyz materials attached to it? Ultimate Falcon suddenly doesn't sound so Ultimate.

If used against me? As far as the standard 15-card Extra Deck goes... I would summon Fullmetalfoes Alkahest. Seems like the most reasonable choice out of my entire Extra Deck that can go toe to toe with this monster, despite the different in size, and stats. Great Magnus' weakness lies in the fact that its discard-and-shuffle effect can only be used in the Main Phase. In previous formats, that would mean it is vulnerable to Effect Veiler. But in this situation I propose, it means that it has to take the initiative against Alkahest. Magnus would have to use his effect first, and at this point, I see no reason not to chain Alkahest's effect to that activation, to bring the Great Magnus down to the ground with me.
Even if he does skip the discard-and-shuffle, I would emerge victorious: He attacks, I activate. Unless he has other cards to respond, Great Magnus is likely to bite the dust. And he ends up in a worse scenario than if he were to use Magnus' effect first - I still end up having Alkahest.

Super Quantal Finisher Alphan Ball offers a summon of an Extra Deck monster, not limiting the opponent to any type of Extra Deck cards. For all I know, I can just summon a previously destroyed Kirin, and this annoying prick seems more effective than F.G.D. will ever be, when each of them is pitched against Magnus. #lol. Shame on you F.G.D. You have been powercrept so badly.

Back to what I was saying: you are not limited to Fusion, Xyz, Synchro or Pendulum in any way. So be it whatever dimension spy you are, feel free to mull over your options. I didn't go too much into depth and scout the entire database as I wanted to rush this article out for the public to read. But feel free to share your opinions and choices below. With sufficient content, I might even manage a second article featuring the available options.
Damn, this feels like a Deck Master selection process...


It would of course, be hilarious, if it all ends up as a bluff, and your opponent doesn't have the capability to call out Magnus, due to the inability to access Fairy Alphan ultimately. Perhaps he ended up activating it to choose the lesser out of two evils.
An interesting thing to note though, a player doesn't exactly have to summon out Magnus upon resolution of the card's first effect. They can just use it for field clearing, and then provide an answer to the summoned Extra Deck monster in the form of a trap. Compulsory Evacuation Device seems to a a staple and straight answer, being versatile on top of it all.
Also, who said it had to be an iconic one-on-one battle? Super Quantal players can always bring more monsters to the field, if need be and able to, since it is their turn. 


Super Quantal Finisher Alphan Ball is an interesting card, with an awesome throwback reference to Super Sentai and Power Rangers, which is very fitting for the Super Quantal theme, seeing how and where the archetype drew their inspiration from. It is cards like these that makes you admire the creator's creativity...... until you lose to this card, then it is cards like these that makes you curse the creator, and end up saltier than the dead sea, since you lost to a rogue deck.
This card should also serve as a friendly reminder to players not to overextend unnecessarily. 

I won't be kidding - Super Quantal as a Tier 1 deck? Kinda challenging, since you bank all your resources onto a single boss monster, which is so easily removed by cards like Santa Claws and the inbound Kaiju monsters. But at least with this new support, it makes fans want to play it more, and add more fun to the already casual deck play style. Let's just hope Konami doesn't regret their decision and back away with an erratum.

I doubt Super Quantal Finisher Alphan Ball's impact will be significant enough for players to dedicate a single slot to their deck for a powerhouse to be summoned with its effect. Although if you do spot that random kid who used to pilot Super Quantal at your locals.... you might want to do some last minute adjustments...

Lastly, did anyone know that I am a Spiderman comic fan? Here is a gift, featuring Japanese Spiderman from Spider-Verse, to end off the article. LEOPARDON~!

2 comments:

  1. Abc-dragon buster seems like the most dangerous thing your opp could brong out against you since it can banish the field spell or one of the xyz

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  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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