Creature Swap
Each player chooses 1 monster they control and switches control of those monsters with each other. Those monsters cannot change their battle positions for the rest of this turn.
I am sure many readers of our blog noticed GeoTheBacon's decklist for his Top 32 Rank Up League consists of a couple of this card in his side. It is an interesting option, although not a complete incomprehensible one.
Firstly, Creature Swap doesn't target. This makes it a potent answer to many boss cards which are seemingly untouchable - Blue-Eyes Chaos MAX Dragon, Apoqliphort Towers. You can even rob your opponent's Majespector Unicorn - Kirin. The logic to abuse Creature Swap is simple, as it has always been - Use it when you control a monster weak in stats, and send it to your opponent, in exchange for his. Use it when you opponent only has a single monster on the field, and they wouldn't have much of a choice.
Creature Swap works exceptionally well in D/D/D as many of their monsters suffer from the low ATK symdrome. I lost count of the many times I read "Weakness: Low ATK and DEF" in Geo's 2nd D/D/D article.
Creature Swap is Geo's version of Metalfoe's Graydle Alligator for his D/D/D deck- to steal the big guns, if he doesn't have firepower on his field. He sides it in against a Blue-Eyes matchup, and does his usual play. If he could only manage a sub-par opening field, summon D/D Savant Kapler, do a search. Then D/D Savant Kapler would have expired his usage. In addition, in your starting plays get put to a halt, such as a negation by Effect Veiler, be it on Savant Kapler or Savant Copernicus, you would normally be caught with a 0ATK monster on your field.
A swap at this time would be perfect as against Blue-Eyes, you are likely to steal a 3000ATK monster like Blue-Eyes Alternative Dragon and deal 3000ATK damage in the process. On top of that your opponent has to deal with their monster, now yours, during their next turn.
In D/D/D, Rank8 plays can be made. Hence, the stolen Blue-Eyes monsters can also serve as xyz materials. Think about it. Summon D/D Swirl Slime, Creature Swap it away, get a Blue-Eyes Alternative Dragon. Alternative destroys, and you banish Swirl Slime to summon a monster like... D/D Savant Thomas. There you have it a Rank8 play using your opponent's monster.
Sure Mind Control could do the same, but the objective is to punish your opponent for leaving his big guns out in the open on the field. And if you can't beat them, join them? Was that the saying?
Besides, against the large attack dragons like Blue-Eyes? You will be turning firepower against them.
It also serve as a mediocre answer to other threats, such as Majespector Unicorn - Kirin controlling the field or Archlord Kristya preventing you from doing any plays at all. Against anti-meta decks, in the absence of Swirl Slime and Necro Slime, you would have a tough time facing cards like Thunder King Rai Oh. Waiting to draw into your outs during the Draw Phases, Creature Swap serves as an additional option to increase your chances of ridding Rai Oh sooner.
I use to play it in Yosenjus, back when Solemn Strike wasn't a thing and the worse I could get apart from a Torrential Tribute was an Effect Veiler. And even if I didn't got stopped dead in my tracks, with my Yosenju self returning capabilities, I would have robbed a monster for free, as my monster would return back to my hand, despite being on my opponent's field, at the end of the turn it is normal summoned.
It was gimmicky back then, but wasn't so groundbreaking that it won me games. So eventually I dropped it.
Traveller of the Burning Herpes found it an agressive method to get his Volcanic cards into the grave and deal some damage at the same time, especially when he draws into his Volcanic Shell and Volcanic Counter, but without his Blaze Accelerator traps.
Conclusion
I think it is both fun and nostalgic to bring back an old card like Creature Swap to the meta. Creature Swap has seen over a decade of this trading card game. In the days when yugioh just got started, it was staple. And it was considered to be broken such that it had to be limited to a single copy. Swap has its merits. That and it is a troll card. Traveller of the Burning Herpes is a huge fan of this card, having traded his low ATK volcanics for his opponent's monsters for plenty of times.
That's all for now and hope you had a pleasant read. - Ken Sir
(why am I writing this article when it is GeoTheBacon's card? Simple - GeoTheBacon is lazy.)
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