The stragglers for Doom of Dimensions are trickling in. This time, Konami is revitalizing one its older archetypes with the True Draco archetype.
Mariamne Paradox, the True Dracophoenix Knight
Level 6 Wind
Wyrm/Effect Monster
To Tribute Summon this card face-up, you can Tribute a Continuous Spell/Trap you control, instead of a monster. You can only use the 1st and 2nd effect of this card’s name each once per turn.
(1) If this card is in your hand: You can destroy 1 other “True Draco” or “True King” card in your hand or face-up field, and if you do, Special Summon this card to either field.
(2) If this card is Normal or Special Summoned from the hand: Banish the top 4 cards of your Deck.
Getting the easy-to-understand aspects out of the way first, Mariamne Paradox can special summon itself from the hand. That’s always a good start when it comes to monster ability packages, especially for a monster that requires a tribute summon to get onto the board.
From there, it becomes a little difficult to understand what Konami wants players to do with this card. At first glance, you’re already going -1 to your card advantage getting this monster out onto the field.
It does seed the graveyard with your choice of True Draco or True King resource, but the payoff looks a little suspect due to Mariamne Paradox’s smaller-than-average body.
On the plus side, Mariamne Paradox plays well with its original counterpart, Mariamne, the True Dracophoenix. A player could use Mariamne Paradox to destroy its original counterpart in hand to add any non-Wind Wyrm to hand.
This is especially useful if you want to search any of your one-of cards like Master Peace, the True Dracoslaying King, who’s still sitting at Limited status in the Trading Card Game (TCG).
The last effect for Mariamne Paradox is where a lot of its uncertainty stems from. Taking the design of Mariamne Paradox in good faith, you’re putting this card on the opponent’s side of the field to just banish their top 4 cards to force your other True Draco monster cards to activate their effects.
Using this context, a player could sequence getting Dinomight Knight, the True Dracofighter out first, summon Mariamne Paradox, and then have the former piggyback off the latter’s 3rd effect to grab one of the in-archetype Trap cards.
It’s a little convoluted, but given how we’re dealing with an older archetype, bringing them to modern standards comes with growing pains.
Master Peace, the True Dracoverlord
Level 10 Dark
Wyrm/Effect Monster
Requires 3 Tributes to Normal Summon face-up, but you can Tribute Continuous Spells/Traps you control, as well as monsters. You can only use the 1st and 2nd effect of this card's name each once per turn.
(1) When your opponent activates a monster effect in the hand or field and you control this Tribute Summoned card (Quick Effect): You can negate the activation, and if you do, destroy that card.
(2) If this Tribute Summoned card is destroyed by battle, or by an opponent’s card effect while in its owner’s control: You can skip your opponent’s next Main Phase.
Borrowing a little of the design from both of its predecessors, Master Peace the True Dracoverlord comes in as a monster effect negate at Quick Effect speed that can also be brought out by tributing Continuous Spell/Trap cards.
True Dracoverlord also comes with a rather nasty floating effect that requires the opponent to either use non-destructive or non-battle board removal, or else lose their next Main Phase.
Unfortunately, the second effect is more of compensation than an actual preemptive tool.
For its tribute summon cost, True Dracoverlord lacks the overall staying power that True Dracoslaying King enjoys.
The recurring monster negate is nice to have, but there are other tools that a True Draco deck uses that don’t require as much investment, like using The Monarchs Erupt.
We can see a world where True Draco decks could use at most one copy of this card. But most fans of the archetype might just stick to the True Dracoslaying King.
Not unless Konami releases something else to make this card easier to summon while still keeping its monster negate effect.
Draco Stand-Off
Continuous Spell Card
You can only activate 1 card with this card’s name per turn. You can only use the 2nd effect of this card’s name once per turn.
(1) When this card resolves, you can add 1 “True Draco” or “True King” monster, or 1 “Dracoslayer” or “Dracoverlord” Pendulum Monster, from your Deck to your hand.
(2) If a face-up “True Draco” and/or “True King” monster(s) you control is destroyed by battle or card effect and sent to the GY: You can target 1 of them; place it face-up in your Spell & Trap Zone as a Continuous Spell.
For what it’s worth, Draco Stand-Off it’s a pretty standard RotA (Reinforcement of the Army). That’s not to say it’s not unwanted. The archetype was pretty much asking for a search effect that didn’t rely on something else to activate.
That said, any opponent already familiar with the True Draco archetype might just fling out the all-standard monster handtraps at this card if they feel like they have enough disruption available.
There’s also the negative that Draco Stand-Off lacks the ‘True Draco’ wording in its name, meaning you won’t be able to search this card via Ignis Heat, the True Dracowarrior.
On the plus side, this Continuous Spell keeps recycling destroyed bodies back onto the field to fuel the rest of the True Draco tributes.
It’s a small thing in the grand scheme, but sometimes consistency can go a long way for older archetypes.