Konami is keeping us on our toes as they're sneaking out a new world premiere for Mimighoul and a new Fusion monster for the upcoming structure deck, the Fallen & The Virtuous.
New World Premiere
Bot Herder
Normal Spell Card
Target 1 monster your opponent controls, that is a face-up monster you own or a face-down Defense Position monster; if that monster is no longer on the field, or is a monster you own (if face down, reveal it briefly to check), apply these effects in sequence.
- Inflict 200 damage to your opponent.
- Take control of all monsters your opponent controls, except that monster.
Premiering along with the 25th anniversary tins, Bot Herder is basically an amplified ‘Change of Heart’ in the right deck or archetype. It’s a Normal Spell card, so it can be searched out by Triple Tactics Thrust quite easily in any generic deck build.
Even if you’re not running a deck centered around this particular Spell card, just pairing Bot Herder with a simple Kaiju can easily wipe out most end boards if left undisturbed.
Once released to the Western market, players have to be mindful of their interaction points. Unsuspectingly using up all your negations by the time Bot Herder is played could leave you with just one monster on the field while the opponent steals all your resources.
That being said, Bot Herder would most likely find one of its best homes in the Mimighoul archetype. With an archetype whose main design philosophy revolves around setting your monster cards onto the opponent’s side of the field, Bot Herder will end up becoming a match made in heaven.
Bot Herder is just one of those confusingly powerful cards that really shouldn’t exist, but since it does,it will probably get put on the Forbidden List pretty quickly if it ramps out of control too fast.
As a side note, if Hecahands ever turns out to be a prolific deck archetype in the competitive scene, Bot Herder could end up becoming a side-deck staple since it blatantly counters Hecahand’s main gimmick of stealing cards from the opponent.
New Fallen of Albaz Fusion Monster
The Stigmata-Devouring Dragon
“Fallen of Albaz” + 1 Light or Dark monster + 1 Effect Monster
You can only use the (1)st and (3)rd effects of this card's name once per turn.
(1) If this card is Special Summoned: You can shuffle up to 2 cards from any GY(s) and/or banishment into the Deck.
(2) While an “Ecclesia” monster is on the field or in either GY, this card gains 500 ATK, also it is unaffected by other cards’ effects.
(3) During the End Phase, if this card is in your GY because it was sent there this turn: You can add 1 “Dogmatika” or “Tri-Brigade” card from your Deck to your hand.
It’s been some time since Konami released its little mini-show, The Fallen & The Virtuous, that showcased some of the lore behind the Branded, Dogmatika, and Tri-Birgade archetypes. The upcoming structure deck tie-in of the same name was ripe for new cards. Now, Konami has finally given us a glimpse of what they have in store.
Without much fanfare, The Stigmata-Devouring Dragon is probably one of the easiest board breakers Fallen of Albaz can climb into, just because two of its needed materials are so generic.
That said, those three monster requirements do keep this new Fusion monster away from Branded Fusion antics. The controlling player will either have to start with Fallen of Albaz alone at worst, or potentially seek help from a Super Polymerization copy just to make sure the opponent cannot interact with the special summon.
Speaking of, the Stigmata-Devouring Dragon’s first effect is tied to a ‘special summon’, not just the fusion summon. This gives Stigmata-Devouring Dragon a lot of recursion value if brought back repeatedly from other areas outside the extras deck throughout a match. There's enough versatility in Stigmata-Devouring Dragon's first effect to either recycle the controlling player's resources back into the deck or deny the opponent from making use of cards either in their graveyard or banishment zone.
Surprisingly, Konami decided to make the Stigmata-Devouring Dragon a potential ‘towers’ boss monster if you can somehow find a way to get a copy or two of an ‘Ecclesia’ monster onto the field or in the graveyard; that Super Polymerization tech choice is looking better and better now.
A potential 3,500 attack power beater with total immunity from other effects (assuming conditions are met) makes this card surprisingly problematic to deal with despite its lack of board interaction once kept on the field.
Notably, if the opponent is able to actually find a way to send this card into the graveyard, then Stigmata-Devouring Dragon can float into any of the named Dogmatika or Tri-Brigade cards. The card float is a little on the slow side since it only happens in the End Phase, but given how broad the targeting parameters are, this aspect can easily be forgiven.