Card Spotlight: Master of Fifth Element

Binding of Black Rings, or BT12, gave Pale Moon and Dark Irregular decks a boost, but not just the RRR Reversed cards are the best for any deck. Some of the underappreciated RR can also make a big splash in certain decks. This is one of those cards. Bear in mind that this “RRR are better than RR” idea applies to all booster sets. This card in question is Master of Fifth Element, essentially a Grade 3 version of the Element Master from BT07, but with a deadly limit break.

This card is a 10k Power Grade 3, with a Counter Blast (1) when it hits the vanguard to Soul charge (3). That, however, is but a means to an end. MoFE’s Limit Break activates when you have 10 or more Dark Irregulars in soul; all of your Dark Irregular units gain +3000. While this amount doesn’t seem like a lot, this is also a number that shows up in some other units’ effects, like Doreen the Thruster. However, if two units are in the same row, that boost adds up to 6000 additional points, and that most likely is not the only full row.

Currently, the average base power for Grade 3 Vanguards is 11000. With that extra 6k in a row, it will force your opponent to discard more to guard successfully, or make them rely on you not getting a critical trigger. Break Riding this unit combos with its effect so greatly as well, that the turn may get three “No-Guards”, or force the opponent to use their Sentinels.

For the requirement of 10 Dark Irregulars in soul, most decks of this clan focus on soul charging, so getting 10 soul by the time this unit is ridden is not that big of a task, especially with its own Counter Blast effect and the new Amon’s Followers archetype. My deck has gotten ten soul from anywhere between turn 3-4.

Now, there is no such thing as a perfect card, and this is no exception. MoFE has the past average base of 10k, which means that with all the new cross rides that have come out, it’s all that much easier to hit the sweet spot (make your opponent use 2 cards to guard, usually with an attacking difference of 10k or more) with that 13k base. Even the current 11k base is harder to guard against. Also, when this unit doesn’t have its Limit Break active, either through not enough damage or soul, that low base makes it harder to hit that sweet spot.

Comparing this to the RRR of the series, Amon Reverse, there is not as big an unbalance as compared to some other cards. Amon is more focused on power through the center column, whereas MoFE is more all columns getting a steady bonus.

Honestly, MoFE is my current favorite card in my deck simply because of the Limit Break, giving my attacks the boost to go over 21k easily.

Join me next time for another Card Spotlight.