The Shmod Forum

Aarikku · Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 5:02 pm Post subject: Card #42 - Yoink!

(Level X) Yoink! (Spell)
Category: Equip
Effect: Equip to a Level-X monster. Take control of the equipped monster. When this card is destroyed, destroy the equipped monster.
ATK:
DEF:
Creator: Eric

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Naardaas · Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 7:33 pm Post subject:

Ah, yet another staple card for Shmod.

Yoink reminds me of Snatch Steal from Yu-Gi-Oh!, a card that was banned because players could take a monster for free and Tribute it. But this version is even better. It doesn't give your opponent Life Points every turn, and if they kill this card they kill their monster. As good as taking a card is, this card and Whirlwind make a great killing combo, although should the game come to that it won't really matter. Just keep your free monster.

This card is BROKEN. I give it a 5/5, the maximum allowed for any card.
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The seal on my existence is broken. My great dragon has arrived as pinnacle strength. And I have the last thing I need to exact revenge on those who banished me. I have the power over chaos, over life and death. The power of Drahondes.

Aarikku · Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 9:37 pm Post subject:

Ah, Yoink!. It's a wonderful card, but broken is a word that shouldn't go around too often. Yoink itself won't normally win you the game (and if it does, several other cards could've done the job better).

Yoink, obviously, is a good card. Stealing one of your opponent's monsters is the equivalent of playing one of equal strength and destroying the original. Such a feat would normally require X+2 Mana, where X is the stolen monster's Level, but Yoink does it for just X. Best of all, your opponent can't reclaim their monster just by destroying Yoink. They need to pay more Mana and play a new card to revive it.

Now for the flaws of Yoink, few though there may be.

1) Mana. Whereas a Sar-Chasm, albeit conditionally, can remove any threat for 2 Mana - and Monster Bash can do it unconditionally for 1 - Yoink requires you to have Mana equal to the Level of the stolen monster. This is a problem when you're facing cards Greg made. 'Cuz he hates Level Ones for some reason.

2) Immunities. This isn't a huge problem; any monster immune to Yoink is also immune to any other threat-remover. However, most of the cards you'd want to be stealing (Titanium Dragon, Ultimate Element, Tetra Dragon, Grand Frozen Dragon) have Immunity to Spells.

3) The big one: what are you gonna do with that monster? In Yugioh, you can Tribute monsters stolen by [Snatch Steal], [Brain Control] and the like. But in Shmod, monsters are only good for battling. Yoink might give you a much-needed Noble Dragon or something in a mirror match, but most of the time, you'll just end up getting an extra monster. High ATK or low ATK, most can only deal one damage per turn. So... what's the big deal with using your opponent's instead of yours?

Of course, Yoink gives you that direct shot you need. Yoink is a very good card, but broken? No. Staple? No. MetaDragons, namely, are full of big monsters. They don't need their opponent's when they can just play one bigger than anything they've got.

Yoink is, however, 4.5/5-worthy, and also worthy of its Limitation to 1 per deck.
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Naardaas · Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 11:01 pm Post subject:

Using MetaDragons as a counterpoint. Aren't you the one who said nobody plays them, or ever will play them?
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The seal on my existence is broken. My great dragon has arrived as pinnacle strength. And I have the last thing I need to exact revenge on those who banished me. I have the power over chaos, over life and death. The power of Drahondes.

Aarikku · Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 1:59 am Post subject:

No, I just don't think they were well-designed.

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