Just when you thought I was done previewing new cards from The Duelist Genesis, it turns out that I’ve got one more card up my sleeve to share with you. You see, there’s a standing agreement between myself and the editing staff that gives me "dibs" on all Fairy-related preview cards if I want them, and believe me, I want this one. Today’s preview card does something that no other card has done before. It has two effects, one of which is a prohibition-type effect akin to Cold Wave. The other one rewards you for playing more Fairy monsters in your deck, or at least less non-Fairy monsters. Either way, having more Fairy monsters in your Counter Fairy deck is going to matter a lot more than it used to come time for The Duelist Genesis, thanks in large part to Splendid Venus.

Splendid Venus

Fairy / Effect
Light - Level 8
2800 / 2400

All non-Fairy monsters lose 500 attack and defense. Both the activation and effects of your spells and traps can’t be negated.

Splendid Venus says "no" to your opponent’s ability to say "no." In effect, you win every counter war before it begins. If I want to use Magic Drain against your Destiny Draw, you can’t do anything about it. In fact, you can’t even throw away a spell to force your card through the Drain because that would be negating the effect of Magic Drain! The biggest impact this is going to have is on the general public’s widespread use of Solemn Judgment. With Splendid Venus in play, those counter traps are limited to taking out summoned monsters, but if they try, you can just negate the Solemn without worrying about a second copy negating yours.

The other effect of Splendid Venus is a new way of helping out Fairy monsters where they traditionally falter: the battle phase. You aren’t going to surprise anyone with the ATK and DEF reduction effect of Splendid Venus, but the fact that it makes your opponent incapable of doing much of anything in the battle phase gives you that much more time to draw into the Honest cards you have waiting in your deck. Splendid Venus forces your opponent into playing out his or her cards as soon as possible rather than letting the opponent wait until it’s convenient. As we can see from watching the matchup between Gladiator Beasts and Lightsworn, forcing the opponent into playing at your pace instead of his or her own tends to make you win over time. In fact, that’s the essence of the Counter Fairy deck. Your opponent can’t just sit there and play whatever cards he or she wants—only what you’ll allow. Now your opponent can’t attack whenever he or she wants without first playing the cards that you want him or her to play, which you might just negate anyway.

Sounds pretty great, right? In fact, it’s a downright splendid effect . . . if you can get Splendid Venus to the field. Being a level 8 monster without a built-in special summon capability makes it very hard to justify using Splendid Venus in most Counter Fairy decks. Most people will probably play it in Fatty Fairy, where a set of Gellenduo cards can create a wall that will also act as both tributes when the time comes to drop this bomb. I suspect that the better way to play it, however, is going to involve Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen. With Valhalla on the field, every Fairy in your hand gains the effect of Cyber Dragon making it very possible to just dump huge Fairy monsters on the field for free and then protect them with counter traps. Splendid Venus is an excellent candidate for this type of strategy, and it allows for crowd pleasing moves such as "Valhalla, drop Splendid Venus, swing on your Dark Armed Dragon for 500." In fact, Splendid Venus can run clear over any of the standard boss monsters of the format thanks to its ability to make them tremble in its, well, splendor.

As long as you play it in the right places, Splendid Venus is an excellent card that acts as both a controlling force and an outright finisher for Fairy decks of all varieties. Just remember that the key to playing Splendid Venus is to make sure your deck can get it to the field quickly and with a minimal amount of set-up. One of the reasons I highly recommend taking the Valhalla route instead of going for Fatty Fairy with The Sanctuary in the Sky is that Hecatrice searches out your key spell while that spell interacts with every monster in your deck. Basically, instead of playing a specific three-card combo like Sanctuary + Meltiel, Sage of the Sky + Counter Trap, you’re playing one spell that turns every monster in your deck into a live play.

In a sealed deck tournament, Splendid Venus is the bomb that makes everybody else’s bombs fail. It would be rough if you got nailed by Jutte Fighter’s effect and your opponent followed it up by Synchro summoning Red Dragon Archfiend, but the chances of your opponent getting both Jutte Fighter and six more levels worth of monsters on to the field while you’ve been ravaging him or her with Splendid Venus are very thin. The answers to Splendid Venus are limited in number and frequently involve specific rares and foils, putting oneself at a big disadvantage in life points, card presence, luck, or a combination of the above. I’m confident, however, that if you slam Splendid Venus on to the table, your opponent will likely switch gears from trying to beat you to trying to get you to trade the card to him or her. Where you go from there is up to you.

That’s all I’ve got for The Duelist Genesis previews, but make sure you keep on reading starting next week to see all the neat stuff I’m cooking up with the new cards. Until next time, play hard, play fair, and most importantly, have fun!