We just did two full weeks of Light of Destruction preview articles, but there are still cards we didn’t get to discuss. I think the big one we didn’t touch on before the Sneak Previews was Limit Reverse, so I want to take some time to look at it today. It’s been a popular prospect for a lot of top duelists leading into Light of Destruction largely due to one very obvious combo, but it’s a lot more than just a one-trick pony.
If you haven’t seen it yet, here’s what this powerhouse common looks like:
Limit Reverse
Continuous Trap
Select 1 monster with 1000 or less ATK from your Graveyard, and Special Summon it in Attack Position. If that monster is changed to Defense Position, destroy it and this card. When this card is removed from the field, destroy that monster. When that monster is destroyed, destroy this card.
Was anyone else surprised to see this thing was a common?! Odds are good that if you went to your local Sneak Preview and did a couple of events, you already own at least one copy of this card. Good thing too, because it’s probably going to be seeing some serious play over the coming months. When
Call of the Haunted was Forbidden in favor of
Monster Reborn back in March,
I wrote an article where I stated that special summoning from the graveyard on your opponent’s turn was now a themed mechanic. This is one example of that statement playing out, but for most competitors Limit Reverse isn’t about issues of design intent: it’s about one key combo.
Dishing Up Disk Commanders
The loss of Call of the Haunted in favor of Reborn meant a rough beat for this one-man draw engine. Monster Reborn made Destiny Hero - Disk Commander even easier to use on your turn, but you’d no longer be able to draw out removal cards like Heavy Storm or Mystical Space Typhoon and then chain Call to draw two with Disk Commander. You’d also have to worry about your opponent taking your Disk Commander with his or her own Monster Reborn. That’s about as close as Disk Commander’s ever gotten to having something bad happen to him. After all, Limiting him a few lists ago really wasn’t a problem.
Well, now a player running Disk Commander with Premature Burial and Monster Reborn can run not just one, but three copies of Call of the Haunted for use with the Commander, thanks to Limit Reverse. A deck with three Limit Reverse cards will be able to special summon Disk Commander time and time again, and even if you refuse to attack the Commander and put him back in your opponent’s graveyard, he or she will just be able to turn the Commander to defense position to send him back anyway. The result can be a string of draws for your opponent, and a cascading flood of cards filling his or her hand.
Limit Reverse also makes it far easier for a player running Disk Commander to use Crush Card Virus, since it gives such hugely improved access to the Commander and other pint-sized Dark monsters. Disk Commander, D.D. Crow, and many more commonly played Darks are valid targets for Limit Reverse’s effect, including everybody’s furry favorite . . . Sangan!
Following hot on the heels of Disk Commander, Sangan is probably the next-best target for Limit Reverse’s summon. Compatible with Crush Card Virus and run in just about everything, this and Disk Commander can be enough to justify multiple copies of Limit Reverse and a Crush Card all on their own.
While you’ll almost always want to pull Disk Commander instead of Sangan, the old-school fuzzball offers two major assets: a way to get key recovery cards when you’re threatened by a field-clearing effect like that of Judgment Dragon or Dark Armed Dragon, and valuable redundancy. D.D. Crow isn’t going anywhere, and if you’re playing multiple copies of Limit Reverse with the intent of reusing Disk Commander, he will be removed from your graveyard in some percentage of your games. In that case, your secondary options become exceptionally important, and it’s pretty convenient that those secondary choices are cards you’d probably want to run anyway.
Sangan sits at the top of that list, and I’m sure we’ll see decks over the next few months that rely on these two monsters plus Crush Card and Limit Reverse to cause major problems.
Speaking Of Problems . . .
. . . I’d be remiss in my duties if I didn’t point out Limit Reverse’s synergy with the mechanical mischief-maker, Card Trooper. Another stop on the list of secondary Limit Reverse targets you probably wouldn’t mind playing, Trooper gives Limit Reverse something 
virtually no other monster can: muscle. Using Limit Reverse to get more cards is nuts, and Card Trooper’s destruction effect does offer that, but being able to swing over another monster or do 1900 damage takes Limit Reverse to whole new levels. Should a card that sits at the center of a fearsome draw engine also double as a source of repeated ATK power? It might be too good, a suspicion that’s reinforced when you stop and realize that Card Trooper will also help you get Disk Commander into your graveyard in the first place.
Since Card Trooper and Sangan’s "get a card" effects both revolve around their own destruction, they really emphasize how useful Limit Reverse’s "destroy the monster if it turns to defense mode" line can be. Want to get your search immediately? Turn that Sangan 90 degrees and go get what you need. Not going to be attacking with Card Trooper due to a big monster across the table? No need to ram it and give up your battle phase without seeing an extra card. In a format so defined by speed, Limit Reverse’s drawback effect is actually going to help you get to more options faster if you’re playing it with the right cards.
Of Course . . .
The other way to take care of that big monster blocking your Card Trooper is to just play Exiled Force, a card that’s taken a back seat to big combos over the past few months. With Gladiator Beast Heraklinos being such a threat nowadays, Exiled Force is an amazing tech 
card, but including it in a deck as a one-shot piece of removal just doesn’t have the depth or flexibility a lot of duelists are looking for. Of course, since it has 1000 ATK, Limit Reverse gives it a lot more speed and versatility.
Limit Reverse will let you play Exiled Force without spending a normal summon on it, and if you can send it to the graveyard with something like Card Trooper or Hand Destruction and then special summon it, you’ve really dodged the one complication it can sometimes cause. If you do choose to normal summon it, then you can blow away multiple monsters in a single turn—just summon Exiled from your hand and tribute it, then bring it back with Reverse and throw it at another monster. While Sangan and Disk Commander offer card accessibility and Crush Card bait, and Card Trooper gives an offensive edge, Exiled Force lets Limit Reverse act as monster removal too. It’s quite the toolbox.
Bad Kitty!
One possibility that I haven’t seen discussed regarding Limit Reverse is Neo-Spacian Dark Panther. The Panther’s ability to mimic big monsters got a huge boost in power with the 
release of Judgment Dragon—if Dark Panther mimics the Dragon, it can clear the field with ease. It can copy Dark Armed Dragon too, so in the right deck it’ll be able to level the opponent’s infrastructure after he or she makes a big press into your Threatening Roar. It’s a nice combo with a defensive tech card like Threatening Roar or Waboku, and it can really do a lot to counter the big swing turns that define two of this format’s top decks.
Whether or not this card fits into your Limit Reverse toolbox will depend on your build, but consider the metagame you play in and ask yourself if it might work for you. It’s surprisingly good.
YubelYubelYubel!
Beyond the simple design of a deck that just seeks to draw a ton of cards with Limit Reverse, I think my favorite place to use this card is in a Yubel strategy. It sounds strange, I know, but Limit Reverse really does a lot to surpass the deck’s original key combo.
Previous builds of Yubel Control played Dark Grepher and Armageddon Knight to send Yubel and Doom Shaman to the graveyard. Once that was achieved, the Yubel player could activate Swing of Memories to bring back Doom Shaman, normal summon it to use its effect, 
and then special summon Yubel. In the end phase both monsters would be destroyed, unleashing Yubel - Terror Incarnate and setting the deck in motion. It worked fairly well, but it was kind of slow, and didn’t see much play as a result.
Limit Reverse makes summoning Terror Incarnate a far easier matter. Just get Yubel to your graveyard and set Reverse. When and if your opponent attacks next turn, block the damage by bringing up Yubel: your opponent won’t attack due to Yubel’s effect. Next turn, just turn Yubel 90 degrees to blow it away and bring out Yubel - Terror Incarnate. It just doesn’t get easier than that, and you can run this combo alongside the Doom Shaman strategy to get to Terror Incarnate every game.
And yes, if you say "Yubel" over and over you kind of sound like the Hamburglar. Thank you, Jerome McHale, for teaching me such important life lessons!
Limit Reverse is going to see play strictly because of the crazy things it does with Destiny Hero - Disk Commander but even if that’s you’re only interest in the card, you’re going to want to run some supporting cast members. You’ll find no shortage of worthy monsters to pair with it, including favorites like Injection Fairy Lily and the new Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner. If you’re willing to look a bit further and get creative, this card can provide draw power and far, far more. I think it’s a strong bet for serious tournament use over the next couple of months, and good players are going to find lots of cool ways to use it.
—Jason Grabher-Meyer