Cyberdark Impact features several strategies for duelists to utilize, and the cards from this week are arguably the most useful of the lot. The elemental Barrier Statues can prevent many decks from performing special summons they would normally rely upon as a backbone of their strategy. Players planning on using the Barrier Statues need to understand the discipline of their effects, because the Barrier Statues make no distinction between friend or foe.
Barrier of the Elements
Each of the Barrier Statues features a variation of the following text:
“No monsters can be Special Summoned, except for (Attribute) monsters.”
Relying on Barrier Statues requires specific attributes to run in your deck, since each Barrier Statue only allows players to special summon monsters of a specific attribute. Any other attribute is “barred” and will not be a valid choice for a special summon. For example, Barrier Statue of the Torrent only allows players to special summon Water attribute monsters, so if your deck focuses on this attribute, you could use the card to limit your opponent’s ability to special summon monsters with little impact on your own.
The impact of each Barrier Statue can be seen not only in the choice of monsters you place in your deck, but also in your choice of support cards. Cards that special summon multiple monsters or that special summon monster tokens can be altered or entirely prevented from doing their jobs. We will look into this later. For now, let’s begin with some simple examples based on monster effects.
Barrier Statue of the Torrent basically prevents either player from special summoning a monster unless it is a Water attribute monster. With this card in play, your Water deck would still be able to special summon Aqua Spirit and Fenrir, use the effect of Mother Grizzly, expand the field with Hydrogeddon, and even get back Treeborn Frog from the graveyard. Aside from Treeborn Frog and Hydrogeddon, it is unlikely that your opponent will be able to do the same. He or she can also forget about special summoning Cyber Dragon, because it is a Light attribute and its special summon is barred by the Barrier Statue of the Torrent.
Suppose we made a Wind-based deck that utilized Barrier Statue of the Stormwinds. With it, we could stop our opponent from special summoning cards with Mystic Tomato or Giant Rat while we would be able to continue special summoning Wind attribute monsters like the Armed Dragons or the Harpies. You will find that each attribute-based deck is uniquely rewarded and challenged by its supporting Barrier Statue.
Applying the Barrier
Barrier Statues are equally effective at interfering with support cards that special summon monsters. Depending on your choice of cards, it’s possible to accidentally prevent your own card effect from activating. We’re all quite familiar with Scapegoat, but how does its ability to generate monster tokens interact with the Barrier Statues? Since Scapegoat special summons Earth attribute Sheep Tokens, only Barrier Statue of the Drought would allow them to be special summoned onto the field. Any other Barrier Statue would prevent the special summon, making Scapegoat a waste.
You can extend this to any spell or trap card that special summons a monster, even some you might not have considered. The trap cards Cyber Shadow Gardna and Embodiment of Apophis initially activate as trap cards, but when they resolve, they attempt to be special summoned to the field as Earth attribute monsters. Barrier Statue of the Drought won’t have any issues with this, but the other Barrier Statues will.
Then we have our old buddy Cyber-Stein. The Barrier Statues can even put a stop to what he likes to do. We know who the popular Cyber-Stein summons are, so what happens when we erect a Barrier Statue that doesn’t share their attribute, like Barrier Statue of the Stormwinds? In this situation your opponent can only activate Cyber-Stein’s effect if he or she has a Wind attribute monster in a Fusion deck that he or she can actually special summon. The Barrier Statues also happen to have higher stats than Cyber-Stein, so either way he of she is out of luck.
What about a card like Premature Burial? You can pretty much count it out unless you have a monster that matches the chosen attribute of the Barrier Statue in play. If my opponent has Barrier Statue of the Abyss face up on his side of the field, I can only activate Premature Burial if I have a Dark attribute monster in my graveyard. Any of my monsters with a different attribute will be illegal targets and must remain in the graveyard. You can apply this same restriction to cards like Monster Reborn and Call of the Haunted.
Cards that special summon multiple monsters are a bit more complicated. In some cases they won’t be able to activate at all, while in other cases it may still be possible to use the card, only with limited results. Suppose you are playing a deck using Fire attribute monsters with Barrier Statue of the Inferno and you need to play The Shallow Grave. Unless your opponent has a Fire monster in his or her graveyard, you can forget it. The Shallow Grave needs both players to have at least one monster they can legally special summon.
Let’s say your opponent has Barrier Statue of the Heavens on his or her side of the field and you have Return from the Different Dimension set on your side of the field. Your removed from play zone contains Cyber Dragon, Mobius the Frost Monarch, Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, and Reflect Bounder. If you activate your Return from the Different Dimension, you will only be able to special summon the Light attribute monsters Cyber Dragon and Reflect Bounder. Your remaining monsters have a barred attribute and will remain removed from play.
Spontaneous Barrier
When your opponent activates an effect that special summons a monster (or monsters) to his or her side of the field, you can counteract the play with use of the right Barrier Statue. We’ve seen this action in years past by way of Jinzo negating traps or Jowgen the Spiritualist wrecking special summons. The Barrier Statues have a similar method of their own.
Since each Barrier Statue only allows monsters of one specific attribute to be special summoned, you need to have access to the right Barrier Statue in advance of your opponent’s play. With this prerequisite met, you need only ensure your Barrier Statue is special summoned before your opponent’s effect resolves. Call of the Haunted and Return from the Different Dimension can be counted on to get it into play quickly. Earth-based decks can also use Spiritual Earth Art - Kurogane to get their Barrier Statue of the Drought into play. These tactics are only helpful if you can actually respond to the special summon effect in a chain and if the monsters the opponent will special summon have an attribute that will be barred by your Barrier Statue.
When would you not be able to respond? When a monster like Cyber Dragon is special summoned by way of its effect, it does not use the chain. This means that you will need to have your Barrier Statue face up before your opponent’s main phase. While you may not be able to erect the spontaneous Barrier Statue, you can still throw off your opponent’s game and prevent him or her from gaining an edge.
Decks that like to “cherry pick” a variety of monsters won’t take kindly to the Barrier Statues’ limitations while thematic decks based around specific attributes can work unhindered if the right Barrier Statue is in the mix, using them as a means of throwing off their opponents’ strategies.
Until next time, send all comments and questions to Curtis@metagame.com