Bill: Okay Tom, it seems that my common Spellcaster is destroying all of your control monsters with ease.

Tom: I can’t believe this is the fifth time I’ve lost to you, Bill. I’m so ashamed . . . I have no choice but to burn my deck! Farewell, my beloved Yata!

*Bill stops Tom before he does anything.*

Bill: Don’t you dare. This is only a card game. Besides that, your little card bonfire would burn my deck, too, resulting in my soda being poured onto your hair. Try your best to come up with a strategy to defeat my Magical Scientist, and then you’ll feel relieved, and you won’t be so angry or anxious to burn your Yata . . . as much as I'd love to see that.

Tom: Well, you've got a point. Okay. Besides that, I wouldn't want to waste the $100 I had to shell out to get Yata the day it was released.

*Bill snickers a bit*

Tom: Huh? What's so funny?


Okay, so perhaps that was a large exaggeration of what duelists go through when losing to certain cards. However, losing to a commonly seen card such as Yata-Garasu can indeed be frustrating to any duelist. While Yata may be irritating, a special common card from Magician’s Force can be equally annoying, as it’s like a Swiss Army Knife against practically any deck, if you have the life points to pay for its effect. The monster I’m referring to is Magical Scientist.

Magical Scientist is powerful and game changing, but also overused and over-abused. If used in a well themed Magician deck, this monster can wreak pure havoc on the dueling field. If it’s just tossed into a Beatdown deck or a Control deck, it will still end up wreaking much havoc, but it can turn against a careless user.


The Card’s Breakdown

Similar to Yata-Garasu, Magical Scientist has incredibly weak stats. However, stats aren’t what make this card, as its effect can easily turn a duel to your favor. By paying a mere 1000 life points, you can special summon any level 6 or lower Fusion monster to the field. This includes deadly Fusions that seem hard to summon, such as Dark Balter the Terrible, Ryu Senshi, and Fiend Skull Dragon. Magical Scientist can special summon high-ATK fusions, such as Dark Flare Knight, Empress Judge, and Punished Eagle. Magical Scientist can also summon lower level Fusion monsters, including the powerful Thousand Eyes Restrict.

A massive weakness that plagues Magical Scientist is its weak stats. Unless you can protect it, there’s a high chance it will be destroyed during the opponent’s turn, in which case you’ll most likely take quite the blow to your life points. Using Monster Reborn to summon it in defense mode may help, but monsters with the “Mad Sword Beast” effect, such as Airknight Parshath, Spear Dragon, and Enraged Battle Ox, are still very popular. The best hope you have for protecting Magical Scientist would be cards like Mirror Force and Gravity Release.


The Card in the Metagame

Upon its release, Magical Scientist was hardly played. Many people shunned the card for being common, or because it became too costly to use its effect over and over. Since its placement on the limited list, restricting it to one per deck, Magical Scientist has grown in popularity. This is similar to how the popularity of Mirage of Nightmare grew once it was placed on the limited list, as duelists look at it, ask a few other duelists why it’s on there, and suddenly say:

“Oh! It’s on the restricted list! It must be useful in my deck!”

Many duelists simply throw a restricted card into their decks, believing that the card alone will somehow boost their decks, making them capable of winning Regional tournaments. A small selection of duelists modify their decks to make sure the card is used properly. Of course, the duelists who modify their decks are the ones that win. Magical Scientist is no exception to this rule. Numerous duelists have merely thrown Magical Scientist into their decks, along with some copies of Dark Balter the Terrible, Ryu Senshi, and Dark Flare Knight in their Fusion decks. Surprisingly, this has brought some success to many duelists who choose not to use a theme for their deck.

In fact, this card’s popularity has gone so high that it can be seen in tournaments almost as often as Yata-Garasu. This applies to Regional tournaments as well, where you’ll see about three quarters of the Top 8 decks using Magical Scientist. This means the card is apparently strong, but, like Yata-Garasu, this means it’s overused and can be found in the wrong decks quite often. Unfortunately, my common excuse of “this doesn’t fit into the deck at all” can’t be used, as Magical Scientist helps both generic Beatdown as well as generic Control. Using the effects of Ryu Senshi and Dark Balter the Terrible, Magical Scientist helps negate cards that could throw off a Control deck. Using powerful monsters such as Dark Flare Knight, Beatdown decks can use Magical Scientist to pummel through the opponent’s strong monsters, giving other standard monsters such as Goblin Attack Force the chance to land a direct attack. Nonetheless, it’s an overused card that duelists can waste quite a bit of life points on. Expect to see it constantly in tournaments.


Ways to Use/Counter This Card

Besides the ability to bring out level 6 Fusion monsters, Magical Scientist is also good for bringing out any level Fusion monster, including Thousand Eyes Restrict. For only 1000 life points, you gain the ability to send one monster on the opponent’s field to the graveyard (most of the time during the end of your turn), which isn’t bad at all. Speaking of Thousand Eyes Restrict, Magical Scientist may also be used with the Pharaonic Guardian common, Metamorphosis. Since Magical Scientist is level 1, you can sacrifice it to special summon a Thousand Eyes Restrict permanently, instead of having the monster for only one turn. In fact, you can use Magical Scientist and Metamorphosis to permanently summon any Fusion monster in your deck, simply by bringing out the required level Fusion monster, sacrificing it to Metamorphosis, and summoning the actual level 5 Fusion you want. For example, you may use the Scientist to special summon Fiend Skull Dragon, then play Metamorphosis to summon Dark Balter the Terrible so it may stay on the field.

Another massive advantage to using Magical Scientist is its ability to make commonly used effect monsters completely useless. D. D. Warrior Lady is often seen in Regional tournaments, but using her effect to remove a Fusion monster brought out by Magical Scientist is a waste.

Magical Scientist still has a few weaknesses that you can exploit if it’s used against you. Since its ATK is only 300, and its DEF is only 300, Spirit Reaper is a simple yet effective weapon when attacking it. Its ability to avoid destruction during battle makes it an invaluable asset when the opponent thinks he or she is about to rush you with Dark Balter and Ryu Senshi. The look on their face afterwards is worth seeing.

Another fine defender against Magical Scientist is basically any monster with 2000 DEF or more. Most opponents, when attacking a face down monster using Magical Scientist, expect that monster to have an effect similar to Sangan or Fiber Jar. Obviously, this causes them to attack with a Dark Balter. This isn’t enough to destroy monsters like Royal Magical Library. Defenders are a good weapon against Magical Scientist as well, since your opponent will be spending quite a bit of life in order to use the effect.

“Mad Sword Beast” Effect monsters such as Airknight Parshath work as an excellent method in countering Magical Scientist’s defense, since it’s even worse than its attack strength. This will basically prove that the opponent just wasted a Monster Reborn. If you have the opportunity to remove this card from play, be sure to take it. This monster can easily become a nuisance.


Is it Overrated/Underrated?

Magical Scientist is a highly versatile monster, but its stats leave it as a prime target for your opponent’s monsters. It continues to see a lot of play, though many tend to overspend on its effect. This leaves them open for one final attack to their life points. The card might be overused and abused, but its weak points are obvious. The monster is rather fragile on its own, and still requires strategy for it to be used to its maximum potential.

If you want a solid choice between overrated and underrated, Magical Scientist falls a bit into the overrated category. It’s a strong card and its use is pretty obvious, combining with Fusions like Dark Balter the Terrible and Dark Flare Knight. However, some duelists forget that while life point costs usually won’t kill you in the end, the constant spending towards Magical Scientist’s effect will leave you weak and vulnerable very quickly. This monster really shouldn’t be thrown into any deck, but it probably will be due to its effect. Be sure to plan to fight against it if you’re attending a Regional tournament.

Got and questions? Drop me a line at Mrosenberg@metagame.com. I’ll answer questions on set reviews, or I’ll respond to duelists who believe I give Yata-Garasu too much of a hard time. I’ll try to get back to as many people as possible.

Next, week, look out for the analysis of the warrior and mage of chaos, the duo known as Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning and Dark Magician of Chaos.