Quick—name the most advantageous monster card in the game!

Magician of Faith? Sangan? D. D. Warrior Lady? Those great guesses are more in line with the standard Shonen Jump Championship Top 8 decklists, but they’re all actually 1-for-1 trades. Magician nets a spell card, Sangan nets a search, and D. D. Warrior Lady removes itself for an opponent’s monster. Actually, the most advantageous cards in the game are those that provide a 2-for-1 benefit.

Gravekeeper’s Spy, Breaker the Magical Warrior, Spirit Reaper, and Chaos Sorcerer are four of the most advantageous cards in the game. They all provide a +1 benefit upon achievement of a certain trigger. Spy needs to flip itself to a monster with less than 2100 ATK, Breaker needs to hit the field and destroy something non-chainable, Spirit Reaper has to make a direct attack to the life points, and Chaos Sorcerer requires a Light and Dark monster in the graveyard. Any list of the best monsters in the game begins and ends with the last three, with Gravekeeper’s Spy getting some strong consideration.

However, these articles would be far too easy to write if I was simply regurgitating to you information that you, the snazzy Metagame.com reader, undoubtedly know already. The Metagame.com revolution has made educated players of us all, able to peruse championship decklists and playing strategies through match reports at will! My point in listing the four presumably most “advantageous” cards in the game (with the exception of those on the Forbidden list, like Yata-Garasu and Chaos Emperor Dragon) was to actually highlight the true champion of raw advantage that’s lurking in the background.

Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands is, in terms of raw, reliable card advantage, the best monster in the game. Its effect, limited to the Ritual deck, simply requires a normal summon. Once it hits the field, you can pull any Ritual spell or monster from your deck. An instant +1, with presence on the field to boot. If you were to simply summon a Manju for three turns in a row, you would lose no advantage. The powers that be at Yu-Gi-Oh!, realizing that the Ritual mechanic needed a shot in the arm, released Manju in Invasion of Chaos. However, its potential has gone largely wasted, since there’s a lack of truly good Ritual monsters in the game. The closest to taking the crown have been Relinquished and Dark Master- Zorc. The former has always been obscured by the dominance of the Scapegoat/Metamorphosis engine, while the latter has been too unreliable to justify its exorbitant cost.

The Problem with the Ritual Mechanic, and Why That Will Change

While Manju does indeed provide a +1 advantage, the really powerful Ritual monsters are usually inherent two-for-one or three-for-one trades. In a game where one Smashing Ground can wipe out any monster, from the lowly Kuriboh to the mighty Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon, investing heavy resources into any monster short of Dark Paladin or Horus Level 8 is often highly unrewarding. You usually will lose the Ritual spell, the Ritual monster, and an additional copy of the Ritual monster (to dump as its cost). Manju gives a +1, but you still end up losing on the deal! So the next goal of design was to create a monster that justified such a large resource trade. Enter Demise, King of Armageddon. A 2400 ATK/2000 DEF Dark/Fiend type Ritual monster, it packs this amazing effect:

This card can only be Ritual Summoned with the Ritual Spell Card, "End of the World". By paying 2000 Life Points, destroy all cards on the field except this card.

“But wait,” you ask, flailing your arms in befuddlement, “what if I don’t want to limit my deck to one useless Ritual spell that I may or may not draw? What if I want to splash a Light monster to use with Chaos Sorcerer?” Enter Ruin, Queen of Oblivion. A Fairy/Light type that is clearly intended for more casual users, it boasts 2300 ATK / 2000 DEF, with this ability that’s kind of like Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning.

This card can only be Ritual Summoned with the Ritual Spell Card, "End of the World". If this card destroys your opponent's monster as a result of battle, it can attack once again in a row.

Shadow of Infinity has covered all the bases with this one. Fiends, Fairies, Darks, Lights, and powerful effects, indeed! I want to take the time to truly analyze these two new Ritual monsters, since they infuse new life into a long dormant game mechanic. Ladies first.

Ruin, Queen of Oblivion

There is a certain cutoff point for ATK values in this game. The point for all tribute monsters seems to be 2150, which makes the card unable to be cancelled out by Cyber Dragon. Anywhere from 2150 to 8000 ATK, the monster exerts just about the same amount of control over the field. I’ve held this theory for a long time, and there it is. Since it’s very difficult to trigger a tribute summon for a 2400 ATK monster when your tribute monster is already holding sway, and since Chaos Sorcerer removes anything regardless of ATK value, the effective cutoff point for any tribute monster is 2150. For all intents and purposes, 2300 ATK is just as powerful as 3000 ATK.

Following my golden rule, you’ll realize that Ruin will dominate the field once it hits the board. Unfortunately, its effect pales in comparison to Demise. Most of the monsters in this metagame are either indestructible (Spirit Reaper), self-replaceable (Mystic Tomato, Gravekeeper’s Spy), or full of malice and spite directed at those that take them down (D. D. Assailant, D. D. Warrior Lady). This means that Ruin’s effect will rarely get to trigger against a solid deck. This doesn’t mean that it’s entirely powerless—the metagame is still filled with weaker flip effect monsters as well. Her effect appears to share the same text with Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning, so she can indeed end games by attacking into a spent Breaker for 3000 points of damage, and so on and so forth.

Ruin is a solid choice for a casual Ritual deck, but the meat of the power comes from its big brother/husband/mortal enemy/father (feel free to speculate, but I’m guessing third cousin, twice removed). While Ruin has retained a small portion of Black Luster Soldier’s dreaded abilities, Demise is almost like Chaos Emperor Dragon.

Demise, King of Armageddon

Pay 2000 life points to destroy all cards on the field. Let’s say you close off the game (which the good deckbuilder will aim to do). They have two set monsters and two set spell or trap cards. You summon Demise, drop 2000 life points, and destroy four cards. You then hit for 2400 points of damage. Fair trade? Perhaps not, but the game is built around making as many advantageous trades as possible. Demise is quite simply the best Ritual monster in the game by far, packing the awesome power of Levia Dragon – Daedalus into a more easily accessible setup. It’s quite feasible that your opponent is left to topdecking after Demise’s awesome detonation.