Number 10! Top 10 Cards of 2011

2011 is over and it was an exciting year in every possible way, Yu-Gi-Oh! and not. Now we have an new year ahead of us with many great events about to come and many new cards, some of them known, most of them not that are bound to change the flow of the Game.

I have been absent for a long time from this blog due to a variety of reasons. Mainly it was the exam period and a long part of my time was going to study. Also despite having a variety of different Deck ideas only a couple of them proved to be useful plus I was trying out the upcoming Archetypes like Inzektors, Wind-Ups, Ninjas,Chaos Dragons, Verz and also Karakuris.

But since 2011 is over, I will do as I planned the Countdown of the best cards printed in TCG during the 2011. And so we begin, with a card prined in Extreme Victory in Common Rarity and was able to single-handedly get (my currently favorite Deck) Karakuris from a local fun Deck to one of the most competitive strategies in this format with consistent tops in the last 4-5 YCS. I am talking of course about Karakuri Komachi mdl 224 "Ninishi".

Having the classic abilities of all non-Synchro Karakuri Monsters of attacking if able and changing battle position when attack along with a high 1900 DEF it is a solid shield even if summoned in face-up Attack Position. But what makes this card so great is it's effect and of course it's status as a Tuner. The effect states that once per turn you can Normal Summon an additional Karakuri Monster (this effect can be used once per turn no matter how many Ninishi you summon, this is to prevent this card from being too broken considering the effects of Karakuri Synchros).

Number 10: Karakuri Komachi mdl 224 "Ninishi"

First of all I have to say that if Ninishi stated that you Special Summon instead of Normal Summon it would not have been half as good for two reasons. First it would make Karakuris highly vulnerable to Maxx "C" and second Karakuri Merchant mdl 177 "Inashichi" would not get his effect when summoned through Ninishi. And that second play is one of the most devastating that Karakuris can perform, allowing for a first turn cost-free Naturia Beast, backed up by several backrow sets. It also can be paired with
Karakuri Ninja mdl 919 "Kuick" or Karakuri Soldier mdl 236 "Nisamu" to summon an Naturia Landoise (for negation) or Black Rose Dragon (for destruction) or Karakuri Shogun mdl 00 "Burei" (for swarming), giving access to all sort of plays.

All in all Ninishi is a great card, balanced and designed to help only it's theme greatly without being broken or too powerful. An excellent piece of card design. Plus I like it's artwork, it's wierdly funny. I have to say though that I was debating till the last minute to see if I should include in the 10th place Ninishi or Wind-Up Zenmaines but in the end I had to go with the first due to the better design, since Zenmaines is a hit or miss (the opponent might lose to him but a well timed Caius, Brionac or Cyber Dragon can get over him easily) plus it has yet to show it's true potential.