Icarus' Frail Wings

In today’s world of competitive Yugioh, gaining pluses is no longer a problem. It is something very easily achieved through theme-support cards or generic ones. Take Pot of Duality for example. While this is nothing new to the community, most duelists sometimes ignore the fact that such cards can change the flow of the game whether to your benefit or a cause to your demise. Revealing three cards and having the privilege to switch Pot of Duality for a card that could change the entire story of how you can or should play your hand cards is definitely not something to be taken lightly. Similar to other cards such as Ninja Grandmaster Hanzo or Elemental Hero-Stratos, the ability to immediately gain an enormous leverage against opponents not only increases the probability of one’s success but it also allows a higher level of mind games to be applied making it harder for the opposing side to proceed with their very own plays. Remember those days when Earth searches out Venus and shit happens if you don’t have anything to counter with? Yeah. Good players learn and remember, most players forget. 

Of course, with more usage of such cards means you are more than likely to be able to guess what is going on with your opponent’s hand cards but without the proper countermeasure it does not change the fact that you are forced into a situation whereby your opponent controls how you play. MST and miss Super-Transformation equals to your combos being stopped while Hanzo is face-up on the field. While I am aware that hand traps are a big thing in the current state of the game sometimes you do not have enough cards to deal with all the threats on the field. We haven’t got into potential threats off the field. Now if you are a smart player or simply talented Mind Crush is going to be very useful as it is, in a way, your forte. But what if you aren’t as bright as the minority of players that has the ability to predict and name cards which will fuck you up? While it may sound stupid, against certain decks, guessing wouldn’t do you much good. Decks like Hieratics have the ability to continuously search out combo pieces after baiting out opponents’ solutions. With cards like Mind Crush, its bravo if you call out the right cards but sucks to be you if you call the wrong ones. Again, sometimes even calling out the right cards does not mean you are safe. I’m pretty sure you get what I mean. So, are there any better solutions? While lucky enough there is one card that might come in handy. 

 (And They Came Crashing Down!)

Drastic Drop Off is, in my opinion, a safe version of Mind Crush. It does not give you the unfair advantage of looking at your opponents’ hand cards like Trap Dustshoot or Mind Crush but it is a card that goes off most of the time and grabs you a nice prevention thus no need for the cure. Now, I know this card is a one-for-one and a minus at times but put in certain situation against certain cards, Drastic Drop Off becomes quite a dangerous card. Situations like having a Raioh on field which prevents search cards from being activated. So, what about it? During such times, if your opponent has an out to Raioh than there is nothing that can be said but what if they do not and clearly relies on their Draw Phase to give them hope? At such moments, Drastic Drop Off spells drastic pretty damn well. Even if in reality that draw wouldn’t provide them with an out, you still retain control of the situation. Having said that, drawing DDOff during top-decking situation could spell F-U-C-K loud enough your mind explodes from within. 

Apart from that, this tech can be quite devastating against decks like Hieratics or Machina Gadgets. It is common for Hieratic players to bait with their first summon or Special Summon than opt to go off when opponents have one less back-row to hurt them. Again, in a match-up like this, having the ability to drop an important combo piece off your opponent’s hand immediately slashes off the idea of them closing the game this turn buying you more time and advantage. We all know Hieratics over-extends often enough. In the hands of inexperience players that automatically gives you a secured win. Maybe not. In the case of Machina Gadgets, I find Drastic Drop Off really useful against Machina Gearframe. With DDOff you save a Veiler and a Warning for later usage against their army of Gadgets. Discarding Fortress off could generate enough advantage for your side as you combat the never-ending plus from their constant summon of robotic massacre. Throwing Machina Fortress often enough results to a minus as it requires a total level of eight to Special Summon Fortress back from the Graveyard. If they have Machina Cannon or Machina Force, just rest your case. Though that ain’t bad as well when you think about it. Worst case scenario, they show you Double Summon or flip up Ultimate Offering. Then again you might just have enough resources to deal with those threats thanks to Drastic Drop Off. There are also other ways of making this card useful, for example, discarding a Sangan search or things like that. Honestly speaking, quite rare but the possibility is available.

Now coming to the end of today’s post, Drastic Drop Off is a useful and surprising tech against certain match-ups. Not forgetting that it is a Spell Speed 3 trap card. We are competing in an age where such pluses are game breaking. Perhaps this might be a good way to work around it. Let me know what you think about it and until next time remember to play smart, fight hard, or go home a loser. Thank you for dropping by!