Mask of Darkness

Name	Mask of Darkness
Rarity	Rare / Common
Effect	FLIP: Select 1 Trap Card from your Graveyard and return it to your hand.
Type	Fiend / Effect
Card Number	DB1-EN150
Card Rating	Advanced: 2.55
Date Reviewed	07.31.06

Hey guys, today we have a VERY controversial card, so I have assembled the full team for this review. You can read everyone's review, and then decide for yourself. I think you find some love it, some hate it, and others are in-between, balancing out its score. Today we have the one and only Mask of Darkness, an often overlooked card. Here's an analogy Hane-Hane is to Man eater bug as Mask of Darkness is to Magician of faith. ^_^. Now, for those of you with intelligence, you might be saying "Hey, that does not really work" it actually does, not by effect, but by playability overshadowing. Hane-Hane was never played because the deck space was used for Man Eater Bug, and Mask of Darkness was never played because of Magician of Faith. Well....Times have changed, and its time to re-evaluate Mask of Darkness.

The reason this card is restricted to 1 is because we are currently following the Jap Ban list. This is also why time seal was banned. It involves the Victory Dragon lock 1 turn ko deck. I am not going to get into that, because it does not concern us. I am going to look at this card as objectively as possible. It has terrible stats, 900/400 won't stand up to much. However, its a utility monster and does not need strong stats. Its dark type, making it good chaos food, and a fiend making it good necromancer food. When destroyed in battle, its a +0 if you nab a trap, and if you flip it yourself you get a +1.

So the question is, why is this not considered as good as Magician of Faith? Firstly, check out the Magician of Faith review for all the reasons its an incredible card. Magic cards have and will always be more useful then traps. They are more powerful, more reliable, and harder to counter. They can be played immediately the turn you draw or recycle one. A single magic card can change the tide of a duel. Traps are not nearly as useful. When you draw one, you have to set it. It can not be played right away. If you recycle a trap card, your opponent will know its coming and plan ahead for it. Granted, taking mirror force back is a beautiful thing, but then your opponent will turn all but 1 monster to def, then attack, forcing you to waste your mirror force depending on the situation. Traps are meant to be a surprise, that's where there power is. So basically, recycling a trap forces a stall on your opponent, and in rarer cases some psychological turmoil.

In a cookie cutter build, no way! This card is incredibly slow, and an extra trap won't help you. In a specialty deck, like skill drain, go for it, it will only help you out here. In trap heavy decks, its not a bad idea to run it, especially lock down decks. It combos well with Tsukuyomi in these cases.

So do you run it? Well, I don't think its quite up to snuff for the average decks ran today. It is by no means a bad card, but their are better things you could be taking up deck space with. I would prefer to run a dekochi over this and take my chances with my opponent not knowing what card I drew. Magical Merchant is also a contender for this cards deck space, as is Magician of Faith, but you should be running that already... But if your a trap fan, or a casual duel fan, or you need it for a specially deck like skill drain, why not try it out? It's one per deck now, so tossing one in just might help you out.

Advanced : 2/5

This week we take a look at Magician of Faith’s opposite…Mask of Darkness. Both the Mask and the Mage came out together in the Metal Raiders set, and were seen as if they were meant to be together in a deck (at the time). However, times have long since changed since this monster first made an appearance. Back during the age of the Metal Raiders, These two monsters were meant to work together. Mage brought back the Change of Heart, Monster Reborn, Raigeki, etc, while the Mask allowed the return of Mirror Force, Solemn Judgement, etc.

At the time, Mask of Darkness was a great addition to a deck because the only trap negation was Seven Tools of the Bandit/Solemn Judgement. However, soon after the release of this creature was the appearance of one of the most played monsters in the game…Jinzo. Once Jinzo started hitting the dueling field, Mask of Darkness started to see less play due to the fact that Jinzo negates traps.

Well, this monster has a few nice perks. The main one being that it can return a trap card from your graveyard to your hand. This could be a bonus if at the right time. You could return your Mirror Force to stop some swarming, or return a Call of the Haunted to allow another regeneration from the grave. This effect in itself has a couple downfalls. For one, the effect will only activate when Mask of Darkness is flipped. This means that it must first be set in defense position and wait one turn before activation. During this time, it’s easy prey for the mighty Nobleman of Crossout. The other downfall to this effect is that in order for the effect to truly complete, it must go through at least 4 turns. Mask of Darkness must be set in defense position in turn 1, flipped in turn 2, trap is set in turn 3, then activation in turn 4 or later. A lot of strategic mishaps could occur within 4 turns. In today’s game, Many things could happen within 4 turns. Choosing to play this card is a big risk.

This card is also Dark/Fiend. These are two very common characteristics played in today’s game, however this card isn’t really made for anything but its effect. With the Jinzos and Royal Decrees running rampant in the dueling world, traps have declined a bit in their playability value. For decks that run Dark and/or Fiends, there are better choices to use.

Advanced: 1.5/5

Traditional: 2/5

ok...so i'm back in full force and gonna get the COTW reviews done on time! *falls asleep*

ok...so anyway here we have a magician of faith kinda thingy. only it returns traps to your hand instead of magic. in my opinion...this isn't a very good card.

first of all...most people only use about 5-7 traps. so this card could be a dead draw in certain situations. this would be a much better card if we used more traps...but we don't. gk's usually use a couple more traps...or atleast mine do. but with necrovalley...you won't be able to use its effect, rendering it useless.

secondly...you get a trap back. traps are already slow. it'll take 3 turns to get that trap useable. 1 turn to have it flip. then set it. and on the 4th turn you have a trap (counting opponent's turn) but magician of faith is only 2 turns and on the 3rd you can use the magic, without worrying about it getting destroyed.

third..Nobleman of Crossout easy bait, like any flip. but that's just the territory of a flip effect.

although this card has uses.

first, it's a fiend and a flip so making it pointless to reborn with call or premature makes it perfect for necrofear.

second it's dark so it works for chaos.

however...there are better dark monsters, ad better fiends

1.5/5 in any deck

3/5 in a trap heavy deck

Mask of Darkness has been a throw away card in most people's opinions. Its 2 stars, meaning it doesn't combo with Metamorphosis, and it's stats alone (900 ATK, 400 DEF) arn't anything to brag about. Most people also say "...but my opponent will see my trap and work around it..." but there lies the power of MoD. Psychological warfare.

Returning a devistating trap to your hand, if the right one, will force your opponent to change their strategy or hold off their attacks. For example....

+ Your opponent has a Dark World deck - he has 1 card in his hand (Smashing Ground) and Card of Safe Return. He has four DW monsters out. You activate MoD and return your Mirror Force. He will now have to hold off all his attacks, when otherwise he would have attacked for the win.

Now we all understand most situations won't be like this, so I'll show you a better example....

+ Both player's life points are low. Your opponent has a D.D. Warrior Lady in his hand he's waiting to play it to destroy your Mobius the Frost Monarch, and attack you directly with his Spirit Reaper and Breaker the Magical Warrior. It's your move. You have no cards in your hand, you draw a Dust Tornado. Your field is Mobius the Frost Monarch, a face down MoD and a Call of the Haunted no longer targeting a monster. You flip up MoD to recover Bottomless Trap Hole, and set both your new traps. Your opponent, knowing DDWL is his only chance, draws Premature Burial. His best monster in the graveyard is his own Mobius, which he could suicide into yours if DDWL got removed. He plays it, you activate Dust Tornado and destroy it. Knowing BTH would finish the game for him, he sets DDWL, hoping Mobius will attack it. You draw Nobleman of Crossout. You still have your BTH's threat for the near future.

For those of you who desire a little more out of a card, MoD is a Dark/Fiend, meaning it's great Chaos Sorcerer and Dark Necrofear fodder. It's highly searchable too.

Overall MoD is not going to be run in every deck, and sometimes it’s effect isn’t going to be enough for decks, but at least try MoD once or twice and give it a fair fighting chance, you'll be surprised. I guarantee it.

Advanced – 3.5/5

Mask Darkness (MOD) is a Dark type with 900 attack. But it can net you a trap card from your grave. But it has to be flipped facer up first. This card is like Magician of Faith for traps but unlike MOF, you can use it to attack if you can manage to flip it on your side of the field. Because it has 900, which is almost the double of MOF’s attack power, it can be used to attack directly. However because it has to be flipped, this factor could slow down your deck plans so be careful. Secondly, Nobleman of cross out comes in two’s now! So you be lucky just to get its effect or it be removed from play and your opponent gets a free attack.

However, this card can be useful since it can get you a very powerful trap like a Magic Cylinder, Solemn Judgment, Mirror force and others. However your opponent would know what to expect and summon cards like a Jinzo or activate a Royal Decree. This could stop your plans easily. However, it can get you back your only COTH if it was destroyed before. A good combo is to play COTH to summon Jinzo and even if your opponent plays a set MST or Dust Tornado, Jinzo wont die then you set mod. Then flip MOD over to get back COTH. Then when Jinzo does die somehow, you can still play COTH to revive him. However if your opponent is clever, he will probably play a royal decree or something.

Now back to his 900 attack. It can be a tribute for Great Maju Garzet wielding a powerful 1800 attack. Ya but why would you waste a Great Maju for 1800 instead of a 3800 from a Gemini Elf or Mad Dog of Darkness? You wouldn’t. So you can sac it for a card like Mobious, who can destroy magic and traps that could have blocked your newly gained trap card. Of course MOD is dark monster meaning he makes good chaos food for Chaos Sorcerer, Chaos emperor Dragon, Black luster solider, or the new chaos warrior, Galaxy Solider.

But due to a lot of cards that can block traps (Lord Of D, dragons Bead, Dust tornado, MST, Heavy, Breaker, Mobious, Xing Zhen Hu, Remove Trap?, Jinzo, Royal Decree, King Dragun, Solemn Judgment,) it may not be that good. Besides traps have to be set, so it will be a miracle if you can get off the effect of your card. Or you could get a good offense card like Dust tornado to destroy an powerful set spell or most likely another trap.

Advanced: 2.5/5 –Too many cards can kill traps and many others to prevent MOD getting its effect (DD warrior lady, Man eater bug, Wicked Flamberge-Bau, Nobleman of Cross out, Driloiod, Mystic Swordsman 3, Palladian of White Dragon, Light of Invention).

Ok. Thanks to Crimson Duelist, im gonna get to be a fuax-reviewer today. I guess im trying out. so here goes...

MoD has always been a favorite of my trap-heavy deck. It has a great effect. Of course its stats are useless, and it will set it only to see it destroyed and hopefully youd get the effect. Im sure you see the obvious similarities to Magician of Faith, and if you've read the reviews, you'd know that MoF is a great card..so why isnt MoD the same?

negatives first: you'll see why

Negatives:
-Alot of opponents monsters out there can eat effect monsters
-Your opponent will KNOW what trap you bring back, and obviously expect it. (this can be a positive)

Positives:
-It will give you back a trap card.
-the trap card you take back can be used for mindgames on your opponent. Take back a Mirror force? If you put a card down in S/T area, theyll think its a Mirror Force..theyll HAVe to. And they will turn the majority of their monsters in defense mode. Thats just 1 example.

In the early MRD days, this card wasnt so great. I liked it, but thats because i loved my trap cards. I figured, even if they knew the trap card was down, there was very little they could do about it. Now adays theres a bunch of trap removal. So this card is even more limited. Though just the same, there are alot more traps, making this card more useful. So to me, it balances out.

I wouldn't run this card unless you're basing your strat around some trapcards. Its certainly not a game winning card, and could be nice if you drew it mid game when you have a pretty full hand. It is really just an average card, and deserves and average rating.

Traditional : 2.5
-use it if you want to, but theres not real reason you SHOULD use it

Advanced: 2.8
-if you have some traps you want to make sure to keep out, MoD is your card-limited in uses i guess.

Ok, time to write up this review on MRD-014 Mask of Darkness.

This little Mask’s Flip Effect returns any 1 Trap Card from your Graveyard to your Hand. Yeah, It lets you recycle cards like Magic Cylinder, Mirror Force, Sak Armor, and other awesome Traps.

Wait, doesn’t that remind you of a certain little spellcaster known as Magician of Faith? The only exception is the kind of card they recycle.

Now, you may be wondering what else this card can do. It’s a DARK Attribute and a Fiend-Type. This means it makes for good Chaos food and a decent Necrofear snack at the same time.

A banned combo that uses Mask of Darkness looks like this Mask of Darkness+Tsukuyomi+Time Seal. The infamous Tsuku Lock.

All in all, the ability to recycle traps is pretty good and once it’s finished its job, it can be used to summon a Chaos monster or Dark Necrofear.

Ratings

Adv: 4/5

Trad: 4.5/5

Last Updated: August 3, 2006