Powerful what-now?

Powerful Rebirth is a card released in Duel Links in Blades of Spirits to very little fanfare. Konami very clearly intended for this card to be a lynchpin of Six Samurai, due to their effects requiring two monsters on the field. One of the Loaner Deck Duels also shows it’s synergy with Parallel Twister as well as Harpie monsters. However, neither Harpies nor Six Samurai ever took off the ground, and outside of dedicated fans playing Fields of the Warriors Six Samurai, almost the entire box was forgotten.

So why has Powerful Rebirth become so important all of a sudden? The winner of the February KC Cup played Magnet Warriors with three copies, and of the recent Meta Championship Series VI tournament over 1/3rd of the top 32 and the winner played Aliens, all playing at least 2 copies of Powerful Rebirth. Magnets showed up here as well using it, and even a Top 8 Dino deck played a copy. What made this overlooked card roar to the forefront of competitive play after being ignored for months?

How is it useful?

Powerful Rebirth is very unique because it is a trap, that is not actually a trap. It revives a monster from grave, but doesn’t actually do anything defensive other than chump block. The important thing defensively is that it looks as threatening as a set Wall of Disruption. Your opponent might play safe and not try to OTK when your sets are simple bluffs.

Also, what separates this card from other trap monsters like Embodiment of Apophis, is that this can get any monster and lets you use their effects. Magnet Warriors can revive Beta the Electromagnet Warrior for a search or Delta the Magnet Warrior for a mill, and Aliens can get Alien Telepath to destroy spells and traps. Additionally, the extra monster on board without using your normal summon allows for swift OTKs with the help of Enemy Controller to steal opponent’s monster. It’s stellar offensively and allows for incredible follow up and OTK plays.

Why now?

But wait- why have players ignored Powerful Rebirth for so long, when Six Samurai have reasonably good effects and Harpies can pop backrow just like Alien Telepath? The answer lies in the similarities between Aliens and Magnet Warriors. Both have ways to send monsters from deck to grave. Magnets have the aforementioned Delta, and Aliens have “A” Cell Recombination Device. This means that you’ll rarely be stuck in the situation of not having a monster to revive and you can always use your Powerful Rebirths even if your opponent doesn’t destroy your monsters.

What does it mean?

This relates to the power level of Duel Links as a whole because of the differences between monsters and traps. Players often joke that any random 8-10 monsters plus the right backrow can make it to KoG. Powerful cards like Enemy Controller, Floodgate Trap Hole, Wall of Disruption, and Super Rush Headlong have seen play since their release. However, the prevalence of Powerful Rebirth suggests that this might not be the case for much longer. Powerful Rebirth’s rise means that monsters have in general become more powerful and important than defensive cards.

The game is speeding up and it is less feasible to set monsters and backrow and win a grind game. With each new box, monsters with powerful effects that can search other monsters, destroy cards, and otherwise disrupt the opponent are more and more common, and as strategies that can use Powerful Rebirth and other yet-to-be-introduced revival cards like Call of the Haunted to quickly and explosively overwhelm the opponent become more common, sitting on defensive cards is less and less viable. Decks like Magnet Warriors and Aliens who can fill the grave offensively are and will continue to be very dominant.

In conclusion

The paradigm has shifted, and offensive decks are taking Powerful Rebirth with them to the top. It will take the release of a new tier of defensive card swing back towards defensive play in my opinion. Right now, no good defensive cards can destroy a monster without requiring you to already control a monster. Mirror Force could be punishing to a degree that might hold back the aggression enabled by Powerful Rebirth. For now, though, the next best thing we have is Wall of Disruption. I’m interested in what all of this means for Duel Links, and what we will see in the future.