Elvennotes Review

 

Burst Protocol is heating up as its Japanese release date of October 25^th has recently come and gone.

 

New support is coming out for fan-favorites like the K9s, Fur Hires and Yummys, but I always prefer to focus on the new and the novel.  And, while their aesthetic isn’t exactly new or novel, perhaps the playing style of the new Elvennotes monsters might be.

 

Let’s take a look.

 

Right off the bat, it says they’re based on Level 6 monsters, which is a bit odd and awkward.  I don’t think we’ve seen much of Level 6 stuff since the horrendous Hazy Flame archetype so many years ago, but I could be wrong.

 

They are also, like the Artmages, Doom-Z and HMM, a part of this go-around’s storyline, possessing a Power Patron in the form of Elvennotes Power Patron (no surprise there) and a Power Patron boss monster in the form of Junora-The Power Patron of Tuning.  Where the Doom-Z focused on Xyz Monsters and the Artmages themselves focused on Fusion Monsters, it looks as though the Elvennotes will be focusing on Synchro Monsters.

 

That just leaves potential Link Monster Power Patrons and maybe Ritual and Pendulum Power Patrons, but who knows if it will go that far at this point?  Hopefully not, because that could get awful complicated to keep track of.

 

To start off, that Elvennotes Power Patron that I just mentioned is a Level 1 monster with 300 ATK and 200 DEF.  This time around, it is a Fire Attribute Fiend Type Effect Monster.  But, perhaps in keeping with the archetype’s apparent Synchro focus, this particular Power Patron is also a Tuner Monster.  First of all, it bars you from Special Summoning any Extra Deck monsters except Synchros.  And, once per turn, during the Main Phase, you can select the monster in your Main Monster Zone, then increase its Level by 3 and immediately use it to Synchro Summon either an Elvennotes or Junora the Power Patron of Tuning.  And, if Elvennotes Power Patron is actively used for a Synchro Summon, it lets you add any one Elvennotes card from your Deck to your hand.  Both of these effects are only once per turn.

 

Elvennotes Dyina (pronounced “diina”) is a Level 6 Water Attribute Spellcaster (oh yeah-they’re all Spellcasters, for the most part) Effect Monster with 2400 ATK and 1800 DEF.  She can be Special Summoned from your hand to your central Main Monster Zone.  She can only be Special Summoned once this way, and she also has two other effects that are also once per turn.  During your Main Phase, you can place an Elvennotes Continuous Spell Card from your Deck onto the field.  And, during your opponent’s turn, you can switch the locations of this card in your Main Monster Zone and the monster in your central Main Monster Zone, and then you can banish a random card from your opponent’s hand face-down until the end of the turn.

 

Elvennotes Fortona is another Level 6 Spellcaster Type Effect Monster, only Light Attribute and with 2200 ATK and 1800 DEF.  She, too, can be Special Summoned from the hand to your central Main Monster Zone.  Once per turn, you can place 1 Elvennotes Continous Trap Card from your hand or Deck directly onto the field.  Also once per turn, during your opponent’s turn, you can switch the locations of this card in your Main Monster Zone and whatever card is in your central Main Monster Zone, and then bounce 1 face-up Spell or Trap Card on the field back to the hand.

 

Elvennotes Lucina is another Level 6 Spellcaster Type Effect Monster that can be Special Summoned from the hand to your central Main Monster Zone, albeit a Fire Attribute with 2500 ATK and 1800 DEF.  Once per turn, she lets you add another Elvennotes monster from your Deck to your hand.  During your opponent’s turn, you can change her position with whatever monster is in your central Main Monster Zone, then bounce any Level 6 or below monster your opponent controls back to their hand.

 

Only now do I realize that the point of this archetype (for now, anyway) is to just get one Elvennotes, any Elvennotes, into the central Main Monster Zone, then bounce its position around on the field to switch between the archetype’s various effects.  But more on that later.

 

Right now we move on to the Elvennotes support cards.

 

Starting off, the archetype contains 2 Continuous Spell Cards, AKA targets for Elvennotes Dyina.  The first of these is Elvennotes Homecoming Parallelism.  This card firstly protects the monster in your central Main Monster Zone from being destroyed by card effects.  By sending 1 monster from your hand or your field to the Graveyard, you can automatically Special Summon an Elvennotes monster with a different original Attribute (I guess from the sent monster) from your Deck in Defense Mode, at the cost of being locked out of Special Summoning anything but Synchro Monsters from your Extra Deck for the rest of the turn.

 

Elvennotes Reunion Tercet prevents your opponent from targeting the monster in your central Main Monster Zone with card effects.  If said monster has a Fire or Earth Attribute, and your Synchro Monster attacks a monster in Defense Mode, that monster can deal piercing damage.  If your central Main Monster Zone monster is a Water or Wind Attribute, then other face-up Spells and Traps you control are safe from being destroyed by your opponent’s card effects.  And, finally, if your central Main Monster Zone monster is a Light or Dark Attribute monster, then you take no battle damage while this card is face-up on the field.

 

And, just like with their Continuous Spell Cards, the Elvennotes also boast 2 Continuous Trap Cards, AKA targets for Elvennotes Fortona.

 

Elvennotes Maddening Rhapsodia forces your opponent’s monsters to only attack the monster that you control in your central Main Monster Zone.  By sending a monster from your hand or your field to the Graveyard, you get to Special Summon back an Elvennotes monster with a different original Attribute (I guess from the sent monster).  Plus, if you use this effect while you control a Synchro Monster, then you can also negate the effects of 1 face-up card your opponent controls until the end of the turn.

 

Elvennotes Oracle Aristeia, meanwhile, can target a face-up monster you control and move its position to another of your Main Monster Zones.  If you control 3 or more Elvennotes monsters, and your opponent activates a Spell or Trap Card, you can negate that card’s effect and, if you control a Synchro Monster, destroy it.

 

Elvennotes Seraphim Stlitzia is a Level 7 Fire Attribute Plant Type Synchro Effect Monster with a variable ATK and 3000 DEF.  Its Synchro Materials are any 1 Tuner monster plus 1 or more non-Tuner monsters.  While this monster is in your central Main Monster Zone, its Attack Points will rise to 3000.  During the Main Phase, you can Special Summon an Elvennotes monster of Level 6 or below (implying that below-Level 6 Elvennotes monsters are coming at some point) from your hand or Graveyard, and then cut the Levels of everything Level 4 or higher by 3 until the end of the turn.  And doing this also locks you out of any Extra Deck Special Summons, save for Synchro Summons.

 

I know: It’s a total grab bag.

 

Junora the Power Patron of Tuning is a Level 10 Fire Attribute Fiend Type Synchro Effect Monster with 3100 ATK and 3800 DEF.  Its Synchro Materials are any 1 Tuner monster and 2 or more non-Tuner monsters.  Synchro Summoning this monster can also be performed by treating any monster in your central Main Monster Zone as a Tuner.  Upon its summoning, Junora also negates the effects of all your opponent’s face-up cards.  But then comes its strangest effect: As a Quick Effect, all monsters your opponent controls that share columns with Elvennotes monsters cannot be used for Extra Deck summons until the end of the turn.

 

I suppose this card could work well when comboed with Maddening Rhapsodia.  But that wording of is summoning conditions, ironically enough, makes it an impossibility to bring out via the Power Patron Tuner and an Elvennotes, because using Power Patron to make a Level 9 monster and tuning it with itself is only 1 Tuner and 1 non-Tuner, while Junora requires 2 non-Tuners.

 

Now, I know next to nothing about music, but some of the names in these cards seem like music-related stuff, like “rhapsodia”, “stlitzia” and “tercet”.  Plus, they’re literally called the Elven-notes.

 

Bog ordinary, if you ask me.

 

But my problem with this archetype (aside from locking themselves out of their own alleged ace Synchro Monster) is that…they just don’t seem very good.

 

In this age of rapid swarming and Link Summoning, only being able to Special Summon one monster from your hand once per turn is a huge detriment.  To say nothing of the fact that Level 6 monsters still require a Tribute in order to Normal Summon, so that takes away resources and field advantage.

 

And, listen: If you can’t legally Tune Power Patron together with an Elvennotes to Synchro Summon Junora, despite their augmented Levels being perfect for it, and you don’t need to augment their Levels at all if you want to use them to Synchro Summon Seraphim Stlizia, then why does Power Patron have that Level-modulation effect in the first place?  Like, what are you supposed to do with it after both of the current in-archetype options are ruled out?  Shouldn’t a card in an archetype be made to actually work with the archetype that it’s part of?

 

I have never heard any tell of any Monster Zone-based archetype working out in any way or ever being competitive at all, I’m sorry to say.

 

My advice is to give these cards a miss.