Card of the Week #25: Plaguespreader Zombie
I'm back in staff, articles are back, and Card of the Week is back too. But for this week, the CotW will be a card that's been back for quite some time; Plaguespreader Zombie.
Plague is, quite bluntly, a very useful Tuner that can be put into a large number of different decks. Its ability to special summon itself from the grave made it a prime choice in decks like Lightsworn before they got their own tuners, and it has always had good synergy with other decks that rely on the Graveyard.
In a Zombie deck, Plaguespreader is always the main Tuner. Along with Destiny HERO Malicious, Plague can be used to make 2 Level 8 Synchros at a very small cost, which will often completely change the field and is a strong combination to build a deck around. The combo obviously involves getting Plague on the field and Malicious in grave with at least one card in hand, before Special Summoning a Malicious and making a Level 8 Synchro. You would then use Plague's effect to Special Summon itself, and then use Malicious' effect again and repeat the process. This combo can have a great deal of versatility with the right Extra Deck, with ideal choices for cards being Void Ogre Dragon, Beelze of the Diabloic Dragons, Dark End Dragon, or any generic Level 8 Synchro you could name.
Plague can also use Imperial Iron Wall to its advantage, as it will not be banished by its own effect whenever it has Special Summoned itself and is used. Alongside similar cards like Quillbolt Hedgehog, this could potentially allow for some very strong Synchro plays. With a T.G Hyper Librarian, Plague's cost would essentially be paid every time a Synchro monster was summoned, making the combination limited only by the extra deck in capability. However, this combo would not be worth making a deck around, as it would require too many cards and would need an extra deck specific to the combo, which would contain far more Level 4 Synchro monsters than is ideal.
Overall, Plaguespreader Zombie is a card that opens the possibilities of many combos relating to Synchro monsters. It works particularly well with Level 6 monsters, as Level 8 Synchros are usually the best in terms of what they do in comparison to the number of cards needed to summon them, however it could be used with a Level 4 monster to make a Level 6 before using its effect to summon a Level 8. With the new banlist, Plague will probably become more common as a way to summon Goyo Guardian, which is Level 6, as most decks use a lot of Level 4 monsters and would benefit from having a Level 2 Tuner.
Last edited by Phoenix Wright on Sat Jul 05, 2014 4:05 pm; edited 1 time in total