Having Faith in the Format
Magician of Faith is quite an underrated card that has reappeared at limited this format. Despite being banned for a long time, the general opinion is that it will not change a thing by coming back. This is most probably the case, however this article should explain the best ways it can be used, why it is still a potent card, and why its use should never be underestimated.
To begin with, I can't help but notice that Konami have put Tsukuyomi back up to 3 during the last 2 formats. Now, alongside keeping those 3 Tsukuyomis, we have been given a Magician of Faith. This gives us a great degree of viability for any decks based around Flip Effects or Face-Down cards, which could include anything between Ghosttricks and Worms. Many people have speculated that Faith will only really be used as a tech in Spellcaster decks, but while this is a good use of the card I don't think that's all it's limited to.
In essense, the ability to pick up any Spell card from your Graveyard is an incredibly powerful one. Late game, that gives you a choice of a majority of the Spell cards that you run, and can change a game completely. Almost any valid deck will run Spell cards, and I'm quite saddened by the many people who say this format is too "fast" for Faith to be of any use. Given, it will have places in which it won't function and you would have to side it out immediately against Fire Fists and other such decks. Despite this, however, there are very few decks that don't run some incredibly useful Spells like MST or Dark Hole, and getting another use of those Spells could be crucial to winning the game.
Even with specific decks and their specific playstyles and strategies, there is no way that Faith can actually impede them. In Infernities, for instance, you could not go wrong with adding an Infernity Launcher back to hand. It can also be used alongside any Spellcaster deck, as it can seriously help with most Spellcaster engines. Wonder Wand goes alongside Faith perfectly, as an attack position Faith is about as useless as it gets, and there is no doubt that alongside cards like Night Assailant some kind of engine can easily be formed.
In decks like Lightsworn or Chaos that like to mill cards from their decks there is no question of the importance of cards like Faith. Many useful Spell cards will often find themselves in the Graveyard due to the use of many mill effects, so Faith has a great deal of versatility in making a choice. Since Lightsworn decks also use Ryko, another Flip Effect monster, Night assailant could be a valid tech. It is also valid to consider the aforementioned Wonder Wand, as Lightsworns use many Spellcaster monsters and it could be a valid use for a Lyla after destroying a Spell or Trap. However, the clear advantage of using Magician of Faith in this setup is that you could Flip Summon Faith, add a Wonder Wand which was milled earlier, and use it on Faith immediately. This would turn Faith's effect into a means by which to add consistency, and with the many versatile ways in which to surprise an opponent with a Spell card in the Graveyard there is no evidence to suggest that Faith is not a card worth running.
Late in a game, Faith becomes a search for inaccessible cards. When you have gone through most of the Spell cards you run, drawing Faith will essentially allow you to pick back any one of them. This means that Faith can serve a role as a delayed Dark Hole or a way of searching a Monster card using the deck's key search. In a deck like Fire Fists, Faith could quite easily re-use the Fire Formation Spells, and since in this role it allows you to pick up a Tenki, which in turn lets you search for the right monster for the situation, the card could single handedly turn a game.
The card is basically generic, so it could be teched into any deck that runs Spells. So why not use it? Any spell worth running is worth using again, and there are also many Flip Monsters in the current game. Cards like Ryko and Super Nimble are often seen in decks where they are applicable, and these cards are often used with quite potent effect. Why would Faith, a card with an arguably stronger effect than these cards, be any different? If this card can be used, then it probably should be.
I just wrote an article about one card. It could be said that many people don't agree that this one card, Magician of Faith, is worth using. The principal argument for this case is that it is too slow. However, Flip Effects are not neccesarily slow; I think of them as a sort of play in advance. While it takes a turn to set it, and you have to wait till the next turn to be able to use that effect, it has just as much of an impact as a regular effect, just on the next turn. From your opponent's point of view, they don't know what that face down is, and they might not even want to attack it if you're using the right deck. (Ghostricks or Ojamas? Nobody uses those, you say? Some people do ._.) People underestimate the fact that sometimes, people just won't attack into a face-down because they think they know what it is. If they think attacking will put them into a worse situation, then they won't do it. Having a card that will put you into a better situation for next turn whether they attack it or not is surely some kind of advantage, so unless you're worried about your opponent finishing you off next turn, Faith is a valid play.
This format has Faith in it. Do you have Faith in your deck?
Magician of Faith is quite an underrated card that has reappeared at limited this format. Despite being banned for a long time, the general opinion is that it will not change a thing by coming back. This is most probably the case, however this article should explain the best ways it can be used, why it is still a potent card, and why its use should never be underestimated.
Tsukuyomi :
To begin with, I can't help but notice that Konami have put Tsukuyomi back up to 3 during the last 2 formats. Now, alongside keeping those 3 Tsukuyomis, we have been given a Magician of Faith. This gives us a great degree of viability for any decks based around Flip Effects or Face-Down cards, which could include anything between Ghosttricks and Worms. Many people have speculated that Faith will only really be used as a tech in Spellcaster decks, but while this is a good use of the card I don't think that's all it's limited to.
In essense, the ability to pick up any Spell card from your Graveyard is an incredibly powerful one. Late game, that gives you a choice of a majority of the Spell cards that you run, and can change a game completely. Almost any valid deck will run Spell cards, and I'm quite saddened by the many people who say this format is too "fast" for Faith to be of any use. Given, it will have places in which it won't function and you would have to side it out immediately against Fire Fists and other such decks. Despite this, however, there are very few decks that don't run some incredibly useful Spells like MST or Dark Hole, and getting another use of those Spells could be crucial to winning the game.
Even with specific decks and their specific playstyles and strategies, there is no way that Faith can actually impede them. In Infernities, for instance, you could not go wrong with adding an Infernity Launcher back to hand. It can also be used alongside any Spellcaster deck, as it can seriously help with most Spellcaster engines. Wonder Wand goes alongside Faith perfectly, as an attack position Faith is about as useless as it gets, and there is no doubt that alongside cards like Night Assailant some kind of engine can easily be formed.
In decks like Lightsworn or Chaos that like to mill cards from their decks there is no question of the importance of cards like Faith. Many useful Spell cards will often find themselves in the Graveyard due to the use of many mill effects, so Faith has a great deal of versatility in making a choice. Since Lightsworn decks also use Ryko, another Flip Effect monster, Night assailant could be a valid tech. It is also valid to consider the aforementioned Wonder Wand, as Lightsworns use many Spellcaster monsters and it could be a valid use for a Lyla after destroying a Spell or Trap. However, the clear advantage of using Magician of Faith in this setup is that you could Flip Summon Faith, add a Wonder Wand which was milled earlier, and use it on Faith immediately. This would turn Faith's effect into a means by which to add consistency, and with the many versatile ways in which to surprise an opponent with a Spell card in the Graveyard there is no evidence to suggest that Faith is not a card worth running.
Late in a game, Faith becomes a search for inaccessible cards. When you have gone through most of the Spell cards you run, drawing Faith will essentially allow you to pick back any one of them. This means that Faith can serve a role as a delayed Dark Hole or a way of searching a Monster card using the deck's key search. In a deck like Fire Fists, Faith could quite easily re-use the Fire Formation Spells, and since in this role it allows you to pick up a Tenki, which in turn lets you search for the right monster for the situation, the card could single handedly turn a game.
The card is basically generic, so it could be teched into any deck that runs Spells. So why not use it? Any spell worth running is worth using again, and there are also many Flip Monsters in the current game. Cards like Ryko and Super Nimble are often seen in decks where they are applicable, and these cards are often used with quite potent effect. Why would Faith, a card with an arguably stronger effect than these cards, be any different? If this card can be used, then it probably should be.
I just wrote an article about one card. It could be said that many people don't agree that this one card, Magician of Faith, is worth using. The principal argument for this case is that it is too slow. However, Flip Effects are not neccesarily slow; I think of them as a sort of play in advance. While it takes a turn to set it, and you have to wait till the next turn to be able to use that effect, it has just as much of an impact as a regular effect, just on the next turn. From your opponent's point of view, they don't know what that face down is, and they might not even want to attack it if you're using the right deck. (Ghostricks or Ojamas? Nobody uses those, you say? Some people do ._.) People underestimate the fact that sometimes, people just won't attack into a face-down because they think they know what it is. If they think attacking will put them into a worse situation, then they won't do it. Having a card that will put you into a better situation for next turn whether they attack it or not is surely some kind of advantage, so unless you're worried about your opponent finishing you off next turn, Faith is a valid play.
This format has Faith in it. Do you have Faith in your deck?