DECK DESTRUCTION VIRUS OF DEATH Type: Normal Trap Effect: Sacrifice a Dark Main-Type Monster with an attack strength of 1000 or less. Destroy all of your opponent's Monsters on the Field and in his or her hand with an attack strength of 1500 or more for 3 turns.

Here we are with the sixth card of the week for Edo's Small Yu-Gi-Oh! page. For those who have been tuning in week after week, thanks. This week is another popular card that has some decks based arond it. It's the Deck Desttruction Virus of Death. Catchy name, isn't it?

The Deck Destruction Virus of Death (called DDVD, or DDV for short) first appeared in the manga when Yugi and Kaiba had a duel at Pegasus' castle. Kaiba used this card to annihilate a lot of Yugi's high-powered Monsters. The second appearance was when Kaiba was facing off against Isis. He used it on her, but it almost turned out to be his undoing.

DDV presents itself with some alluring possibilites, along with some drawbacks. First of all, DDV is excellent at Monster removal. It works almost as a Black Hole which you can use during your opponent's turn. To use it, most people will place a Monster in defense mode, and place the DDV. When your opponent attacks during his or her turn, that's the chance to activate it.

The second nice thing about DDV is the hand-destruction aspect. If this card is used early enough in the game, it could spell doom for your opponent, when not only are his high-level Monsters gone, it will also remove a lot of his low level Monsters as well. Most players try to put level 4 Monsters in their deck with the highest attack strengths possible. That means that there are decks with a lot of 1600+ attack strength Monsters in them. As if I need to tell you, those decks are prime candidates for being nuked by the DDV. In addition, this isn't a one-shot deal -- the DDV will KEEP doing this for 3 turns. Add to that the fact that DDV DOESN'T stay on the Field for the duration of its effect (unlike Sealing Swords of Light), makes it more-than-annoying. Once it's activation has been resolved correctly, it's effect can't be removed. Negating it with a Psycho Shocker or Thief's Swiss Army Knife is about the only thing you can do.

The bad parts of DDV are, first of all, its activation cost. There aren't many usable Dark Main-Type Monsters with an attack strength of 1000 or less. We could go with Sagi (like Kaiba does), but its statistics stink. Most people will use Critter with DDV, since it will also net you a Monster from your deck in the process. Second, if you have been looking at card lists lately, putting your opponent's Monsters in his or her Cemetery can be a VERY bad thing. With the number of revival cards increasing set by set, and those same cards being included in decks, the DDV could also end up being a pain in the arse for you as well.

Try some of these cards to combo with your DDV: Cyber Pod, Chaos Pod and Hand Obliteration.

Edo's Rating: 3 out of 5. Its effects are nice, but its basically a card that you need to put some effort into using correctly. Since most decks use high attack strength Monsters, using a DDV in that deck will be near-impossible. Sure, you can use Critter, but people chuck that card in favor of the Black Forest Witch (which can't be used with DDV due to its attack strength). Thus, this card is relatively popular for hand and deck destructions decks, but with others, its better to use another Monster removal card.

(I haven't thought of a deck writeup for DDV. Perhaps I will create one for the deck gallery next week.)