Flying Kamakiri #1 ———————————————— When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard: You can Special Summon 1 WIND monster with 1500 or less ATK from your Deck, in face-up Attack Position. ———————————————— Can Be Found In: Dark Beginning 1 (DB1-EN054), Spell Ruler (SRL-EN091), Structure Deck: Lord of the Storm (SD8-EN006), Dragunity Legion Structure Deck (SDDL-EN015), Duelist League 13 (DL13-EN003), Legendary Collection 3: Yugi's World Mega Pack (LCYW-EN238), Dark Legends (DLG1-EN075), Retro Pack (RP01-EN074)

If a monster isn't strong enough to overcome most enemies on their own, will most likely rely on effects to provide some sort of advantage depending of the outcome. This allows even the most feeble of monsters to provide a positive outcome in our favor depending of the battle's outcome, as even their own defeat can give us some sort of benefit the opponent might be unable to do nothing about it. While in some scenarios the opponent can use effects to get rid of in-battle effects before they have any use, they are still valuable abilities regardless of their limited use on one of the most important sections of a turn.

"Flying Kamakiri #1" is part of a set of monsters assists their respective Attribute with the same ability, which in its case being WIND. When "Flying Kamakiri #1" is defeated in battle and sent to the Graveyard, in return we can replace it with any 1500 ATK or lower WIND monster from our Deck in Attack Position. With only the Attribute as the main limitation, "Flying Kamakiri #1" obtains a constantly growing list of monsters that can summon with this ability. Depending of the timing in which its effect activates, "Flying Kamakiri #1" easily becomes a versatile monster that under the right build will be able to provide the right monster for the perfect occasion.

While "Flying Kamakiri #1" alone supports a big number of monsters on its own, itself is far from being helpless to become available from early to late game. Like its Attribute counterparts "Flying Kamakiri #1" is able to summon copies of itself if required, not only a decent option for deck thinning but also tank against consecutive attacks. If instead we focus more arround Insects we will gain assistance from "Howling Insect", a monster with a similar effect able to summon "Flying Kamakiri #1" and other creatures from the Type. Similarly "Verdant Sanctuary" is a Continuous Spell that will let us add Insects to our hand in response of their defeat, so if is not looking for "Flying Kamakiri #1" it will take advantage of its own destruction to fill our hand. If we want to work arround the common mechanics involving the WIND Attribute, "Divine Wind of Mist Valley" encourages using bouncing effects on our monsters to summon this creature and others from our Deck as a result. Finally, since "Flying Kamakiri #1" main objective is to be prepared in any Battle Phase, cards like "Call of the Haunted" can revive it back in the middle of a battle and not only defend against incoming attacks but most likely assure its ability.

If a monster has 1500 ATK or less by default is under the assistance of "Flying Kamakiri #1", therefore having a good number of candidates to work arround its ability besides its own copies. The most popular choice is to use it arround a LV monster, as if is able to summon "Ultimate Insect LV3" or "Armed Dragon LV3" once the opponent's Battle Phase is about to end they have the opportunity to summon their stronger forms once our turn starts. Some other monsters will be able to take a defensive approach even though summoned in Attack Position, like "Sasuke Samurai #4" giving us a random chance to automatically destroy a monster or "Spiritual Whisper" avoiding defeat once per turn. Summoning copies of "Flying Kamakiri #1" not only will stall the opponent's Battle Phase, but is also able to protect "Hunter Owl" with its effect as gets stronger the more WIND monsters on our field if is not in our Deck waiting to be summoned during battle. Some other candidates might need a bit of preparatives which "Flying Kamakiri #1" might help us with once the opponent's turn is about to end, like "Eccentric Boy" letting us use Synchro materials from our hand or "Hand of Nephthys" preparing the arrival of "Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys". Finally, since the opportunity to summon copies of "Flying Kamakiri #1" might become recurrent, we can further expand this approach starting with the mentioned "Howling Insect" summoning itself before this card and then end with copies of "Troop Dragon".

Like its Attribute counterparts, as long they keep adding monsters with the ATK that its effects covers "Flying Kamakiri #1" will keep increasing on versatility and improving its role as support. An everlasting number of monsters and builds arround them , "Flying Kamakiri #1" provides several benefits depending of the monsters we are playing along with no matter if is defeated by the opponent or a suicidal attack. Obviously, with the big number of removal effects nowadays "Flying Kamakiri #1" might have some problems to assure its ability in some matches, making it quite unreliable compared to more immediate searching effects involving its Attribute. Yet, with a big portion of the WIND Attribute under its assistance that includes its own copies, "Flying Kamakiri #1" might be an old card but still remains an efficient choice for one of many WIND strategies out there.

Personal Rating: B+

+ When destroyed in battle will summon a WIND monster with 1500 ATK or less from our Deck + A big number of monsters to summon with this effect including its own copies + Versatile effect depending of which monsters we summon and timing

Mystic Tomato ———————————————— When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard: You can Special Summon 1 DARK monster with 1500 or less ATK from your Deck, in face-up Attack Position. ———————————————— Can Be Found In: Starter Deck: Kaiba Evolution (SKE-021), Dark Beginning 1 (DB1-EN057), Spell Ruler (SRL-EN094), Hobby League 3 (HL03-EN005), Starter Deck: Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's (5DS1-EN017), Duelist League 2010 (DL09-EN006), Structure Deck: Marik (SDMA-EN002), Dragons Collide Structure Deck (SDDC-EN016), Legendary Collection 3: Yugi's World Mega Pack (LCYW-EN239), Tournament Pack 4 (TP4-015), Dark Legends (DLG1-EN077), Duel Terminal 6a (DT06-EN005), Retro Pack (RP01-EN076)

Searching effects comes in all sorts of mechanics, covering and adapting to the needs of the Deck they are played in. Many of them take a direct approach by being played and immediately obtaining their assistance to gain key cards, but others will be a bit trickier for the same results. Although the latter might not seem as effective, they might compensate with other benefits like stronger searching abilities or wider target options to look for. Searching for important cards is an important factor for many builds so they can setup their goals right from early game, and there'll be atleast one among of hundreds of them to help with even the most unorthodox gamestyles.

"Mystic Tomato" is a classic monster part of a group of cards covering their respective Attributes with the same ability. When "Mystic Tomato" is defeated in battle and sent to the Graveyard, in return we will be able to summon a DARK monster with 1500 ATK or below from the Deck in Attack Position. This effect became quite useful during the first years of the game due not only the potential to summon key monsters, but also the possibility to stall the opponent's attacks if we summon certain monsters by "Mystic Tomato".

Although not the most supported monster out there after all these years, "Mystic Tomato" has powerful options to be on the field when needed the most. The most obvious assistance comes from its very own copies, allowing us to thin our Deck and/or tank opponent's attacks with all of them in a single Battle Phase. As a Plant "Mystic Tomato" gains wonderful help from "Lonefire Blossom", a monster that once tributed will summon this creature from our Deck ready for any purpose. Then there's those monsters that can cooperate with "Mystic Tomato" effects whichever comes first, like "Summoner Monk" bringing it out from our Deck or "Violet Witch" adding it to our hand when defeated. Last there's the revival effects so we can recycle defeated "Mystic Tomato" later on, more importantly cards like "Call of the Haunted" or "Oasis of Dragon Souls" as they can be activated during any Battle Phase ready to time this monster's effect.

"Mystic Tomato" can go from protecting us from opponent attacks to destroying itself in our Battle Phase for its effect to look for our most important monsters, and all will depend of the creatures and strategy we are playing along with. With the ability to summon its own copies "Mystic Tomato" by default becomes a solid tool to reduce damage from opponent attacks, and with targets like "Apprentice Magician", "Giant Germ", or "Cherry Inmato" we can pretty much nullify most of the opponent's Battle Phases by working together. Some targets like "Armageddon Knight", "Night's End Sorcerer" and "Baobaboon" will be able to use their abilities during a Battle Phase even if are defeated afterwards. Meanwhile, targets such as "Darklord Nurse Reficule" and "Mataza the Zapper" will have vital roles as long the opponent runs out of attacks to summon them by "Mystic Tomato". Despite the ATK restriction we are still able to keep a solid offense by the targets this monster can summon, ranging from playing arround "Mystic Plasma Zone" or "Necrovalley" to boost their respective groups, to summoning a creature like "Jester Lord" with a good chance to obtain a massive stat increase. Last there's the fact that "Mystic Tomato" has no limits arround their targets' Level, so we can summon expensive monsters such as "Byser Shock" or "Yubel" by little to no effort. Obviously we must be extremely aware that the opponent won't hesitate on using effects to get rid of "Mystic Tomato" to avoid its effect, so try to prepare countermeasures to assure the outcome we want to achieve.

With the increase of removal effects and faster searching options is obvious that "Mystic Tomato" has lost its prevalence over the years. However, by covering a massive portion of a single Attribute, "Mystic Tomato" still remains a solid choice to cover all sorts of setups and purposes. By summoning its own copies and monsters with similar summoning effects "Mystic Tomato" can wall against consecutive attacks, and by either the opponent's last attack or by sacrificing a "Mystic Tomato" in our Battle Phase we can summon key monsters for any purpose needed at the moment. From bringing monsters with abilities ready for the situation to even able to bring out high Level targets, "Mystic Tomato" and its other Attribute counterparts still have a prevalent position in many unsupported themes as long we can cover them against disruptive effects.

Personal Rating: B+

+ Summons a DARK monster with 1500 ATK or less when destroyed in battle + Well supported including its own copies + A big variety of monsters to summon for any setup or situation