#white howling

White Howling ———————————————— If you control a WATER monster: Target 1 Spell in your opponent's GY; banish it, and if you do, negate all Spell effects on your opponent's field this turn. ———————————————— Can Be Found In: Premium Pack 20 (PP20-JP010)

The most common defensive tools nowadays are those that can interrupt the opponent's setups. In a time most Decks focuses on big and/or several summons, stopping a vital part of their turn can cause not only big losses but also a delay of their goals. Additionally, some of these options can also protect us on our own turn, slightly diversifying its purpose to further improve our performance. From traditional Trap Cards to the more popular effects activated from the hand, in one way or another there's a method to interrupt the opponent's best plays.

"White Howling" is a card that can go from a basic counter to affecting entire boards, sharing some similarities to the classic "Imperial Order". Only requiring a WATER monster on our field, "White Howling" will banish a Spell Card in the opponent's Graveyard to negate all effects coming from Spell Cards in the opposite field. Virtually shutting down an entire card type for a whole turn, the results of "White Howling" can go from simply negating a particular card to making an entire field effectless. And with the fact that we also banish an opponent's Spell Card from the Graveyard, "White Howling" benefits goes slightly further depending of the Deck we're facing against.

The requeriments to activate "White Howling" are quite simple for our part, as pretty much makes it a Trap Card suitable for Decks involving WATER monsters. From builds involving "Umi" to archetypes like Dinomist and Mermail, is even possible to play it along a few other Attributes as long WATER is the majority. The main issue might come from the opponent's side, as we cannot activate "White Howling" until they dispose of a Spell Card. The clear solution is to either wait for them to activate a Spell Card which won't stay on the field (Like a Field Spell), or play along discard and milling effects to force them to dispose a few Spell Cards for "White Howling" and any of its copies.

Affecting the entire opponent's board, clearly the results of "White Howling" will vary of the opponent's Deck and the current situation on their field. In most scenarios might only negate one or two Spell Cards at most, but that doesn't stop the card from being as any countermeasure and being chained against a Spell's activation to negate its effects. In other cases entire strategies can be at a total halt for most of the turn, ranging from creating an opening against Stall setups to stopping cards like "Hidden Temples of Necrovalley" or "Chain Energy" among others from damaging our performance. Keep on mind that while banishing a Spell Card is a cost is still a disruptive effect like its main use, taking care of Spell Cards that might be retrieved by the opponent or have an effect in the Graveyard.

Even if "White Howling" doesn't negate entire boards constantly, is still a solid choice to keep any opponent under control. Clearly the best outcome is to affect as many Spell Cards in one go, ranging from Field Spells to Pendulum Monsters in the backrow. But by being used against a single Spell Card along the cost of banishing a card from the opponent's Graveyard, "White Howling" has a solid purpose no matter the Deck we're playing against. However, the true problem of this Trap Card is its requeriments, as while having a WATER monster is quite easy to achieve we must wait for atleast one Spell Card to land on the opponent's Graveyard so we are able to negate any further Spell Cards during the Duel. While has a few shortcomings, the potential of briefly negate several Spell Cards while also banishing a target in the opponent's Graveyard makes "White Howling" a solid choice no matter the circumstances.

Personal Rating: A-

+ Negates all opponent's effects from Spell Cards on the turn is activated + Banishes an opponent's Spell Card from their Graveyard + Easy to play in WATER Decks