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[MyBlackwingPlaylist]

Afternoon. By your votes, this REDU card has been picked to be reviewed. Bask in its snowy goodness - Soul of Silvermountain.

Quote

EARTH Rank 3
[Rock/Xyz/Effect]
2 Level 3 EARTH monsters
Once per turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card to target 1 Set card in your opponent's Spell & Trap Card Zone; it cannot be activated while this card is face-up on the field. If this card destroys an opponent's monster by battle while it has Xyz Material: You can target 1 EARTH monster in your Graveyard; Special Summon that target in face-up Defense Position.
ATK/1800 DEF/2200

So, this card is similar to Fairy King Abercrombie, being exclusive Xyz support for EARTH monsters, 'cept it's Rank 3. Its effect is almost the antithesis of Olderbitch, with the purpose of disabling the opponent's backrow. It also has a second effect, allowing it to grab any EARTH monster from your Grave and play it in Defense once Soul kills an opponent's monster. 1800 is decent, considering the card will probably not be attacking head-on, usually with the help of cards like Book of Moon.

Soul of Silvermountain has a big ally in Wind-Ups. With Wind-Up Rat and Wind-Up Rabbit, 2 of the key Wind-Up monsters, being Level 3 EARTH monsters, Silvermountain is an easy addition. Rat's effect essentially turns itself into a Silvermountain, since you lose no card advantage. Since Wind-Ups are so big on swarming, Silvermountain is able to eliminate possible threats before going in for a big assault.

A deck that can really make use of Soul is X-Sabers. Being composed of several key EARTH Level 3s, X-Saber decks can churn out this Xyz easily. Better yet, almost all of their Level 3s make Xyz Summoning easier. XX-Saber Fulhemknight can not only protect itself for a turn, but it can Special Summon another monster from the Grave. XX-Saber Emmersblade and XX-Saber Darksoul are both floaters, meaning they'll keep grabbing more materials. Since X-Sabers resemble Wind-Ups in their strategy of swarming for the kill, Silvermountain will similarly be used in such a deck. Of course, if it manages to take blood from your opponent, he'll summon out more powerful Sabers from the Graveyard, even XX-Saber Gottoms!

Fellow REDU cards, the Madolches, will also work nicely with Soul. Their Madolche Mewfeuille will be able to Special Summon another copy of itself or Madolche Baaple from your hand, meaning insta-Xyz. A nasty move to do is to summon Baaple and switch the position of one of your opponent's low DEF monster with its effect, as well as Mewfeuille, and then Xyz into Silvermountain. From there, you can just attack and use Silver's effect to add one of your EARTHs to the field. (hinthint: Give your opponent a taste of the Bitch Puddin'. BLAYUM!)

There are also several other rogue ways of summoning this card, ranging from Gilasaurus, Marauding Captain, and even in Nordics. It's EARTH Attribute, so really it isn't THAT hard to get out. It has a myriad of uses.

Silvermountain does have one fatal flaw though, and that is that it can be chained to. That really stings its usability in some situations, since all you could end up doing is forcing the activation of Compulsory Evacuation Device or Mystical Space Typhoon.

Usability: 7/10, a decent card, but it's hurt by the current format where many things are chainable.
Art: 8/10, nice mountains

[Sho Shinjo]

While a particularly situational card, Silvermountain is one of those "high risk, high benefit" cards.

Its first effect, most of the time, will end up being meaningless. Unless you manage to lock down a Dimensional Prison/Mirror Force and secure a kill, you won't be using the first effect a lot.

It's the revival effect which makes this card shine. Free monsters are always cool, and just like cards like Karakuri Ninja mdl 919 "Kuick" and XX-Saber Fulhelmknight have taught us, you don't need massive ATK, just a well-placed opportunity. Free monsters are always a huge plus, and this is no exception.

As MBP mentioned, Sabers and Wind-Ups really like this guy, as free Rabbits and Darksouls are nothing to scoof at. Rock Stun builds can easily Block Golem into this, grabbing back a Koa'ki Meiru or a Jujitsu Master for a second round. And of course, if the build happens to be a Solidarity Rock Stun one, Silvermountain goes to a VERY threatening 2600 ATK.

An use that he did overlook though was Geargias. Geargiano Mk-II easily turns into this, by reviving another Mk-II, the original Geargiano or a Geargiarsenal, which tributes itself to search a Geargiano monster to overlay with. From there, you can easily grab Arsenal again to grab Armor back, or even Armor itself. Even Accelerator is a good revival, as it replaces itself with any in-Grave Geargia. If you have a Mk-II in Grave, reviving Accel might lead to future Rank 3 Summons. Or you can revive something, then setup for a Steelswarm Roach or Gear Gigant X in Main Phase 2, securing your win for the next turn. He's also rather awesome in Geargiakuri, where Burei can force battle positions to be whatever you want them to. Switch that threatening monster to its weakest position, then pummel it and grab some free monsters!

Once it fulfills its role, it can wall with a respectable 2200 DEF. As mentioned above, the backrow-stunning effect isn't that good, but if you're sitting into a 2200 wall, locking some backrows might be a good plus. After all, people tech Xing Zhen Hu every now and then, so this guy can be used in a similar way.

A thing worth mentioning is that this guy is especially useful if your Deck can side Gozen Match. Most of the time, Gozen forces monsters to stay in disadvantageous positions and promotes slow play for the affected player. Is exactly on these situations when Silvermountain shines the most, turning those dead ATK position Wind-Up Magicians or Synchro Materials into free monsters on your side. Since cards like Pearl, Albverdich and Temtempo are also available as EARTH Xyz monsters, you still have a rather nice toolbox to Xyz into.

Overall, Soul of Silvermountain is a pretty good monster, both in usefulness and balance. More ATK than it currently has would break it too much IMHO, so he's just perfect like that, and limits him to its intended use: an excellent Xyz monster for very specific situations.

If your Deck can Summon it reliably and you have room in your Extra Deck, give it a try. You'll be surprised.

Traditional: Nope/10.
Advanced: 8/10 A very solid card for specific builds. Very balanced.
Art: 8/10 It actually looks pretty badass.

[Blydden]

Everything Sho said. Madolches love this guy, I should know! Madolches love graveyard-cleaners, and Soul of Silvermountain is definitely just that.

8.0/10. One of the most balanced Xyz monsters.

[kyros27]

I love this guy in Wind-Ups.  I detach Rabbit to lock down a back row card, ss like crazy, kill something, get Rabbit back, flex.

[warrain]

Such a good card. So simple so good. So much earth means so many choices and locking down a s/t card us perfect in natura decks. Oh but they like to negate not lock.. Well as was said since this can be chained to, you more than likely will be forcing your opponent to activate it, thus forcing them to activate something for you to negate. Win win win.


4/5 cause I think I'll be building that deck again