ACSCR Number 199: Electromagnetic Shield

There are multiple reasons, why a continuous Spell card could be considered bad. It could have an extremely underwhelming effect, does not correlate with its archetypes Playstyle, support a gimmicky way of playing or is very slow. But the in, my opinion, worst continuous Spell completely disregards the playstyle of its archetype and wants you to play an entirely different strategy. It baffles me, how this card even got printed. I speak of course about “Electromagnetic Shield”.

“Electromagnetic Shield” is technically not a Member of the “Batteryman” Archetype, but its Artwork and Targets correlate so much with it, that I will consider it Part of the Archetype, even if I wish it wasn’t. This absolute Masterpiece of Konamis Design Philosophy gives all Level 3, Thunder-Type Monsters, that are in face-up Defense Position, Battle Immunity. This already is really bad, because all it could do, is stall you for maybe one turn. Ah, who’s kidding, this card or your monsters are already destroyed, before your opponent even began their Battle Phase. But this isn’t even the reason, why this card is so terrible. It’s second line of text says, that this card is destroyed, if you control a face-up Attack Position Monster…… IN AN OTK CENTERED ARCHTYPE. I don't have to tell you why this is such a bad combination.

“Batteryman” are actually one of my favourite Decks, with a fairly linear OTK Strategy and even decent Stall Options in a Domain Monarch Build. They have great Options for reviving their cards, but they lack in Protection, when playing them without Domain, which locks your Opponent out of the Extra Deck. But what they clearly didn’t needed was a card, that gives solely Battle Protection to only Level 3 or lower Monsters, of which you play almost none in “Batteryman”, aside from “Batteryman Micro-Cell” and maybe “Batteryman AA” in very gimmicky builds. And “Batteryman D” in Duel Links, but that is an entirely different Discussion. And yeah, you could set “Batteryman Micro-Cell“ on the First Turn with Electromagnetic Shield in the Backrow, to use it in the next turn as Tribute fodder for "Batteryman Charger", but that would only work if your opponent is stupid, because he won’t attack the Micro-Cell and simply get rid of it with other means, so the whole reason to use “Mirco-Cell”, the “Flip” Effect, won’t go off in most cases, because your Opponent will know that there is a “Micro-Cell” on your field and don’t attack it. And you cannot even use "Micro-Cell's" Destruction Effect, which makes the Shield even more useless. Apart from that has the Deck better Tribute Options for "Bateryman Charger" anyway, especially when you are playing them with monarchs and have access to the "Vassals" and "Squires" which makes this combo even more outdated.

This makes "Micro-Cell" completly obsolete as a Tribute Option.

The only Deck in which "Electromagnetic Shield"  could be somewhat useful, is "Watts", because it’s the only Deck that has many Level 3 or lower Thunder-Type Monsters (which they also don’t play much). But this Deck is also all around Attacking your opponent, so Shield hinders the Playstyle of this Deck, too. Not to mention that "Watts" have a much better Attack Prevention Tool in the "Hooper Loop", which doesn’t cares about Battle Positions and gives targeting immunity, which makes it leagues better. Shield is so restrictive in which Cards it’s protecting and it’s protection is so miniscule, that it’s kinda hilarious, how this card could ever be printed, let alone in 2010, when the Game was already past simple Battle Destruction.

This is so much better than Shield.

When you want to shield yourself from battle, play “Swords of Revealing Light” “One day of Piece”, “Threatening Roar”, “Waboku”  or many other better options, but don’t even try this absolute garbage Card. This Shield is worse than defending yourself with an actual Battery.