ACSCR: Number 194: Dark World Grimoire

Now we have a special case. We have a card, that references an archetype, in this case “Dark World”, in its name and Visual Design and which’s effect even has to do something with the archetype, but that is obviously not intended to be played by said Archetype. It seems that the card has this connection to the archetype solely, because it revolves around discarding in some Way, even if this has absolutely nothing to do with how the archetype works.

Do you want to read the forbidden Script? It will curse you.

 So, what does “Dark World Grimoire” do? It works only if you discard monster(s), because you exceeded your hand size limit. Then you can target one of those monsters and Special Summon it. So, this Card deals with one of the most forgotten Mechanics of the Game: The hand size limit. If one player has more than 6 cards in his hand during his End Phase, he must discard till only 6 cards remain. This comes rarely in Play, because most Decks nowadays empty their entire Hand in one Turn or have only a few left, but almost never more than six, even in decks that draw a lot. Because if you have many Cards left in your Hand, the Turn was probably bad and you bricked and you shouldn’t play cards that only work when your deck does not. The exception could be if you play a lot of Hand Traps, but even than, you have almost never more than 6 of them in you hand and even if, you don’t need them on your Field, so “Dark World Grimoire” would be useless. The only decks I could think of, that could use this card are decks that want many Cards in their Hand, because they Play “Slifer” or “Mukka-Mukka”, meaning cards, that get stronger by the number of cards in your hand. But these Decks play often Cards like “Finite Cards” to ignore the Hand Size Limit and don’t need a Card like “Dark World Grimoire” that only gives you a little bit Advantage back.

Giant Vulcano Crab! Attack its Weakpoint for massive Damage!

And God sent holy cards from the sky...

Also, you could use the card in decks that draw a lot of cards and also play high Level monsters, that you could summon this way, like a deck using “Heart of the Underdog” or even an “Ice Barrier Deck”. But the former isn’t very good, and you wouldn’t want to play other Spell cards in Conjunction with it, because it would hurt the deck, since you are less guaranteed to draw a normal monster, and the later has many better Options. Also is this way slow as hell and you cannot do anything with the Drawn Cards if you want to summon one big Dude with this effect, because you need the cards in your hand. Also No, “Exodia” decks don’t wanna play this either, because most “Exodia” decks do not play a lot of monsters and even “Blue-Eyes” “Exodia” decks want to end the Game in one Turn and don’t want to draw this card, that do not helps them get to their goal of winning with “Exodia”. So even in decks that it could work in, it has no room at all.

And now to the Elephant in the Room: The connection with “Dark World”. Long Story short, it does not exist. It was most likely done, because of the Discard Effect, but the Discard triggered by the hand size limit, does not activate the Effects of “Dark World” Monsters, because they only activate if they are discarded by an Effect. The effect of “Dark World Grimoire” however discards by a Game Mechanic, so their Effects would not activate. “Dark World” Decks also have in 99% of all cases not much cards in their Hand at the end of the turn, because they revolve around Discarding and not keeping Cards in their Hand. So even if “Dark World Grimoire” could trigger their Effects, you still would not use it, because it’s too slow to even matter.

With this book, you are not welcome here.

Another thing that you could point out is, that the purpose of “Dark World Grimoire” is giving all other monsters the effect of “Dark World” monsters to Special Summon themselves when they are discarded. If this is true, Konami did a very poor job with the execution, by combining it with the hand size limit of all things, making the card almost unplayable. If the card summoned a monster if they are discarded by any means, as a once per turn, this card would be a lot better and could be even broken in decks like Danger, by giving you even more advantage. But as its stands, it does not replicate the “Dark World” playstyle in the slightest.

You cannot replicate this sexy dude.

 So, what remains is a Card that has nothing to do with the Archetype it references, and that Effect is too slow and to insignificant to be played in anything else. This Card is like the hand size limit itself: Easily Forgotten.