ACSCR: Number 196: Mask of DIspel

Just put it out of it's misery, i think it don't even want to be here.

The “Mask” series of Spell and Trap cards were played by Lumis and Umbra in the DM-Anime and revolved for the Most part around locking down or hurting your Opponent. Apart from their Anime Appearance is Mask of Restrict the only Card that people might remember from this series, because it was a highly competitive Card.

It looks like it would eat "Mask of Dispel" for dinner

It simply locks both Players out of Tribute Summons and the Fact that it doesn’t have any Activation Requirements or Drawbacks, makes it an excellent Floodgate and a Staple in any Format that has a Deck in it, that revolves around Tribute Summoning. This Card was especially good against Monarchs and played in most of the Side Decks when Monarchs were heavily Played. “Mask of Restrict” was so oppressive, that some Monarch Decks played Trap Eater, to directly counter it. Even today, “Mask of Restrict” sees some niche play against decks like “True Draco”, which is one of the best decks since 2017 until today. This is fairly impressive for a card from “Labyrinth of Nightmare”.

So, if “Mask of Restrict” is a Card with such an elaborate History and so much competitive Use, the other Cards in the Series cannot be that bad, right? Right?... Well, here we have “Mask of Dispel”. This Card allows you to target a face-up Spell Card on the field. Okay, so far, so unimpressive. And then it does absolutely nothing till your next Standby Phase. Then you get to inflict 500 LP Burn Damage to the Owner of the face-up Spell Card. So “Mask of Dispel” requires a face-up Spell Card to be even activated and then does not do anything to it at all. It does not destroy the Card; it does not even negate its effects. No, your Opponent can still use the card however he wants and the only thing that “Mask of Dispel” does is an okay amount of Burn Damage in any of your turns, which dosn't amount to anything and is maybe the most ineffective Burn-Engine I ever seen. As I wrote in the last Article, just use “Dark Snake Syndrome” or “Cauldron of the old Man”, two Cards whose Damage output gets increasingly stronger and who don’t require an face-up Spell Card to be even activated. Do not even bother with “Mask of Dispel”. The Next Time you use “Mask of Restrict” against your Opponents “True Draco” Deck, you can think about “Mask of Dispel” and thank God, that “Mask of Restrict” has turned out so good.