Welcome everyone, to another Card of the Week.

This week we'll be taking a look at a relevantly new card. It was just released into the TCG and at an appropriate time too, ready to counter some of the new decks that are sure to make some waves in the competitive scene, as well as some existing decks as we'll see in just a bit.

So firstly, I think I should mention that this is, for the most part, a side deck card. It is a lot more situational than it's counterpart, Skill Drain, meaning that this card will never really be main-decked, even in stun decks, and will most likely be used as a counter.

With that said, let's take a look at just what it counters...
Considering Soul Drain was released in Abyss Rising, along with the new Mermails which are currently tier 1 in Japan, it's obvious that they are one of the main decks this card counters. Mermails rely on Atlantean's effect which all activate in the graveyard, to search, or destroy. There weren't many cards that could actually counter this deck, since the sending to the grave is always a cost, and thus will always be paid, even if you stop the card doing it. Thus Veiler, Crow, Skill Drain, none of which worked. The only real answers were Macro-based sides, or Debunk. Unfortunately not all decks can just slide in macro cards without severely hindering their own plays, and Debunk is only a one for one in a sense providing no really staying power to counter anything thereafter. So as you can see there was definitely a need for a card like Soul Drain, to provide a wider variety of decks more options when it comes to countering.

Then we have the obvious Darkworld. This card provides a type of Shadow-Imprison for decks that are running dark monsters themselves. More than that though, since this card counters two tier 1 decks, it means players can have less cards that counter more decks. This is always a blessing instead of having to add cards that counter one deck, and one deck only. This card will also stop the effects of cards like Elemental HERO the Shining, and Elemental HERO Absolute Zero (even when banished), however it's important to remember that Soul Drain provides no removal, only effect negation, so Shining and Zero would still need to be removed by other means.

Outside of the top tier, we have some other strong decks that this card counters. Decks such as Lancer Frog, Madolche, Gustos, Lavals, even some rogue decks like Zombies. Previously Macro was the go-to for many graveyard reliant decks, or searchers and loops in the case of Gustos. This provides a very fitting alternative while directly taking out the heart and soul (pun intended) of these decks.

I would like to point out a difference in activation between Soul Drain and Skill Drain. It's important to know that you can't wait to respond to an effect activation with Soul Drain. As you will only be paying the cost to activate the card, and will thus not stop the effect you responded to as it had already activated. Unlike Skill Drain which you could respond to an effect and negate it. This means that Soul Drain would need to be activated prior to any effect activation. This does provide some problems as it can dictate your opponent's plays. In essence it means you can't counter during their plays, and they have foresight into your counter, ruling out the surprise factor that cards such as Effect Veiler, D.D. Crow, and Skill Drain provide.


Rulings (all credit to Yu-Gi-Oh! Wikia)

• Paying 1000 Life Points is a cost.
  
• This card cannot be activated during the Damage Step.
  
• The effect of "Soul Drain" prevents the effects of monsters that are in the Graveyard or that are banished from being activated, so even if "Soul Drain" is active, effects that are activated on the field like "Cardcar D" or "Rescue Rabbit" can be activated.
  
• If "Soul Drain" is applying its effect that prevents monsters in the Graveyard or that are banished from activating their effects, a "Giant Rat" or "Mystic Tomato" that have been destroyed in battle and sent to the Graveyard cannot activate their effects.
  
• Special Summoning "Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World" doesn't start a chain. Therefore, even if "Soul Drain" is active, "Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World" can be Special Summoned by returning a "Dark World" monster to the hand.
  
• The effect of "Honest" activates in the hand and sends "Honest" to the Graveyard as a cost. Therefore, even if the effect of "Soul Drain" is being applied, the effect of "Honest" can be activated.

Card Trivia (all credit to Yu-Gi-Oh! Wikia)

• This card is a counterpart to "Skill Drain": both are Continuous Trap Cards that require 1000 Life Points to activate; the difference is that this card negates monsters' effects in the Graveyard and that are banished, while "Skill Drain" negates the effects of monsters on the field.
  
• "Revived King Ha Des" is featured in this card's art.
  
• This further shows its relation to "Skill Drain", which depicts "Dark Ruler Ha Des".
  
• This card's art may depict the defeat of "Revived King Ha Des" as a zombie, through the removal of his soul or draining it, therefore leaving him with no vessel.
  
• It could also be possible that this card depicts "Dark Ruler Ha Des'" transformation into "Revived King Ha Des". In his original form, he could not be revived from the dead, so he either willingly or by force of an enemy drained his soul and left himself as a being of eternal resurrection.

After Cosmo Blazer is out this will be one of the main side deck cards. It just fills that needed gap to stopping certain decks but with more than a one-for-one counter or disruptive play, but a lasting card effect to stopping these decks. So with that, any thoughts, questions, or additions are welcome!

Discuss!

this card would totally block my shark deck. its worth to put it in sideboard if your deck dont play with effects from graveyard/banished

All those rulings are completely unnecessary and should be common sense derived from a good understanding of game mechanics. Good card though.

Can really be an awesome counter to mermails !!! gotta put this in side deck

Nice review , I soonly started siding this in any deck , that is affected by Macro . Never really used it vs DW though , but I see it partly kills them due to Grapha's ability to return .
Also you missed to mention it's effect on frog based decks .

Sabbaticus wrote:

Outside of the top tier, we have some other strong decks that this card counters. Decks such as Lancer Frog [...]

It was mentioned, I just didn't go in-depth into every deck it counters.

Also Soul Drain DOES NOT stop Grapha's special summon ability, however it stops all other DW effects.

Great Review Sabba ! Once i saw this card, DW Crossed my mind immediately, good vs DWs and the other decks u mentioned. Keep up the good work.

Nice card choice, Soul Drain, a card that will see a lot more play due to the rise of Atlanteans like you said: great side deck alongside Macro against Mermail / Dark World.

Dear good it seams that DW enoy everione hire !

Quote :

Dear God, it seems that DWs annoy everyone here!

*
Fix'd
And no. Not really. I've beaten many DW decks. Repeatedly.

Anyway, nice review Sabbz, I like it, and this will probably be a card I might even throw into my side in the near future

Siding this auto-won me a couple games vs Madolche. Such a good card.

You know, there's this thing called MST/Dust Tornado... A lot of decks that realize how vulnerable they are to cards like this post-siding will usually side in a good amount of S/T removal. Madolche as they are right now are too slow, but if they ever get as fast as DW, there'll be no such thing as auto-win cards.