YGO- Countdown to Starstrike T-minus 8 days: Sazanku, Karakuri Ninja

Now, in our very first preview of Starstrike Blast, I voiced my disapproval of the karakuri archetype. These weird little clockwork machines play by very strange rules, not all of which I'm a fan of. That said, today's preview card is part of that same archetype and is certainly worth mentioning. Here he is:

Yep, that's right, he's a 3 star, non tuner, 1200 attack effect monster. Not a synchro, not a fusion, just a monster. He isn't even especially rare in the coming set (netting the rarity of 'super rare' in the japanese set). Now, why am I even bothering to talk about him? Lets take a look at his abilities to see why:

This card must attack if possible. When this face-up card is selected as an attack target, change it to Defense Position. When this card is flipped face-up, select and send 1 face-up monster on the field to the Graveyard. Also, this card can attack your opponent directly during that same turn that it is flipped face-up.

Alright, looks like we have quite a few things to talk about. First of all, Sazanku shares the karakuri abilities (and potential handicaps). He must attack if possible and switches to defense position when declared an attack target. With 1200 attack, that first ability seems like kind of a pain, since he certainly wont be able to take down something like a Goyo Guardian by himself. But with cards like Rush Recklessly or Shrink, even the famous kabuki monster can be cut down to size.

Now, Sanazku has two more abilities, both of which are pretty cool. His first, the ability to send a monster to the graveyard, when he's flipped face-up. This inclines me to mention my best strategy with this card. play him face down. It seems that he's meant to be a sudden attacker (what with him being a ninja and all), and putting him in face-down defense position for your opponent to attack into and have their monster destroyed for their troubles seems to be the way to go.

His final ability is possibly the funniest of all of them, after he's been attacked and destroyed the monster that attacked him (or another one on the field), he can attack directly the turn after he's turned face up.

All in all, I'm still not convinced of the awesomeness of the Karakuri type of monster, but with Sazanku, I'm a little more inclined to believe that they might be a viable type, come November.

-DS