Astral's Advent Observations: The Kuriquel - DAY 8!

Welcome back to the start of another week of Astral's Advent Observations: The Kuriquel, where we're taking in that holiday spirit one Kuriboh-related card at a time.

The date is eight, so let's hope it's great!

Seems we've taken a break from the Winged Kuriboh family to be introduced to Junkuriboh!

General Observation:

After a couple curveballs, we're back to a pretty standard Kuriboh family Monster. Junkuriboh shares the common Kuriboh trait of its effect kicking in after its sent to the graveyard, however, in a bit of a unique twist, you can send it there using its effect either from your hand OR field. Said effect negates the activation of and destroys cards that have effects that specifically deal damage to you, regardless of whether it's a Spell, Trap, or Monster. Handy if you're facing an opponent whose strategy heavily relies on dealing effect damage or if you want to nip a card like Ectoplasmer in the bud early on in order to save your Monsters from being forcibly tributed.

Trivia Observation:

Junkuriboh was first printed in the TCG set Premium Gold: Infinite Gold. As you could probably guess by the name, Junkuriboh first appeared in the special bonus chapters of the Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's manga under the ownership of Yusei Fudo. Y'see, for years, Yusei was the ONLY Yu-Gi-Oh! protagonist to NOT have his own Kuriboh Monster and it took until even the 5D's manga had already ended (said special chapters were printed afterwards) for him to finally join the Kuriboh club. (Junkuriboh even has Yusei's "criminal" face mark, he was so custom-made for him.)

Junkuriboh's manga effect differed a bit from what eventually saw print in the TCG. Originally, Junkuriboh could negate attacks as well as effect damage, however the caveat for said effect was that said attack or damage HAD to be enough to potentially bring your LP down to 0. Guess they had to make his effect in the game more generally and less situationally useful.

Personal Observation:

Wow, I COMPLETELY forgot that those special chapters existed. Guess I need to reread the 5D's manga.

Junkuriboh's all done, but come back tomorrow for another card on Day 9 of Astral's Advent Observations: The Kuriquel!