Dark Ruler Ha Des
Dark, Level 6, [Fiend/Effect]
ATK: 2450, DEF: 1600
MC1-EN006, Limited Edition Secret Rare (Master Collection Vol. 1 Promo)

"As long as this card remains face-up on the field, negate the effects of Effect Monsters destroyed by Fiend-Type monsters on your side of the field as a result of battle. This card cannot be Special Summoned from the Graveyard."

I ran out of time to review all of the interesting cards in my last deck, so I'm moving on to bigger and better things. Today I'm reviewing two of the helpful cards in my newest deck, and the first is Dark Ruler Ha Des, the sovereign lord of the Fiend-Type monsters.

Dark Ruler may seem like a step down from Summoned Skull at first. He's unsearchable, he has 50 less ATK, and he can't be resurrected from the Graveyard. In my opinion, though, searching for tributes isn't that critical, 50 points of ATK don't make a huge difference, and he can still be summoned from the RFG pile and brought back to the hand or deck from the Graveyard. The extra restrictions don't hurt him enough to negate his good stats and effect.

When Dark Ruler Ha Des is in play, all of your Fiend-Type monsters can negate the effects of your opponent's monsters when destroying them in battle. That, of course, includes Summoned Skull, and running the two together is not out of the question. This is very powerful, as it protects you from Jars, Different Dimension warriors, and a host of other common flip effect monsters. This kind of effect on a Level 6 tribute is great and not that common. This card isn't quite in the same class as Jinzo, but he works on a similar principle -- a combination of numerous good attributes making a desirable card.

Fiends are, unforunately, not a very strong deck type in the current metagame. Amongst the scant playable support for them are some of the following cards: Bark of Dark Ruler, a trap that reduces an opponent's monster's ATK by an amount equal to an amount you choose to pay in Life Points; Dark Necrofear, the powerful Special-Summon-by-removal-from-Graveyard Fiend who possesses an opponent's monster when she is destroyed; Goblin King, a Level 1, 0 ATK/0 DEF monster who cannot be attacked if there is another Fiend on the field, and who can power up as high as 9000 ATK depending on the number of Fiends on the field; and Winged Minion, a monster who can sacrifice itself to give another Fiend-Type a permanent 700 point ATK boost.

You can see that while I didn't try to run a heavy Fiend element in my beatdown deck, I did add a large percentage of Fiend beatsticks in order to take advantage of Dark Ruler's effect. Unfortunately, I never got to summon Dark Ruler in any of my duels -- with only one of him, he just wasn't showing up when I could use him. I'm sure that if he had, though, I could have put him to good use. I give Dark Ruler Ha Des a Good classification in general, because he is another strong Level 6 Tribute monster. I give him a Great classification for Fiend decks, which need all the support they can get. If I can find the Master Collection at a store, I'll have a second copy of this card, and I may run both next time.