Stray Lambs
Normal Spell Card
IOC-092, Rare

"When you activate this card, you cannot Normal Summon, Flip Summon, or Special Summon during this turn. Special Summon 2 'Lamb Tokens' (Beast-Type/EARTH/1 Star/ATK 0/DEF 0) in Defense Position on your side of the field."

Stray Lambs is a card very similar to the already-reviewed Scapegoat which summons a set of zero-power monster tokens. You may wonder what the uses of Stray Lambs are when Scapegoat seems more powerful, but that's one of the things this review is going to address. Like Scapegoat, it has amazing versatility.

It is certainly possible to use this card as emergency Life Point defense in the same way one would use Scapegoat, but this is less viable for two reasons: you only get half the tokens, and this card is not a Quickplay, which means you have to activate it during your Main Phase. Also, it's a bit of a waste because of the primary difference between this card and its brother -- Lamb tokens, unlike Sheep, can be used as Tribute for a Tribute Summon. Like Scapegoat, Stray Lambs combos well with cards that want a large number of monsters on the field, either of any type or some specific type, including United We Stand. The Lambs are also still useful for other types of Tributes, too, such as Ritual and for card costs.

Given their similarities, is it useful to run both in a deck? I think so, and I did for the first time in my latest beatdown deck. They both function well under different circumstances. I sometimes have trouble making room for both, and when I can't, I usually choose Scapegoat over this card because it's slightly more powerful. But this is not a card to be underestimated. Under the right circumstances, it can make summoning your most powerful monsters much easier. Combo this card with Swords of Revealing Light, The Dark Door, Mirror Force, or generous Waboku to protect the Lambs until your next turn. In combination with Scapegoat, it also gives you generous stall power. As soon as you have lost 1 Scapegoat, you can use this card to fill your field up completely. Just beware mass destruction in BOTH play formats. These fuzzballs are not immune to Torrential Tribute.

I will classify Stray Lambs as a Great card for all deck types. It scrapes into the catagory most of all because of the help it gives to costly tributes. If you run a tribute-heavy deck, definitely consider using this to speed it up a bit. Even if you don't, it can still help out a ton at critical times.