Broken Line is an odd card that was released in Circuit Break. Recently, Pak Pamornsut was able to give this card a stunning debut! Placing back-to-back on the two Remote Duel Extravaganza Giant Card event is no joke. He was able to do this with Trap Dogmatika Eldlich, focusing on controlling the field and breaking the board.
While some of the card choices are questionable such as the lack of Cursed Eldland, there's no denying that this Counter Trap stole several games from the clutches of his opponents.
Is Broken Line actually good, or perhaps it's overhyped? Let's take a closer look. Check out his deck profile here!
Breaker of Lines
Let's start by going over what the card does. After that, we can start drawing our points of discussion.
Broken Line allows you to negate the activation of a Spell, Trap, or monster effect, and destroy it! That sounds incredible yes, no cost too! There is a catch though, as it needs to be in that card's column.
This makes it a niche card to begin with and thus competes with both Solemn Judgment and Solemn Strike. Since it hasn't been thought about until recently, time to look at some applications and positives for the card, as it does have its merits.
Strike 4 5 6?
One major way to use Broken Line is to act as a pseudo Strike, acting as extra copies. In this case, you can set it to the column where your opponent has a negate as you try to break their board. While this does mean Strike is a LOT better in this job, Line works best by giving you greater odds at seeing a similar card in your opener, as some would argue.
Borreload Savage Dragon or HRDAA is a classic example. Several cards come to mind for this role, Torrential Tribute or Ice Dragon's Prison are common picks for this. Floodgate cards are also popular, as Gozen/Rivalry/TCBOO can brute force their way through!
While this is by no means a bad play, it's not perfect and can come up short against certain decks, especially ones with strong follow-up.
Divine Wrath was another card that did this and was seeing use from the likes of Jesse Kotton. How do the two stack up against each other?
Wrath is a lot more consistent at stopping a monster effect from anywhere, which makes it stand out. However, the discard cost is steep for most Trap decks as they need their resources. Control decks like Eldlich or BA can get away with this.
Line is limited to stopping things in its column, but can be argued is functionally the same going second without a discard. This does lead to other problems down the line, more on that in a bit.
The Blowout Gamble
Broken Line also has some merit going first, potentially being able to stop blowouts such as LS or Evenly. This is quite good, as those cards can instantly win the game should they resolve against a trap-based deck.
Having an extra way to help with that alongside Judgment seems amazing!
The keyword here "potentially," as gambling is a dangerous prospect for both you and your opponent.
A common theme appears to be when there's a positive thing to say about Broken Line, it comes with its caveats. That should be a good indicator of its quality as a card.
Still, if you're feeling lucky, you definitely could set 5 and give it a go. You can't leave a spot empty, as that would invite them a guaranteed safe spot to activate cards in. Assuming you see one Broken Line, that's a 20% of not losing compared to 100%. Solemn Judgment does this a lot better though, aside from maybe dicey LP situations in timed events.
LP usually doesn't matter, but for trap decks that can't always board monsters, the added pressure does come up at times. Even more so should you be in a timed event (say LCS or Remote Duels), as it's hard to catch the opponent's LP. Now I'm not saying Judgment is worse than Broken Line or anything in this role, just that this is something to keep in mind while using Judgment in an environment like that.
The odds aren't pretty, but they are there regardless. There are some horror stories as more people are trying this card out, able to clutch and deny the opponent of their field wipe.
Mindgame Madness
Lastly, one positive thing you could try out with Broken Line is bluffing it. This is especially prominent should you already have used it in G1 of a match, or if its popularity gets even higher than it already is.
Bluffing can be considered a high-risk high reward technique at times, which is befitting of Broken Line's nature.
In the LCS for example, a topping Zoodiac Eldlich list often went to Verte, making their opponents think they were on Dragoon. This forced early interaction from a harmless threat. Enter Battle Phase to feign Evenly is also a timeless classic.
Similar logic that works for Imperm would also apply to the counter trap in this case. People used to set cards on zones that already had set Spells or Traps to pretend it's Impermanence.
They would also do it on Pendulum Scales, among other things. The Extra Monster zone is also a key place for Broken Line to do its thing if you can get the read correctly.
Against multi-negate boards, you could also do some 50/50 juggling on where to set the card. The first game set it vs Savage, game 2 set it vs Hot Red, and so on.
However, this can also backfire as it puts the game down to a coin flip. Still, one is already sort of gambling if already playing a card like Broken Line, so might as well go big or go home with it. Only do it if you're really keen on using it.
Conclusion
Broken Line is an interesting card that has some promise but is flawed by its design. Should people catch wind of this, it loses a lot of its power unless the user is able to adapt on the fly, which is easier said than done.
It has its moments for sure, but also faces stiff competition with more reliable options. Solemn Strike is still pretty much the king of supporting board breakers while being a good trap going first.
At the end of the day, we can conclude that it's middling. It will never be the best choice in any given format, nor is it reliable enough to be more than a one-hit-wonder. Don't overpay for it.
Until next time folks! I hope you enjoyed this rundown of Broken Line and its applications, pros, and cons.
