Yu-Gi-Oh! is a game that is certainly no stranger to giving us cards with odd effects. Some of these cards remain in obscurity, while a few have broken the mold and stuck out later down the line.
Smoke Grenade of the Thief was a flagship example of this trope, thanks to Vylon Cube and Infernoble plays. That bit of fluff aside, today we'll be taking a look at Fiend Comedian!
Comedic Analysis
Let's start with the card text! Fiend Comedian was before PSCT, introduced in Legacy of Darkness, but its effect is simple to grasp. The player flips a coin and then calls it. FC's effect will then depend if you called it right or not.
If you call it right, you get one heck of an effect. All cards in your opponent's GY are banished. Not one like D.D. Crow, not up to two LIGHTs like Ally of Justice Cycle Reader, every single card. Of course, those two have the advantage of not needing to be set, but still!
One might then ask, aren't most coin flip cards with positives held back by terrible downsides? An example would be Cup of Ace. Fiend Comedian, on the other hand actually has a pretty decent "downside."
If you called the coin flip wrong, you send the top cards of your GY into the Deck equal to cards in your opponent's GY. Back in this card's time, this wasn't relevant. However, it aged well.
This results in one of the strongest ways of GY removal or GY setup, all present in a singular easy-to-use Normal Trap card.
For slower GY-based decks, this could be a tool that can help kickstart their engines!
While the mills depend on your opponent, you're usually able to send plenty of cards that benefit certain decks. For example, Trap Burning Abyss can generate a large amount of advantage and Chain Links. This includes synergy cards such as Fiendish Rhino Warrior and Absolute King Back Jack. Paleo Frogs, Eldlich, and Shaddolls are other decks that can use it to great effect!
Initial Showings
Fiend Comedian had an interesting start, first having some scarce but decent showings during the 2008 - 2010 format as a side card option. Oddly enough, the ones with recorded results were on Lightsworn and Zombiesworns.
From what we can infer, this quirky Normal Trap card played to the Deck's favor with either result. You were able to utterly nuke their entire GY of its resources if you called it right! But if not, you got some massive grave setup for your Deck which usually beat out Needlebug Nest. Cards like Wulf, Plaguespreader Zombie, Mezuki, Necro Gardna, and so much more loved being milled.
The card resulted in a somewhat inconsistent but potent win-win scenario, and thus saw light play in the Side Deck.
One thing to note is that whenever Fiend Comedian saw play, the popular decks at the time focused on GY strategies. So while its niche is specific, it's quite good at what it does.
Emperors and Lawns
Fast forward a few years later, we find that Fiend Comedian saw a little more play in the Side Decks of some Lightsworn Ruler lists. While not as broken as Sixth Sense, the theory was most likely similar. Two powerful effects regardless of the outcome.
Not only could you potentially blow out Soul Charge attempts from the likes of Sylvans or other GY strats, but you also got mills for days! That is if you were able to coordinate the call and the coin flip well enough. Since it is a 50/50, it tended to be dicey.
Three years after that we see the appearance of 60-card pile decks thanks to That Grass Looks Greener, and Fiend Comedian managed to sneak its way into a few of the topping decks at the time as a side card. While the stakes were definitely higher this time around with the faster format, so too were the rewards for successful comedian hits!
Nothing like your opponent resolving Grass only for you to either delete their GY entirely or essentially do the same. It was definitely a funny choice for sure and it had decent results to back it up.
Desperado's Laughter
Desperado is still Flippin and Kickin' as a solid deck over in the land of Duel Links. Master of Destiny, despite its previous nerfs, still remains an extremely powerful skill for coin flip strategies. The deck continues to be a top contender, consistently getting players to hit King of Games in the ladder and performing decently well in tournaments.
What does this have to do with Fiend Comedian? As it turns out, this peculiar trap finds a home in Desperado as a versatile option! It's also used because it helps fulfill Sartorius' skill condition. The skill needs seven or more cards with different names to have coin toss related effects in the Deck.
The trap card's usage in the deck is two-fold. Assuming you haven't used up all three of your guaranteed heads, you can use it to wipe their GY. A majority of the meta strategies hate fighting this card as wiping their GY can put a stop to their plays. Noble Knights, Onomato, Blue-Eyes, some Desperado, and even Thunder Dragon can all take massive blows from Fiend Comedian if timed correctly.
On the flip side, you can even intentionally call it wrong to get some mills going, getting cards like Machina Fortress and Desperado Barrel Dragon out of the Deck. Both of these cards like hitting the GY one way or another.
If you've already used all three of your heads, both effects are still plenty potent for the deck.
Lastly, Super Team Buddy Force Unite! is a great way to recover these monsters you milled.
All in all, while mostly tied to one specific type of strategy, Fiend Comedian has managed to make quite a career for itself in Duel Links.
Modern Tech
Right now, one can consider Fiend Comedian if they wanted a fun and surprisingly effective choice that can punish the GY-based strategies of the current format. Dogmatika, Eldlich, Virtual World, Drytron can face major trouble if met with a Comedian that hit at the right time.
Even rogue strategies such as Tribrigade and Dragon Link don't want to face the brunt of a correctly predicted coin flip. However, this does only shine in decks that can make use of the "downside." In addition, consistency is another issue when it comes to the card. The player cannot control which effect they will get and thus the card can fail at crucial moments.
It does face stiff competition from the likes of Naelshaddoll Ariel (and ways to dump her), The Transmigration Prophecy, and even Fiend Griefing thanks to their similar niches. Ice Dragon's Prison is also a card on everyone's radar that's been tearing through the scene.
Despite these flaws, if one is willing to take a high-risk and reward card such as FC for a spin, they may be rewarded for their efforts. Ideally, both effects should put you in an advantageous position if the deck is built around it. That way even if you weren't able to call it right, you can still reap some large benefits. None of its competitors can also provide high mills at the same time as mass GY removal, so that is a plus.
So for what appears to be a meme card, it definitely does have tricks up its sleeves.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, Fiend Comedian is an oddity that's hard to rate objectively. Both of its effects in a vacuum are ridiculously powerful, yet unreliable by nature of it being a coin toss card. One could say its power varies over time and depends on the format. It can either be really good, or really bad. There doesn't seem to be a proper in-between for such a card.
I hope you enjoyed our venture in looking at this Trap card that's nearly two decades old! What do you think of Fiend Comedian? Is it a potent powerhouse or just a funny meme card that's too gimmicky?
