Card tips: Moonlight Rose Dragon

1 Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner monsters

When this card is Special Summoned, OR when a Level 5 or higher monster is Special Summoned to your opponent's side of the field face-up: Target 1 Special Summoned monster your opponent controls; return that target to the hand. You can only use the effect of "Moonlight Rose Dragon" once per turn.

Moonlight Rose Dragon was released as a part of the YGO 5ds comic book as one of the promo synchro monsters. However, it is rather unique compared to the other promo synchro monsters which were also released for the same comic book, where their effects are relatively similar to their counterparts'. For example; both Stardust Spark Dragon and its predating counterpart, Stardust Dragon, have protective effects which would prevent destruction. Or Hot Red Dragon Archfiend, which share the similar effect that involve the destruction of face-up attack position monsters with its counterpart, the Red Dragon Archfiend. In Moonlight Rose Dragon's case,
while its counterpart, the Black Rose Dragon is feared for its destructive effect which would annihilate the entire field (including itself), the Moonlight Rose Dragon is more oriented to field control and dominance as its effects 'bounces' monsters on the field rather than destroys them.

The fact that Moonlight Rose Dragon's effect activates on either players' turn makes it a very disruptive card which may cripple the enemy's strategy so much to the point where they can't even start the combo as long as Moonlight Rose Dragon is on the field. The user of synchro decks such as Karakuri, Quasar or any synchro-oriented decks are guaranteed to have difficult times progressing through the duel if the opposing player manages to summon Moonlight Rose Dragon before they start their combo. Decks which utilize powerhouses and high-level monsters such as Mermails would also be facing tough times when Moonlight is summoned before they monsters could hit the field. Even top-tier decks such as Shadolls may found this card to be a potential threat to their combos.

However, there are some major disadvantages to this card effect. The most prominent is the fact that it is a mandatory, which means that the controlling player can't choose when to activate Moonlight Rose Dragon's effect. It simply activates whenever a level 5 or higher monster is summoned to the field. Therefore, even if the opponent summon monsters which can be summoned easily after being 'bounced' such as Cyber Dragon or Tefnuit, the player will still have to activate Moonlight Rose Dragon's effect, despite knowing that such action will be a waste.

Combos:

As a generic level-7 synchro monster, Moonlight Rose Dragon doesn't need any specific types or attributes for its synchro material monsters, making it splashable in almost every decks which utilize synchro monsters such as Karakuri or Zombie-synchro. Being a Dragon monster, it also can be easily summoned through the effect of Debris Dragon. In the current Lightsowrn decks, the fact that it is light-attributed will also help the player to gather the resources for the summoning of Lightray monsters such as Lightray Diabolos.

One of the combos which I found to be interesting involve Shadolls decks, especially the Shadollsworn. While one of Moonlight's major weaknesses is its mandatory status, the weak spot could be easily covered by El-Shadoll Midrash as it only allows each player to summon once every turn. So whenever Moonlight bounce a monster, Midrash will be there to ensure that it is the last special summon that the player will conduct for the rest of the turn. A powerful lockdown, and frightening combo for decks such as Dragon rulers, Hieratic, Mermails, and many more. There are a lot of ways to summon Moonlight Rose Dragon in Shadoll/ Shadollsworn decks:

• Shadoll Roots/ level 4 monsters + Minerva
• Standard Lumina +  Raiden
• Shadoll Beast + Shadoll Falcon
• If necessary: El-Shadoll Midrash + Shadoll Falcon 

The last combo will also grant the Shadoll Fusion spell back to the controlling player's hands; therefore, after Moonlight is summoned, the player could use the spell to fuse for El-Shadoll Midrash again.

Well, the last thing about the card which I would be commenting is about the artwork. I personally don't think that it is cool at all. Compared to the menacing artwork of Black Rose Dragon which always brings the memories of field annihilation whenever I see it, Moonlight Rose Dragon's pose in the artwork makes it looks like an abnormally short dragon with a supernaturally long tail. Kinda look a chicken don't you think?

level 7? Oh no..