Whether it's in the main deck or side deck Battle Fader is going to see a lot of play when Absolute Powerforce is released. For those of you that haven't read the spoiler yet here's what this little demon does:

Battle Fader is another take on the summoning effect of Gorz and Tragoedia. Unlike those two monsters you don't need take battle damage to summon Battle Fader from your hand and it can be easily search out by Sangan, so it's relatively easy to get Battle Fader into your hand.. All your opponent needs to do is declare an attack and Battle Fader can end the Battle Phase in one fell swoop.

This has huge benefits in a fast paced metagame like the one we are currently in when your opponent can easily clear your backrow and attack for game in one turn. So if you are staring down a horde of Blackwing monsters, Judgment Dragon and the Lightsworn gang, or Brionac and his Zombie buddies you can easily stop all the carnage before it happens by discarding Battle Fader when your opponent declares their first attack. Heck if you are running Gorz or Tragoedia you could even let an attack through if you wanted to summon a beatstick before you end the Battle Phase.

Stall decks should be able to make particularly good use of this card since it will sit safely in your hand until you are ready to use it. Will Battle Fader in and of itself be enough to push these stall decks into the top tier? Only time will tell but it certainly can't hurt. The fact that Battle Fader will also give these stall decks better access to Allure of Darkness because it's a Dark monster is just icing on the cake. In most cases you are probably going to want to hold onto Battle Fader instead of discarding it to Allure of Darkness, but if you are digging for a card to end the game it's probably worth removing Battle Fader from play.

Battle Fader could even see play in Monarch decks. Because of the time that it generally takes them to set up Monarch decks have been deemed to slow for the current metagame. However with Battle Fader on their side Monarchs can easily control your opponent's Battle Phase while putting a monster onto the field to be tributed for a Monarch. At worst you lose Battle Fader while your opponent loses a card from the Monarch effect so you're still at a 1 for 1 trade. This play doesn't generate the same amount of advantage that the deck is used to seeing with Brain Control, but if you can hit one of your opponent's cards with the Monarch's effect and take out one of their monsters in battle you are still going to be coming out in the positive.

The fact that Battle Fader is removed from the field if it's removed from play isn't of huge consequence, it's mainly meant to keep the card balanced so you can't easily bounce it back into your hand so you can reuse Battle Fader over and over again. Still you can put Battle Fader back into your Graveyard with Burial From the Different Dimension and then bounce it back into your deck with The Transmigration Prophecy or add it to your hand with Monster Reincarnation if you really want to.

Honestly Battle Fader doesn't have a tremendous amount of versatility but it doesn't need it. It's very good at what it does and that's protecting your life points from harm.

Bonus Fact: I thought this ruling was really interesting and makes Battle Fader even more fun

I might be missing something, but it says when your opponent makes a direct attack, so Battle Fader can't protect monsters.

You're correct, I spaced it on that part of the effect.

Yeah, it's basically a better Kuriboh in ways for "last resort" attacks and all. Not broken, but still good enough to see use.

I do have a Deck built around annoying the opponent with stuff that can be launched from the hand like Gors, Tragoedia, Battle Fader, Bloody-Teared Ogre, and such, lol.

I like this w/ Cyber Valley in a monarch build.

It's also nice in Zombies or in general alongside Royal Impregnable Fortress/"Imperial Iron Wall". Then use things like Dark Burst/"Eruption" and take it back for reuse and whatnot.

Yep, can't wait to get my hands on this card. Plus, unlike Gorz, it's just a direct attack. With 0 ATK and DEF, opponents will be less likely to Smashing Ground or Fissure it. Plus it's Dark and Fiend, so it fits perfectly in my deck.

I've also been tinkering a bit with them (Gors, Battle Fader, etc) in my Infernity Deck as well. After all, drawing them while I got nothing else can be a nice stall until I get an Infernity that works or something.

im not sure if this would be right or not, but i can see its -direct attack- only thing being in place to prevent GB abuse, no? cause they just atk with somehting, you drop him, tag out. bam. lol, cause with 3 of him and 3 waboku, i dont think anyone would ever dare attack a GB mon ever again. it would be like their own personal honest varient.

Well, one big reason is easy Tribute/Synchro fodder. Another being that that's how it got used in the anime (along with Synchro fodder for Savior Demon Dragon). Also reusable with Dark Burst to add it back to your hand and such. As said, it keeps it decent, but it doesn't make it broken at all since you can't spring it TOO often.

Nah, just every time you're likely to die. This card is pretty ridiculous guys.

The easy tribute makes abuse of cards like Raiza inevitable. It's not broken, but it will be quite a pain in the arse for aggressive duelists, or anyone hoping to attack directly with their Spirit Reaper, Airbellum, etc.

3 per deck. Too bad it's likely to be an Ultra Rare. T'would be nice to have as a common or regular rare.

Well, not EVERY time since they must be direct attacks and there will be plenty of times where simply running over a smaller monster will win you the Duel.

Though stopping aggressive Duelists isn't exactly a BAD thing though. If anything, that sort of thing is needed, but since that's ALL it's mostly good for besides Tribute/Synchro fodder (which also helps that player on the receiving end of the aggression come back to hit the aggressor back), it remains pretty balanced.

Except vs Royal Oppression. I pretty much see this card sided in 2s, and bought out in round 2 if your opponent is a Beater or doesn't have Oppression. Oppression just messes badly with S-Summon from hand cards like these, and it's going to see much more play once ABPF comes out. Heck, it'll probably become limited to 2!

Well Royal Oppression doesn't do anything to Tragoedia or Gorz because they activate in the damage step, but it would work against Battle Fader from the wording I've read since you never enter the damage step.

It looks pretty good,if it's anything under ultra rare,I'll get 2-3 copies for my monarch's side deck,along with holy light.