May 2007

Tactical Evolution - Cameron

Hello again, I'm here today to talk about a few cards of interest and why I think this is gonna be a great set. It's got more Elemental Hero support, some of which is good. It introduces the new Venom theme as well as a new game mechanic, the Second Summon. This ability is built in with the new Dual Monsters in the set, they are treated as Normal Monsters while on the field or in the Graveyard so they can get the benefits of Non-Spellcasting Area/Dark Factory of Mass Production. Then you can Second Summon them to turn them into Effect Monsters with actually good effects. The Second Summon takes up your Normal Summon, so if you can Special Summon one you can Second Summon it that turn to get its nice effect.

There's a new Flint Control Deck brewing, as well as a piece of Spellcaster support Dark Paladin would like. The final thing I'd like to mention is that it has Cyberdark Support...Really nice Cyberdark support. We just got Dweller in the Depths, but that's nothing compared to the cards in this set. Here are my highlights:

First, the actually good E-Hero support:

Elemental Hero Dark Brightman
Dark/Warrior - Fusion/Effect
Level 6 - 2000/1000
Text: "Elemental Hero Sparkman" + "Elemental Hero Necroshade"
This card can only be Special Summoned by Fusion Summon. If this card attacks with a higher ATK than the DEF of an opponent's Defense Position monster, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent's Life Points. When this card attacks, it is changed to Defense Position at the end of the Damage Step. When this card is destroyed, destroy 1 monster on your opponent's side of the field.

Nice, put Necroshade in the Graveyard for its effect and fuel both sides of Chaos in Traditional before even getting to the effect. The effect? A slightly bigger Spear Dragon with a Newdoria effect that's not restricted to battle. The opponent won't want to waste a Sakuretsu Armor on this and lose a monster too. Next...

Hope of Fifth
Normal Magic Card
Text: Select 5 "Elemental Hero" monsters in your Graveyard and shuffle them into your deck. Afterwards, draw 2 cards from your deck. When this card is activated, if there are no cards on your side of the field and you have no cards in hand, draw 3 cards instead.

Beautiful, a Pot of Avarice for Elemental Heroes. Shuffle them Fusions back into the Fusion Deck cuz you can't revive 'em, shuffle them Normal Heroes back to search for again with E-Emergency Call/Reinforcement of the Army/Stratos. Heck, shuffle Stratos back, Call him then gain a card summoning him. And if you're topdecking, this card becomes the best topdecker ever!

Now for the new Dual Monsters, I'm a Dragon player so we'll start with my favourite:

Hellkaiser Dragon
Fire/Dragon - Dual
Level 6 - 2400/1500
Text: This card is treated as a Normal Monster while face-up on the field or in the Graveyard. When performing a Second Summon of this card while it is face-up on the field treat it as a Normal Summon. This card becomes an Effect Monster with the following effect:
- This card can attack twice during the Battle Phase.

I love it! Like a smaller Tyrant Dragon (coincidentally my favourite card ever!), I can see myself sending this to the Graveyard with Future Fusion for Five-Headed Dragon, then playing Premature Burial/Call of the Haunted to Second Summon this thing right then and there and attacking for 4800 damage to soften the opponent up for a big blow with FHD in two turns. Nice eh?

There are others, one with 1500 ATK that becomes a monster that discards an opponent's card when it kills a monster, one with 1500 ATK that does the opposite and draws you a card when killing a monster, one Level 5 with 2350 ATK that gets an Asura Priest effect. I just don't feel like listing them. Here's one of their support cards though:

Dual Summon
Normal Magic Card
Text: During this turn, you can Normal Summon once more.

On to the Flint Control Deck pieces:

Flint Lock
Light/Machine - Effect
Level 4 - 1500/800
Text: When there is a face-up "Flint" on the field, it can be equipped to this card. You can use this effect once per turn. Also, if "Flint" is equipped to this card, you can equip "Flint" to another face-up monster on the field. Only 1 "Flint" can be equipped to this card. If this card is equipped with "Flint", it is unaffected by the effect of "Flint" and is not destroyed in battle.

Nifty eh? Works with the equip card to lock up attacks, weaken opposing monsters, and become a bigger Spirit Reaper while holding Flint without its drawback.

Flint Attack
Quickplay Magic Card
Text: Destroy 1 monster equipped with "Flint". When this card is sent to the Graveyard, you can return this card to your deck instead.

I don't know it it's the top of the deck like Horn of Light, or shuffled in like Bait Doll but it's re-usable. Kinda cool eh?

Here's the Spellcaster support:

Fortune Teller of Crystal
Water/Spellcaster - Effect
Level 1 - 100/100
Text: FLIP: Look at the top 2 cards of your deck, select 1 of them and add it to your hand. Return the other card to the bottom of your deck.

Apprentice Magician just got a new friend. I'm not fond of Spellcasters, I'm fond of Dragons. That doesn't mean I don't have a Spellcaster Deck kicking around, and I can see this card being useful in it.

Now for the second coolest part of the set, in case I ever go the way of Zane Truesdale and abuse my Dragons with the Cyberdarks, you can bet I'll have 3 copies of this card in my Cyberdark Deck:

Hound Dragon
Dark/Dragon - Normal
Level 3 - 1700/100

Hellz yeah! A 1700 ATK Level 3 Dragon! This'll pump them Cyberdarks up to 2500 ATK! Awesome, and I like the fact that it's Dark because it combined with Mirage Dragon will set up for my Chaos Emperor Dragon in Traditional. It also goes with the Cyberdarks and their evilness.

Cyberdark Impact!
Normal Magic Card
Text: Return 1 each of "Cyberdark Horn", "Cyberdark Edge", and "Cybedark Keel" from your hand, field or Graveyard to your Deck to Special Summon 1 "Cyberdark Dragon" from your Fusion Deck (This Special Summon is treated as a Fusion Summon).

Beautiful! After the Cyberdarks have roughed up the opponent and bit the dust as every monster will inevitable do, return 'em to your Deck to bust out Cyberdark Dragon instead of removing them from play with Overload Fusion. Since it's been limited, you'd rather save it for Chimeratech Overdragon anyway. This card is infinitely better because the only way to get the Cyberdarks back from the RFG pile is to Special Summon them, and they don't really like that. They would much prefer to be drawn again and Normal Summoned individually. It also sets up for Future Fusion if you wanna break out another Cyberdark Dragon.

These two cards combined with the Dual Monster support card "Dual Summon" will make for very nice Cyberdark support indeed. Now they can get bigger than Monarchs, be fused into Cyberdark Dragon more efficiently, and you can use Dual Summon to break out more than one per turn! I like it, I like it a lot. And I hope you do too.

This will be my Cyberdark Deck in the future, you can't have it! It's mine! lol

Monsters: 25
Cyberdark Edge x3
Cyberdark Horn x3
Cyberdark Keel x3
Cyber Dragon x3
Cyber Phoenix x2
Dweller in the Depths x2
Exploder Dragon x2
Hound Dragon x3
Masked Dragon x3
Twin-Headed Behemoth

Fusion Monsters
Chimeratech Overdragon x3
Cyberdark Dragon x3
Cyber End Dragon
Cyber Twin Dragon
Five-Headed Dragon x3

Magic Cards: 11
Cyberdark Impact! x2
Dragon's Mirror
Dual Summon x3
Future Fusion
Heavy Storm
Limiter Removal
Overload Fusion
Snatch Steal

Trap Cards: 4
Compulsory Evacuation Device
Deck Devastation Virus x2
Ring of Destrucion

Side Deck: 15
Confiscation
Dimension Fusion
Dragon's Mirror
Giant Trunade
Hallowed Life Barrier x3
Jinzo
Lightning Vortex x3
Mirror Force
Mystical Space Typhoon
Sangan
Torrential Tribute

If you run Six Samurai, I might side in 3 Lightning Vortexes and use 'em to discard my Dragons, blow away your field and attack directly all at the same time.

If you run burn, I might side in the 3 Hallowed Life Barriers and use 'em to discard my Dragons, protect my Life Points and attack with a combination of Cyberdarks and 1500 - 1700 ATK Level 3 Dragons that slip under Level Limit and Gravity Bind, and Messenger of Peace with the 1400 ATK Masked Dragon.

I say that I might because I may or I may not. It's my deck and my side deck and I'll side in whatever I want, lol.

Send your questions, comments, etc. to cjrwaud@cogeco.ca. Please no hate mail, I'm really a nice guy once you get to know me.