Let’s check some of the tech cards Duelists are using to get an edge over the competition.

Illusion Gate

They don’t get much stronger than this. For half your life points, you wipe out all opposing monsters and put one of them to work for you! Illusion Gate is being played in all sorts of Decks – almost every strategy can take advantage of momentum swing this powerful. The catch is, you can only apply Illusion Gate’s effect once per Duel. That isn’t stopping Duelists from playing two or three copies, because they want to draw the card that badly.

Illusion Gate does have one major issue – it can be negated by Ghost Belle & Haunted Mansion. That means you’d pay half your Life Points for nothing. However, since the activation was negated, you’d be able to resolve a second Illusion Gate later in the Duel.

The Fallen & The Virtuous

We’ve got plenty of Duelists adding a package of Branded cards to their Decks, centered around The Fallen & The Virtuous. This card’s seen plenty of use since it released six months ago, for its effect to destroy a face-up card on the field. It’s a versatile Quick-Play Spell, and you can send Albion the Branded Dragon for its effect. That way, in the End Phase, you can Set another copy of The Fallen & The Virtuous! Of course, you can also send monsters like The Dragon that Devours the Dogma or other utility monsters, depending on your Deck.

The Fallen & The Virtuous changed a lot with the release of Burst Protocol, bringing Ecclesia and the Dark Dragon into the mix. Now you have the option to send this monster to the Graveyard with The Fallen & The Virtuous, and its two effects will be active. This is especially powerful in Dracotail Decks that can fully utilize both of Ecclesia’s effects. This is also now the easiest way to get an “Ecclesia” monster in the Graveyard, enabling the secondary Special Summon effect of The Fallen & The Virtuous!

For all this utility, you only need three Main Deck cards – The Fallen & The Virtuous itself. The Albion, Ecclesia, and any others are all Extra Deck monsters, typically only taking up a few slots.

Dark Magician of Destruction

The newest form of Dark Magician is appearing in many Decks – you just need a Level 6 Spellcaster, and Dark Magician of Destruction is available. You can Special Summon this monster using Diabellstar the Black Witch, Dark Magician Girl the Magician’s Apprentice (which you can find with Berry Magician Girl), or Imsety, Glory of Horus, just to name a few.

Summoning Dark Magician of Destruction lets you add The Gaze of Timaeus to your hand. Then you’ll use Gaze to swap Dark Magician of Destruction for Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon! You’ll lose the Dragoon next turn, but you’ll have its powerful negating effect online for two turns total, and you can attack with it before it leaves the field. Since Gaze is a Quick-Play Spell and Dark Magician of Destruction counts as Dark Magician both on the field and in the Graveyard, this all allows you to wait and play Gaze at the most opportune moment. If you don’t want or need Gaze, you can also find utility monsters like Magicians’ Souls, which puts an additional monster on your field with ease.