Battle Pack: Epic Dawn is full of cards that work great by themselves, and while you can use those cards on their own, there are a whole bunch of combos you can do with them and other cards! Utilising cards to their full potential is one of the most important parts of Sealed Play, and it’s important to take note of any of the particularly tricky cards which you may come up against. Here are a few of my surprise picks in the Battle Pack, and how they you can use them to help you in your Sealed Play Duels.

Botanical Lion is a monster with a lot of power in Sealed Play. The Lion is usually going to be a 1900 ATK beater who can take down most Level 4 or lower monsters your opponent plays. Botanical Lion is also immune to any cards that can change control of it. Battle Pack: Epic Dawn sees the comeback of some of the most powerful monster-stealing Spells in Yu-Gi-Oh!, like Change of Heart and Snatch Steal, both of which Botanical Lion is protected from. Sometimes your opponent will need to steal your monster in order to Tribute Summon something to get them through the next turn, but with Botanical Lion under your control, you won’t make it easy for your opponent! It’s also got 2000 DEF, so it can pull double duty as a defender in case you need to hold off a 1900 or 2000 ATK monster.

Needle Ceiling is a card with a brutal name, and an even more brutal effect. As soon as there are 4 or more monsters on the field, you can flip up Needle Ceiling and destroy all face-up monsters on the field! If your opponent is getting aggressive and summoning more monsters in order to get at your Life Points, you can Set your monster, and then Set this card. This way, your opponent will have their entire force crushed before they can even attack and your monster will live! You might think that “4 monsters on the field” is a tough requirement, but it happens more than you think, especially when someone is gearing up to Xyz Summon, or Summon a really big monster like Obelisk the Tormentor.

What can make this card better than Torrential Tribute at times is that it doesn’t need to respond to a Summon, and it only destroys face-up monsters. Using monsters that flip themselves face-down, like Stealth Bird, allows you to save your monsters from destruction. Monsters like Gogogo Golem, and Giant Soldier of Stone work really well with this card, since you can Set them and use this card while keeping them safe.

Besides it being one of my favourite cards outside of Sealed Play, Airknight Parshath is a great card during Sealed Play, too. A Level 5 with 1900 ATK may seem underpowered, considering some other cards like Luster Dragon, but Parshath has 2 great effects that work great together. Firstly, Parshath inflicts Piercing Battle Damage through Defense Position monsters. On top of that, when Parshath inflicts Battle Damage, you can draw a card! Catching a weak defensive monster with this 1-2 punch can leave your opponent defenceless and you with an extra card in your hand, which tends to be a winning combination! Combined with cards like Burden of the Mighty, Enemy Controller, or Fighting Spirit, Airknight Parshath can become a wrecking ball which you can use to unleash havoc on your opponent. Don’t forget about it being Level 5 either; you can use it to Xyz Summon Tiras, Keeper of Genesis or Adreus, Keeper of Armageddon when you’re done!

These are just a few of the great cards in Battle Pack: Epic Dawn that you might underestimate at first glance. If you do manage to pull some of these cards, try them out; you may end up liking them as much as I do!