EARTH Decks are about to be shaken up in the Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME! Return of the Duelist introduces a bunch of new EARTH monsters that will catapult EARTH Decks to a new level of competition.

Grandsoil the Elemental Lord not only boasts an impressive 2800 ATK, but it also Special Summons an ally from either Duelist’s Graveyard to join it when it’s Summoned, just like a little Spell Card you might know named “Monster Reborn.” The combined power of Grandsoil and its new recruit will usually be enough to end a Duel. You can’t conduct your Battle Phase the turn after Grandsoil leaves the field, but if you play your cards right, there’s a good chance that Grandsoil will win you the Duel before that happens!

You’ll need to get exactly 5 EARTH monsters in your Graveyard before you can Special Summon Grandsoil. Luckily, that’s easy to do with some help from Dust Knight and Catapult Zone.

These help you quickly send EARTH monsters to the Graveyard.

Dust Knight lets you send an EARTH monster from your Deck to your Graveyard with its Flip Effect. Catapult Zone lets you send a Rock monster from your Deck to your Graveyard while protecting a monster in battle each turn. These 2 cards will help you get 5 EARTH monsters in your Graveyard quickly so you can Summon Grandsoil!

Return of the Duelist also introduces some brand new Xyz Monsters that can only be Xyz Summoned by using EARTH monsters as Xyz Materials!

Soul of Silvermountain is a Rank 3 EARTH monster that can Special Summon an EARTH monster from the Graveyard when it destroys a monster in battle. It can also freeze an opponent’s Spell or Trap Card in place by detaching an Xyz Material, leaving an opponent unable to use that on-field card against Soul of Silvermountain.

Instead of crippling your opponent’s Spell and Trap Cards, Fairy King Albverdich cripples your opponent’s monsters. Fairy King Albverdich is a Rank 4 EARTH monster that weakens all non-EARTH monsters on the field by 500 ATK and DEF when it gives up an Xyz Material.

We’ll explore some of the combos that help Summon these Xyz Monsters – including a combo that uses a brand new World Premiere card – in a later article.

These cards just provide the groundwork for building an EARTH Deck. There are lots more cards and strategies that you can use to rock tournaments. See what you can build after the release of Return of the Duelist!