Many Duels come down to who can keep the most monsters on the field, and that’s led Duelists everywhere to explore a wide range of Trap Cards over the past couple months.  Cards like Needle Ceiling didn’t see much play for years, but they’re suddenly bursting out of the woodwork and winning Championships.  Looking for something new?  Well, get ready to surprise your friends and confuse your enemies, because Abyss Rising brings us one of the most beguiling Trap Cards of all time!

If a face-up Spell Card(s) in your opponent’s Spell & Trap Card Zones is sent to the Graveyard: You can target 1 face-up monster on the field; destroy that target.

Read it, then read it again. Let it all sink in, then read it once more just to make sure you’ve got it.  Got it?  Okay, good!

Now, pop quiz!  Which of these three cards do you have to activate to send one of your opponent’s face-up Spell Cards to the Graveyard so you can activate That Wacky Alchemy!?

Which one did you choose?  The flexible Mystical Space Typhoon?  The Chainable Dust Tornado?  The MEGA-POWERFUL HEAVY STORM??!!

Well surprise!  If you answered any of the above you missed the point of That Wacky Alchemy! entirely.  That’s okay though, because most Duelists don’t get this one on the first try.
Wait, What Does This Card Do?

The first time you read That Wacky Alchemy! it looks like a pretty narrow card.  “A face-up Spell Card has to go to the Graveyard?” you think, a bit puzzled.  “Not many decks play a lot of those.  There’s Wind-Up Factory in Wind-Ups…  Samurais have Gateway of the Six, Dojo, and United … Dark World plays The Gates of Dark World… And there’s some Side Deck stuff like Dimensional Fissure and Messenger of Peace, I guess.”  And that’s true: those are face-up Spell Cards, and if you were to destroy any of them you could then activate That Wacky Alchemy! But that’s not really what it’s meant for.

See, almost every Deck runs tons of face-up Spell Cards: they just aren’t face-up for very long.  That Wacky Alchemy! doesn’t require you to destroy an opposing Spell Card, it just has to go to the Graveyard.  That includes any situation where a Spell Card is sent to the Graveyard because a Chain finished resolving.

So when your opponent makes their pick with Pot of Duality?  Blow away a monster of your choice and watch your rival try to figure out how to continue without Special Summoning.  Asceticism of the Six Samurai?  Pop whatever your opponent was going to use as a Synchro Material, and let the monster Summoned with Asceticism get destroyed in the End Phase.  Monster Reborn?  Destroy whatever your opponent just brought back.  Or, blow away something else if there’s a bigger threat on the table – you choose what to destroy as long as it’s face-up.  The same trick works against Emergency Teleport, A Hero Lives, Miracle Fusion, and a bunch of other Special Summon effects.  You can even destroy your own stuff if you have something like Sangan on the table.

That Wacky Alchemy! is a flexible, and very precise removal card that’s tough to play against, because it works at a unique time.  Duelists are used to seeing cards like Bottomless Trap Hole or Torrential Tribute when they Summon; they’re also used to Mirror Force and Dimensional Prison when they attack.  They know when to expect those threats, and how to play around them.  But a  removal card that strikes whenever they resolve a Spell Card?  That’s new, and it’s strange and disorienting for most people to play against.  All of a sudden your opponent has to think twice before activating any Spell they play, or risk losing their best monster.

On one hand, That Wacky Alchemy! is a solid monster destruction effect.  On the other, it can keep your opponent from playing Spell Cards as well, which is something no other removal Trap can do.  It’s rare to see a removal card that can be activated at more than one possible time on your opponent’s turn.  Normally, when your opponent Summons a monster they know it’s safe unless they Summon another (risking Torrential Tribute) or they attack (risking Dimensional Prison or Mirror Force).

Do yourself a favor: swap out a couple Trap Cards in your Deck and give That Wacky Alchemy! a try for a few Duels.  You’ll be surprised at how different this card is; once you get used to it, the surprise factor – and how it affects your opponent – can give you an edge you won’t find anywhere else.