Abyss Rising is just 2 days away! While you may have gotten your first taste of the new Mermail, Prophecy, and Spellbook cards at the Sneak Peeks last weekend, that’s not all Abyss Rising has to offer! There are plenty of other cards you can pick up and play that’ll come in handy when you Duel no matter what kind of Deck you use. Memory of an Adversary is one of those cards!

Memory of an Adversary is a Trap Card that you can activate when your opponent’s monster declares an attack. You take damage equal to the attacking monster’s ATK, and then banish the monster. However, at the end of your opponent’s next turn, the banished monster is then Special Summoned to your side of the field, where you have complete control over it!

There are many reasons why you’d want to banish your opponent’s monster instead of simply letting the attack through and taking the damage. First off you’ll be able to prevent your monsters from being destroyed, which is important if you need to keep them on the field for their effects or Xyz Summoning. Second, you’ll be depriving your opponent of their monster, giving you an opening to attack on your turn. And finally, if you’re about to take a direct attack you may as well get a free monster out of it instead of just losing the Life Points as you would normally!

Banishing your opponent’s monster and then taking control of it later on opens up a lot of different strategies. You could banish it, attack directly with your own monster next turn and then Summon their monster at the end of their next turn. For some more specific examples of when this is extra useful, you could banish their Number 39: Utopia and when it’s Summoned to your side of the field (without Xyz Materials) you can use it to Xyz Summon Number C39: Utopia Ray. If you take control of their Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning you can turn one of the most powerful monsters in Dueling against it’s owner. If your opponent dares attack with a Spirit Reaper (in order to discard a card from your hand), you can prevent that while Summoning it in Defense Position soon after!

With that said, Memory of an Adversary is especially good when your opponent is playing the same Deck as you because your opponent’s monsters will have effects that you want to use for yourself! If you’re playing in an Elemental HERO mirror-match, you could banish their Elemental HERO Stratos, and when it’s Summoned use its effect to add a free HERO monster to your hand (or destroy opposing Spells and Traps). It even works against things like Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon and Mermail Abyssmegalo!

Memory of an Adversary is a tricky little card which can have big implications on how a Duel develops. If you want to turn your opponent’s best monsters against them, you can start doing it this weekend!