When Return of the Duelist was released it brought us 5 “Spellbook” Spell Cards.  Abyss Rising has 5 more, 3 of which we’ve looked at already (Spellbook Library of the Heliosphere, Spellbook Star Hall, and The Grand Spellbook Tower). Today we’ll finish up by looking at the last 2, Spellbook of Eternity and Spellbook of Fate!

Target 1 of your banished “Spellbook” Spell Cards, except “Spellbook of Eternity”; add that target to your hand. You can only activate 1 “Spellbook of Eternity” per turn.

Whether you’re playing a Prophecy Deck or another Spellcaster strategy that uses Spellbooks, one of the biggest advantages you have is search power.  Spellbook of Secrets lets you get to the cards you need when you need them, by searching them out from your Deck.

Spellbook of Eternity does basically the same thing as Spellbook of Secrets, in that it gets you another Spellbook, but it picks up Spellbooks that you’ve used and banished instead of fresh ones from the Deck.  Early in a Duel, when your Deck is still loaded with Spellbooks, using Secrets to get what you want is easy.  But once you start tearing through your Spellbooks and pitching them to the Graveyard, you can run out of important “Spellbook” Spells.  You can unlock powerful effects and get more mileage out of your Spellbooks by banishing them from your Graveyard, and when you do, Spellbook of Eternity will let you reuse them.

These monsters like these have awesome abilities that banish your used Spellbooks, setting you up for big combos with Spellbook of Eternity:

High Priestess of Prophecy banishes Spellbooks to destroy your opponent’s cards 1 by 1, while banishing 3 Spellbooks all at once will let you Special Summon the mighty Prophecy Destroyer from your Graveyard.  Both are powerful attackers from Return of the Duelist.

Emperor of Prophecy is a new heavy-hitter from Abyss Rising.  Its effect lets you banish a Spellcaster you control along with any Spellbook card from your Graveyard, to take control of an opposing monster for the turn.  There’s a lot of combo potential there.  For instance:

-Use the Emperor to steal your opponent’s best monster and banish Spellbook of Life.

-Play Spellbook of Eternity to return Spellbook of Life to your hand.

-Use Spellbook of Life to Special Summon a monster from your Graveyard.

If you bring back a Spellcaster with high ATK, you can make two big attacks: one with your Special Summoned Spellcaster, and one with the monster you took from your opponent.  Or, use Spellbook of Life’s Level-boosting effect to Special Summon a monster that matches the Level of your opponent’s monster.  That way you can use both monsters for an Xyz Summon, and your opponent won’t get their monster back in the End Phase.

Emperor of Prophecy isn’t the only new card in Abyss Rising that combos with Spellbook of Eternity.  Check out the new Spellbook of Fate!

If you control a Spellcaster-Type monster: You can banish up to 3 “Spellbook” Spell Cards from your Graveyard; apply this effect, depending on the number of Spell Cards banished for this card’s activation. You can only activate 1 “Spellbook of Fate” per turn.

●1: Return 1 Set Spell/Trap Card on the field to the hand.

●2: Change 1 monster on the field to face-down Defense Position or face-up Attack Position.

●3: Banish 1 card your opponent controls.

Spellbook of Fate can banish up to three Spellbooks for you to bring back with Spellbook of Eternity, and it unleashes some great effects along the way.  The first two can help you make successful attacks, removing a bothersome face-down Spell or Trap from the field, or shifting a monster’s battle position to soften it up.  You can even use that second effect to turn one of your Flip Effect monsters face-down, or to get another search out of Spellbook Magician of Prophecy.  It’s like a better Book of Moon.

That last effect is a doozy, banishing any card whether it’s a monster, a Spell, or a Trap.  Since there’s no restriction on what you can banish, Spellbook of Fate is a powerful problem-solver.  You can banish three Spellbooks; remove your opponent’s best card; and then keep the hurt coming by reusing one of your Spellbooks with Eternity.  And remember, since Spellbook of Fate is a Quick-Play Spell Card, you can Set it and chain it to something like Mystical Space Typhoon, or play it as a nasty surprise on your opponent’s turn.

Like Spellbook of Secrets, Spellbook of Eternity keeps your Graveyard loaded with Spellbooks, and lets you make your best plays over and over.  Together with some powerful monsters and the flexible new Spellbook of Eternity, it gives Spellcaster strategies a ton of power in the mid and late game.  If you’re looking to add more power to your Spellcaster Deck, these two cards from Abyss Rising may do the trick!