There’s no shortage of powerful Rank 4 Xyz Monsters to use these days. You’ve got monsters that protect you from attacks (Number 39: Utopia), monsters that can overpower, (Heroic Champion – Excalibur) and key cards for specific Decks (The Evolzars, Blade Armor Ninja etc.). But every so often a new Rank 4 will hit the scene and be a solid card to use in any Deck that can use the service it provides, or even a card that can give older Decks a big boost. Diamond Dire Wolf is one such Xyz Monster.

Diamond Dire Wolf is a Rank 4 Xyz Monster with a modest 2000 ATK, Xyz Summoned by combining any 2 Level 4 monsters. Once per turn you can detach an Xyz Material to target 2 cards; 1 Beast, Winged-Beast or Beast-Warrior you control, and any other card. Diamond Dire Wolf will then destroy them.

For a start, Diamond Dire Wolf itself is a Beast so it can target itself, giving any Deck a way to destroy any card. Just like with Scrap Dragon, sometimes it must be done in order to get rid of your opponent’s strongest monster, or a key Spell/Trap that you need to destroy right away. Except with Diamond Dire Wolf, you don’t need a Tuner.

Diamond Dire Wolf works extremely well with Decks that feed off of destroying their own monsters. Crystal Beasts would be an obvious example, as destroying Crystal Beast Sapphire Pegasus, Topaz Tiger or Amber Mammoth will send them to the Spell & Trap Card Zone, where they can be used for various effects. Crystal Beasts also have several ways of Summoning their monsters quickly, either from the Deck, Spell & Trap Card Zone or Graveyard, and since most of them are Level 4 you can easily Summon 1 or more copies of Diamond Dire Wolf to clear a path to victory.

You could also use Diamond Dire Wolf in Tech Genus (T.G.) Decks as their key trick is to give you free cards whenever they’re destroyed. T.G. Rush Rhino and T.G. Warwolf can both be targeted by Diamond Dire Wolf and when destroyed will let you add another T.G. monster to your hand. Reborn Tengu is another popular card in T.G. Decks and when you destroy it you get to Summon your second copy right away. Finally, T.G. Decks are known for surprising opponents with Horn of the Phantom Beast, giving you a large ATK boost (and potentially some free cards) in the middle of battle. You can also equip Horn to Diamond Dire Wolf, making it a 2800 ATK monster that can destroy whatever it wants and lets you draw cards.

Diamond Dire Wolf is also a strong Extra Deck choice for when you’re playing Heraldic Beasts. The majority of the Deck is composed of Level 4 Beast-Type monsters, which makes it easy to Summon Rank 4 monsters and have targets for Diamond Dire Wolf’s effect. Not only that, but you can combine Diamond Dire Wolf with Heraldic Beast Leo, who gets you a free Heraldic Beast monster (to your hand) when it’s destroyed. Normally, Leo can be Normal Summoned and then destroys itself at the end of the turn, but when combined with Diamond Dire Wolf you can destroy it before then and still get your free card, while also destroying an opposing card in the process. Horn of the Phantom Beast will also be a popular choice for this Deck, again making all your monsters stronger in battle.

Diamond Dire Wolf is certainly a card to look out for at your local Cosmo Blazer Sneak Peek on January 19^th or 20^th. It’s a useful card on its own, can give many Decks a notable boost and will definitely be a popular Extra Deck addition in the near future!