Don’t Overlook These Cards! Cosmo Blazer Edition (1)
Months after the release of Cosmo Blazer, there are still plenty of cards that Duelists are just starting to notice. Over the next few days we’re going to be looking at some powerful picks that are flying under the radar, starting with three cards tied to Xyz Summoning.
Garbage Lord is a Level 5 Fiend-Type that you can Special Summon from your hand by paying 2000 Life Points. If you use it for an Xyz Summon, the Xyz Monster you bring out has to be DARK, but Garbage Lord’s speed and supporting cast make it a promising choice.
It’s really easy to get to Garbage Lord, thanks to a Level 3 Fiend you’ll also find in Cosmo Blazer: Garbage Ogre. By sending the Ogre from your hand to your Graveyard, you can grab Garbage Lord straight from your Deck. With Ogre in your Graveyard you’ll be one step closer to Pot of Avarice, and it helps you Summon Dark Armed Dragon, Dark Necrofear, or all sorts of Chaos Monsters.
And since Garbage Ogre is a Level 3 Fiend, you can even Special Summon it with Tour Guide from the Underworld! With Sangan now Forbidden, most Decks running Tour Guide have to Summon their first copy and use its effect to Special Summon their second. There just aren’t that many Level 3 Fiends out there. But if you’re running Garbage Ogre and Garbage Lord, you can Summon Tour Guide and just bring out an extra Ogre. That leaves your second Tour Guide in your Deck so you can play it later.
Since we’re on the topic of cards that combo with Garbage Lord…
…Check out Star Drawing! A Level 4 Spellcaster, Star Drawing can be a Level 4 or a Level 5 for an Xyz Summon. When you use it to bring out an Xyz Monster, that monster will draw you a card when it hits play, all thanks to Star Drawing’s effect.
That’s cool, because normally Xyz Summons just combine two monsters into one, so you have one less monster than you started with. With Star Drawing in the mix you get to draw a card to replace that second monster, on top of whatever cool stuff your Xyz Monsters is going to do for you! And since Star Drawing can be a Level 4 or Level 5 for an Xyz Summon, you can use it for all sorts of different monsters. You can stack it with Garbage Lord to make Adreus, Keeper of Armageddon for free. Or overlay it with something like Cyber Dragon or Solar Wind Jammer to make the new Number 61: Volcasaurus from the 2013 Zexal Collection Tin!
Want to get more mileage out of your Xyz Monsters? You can activate Xyz Double Back any turn on which an Xyz Monster you control is destroyed. Double Back Special Summons the destroyed Xyz, and another monster from your Graveyard with Attack Points less than or equal to the Xyz Monster’s ATK. Then they’re both destroyed in the End Phase.
On the surface this card just looks like a bit of high-impact revenge: if you send one of your Xyz Monsters to attack into something like Mirror Force, or your opponent wipes away your forces with Torrential Tribute, you can bring back your Xyz Monster and then some. You’d score some damage, then lose the monsters you brought back. But there’s a lot more going on here.
For instance, if you Special Summon a monster that has an appropriate effect, you get to use it! Bring back Elemental HERO Stratos and you can search a “HERO” monster from your Deck. Bring up Goblin Zombie, and when Xyz Double Back destroys it, you’ll get a Zombie from your Deck. Remember, if the monsters you Special Summon aren’t monsters during the End Phase, they won’t be destroyed. You can Special Summon a Rank 5 or Rank 6, then use it as Xyz Material for Gaia Dragon, the Thunder Charger.
But the best combo of all might be Diamond Dire Wolf! The Wolf destroys one of your Beast, Beast-Warrior, or Winged Beast monsters in order to destroy any opposing card on the field. Lots of decks play it, because it lets you trade two Level 4’s to get rid of any card you couldn’t deal with otherwise: you can destroy Dire Wolf itself along with your opponent’s card. But doing that counts as destroying an Xyz Monster, so if you have Xyz Double Back ready to go you can bring back the Wolf and another monster along with it.
That can be a game-winning play for decks like HERO, Ninjas, and even Wind-Ups: you destroy your opponent’s most troubling card, then immediately Summon monsters with up to 4000 ATK. Throw in an Elemental HERO Bubbleman off Stratos, or search Upstart Golden Ninja with Ninja Grandmaster Hanzo, and suddenly you’re making Xyz plays for 6000 or more damage.
The Cosmo Blazer booster is still packed with hidden gems, and these are just the first three! Join us again later this week as we continue to highlight some sweet picks you might have overlooked.