Hidden Arsenal 7 Preview: Lavalval Chain
April 17th, 2013
Hidden Arsenal 7: Knight of Stars certainly brings some game-changing Rank 4 Xyz Monsters! Lavalval Chain might have the “Laval” name, and it is awesome in Lavals, but it’s also one of the most flexible Xyz Monsters of all time. With two stellar effects and no restrictions on its Xyz Materials, Lavalval Chain’s going to be showing up in a lot of Extra Decks over the coming months.
Once per turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card to activate 1 of these effects;
●Send 1 card from your Deck to the Graveyard.
●Choose 1 monster from your Deck and place it on top of your Deck.
Lavalval Chain’s first effect looks pretty simple – sending a card from your Deck to the Graveyard isn’t very complicated. But there are many different ways to use that effect in a lot of different Decks!
Cards like these give you valuable effects when you use Lavalval Chain to put them in your Graveyard. Laval Volcano Handmaiden is the most obvious, because she’s a “Laval” monster just like Chain. When Handmaiden’s sent to the Graveyard, you can send another Laval from your Deck to your Graveyard if there’s another Laval in your yard when Handmaiden arrives. That means if you used at least one “Laval” monster as an Xyz Material, you can detach it from Chain to send Handmaiden. The Laval you detached will be in your Graveyard when Handmaiden gets there, so her effect will trigger. That lets you load a second Handmaiden, then a third, and finally one more “Laval” monster! With five Lavals ready to go, you can make big plays with Rekindling or Pyrorex the Elemental Lord.
You can send Mezuki to your Graveyard and banish it later for a Special Summon, or chuck Heraldic Beast Leo to get another Heraldic Beast from your Deck. From Blackwing – Zephyros the Elite and Iron Core of Koa’ki Meiru, to Inzektor Hornet and Wulf, Lightsworn Beast, there are tons of monsters with great effects in your Graveyard.
Sometimes the monster you want to send to your Graveyard doesn’t have an effect on its own, but creates combo with other cards instead. If you have Call of the Haunted Set, you can send a big monster and then Special Summon it. Kick Fire King High Avatar Garunix to your Graveyard, and you can Special Summon it back right away with Circle of the Fire Kings, destroying Chain. You can even get your favorite Light Monsters to your hand with Beckoning Light.
Speaking of Light monsters, sending cards to your Graveyard can help you Special Summon powerhouses like Judgment Dragon, Master Hyperion, or Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning. By sending the right monsters to your Graveyard you can create big plays and unleash some of the most feared threats in the game.
And that’s just Lavalval Chain’s first effect! Its second ability lets you choose any monster from your Deck, then puts it on top as your next draw. That makes it really easy to get to monsters that were almost impossible to search out before. Quicker access to cards like Light and Darkness Dragon, Archlord Kristya, and Rescue Rabbit will make the strategies that use them faster and more consistent.
Some decks even have cards that give you outrageously powerful effects if you can load the top of your deck. Infernities love Lavalval Chain, because it lets them set up the Graveyard for combos, and they can rig Infernity Archfiend. When you draw into Archfiend and it’s the only card in your hand, you get to Special Summon it and search any “Infernity” card from your deck. It often just wins the game by setting off a string of combos, and Chain makes that easy.
If you’re a Hazy Flame Duelist you can play Lavalval Chain to put a monster on top of your Deck, then send it to the Graveyard with Hazy Flame Sphynx’s ability. The Sphynx asks you to guess what kind of card is on top of your Deck – monster, Spell, or Trap – and then gives you a free Special Summon if you guessed right. Since Chain lets you choose your top card, you’ll always guess right.
You can even run Archfiend’s Oath and Gishki Diviner. Both have effects that let you try to name the top card of your Deck, and if you guess correctly you add it to your hand. With Lavalval Chain literally stacking the deck in your favor, you can get two or more draws in one turn.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg! There are hundreds, maybe thousands of different uses for Lavalval Chain. With two awesome abilities you should ask yourself: what could it do for your Deck?
Hidden Arsenal 7: Knight of Stars hits stores on April 26th.