Last time, we talked about the 10 cards in Battle Pack 2: War of the Giants that can get rid of a monster without resorting to battle.

In addition to those “Killer Ten,” there are ten more cards that can eliminate a monster that is stronger than they are. However, each of these “Ten More” cards has to fight in order to do it. They can take down a bigger monster, but they still have to fight.

The reason that this is important is because of the attack stoppers in the set. All of these “Ten More” cards have to actually reach the Damage Step in order to dispose of a monster with their effects. If you can stop the attack before it reaches the Damage Step, then your monster will be safe.

The most common way to stop an attack in War of the Giants is by changing the attacker’s battle position, with cards like Windstorm of Etaqua, Zero Gravity, or Kunai with Chain. There are also cards that stop attacks in other ways, like Draining Shield, Bacon Saver, and Tasuke Knight.

If you can make it to the Damage Step, though, any of these “Ten More” cards can eliminate a monster. However, they do so in a variety of ways.

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The “If I Go, You Go” Monsters

These monsters can take out any other monster in the set, but will also be eliminated themselves.

D.D. Warrior Lady: In the Damage Step, you have a choice of banishing it and the monster it is fighting. Since you make the choice after damage calculation, it’s a pretty simple one: if you lost the fight, you’ll want to banish both monsters. You also might want to banish them if you fought a high-DEF monster you can’t eliminate through other ways, or if you fought a monster with some temporary immunity to being destroyed, since protection against destruction won’t protect it from being banished.

D.D. Assailant: Similar to D.D. Warrior Lady but much simpler, since its effect isn’t optional and only works when Assailant is destroyed by battle. It has higher ATK, though.

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The “You’re Goin’ DOWN” Cards

These cards will absolutely, positively, eliminate the monster they battled with. (As long as you can get to the Damage Step, of course.)

Hyper Hammerhead: Anything that fights this Dinosaur and lives, goes back to the hand at the end of the Damage Step. Note that this effect activates even if Hyper Hammerhead was destroyed during the fight. You can attack something stronger to get rid of it, knowing that Hammerhead will die in the process; OR use it to bounce a Defense Position monster back to the hand, with no harm to Hammerhead; OR just run something over with Hammerhead’s Attack Points, the old fashioned way. Bouncing a low-level monster to the hand can clear the way for more attacks, but the opponent can Summon it again on their next turn. Bouncing a high-Level Tribute Monster is VERY effective, though, since they’re less likely to have stuff to re-Tribute next turn. Bouncing also destroys all cards equipped to the other monster, so it’s a great way to eliminate a monster that’s jacked-up with lots of Equips. Hyper Hammerhead also makes a good Set. If your opponent has a big Tribute monster, maybe they’ll attack into it (not a good idea, by the way – clear out face-down monsters with your weaker attackers). But even if they don’t attack your face-down Hammerhead with their big monster, whatever attacks it isn’t going to remain on the field.

Bull Blader: This monster will destroy whatever it’s fighting after damage calculation. It also prevents either player from taking damage to their Life Points in this attack. NOTE that Bull Blader itself can be destroyed by battle!! However, in that case, it will still destroy whatever it was fighting (ditto for Hyper Hammerhead). However, this makes it more useful than the “If I Go, You Go” cards when fighting a high DEF monster, since Bull Blader doesn’t actually have to die in order to take down whatever it’s fighting. Also note that you must decide whether to use Bull Blader’s effect at attack declaration. If you attack a weaker monster, and choose NOT to use Bull Blader’s effect because you’re confident you will win, then your opponent pumps up their monster’s ATK, you’re out of luck. Bull Blader will be destroyed in the battle, but since you chose not to use its effect, you won’t destroy the enemy monster. Bull Blader is an extremely powerful card, but you have to commit in advance.

Vylon Stella: Once equipped to another one of your monsters, this card empowers your monster to destroy anything it fights, but it has to survive the battle. (If the equipped monster is destroyed by the battle, it isn’t an “equipped monster” at the end of the Damage Step, since it’s in the Graveyard.) This is an excellent card for eliminating Defense Position monsters, though, and is also great if you can give your equipped monster some form of battle protection (Vylon Tetra, for example, or try equipping Vylon Stella to something like Gyroid).

Full-Force Strike: This turns any of your monsters into a guaranteed monster-killer for the turn, with the added bonus that your monster can’t be destroyed by battle, either! It’s a Normal Spell Card, not a Quick-Play, so you have to plan ahead and it’s only usable on offense.

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Killer Defense Defense Killers

Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke, Zubaba Knight, and Drillroid will auto-destroy any Defense Position monster they fight, at the beginning of the Damage Step. The only difference is that Sasuke & Zubaba have to attack something that’s already face-up. If Drillroid attacks a face-down monster, it flips it face-up like normal (so any Flip Effects will still work), but then destroys it before damage calculation. This makes it more powerful than the other two, which cannot destroy face-down monsters except through regular battle. VEHICROID POWER!!!

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Bonus Krill Kill

Hyper-Ancient Shark Megalodon doesn’t get any help destroying whatever it fights. But with 2900 ATK, it doesn’t really need any. What this mammoth shark does do is destroy an additional monster for free, every time it damages your opponent’s Life Points. Use Megalodon in combination with piercing effects like Big Bang Shot or Strike Slash, or attack an Attack Position weaker monster, then use Megalodon’s effect on your opponent’s strongest monster after damage calculation. Megalodon can destroy face-down monsters with its effect, without flipping them face up, so it’s a very safe way to take out face-down monsters. Run over their face-up monsters with Megalodon, then use its effect to blow up their face-downs.

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Honorable Mention

Shocktopus is sort of a time-delayed removal effect. Anything that destroys it becomes 0 ATK and is stuck in Attack Position, which makes it a sitting duck afterwards. If your opponent has something huge that you just can’t find another way around, Summon Shocktopus and ram it into the enemy’s monster. You’ll lose some Life Points, but your opponent’s monster will be rendered harmless. You can also Set Shocktopus, but you run the risk of your opponent attacking – and destroying – Shocktopus first with a weaker monster, instead of running into it with their big boomer.

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So there you have it – every single card in the set that can eliminate a monster (or Spell/Trap). Including the Egyptian God Cards, Shocktopus, and Chiron the Mage, there are only 25 such cards. Out of 215 cards in the set. You’ll usually only have 1 or 2 of these cards – at most – in your deck, so deciding when to use them best is a key strategy question.

The rest of the set is dedicated to your monsters. What they are, how to Summon them, what kinds of interactions you’ll have, and how they will engage in glorious battle is what we’ll start talking about next time.