Earlier this week we discussed some of the best Commons from Battle Pack 2: War of the Giants, focusing on monster cards. But monsters are nothing without the proper back-up, and in sealed play that means Spells and Traps! Today we’ll look at six groups of powerful Commons that all do different things. Understanding each group will let you build better sealed Decks, helping you get the most out of cards you might not have paid attention to otherwise. Let’s start with some obvious top picks…

Just like Constructed play, Book of Moon is a strong card that’s really flexible. Book’s great in Advanced Format Dueling because it can shut down Continuous Effects and stop your opponent from making Xyz Summons. Here in sealed it’s a bit different. When your opponent’s on the attack, Book of Moon flips their monster face-down to stop their aggression for a turn. That gives you a chance to fight back, since many big attackers are weaker when they’re in Defense Position. More than that, you can play Book when your opponent’s already used a card or two to give their monster an ATK boost outside the Damage Step. If your opponent tries to attack over one of your bigger monsters by using a couple Spells and Traps, Book wastes their cards.

Axe of Despair’s important because it’s the biggest Equip Spell in Battle Pack 2 with no drawback. Gaining 1000 ATK is a big deal, letting Level 4’s like Goblin Attack Force or Gene-Warped Warwolf take most of the biggest double Tribute monsters! Axe is all about raw power, so if you get one it’s a must-play.

Finally, Forbidden Lance is like the Heavy Storm of War of the Giants. What do I mean by that? When you’re Dueling in the Advanced Format with a Constructed deck, the threat of Heavy Storm is always in the back of your mind; you don’t want to set too many spells and traps, because you might lose them all to one card. Lance is similar in Sealed Play: while you can often play several ATK pumps to make one monster really big, a single Forbidden Lance can rob you of everything when you attack. If you nab a Lance in your Battle Packs, make sure you understand how powerful it can be.

These Commons all help you Summon high-Level monsters. You have to be careful playing Mausoleum of the Emperor, because your opponent can use its effect too. But Star Blast gives you a one-time opportunity to throw down your biggest monster without Tributing, and Spacegate is even cooler because it works in two very different ways. If your opponent’s attacking you, you can stack up Gate Counters and work towards a high-Level comeback. But if you’re doing the attacking, then Spacegate just helps you drop another game-ending monster. All three help you play more giant-sized monsters than your opponent.

Shrink, Ego Boost, and Prideful Roar are three of the most powerful Spell Speed 2 battle tricks in all of Battle Pack 2. Ego Boost’s 1000 ATK bonus is huge, and since it’s a Quick-Play you can use it to power over bigger monsters or spring it as a nasty surprise when your opponent gets aggressive. Shrink cuts a monster’s original ATK in half, virtually guaranteeing you victory over naturally large monsters. That’s good news, because while Shrink isn’t as good against smaller monsters your opponent buffed with effects, it’s great for taking down big two-Tributes that your opponent really worked for

Prideful Roar is in a league of its own. While Shrink and Ego Boost can’t be activated during damage calculation, Prideful Roar is activated during damage calculation; that means it’ll often be the last word when it comes time to figure out who wins the battle. Roar’s amazing because as long as you’ve got the Life Points, it can beat almost anything. You can play it when your opponent attacks you, or you can attack and flip it on offense. It’s easily one of the best Commons in the set: if you’re lucky enough to get one, try to use it to take down a monster your opponent’s committed cards to. If you can eliminate two cards at once with Prideful Roar – destroying a monster and outplaying a boost – you’ll gain serious momentum.

In fact, some of the best Common spells and traps are top picks for just that reason…

These three cards help you dominate, because each can eliminate two threats given enough time. Reptilianne Rage is a strong Equip Spell, giving one of your monsters +800 ATK. That’s enough to power over a bigger monster. But when Rage is destroyed – say, when the monster you equipped hits the Graveyard – you get to target an opposing monster and reduce its ATK by 800 points as well. That can let you eliminate the attacker in battle and keep your momentum.

Miracle Locus is similar: it boosts one of your monsters by 1000 ATK for the turn and gives your opponent a free draw, but it also lets your attacker hit two monsters instead of just one. That can leave your opponent scrambling to defend themselves, and with no way to Tribute Summon.

Finally, Skill Successor is the mechanical predecessor to Breakthrough Skill. You can flip it on either player’s turn to boost one of your monsters by 400 ATK. On your next turn, you can banish Skill Successor for an 800 ATK bonus. Play it right and you can win two battles with one card.

Want to do the same thing when you’re on defense? As noted earlier, Prideful Roar’s amazing because when your opponent activates one-time attack pumps like Ego Boost, or plays Equip Spells, you can Roar in Damage Calculation to cost your opponent all their cards. Doing that can win games, but Roar isn’t the only card that creates those sorts of opportunities. Rising Energy costs you a discard, but boosts your monster by an incredible 1500 ATK. If your opponent’s attacking with a high-Level monster or multiple ATK boosts, you can discard for Rising Energy and still come out ahead.

Overworked is really similar: when your opponent plays one or more boosts and tries to attack, you can destroy their buffed up monster with Overworked. No monster means no more boosts, so it’s an easy way to eliminate a bunch of cards with just one of your own.

And that’s all great. But what do you do when your battle tricks aren’t enough?

Get another monster into the fight as fast as you can! Time Machine and Miracle’s Wake let you Special Summon back a key monster when it’s destroyed in battle. That means if your opponent plays multiple cards to take down one big hitter, you can bring it back effortlessly and send your opponent back to square one. Autonomous Action Unit is different, but it might be even better: for 1500 Life Points it Special Summons any monster from your opponent’s Graveyard. In a pinch, you could use it to get a monster for a Tribute Summon. But it’s best in the mid-game when you can activate it to just take a big attacker you destroyed earlier.

Battle Pack 2: War of the Giants might be all about enormous monsters duking it out, but when the dust settles it’s your actions as a Duelist that decide which monsters win the day. To stack the odds in your favor you’ll need to know all of your Spells and Traps and what you can do with them. Don’t overlook anything! Some of your best cards are low-key Commons.