Even some of the smallest cards in Yu-Gi-Oh! TV lore get the star treatment in Dragons of Legend.  Bastion Misawa plays Mathematician just once over the course of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, Summoning it in an early Duel against Jaden.  From there we barely saw it ever again.  But what if its effect was more than it seemed…?

Mathematician plays like a cross between Armageddon Knight and Card Trooper: you can play it to send a specific card from your Deck to your Graveyard kind of like Armageddon Knight, and when it’s destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard you draw a card to replace it, sort of like Card Trooper.  Both cards have played lead roles in countless winning Decks over the years, so we know Mathematician has huge potential.

But it’s more than just an imitation!  Mathematician’s cool because it can do things those cards can’t: while Armageddon Knight can only send DARK monsters to your Graveyard, Mathematician works with any monster Level 4 or lower.  That makes it an automatic star in any Deck running Plants…

These Plant-Type cards are all great to have in your Graveyard: you can revive the Tuner Monster Spore with a boosted Level for Synchro Summons for free; Dandylion Special Summons you two Fluff Tokens whenever it hits the yard; and planting Lonefire Blossom lets you revive it with cards like Miracle Fertilizer and Meliae of the Trees.

In the past you’d have to try and get these cards to the Graveyard randomly with Card Trooper, or give up a card like Foolish Burial to set up your effects.  Mathematician’s just a better Foolish in this sort of Deck: it sends whatever Plant you want to your Graveyard, then serves as an attacker, a Level 3 EARTH Xyz Material, and a wall that can block attacks and get you another draw.  Foolish Burial costs you a card from your hand and does nothing else; Mathematician gives you a monster on the field, and it replaces itself when it goes down.

As a Level 3 EARTH monster, our favorite new senior citizen has some more tricks up its sleeve, too…

Since Mathematician’s Level 3, you can revive it from your Graveyard with Crane Crane.  Leave both monsters on the field and you can block two attacks, drawing a free card when your opponent attacks Mathematician.  Or, you can overlay both for a Rank 3.  Cards like Leviair the Sea Dragon, Ghostrick Alucard, and Mechquipped Angineer offer a ton of useful abilities to help you in your Duel.

Back on the Plant side of things Mathematician’s EARTH Attribute unlocks some special plays!  Combine Crane Crane with Mathematician and you can Xyz Summon monsters that demand EARTH Xyz Materials, like Soul of Silvermountain and Meliae of the Trees.  Send a Plant to the Graveyard with Mathematician, and Meliae lets you revive it a turn later off of Crane Crane.  Since you can bury and then revive Lonefire Blossom, it’s a fast combo that lets you Special Summon virtually any Plant-Type from your Deck.

That’s just the beginning!  There are countless monsters you can send to the Graveyard with Mathematician and lots of Decks can run it.  Many monsters have effects you can activate when they’re in your Graveyard: you can banish Mezuki to Special Summon a Zombie; pay Life Points to add another Volcanic Shell to your hand; or equip Gwenhwyfar, Queen of Noble Arms to one of your Noble Knights. Mathematician lets you set up those plays for free.  Speaking of Noble Knights, if you’ve been looking for a quick, easy, and free way to get Noble Knight Artorigus into your Graveyard so Lady of the Lake can revive him, Mathematician may be just what you’re looking for. Monsters like Treeborn Frog, Ronintoadin, and Rainbow Kuriboh all have effects that can Special Summon them from the Graveyard, too.

Mathematician helps certain decks make valuable Xyz Summons as well.  Cards like Batteryman AAA, Heroic Challenger – Double Lance, and Gogogo Giant can Special Summon cards of the same Level from your Graveyard, but the trick is to get the matching card into your Graveyard first.  Drawing that monster, Summoning it, and then letting it get destroyed takes a long time and costs cards.  But Mathematician can send Batterymen, Double Lances, and Gogogo Gigas or Gogogo Golem right where you need them to help you make free Rank 4’s – not even Bastion’s calculations could’ve predicted that!

There are hundreds of ways to play Mathematician.  When Dragons of Legend drops on April 25^th, how will you play it?