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2014 Mega-Tin Rewind: Ghostrick Alucard

September 3rd, 2014

Shadow Specters was home to a wealth of extremely powerful Xyz Monsters that are still making a big impact today! Number 62: Ronin Raccoon Sandayu is the basis for the unpredictable Obedience Schooled combo Deck, Bujintei Kagutsuchi remains a mainstay of Bujin Extra Decks as well as appearing in some Fire Fist Decks as well, Divine Dragon Knight Felgrand is one of the most feared monsters in all of Dueling and a huge part of Sylvan Decks, and Crimson Knight Vampire Bram adds “graverobbing” to the list of the Burning Abyss Deck’s powers. Of all the Xyz Monsters in the set, however, the one that’s made the most impact in the most Decks since Shadow Specters released last November is the Rank 3 Ghostrick Alucard!

AlucardGhostrick Alucard shines in every Deck that can Xyz Summon Rank 3 monsters – even in Battle Pack 3: Monster League booster draft if you’re lucky enough to see him! His primary ability is to detach an Xyz Material to destroy a Set card your opponent controls, an ability that gets more and more valuable as time goes on and the average number of Traps Duelists use increases. But it’s important to note that Alucard’s ability destroys a Set card, not a Set Spell/Trap Card! You can destroy face-down monsters as well, making Alucard an important part of your Extra Deck at almost every point in the Duel. Use it early to start pecking away at your opponent’s Spell and Trap Cards as well as destroying key monsters like Geargiarmor, then use it later on as well to keep up the pressure as your opponent struggles to defend and stabilize their position.

In a Ghostrick Deck, Alucard keeps your opponent from attacking your Set monsters and other Ghostricks, while destroying the monsters your opponent is being forced to Set by your Ghostrick effects. That lets you put together the monsters required to Summon Ghostrick Socuteboss alongside him, the combination of which will let you destroy monsters up to 3200 ATK and render their Monster Zones unusable. It also gives Socuteboss a double layer of protection – her effect makes her untargetable by attacks and Alucard’s makes any other Ghostrick or Set monster untargetable by attacks. Your opponent would need to negate both of their effects to make an attack on Socuteboss.

Even when sent to the Graveyard, Ghostrick Alucard can still help out by retrieving another Ghostrick from your Graveyard. This is obviously useful in a Ghostrick Deck, but it can also be used in any other Deck as long as you run at least two copies of Alucard in your Extra Deck. The first one won’t be able to retrieve anything, but the second will be able to send the first back to your Extra Deck where you can Summon it again, and you can repeat this forever as long as you can keep gathering Xyz Materials to Summon more Alucards. It’s much like being able to use Dante, Traveller of the Burning Abyss and Cir, Malebranch of the Burning Abyss to constantly cycle the same Dante back to the field over and over again.

Speaking of Burning Abyss Decks, Ghostrick Alucard serves an extra purpose there that you don’t really see in any other Deck running it. As a Rank 3 DARK Zombie-Type Xyz monster, you can use Rank-Up-Magic Astral Force to transform Alucard into Crimson Knight Vampire Bram and start stealing away monsters from your opponent’s Graveyard!

Ghostrick Alucard is even better today than it was last year when it was first introduced in Shadow Specters! And if you didn’t get it the first time around, you have two more chances to pick it up – either in Battle Pack 3: Monster League or the Mega-Packs in the 2014 Mega-Tin!